Tim Meadows: The Right Kind of Funny
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Thanks for joining us today, Mr. Tim Meadows, one of my favorite SNL performers. I think he did 10 seasons on SNL. So many great characters. Always just a super specific take on his characters, like

Nobody was doing sort of what Tim was doing on that show. And he's always been one of the nicest guys ever. So live from, I think, Detroit, we're going to find out. Mr. Tim Meadows, where are you these days? I'm in Detroit, Michigan, which is, I moved back. This is where I was born and raised here. It wasn't as nice as this place. I can only imagine. Yeah. What is it? What was it? What's it like to live here?

Because I'm from Dayton, from Ohio, and I always think about what it would be like to move back to the Midwest or just – you've done Hollywood. You've done New York. You've done it all, and then you go back. What's it like? Because I have a fantasy about it, and I wonder if the reality matches. Well, I get to see family, which I love. There's not as much to do here in Detroit, so –

I get bored and I have to actually like push myself to go out and do things, you know? That's called depression, Tim. That's it. Yeah. They have drugs for that. I'm dealing with it in my own.

Yes, I understand 100%. Yeah. But I do, being here, I have to push myself to go out more. And it feels like I'm getting to learn about the city again, you know? And I'm really, I can do better. There's so many more things that I can be doing. Mainly when I go out, it's to go to Pistons games, or Tigers games, or, you know, to go to things with my family. To old Tiger Stadium. I went to a game there once. I just...

Remember it being insane. And I just looking up at that light stanchion that Reggie Jackson hit that ball off of in the all-star game there. It's like, yeah, that was a great old stadium.

It was. I went a few times when I was... I really didn't start going there until I was a teenager. One time I went to Tiger Stadium. It was just a bunch of us teenagers from high school, all black, African-American kids. And one of our friends who was a little bit older than us had bought tickets to go see the Tigers game. And it's basically an all-white crowd, you know. This is like in 78, probably, something like that.

And so as we're walking up, people are saying to us, there's no seats up there. I don't know where you guys think you're going. And then my oldest friend, his name is Arby. He goes, I got six tickets here for me and my friends. And all I know is when we get up to this row and to these seats, they better be empty.

And he kept walking up and as he got up, cause he, he, he was not a big dude, but he was like, he didn't take, he was not, he didn't mess around. He wasn't having it. He didn't fuck around. Yeah. Yeah. And so as we got up there, he goes, all right, I'm in row, you know, 13 seats, seven, eight, nine, 10, get, get out of those seats.

And they were like, these seats are taken. And he turned to the usher and he goes, because the usher came up to sort of go, hey, what's going on? And he goes, these are our tickets. They're in our seats. And the usher was like, hey, you guys, get out of those seats. Made him sit. We get we sit there and watch the game. And I had never seen a young black man.

talk to a group of white people like that he was like i i got my rights i know what i know what's going on and you better move you know and i was like i mean i was like 16 or 17 i'm like oh my god we're gonna be getting this is gonna be a huge fight you know like we're gonna be throwing down what became of that guy he must see he sounded like he was he had it all figured out

Well, he, as a younger guy, he did. He had it all figured out. He passed away a couple years ago. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, but he was an amazing dude, man. When he was younger, especially, it was like such an amazing moment, especially, you know, for me. Were you living in Detroit during the, still the sort of heyday of Detroit? I feel like early 70s, it was still...

automotive, big time cars. It was before the incremental economic downturns. Do you remember the sort of glory days of Detroit? Because that city was unbelievable in the 40s and 50s and into the 60s. Yeah. Well, into the 60s, that's when I was born, like 61. So the things I saw were like, you know, I saw the riots and I was like,

six, seven years old. It was in our neighborhood. We lived over on 12th street. So, you know, that movie actually that, uh, Oh yeah. It was a Catherine Bigelow. Yes. That movie, that riot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We lived in that neighborhood, you know? So one of the first things I remember like growing up was like seeing, uh, seeing, uh, national guard coming down the highway, uh,

People looting in the streets. I mean, it wasn't like I was born and it was like, hey, people are looting. It was like, you know, there was other great things in our lives before that. But that was definitely a moment of like, oh, wow, this is, we're in some serious trouble.

business here you know you go you go from that is your earliest moments to i know i'll be a comedian i'll fix it yeah yeah for for for sure how you um you were just made uh what did i want to get this right are you basically now on the board of second city is that right did i see that correctly yeah it's like a creative uh artistic board that's awesome and

Cause that you were as obviously a second came out of second city. I'm assuming, right? Yes. Yeah. Were you a Chicago, Chicago branch or LA or New York? Like where, where, where did you, I was Chicago. I was Chicago. I moved from Detroit to Chicago when I was, you know, like early twenties because I had learned about improv and Dale Close and those kinds of things. Yeah. So when I was there, I,

In Detroit, I just... One of my friends moved to Chicago. His name is Mark Beltzman. And he was just like, you know, he was like Christopher Columbus, you know, except he didn't, you know, do horrible things. But...

But he was like, dudes, you got to come to Chicago. This is where it's all happening, you know. And so a few of us moved from Detroit to Chicago and we immediately got into ImprovOlympic. I was doing improv, like long form improv and stuff. And then I got hired by Second City for their touring company.

Wow. Yeah, so I toured. It was really fun, yeah. It's like Jane Lynch, Amy Sedaris were in my touring company. Greg Holloman.

And I always like name people that you would know. Yeah, no, for sure. Because the alumni, the alumnus, alumni, I can never figure out which one it is, of Second City is extraordinary. So Del Close, for those of you who don't know, Del Close was the legendary, what, artistic director. He ran Second City, basically, right? Yeah, creatively. He was one of the directors there for a while. And everybody came from all over the world to...

to be with him and to learn from him. I mean, I'm surprised. There probably is a book or documentary about Del Claude. There has to be because he was so influential in so many people's lives. I'm like looking at my little bookshelf here because I was like, I probably have one of his books on my shelf right now. He's the Stanislavski of improv. Yes, exactly. I have a book here by Sharna Halpern called Art by Committee.

But Dale worked with Sharna in Chicago and they started this theater at Providence. So many people who you or have watched in comedy over the past 20, 30 years, a lot of them are from that school and from that era. I got to go with Lorne, with Lorne Michaels to in the days where he still used to personally go out and look at

at up and coming people to Second City in LA. And who did we see? Oh, Will, I believe. - Maybe that was in Groundlings in LA. - Oh, sorry, it was Groundlings. Sorry, it was Groundlings. It was Groundlings. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was Groundlings. - We wouldn't have Will Ferrell at Second City. - No, no, you can't have him. You guys have standards. - We, yeah, no, Will would have destroyed anywhere he went. I love Will. He's one of my favorite people from that show.

You were the longest serving member up until just recently. I think you did 10 seasons or 11? Yeah, I did 10 seasons, which was a surprise to me. Because when I was hired, it was originally as a writer. Oh, I didn't know that. You started as a writer, really? Yeah, but it only lasted for one show or something like that. But I still kept on the writing staff.

But there was confusion in the very beginning if I was hired as a writer or an actor. And so Lorne sort of told me, like, my first week actually on the show that I was going to be on the show. Wow. So, yeah. So I was like, oh, this is cool. Okay. So, you know.

I mean, most writers are like, well, writers who want to act are like hoping to get on and you just like immediately got on the air. Do you remember what the circumstances were that you got on the air so quickly? I don't remember what the circumstances, I think maybe it was just a confusion of like, why, what is he doing here? It was like, is he just a writer or, you know, because, um,

And then they and then it was it was all figured out. It was like, no, you're a feature player and you're going to be a writer. So we can we expect you to contribute written material for the show, not just for yourself. And and so, yeah, I didn't get anything on into my third show, which people told me the time was like pretty good. Yes. Oh, my God, it is. Are you kidding? Yeah.

And I wrote a piece for Alec Baldwin and Jan Hooks and myself. And it was called Cyrano de Bergerac. Jan Hooks, legend. Jan Hooks. I knew if I put her in this thing that she would destroy. She was so great, man. She was really nice to me. Like, she was really nice to me. But mainly because I wrote for her, too, you know. Yeah, that'll do it. Yeah, that'll do it. You know a way to a woman's heart. Write great material. It's through funny sketches. It's through funny sketches.

What was, okay, you, my favorite thing that you did, and correct me if I'm wrong, was, am I remembering this right? It was like a PBS late night intellectual talk show. Am I? Yes. Yeah, yeah. What would that was? Perspectives. Oh my God. It's the best thing ever. It was one of my favorite things to do. It's, it's one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time. It's 445 and AM. You're watching Perspectives.

I guess today is Rob Lowe, actor, performer. Rob has been in a million things. We're going to be talking to him in a minute. It's 447 AM. You're watching Perspectives. Also, wasn't there this whole thing where you would ask these amazingly convoluted questions?

Not quite exactly knowing who the guest was. Yeah. Well, he would ask questions and then he would sort of repeat the question again. Wait, I was on. Wait, I think I might have done a perspective. You may have done one. Definitely. I kind of feel like you did. I think I I think I did perspectives. And when I I think it might have been when I hosted in 97. And I think and I think what we did, the whole thing was that you didn't know who I was.

And that is amazing. You're like completely disinterested in any answer that I ever gave. That sounds like something I would have done, too. That is a Al Franken, Dave Mandel piece. Really? Yeah.

-Yeah, I didn't come up with that idea. They wrote that for me. I was really grateful. The thing I loved about doing that sketch, man, was that Lauren always put it on last of the night. So no matter how good it did, it was always gonna be the last sketch. And I knew I could take my time

And I didn't have to speed it up until Lorne or one of the people, one of the stage managers started giving me to go quicker. And so one of the things that I could do in the beginning of the thing was just take my time, you know, and I could just go, it's 447 in the a.m.,

And you're watching Perspectives. You know, I can like space it out, you know? And the whole joke. Yes. The whole joke that Al Franken explained to me was it's based on like Bob and the comedy of Bob and Ray. You know, I don't know Bob and Ray. Chris Elliott's dad is Bob Elliott. But they're a duo and they had a radio show on PBS. It was a duo. They would do interviews with each other.

And the timing that they had. And I remember seeing them because they hosted SNL back in the 70s. And I didn't know who they were. They had this they had like this one recurring character named Willie Baloo. Wally Baloo. He would always open it before the microphone turned on. The guy would go. And so Wally Baloo will be reporting from the scene. Lee Baloo here.

And that always made me laugh because it was such a dry but technical, you know, joke. But they did interviews with each other where they would do characters and stuff. But Frank can explain to me that's what this is sort of based on. Like, it's like timing and sort of like...

this dry sort of a sense of humor, you know? And I loved it, man. It was like one of them, even more than ladies, man, which I love doing. Ladies, man was obviously like all time, all time, all time classic. But to me, it's like with one, with Mike, um,

I was always a sprockets guy as opposed to a Wayne's walk guy. I was always, and so with you, it's like ladies man is the, is the iconic thing, but I, I'm, I'm a perspectives guy. I mean, I wonder what that says about my comic sensibility. I don't know what it says. I like the obscure maybe. Yeah. It sounds like you, yeah. You like the underdog sort of sketches. You know what I mean? Right. You pull in for this, the work, uh, John C. Reilly, like was, uh,

I remember when I first met him at SNL, he pulled me to the side and just go, "Hey man, I really love the stuff that you do. It's so different and cool and stuff." And I was like, "Wow, thank you, man." Because I would do sketches that would play to silence in the studio.

They would like, you know, they would get like very few, but the people at home or writers like love the concept of it. You know, that's the thing is like, there's what's like when Norm, you know, hosted update McDonald, there were oftentimes where I would laugh and it would be crickets. Yeah. And that is just, I think so daring and fun. And when SNL is at its best, um,

people feel safe to do those kind of sketches. And it's not just about pleasing the people all the time, I think. Well, I remember you, when you came, you hosted before I was on the show. And I remember, I think just like a lot of people, it was one of those things like, I didn't know that Stu was that funny. You just committed, like you did it so well. Like...

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Smigo's a great writer. He's one of my favorite people ever. Smigo wrote this sketch for me, Chris Rock, and Ellen Claighorn. And it was something like the...

the head turning, the neck turning turners or something like that. But it was these black, it was a black family who when they get mad and they start moving their necks like in a circular motion as they get pissed that they cause a tornado and it would destroy the city. I used to laugh. I think maybe we did it once where it was so funny. I was just like,

I love that idea, man. It just killed me. So funny. He had me on the talk show where it was all in Spanish. All of the entire sketch was in Spanish. Yeah. And it would be like,

and then a puppet, and then like a... It just... It was just mental. Yeah. And of course, Smigel is Triumph the Insult Dog. Yeah, exactly. It's the all-time... The all-time classic. When you came to do the show, did you feel it like when you did it, people are going to see me differently? I...

I didn't know if they would or not. I know that I knew, you know, you know when something goes well, right? We all know. And I knew it went really well. And what I was, my real takeaway was Lorne, I could see like him going, oh, okay. Yeah.

Yeah. This is a guy. And I think kind of like he did with Alec Baldwin later, you know, Alec became the, you know, such an amazing permanent host. And I went into the, the SNL movies because of that. And, um, and, you know, to have as a kid from Ohio growing up watching, you know, SNL to have,

Lorne, like anoint you as one of the players was like, it's, it's, it remains today for me, like one of, one of my like most amazing memories. And like, I can't believe it happened. Yeah. Same. He's the guy. I mean, you know, if Lorne thinks you're funny, that, that means something.

I remember making, like when I was really accepted at SNL was the week that I wrote that Cyrano sketch and Lorne read it and he and Jim Downey

laughed like lauren like lost his breath laughing at the beginning yeah like he like laughed hard at it man him and jim downey and it was my it was only my third week right so like people weren't giving me the respect at the table yet when lauren fucking laughed

I was in, I was working. I was going to work there for 10 years. Yeah. You know what I mean? 10 years. Yeah. It's like, you make that dude laugh. Like, yeah, you, you, you, you deserve to be there. Cause he's heard it all. And he's heard it from great ones, you know, you know, comedy is so subjective, but it's not something that I really understood or knew until I worked with Lauren. And I remember on Wayne's world, I, uh,

I wanted to do so well, but I didn't really trust myself yet. And I was friends with Gary Marshall. Gary Marshall created, you know, Mork and Mindy and Happy Days. And he did a hundred movies. He's one of the, you know, the odd couple of these. He's a comic legend on par with Lorne in a different world. And Gary did, I don't think I've never told this story. Gary did a punch up for me on my character. And I sent it to Lorne.

And Lauren was like, hmm. And I go, I think it's funny. I think it's funny. He goes, no, it's not that it's not funny. It's just, is it the right kind of funny? And I had never, I honestly did not know what he meant. Yeah. And now today I know exactly what he meant. So if you make him laugh, that's a very specific window that you're in. Yeah. And also with that, you know, with that, it's a different kind of funny, you

is exactly what he does on that show, which is he allows different types of humor, you know, like perspectives could exist in the same universe as the cheerleaders.

Right. In his eyes. Yes. Like, they, Cheerleaders is going to be a crowd-pleasing, gut-busting laugh fest full of energy. Yep. But it is on par with a sketch that's going to make you sit there and watch the comedy unfold before your very eyes. Yes. Yes. And that is, that's what that show is. And Lauren is great at it, you know. I'm just remembering your makeup and hair and perspectives and it's making me laugh. We could just...

Just the most dignified salt and pepper here. One thing I loved about the idea of Perspectives was that it was an FCC rule that they had to have

shows had to be broadcast on networks. So that was the first thing you would hear. The first thing you would see would be the station cutting off for the night like it used to. This is the end of our broadcasting evening. And now perspectives. Yeah.

It just shows they had real confidence in the programming. I know. 4.45 at night. That's where we're going to put it. I remember you were at Bernie Brillstein's memorial. Oh, yeah. Okay, so Bernie Brillstein was my manager. He managed everybody from Gilda to Belushi to Lorne himself and on and on and on. He's a legend of Saturday Night Live. And when he passed away, everybody showed that

I actually wrote a whole chapter about this in my first book because it was such an amazing thing. And I was lucky enough because Bernie was like a father to me. He really was. It was more than client. I mean, he was literally like my second father. So Lorne produced, and I use that word on purpose, he produced the memorial. And, you know, there was, you know, I think...

a lot of amazing people spoke and, and everybody was kind of trying to figure out where they would speak in what order. Cause you know, we're performers, right. You know, and you know, it's like, who's following who and who's following. So there's a lot of that going around. And, um, Bernie also represented Jim Henson in the day. So Kermit the frog was there. And, and I remember, um, I think it was Lovett's. Of course it was Lovett's. Who else would it be going? When am I going to speak? Yeah.

And Lauren saying, John, I'm not really sure. I just know that no one follows the frog. And so that was the title of my of the chapter I wrote. No one follows the frog. Yeah, which is true. And dude, I remember looking at you when that fucking frog sang Rainbow Connection. Yeah. And you were there.

knocked out, as we all were. It was the most emotional. First of all, that song in and of itself is a killer. Yeah. But when it's singing for your dead, departed friend, I mean, I was knocked out. Do you remember that? Wasn't that insane? I do. And I remember being surprised at the emotions coming over me like that. I was not... And I will say I've never...

cried at a Muppet, you know, and or a puppet in any way has ever moved me emotionally and to be up there. And then the thing that really hit me too, was that I was a kid watching Sesame Street and to be there and having had that career and having had the influence of Bernie on my career and

And being there, it was like, it was just a weird, like, I can't believe that this is happening and that I'm here and he's gone. And like, you know what I mean? It was just. Yeah, I do. I just like that. I used to watch this when I was a child, you know, and like my manager, a guy who influenced me managed the same thing.

And that song, I can't even listen to that song. Me neither. I swear. And I can't even listen to it. Same. Why is that? I tried to break it down. I mean, look, it's beautiful. The lyrics are pretty stunning. But the amount of feels, as the kids would say, that I get when I listen to that song is almost intolerable. It's like... Yeah. It's...

It's almost like the Russian roulette sequence in the Deer Hunter. I can't – I'm not watching that scene and I'm not listening to Rainbow Connection. It's not happening. Yeah. Yeah.

I say too, man, one of my other things is I can't watch Sandler's Uncut Gems. I watched it one time. Yeah. And I'm like, I can't. I told him too. I said, I'll never watch that movie again. I love what you did. It was an amazing movie. Can't watch it. No, there are certain things you experience once, which is the perfect segue to your new movie. It's a wonderful binge. Yes.

Yeah, it's a movie. I appear in it. I do some comedy in it. It's a second movie. It's from Hulu. And it's about this time in America where alcohol and drinking is only legal once a year. And everyone can drink no matter how young or old for one day. And it happens to fall on Christmas this one year.

So that's the movie. And I played the father of a young lady who's dating a guy who takes the binge way too seriously. I would. I would take that. Where was that back when I needed it? Jeez Louise. Jeez Louise.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Oh, I know another thing I wanted to talk to you about is Mean Girls. Yes, Mean Girls. Yeah. Some would say it's my best performance. It's so restrained and fun. I mean, it's, it just, there's just, I just love you in that gear. Yeah. I went into that movie and I mean, Tina wrote it, Tina Fey.

And so I knew, I mean, I read the script and stuff and I saw, I even saw it after the punch-ups were done to it. And I knew it was good. And I knew my part would be really fun to do. And I came into it thinking, I'm going to play it like this is this guy's last year teaching.

He hates being there. And he's going to retire at the end of the year, even though it's not said in the script. He's going to quit at the end of the year and move to the desert or something. That's amazing. So I didn't tell Tina or anybody, the director, that or anything. I just played it that way. And so I had that little under history behind me. And so it was...

And then as we shot it, it was just easy to, I'm glad I did it because it was like, it was easy to make sense of the things that I was doing. And the reason I was acting certain ways, you know, like with the burn book thing of being like really angry about it, but also being like, I just want to get through this thing. Like, what is this all about? Okay. You know?

Because I think if I would not have done that, then I would have been playing that stuff like everything would have been big or everything would have been like, you know, I would have been caring too much, you know? Well, that's that old thing, which I think for the most part is kind of a jerk off is like for actors like what's your secret? Yeah. But that's but that's an example.

of it really working and being great. And I'm not one of the, I mean, I, I don't know about you, but I do try to find things. So like, what can I do to make this interesting for me, even if it's a small part or whatever. Yeah. Well, and that, by the way, that's why, you know, it is true. There are no small parts, only small actors. It really is true. Yeah. And,

I mean, that's not a huge part, but it's a super important part. And it made me laugh because I was thinking, what's the attitude I'm picking up here? And I realized it's like people who work at the DMV. You know what I mean? That's what made me laugh. It was like that thing of like, OK, yeah, just eight more hours to go and I'm out of here. That's great. How can I help you?

I tell me this, too, because you've done both. It's like going back and forth between doing movies and television.

I just did this movie. My direction, the main direction I was getting from the director, who was great, was less, less. And then at one point he told me, I want you to whisper the scene. I want you to say it as softly as you can. Wow. And I was like, okay. And then I dawned on me. I was like, I've been acting on television like the past.

the past year, it's like a different, you know what I mean? Oh, I do. I do. And particularly the different, the, the energy between comedy and drama. And I mean, at the end of the day, I always feel like it's all the, it's all the same. It's just about being truthful and the least amount of artifice that you can find. But, but the truth of it is that it's a different energy. It just is. It just is. Yeah.

And as you know, comedy is a math equation and a music equation. It's so much more based on rhythm and all the stuff that we know. But when a director is there and it's their job to articulate that to you, sometimes it comes out in very...

odd ways, but I like that. Just whisper it. Yeah, it was a trip. And I was like, okay, but I still... I mean, I knew as an actor or whatever, I still got to have this energy because in the scene...

I'm firing a guy who's a friend of mine. Well, it's funny because I'm, I am on a show called nine one, one lone star. And it's, it's, I play a fire captain and then we do rescues all the time. Right. And it's literal life and death. You know, we'll have young actors come on and playing first responders and they'll make this, the same mistake over and over. Like they'll play a scene and,

It's life and death. And so they'll play it that way. And I always have to take them aside and go, no, no, you must not play the stakes.

You must not. If anything, you go the other way. Can you imagine a fireman going, okay, we're going to get you out of here. Okay. All right. I think that window's going to go down. We're going to put a ladder over here and we're going to do it right now. It's like you can't. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't play the stakes. Yeah. This is your first time ever saving somebody. It's not your character's first time. Like your character's done this before. Yeah.

We just came up with a good character next time I host SNL. Playing the stakes fireman. Playing the stakes 911 caller. What is your emergency? Okay, okay, okay. I want you...

I want you to step away from the phone and use tourniquet. Do you even know how to use a tourniquet? Can you imagine? That is so funny, man. That is so funny. It would play with the head-turning turners. Yeah, it would, definitely.

And in that sketch, I would play the, I would play your boss. I'd be like the guy who brings you into the office and says, listen, we got to talk to you by your behavior on the phone. Um, they ended up committing suicide because they couldn't get through to you. You stressed them out so much. Oh my God. I would say I would have loved to have, you had the best job in the world. I mean, 10 seasons on that. I have to ask you the famous question. Who is, who's your favorite host and who is your least favorite host? Uh, and I'll have to give you the same answer I give everybody else. Uh,

Rob Lowe. Thank you. Yes, thank you. I would always say my most – like the weeks that I looked forward to because I knew it would be interesting was Christopher Walken. It would be fun to watch. Do you remember this sketch that Walken did that never made it to air where he played an alien driving a spaceship? It was a Jack Handy sketch? Yes. Do you remember that? Yes. And the concept was he was meant –

to be the personal messenger of peace on earth and we come in kindness. Yes. And every time he landed, he accidentally crushed somebody. Yes. Because one time the door opened and he killed somebody. Yes. Yes. I remember that sketch. And it was, we used to love that Chris would always go, let's get out of here. As an alien. Yeah.

That's the one, the thing too far, like pants fell down or something like when we were doing it. And the Continental? Continental, yeah. That's another weird one. I just love watching him rehearse sketches. Even if I wasn't in it, I would watch it like on the feed, on the monitor or whatever. And I got to do a really good sketch with him that Tina wrote again called, it was a census taker sketch.

where he's i'm taking the census and he is in a apartment in new york and his questions i ask him like how many people live here and he goes um it's 36 too high of a number and i go yeah you want to maybe tamp it down a little bit uh okay uh 50 you know you just give me these crazy answers and stuff and

But it was one of my favorite sketches. And it was on the same show as The Cowbell. So that was the sketch that everybody talked about was The Cowbell sketch. My producers who are genius walk and says to you, well, it's just me and my wife and I've got a couple of butterfingers in the fridge. He said he had a passport to go to Florida, but he brought out like a holiday card from Hallmark.

I'm like, this is not a passport, sir. I knew him a little bit years ago, and we did a play together at Williamstown. So we know each other in sort of the theater world through that. Yeah.

Do you remember the play that used to tour everywhere called Love Letters? Do you remember this? Do you remember? Like it was huge, right? Yes. And the concept of Love Letters was it was that you would cast two actors that in theory you wanted to see together. And sometimes they were super A-list and other times they were super like C-list and it would play for eight weeks in a theater in New York, whatever. And it was a couple. And, and,

It is a series of letters. It's two actors on a black stage, black background, no set, reading letters that these characters have written each other since they were young lovers until the times of their death when they're old men and women. It's in. Yeah.

And it's both really, really beautiful and also really, really cheesy. And really, it's one of just one of those things. So it's one of the easiest jobs for an actor to do because you you have to just read letters. Right. So I saw Walken do it. And he's you know, and he's reading the letters in that way that he does something, you know, and it's amazing. And so afterwards, I'm like, Chris, so how does this work? So is there any rehearsal or anything?

when you read it, did you know immediately you wanted to do it? He goes, well, I just did. I said, what do you mean? He goes, read it. I just did read it. No, I know you read it, but when you read it, did you know that you'd say yes and you'd commit to five weeks? No, no, no. I read it for the first time tonight. I said, what?

I said, wait, you're telling me the performance I saw, you had, was the very first time you read any of the material? He goes, well, yes, they're letters. I wouldn't have known what they were.

It's great, right? And it makes sense, too, when you think about it. It does make sense. You open up a letter, you read it. You don't know what it's going to say. You don't know what's in it? No. You don't read a letter and then go read it again to somebody. The other thing he does that I'm sure you know is he takes out all the punctuation. Yes. Right? I've seen it. So that's why—

There may be different rhythms to the thing because he doesn't know where the periods are. Yeah. He's so funny, man. He, uh, we did three sisters together and, uh,

In the famous Chekhov play, the city burns down or whatever the hell. And everybody huddles in an attic and his character goes out. We're huddled in an attic together and a woman or somebody comes back in who's been out in the flames. And Chris's character asked her about what was going on. And the line is, how's the fire? And Chris would say it in a way every day. I would go, I would stand by the side of the stage and

to hear him ask, how's the fire? And I could never put my finger on why it made me laugh so hard or why it was so weird until the day I accidentally got his script. I thought it was my own. I opened it up. It was Chris's. And I opened it to that line in the script. And he had crossed out, how's the fire? It was crossed out. And in its place, he had written, how's the barbecue? Right? Yeah.

Like you were thinking your principal was retiring in a year in Mean Girls. He was thinking, how's the fire? How's the barbecue? So I'll never say it like, how's the fire? Like as if it's a fire. I will talk about it as if it's a barbecue. Yes. It's not like how many people are dying or do we need to evacuate? It was, should it be a little higher maybe?

For the meat to cook. Yeah. You know, everybody talks about his, when they do an impression of him, you know, which is funny, is like his verbal thing. But the thing that would make me laugh too, especially on SNL, was when he would hunch his shoulders. Like he would go, he would hunch his shoulders like, hey, you know, like almost like Rodney Dangerfield's

It was so his whole body language. Just I loved I just love him, man. He's he's for sure. Walken, Alec are in the Hall of Fame of hosts. Goodman also. Goodman's Steve. Oh, Stephen. Did you see Stephen Marty last week by any chance? No, I haven't seen it. They were amazing. They were amazing. They always are. They were me. And, you know, they and, you know, it's funny because they're not young men.

And they come out and absolutely murder. I told Martin Short at the 40th, I had a total meltdown fan moment with him. And I said, I got to tell you, because I don't know if I'll ever see you again. But like you had so much influence on me doing what I'm doing. I was I've been a huge fan. I just told him I love I saw all your specials.

I watch, you know, everything you've done. And I just want to tell you, I love you. Jiminy click. Dude. How about he goes, when he, when he does, when he does it, he does it like this. Yes.

He did an interview. It was like Mel Brooks. They had it on Twitter or something recently where he was talking. So what's it like to be poor? Were you smelly as a poor man when you were a child? And Mel Brooks is like trying not to laugh, you know? He's so great. I think it was Spielberg, I think. He goes, Debbie, what is your fascination with all this Jewish stuff? Yeah.

So nuts. Yeah, man. He's one of my favorites. Because the thing I love about him is that he seems insane somewhat. You know what I mean? Like he commits to it. He just commits. Commits. And I love that. I love it so much. Well, this has been so fun. Thank you for coming on. This was just awesome. Thanks for having me, man. When Perspectives the movie gets made. Yeah.

I want to be – who would I be in Perspectives the movie? Would I be the PBS rep? Yeah, or maybe the guy from the FCC who comes to check in. Like, hey, we're moving you to 444 now. Yeah, congratulations. You've really been killing it on the ratings. You're moving up into primetime 345 a.m. Yeah, yeah.

Rob, you're one of my favorites, man. It's an honor to do this. And thank you. I was going to say this too, and it's better beyond the thing is like every time we've been in, I've been in your presence, you've been insanely sweet and nice to me. And I've always, I've always appreciated it, man. Thank you. Oh, thank you, man. It's insane. You're one of my faves and it's been too long since we've seen each other. Hopefully it won't be as many years. I hope. Yes. Great seeing you.

Oh, my gosh. That is just made me laugh so hard. What a great guy. What a just a sweet heart and so funny. Anyway, thank you all for listening. Hope you enjoyed it as usual. And you got questions. I got answers. Let's hit 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. Hey Rob, this is Ryan from Florida. I was wondering if you have met an actor in the past or recently that you've seen and you were just like, wow, that person is going to be a star.

Either someone that we know that is huge today or maybe somebody that will be huge someday. Love the podcast. Thank you. That is a really good question. And I think your question was, have I met them? Because there's two sort of things that come to mind is, you know, meeting somebody and going, oh, yeah, that person has it, whatever it is. And then there's a thing of seeing an unknown actor for the first time in something.

And you go, oh, that person's going to be a star. Like, for example, that for me would be Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Bastards. He's, you know, nobody really knew him. He'd been working forever. And you see him in that first scene in Inglourious Bastards and go, oh, I turned to my wife and said, that guy's winning the Academy Award this year. And he did. I think that the one that comes to mind for whatever reason was my sons are younger than I am. My sons are younger than I am. How did that work out?

My sons, in their circle of friends, there was a young one of their friends who was a girl, not a girlfriend, but in their friend group in Santa Barbara. And she just had this light around her. I was like, that girl, whatever she ends up doing, she's going to be something. It was not clear what she was. Music, maybe actor. You just didn't know. She was sort of in a quasi show business family thing.

And it was Gigi Hadid. And you just knew she was going to be something. Her stepfather, David Foster, and I are old friends. David wrote all the music in St. Elmo's Fire. And David was like, I wish I could invest in her. So, yeah, when you meet somebody that's got the it factor.

It definitely is. It pops for sure. Thanks for your call. Great call, by the way. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to spend some time with me and Mr. Meadows. I know he appreciates it. And we will see you next week on Literally. You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Rob Schulte, with help from associate producer Sarah Bagar. Our research is done by Alyssa Graal.

The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. All of the music on this podcast was composed by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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