Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Denis Leary

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Denis Leary. Leary specializes in sharp, rapid-fire comedy, honed while coming up through Boston’s local clubs. “There’s something about Boston comedy crowds — it’s a combination of knowledge and enthusiasm, but they’re also tough,” he said in a local interview. “They can smell blood. They can smell fear. I always felt like it was trial by fire in the Boston clubs in the best possible way.” He’s gone on to create famous sketches about cancer and coffee, even crossing over from stand-up into TV and film (Rescue Me, Ice Age, etc.) while maintaining his biting humor. This week, he stops by the Artist Friendly studio for a conversation about his wide-ranging career with Madden. ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠Spotify.⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

But you produced Blow? I produced Blow, yeah, yeah. That's crazy. That's like one of the, that's such a fucking classic. I know, but what a classic. He's from, the character's from Boston. So I'm from,

that's where I'm from. So, you know, I knew of him. And then he, right when I became famous, he got out from his first stretch in prison and he wrote the book. And I got a copy of the book and I said,

I'm buying this. I'm going to make it into a movie. I was making the ref with 10. What a cool. I know. A cool story. I know. Fucking, he was an amazing character.

Did you, like, talk to him, hang out with him? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. I used to go to visit him in prison. We took Johnny, he was back in prison by the time we were getting ready to shoot. So we had to take Johnny Depp into prison because he got out. He wrote the book. He's free.

And then he tried to do, like in the movie, he tried to do, I want to do this big marijuana deal, a set of Coke. I won't get. They'll be okay. And he got caught and went away. Oh, my God. I mean, yeah, what a story. Oh, bad times.

I don't want to have bad. How old are your kids? My kids are, my daughter's turning 18 on Sunday. Shit. So my daughter's 18. And my son is 16. Oh, wow. I thought they were younger than that.

You would think. Crazy, man. They grow up fast. Yeah, my kids are all growing up. How old are your kids? We had our kids young. My son's 35. My daughter's 33.

my son is a producer. He runs my production company now. That's cool. He took it over a few years ago. And he actually, this show that I'm pushing here today, the Going Dutch show. Yeah, Going Dutch. That was a project he developed. So this is his first, Going Dutch is your son's first real swing at creating, producing. It's his first executive producer gig that I'm in. Wow. So he's my boss. Wow. On set. How's that? It's actually great because I trust his taste. he's a talented kids. I was my daughter.

My daughter's a TV writer. She's, she works with so many other people. She started on John Stewart's show. Oh, wow. The Daily show, yeah. That's cool. I know.

That's about the coolest gig. It's like, I trust both the kids, right? Because first of all, I'm getting old, right? So I have to go to them and go like, is this cool? Is this not cool?

They're like, it's not cool. You fuck with this? Yeah, yeah. Okay. So on the set, he's got a great sense of humor. He's a funny guy. he'll just and we do a lot of improv you know from the pages and we have multiple cameras going

because we when we start improvising everybody's on camera he'll just come in and go like that was great guys Dennis that sucked yeah I don't know what you're doing to try something else or he'll come in and go hey Dennis that was funny let's stay on that thing so he'll pull me aside does he have to call you Dennis in front of people or does he call you dad he calls me Dennis oh my god that's awesome so pro about I didn't have to tell him that he's a professional he fucking pulls me aside sometimes when he goes I was like, listen, motherfucker, you can't say motherfucker to her. I just, I don't, I'm just like, that's just the way I talk.

Yeah. He's like, you can't say fucking cunt to those people. Yes. I said, but I didn't even know I was saying. He's like, I know it's in between takes, but they're getting offended. And I'm like, fuck, why are they offended by cunt? He's like, because they're young, all right? So I'm like, I'm fucking, okay, good.

It's a generational thing. It's a generational thing. That's so funny. That kid's taste of music is so good that when I did rescue me and we came, to do the title sequence. And we were trying to find a song and like famous artists were sending us songs

to try to use as the theme song. And my son was 14 at the time and he came to me and I said, he's something fucking energetic that sounds like you're driving to a fire. Yeah. And we were looking and looking.

People like fucking David Crosby, people were sending him fucking songs they wrote or had just recently written that they didn't click. And he goes, listen, there's a fucking band called the Von Bondies. You don't even know who they are. They're brand new. And they have a song called, Come on, Come On.

That's the theme song. And I was like, he's 14. Let me see. It's cool. I hear the first eight bars and I go, this is the fucking theme song. That's really cool. I have the same experience with my kids. They just are up on the shit that's happening and what's going on.

And also, I think, because they are growing up around the makers of entertainment in and art. They're like pretty cultured. Yeah. Like they're up on shit and they have taste. Like they they have opinions on like what's good, what's not on a pretty high level I actually think. So I always I always listen when my kids like, yo. Well listen, it's a well you probably know this now from your kids right. Like and from it's not like when we were coming up or when you were coming up and I'm fucking I'm way older than you. I'm 68. How old are you? I'm 46. Okay. I can't believe you're 46. Fuck. Damn. I can't believe I'm 68. But 68 is great.

I know it is great. It's fucking great. Let me tell you something. It's fucking great. I feel like it's great. It's fucking great. Apparently, 82 and 84 are great looking at McCartney and fucking Mick Jagger. I saw.

I saw a guy who's 80 the other day playing golf and he's a fucking really good golfer and he'll kick your ass. And I'm not a lifelong golfer. I just started the last couple of years and I really enjoy it. But I was like, God damn, 80 looks fucking. I know. But here's the thing. Sick. That's what I want to do.

You got to fucking just stay alive. I sing in my fucking truck when I'm driving every fucking day. I sing. I put a playlist. I fucking love. I love music or whatever. I'm always finding out for my kids. Is there a new thing?

You got to stay alive. You got to move forward. What's your playlist like on a normal day? It's so crazy. It depends on if I have to sing because I still do a couple of concerts every year for charity. stand-up concerts. And I have to do the asshole song because my fans... Classic. We were just talking about that. Yeah, yeah. So, like, if I'm, and I'm mostly acting, that's what I've been doing it.

I haven't done a stand-up tour in like 15 years because my schedule's so crazy, but I have to be able to sing at least that song. And then if I have somebody on, like Conan on one of my charity gigs or, you know, one of the ones I do is from Michael J. Fox's Foundation for Parkinson's. And it's heavy rock and roll. So it's a couple of, it's me hosting, a couple comedian friends and then like a big fucking surprise rock guest like fucking the who or stevie nick yeah whoever right and usually we have to sing a fucking song with them or they sing they sing along to you know yeah whatever so i have to be able to fucking sing so i i keep my i warm up my voice by a certain playlist of songs i that match me i can sing in jaggers register that's

kind of my fucking wheelhouse so those songs are good for me to drive around and sing to but But I also just like the fucking, you know, but it's not like the old days where you found out, like you don't find out from the sources you did when we were coming up. No, not on the radio or the radio. It doesn't work anymore. Yeah. So it's all streaming.

And that's what film doesn't exist anymore, man. The movies, it doesn't happen. Right. Four movies a year get business in the theaters. It's all streaming. Right. And music now is all fucking. It's all streaming.

It's all streaming. That's it. So that's how you find out, or you from Instagram or your kids. go, you gotta listen to this song. Right. Or your musician friends go, you gotta fucking check out this new band or artist. Yeah.

So that's basically how we find out everything. But you're a rock guy. I'm everything. A little bit of everything. I mean, I'm basically rock. Yeah. But I'm mostly rock, but I like, where I grew up,

where I grew up, a lot of country was. So I rejected country most of my life. And then as I got older, I found myself listening to country. And I was like, God, I'm from fucking listening to what my dad listened to when I was a kid. What are you listening to from country that you liked? Everything from old stuff, I love like the highway men.

And I love Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson. Blue eyes crying in the rain. Yeah, Willie Nelson. Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash. Fucking Chris Christopherson. Chris Christopherson.

But then I love Whaling Jennings. Waylon Jennings. Whaling Jennings. But then I love Luke Combs. So I got to know Luke. and I was a fan of his music and I met him. And now obviously he's become the... What about fucking Chris Stapleton's voice?

Love Chris Stapleton. How crazy. Tyler Childers. Fucking Brad Paisley. But God forbid. God forbid. I know. Listen, I've always loved...

I didn't grow up with country music. My dad was a musician even though he came to this country and he was a mechanic by trade. Where did he come from? My parents come from Ireland from the same village. My dad was very musical. It was genetically in his family. And so he played in Irish bands on the weekend for weddings and dances and stuff. In Boston?

Yeah, and in Worcester. Wow. Oh, yeah, Worcester. And in New York, because I had cousins in New York. So almost every weekend when I was a kid, he was playing in bands. So that's how I saw a show business. And then he would play in the apartment. They would, after a wedding or whatever, people would come back to the apartment.

He would play. And there was always lots of music. My dad loved the Beatles and Bing Crosby. He loved Dean Martin and, you know. So my baby sister became a fiddle player, so she played Irish music with him. And so we were always exposed to that. I got exposed to so much music through them,

like just what they were playing in the house because they always had music going. And then, you know, as a kid, it wasn't really the Beatles for me. I was a little too young for that, but it was fucking Rolling Stones first. And then my life changed the day, the first time I saw David Bowie.

Oh, yeah. I was like, what? Aladdin's saying, I was like, my brother and I were like, what the fuck is this? This is fucking cool. That completely changed my fucking world.

Yeah. I was like, holy fuck. First of all, great fucking songs, but the fucking, the way he reinvented himself, that took me right from Rolling Stones right into another world,

you know? Yeah, well, I think Bowie was one of the first ones to kind of show the theatrical, creative side on stage with rock music that was like he was wearing crazy stuff and he was the makeup and stuff I think was like a without Bowie there wouldn't be uh lady Gaga no you know what I mean so

people completely underestimate like his voice he was a fucking great singer man he had a fucking amazing voice incredible yeah incredible yeah and the songs and it's what he did on that last album and I know to this day there are certain people that say he wasn't writing about his own death he was writing about it he knew he was dying right he might die the fucking songs and the videos to those songs from that fucking album are you fucking kidding me it's really truly to me like the highest uh level of art when someone's insane expressing that you know what i mean dude and i met him once oh that's cool yeah well you i imagine you've you've met everybody i've met so many of my heroes a lot of cool people yeah i went on tour with the stones

in 94. No way. Yeah. In 94, it was the Voodoo Lounge Tour. And you remember Ted Demi? Yeah. So Ted Demi was a famous director at MTV. He did my MTV spots.

He was the guy who created YoMTV raps, which was the first introduction of hip-up on MTV. But great guy, one of the funniest human beings ever. We worked together. We did the ref together, the movie. He did No Care for Cancer and my MTV spots. We ended up doing Blow. I produced Blow.

He directed it. you know he so he was my partner in crime right looking crazy dude i know so i was at home and like the so and again i love the stones that's but you produced blow i produced blow yeah yeah yeah yeah that's crazy that's like one of the that that's such a fucking classic i know but what a classic it's he's from the characters from boston so i'm from that's where i'm from so you know i knew of him. And then he, right when I became famous, he got out from his first stretch in prison and he wrote the book. And I got a copy of the book and I said, I'm buying this. I'm going to make it into a movie. I was making the ref with 10. What a cool. I know. What a cool story. I know.

Fucking, he was an amazing character. Did you like talk to him, hang out with him? Oh, yeah, yeah. Wow. I used to go to visit him in prison. We took Johnny. He was back in prison by the time we were getting ready to shoot. So we had to take Johnny Depp into prison because he got out. He wrote the book. He's free. And then he tried to do, like in the movie, he tried to do, I want to do this big marijuana deal instead of Coke. I won't get, they'll be okay. And he got caught and went away. Oh, my God. I mean, yeah, what a story. But, um, and Depp did such a fucking great job. Yeah, he was great in that movie. Anyways, I got a phone call at my house and my agent goes, listen, five minutes, Mick Jagger's going to call you.

And I go, fuck off. He goes, I just got a phone call. It sounds like Mick Jagger, and I gave him your number. So I'm like, dude, somebody's fucking with you. Like, I have so many friends that were voiceover guys and cartoon animation. Yeah, yeah. One of my best friends from growing up, right? He was a voice.

So I wait, the phone rings, and I hear it. And I literally, my friend Chris Phillips is a famous voiceover guy. He does such a great Mick. It sounded just like him. So he said, you know, I can't do a British accent. And he's like, hey, man, this is Mick Jagger. And I was like, Chris, go fuck yourself. And I hung up.

Right. And then it fucking rang again a couple minutes later. And that's when I went, and he was like, listen, dude, you know, we're going to go on tour. We don't, we don't want to do a regular documentary. So I'm going to invite a couple of different people to pitch me on an idea. I want to do a documentary combined with some kind of a storyline. so that the band doesn't feel like it's just a story about us on stage again. So he had different people come in and pitch.

So Judapitow and Ben Stiller went in. I went in with Ted. I don't know what happened. We got the job. Wow. So the idea was we were going to travel with them that summer because we were both off, me and Ted. Yeah.

And hang around with them and see what we would do. So the first time we met Mc Jagger was just fucking crazy. It was crazy. It's Mick Jagger. And then he's like, they weren't getting along him and Keith at the time. Oh, wow. That's funny. It was at rehearsal.

What's that like? It was, he, when we talked to him for like 10 minutes, he's like, listen, I want you guys to know, you know, whatever you need, blah, blah, and he was so cool. Yeah. And we were nervous. He's like, he's like, Nick doesn't like the idea. So you have to go, you have to go pitch the idea to him. And we were like, what do you mean? With you?

And he's like, no, no, not with me. He's in his dressing room right now waiting to talk to you guys. So we're like, we have, so we're walking down the hallway going like, they're not talking to each other. How are we going to do this? How are we going to do this? So we go in there, I love Keith, walk in. Man, this is so crazy.

Keith and Ron are in the same dressing room. And as I'm coming in, some guy told him we're coming in, right? They're playing ching ding and ding ding ding the opening chords to the asshole song. Oh, yeah. And they're fucking, they're unplugged. And he literally goes like, man, how did you write that song? what are the court changes do we have it right?

And I'm like, I can't believe I'm fucking talking. What the fuck? Are you kidding me? Yeah. So, and then he said, flat out, he goes, listen, I'm not fucking doing, I don't do any acting.

I'm not doing any fucking acting. You guys want to make this documentary and he wants to do some fucking behind the scenes shit with some scenes. I'm not doing that. Shoot me all you want on camera. You want to interview me, whatever. I'm not, I'm not a fucking actor.

I'm not doing it. So you tell him, like, so now we realize we have to, we're going to be going back, which we did, the whole fucking summer. We'd go back and tell us. We'd go and tell Keith. Now, I'm not doing that. Wow. It was so crazy. But here's the craziest thing.

Later on the tour, they said when we were going to Washington, because they were going to open a Washington. So the opening week, we're going to rehearse at RFK Stadium, as it was called at the time. And they said, they're so cool. They said, we're taking over this whole hotel. So you tell your family members,

any friends or family members that want to come down for the opening night, they can stay at the hotel, hang out with us back at the hotel. We were like, how many people? How many ever were you want? So we flew in. Like, I got my brother to come.

I got my fucking wife to come. And my friend Chris Phillips, I just mentioned, I brought him because he's, Stone's freak. And the first night of rehearsal, we went back to eat at the hotel with the band. And I walk in,

I tell my brother, like, do not fucking bother, fuck it. He's the biggest Stones fan. And I'm like, don't fucking bother Mick Jagger or fucking Keith. Just be cool. Like don't fucking corner people. Chill. Yeah.

And don't ask for shit to be signed. Be cool. Don't get anything. Yeah, be cool. And I'm with my brother and we're talking to Mick. And he literally, this is why they're so great. He walks up and he goes, do you guys watch the whole rehearsal? My brother's like, oh, yeah.

And he's like, what did you guys think about? Should we switch the Sam cover at the top? and maybe do, and my brother's, and I'm like, I can't believe, he goes, because I don't think we should open necessarily with it, it's only rock and roll. What did you think? And my brother goes, oh, well, I don't know.

And I go, I thought it was great. He goes, yeah, but I mean, think about it. Like, he really was, he wanted us to give an opinion. Yeah, yeah. And I look over, and my friend Chris is sitting at a table where Keith and Ron are eating together. And I'm like, I got to go, I got to go, yeah.

So I walk over and I go, hey, what's going on, guys? and Keith goes, I was just asking him about how you guys wrote asshole. And he was telling me about the night and his court changes. And I was like, what the fuck? Where am I right now? They were so fucking cool. And then we shot some stuff with Mick and Nick was fucking great, really funny shit behind the scenes. Right.

He was really cool. I did this thing with them making fun of how much their merchandise was going to cost and how much they had. They had fucking tons of merchandise. Yeah, they had. He wouldn't do any of that stuff. We shot some fucking concert stuff. And we went from like June into September, into the beginning of the tour.

That's a long-ass time. Long-ass time. Came out to L.A. for the L.A. tours, gigs. And out here, I think it was Mick's birthday. He has birthday. We went to a birthday party. And we had to say, like, listen, dude, it's not going to work.

Because Keith will not do anything. And so it's just me and you in a scene. And I don't know what we're going to do. And he's like, yeah, I know what you mean. I don't think, unless we're just going to make a straight documentary. So what happened to all the footage? Some of the footage is on YouTube if you look it up. You'll see some of the scenes of me and Mick doing the merchandise and stuff like that.

But yeah, it just got kind of abandoned. But the funny part was that they're such nice guys. They were like, do you want to come and see us on this part of the tour? And we were like, yeah. So we kept going to some of the gigs. And then I just, I ran into Mick every once in a while. And it's so funny. It's like, it's so weird to me when people like that, like, come up to me at something

and go like, hey, Dennis, or you're on a red carpet and Mick Jagger goes, hey, Dennis, this is and I'm like, this is so fucking weird to me. That's funny because when I hear you talk, I think you're likely more interested in making things and how they're made. And then as a function of making the thing, you got to go and play a role in it sometimes, right? Like, you got to get on stage and do it to actually execute the whole thing. which is what you're probably interested in is how's this whole thing work. You'd probably be just as happy.

Do you do some show running? Yes. Okay. So you know how stitch shit's made because you've just been making it. Yeah. And you write. Yep. And you could direct, obviously.

I have directed. Yeah. And so you direct. And you know, also think about this. Oh, that's a good book. We should make that. Yes. That's how a maker thinks.

Yeah. Not just, oh, that's a good book. I want to read it again or I'm going to give it to my friend. A maker thinks, what else could that be? That could be a movie or that could be a movie or that could be a, TV show. So that's how a maker thinks. But then a maker who's got talent

can go on stage and help execute because it's hard to find talent. Yeah. But it's also, it is the creative process. It's like mutual respect too, like as a, because I'm an actor and a comedian, right? And I can sing.

But I'm just telling you, like the guys in my band, the women in my band, they're professional musicians. Right. So that's, and you know, a couple of my friends

that are rock stars, that, you know, like, I have so much respect for that process because I can get up on a stage and sing a song with you, but I can't really fucking sing. I'm not a proper singer. I'm more of a yeller, right? Yeah. And I'm a comedian, right?

So I'm still daunted and amazed. And I think music is actually, it's funny. I have this theory, but I don't think it's a theory. I think it's a fact. Because now I'm old enough. Generationally, and you're getting there. Generationally, you're starting to see, like, what lives and last?

because as you go from one generation to the next, people aren't famous anymore. Actors, they're not famous anymore. Evil people or presidents, shit like that, right? Those people get statues made. Their names carry out. Everybody, even kids today know who Hitler was. Famous.

My kids do not know who John Wayne was. They have no idea. They don't, Bing Crosby, they know, because the White Christmas song. They know the Rolling Stones. They found that out themselves or through, they like some of their songs, right? music is the one thing that if you have a great song

it can last it's emotionally connects to people and or events in their lives and it lives forever that's why my kids know Bing Crosby other way they didn't even know he was an actor my kids thought fucking Paul Newman was a chef because all they did was eat popcorn and a salad dressing and then one night my wife and I were watching this thing and my son came in to ask us a question when he was like 12

and he was like, hey, is that the chef in this thing? That's hilarious. And we were like, what? He's like, that's the chef. No, no, no, no. That's Paul Newman. He didn't know fucking Paul Newman was the guy who made the popcorn.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. But my kids knew who fucking, I mean, the godfather, occasional films travel through generationally. But my kids know De Niro and Pacino because of what they did now and the godfather. That's it.

Yeah. They don't fucking know. Woody Allen doesn't mean. shit to them. Right. You know, like, you know,

so I've seen it now. I've seen friends of mine, you know, fade away. But the music doesn't, you know? It's like, that's how fuck it.

That truly lives on. Yeah. You know? So that's the thing that's really, emotionally, nothing connects like music does. It really doesn't. It does.

It strikes you in moments and it lives forever once it's like, if you had that moment in your life and that song was on, or you had that, it lives with you for, Forever. Yeah.

When that song comes on, it takes you right back to that place. You can smell the air. You can feel the moment you were in. There's nothing else that does it. Yeah. There's no art form that does it. And what would TV and films be without music? What would those moments?

How would they hit if they didn't have that perfectly married? Exactly. Those two forms of art perfectly married. Especially since Scorsese, because he was the first guy to really do it, right? Maybe the graduate, because Mike Nichols used Simon and Garfunkel. as the soundtrack to that movie. But by the time you get to Mean Streets, which is 74,

where songs from rock and roll are the emotional soundtrack of the movie. Now, great songs, can help other forms of art. Yeah. But it's truly amazing. Like,

I've seen it happen where I'm famous to some younger people because of Diego from Ice Age or from some most recent movie I did. right or a TV show yeah but the asshole song well they know your voice and then they know your you're actually what i would say is when i think about you because i grew up with you yes so you're very famous to me yeah right so i grew up i saw that i i think uh i grew up in the m tv like generation of like it was a new it was a yeah yeah it was a new form of uh we digested it yeah and you also have had so many moments that were so important like the sandlot. Oh yeah. When I think about this.

Yeah. When I think about the dad character, you nail so many, you nail an archetype of a guy that to me represents a little bit of what I know. Yeah. So like there was a guy on the East Coast that was very much like, it was like you were portraying a guy we all knew. Yeah. And there was something about it that was like very comforting and very like I don't know is like so that it there's these iconic moments if you think about it and then maybe to some kid it's the it's the ice age voice yeah also when we think about rescue me and then to where you're at now with going Dutch when I think about the legacy across decades of someone who's been working yeah and I go like I'm a little analytical sometimes and I go like I wonder how that guy thinks

or how that guy makes decisions or and I just feel like I see some guys and I relate to what they're doing in the world and in life because I wanted to meet a nice girl and have a family and my dad was a butcher and he painted houses on the weekends when I was a kid I thought it was the coolest thing and he worked his ass off and he was like grumpy and he was like he had a lot on his four kids. Yeah, yeah. He barely made the, and he had a drinking problem, and then, you know, he had a lot of problems. But when I was from zero to like seven, eight, nine, like, that was my hero.

And that was like, to me, that was the model of a man. Yeah. And then that's what we do. We look for our model and we just kind of want to grow up and try and. What's really interesting in that, what you're saying about that is that your brother and you, listen, this is not, I'm not demeaning anybody. No, no, yeah. You can't.

You can't. We both know as artists, right? I picked it up on it. Obviously, you and your brother did, which is early on when I, when I, when the things clicked and it happened for me, Ted Demi and I were very lucky because his uncle Jonathan was already a famous Oscar winning director. Okay. We had a mentor who is like, this is what you need to do.

Start companies. Start production companies. Hills and valleys. Yeah, work. You know, that's like, work is going to go up and down. You need to self-generate. That's right. So thank God we had that because I already had two kids by the time.

My son was two and my daughter had just been born when I got famous when I hit. And so I was already ready to form a company. I had the information in my head. So that what made me see the long term, right? So you go, okay, I'm learning this stuff. And then how can I get longevity out of it? How can you stay in business? Yeah, how can I continue to work?

Right. And raise a family. like you said. Yeah. Right. So look at what you and your brother have here, right? So you did that. Because how many friends do we know, I know as actors and comedians and you know as musicians who didn't do that? And then the phone stops ringing or the gigs dry up like, you know, and the live audience is dissipating. Your songs out on the radio and what do you do now? And you're going to have periods of time where like we did with the band, 2011, 12, it went and you're like from 2000 to 2011, it was like, you couldn't, couldn't do all the work.

Right. And then all of a sudden, music, physical stuff goes away. Everyone's getting stuff off the internet before streaming. Yeah. It was MP3s. They'd rip offline. There was everyone said the music is done. Everything's closing.

You're done. This music is done. Yeah. You'll never make money again. And then obviously now musicians and artists make more than they ever had. I don't care what anyone says. Yeah. It's like looking at basketball now versus in the 90s.

what the players are paid. It's just a different world. It's a different world. But we always, this is why I like you and I thought, oh, you know what? I was excited to talk to you. One, because I grew up with you. But also, there's a working class approach to, you can have a working class approach to an entertainment art career. Fuck yeah. You know, like, I was raised in, and I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but like prancing around on stage is not what a man does. Not at all. You go get a job. Yeah.

And so like being in a band was not looked at as like, what are you doing? What are you going to do? Yeah. And so I think we always said, well, we're not artists. We're just, we just work here. Right. We just work here. We just work here.

Yeah. And so later on I kind of embrace it. I am an artist and I create things. Yeah. And I like it. But we looked at it as a job. We looked at it as. It is a job.

It's a profession. Right. It's not a fantasy. It's not. a magic trick. It's actually a career you can choose. So whatever the gift comes from, right? Right. Whatever the spark is that you get from your parents or whatever. Right. Right. That's the gift, right. Everything else is fucking work. It's work. It's work. And luck happens because it's that famous saying, right? You know, luck is like, you know, opportunity. You're not going to, right? Whenever the chance

that time comes, you're ready. Because it is a business. That's the other thing. We have to remember. The audience has to hear the song or see the thing. Yeah. Right. Otherwise it doesn't exist. That's right. Right. But I also think it's also being smart.

Like you said, like I'm a guy that always, and I may get an argument. I don't know you well enough. Like, I don't give a fuck about vinyl. As soon as fucking digital came, I'm like, I grew up with records. Records sucked. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They ended up fucking warping. Eventually the fucking they got scratchy.

Yeah, I'm not offended by that. And I love Neil Young. Fuck that fucking thing he built. It doesn't sound. And like Mark Merritt, who I fucking love, like a brother, the fucking guy. His house is full of fucking, his garage is full of vinyl.

Fuck vinyl. Yeah, it's like, takes up space. My fucking brother, you know, my older brother, who's like the biggest fucking rock and roll fan. And I've introduced him to some of his heroes.

I like the stones. He fucking is still doing records. I'm like, dude, every song you want is in your fucking hand. And it sounds fucking better. There's great sound systems too. Like,

you're amazing fucking sound systems. buy it literally best buy this little speaker now sounds better on top of this fucking amp it sounds better than the old uh record player like every time and like I'm hilarious I shot rescue me on digital and at the time people nobody was shooting everybody still shooting television in film like we said we're going digital right right and and Jonathan Demi shortly after did his first movie in digital and I remember watching him at a Q&A in New York some film Q&A and he said it was It was 2004, 2005, and it made the press. He said, film is dead, y'all.

That's 20 fucking years ago, right? Yeah, yeah. And he got fucking shit for it. But he was right. Yeah. And so, fucking music, I've never known a time when music sounded better and was more available. It was easier.

Yeah, I want to buy my fucking song? Boof. I got it. You don't have to buy it. Just subscribe. Fucking unbelievable, man. Subscribe. It's fucking, my brother is still with a fucking record cleaner in the fucking.

It's crazy. He still has these giant fucking speakers from like 30 years ago in the living room. It's like a fancy coffee machine. It takes a long time to get the cup of coffee. And I also, I gotta tell you, my brother's one of those guys too. Like, it was fucking music, the best music. I was like, dude, there's fucking great music happening every fucking week. There's new fucking bands.

Then you play him a song, he's like, who's that? Somebody that you fucking don't know about, you know. The first time you heard Billy Eilis, he was. like, who is that? And I was like, dude, just fucking. It's this kid. Have one of your kids fucking hook into it. She's great.

Yeah, I know she's great. You fucking idiot. I'm in the same boat. You got to roll with it. You got a roll. The times change. The world turns. I fucking read like a motherfucker, right?

Yeah. I don't physically, there's physical books in my house. My wife is a fucking author, right? Okay. I buy her books on digital. Right. My books are fucking on my fucking phone. I'm digital.

I agree with that. I'm not carrying a bag of books around anymore when I go on vacation. My brother opens up a newspaper. I'm like, what the fuck are you doing reading that fucking thing? We have the same conversation. My wife reads like a, she reads a book or two a week. She is crazy. She reads every morning and every night.

It's like if you want to find her in the morning, she's reading somewhere. Yeah, yeah. First two hours a day. I read like crazy. She's crazy. And I don't read at all. I read fucking two lines on a, on my phone. You read lyric sheets.

Is that what you tell me? I'll read lyric, maybe. I'll listen to a book on tape if I really want to. Okay. I'll listen. What books do you listen to? The last book I listened to was, well, to be honest with you, my father-in-law, who's Lionel Richie.

Oh, right. Right. So, interesting. Talk about fucking. Interesting little. Fame. Fame. Yeah, interesting little thing I can say.

I listened to his book because he put a book out. Yes. I haven't read his book. I wanted to listen to it. Yeah. So I listened to it. I heard it's actually good. It's good.

Yeah, yeah. It's a great fucking music book that I missed when it first came out, but somebody gifted it to me recently is Mike Campbell, Petty's guitar player. That's a fucking great book because there's a lot of stuff in there I didn't know about their creative process. Yeah. I read a lot of music books.

Oh, cool. That's cool. That fucking Wings book that Paul McCartney put out, which is huge. It's like 700 pages. It's fucking great. And I didn't even like Wings. I didn't think. So you read it on your tablet.

Yeah, I have my tablet and my phone. On your phone. Yeah, I actually read it. That Wings book is, I didn't, it's so crazy. Like, it really is fucking amazing. It's very emotional because at the beginning, he's all fucked up from the breakup of the Beatles. Yeah. And he's writing songs saying, fuck you to Lennon, and Lennon's writing songs, fuck you back to him.

That's crazy. So, it's so crazy. A lot of great story. I know. So fucking, that's talking about brothers, man. Yeah, two of the best, uh, uh, The best duo, one of the best duos of all time when you think about songs. It's just greatest songs of all time.

Now, do you, this is just something I don't know. Maybe your fans do. Like you and your brother fighting all the time? No. No, you get along. We get along. That's so crazy. We talk all day, every day.

We text, I love you or like, good night. I love you. But you never like on a song went like, no, fuck you. We did in our 20s in the band. But here's the thing. we had a lot of work to do on ourselves. We came from a very kind of tough environment growing up. Listen, me and my dad, and I can say this about him now,

because we reconciled and we had a great relationship the last 10 years of his life. But he was a horrible alcoholic. He had a lot of demons. My granddad was a World War II vet. There was a lot of stuff. And it was a tough place to grow up in that house. And then he left when I was probably 13.

and then I didn't talk to him until I was. Oh, fuck. Until my first kid. He took off. Yeah. Oh. And, uh, and my mom. By the time of the first kid?

No. He never got sober? No, he never got sober. Oh, shit. In the end, it killed him. That was, that was how he was he was when he died. He was 68. God damn.

He was young. Yeah. Fuck. And that was, um, that was seven years ago. Shit. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, we had an amazing friendship.

We, we reconciled when I had my first, uh, into my, my, I think of my son was born. He was a great guy. He just didn't have any tools. He didn't have. That generation didn't have it. You're not talking to anyone. Alcohol is a self-medication. Yes, that was it.

Listen, I'm fucking Irish. You know. Yeah, I'm Irish too. Yeah, so you know, like. My 23 and me says I'm 85% Irish. Yeah. So one time my mother said this to me, and it didn't. It's so true.

Even to this day with my Irish relatives, she died this past year. She was 98. She never drank a drop. in her life. Wow. Okay. But I'd go, ma, so-and-so's coming over, like some of the guys I grew up with. And I'm like, he can't fucking drink anymore. He got fucking bustling on a DUI. He's fucking had to quit drinking. She's like, okay, as soon as he walks in the door, she hands him a beer. I go, what are you doing? She's like, well, if he's an alcoholic, you still have beer, I go, no, Irish. He can have Guinness, right? No, fuck no. Yeah. Yeah. Beer wasn't even drinking. The heavier stuff was

was. Yeah, yeah. Beer was like how you start the day. And my dad was crazy. He was, it by 11 if he didn't have a beer or something. Something was wrong with him. Right. It was shaking if he didn't have it. Like he was... Do you drink now? I was lucky. I didn't have an addiction to anything substance-wise. I think my addiction is poured into work. So I have to be careful with being too obsessive over the like whatever I'm working on because

and my wife's great because we've been together 19 years. So we have a great checks and balances with like, she'll pull me. me out of something if I'm too obsessive. But I never got addicted to drinking, never no drugs. You were lucky. Never did cocaine. Never did cocaine? No. What's wrong with you? I don't know. Didn't you even want to try it? See what it was like?

I tried it for 10 years. It's fucking great. Let me tell you something. I was on the front line of the drug wars in the 80s. You were. You were. I was. And I helped win that war because me and a bunch of my comedian friends and And the musician friends of Boston, we basically, we took all the drugs to cocaine in Boston and just did it. So the other people didn't have to.

And we did a service to the people of Massachusetts. You saved a lot of lives. We saved a lot of lives. I have to say. Yeah, man, it was a, you know what? It was a great drug. The first. You didn't know.

It was so bad for you. Yeah, the first six times you did it. It was fun. The good thing for me was chemically, and I started smoking. smoking and drinking when I was like fucking 12. I smoked and that was probably, okay, I was addicted to nicotine.

I still chewed nickel. When did you quit? I quit when I was 40. Okay. I quit five years ago. I smoked for 50-something years. Wow. I know.

Crazy. Like, you want to know what's even crazier? Is I fucking, six months later I go to the fucking doctor and get the full lung scan and the heart thing and everything else. He goes,

I don't even want to say this to you. I go, he goes, it's like you never smoked. And I might, My wife was with me and who had been trying to get. I've been with my wife for 44 years and so she's been wanting me to quit forever. Well, I think it was all the cocaine.

The cocaine cured my fucking lungs. It's crazy. And I quit cold turkey. I just fucking won. I don't even know. I quit drinking cold turkey two 20s years ago. Oh, so you don't drink. I stopped drinking.

I stopped. That's healthy. Yeah. Well, I did that. Well, you look very healthy. Well, I mean, I'm glad. did. I think because I can't believe that I don't look worse because of the smoking because I kept smoking, you know? Yeah, the drinking is probably, I will say, I think the drinking's worse than the

smoking, even though I know smoking's bad and people would argue with me. But just for everybody out there, let's, let's rate it. So this is what we're saying now. Booze is the worst. It really like, smoking is second. Cocaine's like third. You can do cocaine. If you're out there. Yeah. No, cocaine was fucking. Cocaine was the worst. drug because for me, chemically, it actually, like, it didn't, I could do it and go to bed. Yeah. If weed made me speed up. Oh, wow.

But, dude, there was, cocaine was the stupidest drug because after the first two times you did it, it was, you never got the benefit of it. Right. And it just made you want more, which is like, what, that's the fucking stupidest idea ever. Right. And made people just talk forever, like assholes to begin with. Yeah. And then you give them cocaine.

Yeah. Shut the fuck up. Do you feel like it was, but do you feel like not just the cocaine, but there was a time in culture where it was romantic? It was and like the turn of like MTV, all this stuff before. The way we got here was all that. Yeah, yeah. The beginning of media and culture blending.

And certainly rock a roll, right? Right. Yeah. And so it was almost expected. And hip hop, you know. All of it. It was almost expected of you if you were successful. in entertainment, you're going to do this.

Well, also I think, and I'm not saying it was wrong, because I have a musician friends that are clean now, but they creatively, whatever it was, alcohol, cocaine, weed, combined, some pill, at least they thought it did. They thought it helped them. Right, it was like rocket fuel. I'm telling you, when I was young as a comedian,

the first time I saw Sam Cairnison, he wasn't famous yet, but he came to Boston because he was friends with Lenny Clark, it was a big Boston comedian who wasn't famous yet either. He said, I got this guy from Houston. You guys got to see him. He's fucking outrageous.

He came, and we were on a show, me and a couple other young comedians in Boston, like Wednesday night, but a full house, like 300 people. And they said, Sam's coming with Lenny now from the airport. And he walked in, and it's getting late in the show. He goes in the dress room. He puts down a half of Coke, a half of grand. and fucking while he's being introduced us,

he's going, hey, hey man, I've heard it by, does the half. Then they go, Sam, you're on. He goes up, murders for 20. Like he got a standing ovation. And all that famous first round of Sam Kinnis and stuff about Jesus and move to where the food is. And then I'm with this other young comic.

And we look at each other and goes, is that what you're supposed to do? Like we didn't know. Right. And we went into the dresser. and he literally said like, guys, don't do what you saw me do. Like, that's, like, I'm like one of the only people that can do that. And then Lenny Clark afterwards is like, don't do what he just did.

There's no way I could have done that. I talked fast anyways. Yeah. But that's, people forget towards the end of Sam's life right before he got killed. He had cleaned up. He was a brilliant comedian. Yeah, he was. But his stuff he was working on right before he got killed, he stopped doing blow.

He straightened up. was really brilliant. But some of the greatest songs we know, and some of the greatest comedic performances, Richard Pryor, who's I love. I think he's the greatest comedian who ever lived. Yeah, he was great. My dad loved him.

Yeah, he was a great comedian. You know, there's a lot of blow. There was a lot of drugs. And a lot of alcohol. That's the thing. I don't sit here and go, like, I figured it out. Because I don't think I did in the sense of, like, I know what I need to live

and be healthy and I want to know my kids. That's what I, in my mind, I'm just like, I just want to know my kids. I want to have a relationship with them. And that's what I get a lot of joy from is like, I'm connected to my kids. I'm connected to my wife. But I don't act like I don't pretend to sell some way of life. No. Right?

Like I don't have like, this is what you should do. I don't know that everyone should be married. I don't know that everyone should have kids. I don't know that everything. But for me, my idea was, I want to meet a nice girl. I want to have a couple kids. I want to live in a house I like and go, life's pretty good. That's like happiness to me.

They have a cup of coffee in the morning and go, this is nice. And then go to work, make an honest living, do my best, some years better than others. If we never had another hit song again, I can live with it. We do? Great. It's a good year, whatever. But I'm not trying to profess to anyone that there's one way to live. No, there isn't.

But, yeah, I mean, you certainly live longer without all that stuff. That's where you go. there's a bit of darkness when I see someone. It's not about experimentation because I've seen that. Every band makes their drug record or their this record or whatever. But there's addictions dark because I saw it destroy not just my family because it was all around me growing up. That's probably why I never had a problem with it because I grew up around all these

addicts. One guy's, he's a heroin addict, he's a meth addict, he's an alcoholic, he's an alcoholic. They're all alcoholics. Yeah. And then you see the dysfunction of the life and you go, I don't want that. I just want to have a nice life. Well, and here's the other truth. Again, I'm one of those guys like you.

I was raised. I went to the same Catholic school, the same nuns, same priest, 12 years. Yeah. Right? Right? Like, you know, I don't believe in that fucking shit. And I fucking, and made me funny because I just, all I wanted to do is make the kids in the back of the room laugh and piss off the nuns, which I did. Yeah.

Successfully. But, you know, you also learn, like, it's what you do, like music or what I do or as a stand-up comedian. Take the alcohol and the drugs out of it. That's not, you think that was part of your, it's not, the shit is, if it's coming from a true place, it's coming from inside emotionally from your experience. That's right. Your anger, your rage, your, it's, that's being expressed creative.

You don't need alcohol. And I'm still, when I get up on stage, I'm still fucking angry and pissed off and I talk really fucking fast because I'm still angry about a lot of shit. That's just my nature. I didn't need nicotine and booze and drugs to do it. I just did that because I grew up in the 70s, man.

I was a teenager in the 70s. Everybody was doing everything. And I think you guys were the generation that learned it kills you. We all see, yeah. Well, the two big ones, Belushi dropping dead. Yeah. And, you know, some, I was, young enough i didn't realize it until i was a teenager but like hendricks and all also look at all the

the bands that have lasted like the guys in the who those guys are all straight everybody gets clean at some point yeah i mean keith richard doesn't drink or you know get a higher or i saw a christmas instagram video where he was smoking something it looked like weed yeah um weed's not a drug it's just a i mean that's i i wasn't a big weed guy but um Creatively, the shit's going to come out of you. You don't need the stuff to bring it out. Yeah. So I love on stage being on stage as a comedian.

I was always, I had maybe one beer with me on stage. I didn't drink anything or take anything or smoke anything before I went on stage. I was engaged because I kind of wrote on stage, right? And I still do that. I fucking still love it. I love when I do my charity concerts. Would you say you're always going to be a comedian first? Always.

Yeah. always. That's cool. It's so funny because I only work twice a year, maybe three times a year. And then like I'll go on a talk. Like I'm doing Kimmel tonight. Like I got some shit in my head and I'm angry about that. I'll probably end up saying.

Yeah. Well, you have a way of saying things that we think that we don't feel like we can say. You have a way of delivering things where I wish I could fucking say that. I wish I could. But when you're going to express yourself and your, you know, like your opinion on that or this, you kind of you can't give a fuck what anyone thinks when you say it which is edgy which is which to me is is cool but it takes a lot of not giving a fuck well i the thing i learned was when i was a young acting student uh you know emerson college but i was in a comedy group right comedy workshop and i

loved prior i loved carlin and i was trying to interview with richard prior and he said the original richard prior he used to be on the ed sullivan show but i don't remember that because I was too young, was a very clean cut guy. And then he went through a, so was George Carlin apparently. And then they went through a transformation going out of the 60s into the 70s and became their real selves. And Pryor said what happened was he realized he wanted to be, instead of being this guy that he thought he should be,

he wanted to be Richard Pryor in the living room who was saying stuff out loud to his friends. Right. And that's what, I heard that and I went like, well, if I'm going to try stand-up, I'm just going to do what I do with my friends, or in the street corner. I used to hang out with my friends in the street corner in the neighborhood because I was always funny. Or in the back of the room when I was telling people.

Yeah, you got laughs. Yeah. So that's what I did. And I just did it with the language that I would normally use. But it also is like there needs to be a guy in the group that says something we all think or that has the balls to say something like to a bully or to a, in any situation in life, someone's got to say something, right, about something.

If something's like bullshit, you're like, what the fuck is that? Yeah, I grew up in a house. My parents were both, my mom especially because she was always around. My dad was working a lot. But they were both funny and it was Irish. So it was sarcasm. Literally, all of us were like, like you could not walk in the house wearing something that knew without your brother, your sister, and your mother going

like, what the fuck did you get those shoes? You know what I mean? Like, who the fuck do you think you are? Like, and the whole neighbor was full of, yeah, everybody. was like that. You know what I mean? So it's like, you know, it was like the dozens. You literally, you would stand on the street corner and guy, you cut each other down and the girls were fucking funny too, man. The girls were funnier and tougher than the guys. Yeah. You know, my sisters are fucking funny as shit. My girlfriends were always fun. They're funny, tough Boston girls. The Boston,

um, the Boston thing is really charming. Yeah, it is. Because it's a tough group of people, but they understand each other. So there's a, there's a, Nick's from Boston, so's Ryan. Oh, yeah? Where are you guys from? New Bedford. Oh, fuck, New Bedford.

Taunton. Yeah, Taunton. Taunton, Fall River. Yeah, I'm from Maine South Worcester. Yeah. And then Chalstown. Yeah. Where are you from?

Bellingham. Oh, fucking Bellingham. Holy shit. You don't hear Bellingham enough. No, we lived in the North End for like seven years. Did you really? Yeah. Fuck, man.

Yeah. The girls are tougher. That's the thing in, and it's still true to this day because my sister, my sister, Anne Marie is still in basically the old neighborhood. Like, they will fight. You think you and I start fucking,

our girlfriends, our wives are going to step in and go, hey, fuck you. Who do you think you are? And they'll fuck and they'll grab each other and they'll fight before we will. Or they'll throw a punch at you. It's crazy. It's still that way, like I get Instagram feeds

because I'm a hockey nut, I'm a sports nut. You love hockey. I love hockey. Like the Bruins? I still play. You still play? Yeah, I still play.

That's cool. I'm crazy. That's awesome. I'm so fucking stupid. So stupid. But I just do it because it's such great exercise, but I love it. I fucking love it. But I get these Instagram fees like two nights ago.

These two guys at a girls hockey game, two dads at a girls hockey game in fucking Massachusetts, they start going like, well, no, fuck you, fuck you. And somebody's filming it, right? And then one guy goes, you want to go outside? You want to do it? here and he goes, let's do it right. And all of a sudden, this one guy's wife comes in and goes to the other guy and says, you shut the fuck up and leave him alone. You sit out, sit out, you and she fucking slaps the guy. And he goes, okay, okay. Worst thing that ever happened to people

at Boston was camera phones. I know, man. It's fucking, they, in Boston, Johnson, John Stewart said this once because he used to come up to work the clubs. And he's like, Boston is the drinkingest fight in this town like people literally it is crazy they will fight like just a drop of a hat still still still it was like what year are we in there's like people like bar fights i used to love to like i did some charity gigs with aerosmith back in the day and and those guys were such nice guys because they literally was just like we're don't give us a dime and they would come but watching joe perry and steve right before they would go on stage fighting about which The set list, right?

Like, literally, you're about to introduce them, and you look over in those wings, and they're like, and then the wives are like, or the girlfriend, like, you know. I remember being at one charity gig with Stephen, he was solo, and I forget which girlfriend he was with at the time.

And his girlfriend was like this, this girl from Massachusetts who was just, like, literally, I'm talking to him about something, and his girlfriend walks up and goes, well, you come over here and tell him, and I'm like, it's unbelievable. It's like, we're in a bar.

We're a charity gig. It's funny because I'm from Maryland. So we're not too far away. That's part of Maryland. So where I'm from is called, it's just called Southern Maryland. It's part of the state because it's all counties. There's no, the city, the closest city to us is D.C. So my grandparents lived in D.C.

And we were out in the country. There's some similarities, but Boston is its own. Baltimore is a lot like Boston. Baltimore is, that's what I would say is Baltimore is very similar. to Baltimore really reminds me of Boston. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of similarities to like Maryland folks. I always wonder,

do Boston folks all find each other when you're out in the world? Like, is there like a camaraderie? Well, there is like, it's just weird. Like there's some people I don't, I never met Affleck or Damon or come across him. But it's like,

I kind of know everybody else. Yeah. You know, so it's so funny. Yeah. You know. The Dunkin' Dota commercials are funny though. They are fucking funny.

They are funny as shit. His brother, and have you seen his brother? It's so fucking funny. It's so fucking funny. I have to give him that credit, man. Also, there's fucking, there's a couple of bits that they have done on,

like Casey Affleck did this bit on SNL about going. Oh, my God, dude. He nails it. Yeah. Oh my God. So fucking funny. They really nail a Boston thing with that shit. That shit makes me laugh so hard.

Affleck, and when Affleck is in Boston mode, he really makes me fucking laugh. It's hilarious. I love it. Yeah. It's really fucking funny. Also, those guys are such Boston guys.

They are. You know, him and Casey especially. Yeah. You know, like, and then throw Damon into the mix. Damon is so fucking funny, dude. Those guys, they're such a Boston thing to those guys. Yeah. We're talking major fucking movie stars.

Big stars. Big fucking movie stars. They've done comedy. They've done, Ben's a fucking successful fucking, you know, award-winning director. Yeah. But they're still Boston guys. Yeah.

I'm sure, I don't know him, but I'm sure, like, They love doing the Duncan commercials because it's like so fucking New England. I think there's something about we make it in this world and you have some, you get some fame for that, you get some notoriety for that or you have a hit with that. I never think, oh, it's me. So I'm never all the way connected to someone's idea of me as the singer of the band or the thing or the this. So I think it keeps me a little separate from getting sucked all the way into the circus

of fame and all the way. all that stuff. Yeah. And this whole thing is kind of a... I hate to be this guy. But we're talking about fame. And this is all I know. This is all I know.

this is all I know. to be the guy. But a famous quote. I used it in one of my books. And I heard of like six decades. And had been fucking done every. everything. And he was presenting at the Oscars one year, and Nick Nolte, who was a great actor, was nominated. And Nick Nolte was telling the story. Like, he was really fucking nervous and

he really wanted to win the thing, you know. So he went to the bar at some Oscar luncheon thing two days before the Oscars. And he was sitting at the bar and he was, he was nervous about all the people around him and everything. And Mitchum was watching him. And apparently was a fan of his work. And he walked over to him and he said, leaned in as he was leaving. And put his arm on him and he said, hey kid, it's all bullshit, right? And when I heard that, I was like, as I got older and I went through, I had my kids and I was starting a production company and everything, I started to realize like all the great, the guys, the big guys that I was meeting and working with, Clint Eastwood, De Niro, like, you know, that's a guy's a hero of mine. Yeah, yeah. You know,

the bigger people I was working with, the more it was about the work and about they knew how famous they were but it wasn't about the bullshit with them it was about like hey in this fucking scene but that's all they were while we were at work that's what it was all bullshit and so I was like and they had families and

they had multiple families and whatever but there was no star bullshit you know what I mean like they were literally about the work that's right and I was like ah that it's it is all bullshit and when you talked about awards or shit with those guys and you know I started then I started to get nominated from rescue me

I was Golden Globes and Emmys at like every year. I was nominated at those award things. And I realized, like, I met Peter Boyle at one of those things. And Peter Bull was like a hero actor guy of mine, you know? At that point, he was like he was more famous for being on everybody who loves Raymond. Right. Those guys would just be like, yeah, it's all fucking bullshit. Right.

Like, if you win the thing, great. But it never goes to the guy that's supposed to. Like, it's all bullshit. Yeah. So I was like, oh, yeah, it is all fucking bullshit. fucking bullshit, right? Right. It helps your product.

It pushes your product. But who gives a fuck who wins a gram? Any given year, who knows? I don't buy a record because it won Grammys. That's right. I buy the record because I hear the song and go, oh, fuck, yeah, I get it. I can dance to that.

I can, whatever. My favorite movies, it's not about which won the Oscars. It's like what resonated with me. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Well, the other thing in my field, but it's also in your field now,

which is, and I, and I've happened to me a million times. I'm not judging people, I'm just telling you. Yeah, it's telling you. My job, our job, your face has to move. Right. Men and women. You go, you don't do, you don't work with somebody or see them for like, let's say two years. And then you're like, hey, we're in the same movie.

And you go, shit, their face isn't moving. Yeah. And like, if it's somebody you really know, you go like, hey, what'd you have done? What's going? What the fuck, man? Yeah, I'm working with, not just, I'm not, listen, listen, actresses is one thing, but I've worked with guys where you go, you haven't seen them in a while, maybe you've never worked with them.

Yeah. But you go to work and you go like, fuck dude, like your, your forehead doesn't move. Yeah. Or your, you know, your mouth is weird. What's going on? Hey, me and my brother talk about it all the time. Listen, I try to work out, try to stay in shape, try to be healthy. But to me, happen as sounds like a big old fucking beard up in Summerlin, walking.

to get a cup of coffee and no one giving a fuck how I look. Yeah, well, also, as an actor, right? It's like, it's part of your tool. That's right. Right? I mean, look at fucking De Niro's face. There's no work on that face. Look at fucking, you know, we're talking about Robert Mitchum towards the end.

I mean, great faces, Robert DeVall, Merrill Streep. Like, where you're looking at a person and they're getting older because we're all getting older. And we earn these lines. Yeah, we're the lines. Yeah. Girl Streep looks like she's lived a life. That's right.

You know, fucking De Niro, it looks like he's lived a fucking life. I'm not doing anything to this. I mean, I've fucked up my nose and fucking got stitches and scars. That's it, dude. I mean, it's like, what are you fucking? I worked with somebody recently who's my age, a guy. And I was like, I just said to him, like, did you got work? He goes, yeah, I got everything pulled back.

And I was like, why? Because this isn't moving anymore. I know. He was like, proud of it. Like, stop moving. No bags either. I'm like, what do you think you look like? Yeah.

You look like a fucking, who looks at it? I look like a lesbian now. Okay, middle-aged lesbian. That's just because I'm Irish, right? At some point, we all will. I look like Ellen DeGeneres' sister. But that's just the way it goes, right? Maybe when my hair goes fully gray,

you don't look like such a lesbian. But right now I look like a lesbian. That's fine. That's my vibe. Yeah. Yeah. But like, I'm supposed to look that way right now. Yeah.

That's just, you know, I'm not trying to look like I'm fucking 40. Yeah. You know? What the fuck's going on? Especially in comedy. What the fuck are you doing? You know? Crazy.

Crazy. I literally have been talking about exactly what we're talking about this week because, I don't know, it just came up. And me and my brother have been talking about like, yeah, we're fucking aging. We're not 20. The thing is, is I came out when I was fucking, I started touring and I was, 18, 19, 20, and people got to notice when you were 21. Yeah. And then you get frozen in people's minds.

Tough shit. And then they see you now. They're like, oh, you're middle age. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Fuck yeah. I'm better too. Yeah.

But I kind of like it. There's nothing you can do about it. I'm not fucking getting anything. I mean, I got my knees shot up because I fucked up. My knees are fucked from hockey, but. I've been thinking about that too. Yeah. I mean, but I'm not going to get shit shot in my fucking fat.

What are you nuts? Yeah. What the fuck are you talking about? Also, as an actor, I just think it's elasticity is a big, you got it. Your face has to move. And then just think about all the fucking rock stars. You look at and go like, what the fuck, dude? What's going on with this fucking shit?

I love Mick Jagger, but fucking look at Keith and you go, hey Mick, so your hair, like, look at my, this is, I don't do anything to my hair. They have great hair. My dad died at 60 with a full head of fucking strawberry blonde hair. My uncle Jerry died at 83. He was just graying on the sides. I'm not, I dyed my hair black to play Ray Ramano's brother. And like for roles, you're going to die blonde or whatever. I'm not going someplace to have shit done to me when I'm off.

No. I'm fucking playing hockey. I'm fucking working on the next script, whatever. I don't need more appointments. Yeah. But I remember this fucking doctor in mind, the eye doctor said. I have to wear glasses now. Yeah, me too.

So he was checking my eyes out. And he was like talking about some laser surgery thing for the, I'm not doing that. Me either. I said, listen, Doc. I'm not shooting anything into my cock or into my fucking, my cock and balls stay by themselves. That's right.

And my eyes, same thing. I'll just wear glasses. Yeah. And he was like, well, I have, you know, famous clients coming in here like you. Not only did they get the laser, but, you know, I know a great plastic surgery. I'm like, dude, this is it.

This is it. This is it. I feel the same way. I'm not fine. And I'm not fucking with my ball. of my cock. That's like... Don't mess with the... Don't mess with the... Don't mess with the goods.

Yeah. Okay? Still need them. Yeah. Still need them. Still like them. Still like them. Yeah. You know? I'm not fucking, you know... We're on the same page, man. There's like some kind of crazy fucking penis surgery that guys are getting now and fucking ball sack surgery.

I haven't heard about that. What the fuck are you talking about? What's the purpose of that? Cosmatically make it look better and as guys aged because everything's sad. Right. And I'm like, I go, I can't remember which guy was telling me. me about it. And so I'm saying, I'm like, wait, guys are actually going. And he's like, yeah, I'm like, dude, I'm not getting my fucking sack lifted. No way. There's a fucking touching my balls with fucking shit while I'm fucking knocked out. Go fuck yourself. Yeah. Yes. Those are the things that I feel like

where I come from, I feel like if I had any work done to my face, my dad would roll over. Forget about that. Your fans would go like, what the fuck is he? They'd be like, have you seen him? Yeah, no, you're not, you're not, I don't think you guys are in that. He looks younger. You guys aren't in that club where you can get away with plastic surgery. No, no, no, no. Your fans would just go like, what? This is it.

My tattoos, the older I get, look like, are going to just look like a newspaper. It is true, by the way. It's all blending together. It's all just only going to get worse. Yep. And nothing you can do about that. What are you going to do? Just going to look like, I just like.

Should have thought about it before you got the fucking paint done. My dream is that when I'm old, it looks just kind of like a, old pirate or something. Well, you will. You will. Grow the beard, keep growing it. And just like, there's gray that's going to come in, everything's coming in. And it's just going to be cool. It's to be like, keep getting tattooed. Maybe I'll just do my face or something. I don't know. Yeah, my dream is that that's my plastic surgery. My dream is like when I'm in between fucking shit, I grow my fucking hair along and I fucking, you know, I don't, I shave like maybe once a week.

Yeah. Then when I go to work, I clean up. Yeah. Whatever I need for the character. Yeah. Great hair. Yeah, and luck genetic, man. You got gifted. Yeah, it's crazy. A head of hair. When Ray and I were doing that project together, because we're the same age. We've known each other before we,

since before we were famous. And we were both like, look at our fucking heads of hair. This is, and it's totally genetic. Yeah. And, but then we had to do a fight scene. And I'm in better shape than Ray, but we were both like,

like, I got bad knees. I got a busted fucking shoulder. We had to do a fight scene. Is that all from hockey? Yeah, it's all from hockey. Yeah. And so, and Ray's like, and Ray's a pretty athletic guy.

He's like, listen, I got a fucking bad back. What are we going to do? We need the fucking stunt. Like, they pay the stunt doubles for a reason. You and I are going to fake the shit out of the first take. Then those guys are going to show our faces. We're going to sit with a fucking Coke and watch them.

So we fucking did the fight scene the first time. And we thought it looked really fucking cool. We went through the whole thing with the fake punches and everything. And then we were like fucking really hurting at the end. We were like, how did it look? And they, the stunt director, this woman, she goes, it looked like it was in slow motion. So they showed us the playback and we were like,

oh, that fucking looks terrible. She goes, no, it's great. Watch the, and then the two stunt guys did it. We were like, oh, fuck, yeah, that's way better. Yeah. So we're old. Yeah.

You think you look cool, but you don't look cool. Hey, I love it. Thank you, Dennis. Hey, man, thank you, man. This is a black. This is great. This is really, on the show. Thank you, man.

It's so cool. you're working with your son on it. I know. That's really crazy. That's awesome. Yeah, it's crazy. Listen, man, I'm so glad because, like, it's just young eyes. Like, I realized at one point when I was starting a new company, I need to get some young blood. And him and his

creative partner guy were like, yeah, you know, we're getting, people are interested in what we're doing. And I was like, why am I going to go out to try to find like a 35 year or whatever he was? I would do the same thing. I know. I have a, a, a, a, a suspicion that both my kids will end up doing creative.

Are they musically talented? They are. They would kill me for saying it because my daughter swear she's not, but she is. Because she's an incredible dancer. My son produces music. There you go. And it makes sense to me. Well, you've been around it your whole life.

You've been around these incredible, the musicians that he's been around and the songwriters he's been around, just like the way you talk, tell stories. He's been around insanely talented, successful. I mean, his grandfather. Oh my God, yeah. I mean, he grew up going to his shows. That guy has been writing songs and performing music since before, like when I was a kid. Yeah.

It makes sense to me your son is in the same business because they grew up in it. And they speak the language. Well, my son is very musically talented. Yeah. He could play any instrument, great guitar player and has a great voice. He just didn't want to do that as his job. Yeah, yeah. The thing about your, your wife's dad, like, did you see that documentary?

Oh, my God. Yeah, what a great. Dude. What a great. That thing was unbelievable. It's like, thank God they filmed that. Even my kids watched that. Yeah.

And they were like, this is what a crazy thing. They didn't know what it was. They were aware. They knew him more from television. So watching him run that room that night. It's incredible. And when Stevie Wonder fucking, you see that panic in Dylan's eyes because everybody can sing so well.

Yeah. And then Stevie Wonder does the Bob Dylan impression at the piano to get him the note? Crazy. Dude, fuck. Just seeing all those people in one room and... Yeah, and the different styles. The different styles. And when you think of, well, we grew up with that song,

but like my kids didn't know anything about it. But to see that and then get to go deeper and see what that night was like, that's incredible, man. I knew Lionel Richie more. It wasn't like the big hit songs from his solo. I knew it from the Commodore. Yeah.

You know, that's what, like... That's the street music I heard as a teenager. But until I saw, I had heard about that he was in charge and ran it and creatively and heard stories about him as a producer. Yeah, he wrote him and Quincy. Yeah, man, that was incredible. It was a great, I couldn't, my eyes, I don't think I blinked during that documentary. I was like, and then I watched it a second time to watch the details again.

Yeah. It's crazy. It was pretty cool. What a legend. Yeah. You're a legend too, man. Thanks for coming. For all the wrong reasons.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, good. Well, thank you, man. I really enjoyed this. Yeah, thank you, dude. Yeah. Appreciate it. Yeah.

All right. I don't do a lot of podcasts. Yeah, hey, I'm honored. Yeah, well, this is really fucking fun. Thank you for watching artist friendly. If you like this episode, please make sure you hit the like button. You follow the channel and please share it with your friends. We appreciate the support.

That is why this show exists because you listen to it. Thank you guys. We'll see you. Next time. I don't want to have bad.