Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 198 - Mike O'Malley

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Tom reconnects with his old friend Mike, delving into their shared history in the comedy scene and how their careers have evolved over time. They reminisce about the early days, the camaraderie that supported their growth, and the pivotal moments that shaped their journey in comedy and show business. As they discuss Mike's venture into acting and content creation, the conversation reveals insights into the challenges and triumphs of adapting to the evolving landscape of entertainment, underscored by the importance of balancing it with their home, family lives. Mike also talks about his current NBC sitcom "Extended Family."***Thanks to our sponsor Nuts.com! Right now, Nuts.com is offering new customers a free gift with purchase and free shipping on orders of $29 or more at Nuts.com/PAPA.***-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------About Mike:Mike O'Malley, a versatile talent in the entertainment industry, began his career hosting Nickelodeon's "GUTS" and gained fame with roles in "Yes, Dear," "My Name Is Earl," and "Glee," where he received an Emmy nomination. His filmography includes "Eat Pray Love" and "R.I.P.D.," and he's also recognized for his writing, notably for the Starz comedy "Survivor's Remorse." Residing in Los Angeles, O'Malley balances acting with writing and producing, currently creating "Extended Family" for NBC, showcasing his multifaceted contributions to theater, film, and television.About Tom: Tom Papa, a celebrated stand-up comedian with over 20 years in the industry, has made significant strides in film, television, radio, podcasts, and live performances. Notably, he's a regular on "The Joe Rogan Experience" and various late-night TV shows. Papa's literary skills are evident in his books “We’re All In This Together” and "You’re Doing Great!: And Other Reasons To Stay Alive," a collection of essays, and "Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas," a comedic look at family life. His latest stand-up specials are “Tom Papa: What A Day!” and "Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great!" on Netflix.Beyond comedy, Papa's engagements extend to hosting "What A Joke With Papa And Fortune" on SiriusXM and appearing on NPR's "Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me." His love for baking led to hosting the Food Network series "Baked." As an actor, he's worked with notable figures like Rob Zombie and Steven Soderbergh and has appeared in several films and TV shows, including the HBO film "Behind the Candelabra." Additionally, Papa has contributed as a writer to projects like "Bee Movie" and various TV series. Residing in Los Angeles with his family, Papa continues to balance his professional life with personal interests like baking.Get in touch with or go see Tom live on stage!Radio, Podcasts and more: https://linktr.ee/tompapa/Website - http://tompapa.com/Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/tompapaTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/tompapaFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/comediantompapa#TomPapa #breakingbreadwithTomPapaReplyForwardAdd reaction Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus Hey everybody, it's me Tom Very excited for today's show we have got a great sponsor today. Nuts.com. We love Nuts.com. If you're a snacker and haven't heard of Nuts.com, listen up. Of course, they have amazing variety of nuts, but that's not all. They offer over 50 varieties of trail mix, flavored popcorn choices, energy squares, fruit leather, and so much more. Right now, Nuts.com is offering new customers a free gift with purchase and free shipping. shipping on orders of $29 or more.

That's at nuts.com slash papa. So go check out all the delicious options at nuts.com slash papa. You'll receive a free gift and free shipping when you spend $29 or more. That's nuts.com slash papa. We'd also like to thank tompapa.com. Why? Because we have a new show, big announcement. I'm going to be doing my Netflix taping of my next special on June 15th at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.

That's right. Two shows on June 15th, Saturday night at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. You can come, you can be a part of the taping. You may even be on Netflix. You could actually say to your friends, I've been on Netflix. I love that theater. I love that town. and it seems like a great spot to do the next special.

So that'll be June 15th. Go to tompapa.com. If you don't live near there, if you want to come see me in Orlando, if you want to see me in Boston, we added a second show there. We're going up to Maine. We're going to Omaha.

We're going to... Where else? Let's see. Omaha, Joliet, Columbus, Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire. We're actually going to see the people from King Arthur Flach. hour when I go to New Hampshire.

Very exciting. Dates all over the place, a whole ton, and of course, ending on June 15th at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. Thanks to tompapa.com. It's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey! Don't you know? Hey! It's how we go. Hey, it's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey! Don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. I'm so happy to see you. It's nice to see it, Tom.

I'm going to cheers my little espresso. It's great to see you. This really means a lot. Agreed. Thank you for having me. Yeah, because we have this funny relationship of being babies together, comedy babies together. And as we'll talk through,

you jumped out and started getting jobs, but we were always kind of like in that rare moment of the beginning kind of a thing. And although we've gone different paths and done stuff, we've always kept tabs. And every once in a while, I remember distinctly when I was trying to get a sitcom off the ground. And that was probably 12 years into my career or whatever. And you called out of the blue and gave me some advice and just a little bit of a, I'm rooting for you. And it really meant a lot. And I've always had a deep affection for you.

Wow, right back at you. From the early days. So it's good to see you. It's great to see you. I remember I've actually saved the piece of paper from, you know, back when we were both trying to do stand-up, I had come from an acting background. And then I got a job hosting a Nickelodeon show.

Yeah. So it seemed, and so, you know, if you're an actor and you're hosting, a game show. It's a little less plausible than if you're a comedian hosting a game show. And I still had aspirations to do a lot of, you know, both comedic work and dramatic work. And so I started to try to, you know, go to open mic nights and learn, you know, because this is in the early 90s. But I still have a piece of paper from the showcase that we did at stand-up New York. Because there was a bunch of us who had gone to these open mic nights. And they said, all right, here's five or six guys and gals that we think, you know, have the ability to go and do something.

And it was yourself. It was me. It was Sam Brown. God rest his soul. Right. And Greg Geraldo. Yeah. God rest his soul.

I'm crazy. Just, you know, really, really talented guys. And then. Sandy Marks. Yeah. Marla Schultz. Marla Schultz. Yeah.

I think there was a. There was another woman on there. Jackie Phelan. Jackie Phelan. She was so funny. She was so funny. And I, I don't think she stayed in it.

No, I don't think. But she was great and she was a great actor. But, you know, Sam was, you know, Sam ended up becoming a great screenwriter. And he passed away a few years ago, sadly. But he was, and he, I remember he met you and he's like, you got to meet Tom. You're going to love this guy. Tom is so great. And we hit it off.

But then, you know, I kind of, once I started getting more acting stuff, I kind of dropped away from trying to do. it. Well, that was the, that was the crazy thing is we all literally showed up. And I didn't realize until I looked at your IMDB that guts was 92. Yeah. Because I started in 93. Yeah, it was, it was like right there. And for all of us, and that crew was buzzy. Yeah. It was like, oh, these, all of these people are good. Yeah. And very positive, too, and very supportive. Oh, 100%. So it was like, something could. happen and then all of a sudden you were on television and it was like maybe this can really happen how is he on television you're on the life with roger was the first sitcom that i got um but i but yeah i was hosting i you know so i was hosting nicolodian guts and then i um and then you know just back then you know

if you it really is crazy when you think about it back in the early 90s that you yeah you had to you had to you had to hope somebody else helped you break in. You had to, like, if you wanted to do something, you had to write a one-man show or write a, you know, write a play and get that put on with your friends, and then casting people had to come see you. And there was a real gatekeepers. You couldn't just kind of, like, do what people are doing now,

which is great. I know. But there was a, you know, there was a real thing that you had to feel as if you could break in. It was a very small door. And we all had to everybody. Right. had to get through it.

Right. And not everybody could. All these talented people. And then, and not only that, it was kind of funny because then there was, because what is unique about that group, right?

Yourself and Greg and, and Sam and the folks who went on to work Marla, too is just so great. Is that, like I said, how, how positive they were. Because there were people.

Yeah, you're right. I remember when I, because, you know, I'm sure that we were, we go to stand up New York and then they throw you a gig. All right?

Somebody needs to come here. Would you come and you open? And I remember I did like 10 minutes and it was not good. And then I was excoriated by this woman who came up, who basically did her first 15 minutes, was trashing what I had just done prior to that. Oh, really? Yeah.

And that was pretty much might be the last time I did, you know, sort of did stand up. I was just like, wow, this is not, this is the opposite of the vibe that I need to be around. Oh, really? I went to the, you know, joyful word of world of show business in Hollywood. Everyone's just nice. Everyone's just nice and supportive.

Yeah. You're right, though. I mean, now you're saying it, it was a very positive, like, fun group. Yeah. No one had a dime. No. It was just those spots were unpaid. Yeah, you had to bring, but you had to bring like 15 people.

It's just like you sit in the audience and pay the two drink minimum. So you'd get 15 people and Greg would get, you know, 10 people for. from his law firm and other people that you know. And I mean, that was really it. It's like, you know, could you bring people in here to, you know, to pay? And then you can get on stage. Exactly. And then you kind of like drift up.

But you're right. Like the comedy was such a, you could go to places where it was very dark. Yeah. There were open mics and stuff. Like I remember going down to Boston Comedy Club and being like, well, this isn't good for me. I don't care that I got 10 minutes. Those people are mean. The audience was meaner.

Oh, man. I mean, it was just like funny. But yeah, you had to, it was really like you, you had to get, you know, hazed to get through. Yes, 100%. And which is, there is a value to that. So when I'm trying to think like back on them because you, because you had, then you bring positive people to those, you know, open mic nights and to those showcases. Like, what were you doing for a regular job?

I had a, my mother ran a small advertising agent. agency in New Jersey. Okay. So I was kind of knocking around in there. And, but I had a lot of, I grew up in New Jersey. So I had a lot of people around. Right. Like I had, you know, all my high school friends where I was still tight with and my family.

There was a lot of people. One night, I was a bringer show. No, it wasn't even a bringer show. But it was a rainy, rainy, New York, like Monday night. And it was Kevin Brennan, Greer Barnes. Dave Attell and me, and the only people in the audience was my father and his three brothers, who all look. I can only imagine what Dave, you know, just that I had a ball.

Exactly. Everyone just, and they just did the show. They did the show in front of, and where was that? Was it at Stand Up, New York? Yeah, that was at Stand Up New York. Carrie Hoffman. Yeah, Carrie, yeah. Jackie had a great joke.

She was so great. She was so funny. I don't know. Marla Schultz told me like where she ended up, but I don't know where. And she had this funny joke about commuting with a cello. Or what's the bigger one? Like the bass or something. And something about getting on to the train or something.

And somebody turns to and go, what do you think you're in Vermont or something like that? She was so great. I was like, that was one who I thought would still have been knocking around. Girado was just great. Garfagan would come through. Unbelievable. He was just unbelievable. He really was.

He just had that, he had that rye, he just had that wry sense of humor. And he was smarter than us. Yeah, he was a lawyer. A Harvard educated lawyer. Neil Sit Stan, do you remember any of his jokes? I said, why are they? I mean, talk about diminishing the Irish situation.

But yeah, Neil Sitts Stan. The only thing that's causing the problems the Protestants and the Catholics, the Catholics, Neil Sitts, Stan. Yeah. And he'd yell, Neil Sitts stands. I'll kill the fuckers. I'll kill the fuckers.

Yeah, it was. Didn't he have a fantasy island joke? I don't remember. I don't remember, but he was, he would do a joke. He would do a joke that it was about, he's like, you know, I just, you know, I was, you know, in the bathroom the other day. And I was, I'm not doing my Greg, you know, voice, but he's like, and I'm looking at the back of the charm.

and says, any questions? Call 1-800. Oh, Sherman. And then he would do, you know, the call. I was like, hey, man, I'm wondering, how do you use this toilet paper stuff? Like, I'm confused.

Like, how many pieces I'm not going to do it justice to his joke? Yeah, he just, he was, um, he was just a guy who just like, he was just, he had that rye kind of smile when he was doing it. So charming. Super charming. Really funny. Funny, funny. Yeah.

I remember he took me. When I started, I was, I had stopped because my, my girlfriend's father got sick. So I was like, you know, in the beginning, you're hardly getting spots at all. But I would, I dropped out for about a year. And he would call me, like, every couple of days. What are you doing? What are you doing? When are you coming back?

I'm like, soon, you know. That's awesome. But I felt like I needed to, like, I felt like I just need to make money and take care of this person. and he called it was just call all the time so anyway I I ended up gaining because I loved it stand up from the beginning and then stopped and I was totally off in this world that I shouldn't have been in you know I'm like I'll just make money and hang out at the local bar with my friends for the rest of my life yeah and gained 30 pounds oh man and I was and I was just like getting high and drinking with my buddies and and

When I came back, I was kind of heavy, I had long curly hair, and I had Sam Kinnison on my mind. Really curly hair. And I would, right? And I would, I would lunge to the side. Yeah. I would lunge and scream and, like, do my jokes. And it was all fears. No, you, you'd deliver, you, you'd bend down.

Yeah. But there was something really fun about that. It was like a lunge. It was like a. No, literally, you'd go into like a lunch. And, but I actually thought that was endearing. I mean, that's what it made you unique. Yeah.

What did somebody say, stop doing that? Greg. Greg said to me one night when I bombed while, well, if it goes well, if it goes well while you're lunging, it's fun. If you bomb while you're lunging, you're like, why are you lunging? You're being too physical for this bombing. And he said to me, he said, you have really good material. He said, try and take, try and downshift the running. around stuff and let them, and he was right, it was fear, like you didn't want a break in the

act to hear their reaction. He said, just land on it. And you'll see that those jokes are really good. The audience will give it to you. And it was pretty good. And it's, it worked and it was great advice because now at this age, if I was still had to lunge, if that was my thing. I know, you would do that. Yeah. Like at a certain point, like, I can't get down. my quads are not here. Yeah. It's an interesting point you make, though, that he made about trusting that. I have a, you know, my cousin is a very funny guy, and he's, uh, he's starting to do stand-up

for the first time and he's going out and he's doing, and he's got a great point of view, and he's got great stories. And, uh, we were talking about, I think that what happens, especially when you have, when you got to get up and you only have five minutes, you want to rush through it. Yeah. And what we were talking about is, how you have a right to stand on the stage and say it. Yep.

People want to know what your point of view is. Yeah. And you got to give it to them before you start delivering the jokes because they don't know where you're coming from. No idea. Yeah. But you're so panicked. That's like trying to tell someone, well, when you jump from the plane,

take a moment. Yeah. Enjoy it. You deserve to be there. Right. I know it's crazy. In the beginning. Yeah.

How many did you ever have like some of those nights where you're like, I don't know, people, you know, bomb, but like you said, you'd, you'd do stuff and you'd have your friends there.

And I guess it's the first time you go out there where your friends aren't there. And you're walking home afterwards and you're like, why am I doing this? Oof. Yeah. There was never, it never got to a point of questioning why am I doing this. Right.

But it was like, what went wrong? Like, what happened? Like, there was no stopping. Right. Like,

you could have gotten kicked in the teeth, you know, three days in a row, and it's never really happened. That was really good back then. I, um, I made you this bread. You did? And I literally, it's hot because it just came out of the oven. Wow. Yeah.

That's bread. You can take home to your family. Oh, my God. I can't eat it right now? No, well, you can. But I brought you. We got you some donuts, too. Oh, does it look like I eat donuts?

It looks like you probably. I have. I was thinking when we were getting him, I'm like, He doesn't look like a guy that says no to a donut. I'm going to eat this right now. Yeah, have at it. Joey, do we have the plates? They're behind the box.

Oh, I got them. Thank you. Thanks for the donuts. You're welcome. Yeah, we like to host here. Oh, these are exciting. Oh, my God. I know.

So you have this great career. Like, you literally, in my mind are always the guy who works. Because you worked first. You were the guy that broke into television first. And it's so cool to see, because I saw the ads for extended family, the show on, do we have napkins, Joey? Anything we can wipe our hands on. They're kind of sticky.

You know, and you see John Cryer, you're like, oh, he's back on television. That's brilliant. Someone was smart to do that. And then it wasn't until a beat that I realized you were the guy who did that. Right. that you created this show. And it made such perfect, like I literally just to myself watching like whatever playoff game when they were running the ad. Right. And really, and connected it all.

I just had a little quiet smile to myself because Mike works. Mike does it, you know, from yesterday to all of it. But to like actually create a show that you're not on. and you have the, I don't have to worry about makeup beard now. Well, no, no. You know what's funny is that I kept this beard to remind

you and me how old I am now and how long we've known each other. And this is, there's no hiding this. This is, I said to my wife last night, I said, I know. I said, do you think that this beard makes me look so old that makes the kid sad? Like I'm going to, like they know I'm going to die one.

day or this like they have an old dad and they're like no I don't think so she does not like the beard um she doesn't what's interesting about the beard is that I grew it for you know I've been on a bunch of shows that you know what's so crazy about working nowadays is that no one knows what anyone else is doing right unless you're watching football and you hear about a show yeah there should be like oh and then they just cancel this show it's one of my favorite shows I don't I don't even know what this show is I know like everyone um You know, it's different when, you know, a guy like you, a special comes out. We watch it.

We laugh our ass off. And then the next special comes out, you know, a couple years later, right? Then you watch that, okay. Right. But the show, people feel now like, well, I'm not going to watch it. I'm not going to get invested in it until I know it's going to be on for a couple seasons because I get. But, you know, I've done a couple shows. And I grew this beard for a show called Snowpiercer, which is on, was on TNT, star Jennifer Connolly, Sean Bean, and Davide Diggs.

and it was something that I was doing after I had come off running a show. Right. And it was like in this post-apocalyptic world. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to be in a sci-fi show. I'm going to grow this beard. Everyone's kind of weird, you know, on the show or they have these little quirks about them. And I had to keep it for years after. But, I mean, there's something about obviously the beard that makes me very unpleasant to look at.

Wait, it had to keep. Why did you have to keep it? Well, I, because we did, we did four seasons of that show. Oh, so you, so you made that choice. Yeah, exactly. And then I was doing a show. I was running a show for stars called Heels, which is about professional wrestlers. And I played this professional wrestling promoter who, you know, also had the beard.

Right. Right. You know, it's just a little bit different than the comedy face. Yeah. It's great. No, I mean, it's definitely, you look great. And, and I have, when I'm on. stage and I'm talking to these audiences.

I have that thing in my head like, if I talk about my kids going to college now, are they going to think I'm old? And in the middle of my set, I was like, I said that to the audience. I said I almost didn't do those jokes because I didn't want you to think, oh, Tom has gotten older, as if watching my hair fall out in real time wasn't the tip Well, the fact that they loved when you used to lunge and you don't do it anymore. They remember you're lunging. Yeah.

And they remember that you used to do that. Yeah. I mean, but the reality is it's, yeah, you are what you are. You look healthy. You look good. You look sharp. I'm trying to keep healthy. We, um.

Let me ask you this. Yes. I'm going to interrupt your thought. Okay. Because I didn't think it was going to be a good one. You put together this show. Mm-hmm. On the NBC.

traditional funny sitcom. There are so few of them now. And you look that your director, Ali Leroyd, I think, did the pilot. You've got Lerick. Whittos did it, but, but, and Ollie did this second one.

You've like Laura Kightlinger. You've all these great people. Yeah. Killers. Jim Valle. Yeah. Ajig Segal. Vic Levin.

Is it because there's so few comedies out there that you could get just like great people? I think that's part of it. I mean, I think there's a lot of people who, you know, I think there's a lot of people who are very skilled at writing sitcoms and they haven't been making as many of them. Yeah. I, you know, you did one.

I've done them. It's, as an actor, it's the best gig ever. As a writer, it's, I think it's very, challenging to, you know, to, you know, spent, you know, to get the stories right. And you're putting it up in front of people every day. And luckily, you know, John Cryer is an executive producer of this show. The show is being made because John Cryer said yes to the script. He's amazing. Tom Werner. Did you have to go get him? Uh, yeah. I mean, well, so this idea is based on, uh, the real life of three people, do you know, want to hear this? I want to hear it. I love it.

Okay. But people are going to watch. They're going to watch. They're going to watch. They're going to be a few of the people are going to watch this thing? Are they going to be like, you can cut this part out if you'd like? No, it's just the guy over there, Joey, he's a huge Celtics fan. Okay. And he grew up in Boston. He knew that. And he has been waiting for this interview for a long time.

And I don't like making him happy. But anyways, we're on the air because of John Pryor. We're on the air because of John Cryer. Okay. John Pryor. Susan Rovner, who was running NBC at the time, worked at Warner Brothers when John was doing two and a half men, loved John, thinks he needs to be on television in a multi-cam,

and I'm an agreement. And so when John read it... And you wrote it, but you had created it off of this story. Tell me the story, tell me the story. No, it's just basically, basically Wick Rousebeck, who owns the Boston Celtics, married a woman who was previously married. They have two kids.

And what they decided, and some people do this, who are wealthy enough to do this. They keep one house where the kids stay and the parents come and go. So the disruption is less for the kids. And they thought that was an interesting premise. They told Tom Werner, who's also a Boston Red Sox, you know, he owns the Red Sox,

but obviously, you know, Cosby, Roseanne, that 70s show, tremendously successful. Right. And television producer said, there's an idea here. And so thankfully, we went to Lionsgate. thought they thought there was an idea there too. We sold it to NBC and then they picked it up if we got John to say yes.

Because they really wanted to do that. And so, so wait, but I'm confused by where the, where you decide to sit down and write it. Like, when does that come in? Well, what happened, you know, what happened was I was doing, I was show running the show called Heals,

which was four stars in Lionsgate production. And then we just, you know, again, we thought that it was a good idea. Right. My agent is CIA, this guy, Joe Cohen, who's just a tremendously smart guy, he thought there's something here. And so I think that a lot of the studios and for the people who, you know, love sitcoms, they are inexpensive to produce. I mean, it's, you know, they're a lot cheaper to make. God, compared to the budgets on some of these streaming shows are just, it's unbelievable.

Insane. You know, even this one, which is a kind of expensive one, you know, is a little bit over $2 million. like, you know, for a single camera half hour, which is shot like a film, it's, it's their $4 and $5 million. Wow. Amazing. Yeah. So I think that, you know, people would love to go back to it.

And actors love it. And the audience loves it. Right. Right. The audience loves it. You know, it's such a, it's, if I was running a network, I would just be making multicams and parking them and let them go. Yeah, let's do it.

All right, let's go. I've got one of the, uh, it's, uh, I've got one of the, uh, someplace. Mike and Tom or Tom and Mike? Oh, it would be good. Come on. Mike and Tom. Right? Because it's kind of like Mike and Ikes.

But then it's like Mike and Molly, the show Billy did. Right? Yeah. Tom and Mike. What sounds better? The O'Malley's. Papa O'Malley. We play two old priests.

The O'Malley's and the Pappas. Two old priests living in, no. No one will want to watch that. No one will want to watch it. Only if we're very devout. One of us. Oh, the brothers. One is a priest.

Did you grow up Catholic? Yeah, I didn't. Okay. You can only make fun of it if you're Catholic. One is a priest. Otherwise. And one is the degenerate brother. A brother of like the sacred heart?

The brother like a brother like an... Brother like alcoholic. Edibles. He wanted to become a priest but wasn't allowed to. Yeah. And now they're living together because does it have to be tied to the Boston Celtics somehow? No. No.

Mom, if you're watching, I think you're going to love this one. It's a good show. Were you raised Catholic? I was. Do you still go to church? 12 years of Catholic school. Oh, really? Yeah, I went to Catholic school all 12 years.

Yeah. I didn't mind it. I liked it. I like it. Yeah. I started going back. We were going to church, all my kids at First Communion. And then, yeah, and then my daughter couldn't be at her confirmation weekend one weekend.

And the Mon Sr. was a little bit tough on it. And so we're like, come on, guys. Are you really like, she's gone through this whole thing. Oh, my God. You guys are, you know, are people knocking down the doors to be coming down. I'm Catholic nowadays. Yeah, right, exactly. And they're very difficult for her.

Oh, that's terrible. We're a bit unhappy with that. That's terrible. I know. It's like, come on, man. Yeah. I see how many people are in the pews on a Sunday.

Open it up. Yeah. It's, um, anyways. So you play the brother who's angry. Okay. And then I'll be the guy who's like, oh, give them a chance. You didn't follow the rules. Exactly.

You didn't follow the rules. There needs to be rules. Why do you think that, you know, you'd say, to me like what you think your family doesn't have to? She wants to just go to some soccer tournament and not be there for her confirmation. Yeah. What kind of, you know, what kind of Catholic? Jesus didn't even like soccer.

That's what I would say. Did you go to Catholic school your whole life? No, I went to catechism. On Sundays. On Wednesdays. Oh. It was on Wednesdays. Yeah, like after school you had to go do the thing.

Yeah. was pretty bad. Yeah. But I was always into it. I always had a connection with it. I always was very favorable of it. And even when I, after my confirmation, didn't go, uh, to church as much, like through college and all that stuff, um, I was, I was always, I was always checking in. I was always, it was always somewhat there. And what about your kids? Did you raise them, Catholic? No. My, my, uh, my wife went to the same church that I did. She was, We were in the same hometown.

Okay. And we'd never cross paths until we were at the comic strip. Oh, wow. Yeah. She was a year older. We went to the same church, which is the church where Bill Maher starts religious, his documentary against religion. Wait, where in New Jersey is this?

This is in Bergen County in Parkridge, New Jersey. I have friends from Wardell. Yeah, right. It's right there. And O-L-M, there's this giant stained glass, and Bill Maher starts this thing. And I'm like, Our Lady of Mercy. Our Lady of Mercy. And he's sitting in front of this thing talking about how ridiculous religion is.

And I'm like, that's the stained glass I stared at my entire childhood. It was the same one. And my wife went there too. And my wife wasn't as into it as I was. So decided we weren't going to like raise the kids that way. We'd let them decide when they were a little older. But, yeah, I don't know. It's kind of complicated.

Well, I think that it's, what's interesting about it is that I think I was, I've been thinking about it recently that, you know, where you, you're raised in this, you know, notwithstanding all the, all the criticism that the Catholic Church deserves and should get more of the actual sort of be kind, be charitable, be loving, forgive people, be understanding of people, that you, you know, your humanity and who you are is complicated and it gets in the way of your own happiness, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

All those things, I think, are really important in terms of helping people place themselves in a world where, you know, especially when they're growing up, that they want to be a kind person. I do think that if it, and this is what happened for me, is that I really, you know, my faith was probably as strong as it ever was when I was like 16 years old. Like I really believed it to be true. But again, I went to Catholic schools my whole life.

I didn't really meet a lot of people. You know, the faith was not, like I didn't have any of the bad sort of, you know, they were nuns and, and brothers, but you know,

none of the, you know, slapping with the ruler and all that other stuff. It wasn't bad. Yeah. But I do think that when you're trying to make sense of it, and that you've got one life to live, and then you look around and you think about,

okay, well, somebody created this world, and we have been cast about in this place where there is absolute lunacy going on. I think it's very, it almost feels, and to your point about having a character

who was a little bit angry of it, it almost feels like a trick has been played on you. Like to believe in, I remember my youngest son, when he found out about, sorry if anyone is listening, believes in Santa Claus, but we have three kids.

And, of course, our two older kids. Should we not believe in Santa Claus? We had two cameras rolling on that. We don't even have to do another take. We're good. Check the slate. And that, you know, he was like, when he found out that everyone knew

that Santa wasn't real, he didn't. He was not happy. Right. And not happy. And I do think that there is a little bit when you go, it wasn't until then that I went off into college. Yeah. And then moved to New York.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like hearing, yeah. Well, you know, just, just again, just experiencing, you know, the world as it is. Yeah. You can understand when you have children or whatever, why people will be like, we're just going to get our kids in a boat and we're going to cross an ocean and we're going to start over where we don't have any of these other corrupting influences. Yeah. Yeah, no, 100%.

I mean, in a very complicated world, taking all of the politics of the corruption that man has created within that realm of it, you strip all of that away and you just have your survival on the planet and how to pass through and deal with anger and deal with envy and deal with pride and try and help people and live a more saintly life. It's all there. It's a pretty great guidebook for trying to live a good life and give you something to hang on to in dark times.

But that's a very, that's a concept that when you're a young comic running through New York City at 20, it's not really that important because you're flying and there's all this other stuff going on. It's later, I think, when you kind of like, you know, not everything is great. What are, maybe I should take that guidebook out again and take a look at it, you know. But even if you think about like what you're saying, like you had a, you know, here you have a friend that you're coming up with, Greg. And obviously, Greg hit all the heights. You know, he had his own sitcom. He was famous.

He was making a living as a comedian. And the fact that he said to you, hey, man, you know, here's my friend. How you doing? Checking him with you weren't there. He didn't have to. He could have just been thinking of himself. And that he said to you, hey, man, I'm going to give you something that I think you think that might be a quirk that is working for you, this thing that you're doing that is a part

of your delivery that I don't think you should do. Like he's being kind. He's not ripping you to shreds behind your back on. No. No. This and that, right? Yeah, yeah. And that's why.

because he's trying to come up with his own group of guys. Yeah, exactly. And do this together. Yeah. And, you know, there's, you know, I don't want to turn it into a religious podcast, but there's. But the, yeah, I mean, we are actually forming our show. This is actually a writing. Yes, we're just trying to.

But like I watch my wife, who was raised that way. So she has a lot of, you can't deny that she had some good lessons instilled when she was young. I think she is a I don't think she needs to be reminded to be patient and kind and stuff I kind of do you know what I mean I think like her and my sister

who also is into it they don't seem to need it as much I find that I'm better when I'm paying attention to it you know what I mean I like to be reminded of I've got to check my pride and I have to not carry the burden of it all and let put that on someone else or something else.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I have a... It's funny because I'm talking about pride, but at the same time, I really want you to take the bread out of that bag. I thought you... I thought I was supposed to take it home.

Yeah, I don't want you to eat it, but I want you to see it because my pride is telling me how good it is. Did you start this during the pandemic? No, it started way before the pandemic. I love bread. See, I love carbs. My showing off is sinful because it's prideful.

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We'll figure it out. Go to tompapa.com, look it up. I'd love to have you there. Back to the show. When you nail down the show and John Cryer says yes, and you go do the pilot, and don't take this as an insult because it's not. There's so much navigating a pilot. pilot is so you've got to you have to show people this family is very in your case a very complex family that is divorced and remarrying and there's kids and there's all of this stuff they all

just met each other as actors yes and you've got to tell america these people have been through it they're healing they're doing all of this stuff there's so much to cram in there and you pulled it off it was very deft it was that thing is like this is not like a here's the family and we're just hanging out. This is, they're divorced, but they're hanging out and we're dealing with death

and all this other stuff. But watching the second one, it's like, oh, this family has been with each other for a long. Like you could feel the whole thing like a soup. Yeah.

Kind of settle. Yeah. Did you feel that? Well, that's very deaf that you, because the second episode that we aired was actually the seventh episode that we shot after the state.

Oh, no way. Yes. And so. Smart. this, it's a credit to the actors that they are able to fake and act like they love one another. But there is something to doing a sitcom, which is like running a gauntlet in the sense that you, you're rehearsing, the production is going on, the actors are with the director, the writers are, and then they present it to you, and then you rewrite late at night, and then they go back

and they do that the next. It's so much different than just like if we're doing a scene right here and, you know, we're just finessing all of your lines just in these three pages. That's what we're going to do today and we're doing something else. And so I think that John was actually had done a lot of multicam acting. Donald Faison, who's also amazing. Obviously had done scrubs and had done other multicams, but hadn't done as much as John. I mean, John is, you know, one of the foremost practitioners.

of this, and Abigail Spencer had never done a multi-cam before. She had done a pilot. And so it's getting everyone in Jamie Widows, who was our director and Ali, they love actors, they love the process, they're very encouraging, they're very positive people. And so it created that atmosphere. So that has a lot to do with the directors and John for the tone that it. Yeah. Also, you know, those three actors in particular, and then, of course, we have Lenny Clark, famous.

I know. So good to see him walk through the door. Right. And then our kids are great actors. And so they're all very, you know, supportive of one another. It's interesting, loving acting and loving being a part of a cast and feeling like you're on a team. I love that. It's interesting when you're a showrunner because you're, you're, you are a, you know, you're helping to orchestrate that. Right. But you are apart from that, you know. Yeah. So you, you, you, and so, you, and so, you, you, and so, you, I have to really give credit to them for how they look out after one another. You know, because I've always said that like writers and, you know, writers have the, or actors have the inevitable, you know,

inalienable right to bitch about writers and vice versa. Yeah. Because they're down there and, you know, they're saying, this guy, what the hell? This doesn't work. This is that. Why is this? They're always making me, this or that, the other thing.

And then the writers are like, how come they can't remember that, you know? And, you know, it's getting those things to cohere. that we had Ali and Jamie did such a great job. Right, yeah. No, it definitely feels like a family. It definitely feels. So, you know, we shot that pilot in July of 2022. Okay.

And then, or no, June of 22. And then we, and then we had six months off before we went into the writer's room. Then we started to shoot the other episodes in, and I think March. And then the strike happened. So we worked March, April, May. Then we had six months off. And then we came back. And so that episode, that second episode, was shot a year and a half after the pilot.

And so that's why you're feeling because we had so much time. And then, you know, but it's funny with the sitcom because people went back and they, you know, my parents will call and say, oh, you know, that last episode, you're really cooking along. I was like, that was the second one we shot. Right. You're just getting a little bit more used to the characters now. 100%. I know that's so difficult because everybody has their move.

and everybody has their thing. And then once you get familiar, this is why, as the head of the network, I would take them and I would park them and let people make those people, their family from the viewers, and they grip, they grip, and then you start building around it.

I mean, it's really remarkable that you have a show, a traditional sitcom on a major network. I mean, it was always a very small target to begin with. And now that target's even smaller. And people, you know, as much as they've, you know, people love the, you know, all of the big, successful sitcoms. That's what you're absolutely going after. Some people just, you know, they absolutely love sitcoms.

They want to watch them. Other people, they're like, that's not for me. It's a, you know, there's an artifice to it, you know, the proscenium and the laughter from the live audience that, you know, it isn't for them. And then other people just, how many episodes of yours did you do? Six. Yeah. So, I mean, I did, I did, you know, my first sitcom before yesterday. year was six.

Yeah. And only two aired. How many aired? All six at least? I think all six. Yeah. Yeah. But they burned them off in the summer.

And what did you feel about that process that was after having done stand-up that you're like, all right, I'm ready to, you know, kind of do this. Yeah, they, I wasn't, they came and got me. I always said I'll go to L.A. when they come and get me. Right. And I did a set on Conan and Jeff Zucker, who's the president at the time, saw it on the feed. And they came and got me. and it was fun.

I was so naive, though. I was like, you know, I don't know. I came from a time when it was like, you don't have a special until you've done it for 12 years, and you don't get a TV show until you've done it for it. And they just came and I was like, all of a sudden in a writer's room and writing with Greg Malins and doing all this stuff.

And we just kind of like got further than we thought we were going to get. But I was just, we're just young and naive. And then the president, then Jeff left, and a new guy came in. and cleaned house and it just became a thing. But the biggest lesson, I wasn't, I was like, I couldn't believe I got it on there. Because you had a big stand-up career.

Well, that was the biggest thing was when I, when, you know, you're disappointed, but I wasn't like, oh, F this or any of that. I was, when it was over and two months later, I was driving back onto the lot to park my car and, do a set on the Tonight Show. And I realized, oh, they can't stop this. So I'll always knock around. The other stuff will come.

Right. Now I'm in the game. Right. But with stand-up, you can just, you could just always do it. Yeah, you don't have to rely on anyone else. No, you don't. And you have your audience. Yeah. So that was a, that was a fun lesson.

Are we not doing this? No, I was just going to say, I still, even though the targets really, I still have a script on my desk that's in development, and I still, even though... Let's do this. All right, let's do it. Fine. Okay. Let me, let me...

What's the premise? You really don't like the priest then. You guys don't see each other for 25 years? I think we could be brothers. Right? There we go. Right? I think we look like brothers.

The hairier one? I wanted to grow my beard, and I just started. Look at a little baby one. It's just, this is just getting me ready for all the docketramas about. the insurrection. All right. This is, if I keep this,

I will be working as a villain, an American television for hopefully. Yeah. Next couple decades, at least. Yeah, that'd be awesome. When you,

you worked with Tom Hanks? I did on. Do you have any Tom Hanks stories? Oh, she's just a great guy. I never heard that before. He's just a great guy. I got to meet him the night before. He's like,

Hey, man, Tom. Tom. I mean, he's just an unbelievable guy. It's amazing. What's interesting, have you ever met him? I met him once, backstage at the beacon. I tell you, he's, it was very interesting because it was a, it was Clint Eastwood movie. It's Sully.

He's playing Sully. We met the night before we were shooting. I had had friends who worked with Clint Eastwood beforehand who say he will change the setup, like after the, He'll do one take and then he'll move on. Yeah, he'll move on. Super fast. And you better know your lines because if you don't know your lines, the camera will, he will eventually get the lines, you'll do them in ADR or something.

All the lines will be in the script. But if you don't have them down, the camera will be on somebody else when you say your lines. And this dialogue was like, I'm a national transportation safety board, you know, person. Hey, man, and my line to Tom was just like, and people are always like, why were you so mean to Sully, I was like, I was like, did you have any drinks? What if the answer was yes, you know what I mean? Yeah, I had four margaritas. Yeah, exactly.

All I'm asking is, like, you had a job to do. Did you have any? This is a simple process. You played it kind of mean, though. Well, I mean, that was how I was directed, okay? So, you know, Clint Eastwood, they don't, he, when you're on the set, you know, everyone knows this, even people who aren't in the business, don't like, quiet on set, action, you know what I mean?

This is he, have you heard this about him before? Like when they say sound rolls, they don't do it. They just, everyone around there starts doing this. Oh, really? Because that means sound is rolling because... He's cut that out. Because of the horses. So they don't scream action because they don't want to scare the horses.

Then he just walks up, he goes, and go. So then you're doing it. And then the laughter, he goes, and stop. But what was interesting is that Tom, like you, you, like he's such a nice guy. And, of course, you're expecting that. Yeah. And, but most movie stars, that I've met who have that persona are nice people.

Yeah, exactly. Almost every one of them. Yeah. And, and have an awareness and approachability. And, but then you're in a scene with him. And you got to be,

you know, he's sully, and this is that, and you're realizing to yourself. And it's, again, I'm, you know,

I'm 57 years old now. I was over 50 when we shot that movie, and I'm just like, oh my God, now, you're, you're 13 years old. It takes,

it takes a second where you're, like, because you're, you know, you're on screen. with one of the most famous actors and most accomplished actors of all time. And you have to just really, really, really, really know your lines.

Yeah. Any of the aspiring actors out there know your lines because this was, the jargon was, you know, 52 flex capacitors and probably 50B, 29 knots and a thing, and it was just like, it's just, it's just, the worst. But again, going back to him, I went back for the premiere in New York. And this is the kind of guy who has the awareness when he's standing up introducing the film to say, I had a small part in the movie.

Hey, Michael Malley, you know, put the pie. And again, this is just a level of alertness and empathy. You know, how everyone, you know, people say, you know, people just want to be seen. He recognizes that. Right. Right. God, I'd work with him all the time. That's amazing.

He's the best. It's really nice to meet great, you know, people, nice people in this business because, you know, you hear, I'm sure people from back east have said this to you. Well, they wonder about it when you. Do you have any friends? Do you have any friends out there? Because they see the craziness about Hollywood and they read about it and they see it and they see it and they think that somehow, that the kid they went to high school with their college with is going to be somewhat, you know, corrupted by that. And I just try to tell my friends from New Hampshire, it's just like, yeah, man, I mean, we got three kids.

Yeah. We get them ready for school. We take them to school. Yeah. We come home. We take them with their practices. We try to get them, get their homework done. We put them to bed on the weekends.

We go to their stuff. It's no different. I know. I remember when our kids were little was around the time that entourage was really hitting. And we would watch entourage. And, you know, we've got our kids and their cats and the whole thing and we're doing our thing and we're living out here. And we're watching entourage. I remember turning my wife and going, Hollywood looks fun.

Yeah, right. Right. We are so far from that. We could be in Wyoming. Yeah. This is no difference. You see the people I know. This is the same everywhere again.

I'm coaching a baseball team. Yeah. Yeah. And the people that you meet when you work, the other actors and stuff that you end up becoming friends. with are in the same boat. They're the ones with the families and the ones that are doing the same stuff. And it's interesting because those are the ones who, and I think everybody recognizes this, those are the ones who, you know, if your kids, because we're just coming out of it right now,

because my youngest is about to turn 17. And so we see how, you know, you go through this period where you, you know, you've got your friends, you're doing your stuff. Yeah. And then your kids, once they start going to school and they're playing sports or doing activities, you're just looking for the two or three dads that you can relate to, sidelines that you connect with. And then so much of that is,

but you meet great friends through your kids. But then once they go on, you find yourself for treating back to your friends who you haven't, you know, seen. Yeah. Maybe some friends are ahead of you. Or there's some friends who got kids that are younger. Yeah.

Like, hey, we'll babysit, you know, whatever. Yeah, I had a line in my acts when I'm talking to my daughter when she's leaving. And I'm like, I don't even. have friends anymore. All my friends are your friends' parents. And now you're going to go? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. I better call my friends from high school and see what they're up to. I was trying to explain it to my kids. And I, and this is what dawned on me that, that it's like being a parent is like every two years, this person that you really love dies or just vanishes. So you being you? Meaning, no, the kid.

So like the kid, you know, your kid is the 10 years old. That version. We're going to watch the thing and the blah, blah, bye. And you're like, yeah, you love this guy. And then all of a sudden, like 12 years old, like, they don't want to remember that kid. And it was two seconds ago. Right. Wait a minute, we were just doing the thing.

Yeah. You know, I mean, obviously, the kid, I'm not saying, the kid dies. Just like their ball. Yeah, new version. And now is, they molt. Yeah. And I'm sure you realize it, you know, these damn phones where the pictures come up. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. And then my kids, my kids said, to my wife. He's like, why does dad always send us pictures when we were younger? Doesn't he like, like us when we're on? No, you won't let me take your picture now. I don't want to take your picture. But it was like, you know, these people that you loved hanging out with.

And like my, you know, my wife and I were like, we wanted, we met when we were 27. Like, we want to have kids. We want to have a family. You want to do all that. And now we're doing it. And then it's over. I know. It's just gone.

It really is insane. It really is. I was saying to somebody that, who is young kids, and we were talking about the scroll on your computer or the iPhone just showing you the photos of your life all the time. And my friend has like a four or five year old. And I'm like, you're living right now in the pictures I can't look at right now. Oh, that's a great line. Because some of them come up, you're just like, oh, it's heartbreaking.

Where did that go? It was so fast. It's never coming back. And I say to people, I say, I think that the thing I try to say to younger people now that I wish somebody had told me is that you really, your involvement in their light, like right up until they're like 11 or 12. But then once, especially in Los Angeles, it's like they're 12 years old, they got to get into the good school. They've got to study their tails off if they're going to get in the other school. And so there's so much homework, there's so much work, there's so much competition, you know. And whether you put it on them or not.

Yeah. Right. No, you know, the school. Yeah. My daughter was, I remember she was at an all-girls school. It was out here. And it was like she was in seventh grade. And my wife was like, you've got to get your rest.

And she's like, but I've got to get my work done. It was like 11 o'clock at night. Yeah. And it's just, what are they? Like 12 years old. And I'm, and I listened to this almost like five nights in row. And finally I went upstairs to my daughter. And my wife, I said, listen, either you have to go to bed or you have to go to bed, okay, because I don't think I can handle another five years of this, because that's what we're looking at.

Right. And I said to my daughter, I said, and I'm what, I have to get my, but she has to. Yeah. I said to my daughter, I said, you know, look around. Yeah. We don't live in a mansion. That's a nice house. Look at your furniture in there.

It's pottery barn teen, okay? We go on a couple vacations, you know, back east. We go to the beach. We go to the lake. Okay. You get Nike's. You know what I mean? We order food out.

I said, all of this, all that your eyes can see, 2.89 University of New Hampshire. Okay. I was like, you got to learn. Half-asset. Yeah. Every once in a while. Right, right. Of course, I don't say that to my sons.

Yeah. Because they don't, you know. Because they're already half-assing. If you do half of half. They're awesome, too. But, you know, it's this. This idea if I'm not squeezing every single thing that I can out of the day. I know.

I'm not having any moment to rest or contemplate. Colin Quinn has this great joke where he says with all this pressure of the kids and putting him in all this stuff and making them work really hard. He goes, I want my kids to have what I never had. A nervous breakdown at 10. He's great. I met Colin Quinn at my. aunt's wedding in like 1984 I think it was he was like he was a bartender 84 uncle and he was like this guy's going to be famous and sure enough he was yeah so great so

great so what was that connection it was your um my aunt was an actress she lived in new york and she was married to a to a guy then a guy who bartended with him at this bar you know right Right, right. Link and not, yeah, down in Rock Center. That's like, right, that's like probably right at remote control, right? Right, right, right. Right around, yeah. Yeah.

Remote control, I think, started, yeah, like around 89. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the guy directed all those, Scott Fishman directed, you know, my first show that it did for Nickelodeon. Yeah. Wow.

Man. Those days. Yeah. New York was a very creative, cool spot. Yeah. early 90s, that there was just so much happening. There was alternative comedy and club comedy and all the auditions going on. It was a really, there was a, the population of comedians, actors all coming through was

was pretty fierce. It was amazing. Yeah. That's the first time you really felt like you had like, oh my God, I got money in my hand or just like, holy crap, I cannot believe I just got paid this for telling jokes. Like, how long had you been doing? it before? Like a couple

years. I had, when I left the job and was, I had in my mind, if I can make the same money off of these gigs that I can, off of this writing,

I can jump. And I got a gig for doer scotch to go to Boston and host as a comedian these events that they would bring young people in and show them doer scotch and get,

them turned on to that and I did like a couple months of that and it paid me more than stand up might be more than my job so they put you in a hotel in a hotel and I'm in a hotel yeah I was like yeah I can go get a sandwich and they'll pay for it I know but what's so funny when you look back at it like that was a it's a great moment to be able to jump and not have a job anymore but like when we were like I remember getting five dollars a night yeah for late night at the comic strip yeah That was fine. Yeah. That was enough.

I wasn't like asking for 10. Yeah. I was like, this will get me that big bacon, egg and cheese tomorrow on the bagel that I can turn into two meals. Yeah. I know. There's no, there's no stress. Like now I was, I'm watching my daughter, like, leave college and she's going to go into it. As the parent, you're like, what is she going to do?

Is she going to write? She's going to do it. Is she going to write? Yeah, she's a great writer. Oh, great. She's a really good writer. She can write on the show. That would be really good.

I think we have the show, by the way. I know. What is it? It's two guys who've raised, you know, three kids. Right. And they're now out of the house. Right. Now they're like, wait a minute.

You have all this time. We could do whatever we want. What are we doing tonight? Let's go. And I'm like, what time? Yeah. And then, yeah, and you're just like, yeah. It starts at nine and I'm like, ah.

Yeah, because you're tired. I'm usually back by nine. Exactly. It's not. You don't want to make the effort. But then there's one person, like, let's go. Yeah, let's go. We're like, Frank the tank.

We shouldn't. What do you want to do? Nothing. That's a great part about being married is that I can say, my wife could be like five o'clock, what do you want to eat? I'll say this. And then 6.30, she'll be like, okay, so I'm going to order. And I can say, you know what?

Let's not. Let's do that instead. She's like, okay, it's not, what do you mean? Right? I know, 100%. Having to negotiate. Yeah. Someone says Mexican food and then they hear that their brother or sister said Mexican food.

So now there's no way they're eating Mexican food. No. I said Chinese, now we're fighting for three hours. Have your, are your parents still alive? Yeah. Do they come out still? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And so do they, so they're on East Coast time and they come here. Oh, yeah. What happens around five? Like, are they like, what are we doing? Like, do your parents need to know what's for dinner by what time in the morning? I say, 10. My parents will be like, they'll come out. I was like, what do you think of for dinner?

I'm like, I'm eating breakfast. But I get it, man. I get it because they come from a time. It's like, you're not just like, like, I remember like if we got takeout growing up. Oh, my God. It was, wait, are we going to go to a restaurant? What? We went to a restaurant like, twice.

Twice a summer. That was a big deal. I know. If we even went to, like, there was a place called Howdy Beef and Burger. Yeah. You know what to me? The whole, it was probably got the whole meal for a buck. Howdy Beef and Burger?

I know. Yeah. But, yeah. You never like nowadays. It's just like, and I think the pandemic starts, ding dong. It's like, what the boba? Insane. Like, you guys could just walk to get the boba.

I know. It's like $50 to go get the boba. No, we had a place in our town called Chicken Delight. And they had buckets of fried chicken that was better than KFC. And we were allowed to get it like twice a year. And when you got it, you'd yell your friends across this. We're getting chicken delight tonight. Kids would come through the woods, hoping there'd be some scraps.

That's great. It was so happy. You were so happy. My kids are just like, I just, you know, you get the alerts on your phone. My kids are both at school. And it's like, oh, Charlotte just got sushi. It's unbelievable. Angelina just got an Airbnb in someplace near the Poconos.

Yeah, it's insane. Yeah, you try to be, you know, very regular people, but they're growing, you know, growing up out here. And so, like, my son was just on a. You know, he's on spring break, and he calls me the other day. And then, you know, I'm telling my wife and my daughter that he had called. Yeah. And my wife says, oh, my gosh, I missed James' call from the Bahamas. I was doing yoga.

And I said, I think we got the first sign for the next season of a first line for the next season of White Lotus. I mean, it's just like, you know, you don't even like, I was like, you know, you, you know, my wife's parents are school teachers, public school teachers in Syracuse, New York. You know, my dad is a work for a defense corporation. Yeah. I'm Hampshire. My mom's a career counselor. And at one point, we're driving, we're on vacation.

It was one of the seasons just after we had done yesterior. And my son is in the back and he turns to his brother. He goes, hey, Seamus, like three years old. What hotel you think is better? The Rich Carlton or the montage? And I was like, I pull over and I'm like, we've got to call your parents. We've made it. I mean, if my, if my grandmother was alive today and to think that her great-grandson was saying,

what, shit? What hotel do you like better? The montage or the Rich Carlton? It's so demented. My kids were complaining. We were with my sisters and their kids and my kids were young and they were complaining about flying someplace. Like, well, we have to fly to L.A.,

But then I think we should stay a couple nights before we go to Maui because then it would be a little. And my one nephew just turned in the row. We're hearing this discussion. I've never been on a plane. I won't sleep on a roll away. All right. Before we wrap it up and before we go, give me some Celtic stuff.

You've got to have some good knowledge from doing the show. You know, we have Paul Pierce coming up on the show. show and he guest stars and is really funny. Really? He plays himself. He was great. He dove right in. We have a, there's an episode coming up where, what happens in the episode is Donald Faison is going to have a Celtics Foundation dinner on a gala event on St. Patrick's Day.

Nice. He says, we're going to give away Lucky Charms. We're going to give away Bayleys. And we're going to sing a song and he plays this song on his phone. And the song is, Whiskey, Whiskey. Whiskey to a lure Lae Tau we sit in the evening

And how we start the day And that Cryer's character is like Stop stop stop, stop You can't do this This is this is offensive Of course you tell any You tell us to any Irish person That this is the episode about it

They just start laughing Because you know It's like people come back Top of the morning to you I mean the amount of bottles of Whiskey. Jameson. I have never said, now I'm not saying I don't look like someone he does. And I'm not saying I have not. But I have never said to anyone, I love whiskey. I love Jameson. And the amount of bottles that I have been given. Really? Jameson. Oh, God. Whiskey is. That's amazing. That's so great. And so we have fun with that. So basically what he does, he's like, I'm going to tell a story about the real Irish theospora.

And the tumult that Irish people have gone through to get to this country. And, of course, it all goes south. And Paul Pierce is there. And, you know, they got the VR goggles on there. But he's great. You know, it has been, it's funny to have this opportunity and to have, you know, WIC who's, you know, we've got the official Celtics logo. We're able to talk about the Celtics.

We had an episode where, you know, Cryer's character basically, you know, he's, Lenny Clark has, says to the, to Donald Faison's character, hey, can you, I have a, I need a,

my bar needs help. I need one of these Celtics guys to come to have a meet and greet. I need to make some money. And he gives him this like, G league player and it comes down. And he's this guy from, you know,

Slovakia and, but a very religious guy. And he's starting to do well. But then he's, he's nervous and he feels like he's got too big for his britches. And Cryer's, character says, it's not your fault.

Blame God. And so the guy goes out, he goes, I never think this way. And so he goes out and he says to the press, he's like, if I miss, you know, because I think that's funny. That's funny. I want to think, like, God. I want to think God. I just want, like, somebody make a big error in a baseball game and just be like, you know,

ball goes through Bill Buckner's legs and he's just like, you know what? You're like, talk to God. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not. Or just at the end of the game. What happened? Are you devastated?

No, I'm not devastated. And I miss the shot. That's on God. God likes them better. Right. And so this is an episode that we did. That's great. And how it all goes, you know,

that's awesome. And what was great about Wick is that he's just like, he has a great sense of humor and he supported it. So we didn't get a lowback from that. Oh, that's great. That's really cool. I know, just from seeing all the Celtics stuff,

it was like they must be on board because you had like everything. Joey, is there anything you need to know about the Celtics or the, I don't want to hear it for the rest of the month that you didn't ask Mike about? No, it's all in there, I think. It's really cool to see a show. We use sports, you know, as the backdrop.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's, I think that there is something to, you know, because I had done a show prior to this, which is about behind the scenes, basketball on stars called Survivors and Morse. And I always wanted to sort of imagine comedically if, you know, somebody is going to go out. If, you know, Tom Brady is going to go or Bill Belichick is going to do. make a press conference and they're going to go out and be very stoic about it.

Yeah. But there's some thing that's going on behind the scenes. What does that scene look like on the scenes before they come out? Yeah. That's great. You know, it's fun to imagine those things. Yeah. I'm going to say that.

I'm going to say that. We just go out there and shut up and just say this. You know. That's great. Because we know when we're watching it. Yeah. Yeah, of course. And as comedians, you're like, oh, when anything's that tense, you just got to pop it.

And, you know, I mean, there's people who, you know, for every athlete, and athletes, you know, they can't have it. You know, everyone wants to have it both ways. And the athletes are trying to either be, you know, people say, oh, they're so self-aggrandizing and oh, you know what I mean? Here's my supporting cast. And I just had it. Or they have great humility and people like, oh, God, enough.

God's really rooting for you. Like, oh, God, you know what I mean? Yeah, I'm sure God really wanted you to win. Like, it's, you know, they can't win. I know. Yeah, no way. Either you have humility or you don't. Yeah.

You can't. No, you can't. Are you wondering if you get to take the donuts home? I don't think I'd take them home, Tom, because I'm trying to make it another. I want to see you, I want to see you 25 years for now. I don't want to say, I'm projecting 25 years in the future. I'm going to say, hey, look, we had that hit sitcom for six years. And we got in a big fight.

I haven't seen you for... What is that? How many years is that? 14. 19? Yeah. 19 years. And it's time we sit down again. So to do that, I need to...

All right. An investment in today for the better tomorrow. Let me say one thing. Have you done cold plunging or any of that? I'm anti-cold plunging. Okay, good. I'm down with that. Have you done saunas? Yeah.

I just, we had a sauna in our house. You did? We had a sauna in our house that we never used because the kids, I didn't want the kids to get locked in there when they were little, so we never used it. We lived in the same house 22 years. Again, just a nice little house is a sauna. Started using it like a week ago.

Uh-huh. Oh, my God, you sleep like a baby. Really? It's unbelievable. Kira, who's on this program a lot, is love saunas and steam and all that stuff. and she's really pressuring me to get a sauna, like get one of those barrel ones that you can put out in the yard.

I think it's really worth it. I'm telling you. Really? Yes. When do you do it? I just did it, but, you know, do it before,

you know, I'm only doing it for, like 15, 20 minutes. Yeah. But, you know, I'm sure you've seen this Andrew Huberman guy, right?

Mm-hmm. He's, you know, all that stuff. He's just like, yeah, this is, like,

you can do nothing better for yourself than this thing. Than the sauna. I don't know if I have time to do it because I'm really getting into legs. wall sits. Are you really? Yeah, I saw a guy who said that... No.

They say the best exercise that you can do for your heart, for your blood pressure, is wall sits, better than cardio, better than weights. Wait, so you're going to put the lunging back into your act? I think if the thighs... I think if the thighs gets stronger. I used to do. All right, so you're going from a stand-up position and then you'd be down like this. Yeah. And I would hold the mic a little like this.

It was fun. Yeah. I should do. So you're saying waltzed like this. And then you go. Yeah. Right. Just there.

Okay, go. Two minutes. Hold on. On chance. Hold on. Keep going. You're doing great. You're doing great.

You're doing great. Yes, you can. No, I can. Are you starting to shake? Yeah. Yeah. You're doing great. No, I have a torn meniscus time.

I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. Was that only nine seconds? That was nine seconds. Well, I started probably three seconds late. So 12 seconds.

You got to do two minutes and you got to do four sets with two minute break. So two minutes on, two minutes off, four times. Wait, so when you, so you travel and you probably walk a ton, right? Right. So your legs were already pretty strong. Yeah, I peloton too, so I'm cycling a lot. So the first time you heard that this is what you should do and you did it, you had no problem. I had a big problem.

Couldn't make a minute. bullshit. You just start shaking. Your whole body starts shaking. Did you try to power through it? I tried to power through it, but I'm not mentally strong enough. So, quit. By the way, that's the opening scene.

You and me. Doing wall-sits. Just looking exactly like we are. How long are we supposed to do this? Two minutes. Ready? How long are we into? That's 17 seconds.

I can't make it. I can't make it. Yes, you can. Your heart depends on it. Have you had any knee stuff? No. My knees are good. And so how, so that's not every day, though, every other day.

Every other day. So three times a week. Okay. And what? And this is supposed to be? I just started. Well, honestly, how many times have you done this? I've done it four times now.

And I'm up to two minutes now. What? Four times? Pretty quickly I got to two minutes. Two minutes on. Two minutes on. Two minutes on. Yeah.

And so the first time you did like you, like you. Under a minute. Right, Joe? We did. You did too. it was like a minute. Yeah. I started about a minute.

He's an athlete. He plays tennis. I have a done cup. You do. You can add like 15.30 seconds. Yeah. Four times. And now it's still really hard.

That last set to get it to two minutes is rough. And what some doctor just said? It was big news. It was in Washington Post. It was all over that these doctors did. Because all of the, it all constricts your blood vessels. So it does something with your blood vessels. So it does something with your.

blood pressure because you're taking this dominant muscle and the blood vessels are opening up and working and you're creating new roots and but you had trouble with that even though you were doing the peloton i have a long four-year streak on the peloton of doing it at least once a week my legs are pretty strong and the wall sits were different anytime you do something different you're weak again how long were you were you there before you started shaking uh the first time yeah like 30 seconds Like, yeah, around 30 seconds. And then did you just go all the way down? Did you stand up?

Stand up. Yeah. No. Yeah, you don't want to go down. I don't think you'll get up again. You don't want your family to find you just on the floor. It's not a good look. But maybe a son is probably easier.

You know what's funny that you say that? I've said to, I've said to my wife, I said, I will, and I've said to also people that I'm working with in high stress situations, I will never fake a heart attack. So if you think like I'm being, like, I'm never. I just want you to know. It's not a gag. I'm never doing a gag.

I'm never faking that. If I suddenly, it's not a bit. Right. I'm like. Yeah, let's get into action. Right. Do something. Do something.

Get me a baby aspirin. What is the sauna, why is the sauna good? I don't know. I think that the, again, it's just this Andrew Huberman guy who's amazing and seems to have a lot more knowledge than many people. It's that you get your body into a state of, your body gets into the state of warmth, and that's activating everything.

It almost feels, you know, I don't want people to think that they don't have to exercise, but it almost tricks your body into thinking that you are exercising because you're cleaning it up. And so I don't know why, but I have slept better every night that I've done it. That's amazing. Sounds better.

It sounds more fun than Walsits. Yeah, I mean, you're just sitting there in the heat. Yeah. So take the donuts. Yes, I'm not going to take the donuts, but I'll be working on our show. I'll be working on a show. We need something to partner with. We need something.

Send me a picture and let me know how you're eating the bread. This is a sourdough bread, so it's not bad bread. This is flour, water, salt, and yeast. It's actually, as it's sitting in that bag, it's breaking down its own sugars. So this is healthy. You put anything on it? Oh, yeah. What?

In the morning's simple, just butter. Uh-huh. One of the... Like that one of like European butters. Yeah, there's a good French butter that's really great. I forget the name of it. Yeah, a friend of mine just... It's in a gold circle.

Yeah. It's like... It's like... It's like... It's like... There's only like three places in L.A. where you can get it. Yeah.

So good. But any butter's good. Sometimes peanut butter, sometimes avocado. My favorite, which discusses my wife, is I put a cream cheese, capers, and sardines on it. I can see why that disgusted. Oh. Yeah. Who turned you on to that idea?

My girlfriend. I don't like capers. Huh? The girlfriend you left before your wife. My girlfriend is trying to get me to leave my wife. I really, I can't wait to see the 15 minutes on the parents with food, though. It's unbelievable. It's pretty great.

And my parents saw it. What do you want? Weiner schnitzel tonight, or should we do a chicken keel? I'm eating eggs. It's in a larger chunk about when they came and. spent two weeks with me in my house without a hotel. And my parents saw me do it recently. And they were not amused.

They weren't laughing at all. Yeah. Not really. They're big supporters until it's... My parents are great. They're so supportive. Yeah. When they would come out, you know, the visit Mike, well, we don't see Mike.

He's working all the time. What do you think is keeping... Right, exactly. Yeah. Why do you think... just this, this beautiful beard, okay? This is the only thing is making this thing stay.

I'm supposed to take, everyone thinks when they come out, you're supposed to go on vacation. Yeah, no, no, what do you do? Why don't you visit? I can't, there's no time to visit. Yeah, I'll see you for dinner. I'll see her eight. Oh my God, my parents will never forget.

We got the time for a playoff basketball game. Uh-huh. Wrong. Oh, God. And we've realized it about 10 minutes. after the game had started. Oh, no. There has never been a less safe drive from my house to a gym museum than that drive.

But the kid got there and they won. But anyways. Before we leave with the donuts, Lenny Clark, back to Lenny Clark. Yes. Just a... You got to have them on here. One of the great... Yeah, he's one of the greatest.

I mean, just a Boston mainstay, like one of the original killers of Boston. Yeah. Super funny. he dialed in his health. He was an example of he could have easily, his career could have just gone to ship because of health. Yeah. And man,

he looks great on your show. He looks unbelievable. It's great. And he's great and he's so funny. So funny. So funny. He's just naturally funny. Yeah.

Yeah, he's fantastic. So good. Yeah. Well, congratulations on the show. Thanks, Tom. Really. It's great to see you. It's so great.

I was telling my wife when, last night that you were coming in and it's just so great that you were killing it in 92 and then we could still sit here and look. Thanks, man. Get to like hang out and talk about your next show. And back at you and continue success. We watch your specials and I can't wait to see this new one. When is it coming out?

Our show? Well, I'm going to have to write our show. Oh, right. We got to write that. Why don't you come over? Okay. We don't have to get in the sauna. I'd like to.

I wouldn't invite you in this song. I'd like to. It's not, two comedians sitting in a sauna together. I did that enough when I was in Catholic school growing up. You're the best. Yeah, great to see you, Tom. All right.

We got it, Joey.