Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Phil Rosenthal — on ‘Raymond’ Roots, ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ & Max & Helen’s

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

‘Somebody Feed Phil’ star and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ creator Phil Rosenthal joins the show. Over ceviche and aguachile, Phil tells me about the special gift he was able to give his mom, struggling to get a sitcom made after ‘Raymond,’ and why it took a decade to get his hit travel show made. Plus, we get into opening one of the hottest food tickets in Los Angeles, his diner Max & Helen’s, which he founded with Mozza founder Nancy Silverton. This episode was recorded at Holbox in South Los Angeles, CA.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Plus, you can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode. So follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Jesse. Today on the show, you know him

as the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and his don't show on Netflix called Somebody Feed Phil. It's Phil Rosenthal. When she heard, what I got for a screenplay, which seems to come out of nowhere to her. Uh-huh.

She goes, you little shit, we've worked our whole lives to have that in the bank and you get it overnight from writing a stupid thing. This is Dinner's On Me, and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. So today I'm in South LA, near USC, at Whole Box, which is Phil's recommendation. He chose this restaurant. I am so excited to try this.

It's in a nondescript food hall called Mercado La Paloma, which is just proof that some of the best places in L.A. are in some of the most surprising places. They are known for their savages, their augellas, their tacos. I've been wanting to try this place for quite some time, so I'm so thrilled that Phil suggested we come here. All right, let's get to the conversation. I forget, are you in the neighborhood? No, not, I used to be in Los Files.

Now I live in Encino. Oh, so this is a Schlep for you. Oh, yeah, but it was fine. Yes? I love coming to the areas that I don't get to come to a lot. You get to explore the city. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're deep.

We're deep downtown. This is the best food city in America. I think so, yeah. We have the largest population of people outside their native homelands than anywhere in the world. So the most Chinese people outside. of China is here. Yeah. The most Thai, the most Ethiopian.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. We have more of them. So, they bring their cultures and their cuisines with them. Yeah. Like this guy, it's so 100% authentic to where he's from in Mexico. Right.

And authenticity, I think, is a word that's overused because it doesn't necessarily mean great. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this guy's great. Where did you grow up? Right outside of New York, right, in Rockland County, which is half an hour north. Right, right, right, right. And then I went to school at Hofstra on Long Island, studied theater, moved into the city.

Washington Heights, I lived because the rents were cheaper. I'm old than you. So I spent, let's see, in the 1980s, you could get an apartment in Washington Heights, Manhattan, A-Train, 15 minutes to Midtown. That's right. $300 for a one bedroom that you would split with somebody else and now you could afford to be an actor in New York. Right. I know those times have changed.

Yep. Yeah. I don't know how people do it. I don't know how people live in New York. I don't know how people live in Los Angeles. Wouldn't your parents living in New York? I was born in Queens. Right. Then we moved to Riverdale in the Bronx, which was nice.

Until I was nine and then got a little house, thousand square foot house. house in New City, New York, in Rockwood County. Right, right, right. And that's where I lived until I went to college. Wow. And it was great. Yeah.

Suburban life. And in episodes of, you know, of somebody feed Phil. Yeah. You do the, when your parents were still with us, like, you would do these wonderful little tags with them. And it looked like they were in an apartment in New York City. That's right. I moved them.

My mother, her great love was the opera. Yes. And she, I mean, She was a Pasito Domingo groupie. She loved him so much. She loved Joan Sutherland. She loved just the whole lifestyle of the Metropolitan Opera. So I bought them an apartment across the street.

Oh, they loved across from the Met? Oh, that's incredible. For the last seven years of her life, she went every single day to the Met. She volunteered at the Met, which entitled her to go to every single rehearsal. And so it was pre-Heavened. Oh, my God.

she must have loved that. I loved it. Met Placido was just, it's probably the proudest thing I've ever done with my money. Yes. Yes, because I mean, I know you've told stories. I was saying I was listening to an episode of the podcast that you did with Ted Danson on his show that he has a,

and you were talking about your mom being so obsessed with the opera. And like if she was listening to the live broadcast of the opera, you could not speak to her. No. You could have a broken leg. Yes. Mom, I broke my leg. I'm listening to the opera.

Yeah. And my dad would say, are my eggs fluffy? Right. That was what he said. Are my eggs fluffy? That's all he cared about. More than his wife,

more than his children, more than life itself, very soft scrambled eggs. Yes. Are my eggs fluffy? Max, I'm listening to the opera. Why do you have to bother me? I've been making eggs for 60 years.

You don't think I know how you like your eggs? I'm just asking. Yeah. On his tombstone, it says, on my ex fluffy and on the tombstone next home it says I'm listening to the opera so great so great how are you guys is Yelberto hey my friend thank you for having us so nice to see you again it's so nice to meet you welcome to cold I'm so thrilled to be here thank you thank you we're excited to have you guys um what are we doing today whatever you want us to do like that's a question for you yeah yes yeah

perfect anything anything anything and everything we're gonna we're gonna do the the the complete Holboche experience. We're going to start with some raw items, some savages, toastadas, and then we'll work our way to maybe some tapos. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. All right.

So it sounds like you guys don't need these. Nope. No. But do you want something to drink? I'm good with water. What do you love? Yeah, water's great for me too. We also have a really good sparkling lemonade.

Well, I'll take a sparkling lemonade. I try that in the water. Sparkling lemonade, lemonade. I'll do the exact same thing. Yeah. Fantastic. We'll be back. Thank you.

Michelin Star restaurant in a food hall downtown. Yeah, look that. Great. Come on, there's a line here. One of the reasons I wanted to do this with you here is because I knew we could cut the line if we did a podcast. That's right. That's right.

Listen. I'm no dummy. That's why I do the show. There are certain hacks in the world and we've found them. How do I get into the best places in the world? What if I put them on television? That's right. That's right.

It's sort of a long way to go to cut the line. But listen, it's worth that. It took me 10 years to get that show by the way. Did it really? That was after Raymond. Ten years. Somebody feed Phil started as a PBS show, right? Exactly.

Okay. Nobody else wanted it. And so that was 10 years after. Yes. Raymond. No one wanted it. No. And tell me about it.

Oh, that's a big lemonade. That's a mason jar of lemonade. That's a, wow. Thank you so much. Let's taste it. We were just talking about how it took me. 10 years to get somebody feet filled.

But I tried to make another sitcom after Raymond. They didn't want it. I thought that was my purpose in life. Raymond was on nine years. I thought, I guess I was put here to make sitcoms. Nobody wanted, not even the spinoff of Raymond they didn't want. What was your spinoff going to be?

What did you pitch? Robert. So Robert and my wife, Monica. Uh-huh. They were established on the show. And not only that, But her family was established on the show. Fred Willard, Georgia Engel, Chris Elliott.

They were in 30 episodes of the show. They were proven. Yeah. You know why they said they wouldn't give us more than a pilot? Everyone was over 40. Wow. They said the business changed during the nine years of Raymond. But you were a hit from the beginning, Raymond.

No. You weren't? No, we were on Fridays at 930. Really? The hit in that slot since Gomer Piled. Really? When did Brayman become a hit then? It's slow, very slow.

Like we were in the 80s in the top 100 of shows. Okay. When we started. The advantage of that was no one expected us to do well in that time slot. Uh-huh. Now they had something crap out on Monday nights. And the head of the network said, I'm going to give you six opportunities on Monday nights after our hit.

show, but if you don't perform there, you could go home. What was your lead-in? Do you remember? The Cosby Show of CBS after the Cosby Show of the Hades. Right, right, right, right, right. And then we went up not only from where we were on Friday, but up from his show, and then we got really nervous that first week because we thought, oh, well, they sampled us, now we'll go down next week, and then we went up. Yeah.

And that's when we knew, oh, and then we were there. You found the right place. Year three, they moved us to the Murphy Brown slot, which was 9 o'clock. and we were nervous again because we were opposite Ali McBeal and Monday night football and in three months Raymond was beating both of them

Wow crazy Did you feel a lot of pressure because there is a point when your show becomes so big and we focus with modern family that you become the building block that they brought other things on

and so these other shows are looking to you to do well so that they can do well off of your audience Oh I didn't care about that I only cared that we were good to be good Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That we just want, all you can do is the best you can, right?

So that's all we were focused on, and we cared very much about it. We stopped looking at the numbers so much because we felt a little secure, as you must have. How many years? 11. I don't know how. I know. We stopped after nine because we wanted to stop. Did you guys stop at the?

I think we wanted to stop at 10 in the network, wooed us to do another season. But you had, you said that has to. to be in that. That was a yeah, yeah. Because you run out of ideas. You do, and you start to recycle. You don't want to do that. Yeah. But, you know. I was told by a network executive, you can quit.

As long as I have the cast, I don't care if they read the phone book. Oh, wow. Like, you're disposable. The writer is disposable. But you stayed on the show the entire nine years, right? Yeah. Yeah. But that

but I said that, that That has to be it. And they went around my back. They talked to Ray to see if he would stay. But thank God he felt the same way. Yeah. I mean, it would have been, I mean, the soul of the show would have been lost. It's astonishing that they think that it wouldn't have been.

Sadly, there are shows. We all know what they are. Yeah. Where the writing didn't seem to matter. Yeah. Or it doesn't seem to matter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, there are certain shows that are on right now that have been designed as wallpaper.

I heard a note from a major streamer to a showrunner. She told me this. Make shows for second screeners. Meaning, what's the first screen in your life? Your phone. And some people, something that they could watch while they're just scrolling. Yes. So as long as there might be beautiful girl, fashion, foreign location maybe, whatever it is,

make it so the story, it doesn't need to be followed. followed, maybe repeat what the show is about over and over during the show so that you can look away and come back and damn it, if that's not working. I mean, that's really, that's really depressing, especially if you studied theater in schools. Yes, yes. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Phil talks about the simplistic, nostalgic beauty of his family-owned restaurant, Max and Helens, and he, reveals how much he made from his very first screenplay in 1987.

Okay, be right back. Hey, Sal. Hank, what's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana, and it was so easy, too easy. Think something's up? You tell me, they got thousands of options. Found a great car and a great price.

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So whenever you listen, search for fatal fantasy and hit subscribe to the binge to get all episodes all at once, ad free. And we're back with more dinners on me. Oh, hello. So our first fight today. Oh, my God. This is good. This is so hilarious because the one thing I'm always nervous to eat is a boonie. I thought so. That's why we started with it. It's because it's a dish eight. represents what we're trying to do here. Just take beautiful local ingredients and do the least to them possible just to bring them kind of into the realm of Mexicanness, but still really highlighting the sea urchin

and the beautiful Baja California Bay Scallops. Fantastic. Hope you guys enjoy it. Oh, bring you some spoons so you can eat it. Don't you dare eat that uny with a fork? You'll want to get every drop. All right, look at this with the salt. Oh my God, look.

Come on. I mean, uni is, I'm going to be honest. It's the one that I'm like, I don't know. You're going to know. That's great. That's very good. Life is good.

Don't only have to spoon it completely. You can't eat it with toastas. This is something that I really love that we make here. They're called postasasas, made from scratch from hand-pressed, freshly made masa. They're thinned out and then dehydrated. It's a whole thing, traditional toastat-making technique from Halisco. Sounds like me on a Monday night. Thend out and dehydrated.

Gilberto, this is... Mmm. I mean, if you were in a four-star restaurant and you got this, you'd be very happy. Look at where we are. I know. That's L.A. You must be so happy doing your show

and being able to travel the world and have incredible meals. I mean, I love doing this podcast for the very same reason. I get to meet and have conversation with incredible people that I admire. And then also shared an unbelievable meal with them, showcase these great friends.

restaurants. It's a great scam. But the episode I watched before meeting up with you, because I hadn't seen it yet, was your tribute episode to your parents, Max and Helen. And it is, I mean, we got to talk about that. I'm literally wearing a hat with their name on it because you have opened a restaurant here in L.A. that I got to go to a few days ago with one of my other guests on my podcast, Ted Danson, mutual friend of ours. And I, first of all, congratulations. The place is doing so well. Thanks.

I mean, there are people lining up starting at like 7.30 in the morning. Beyond my wildest expectations. Were your parents good cooks? No. Terrible. So where did all this nostalgia come from? The only fluffy eggs that my dad liked. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which seemed to be enough. And she made a good matto-ball soup. Everything else. Oh, yes, the vibe. Yeah, and you had Daniel Ballou come out and taste her Motsamol soup. That's it. And he gave it a stamp of approval. And then added some of his own ingredients to some dill oil.

Yes, and my mother was delighted because she loves dill, and she understood that Daniel Ballou was there, giving her a little dill oil that came from his kitchen. And your dad was said, no thanks. He would you like? And he goes, uh-huh. So good. That describes them perfectly. In fact, our hot sauce at the diner is Max and Helen's not for me.

Hot sauce. That's hilarious. The only spice we had in the kitchen was salt. I mean, it is pretty remarkable that now they have a diner named after them. That happens to be currently at this very moment, what I consider, the hottest restaurant in Los Angeles. I think so. Yeah. I think it feels like that.

Like on the weekends, it can be eight-hour wait, which is stupid. It's wild. I wouldn't wait. But people do. I mean, it's nice in that you can come up, leave your name, and they'll call you when it's ready. Yeah, people aren't waiting on the... Yeah. 40 seats inside, another 40 outs.

side. Yeah. So I get it. And the walls are covered with photos of your parents. My parents and what the neighborhood looked like a hundred years ago. Right.

Because the whole point of a diner, the reason besides that comfort food that we love is it creates a community, literally creates the community of where you live. And this is disappearing from America. Yeah.

So I feel like if we lose communities, we lose the country. So I'm going to fix everything with the diner. You're off to a good story. Well, it's a, I'd be very happy if anybody wants to open a diner in their neighborhood. Yeah. Because it seems to work. People crave, first, especially today, a little bit of comfort.

Yeah. Just a little niceness and the feeling that we're not alone. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. So there's a very strong culture of concha, as we call it, in Mexico, which just refers to any type of, you know, bivalve, things in shells. This one is a little combination of two different. regions. The strongest culture for Vi-Volves is in Baja, California, but the style of sauce,

this is a cocktail sauce that we're using for this one, is 100% inspired on my hometown of Merida. This is a Yucatan salt cocktail sauce. There they make it with ketchup, hot sauce, and orange soda, fanta. Our version is kind of a play on that, and it's a homemade sweetened sour tomato sauce, fresh squeezed orange juice, and housemade Kila Kostenia Zas, East Coast Surf Clam, a bagel. Thank you. But when you started off, I mean, you sold your first script to HBO, right? Mm-hmm.

But that was not made. That show was not made. What was that show? It was a movie. It was a movie. I wrote a friend of mine from high school. How old were you? 27.

Okay. Because I was acting until then. And then when it's 27, two things happened. My friend came over to my house with a word processor. He had already established himself a little bit as a writer in L.A. But he didn't like working on other people's stuff. He said, want to write my own thing? You're funny.

Let's write a screenplay. I don't know anything about a screenplay, how to write it. He goes, you're funny, don't worry. I know the structure. Yeah. So we write a screenplay about a suburban detective, and we set it in New City, New York, where we both grew up and went to high screen.

We're writing for Alan Orkin, who's our favorite actor at the time in 1987. And at the same time, write this screenplay. I had $200 in the bank. I'm not exaggerating. Yeah. We sold that screenplay to HBO in 1987 for $70,000. This was like $70 million to me.

Yes, yes. Hi, guys. Hello. Hello. I'm sorry. are up. All right. Our next course is up.

This is again one of our toastas raspaas with a Baja California bluefin tuna savages, very traditional tomato, onions, cilantro, lime juices, a little avocado and cucumber puree underneath and a salsa of chili de arable so it's going to have a little bit of a kick to it. Can I pick it up and bite it? Absolutely. That is the best approach. Thank you.

Wow. Come on. Have you always eaten with this much joy? No. Because I didn't I had this joy in me, I guess, but I was not in my parents' house in an environment where that love was allowed to flourish.

Okay, yeah. It wasn't until I left the house that I had food with what we now call flavor. Well, it sounds like your parents didn't have very good cooking in the house either, so... The cuisine was cheap. Right, right, right. They did their best to get by

with two screaming maniacs. Yeah, yeah. This is so fantastic. $70,000. I went from eating tuna fish for dinner out of a can every night to eating whatever I want. Yeah. So now I'm a writer.

And something I heard you talk about with Ted on his podcast that I found fascinating was your mom was sort of furious by the fact that you're being paid this amount of money for writing jokes. When she was, heard what I got for a screenplay

which seemed to come out of nowhere to her. All of a sudden she goes do you know we've worked our whole lives to have that in the bank? It wasn't like, oh, I'm so happy for you, like my dad. He was like, The American Dream! Right, right, right. He was dancing on the roof.

Yeah. Her attitude was that. You little shit, we've worked our whole lives to have that in the bank and you get it overnight from writing a stupid thing. Yeah. What can I say?

Yeah. I'm going to say no, don't give it to me because it doesn't feel right. Right, right. Right. You should pay teachers more? I mean, which is what we all think. But yes, I mean, it's, you know, that's not the...

We live in a capitalistic country. Yeah. They pay you for what people want. Right. Did she ever change her opinion about that? Yes. The success that she liked Raymond. She appreciated Raymond.

Yeah. She didn't understand the food shop. Really? When are you going to write? I said, Mom, I am kind of writing. I am. Right. It is, even though it's not written, there's writing involved.

Well, the voice over the way the show is put together. Editing is writing. Yep. What we choose to say. even right here is writing, it's just improvised writing. Right. You couldn't understand it.

When are you going to write something again? Right. My travel and food show now is the equivalent of Larry David, Kirby, Enthusiasm. You saw Seinfeld? The guy behind Seinfeld is now

on the show, and you're getting the true essence of that guy. Yeah. Same here, except I could call my show, why could be enthusiasm? Yeah. Yeah. Now let's take a quick break, but don't go away.

When we returned, Phil speaks on his mission to bring people together through food and why that's more important now than ever. And we commiserate with each other on the trials and turblations of changing lanes in Hollywood. Okay, be right back. I want to tell you guys about a podcast that is near and dear to my heart, and I cannot believe it already came out a year ago. And you can all go listen to it. free by subscribing to the binge podcast channel. What podcast, Corinne? Tell us. Oh, it's called Blink

Jake Handel's story. I created it about a man named Jake, who I met, who is the only survivor of a terminal brain illness brought on by heroin use. But there is a lot of mystery and medical malpractice and true crime elements that are very shocking and surprising and even some supernatural elements. So this is definitely an amazing story. It's very unique. Did such an incredible job telling the story and cheering it with the world. So if you have not listened to it yet, my goodness, where have you been? Because Blink is so freaking good. Thank you. Search for Blink wherever you listen. And subscribers to The Binge will get the entire season ad-free. Plus, you'll get exclusive access to the over 60 other true crime stories on The Binge podcast channel. Hit subscribe on Apple Podcasts or head to getthebinge.com. Infamous is the gossip show that's smart. We talk about it. But Tyra Banks and bringing down top model. We talk about Jenna Jameson and how she dominated the 90s.

You know, she's horny and she's in charge. She just was very smart about marketing herself. We talk about celebrities who maybe shouldn't be celebrities, like the Beckham guy. Brooklyn is their first kid. He's had a little bit of the Nepo baby curse. We investigate orgasm cults. A woman's erotic power can unlock many other powers in her life. And, of course, we discuss people who have gotten into lots of trouble.

My name is Molly McLaughlin. I am one of Jen Shaw's many victims. She was defrauding the elderly, and her tagline was the only thing I'm guilty of is being shamazing. Listen to Infamous, the gossip show that's smart. The show's called Infamous. And we're back with more dinners on me. You know, I was thinking about your whole career has been really about embracing family. And you're doing it right now with the restaurant, Max and Helens, literally named after your parents. Yes. And it's a place to gather.

It's a place for families to come together. Yes. It's rooted in nostalgia. Everybody loves Raymond, obviously a huge hit family sitcom. And now, which is. you're doing with your travel show, which I think is so interesting. It's about going to places and discovering other families, other family structures, and celebrating the way they eat. And for someone who I think I've read that you were pretty much a homebody as a kid,

you know, you're traveling to all these incredible places in the world now. But I love that this sort of theme of family and coming together. and really around a table is something that has really resonated through your entire career. I mean, have you ever, like, step back and kind of acknowledge that that is a common thread in your storytelling? It is. It's the thing I love most about life and people. Yeah. And for me, food is the great connector and then laughs are the cement. Yeah.

If we share a meal, let's say we don't know each other, and this is the most time we've spent together, right? If the food comes and it's great like this, we're already in a very good mood. But then if we share a laugh or even a smile, there's an understanding, and this can happen without language even, I found. Without the common language. But this is the common language, and the glint the eye and the smile and the laugh over a face even, now we're friends. And we'll eat again. That's what makes the world go around. Yeah.

And I always thought the people that want to build a wall, I always say, how about a table? That's what we need. You need a bigger table. Because that's where we all truly come together. And it's such a cliche, but we're all the same. Yeah, yeah. That's what I find. The differences are really superficial.

Underneath it, oh, you love your kids? Oh, how novel. Right, right, right. Right. We all want the same things. We want to be happy and healthy. We want our kids to be happy and healthy and have a better life than we had.

We want clean, food, air, and water. We want to live in peace. Yeah. Yeah. That's why what's happening in our country feels unnatural because it is. Yeah. It's not human.

Yeah. Agreed. This is human. Yeah. And it was also why, I mean, you know, I, I find watching you on television with somebody feed Phil so refreshing. It feels, you know, it's so interesting.

I was on, because I'm on Instagram. Yeah. And the world is a very dark place right now. Yeah. And there's a lot of really awful things happening. And I hesitate sometimes to go onto my Instagram. And first, because I'm going to see things that I just, that are going to, you know, depressed me, but also putting stuff out that doesn't seem to be like in a direct response

to what's happening in the world feels, I don't know, somewhat harmful. I've learned that it's not. I mean, I was actually on my way to Maxenthal's to meet up with Ted the other day. And someone stopped me on the street and said, thank you so much. I was just listening to an episode of your podcast in the car. And it was just making me smile. And it was nice to hear. And it was nice to listen to something that wasn't the news.

That too. And I thought, okay, this is exactly. what. That's your purpose. And it's okay. It's okay for me to like go into my social media and be like, there's a new episode of dinners on me with Bill. Like it's okay. Even though there are horrible things happening as well, like, I can offer this. Maybe this is something that's right. But everyone can offer that. Every can, by doing what? By being a neighbor. Yeah. By saying hi. Yeah. By showing other people that most people are sweet and nice. Yeah. project what you want to see back.

Yeah. Yeah. Everyone has that power. Agreed. Agreed. But it just, it must feel very good to be putting out to positivity.

It feels really good to do. It makes me feel better. Yeah. And I'm thrilled if it makes someone else feel better. And Gilberto here is doing the exact same thing. Yeah. Oh, hello. Hello.

Here we go. So this is, as requested, one of our Agua Chilis. Oh, my God. This is our blue prawn, Agua Chilis. So the tail is just marinated in this spicy herbaceous lime, cilantro, and serrano pepper marinate. And then the heads of the prawns have been deep fried, and they're going to do it. Little avocado. Can eat the head.

And microsalancho is garnish. Oh, I heard. Thank you. Oh, I heard. Oh, I'm paying attention. Thank you. This is going to be spicy. Can you handle it?

What? Hey, good shot. I must have won something. Good shot. What did I win? You win another shrimp. That's not that spicy. I do have to wipe the sauce and the

the aqua chili off my face. That's not too spicy at all. No. It's great. Talk to me about casting your parents at the show. I mean, because you really did cast your parents on the show. I mean, those performances are iconic and genius and award-worthy as they have been... I didn't know Peter Boyle was available.

I was looking at whoever was available. And then the president of CBS said, what about Peter Boyle? I said, he would do a sitcom. Yeah. And then Doris Roberts... She came in red. I think we saw 100 women for that part. They all read with this Fruit of the Month scene from the pilot,

where Ray gets his parents' fruit of the month, and they react terribly because it's too much fruit in the house. This happened to me. Happened to me. That scene is almost verbatim from my life. I can see that. I learned a valuable lesson right then and there. The more specific you write, the more universal it becomes.

Yes. Not the opposite. We think we're going to be vague and that will, more people will relate? No, we relate to each other's specificities because we all have specificities in our lives. Yes. Right? I'm sure your writer's room was also full of people coming in and just riding their home life. That's what happened with modern family, yeah.

I could tell. I mean, why? Because it was great. In specific. Exactly. Yeah. Dick Van Dyke Show, Karl Reiner. I never forget this.

He would say to the writers, what happened at your house this week. That's how we write the show. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. If you worked for me, your job was to go home,

getting a fight with your wife, come back in and tell me about it. That's right, that's right. And how was it working with your wife on set? Fantastic. It was great. Was there ever any hesitation to include her in that? No.

I didn't, I wasn't going to suggest her. It was in the first season, we needed a date for Brett Garrett. Okay. Steve Skorvan, one of the writers said, How about Monica? Monica was already an actress, but I was going to impose my wife on the show.

Right. But he said it. The other guy said, she seems perfect. I'm like, we try her. We try her. I don't want to be that guy. Forces his wife on the show. And then she was fantastic.

And the audience loved her. And then it just slowly grew until she was a regular on the show in the last couple seasons. It was really sweet. And we love sharing this, Together. Yeah.

It was nice. And I love having her on somebody as much as possible. I love having my kids on. Yeah. The travel show too. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I mean, to pass forward a little bit, I mean, to speak about, you know, it's such a family affair, you know, Max and Helens. Yes. You have your daughter working there, Lily. This is a love story. Your son-in-law is the chef.

So, again, this seems like nepotism, too. But... Listen, if he's great... You have to be undeniable. Yeah. But to see her and Mason running this thing together, it's like their first kid is this diner.

It opened the week they got married. No way. They were working the diner. There are other newlyweds. Yeah, October. Oh, my God. The day after they got married, we had the going away brunch

at the unopened, as of yet, diner. For all the people, we laid out all the food on the thing, on the counter, and they all, this was spectacular. Spectacular. To see the people enjoying that food so much and to see them doing it, executing it, bringing it out,

I got as emotional as I did the day before at their wedding. I was so thrilled for them that they found not only each other, but a purposeful life together. Yeah. I could cry thinking about it because it's just a love, and when you come in the diner,

that love story is playing out real time. So sweet. And now you and Lily have written a book together. Yeah, we have to start. It's our second book coming out. This is your second one.

Yeah, the first book was called Just Try It. And it was about a day to wait everything. And his little girl would need anything. And it's actually helped kids and parents especially get their kids to try stuff. I have a five and a half and a three-year-old right now. You need this. Yes.

I've read the second one. The second one is just trying someplace new. Remind the house, yes, yes, yes. I need to get a series of books coming. Just try it. Yeah. Such an important message for kids. For adults, too.

We're saying it every morning. By the way, how many grownups won't try a new bite of food? I don't eat raw fish. I don't eat this. I don't eat that. And it extends to not trying a new idea. Can you improve? What's this?

Okay. Oh, my God. We're done. We're done with the lime juice, savages, completely changing piece. This is one of our hot-in items. This is a smoked Kampachi taco. Now, this taco is also a really great representation

of what we like to do, inspired on a Mexican smoked Marlin taco from northern Mexico. But we use Kampachi, which is a much more sustainable fish. And we specifically only use the heads and the collars for this one. For us, it's a really great way of utilizing all of the fish, especially the underutilized parts. Smoke the heads, apple would smoke and pick the meat. You stew it with chilis and aromatics. And then that is the gisalo that goes inside the blue corn tortilla, along with some locally made wahaka cheese and a peanut salsa machine.

This is going to smoke your head. This is one of the great dishes in this city. Is that? I was going to leave, but I just want to continue to continue. I just want to continue hearing this. I'm so excited to try. I'm picking it up. I'll pick it up.

Oh, my God. That's so good. Right? Where are you in your filming? Are you about to do another season with... It may not be on Netflix. It might not be on Netflix. Nope.

I don't... We never know if we're getting picked up. Really? From one season to next, even though we've been there a long time. New people come in. Right. They want different things or they don't care about the past.

You've seen this. Yeah. Studio executives want their name on a thing. Yeah. Their creations. Yeah. I don't know. But have you, is it an episode,

is it a season that's been filmed, or have you started filming it yet? Okay. Still waiting. So you're waiting to see what happens. Even when you think you've made it? My God. You're always at the mercy.

Uh-huh. Oh, Shobin. I always say, love everything about show business, except the business. Yeah. The business is what gets in the way of making the show of show business. Yeah. It's true. But we have to put up with it. And when you're doing it, when you're creating it, it's so joyful.

Yeah. Yeah. The hardest part anybody will tell you about making a movie is raising the money. Raising the money, I know. Yeah, I'm in that place right now is something I'm working on. Yeah. Yeah. Years. But you have backers for... For Capote. For Capote, yeah.

I mean, we're doing it for like a dollar. But, like, yeah. I'm definitely not making money on this project. But it's a labor of love. And also, you know, I mean, you made your money. Yeah. And now you should do a new love. Yeah.

You'll understand this. I mean, once you do something. Yeah. And I think this is true for really anyone. Once you accomplish something in life, whether it's you're a great surgeon or a great chef or a great writer or actor. Yes. And you do something well. people see you

and they put you in a lane and they see you only as that thing and it really in order to change lanes and personally I got to put the blinker on so you got to decide you want to change the lanes but then you have to be the one at the driver's seat doing the actual

movie of no one's going to move the car into the other lane you're describing my whole journey and so that's where I'm out with this plan it's like no one would see me doing this part and so I have to be the one to show people that I can do it And then we'll see what happens from there.

It's going to be successful because you are going to make it so. But yes, that's why it took 10 years after Raymond to get the travel show. Yeah. Changing lanes. Yeah. One last thing. You need a little churro. I know those look like churots, but they're actually scallops that are...

What? No, I'm just kidding. They're regular churros with chocolate sauce, cinnamon sugar. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Oh, thank you so much for doing this with me. Thanks for bringing me here.

This is incredible. I love you for a long time, and now here we are. Here we are. It's just the beginning. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Choros, everybody. Chiros.

Oh, yeah. This is for you and your kids. I don't know how they feel about going someplace new, but that's for them. They love Grandma's house. Great. Look, and that's me and my daughter on the back. So sweet. Oh, look.

Look. So sweet. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Holbox in South L.A. Next week on Dinners On Me, you know her as a dance judge on World of Dance, from films like Step Up, and as Firefighter Bailey on the ABC series The Rookie, it's Jenna Dewan. We talk about her journey from Backup Dancer to Number One on the call sheet and the pressure to pick a lane,

plus navigating a public breakup and finding love again. And if you don't want to wait until next week to listen, you can download that episode right now by subscribing to Dinners On Me Plus. As a subscriber, not only do you get access to new episodes one week early, they'll also be able to listen completely ad-free. Just click Try Free at the top of the Dinners On Me show page

on Apple Podcasts to start your free trial today. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony music entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Baer engineered this episode.

Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasni and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.