Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Ted Danson – how 'Cheers' almost wasn’t and falling in love again with his wife on ‘A Man on the Inside’

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name’ podcast co-host and TV legend Ted Danson joins the show. Over an omelet and patty melt – you know, diner classics – Ted tells me about how 'Cheers' had a precarious start, acting opposite his wife Mary Steenburgen in this season of the Netflix series ‘A Man on the Inside,’ and how he wrestled with imposter syndrome and social anxiety for a long time. This episode was recorded at Max & Helen’s in Larchmont Village, Los Angeles.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What I love about staying at a home on Airbnb is that feeling of walking into a place that already gets what you need, the thoughtful touches, the little comforts, the sense that someone really prepared for you to be there. I'm about to experience that again on a trip up to wine country with my family in Napa. I booked this beautiful home with all these views over the hills of Napa. But what I really love about the place is that it has this big kitchen so we can have family breakfast and meals there, and it has enough space for the entire family to spread out. And it just reminded me how much those little details make a place feel special. You walk in and there's fresh coffee on the counter.

There's a note with the Wi-Fi password and the font's big enough that you don't need a magnifying glass to read it. You know, those thoughtful little touches that really make a difference. And it made me think about hosting my own home on Airbnb when I'm away. But the idea of getting my place guest ready with all those. thoughtful little touches is a bit, I don't know, overwhelming. That's where Airbnb's co-host network comes in. You can hire a local co-host to help with all those behind-the-scenes things that make us stay run smoothly, guest communication, handling check-ins, and even design

and styling to make your place feel lived in and cozy. So if you have a place that you've been thinking about hosting, I don't know, a guest room, a studio of the garage, even your whole home while you're away. A co-host can help you actually pull it off without adding more to your plate. So if your New Year's resolution is to earn a little extra money or finally make use of that space, start the easy way with Airbnb's co-host network. Long work weeks and busy weekends can really wear you down. And sometimes what you don't need is another resolution. We don't need another vision board, people. We need a real reset. That's why prolongs five-day fasting-mimicking diet, really caught my attention. It works at the cellular level to help rejuvenate your body from the

inside out, supporting energy, metabolism, healthy aging, and even skin appearance. We all set health goals. We want to eat better, feel stronger, be more mindful, but without a plan, they can fade pretty quickly. Prolong gives you a science-backed structured approach that helps you stay on track. And unlike quick cleanses or detoxes, this is designed to create benefits that will last well beyond five days. Prolong is a plant-based nutrition program with soups, snacks, and beverages that keep your body in a fasting state while still nourishing it. Everything comes prep packaged and labeled by day, so there's no prep, no planning, no guesswork, you're not standing in your kitchen going, am I doing this right? It was developed over decades with USC's Longevity Institute and is backed by

top U.S. medical centers. Prolon is also the only nutrition program clinically shown to trigger autophagy in humans. You know, that Nobel Prize winning process where your body clears out and recycles damaged cells. You know, autophagy. And I'll say this, no matter the season, when I'm craving a reset, pro-lawn is the only nutrition program that works for me. It's convenient. It's backed by Nobel-winning science, and it works. Ready for your own reset? For a limited time, pro-lawn is offering dinners-on-me listeners 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their five-day program. Just visit prolonlife.com slash do m. That's P-R-O-L-N-L-I-F-E dot com slash D-O-M to claim your 15% discount and bonus gift.

Prolonlife.com slash D-O-M. Hey, it's Jesse. Today on the show, you know him from The Good Place, a man on the inside, and my personal favorite. It will always be one of my favorites. It's the legendary sitcom, Cheers. It is TV icon Ted Danson. They'd come to you and they'd say,

okay, this is the last time, Mr. Danson, that you will be warned. And if you don't leave now, we will have to put handcuffs on you and arrest them. This is Dinner's On Me, and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. So I'm on the busy and bustling street of Larchmont here in Los Angeles,

and I'm heading toward Max and Helen's Diner. If you are an Angelo and a foodie, in any way, shape, or form. You certainly know about Max and Helens because people are going bonkers for this diner with good reason. I mean, the food is absolutely incredible. It's waffles, unbelievable. Nancy's omelet, incredible, the tuna mouth to die for. And it all has that special touch from its founders, Nancy Silverton, and Phil Rosenthal. Nancy, of course, is an award-winning chef and baker here in Los Angeles, the founder of Motza, and Phil Rosenthal, the creative everybody loves Raymond. And the star of his own show, somebody feed Phil.

I saw Ted Danson here a few weeks ago. We were both waiting for the bathroom here at Max and Helens, and we said there, in the bathroom line, you should do my podcast and we should do it here. So listen, you put things out into the world and sometimes these dreams come true. And I am very excited to have a conversation at Max and Helens with my idol, Ted Danson.

Hey, this is really cool to be talking to you because I do admire you. Greatly as an actor. So this is neat. It's really cool for me. I love how much overlap we have in our careers, actually, and I'm excited to talk about that. But I do need to tell you, you're quite an idol of mine.

I mean, I have looked up to you for a very long time. I mean, I watched you on Cheers. How do you? I'm 50. So I was, you know, it was right around when I was watching television regularly. It's one of those shows that's very seminal for me. and like I remember very specifically the last shot at the last episode and how I felt when that series ended.

And I love how much overlap there is with kind of the important moments of your life and the important moments of my life. I mean, James Burroughs gave me my first big opportunity. It wasn't modern family. But, you know, he, you know, puts you in cheers. And he directed almost every episode of Cheers. And the first sitcom I did was a show called The Class that he directed. And then watching you with Shelley Long and that incredible relationship that you created.

And she, late many years, played my mother in Modern Family. That's right. She only did a handful of episodes, but she did about five episodes. And we had a very special relationship. And, you know, your relationship with Jeff Greenberg, who cast Cheers and who also cast Modern Family. There's a lot of, like, overlap. And, you know, an 11-year run of a show that I also had with Modern Family. But, yeah, it's been interesting how much overlap there is.

And so to get to sit down with you, it's really special. And we both get to chase the giggle in life. You know, I love being part of that tribe of people in and around funny. It's so funny because the last time I saw you was in the bathroom line here at Max and Helens. Oh, right, right. Just a few weeks ago. Yeah, it was Sirius XM. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I wasn't even invited to that party. I was just needing to use the restroom. You didn't know this? I wasn't even supposed to be there. Oh, that's, I assumed. I was walking to... Did you see what I was wearing? I was wearing, like, sweatpants.

I was wearing, like, I was wearing like sweatpants. And there was, like, paparazzi outside. Like, wow, this place has really gotten very, very hot since I last came. And they were having a party that you were a guest, them. And I went to the bathroom. I'm going to saw you in the bathroom line. Yeah. And you said, I think I'm doing your podcast.

It's like, well, we should do it here. Yes. And here we are. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Are you hungry? I am literally actually.

I'm starving. Hungry. Oh, gosh, they're potatoes. You're a potatoes. Hello. Aren't they incredible? The home fries. How are you?

How are you? How are you? I'm doing okay. Thank you. I'm Abby. I'll be your server. Thanks, Abby. Can I send in any orders for you?

Yes. For sure. Is the French Amline? Is that a Nancy's omelet or whatever? The Nancy's omelet? What is in that? That's farmer's cheese in there. And it is so delicious.

It's farmer's cheese and herbs. Can you just do omelet, forget about the herbs and the cheese? Sure. I know it won't be as good. Okay. Yeah, yeah. But I like that, and you have the potatoes. Yeah.

The home fries? Yes. And those come with sour cream on top. Is that okay with you? No. Okay. What do you want to drink? Are you doing?

Oh. Do you need a coffee? or something? Coffee. Yeah. I'm already well caffeinated. No, thank you. I'm going to have a coffee as well.

I will have some cream. And I'm also going to get a lemonade. Sounds great. And I'm desperate to have the tuna melt. Okay. Very good choice. My favorite thing on the menu. And can I get you some tallow fries with that?

Yeah. Perfect. Okay. Anything else, guys? I think that's good for now. I'll take these out of your way. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Where was your life when Shiraz Hat came along? I was in North Hollywood. Just had our first daughter, previous marriage. I'm now married to Mary Steenbridge, who you know. Iconically. Iconically, yes. And so I did Vernon Shirley, and I think some people remembered me. Jimmy Burroughs had auditioned me for True West.

And then I was called in at the last minute through the place. or something on Taxi, which was Paramount, which is where Leson, Glenn Charles and Jimmy were putting just the beginning cast together, talking about casting cheers. So all of that kind of came together, and I went and met Jimmy, Lesson, Glenn during lunch, and during that week, I met with him two or three times.

And they said, okay, don't take any job until you check with us first. So are you saying that this is mine? No, no, no, no, no. Just check with us. And I went out that there's kind of a long office had a back door this way and a front door this way. I went out to the back, and I looked down the hallway,

and there was kind of like 40 actors coming up to stairs to audition. But it was one of those first times that I had just gone. I'm going to stay positive. I love these mugs, by the way. I do, too. They're so fantastic. You probably sell these, right? In theory, we do.

We have been out for many weeks. Okay. Max and Helens, that's where we're eating. This is Phil's mother and father. Yeah. Max and Helen. So, to Max and Helen. To Max and Helen.

Yeah, cheers. Cheers. Modern family. In all fairness. I was like, and I'll say, oh, you already did it. I see what happened. What I always find fascinating, and this is the case with a lot of shows that I think end up becoming monster hits, was that out of the gate, Shears was not something that was considered a hit at all.

Critics loved us. Everyone around us, Paramount, the writers, everybody was so positive. Don't pay attention, just keep doing it. Kind of feedback, which was lovely. But we were dead last one. week in the ratings. We were like, Jimmy likes to say we were 75th out of 70. There are only 70 shows. You know what I mean? They later said, oh, no, no, we weren't brilliant programmers. We had nothing to replace Cheers with or we would have. Oh my God. Thank God. I know. I mean, I feel like people forget because it was such a white, hot head by the end. And, you know, I almost wanted to ask

really long about this when she was on Modern Family, but you know, she left at the height of Cheers. Yeah. She did five years. Five years and then she left. And she had, I mean, quite a successful film career.

But I always was so, I was just so surprised at that, you know, she chose to leave, you know, when the show was such a huge success. And I've always wanted to ask you because, I mean, that relationship was so iconic and will they won't be relationship. I mean, this show really felt like

it was built so much on the success of that, the chemistry that you all had, but really specifically you and Shelley. I mean, and you know, I asked Jeff Greenberg, the casting director of Cheers, who also cast, ironically, Modern Family and won an Emmy for casting Modern Family. I said, Give me some stories about that time. And he talks about how nervous everyone was about what to do when Shelley left. And, you know, and then Christy Alley coming in. And, I mean, obviously it worked out brilliantly. And Christy brought in a whole other energy to the show.

But I'd love to hear, like, what was going through your head, if you could remember. There were many kind of thoughts, but there was definitely one that was, uh-oh. I just lost my dance partner. Yeah. And was she, because she was the magic of Cheers, the first couple of, first year, she put us on the mat. Her character is so well defined. All the characters well defined, but she was so, I don't think anyone had seen since, you know, Lucille Ball, that kind of character, so beautifully played. I think we all found our, you know, step after that, all the,

characters, but I was worried. Like, uh-oh, this will be embarrassing. But then they hired Kirstie, and Kirstie walked in kind of like the same way Woody Harrelson walked in replacing the coach, Nick Colissano. The writing is so good, and they're such great actors

that I don't think we even broke stride. Kirsty was... She was funny. She was woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Yeah. And every second. But not known for being funny. Like she hadn't done a lot of comedy.

No, she was hysterical. But, you know, sometimes people forget that these shows are not always, they're not in the hands of the people who create them. The network has so much say. And sometimes the people who run the network aren't necessarily thinking creatively and aren't willing to take risks. So if they don't see that someone has a history of being, hilarious, they're going to shy away from them.

And I think there was a bit of a, it made a lot of people nervous to cast someone who didn't necessarily have a comedy track record. One of the great things about being successful when you're in a show, which you discovered too, is they tend to leave you alone. Yes. And you can get their notes and be polite and sweet and keep doing what you know is right. Yeah. And both our shows have something.

Your show is brilliant. but you're brilliant everybody in it was spectacular and you weren't doing nor were we jokes funny unbelievably funny but they weren't like it was all character that to me is delicious and that allows you to go off and keep working and doing other things

because you're not just a stereotype that people love that won't let you move on from that. We were all very lucky to, you know, have such good writing. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Ted and I talk about our humble beginnings growing up in the Four Corners area, and Ted tells me about how a date with a girl got him into an audition.

And thus, a star was born. 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 Carvada, and it was so easy. Too easy.

Think something's up? You tell me, they got thousands of options. Found a great car at a great price. Uh-huh. And it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed. Buy your car today on.

Delivery fees may apply. You know that one task you've been putting off since forever? If that task is start therapy, which it is for me, growth therapy makes it way easier to finally check that off your list. It's covered by over 100 insurance plans and you can get started in as little as two days. Therapy can be such a powerful thing, whether you're working through something specific or just trying to understand yourself a little bit better. But actually finding a therapist that part can feel overwhelming.

Growth therapy makes it a lot easier. They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, including nights and weekends as well. You can search by what actually matters to you, insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and find someone who fits you, not the other way around. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments, you just pay per session, and if something comes up, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicare in some states,

sessions average about $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growth therapy.com slash doM today to get started. That's growth therapy.com slash dom. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. You know those moments where your brain suddenly goes, wait a minute, wait a minute, did I lock the door? Or you're already out to dinner and you think,

wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, did I turn off the stove? Or worse, you come home and you're like, wait a minute, wait a minute, something just feels off? Yeah, those are the moments where your heart drops and suddenly every second counts. That's what ADT understands. Feeling safe at home isn't a luxury.

It's foundational. It's the thing that lets you actually relax, be present, and live your life without that low-level worry humming in the background. ADT offers customizable home security systems installed by professionals so you feel protected from the start. They're backed by 24-7 monitoring and the most company-operated monitoring centers in the industry. And their technology helps verify alarms so first responders can be sent faster than with unverified alarms.

I also love that with the ADT Plus app, you can check in on your home from virtually anywhere. Whether you're traveling, working late, or just lying in bed, second-guessing yourself, you can see what's going on and actually rest easy. ADT makes sure your home is your haven, not another thing to worry about. When every second counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com to learn more.

And we're back with more dinners on me. I guess, I mean, I'm a little closer to the end of modern family than you are to the end of cheers, but I'm still feeling sometimes the pressure or the straight jacket. of that character and, you know, constantly looking for ways to reinvent myself. And sometimes I have to do big swings to show people that I can do something different because I'm not necessarily being given those opportunities.

Did you feel coming out of cheers that there was, I mean, it doesn't seem like there was much of this for you, but like it seemed like you were able to kind of pick up and move into other roles pretty fluidly. There were some hit and misses because I think people wanted me to be Sam-like. Yeah. Or at least that energy or whatever, but I was aging and it no longer was funny, you know? Good news. Or I couldn't make the funny.

You're able to do the Nancy's on-in-M-M-Chice. Yes. Just for you. Oh, my God. Did you hear that? Thank you. All right, that does look astoundingly good. This is comedic timing when you ask a really good question.

And then you get a... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's up to you. It's up to you, and it's up to you finding great writing. Yeah. Because whenever I was allowed to do something else, it was because the writing was really good. Becker was really beautifully written.

Mm-hmm. And totally different. This is actually very good. I'm finally going to try this. The thing about this place, I don't understand how they make all these sort of classics that you would get at any diner. They don't do anything fancy with this, but it's the best version of home fries or an omelet or a tuna milk that you could possibly get. It is a diner out of the 50s.

Yeah. Even the menu. Yeah. I, we also, another overlap is that we both grew up in the Four Corners area. Yes. You in Arizona? Albuquerque. Me and Albuquerque.

You had a tougher road. I would say so. New Mexico is, I mean, yeah. New Mexico. Yeah, New Mexico. Yeah. It's an unbelievable beautiful state. Absolutely.

You have the Pueblo tribe? Tough little town. Apocerries have tough little town. You haven't shot there? No, Mary has. So I visited. And I used to do something with Hopi Navajo Zuni.

Pueblo tribes called futures for children, and it was located in Albuquerque, so I was there a lot doing that. And yeah, that was a big part of my life. Your dad was an archaeologist and worked a lot with the indigenous tribes, right? He was the director of a museum later in life after being a professor. And one of the mandates, it was a natural history museum, was to support, nurse, the arts and crafts and culture of that Four Corners area. And my friends growing up, my best friend was Raymond Coyne, Popeye. Father was an amazing, he worked at the museum, but he was an amazing silver artist jewelry.

And I had a Navajo friend and a rancher friend. We lived outside of town. I know you had it a little bit different, but there was an outsider feeling for you. Yeah. More unfortunate than mine, because you said I heard this morning listening to a podcast about you, about the bullying and feeling a little bit isolated.

Yeah, no, it was rough. It was rough. Yeah. But I always felt like an outsider. I wasn't, I had my little clan of three people, but I was never a townie. And then I went away to a preps. school in Connecticut, which was like a different world. It gave me an amazing education. I have

huge fondness for Kent's school for boys. But woof, very different. It was catcher in the ride versus some little kid running around the Hopi, you know, villages watching Kachina dances and just such an innocent, no pop culture, no TV. you know. How did you decide how did you decide you wanted to be an actor without that exposure

to like Hollywood and television and whenever I went to my cousins in Pasadena which we did every Christmas and every summer for like a week or two. Here.

Pasadena from Tucson and then later from Flagstown they had a TV oh I would read TV Guide magazine, which y'all don't remember. It's a shame. Yeah.

Like a book. Yeah. I'd read it. I'd read everything listed in there to scriptures. The little virgin. Yeah. It was just thrilled me. And then we'd watch Cheyenne or Bonanza.

My father would watch with us. And it was like thrilling. Yeah. But it was not in our house. You didn't have a TV at all you. No. And didn't have it. At Kent School for boys, we didn't have any of that.

So pop culture just went right over my head. I cannot tell you a lyrics, a Beatles lyric. Really? I know, I've heard them all, but they don't land and sticking me. Pop culture, this one, whoosh. So music as well, like you weren't listening. Sadly, no, I listened, but I couldn't, it didn't, I didn't study it, or I let it wash over me.

enjoyed it. Can I do it a little quick? Here's me at Stanford for two years, which is where I fell in love with acting, so I'll go back to that. This is me driving in my 1954 Burek convertible to the Monterey Pop Festival. Look at my watchgo. This is taking away the talk too long. Turned my car around and didn't go. I missed the 60s. I missed everything. Yeah. Literally. Yeah. And not because I was. or doing drugs just because I was looking the other way. Thank God there's a description called acting.

There's nothing else I could do. I fantasized my way through life and daydreamed my way through life. And so you found you found acting at Stanford. Played basketball at Kent. It was my life, saved me. It was my passion. and no one could tell me what to do except the basketball coach

and I would just if I got into trouble they'd have him talk to me Coach Wood and you were good at it? Jim would. Good enough for this little 300 boy school, any decent-sized high school

would have trampled this. But my friend and I who was a really good athlete, Dwayne Reda, we both went to Stanford. Don't ask me how I got in. Went there and

decided to go out for basketball. You know, he walked onto the court. I went, and looked, and it was like, oh, just a different game. A different league. Lou Alcindor was a freshman at UCLA, the year I was a freshman at Stanford. It was just so sad.

Just my dream. And about a few months later, maybe the second year I was there, I found acting. Through the plays there? Yes, I'm silly following a girl that I wanted to ask out. She said, yes, I'll have coffee. And then for a sip, she went either because she didn't want to be with me

or just happened to be true. She remembered she had an audition for a Bertolt Breck play called Man East the Man. And I said, can I come with you? And she went, I guess. But to stay in the room, I had to do something. I had to get on stage. and I made something up. I heard some people laugh.

And it was like, it's a little teeny light bulb. Got the smallest part, you know, second rifle carrier from the left kind of part. But man, I started taking an acting class, drove my station wagon

to the back of the theater, just slept in the back of my station wagon. Really? And didn't leave. And people said, you seem serious. You should go back east. Went to Carnegie Mellon. Great school.

Yeah. Now let's take a quick break, but don't go anywhere. When we returned, Ted tells me a story about how he got arrested with Jane Fonda. Okay, be right back. Long work weeks and busy weekends can really wear you down. And sometimes what you don't need is another resolution. We don't need another vision board, people. We need a real reset.

That's why Prolong's five-day fasting-mimicking diet really caught my attention. It works at the cellular level to help rejuvenate your body from the inside out, supporting energy, metabolism, healthy aging, and even skin appearance. We all set health goals. We want to eat better, feel stronger, be more mindful, but without a plan, they can fade pretty quickly. Prolong gives you a science-backed, structured approach that helps you stay on track. And unlike quick cleanses or detoxes, This is designed to create benefits that will last well beyond five days.

Prolong is a plant-based nutrition program with soups, snacks, and beverages that keep your body in a fasting state while still nourishing it. Everything comes prep packaged and labeled by day, so there's no prep, no planning, no guesswork. You're not standing in your kitchen going, am I doing this right? It was developed over decades with USC's Longevity Institute and is backed by top U.S. medical centers. proline is also the only nutrition program clinically shown to trigger autophagy in humans. You know, that Nobel Prize winning process where your body clears out and recycles damaged cells. You know, autophagy. And I'll say this, no matter the season, when I'm craving a reset, prolon is the only nutrition program that works for me.

It's convenient. It's backed by Nobel winning science, and it works. Ready for your own reset? For a limited time, prolon is offering dinners-on-me listeners 15% off plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their five-day program. Just visit prolonlif.com slash dom. That's P-R-O-L-N-L-I-F-E dot com slash D-O-M to claim your 15% discount and bonus gift. Prolonlife.com slash D-O-M.

Okay, I have a confession to make. Seafood used to really stress me out. Not because I'm gay. No, no, let me explain. I just never was sure I was going to cook it correctly. You know, is it reliably sourced? It just always felt complicated. Like I was going to overcook it or undercook it or mess it up.

That's why I love Wild Alaskan Company. They make it ridiculously easy to get high-quality, wild-caught seafood delivered straight to my door. And the difference in taste is immediate. This is the kind of fish that actually makes you excited to cook. What sold me is how simple and trust. trustworthy it is. Their seafood is 100% wild caught. It's never farmed. So there are no antibiotics, no GMOs, no additives, just clean, real fish. It's frozen right off the boat, which means it keeps all that flavor and those nutrients, especially omega-3s. And it's all sustainably sourced from Alaska,

so you feel good about what you're eating and where it comes from. And there's no pressure here. If you're not completely satisfied with your first box, wild Alaskan company will give you a full refund. no questions asked. Not all fish are the same. Get seafood you can trust. Go to wildalaskan.com slash JTF for $35 off your first box of premium wild caught seafood.

That's wildalaskan.com slash JTF for $35 off your first order. And thanks to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode. Valentine's Day is just around the corner and it's one of those moments that makes you think about compatibility, not just some relationships,

but in work too. Because hiring isn't about just grabbing the first person who says, I'll do it. It's about finding the right match. And when I need that, I trust Indeed's sponsored jobs. Sponsored jobs boosts your posts so you stand out and reach quality candidates faster, the people who fit what you need, not just on paper, but in practice. And it makes a real difference. According to Indeed data, sponsor jobs posted directly on Indeed are 90% more likely

to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs because you're reaching a bigger pool of qualified candidates. If I were hiring for my podcast right now, I'd be very specific. I would want someone who understands our workflow, our style, and the pace it takes to keep everything moving. And with IndeedSponsored jobs, I'm not sorting through almost-right matches.

I'm talking to people who actually fit. Plus, with Indeed-sponsored jobs, you only pay for results, no monthly subscriptions, just to boost whenever you need to find quality talent fast. And while I've been talking, companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. So clearly, great matches are being made every minute.

Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, and more results now with Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash dinners on me. Just go to Indeed.com slash dinners on me right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash dinners on me. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, do it the right way with Indeed. And we're back with more dinners on me. It's funny. I think acting gave me, I remember at Kent's school going back to a reunion

I guess 20 years later 25 years later whenever it was it was the height of cheers very rock and roll I was a big deal and you know everyone was talking and around me and da da da da da da for the first there was a two-day thing

for the first day half day I was just mobbed my whatever classmates that wore off rightfully so very quickly when they realized I was the same yeah then can poop I always was but I found myself a moment where I was walking behind a crowd of my friends and I was about 20 feet behind walking by myself and they were all paired up check talking and I had this realization that But it was as if I had to become famous, a celebrity, to have the right to walk in a door.

I never felt I had the right to really just walk in the door. I was always terrified, whatever new, or insecure, or less than, or not worthy, or something along those lines. And it was like, oh, Lord, wow. I, to this day, I don't know that I would call you or anybody else and say, hey, Jesse, let's go have a beer and talk. I'm loving talking to you, Jesse, right now, because it has a format that is familiar. It's a work format. We're both working. We're both the team.

We're both playing. And I love that. But I wouldn't be the guy, Woody, my fellow co-house. Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. You know, genuinely has swarms of people in the world, all over the world, who love him. And he loves them, and they hang out with he and Laura.

And they're always hanging out. I don't hang out. This is lovely. I'll say goodbye. And I will get in the car and drive home to marry as fast as I can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Because that's where my, for many.

many reasons. But that's what I love about doing podcasts. I get to hang with people. I might not at a party. I'd be embarrassed. I'd be saying, oh, hey, or whatever. Do you get embarrassed? Are you nervous to say hi to people? Like, when we're

at that event a few weeks ago. Less so, less so. The fact that I have been around long enough, and I do have some degree of value in our community, and I'm 78. There's something that happens at a certain age.

Yeah. If you're still working, it's like, he might break, so let's honor him. Right. He might, he might trip and fall. This could be it. So you get a lot of Mr. Danson, you get a lot of that you wonder whether it's earned or just, you know, whatever. So I do go up to people, but I won't hang.

It'll be a hit and run. Right, right, right. So I love this. I love Jesse. Getting denied a little bit. I just had Mary Elizabeth on the podcast. Actually, her episode just

dropped this week. So lovely. So smart. So smart. Had such wonderful things to say about you. But how are you feeling with this moment in your life with Man on the Inside? And like, what I love so much about the show, and I had a bit of a discussion with Kathy Bates about this.

She's, you know, on Matt, right now. In her sort of relationship with that show and the themes of that show being, you know, an older person who people kind of forget about and don't take quite as seriously.

And like, you know, a lot of times her character feels like she's disappeared because she's not taken seriously because of her age. And those themes are somewhat, I think, present and in your show as well. mean like, you know, you're an undercover investigator. And, you know, I loved the first season, you know, in the nursing home. My mom was, in the last few years of her life, was staying in a

nursing home. So I was like, I had a very specific relationship with, like, the culture of what a nursing home is. And so I found it really fun to sort of watch that being, you know, played out on a television show. But it's a show about so many other things. It's really blossomed and really a lovely character study and I just I love the themes of this show and I I mean show it's it feels very

it feels fresh in a way that I don't know if like if you told me the log line of the show I would think that it would feel fresh yeah I'm Mike sure the creator right yeah yeah Mike sure I've worked with now for six years he did the good place right yeah which is about how to live a

purposeful life and ethical life. Try to be a little better every day. And then this was about, you know, can you stop grieving the death of your wife and isolating and get out into the community and give your life purpose again? You know, it was about, it was a message to all of us, to younger people as well. You know, you are as a 78-year-old. You know, Jane Fonda. She's my hero. And my wife, Mary. But Jane's 85.

And she is full steam ahead, making a huge difference in the world. So young girls can look at Jane Fonda and go, oh, there's no shelf life to my value in the world. I can keep going, acting, and making a difference in the world forever. That's an amazing message. So she's not just telling people her age, keep going, come on, let's go, keep going, which is of value. And I think our show did that.

You know, I thought that was the message of our show. Come on. You know, yes, we all die and all of that, but until then, keep living, keep making a difference, keep contributing. So that's kind of, as much as I hate, because I love pretending that I'm 78, but fuck, I am 78.

So it's getting a little close to the bone here. Yeah. But that is my job now. My podcast is a little bit about that. You know, it's about the other people. But what I care about, you know, is how's your heart? How are you doing? This is a tough time.

How are you navigating all of this? How do you make a difference in the world? So I feel like the podcast has a purpose. Keep putting out hope, love. joy, happiness, silliness, funny, whatever. But keep putting that out. If I get to do another year of a man on the inside, it'll be that kind of purposefulness.

Mary and I are now kind of recognized as a couple. You never want to toot that horn too loud because you'll be in handcuffs coming out of something. But you were arrested with Jane Fonda. Yes. Yes. Okay. Tell me about that. I do want to know.

what the situation was. I assume she wanted Mary. She was only using me to get to marry. She and Mary a great friend. Yeah, yeah. We had her over for dinner early on. They were making a film, the book club, a couple of book club films.

But the first one, she came out the door at the end of the evening and turned to Mary and said, are we going to be friends, you know, and Mary? Who knew her, but not really, really well? Yeah. And we're all enthralled by Jane. He said, yes, okay. We need to be intentional.

We're of a certain age. We need to be intentional about this relationship. So they are. They're really great friends. And they stay in communication. We show up when she beckons and all that. So she wanted Mary to go get arrested with her. But Mary was working.

So I was the second choice. But that was very cool because she was doing Fire Drill Fridays. and it was about climate change. Which is also something you're very passionate about? Yes, I mean, it's just so... Not doom and gloom, but here we are dealing with all of these sad, very controversial,

some of them very mean-spirited, next door to wicked issues that are piled onto us daily. And it's so hard, you know, if you say in the middle of what's going on, and rightfully so, what's going on in Minneapolis, if you start talking about climate change, you know, it'll be a shame on you. This is real life.

These are people for real, and it is. All of those things, it's true. In the meantime, climate change is just doing that. And that's science. So yes, I do care about it. And there'll be so much more immigration. There'll be so many people there already are fleeing countries because you can't grow crops because the climate change has changed so much.

You know, there'll be so many things. So, yeah, I care about it a lot. And Jane Fonda, she would educate the night before, she would have these informational podcasting, zooms, whatever, out into the world saying, This is how it's affecting women. This is how it's affecting social justice, how poor people get more impacted.

So it was an educational moment. Then there'd be speeches out on the steps of Washington somewhere. And then you would go gently with permission or heads up. You would go break the law. For us, we crossed an intersection, I blocked an intersection, and that was against the law. But it was all worked out with the police. This was the champagne of arrest.

You knew that you were going to be getting arrested. Yes, and they would come to you. It was a show. So you put a dive, like, what do you, how do you, how does one prepare to get arrested? Well, they do tell you. I would do depends. Nice.

I would do, uh, that's it. I just, as long as I have a pair of pens, I think it'd be good. Yeah. You don't drink a lot of liquids before, you're right. Before you're getting arrested. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But it, but it, but it, but it. But it. But it was one of the things they'd come to you and they'd say, okay, this is the last time, Mr. Danson, that you will be warned. And if you don't leave now, we will have to put handcuffs on you and arrest. Well, arrest you. Yeah. And I said, yes, please.

I'm going to be arrested. And then they started bringing out the cups of the, what do you call them, the straps. But it was also, excuse me, but I have a really bad shoulder. Can you cuff me in the front? Oh, yes, Mr. Ganson. You know, so to say that I was arrested is a little bit of a wink. Yeah. But you do get taken away and you do with a bunch of people you don't really know

and you don't get to move and do things that you may want to at a certain point. And you do have to wait to pee and you do have to. And they do slow walk you through the process. So we were there, you know, you can pay your fine and leave theoretically right away. Jane went to real jail, not that night, but you get to do these performative arrests. Yeah. I think twice, the third time, they say,

okay, now you're going to jail. Wow. You're going to spend the night in a real jail. Right. And she did. Yeah, she's just, she's astounding. Yeah, she's remarkable. Yeah.

You have a career that I am very, I admire so much. It's one that I hope to have Even just a glimmer of But you are So far so good Well that'll do Yeah Yeah

I hate the word career Because my ego is such that I go No I haven't done it yet I haven't really done it You know Give me another Is there something that you That's baby boomer too

Right right Pass the baton No Yeah yeah yeah Yeah Is there something that you feel like Okay now that if this happens, I will have made it.

Is it like an Oscar nomination? Is there something that you feel like hasn't happened that... Fucking awards. Right? Don't they fuck with your head? You always, yes. And no matter how enlightened you are, are humble, or it's to work,

or it's just an honor to be nominated. In that moment, you're just pummeled by your ego. Yeah. And if you win, the only good thing about winning is you can relax. Yep. It's relaxing to win. If you lose, you have to work your ass off being philosophical. Yeah.

And checking your career and going, well, I do suck. Of course I didn't win. You know? It's horrible. Oh, my God. I'm so loved this. I am thrilled that this worked out. I'm glad I ran into you in the bathroom.

Me too. A few weeks ago. I'm glad we planned this. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for doing this. I adore you. Yeah, back at you.

Yeah, we are. It's such a lovely act. Thank you. Yeah, you really are. Thank you. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Max and Helens in Larchmont Village, Los Angeles.

Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know her from Scrubs, Roseanne, and Firefly Lane. It's Sarah Chalk. We'll get into her iconic run as Dr. Elliot Reed on Scrubs, and you're all about the much-anticipated Scrubs revival.

Plus, we've got to ask her about sharing the role of Becky on Roseanne. Ooh, so bewitch. of her. 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, you'll also be able to listen completely ad free. Just click try free at the top of the Dinner's 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 Bear engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasney and Justin McKita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.