Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - Danny DeVito

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

Fun with Jim Carrey, Batman, and Always Sunny with Danny DeVito. For tickets to Matilda in Concert go to: njsymphony.org/matilda  or call 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So we just want to let you know that Danny DeVito, who directed the movie Matilda, the great smash hit from in the 1990s, is going to be in concert with the New Jersey Symphony, March 22nd at the State Theater in New Brunswick. And it's a beautiful theater I've played there before. There's been a live orchestra, the movie with a beautiful print, and you'll see it live. And then Danny will narrate like he did in the movie live. He'll be there. So March 22nd in New Brunswick, the State Theater, Danny DeVito and Matilda. If you want tickets go to njsymphony.org slash Matilda or just call 1-800-ALEGRO which is also 1-800-255-3476. two, five, five, three, four, seven, six.

And Dana, this one has one of our old favorites who we both had worked with, Danny DeVito. He was on SNL with you and me. He did my very first, I'm pretty sure, Gap Girls. That one only had me and Sandler in it, but he played our boss. And I know he did Hans and Franz with you. Hans and Franz and Church Lady. And he's a five-time host.

So he's part of that club, loves Saturday Night Live. He's about as likable a person as you could ever spend time with. There's something about him that is so sweet and fun. We go over his penguin character, Batman, that was so sweet and fun. We go over his penguin character, Batman, that was so brilliant and hilarious. The Tim Burton movie, Batman Returns, I believe. And...

Oh yeah, we talk about... His early days. One flow of the cuckoo's nest, romancing the stone. He had so many big, big things. Twins. And of course, we get in twins, taxi. Always sunny. Always sunny in Philadelphia. Yeah, quite a career.

The dude has done a lot and he produces and he directs. We just talk about a lot of stuff for them and the guy is a good talker and he knows a lot about New York and when he started and he gets into all those crazy stories about Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman, going to see Andy Kaufman do stand up. Yeah, a lot of fun stuff so this is a fun one and have a good time with him. But I was just thinking doing this in the 1960s, we might have waited for Yule Brenner to come on. And that would have been fun.

Yule Brenner would be the first, yeah, guest. Podcast guest in 1965. We'd follow him up with Steve McQueen. Yeah, he put him on, he does a little dance, does the accent. He talks about the doing the jump, but he didn't really do it in the great escape. And really, yeah, all the all the stuff that he does, you know, like, I had an apartment in New York once night in the 60s. I

got on the bulletin board of of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where I went to school. And, you know, I was looking for apartments. Everybody was always, you know, scrounging for like, no money, but we had no money. So they had this bulletin board anyway. I went to an address and it was in the weirdest place. It was on Madison Avenue in like 57th or 8th street,

645 was the address I remember. And yeah. Wow. And I walk in the door, it's a really shitty building. Now it's all totally turned into what New York is, you know. And I go in the building and the first thing I saw was a giant picture Fuel printer Oh, man, it was a little shitty. Yeah a little shitty hallway like kind of thing and

Anyway, it worked out because I got the apartment it was like Anyway, it worked out because I got the apartment. It was like the second flight up. It had an elevator actually in the building, a very, very, very old school. And of course, it was 64 or something like that. So what was your rent? Do you remember your rent? Yes, $50 a month.

$50 a month. And it was a one bedroom apartment. And the back, and the bedroom was the living room, bedroom kind of situation. It had a nice bathroom and a kitchen and a, mm-hmm. Yeah. And the bedroom had windows that looked out over the tops

of buildings in New York. So it was like one of those, it was like if you were doing a play or a movie about New York and you said like, build me a outside, like what the cyclorama would look like or today would what you would put in in, in the background of your movie. It was all the stove, you know that the exhaust pipes and the

stops of buildings and railings and all that Like that you could do you could do a west side story on the roof Did did people hang out of the out out of there out of their windows going hey? What's with the noise over here? over here no no they weren't doing that it was like more like it wasn't like enclosed like like if there were buildings that went up because in that area you know at that time it was just the top so you had a great panorama of looking east. But no, you didn't see a river or anything. I was on Madison Avenue and, but to actually have that address at that time was like,

amazing, fucking crazy because I put these other glasses like see better far away. That's a great right in the heart of midtown, right? Yes, right in the heart of... and the thing about it is that at that time, and a lot of people don't know this, Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue were two-way streets. I mean, you guys weren't even born. Uh, yeah. Um, I was born.

I go back. I remember you old Brenner. I look, I mean, you know, David doesn born. Uh, yeah, I go back. I remember you'll Brenner. I look, I mean, you know, David is no you'll better. Yes. So you remember him. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I remember the king and I was a poster.

But if you imagine Madison Avenue being a two way street and, uh, you know, you know, New York very well. And Fifth Avenue also. You know, you know, New York very well. And Fifth Avenue also. I used to walk up from 30th and go to 57th or eighth where it lived. And, uh, it was a two way street. It was really, there weren't any horses and carts though. You'd be happy to hear.

You weren't that far back. Oh, good. All right. We're in the mart. Were you walking around with casting call magazine? I was doing what We used to get was show business and and what would they go back stage? You remember back stage?

Yeah, you guys did it all the way. It was just by I would you know, it was never in the magazine. I we'd buy these magazines, these papers that came out once a week, show business and, and backstage. And in there, there would be all the casting that was going on. And we would, you know, we would go to on the corner. I think it was 47th and 7th was Howard Johnson's. And everybody would meet in there. It was like you're going in, you know, take up space and have coffee and read the to see what latest thing. Yeah, to see what was going on.

Danny, did you ever find when you auditioned for these things at the beginning, I found this that you would audition and then you would hear through the grapevine, they already have offers out to stars, but they're just looking for backups or. Oh no, it's always the same case. So it's been that since the beginning of time. And the other thing about about like I'm talking about

auditioning for off, off Broadway, off Broadway, regional theater, anything that you could get. And, you know, sometimes you get lucky and get an audition at the public, you know, and, you know, get a tiny part in Shakespeare in the park, you know? Like, it's not literally a spear carrier, but you might have a few lines. Like, I played once, like I played the doctor in the Mary Wiser, the doctor's servant. Sorry, in the Mary Wiser Windsor, you know? And the best, those were the best shows to get because They literally paid man. Oh, that was like you would wind up with 190 something dollars a week in in those

In in at Joe paps Yeah, 200. It was a different contract. They you know, no strike needed there. Yeah, yeah, four months of rent Off-Broadway was great man off-Broadway was $68 a week $70 a week damn that's what I made on SNL and SNL didn't exist then Did it did Lord Michael's try to help me existed Well, Lord Michael's always existed. He was in he was a teenager still exists There is no one When did SNL start when did that SNL start? It's a good question 75 is like 70 something 75

75 the 50th is next year. Yeah anniversary. Yeah, so I yeah, that's so 75 I was already in California by then I came I'd gone through off Broadway and all those things Earlier and You know Did children's theater in? Massachusetts I've done you know did all that kind of uh, children's theater in Massachusetts. I've done, you know, did all that kind of stuff. And then I, I got lucky in, uh, in the, in 1971 ish or two around there.

And I got a part off Broadway and played martini and Cuckoo's nest. Oh, and so that was like, we should be fucking applause. Then, then, uh, I stayed in that play for almost a year. It ran at the Mercer Arts Center. And that was cool. And then uh, uh, then Milo saw it and everybody saw it. And I got lucky. We got a, you know, me lose.

And then I got the movie and then after the movie opened that moved out. Wait Danny, honey California my my question was when you do a play you're not guaranteed a part in the movie. Are you? No, you're not guaranteed anything in this. There are businesses. You must know this It's not there's no there are no guarantees. There's no anything Yeah, I mean once in a while like rest is I you could imagine like Brando Given a performance like he did in streetcar and then yeah, you know You got to be a you know you have to have your head in the sand did not cast him in in the movie So right the same thing with same thing with Vivian.

They're not gonna get someone from the bachelor. And they're not gonna like, yeah, he's gonna be the first choice. Yeah, I starred in Hans and Franz, The Musical. Sorry, go ahead. I wanna hear more about Hans and Franz, The Musical. Hans and Franz, The Musical. What I was gonna ask you, Danny,

is a philosophical question. Usually when people have their struggling years, struggling years, and then have hyper superstar success, which I'm going to put you in that category, they look back at those early years and go, those are some of the best days of my life. Do you feel that or did it suck? When you look back on the struggle in your life.

I never, I don't, first of all, I don't, I mean, unless I'm doing something like talking to you guys like or something, you don't think about that as much, but you do think like, you know, those days were struggles, but not, you know, not the best. They were not, those were the days. I think the toughest part about that getting started was, you know, like you guys got started,

like when you, you know, you hit television, I don't know what your history is, but how much you did before Before I met you when I did the church lady you were so But uh, you were there you were you were there? Oh, I remember Well, you you hosted a couple times just so funny And when I did that drum solo in the dress you were egging me on you know, and that was my best drum solo

On television. There you go. See you have to the coach You were good. I had ten ten years of Anonymity before I got SNL David had David got a movie right out of high school but I know But then I Danny thank you for asking. I did a police academy movie, police academy for the good one. And I, and then I came back and turned something down.

I thought I was kind of a big deal. And then I lost all my heat for three years and had to grind it back. And it's so fucking sickening to even think about. But it all worked out. But like you were saying in the beginning when you were struggling, I think like all of us, you don't really know any better and you know you're taking a risk by going into this world of movies and TV and theater. So you can only really look back and think, God damn, how did I get through that? But at the time, $100 is a lot. You get a little part is a lot. You know, you're

just sitting with your buddies at the coffee shop. It's such a long shot to make it that it's probably, once you make it, you look back and go, God, that was tough. But at the time it's tough, but you don't, I didn't really notice how tough it was. Yeah, you don't notice it. No, you just, well, you're focused on, like, you're focused on getting the job. Yeah. So basically that was what was going on with me. I was like, I would, I would read those papers that, you know, and at the time, excuse me, in the 60s, I didn't have an equity card.

60s I didn't have an equity card. So I just got out of school and like the way they did it was You would read and say you'd read in the in backstage that such and such was casting something and you go okay and and they're casting over on 57th street You know by Carnegie Hall somewhere near one of those buildings down the block, whatever it was. And casting was, you know, say Tuesday, okay, but you didn't get in until the end of the, you got to see, if you didn't have an equity card, they saw everybody, you know, they would, they're, because everybody's looking for the right person to play the part, They would there because everybody's looking for the right person to play the part

Hopefully Uh, if and especially if they're not, yes I mean, maybe they already had the lead cast or that's the way they raised the money or Those things but you would you would wait up in the I'd you go go like three o'clock four o'clock in the afternoon, maybe the line was less and you could, you waited and then in the end, the very end, they would let the non-equity people get in to audition and then they'd see everybody.

And as a matter of fact, the first play that I ever got did I did at In I think it was 1968 or so seven The first off-Broadway show because I had done regional theater. Well, I did tour it with a play once that Came out of school. That was like kind of cast in, we went to two theaters, went to the Eugene O'Neill Foundation,

where they, the playwrights thing and 60 something, 64. And then like in 68, I actually did that. I went to one of those auditions and where they make you wait until the very end. And I peeked my head into the, you know, it was a big, big door in one of those big old pre-war buildings in the, like, I think it might have been on like near 57th Street. And I walk up and it's this giant door and it was nobody there because I had gone and come back. The line was really long and hey anyway,

long story short, I stuck my head in and there was an actor, a director and a writer and a producer sitting at a table of really far away in this big empty room. It looked like rehearsal room and I just popped my head in. And, you know, you still, you know, seeing people kind of thing.

And the actor, a guy named Alan Garfield. You remember? I don't know Alan. James Garfield's son? No, no, I don't know James Garfield son no no I don't know okay who was dad but the same was down Garfield but he was mm-hmm you know him Dave no I know Garfield the cat okay anyway look the guy literally at the table like across the room turns around and said that's the guy who should play the part whoa they

were trying to talk to him into yeah he didn't want to do this part it was Turnes around and said that's the guy who should play the part. Whoa Yeah, he didn't want to do this part it was wasn't a huge part, but it was a good part and I stuck my head in the door and the guy and the actor not the director and the producers and The writer or whatever. He's there's a guy who should play this part. And I just backed out of the room or something and they came and got me. And I went in and I read the lines, did the thing. I didn't, I had never seen the script before.

Just, you know, those things where they give you the sides. Cold right, yeah. Yeah. And I got a part in a play called Shoot Anything with Hair That Moves. Of course. Huge success. David, do you find that you're kind of just looking at your email and you get all these charges?

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I mean, there's streaming service, there's fitness apps, there's delivery service, parenting apps, endless. So, rocket money, they come in, they find out what subscriptions I'm actually spending money on. And this is a waker upper because they just cancel the ones I don't want anymore. They do it for you. They put them all together in a list.

You can look at them and go, no, I haven't seen any of those in seven years. It's a rocket money, a personal finance app. Fines and cancels, your unwanted subscriptions, monitors you're spending, and you know what? Helps lower your bills. Yeah, by an average of 20%, a rocket money has over 5 million users. That's a lot. It saved its members an average of $720 a year with over $500 million in canceled subscriptions. Wow. That's an impressive number. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Just news flash. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com.slashfly. David? That's rocketmoney.com.slashfly. Rocketmoney.com slash fly rocketmoney.com slash fly

I just think of the 70s and the films of the 70s and cuckoo's nest and of course that play Yeah, don't shoot anything that has hair and the Friends that you that you made Jack Nicholson and Michael Douglas and your class right those 70s guys That all became and their lifelong friends. What what's to deal with those guys? Are they fun or do you like them or? They're a lot of fun and good to work with yeah, Jack's the coolest guy out there Jack Jack was like a guy from Jersey. He he lived, I was born in the same hospital. Figure that.

Like damn sure. Well, hey. I'll be damned. How about that? That's what Jack would say. I'll be damned, born in the same hospital. Yeah, how do you like that? Me indeed, born in the same hospital? I don't do a good

Let's see and then Michael I met I met actually in the 60s at the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights conference up there where we where that play that I was going through town with but we we opened the festival that year and that's where we met. So, and they were, and not only good guys, but really fun to work with and once we got going, we had a couple of shots to work together,

which was like really good. It's when people are looking out for you, because the business is like very difficult, and when people are looking out for you, as well as, you know, your buddies, and know what the scoop is, then you, you know, you'd be fortunate to have those guys as friends. You're lucky you're all good too because it's hard to help each other out or recommend

someone, but if everybody's good, those, you know, all three of you. So it's not crazy that you would all be in another movie or that you would work together because you keep bringing it, which is hard to do. It's all about work, the work. Yeah, just keep working, yeah. Keep having and having a good time doing it. Our theme here is casually, Esadal. You hosted five times.

It's very rare to host five times. Five o'clock. You and John Goodman and a couple others when you host that show As you know, you got a pretty much cold read 55 scripts over four hours basically And I remember thinking the time when you came in in 86 or 87 damn this guy can cold read Was it were you knowing for that? But you were like nailing it, you know over and over again I don't you know pretty cool to to watch as a young performer

well it was a lot of fun to sit in that room with all you crazy people and and and have that pile of scripts in front of you and just go through them and I mean that that's like You know the opportunity to have everybody there pitching what they thought was best, best, and what you felt comfortable with. That's the main thing. I think that's key, right, for, would you say, like, for the hosts to be comfortable

with all that material, you know, pick the ones that are the ones that suit you best. It's a lucky thing, like to have that pack of, you know, troubadours all sitting around the table, you know. It's like old school showbiz, kind of. Yeah, old school, you know, it's like, yeah, I could imagine what it was like, you know, when the Marx Brothers were running around All the theaters trying out material, you know that that would be the same kind of thing they they they just go do they

suffer people through Two hours or three hours of material And then pick the ones that they like best. Yeah, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin of the They were the anarchists then, they're crazy people. But one thing about you, I have to say, so we get to it was on Hans and Franz, when we got you in there as like a pit bull over the top Austrian guy who was out of his mind and you kept, we would berate the audience, the imaginary and you would start berating them and then you start attacking the camera

and we had to keep holding you back. That was one of the funniest moments I had on that show with you in that sketch. Yeah, hysterical. Cause you committed so fucking hard. Yeah, I think sometimes the task of the director for me is, you know, sitting on me, holding me back, get me away from the, just try to turn the burners down a little bit.

You know, once they get going, I guess that's what happens. Burners down. It still happens that way. Well, that's what Arnold, Arnold told me about you. He said, you know, you got to keep Danny on his feet, keep Danny on his feet. Cause his energy goes on a short leash. A short leash. Otherwise he gets going and gets away at the leash. And you have to you have to follow him and get

him and bring him back into the scene, because the emotions get so high with Danny. It's funny about about Arnold Arnold and I thrust together by Ivan Reiman, who just passed away twins. So he he called me and said, How would you like to be Arnold Schwarzenegger's brother? I said, me, I jumped the chance. I thought that was a great idea. Once we got together was like, we had a great chemistry, we breaking balls, Austin, it was like a kind of like, you know,

you know, he's, he's so formidable, you know, know and like and he's got a great sense of humor He does. Oh, yeah, like he's always Doing all kinds of like, you know crazy as shit and he always had a pack of guys around him like Franco and and Colombo, Franco Colombo Other bodybuilders and so it was like a pack of it was like a pack of bros was similar, you know, going into like that with the, you know, as a host of Saturday Night Live, going into this pack of like

crazy people that were always, you know, that had a second hand, a shorthand, and, and, and got along the way you guys did. I don't, you know, at least when, when I was around you, we're always, you know, fucking around, having a good time. And so it's a similar kind of thing with, with Arnold, I go in and there would all be these guys seriously pumping iron and doing shit and, you know, you know and I just like you know when you get protein out of a kind of a wrecking ball comes in and starts banging into you know yeah it was fun it was a lot of fun were they gonna do a triplets yeah we were gonna do it and then uh two this is a We're gonna do it and then two, this is the, I always go by the Super Bowl because I was in Atlanta

doing a movie and it was Super Bowl Sunday and I was just getting over COVID. I was stuck in a room for two weeks and the news came that Ivan passed away on that day and so this is gonna be three this is three years now that he's going two yeah three years two years yeah okay brilliant director It was a drag. He was, you know, he's a lot of fun and and made it made a big difference in my life.

Well, yeah, I was told that we were going to do trip. Oh, we're going to do trips. We had a we had a script going. Everything was going. And then when he passed, his family didn't want to continue with doing it so we're Arnold and I are working on other things together. Good. And you know that's awesome. We love Arnold.

You know. The way he's, yeah, he's a cool guy. He's a good guy. Tracy Morgan was going to come in. I put a baby in there. You know, he's so funny. I had a great time together and he was just off the charts. Bananas, yeah. I mean that energy in there has been like.

Mr. D, it don't get any easier. That's that. You know, that's the way things go. You know, like they, you know, you have to always adjust as like we do. Did you have the role that got away, Danny? Or maybe a conflict. You had to do another movie in no choices But I couldn't do I

Had had one of those that that was really substantial that You know you could look back and say you know No, I'm I've had roles that I desperately wanted and got, which I got, I had to work hard to get. If you can't imagine, you know how everybody holds out, you know, you get apart and somebody says, the last minute you a part and it's the one you wanted. And that that's really the ones I think about. Once it got away, I don't know.

I can't, you know, were you going to be Costanza? Oh, no, no, I think like you mean like in Seinfeld. Yeah. No, I wasn't. I they they they just. Yeah. When yeah, I was still I don't know what I was doing at the time. I went when I did a movie. Yeah, I did a movie called the ratings game, which is was done for showtime. It was the first movie that I directed and And I cast in that movie as a it was just one of his first things on

camera Jerry Seinfeld I Don't know if he had done anything before this, but I cast him as an agent. And coincidentally, there were a couple of like character, really wild characters in the movie. I cast Michael Richards in the same movie. Oh, we really yeah Wow, I didn't know that it would later be teamed up in the Seinfeld, but this was like in It was an 83 When did Seinfeld go on like 90

93 2 3 4 I'm sorry something like that. Yeah, so 10 years earlier. I did a movie called the ratings game and Both Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards were in it. It's Jerry ask you questions About a direct. Hey, how do you want me? How do you want me to play this scene? Did he ever say that to you? No, no. I don't. He's pretty kind of serious in real life, I think. By the way, which Batman did you work with? I can't remember. Batman Returns. Who was the Batman again? Oswald. Oh no, that. Oh, I love my. I do. I'm not just cause you're on our show right now. I love your penguin. I loved it.

Your, your Oswald penguin. I thought, didn't you have fun doing that? I mean, your, your get up was so crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I had fun doing that. That was a, that was one of the ones that I really wanted. And I, I, you know, And I met Tim and we had a great conversation about it. And I knew he had done a lot of drawings and we sat in his office

and looked at it. And I really, really wanted to play that. And the makeup was, the first makeup was, I was in the chair for almost five hours. And then we got it down to three, but we stayed around three, three and change. And it was amazing. And it was the thing about, I liked about, that was, you know, like I said, I like to go big. And boy, oh boy boy Oswald was written like an opera

you could take this guy you know I mean he just was he was slapping his flippers off the wall baby I mean, you know, you're buried. You're gonna fly. We will attack. Yeah. He was the wicked witch. He was all of it, all in one. Yes. Yeah. Crazy character. Yeah. And that was after, okay, that was after, so I'd work with, I did the, you know, we

did Romance in the Stone, Jewel of the Nile. Great. And then War of the Roses with Michael and Catherine and I, I was just about thinking about what we were going to do again, because I was trying to pull a Fritz Lang, you know, where you as a director, you ask, you know, the same people in the in all your movies, but they play different parts. And, and then Batman came along. And it's odd the way things emerge.

Most of the movies that I've done came out of the blue and I was very, you're very fortunate. I was gonna direct a pilot. I was sitting in the commissary, a paramount. And I was just about to make the deal like with I was talking to the writer and I was talking to the producer and it was at Paramount and I was gonna be the, I was directing this pilot

and I had a yellow pad full of notes, you know, about the pilot script. And I knew I was getting really steely daggers from the writer was also the producer. And a woman, this was in the days we didn't have cell phones and stuff. A woman from the, like the commissary, I was in the commissary all the time, because the taxi. We that's where we shot Taxi she came over to me. She said you have a phone call. It was like the old Hollywood day She didn't bring it to the table, but I I got up and went over to where the phone night and I it was it was Michael Douglas and

And and he rescued me from doing that pilot Because we had shot Romancing the stone already. No, yes, romancing the stone. And he said, what are you doing? I heard you're going to do a pilot. I said, yeah, man, I'm struggling through this meeting right now. He's, well, you can't do that. You got to, we got to go on the road, man.

We're going all over the world to promote the movie. And I said, I love you, baby. Yeah, get me out of here. Yeah. Any, I love you. You rescued my ass. All right. I got a question. Go. Did you ever go see, you were on a show called Taxi, you might not remember, but did you ever see Andy Kaufman go do standup, just like at the comedy store?

Yeah. And how was that? That was bizarre. Yeah, bizarre, man. But I went to see him do that and I saw him, and I went out to eat at the restaurant, he busboyed out in the valley after he was on taxi

yeah while he was on the show he busboyed out in I love it on I think I'm not sure the valley yeah it was a good it might have been cats no what the hell in the valley it wasn't our valley the That might have been it, Jerry. Yeah. And, you know, we went out, we had like a couple of us

from the show. I think Tony might have been with me. And Judd and I have come. We just one night went out and we knew he was working. And so we went Nate and you know, had conversations with like you would have with the bus boy. And he's nowhere around. Right, he's the bus. He was the bus boy. It was like really

great. I mean, that that was that guy was like, yeah, we had some fun. His dressing was right next to mine. We would, um, he was, uh, he was hysterical one day, uh, somebody was delivering a package and it was a woman and he started yelling at her because she was, uh, I don't know, UPS. So I can't remember what the, maybe it was the government. I don't know what the fuck it was, but she's walking in. She's got a uniform on She's delivering a package to somebody and he tells her that she should be home You know, she's taking a man's job and look they're into a wrestling match. I Was there for that one

right in the hallway, but both of them turning red, you know what I mean? Like, choke holds. We had a break in part a couple of times. It was so slow, man. You could do that crazy about that shit. I don't think you could, actually. I mean, you could do that.

You could do, yeah, I don't know. There was no like, you know, know again if that was a it was that was today somebody would be out with a cell phone and the next thing you know it would be online and people would comment about it and they would say you know but I'll tell you the woman that he was fighting was as big as he was and she did a good job man he Really had his ass down big time. You know, it was, it was, I don't know if Tony, I always wondered if Tony always had a little camera with him dancing.

And I was wondering if he, you know, I have one of those little, always had a camera. Any good pictures? Eight millimeter. Were you cast before Andy? Were you cast first? Or do you have any hand in the cast? No, I think Andy might have been cast.

I was the last, I think I might have been one of the last members to be cast. And the story was that I was told later was that my part was actually written as a voice that came over the loudspeaker, kind of like Carlton the doorman. Yeah, I remember Carl and did my famous audition where I said, I said to them before they just introduced me. And I said to Brooks and Weinberger and Dan Stann, Dan Davis was there, all the guys sitting around. I said, one thing I want to know before I start who wrote this shit And I threw it on the table And it was like a split second of like

Not even you know a nanosecond Yeah, you can fucking piss themselves right and then it was one of those auditions where you You couldn't say anything you couldn't do anything wrong. I'd say and, and I'd get a laugh. You know what I mean? I love it. It wasn't, yeah, it was the, that was Joel. Riga.

The casting director was Joel Thurm. He said, you gotta come do this. You know what I say, yeah man, okay, cool. What a fucking score that was that score that was yeah What was we're working with Andy Kaufman on taxi or then doing the man on the moon with Jim Kerry doing any Coffin I think where Jim was It was like really off the chart Most fun

Like I've had fun like on Sure, I'm really fortunate had fun like on. Sure. I'm really fortunate. I had fun on a lot of the movies. You know, I never had one of those. Oh, fuck, that was awful movies. I always had these like really quirky kind of things. Being on the step with Jim Carrey.

Sorry about that. Being on the step with Carrey oh, oh, it is Jim. No, I'm only kidding. He was like in so far in, you know, all the story, we saw the documentary. I was producing that movie. And so I, but also playing God rest his soul, George Shapiro. Anyway, he was busting my balls constantly. And, know, and me, she's then see, it's infectious because then what would happen if we were having fun, but Milo should go

to me. You gotta go to my best trailer. I can losing time. I gotta get, you know, I am just too. It was going to be on my ass. And I'm going, and Jim, Tony, Tony, Tony, come on out. And he's going, you know, but it was fun. It was even though it was like, you know, and I've got a lot of friends who worked on that movie and we still talk about that experience because Pam Abdi was my assistant

at the time she was there and knowing that I was going through what was going on. I mean, he did things like, okay, we're acting in the movie but I'm also the producer, one of the producers of the movie. And so he would get mad at the, like he pulled his car up to my trailer and went up, you know, there's got the little Metal steps. Yeah, and his car up put it in gear or something locked the keys. I couldn't get out of my travel teachers had to come with a crane to get the car, you know, it was like one of those

I was gonna go to the car, but I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car.

I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. I was gonna go to the car. He was brilliant in that part. And seriously, would turn it on and off when he wanted. So that was like one of those things where whenever he came to the set, he was always in character. But if you see him like, you know, you know, off like I went to his house or something like that for a

Me, you know some thing he was like cool. He wasn't you know, he wasn't like a serial killer off the Yeah Yeah, he's very a sort of a quiet sweet guy. Yeah, why guy, but then turned into like Tony Clifton. I love it. Which was like. Tony Clifton is a whole other. That was fucked up. That was fucked up.

We shot at a place called Chasens down on. I remember that, that place. Okay, he spread, there was some kind of, I don't know, union strike or something. There was something kind of, I don't know, union strike or something. There was something going on. He wrote like big letters like, you know, in red ink, I mean, red spray paint all over the building. I had to repaint the entire building.

Yeah. It's like a Farley. It's like having a crazy person on this. Like Chris. I can't imagine what it was. I always loved Chris because he would take it to that, you know. Oh yeah. He was always the one. Oh my God. Yeah. Same kind of thing. Just a lot of attention, a lot of craziness and loveable, sweet guy like sweet guy like jim i mean just but they really live in things up there's

always a story after the fact is always a story then i got asked that dany always an on always sunny question because we can't let you go without talk about always sunny uh because we can't let you go without talking about always sunny One question of mine is I don't see all the episodes, but I see a lot of it on instagram Which I don't know if you know this but when they show tick tock and instagram clips. They're always so fucking filthy I'm like are these from the real show are they getting away with all this stuff Are they filthy? I don't know. I don't I mean like just they're very R rated and I thought yeah

Yeah, the show is I mean people love that fucking show they love the show is a little You know, I don't know a little you're talking about but we have had some In you when there is yeah, yeah, there's some innuendo's for sure There's some innuendos for sure. Yeah. I'm not sure if they're even innuendos. They're just straight ahead. But yeah, it's so funny and it's such a long run. It sounds like a gift, I'm sure.

Yeah, it is a gift. Being with fun. They all look fun as shit. I don't know everybody that well. No, they're all, you know, when I got this show, that, you know, Landgraf was my buddy and he showed me this show. Right. You have to get FX. And then I met them and they were, you know, just the way they are. And the same cat, you know, the three oddballs. And then I met Caitlin and she's hysterical.

Hilarious, yeah. But yeah, they're a lot of fun to go to work with, you know. Yeah, it's good to, it's a good job. It's been on there forever. Keeps giving. Keeps giving. And now Matilda we have to talk about. Yeah.

Matilda came to me Yeah, which you directed the movie. I did I directed the movie and and I you know I I saw Mara Wilson in in in the Movie Mrs. Doubtfire and She was a little bit older when I met her perfect from Matilda And we shot the movie and it was great. We had a great time. That was like that was fun That was a hundred hundreds of kids. There was no CG. We added kids and all that stuff Yeah, yeah, real kids

Great me on the stage with a bullhorn. Yeah do this do that Okay, wrangling cats. Yeah, yeah, and so now we're doing it on We've taken the sound out, you know, you've seen these things Everybody's does it with ET and does it with star Wars and does it with Back to the Future. I took the soundtrack out and David Newman is going to conduct the Philharmonic, it's a symphony orchestra. New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. And we're doing that on March 22nd in New Jersey at the State Theater in New Brunswick. And it's really exciting to do because here's the thing, you take the sound out, okay, not just the music out,

but I narrate the movie as well as play a part in it. So when I when I'm narrating, I'm on stage actually with the symphony orchestra is really okay timid yeah but it's really a lot yeah and and you're watching the you know the streamer go by on I got a little monitor with the movie he's conducting the score the people are watching them the movie I've got a brand new print and it's just beautiful. The print is like gorgeous. And, and then when the stream when my turn to narrate a talk, you know, he conducts, it's like me. Over it. You talk over it. Yeah. Well, in the movie, I play the part of warmwood, Mr. Wormwood, and I also narrate the movie. So

because I tried to find somebody to narrate the movie, but I being the egotist I am, I couldn't Yeah, embarrassing. anybody else cast yourself. myself. And, and it's kind of a trip to see, you know, you play the part you're narrating the movie. And I've got Rhea, of course, plays Mrs. Wormwood. She's gonna come on the 22nd.

And I've got Pam Ferris coming over from England. She played the Trunch Bull. It's really astounding how many kids love the Trunch Bull. Miss Trunch Bull. She was great movie. Yeah, really. And Mara's gonna be. By the way, I don't hear about a. She was great, really. Yeah. Really. And Ma are.

By the way, I don't hear about a lot of these things, Danny. You don't hear about the symphony, maybe with a Star Wars or something, but this is a really interesting thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. Fun, challenging situation. Yeah. It's, and I'm David Newman who wrote the score.

We've done this once before, we did it once before. We did it a few years ago with a orchestra from the East Coast, not New Jersey. And it worked out really great. It's fun. It's a fun night because she gets you know But but you're right usually it's done with the more like back to the futury kind of BT Blockbuster crazy movies. This one is it's got a lot of music in it. So it's fun. Who wrote the score David Newman

Yeah, the Newman pack is as soon as the Newmans were born, the father was the head of 20th Century Fox Music did all the lot of the scores of all the old movies that we love and his brother, they have the whole, you always see the Newman name on. And then David, David scores Thomas Newman, Randy Newman. They're all related, these guys. They were all like when Susan are born, they give him a violin or a little baby. So the first thing the newman's do. Yeah, even even Eric Newman is his son, Randy's son produces produces narcos a lot of movies. So there you go Everyone's in the biz. Yeah, everybody's in the biz

So this should be a really good night sounds great. Yeah, if you are you guys in the East Coast are you are you here? Sometimes we are in California, but if I was out there, I'd crash that party. Yeah, crash that party because we're gonna have Yeah, uh I've the state theater in New Brunswick is uh New for me. I've never been there But I think I played the uh symphony orchestra. You did I believe so. How many is that about? 2000

2,500 Okay, I think I played there Yeah, yeah, um great great theater So how many seats is that about? 2,500 or? 1,800. Okay, I think I played there. Yeah. Yeah, it's a beautiful theater. Great theater. This would be really fun. I love live music and live symphony orchestra.

It's just, and then to have you there, and they're ready and seeing the film. Yeah, that sounds fun. I would go see it, everybody. Package deal. Are you on the East Coast right now, Danny? Yeah, I'm on the West Coast. We're probably right around the corner from East Coast. West it, everybody. Package deal. Are you on the East Coast right now, Danny? Yeah, I'm on the West Coast. We're probably right around the corner from East Coast.

West Coast, okay. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I'm on the West Coast. Wow, wave. Anyway, it's been a pleasure, Danny. Good luck with this. Thanks.

This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all the stuff, smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts. Flying the Wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weiss, Berman of Odyssey, Charlie Finan of Brillstein Entertainment and Heather Santoro. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzmann.