Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - John Leguizamo: From The Ice Age To The Odyssey

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

The guys sit down with the unstoppable John Leguizamo and dive into everything from getting in fights as a kid to then voicing Sid in Ice Age and getting revenge at the sequel negotiation table, then being typecast in Hollywood, and what it’s like working with Nolan, DiCaprio, and Schwarzenegger.  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

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Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConX Ontario at 1-866-531-2-600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario Because I was the flavor that they were looking for sort of like a ghetto hood rat Yeah You know I had to be working against that because you know my acting teachers when I was 17 They were all like uh no one can understand you with that accent do you really speak that way

And uh good god I was like that you know I was like that yo man what you want what you need to me I'll be right there for you well what's up you know i would like that It was so dope because they thought it was going to be a bomb. They thought Ice H was going to be a serious bomb. They had closed down Fox animation because they thought it was over. Like, I'm not joking. They thought it was over.

There was no merchandise, no advertising. This shit came a turn. It blew up. Cut the balls. Work the shaft. Cut the ball. That's right out of my playbook. All right.

We have a gentleman on here, Dan. You're a gentleman, but so is our guest. Yeah, I'm a gent. I was in a club in high school called gents. Would you like to be referred to as a gent or a class act? David Spade, he's a gent. David Spade, he's a class act. Most like it, David Spade, he's a buffoon.

But that's common now you're called a buffoon. You know my last name is Spade? You know this, right? So it's not showbiz, it's very real. So when I played tennis in high school, I always wanted to be called the spade of ace. That was like in the nickname, like in the Swarrow Sabercat paper, like spade of ace wins again.

But the only thing that caught on was Pinky Dick. I don't want to think about that. How did, how did this turn in? How were you not named Ace of middle name? Oh, of ACE of Spades. I don't know how people miss. My middle name could have been UV, H of Spade. But we're not here to talk about that.

We're not here to talk about that. We're here to talk about. John Legisamo. John Legisamo. He's a good dude. I've met probably very briefly in the past, but very aware of him. You know, being in the comedy world and someone's out there doing one-man shows. He was ruling HBO there for a while.

has a new show. John, like Zamo, does America, and he gets into a lot of very interesting things. You know, he's just a different world in us. We're just straight stand-ups, and he's like a one-man performer. Yeah, just one-man shows. And, yeah, he's been, he's been a fixture. I'm just going to use the word fixture in American entertainment, theater, movies, television. Yeah, he works. To Wong Fu. Remember that one with Patrick Swayze? Patrick Sway and who else is a Wesley Snipes, I think. Anyway, very interesting movie in the day, probably 20 years ago, but he's always sort of pushing the envelope and doing things so. Yeah, very creative. Great to have a chat with this dude and here he is right now. John Legazamo.

It happened to me when I was doing smart list. They said download Chrome an hour later with two guys on the thing and finally punted it, not going to happen. Did it later. But yeah. But you guys got on Zoom. That was good. That was like stress. I know. What's wrong with Zoom? Zoom never hurt anyone. Why does everyone hate it? Yeah, they fucking hate it. Why are people hate it?

Why are they hitting on Zoom? There's no need to be hating on Zoom. None. Zoom got us here. Zoom. No need to be hating on Zoom. Zoom walks the streamer and run. Right.

Zoom got us like, we don't have to go meet directors in person anymore. We don't have to talk to anybody in person anymore. I mean, Zoom saved our, you know, our lack of. When I talk to directors, I go, can I just not get the job from here? And they're like, yeah, I'll just say no here. If you want to have a fake meeting. I do want the fake meeting.

But then afterwards, just press. I like the free food. I'm not going to lie. I like the free food. And if I'm a big fan of the director, I like me and them in person so I can just that brag. You know what I mean? What's that like being in person?

I mean, what happens? You see them in a room? Or I'm just on virtual? No, I mean, like I just make Chris know. for The Odyssey. We met at the Audion, you know, the big 90s, Hollywood, New York team restaurant. And we sat for two hours. We chatted, talked about life, his biography, mine. And then I did The Odyssey. Well, wait a minute. First of all, he's a genius. That's a huge, huge, huge movie. That's not just a regular director to me. I mean, my God, Dunkirk, Interstellar.

I mean, what is Odyssey about? I've heard about it, but what is it about and what are you doing in it? Not allowed to say a lot, but I'll try to talk. Oh, okay, I see. It's grounded, but I can't, you know, obviously the Odyssey, the Homer 800 BC piece. He's doing it, period.

And Matt Damon's in it, and Tom Holland, and Ann Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, an incredible cast. And it's period. It's a beautiful, I mean, he's a visionary. I mean, that, I mean, if I would have done on Zoom, it would have been all right. I mean, I still got the part, but being in person to have that sort of vibrations happen

between you, and it's wild. I mean, it's a big difference. Well, it's like being on a date. It's different just talking. But when you get in their same room, you go, I can get a feel for someone. I can, you know, there's, you're right, there's a vibes, there's energy. There's something going on or not going on. Right, like, pick as opposed to, like, having it there in person.

exactly I always have one ready for a director in case it comes up yeah but you you're just meeting right you were just you don't do you audition anymore

I mean you've done a hundred movies from what I understand minimum oh yeah yeah I've done I don't audition I don't audition but I do have to meet yeah that's fair get up with people

I guess especially like Nolan has an incredible asshole limit so no he doesn't he wants to meet people to just to vet the assholes he doesn't want to work with people who are and that's my new fucking barometer I you know you get to a certain age I just don't want to deal with motherfucking assholes or yeah or egot maniacs or sociopaths just don't want to do that anymore no I think you get to a certain point your career like nolan where he can pick and choose and on the way up you do have to work with assholes that's just for all of us That's just the way it is.

And then at some, if things are going good enough, you get to say, I don't want to do that when I've heard they're a drag or, you know, have a meeting and say, are you a fucking drag or not? Because I can't do this. It's so hard anyway. Oh my God. It's so true. Are you going to be a fucking pain in my ass?

The most miserable experience I've ever had. Or are you going to play ball and make me shine, motherfucker? The biggest one is when you realize the director resents you because the studio. forced you on them and they hate you the entire time and are really actively trying to sabotage you. Have you had that, John? No, I've never had that. I'm not at that level, but I've seen it happen. I've seen it several times when the director wanted a real artist, you know, like a foster and the studio didn't want to go. They wanted to go with some name. Star, yeah. But I wouldn't even say Star. Would

they consider a name, maybe a lot of followers, which doesn't beat to good acting. I don't know how to get good acting from just having a lot of followers, but you know how the bullshit the studio system is. You know, I had a meeting, John, where they said, you're kind of a name and you have a lot of followers, but you're not talented. I go, listen, we're not going to get everything. So let's just do this. Who added three is?

It's not. Meatloaf said it. You're not funny. You can't act. I can't sing. But those Instagram followers, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the majority of that talent pool, not to diss them, but to diss them.

Yeah. Or they say, we get a big star and surround them with TikTokers. Right. That tricky formula of like, you have this demo, they have this demo, and together it will collapse, basically. It makes no sense. I mean, it makes no sense. Talent is talent for a reason. And then influencers, I mean,

It's a necessity of our modern world, but not something I go to. I have a quick question. When you were younger, weren't you in regarding Henry? Well, you got to bring that up, didn't you? Is that bad? Bring it down. You know, I was kind of humiliated by it. I mean, I did it only because I wanted, because I got no jobs.

I mean, there were no jobs for Latin folk. They just weren't. I mean, I don't know if you remember the Ross report, because that's how desperate. that was. I would get the Ross report, which managers and agents got. Okay. But so I, because there was no opportunities. So you would get every Monday and they would list everything that was available in moving television, every role, but it was like Jim Crow. I'm not going to lie. It was like white doctor, white lawyer, white husband, white lover, Latino drug dealer. And, and they, I would ask my agent, please, can they see me? I want to do my, my monologue from David Mamet, sexual,

person in Chicago please they'll fall in love me they won't they won't even see you so you know you have to be mad resource for you just had to be to try to get in in that room with folks well did freddie what did freddie prince mean to you if anything or paul rodriguez as i came up i always thought it was kind of weird oh there's a Latino comic and there's one of them or two you know but he was a force of nature were you in your formative years when freddie was around oh yeah i mean i mean he's way older than i am but as a kid to watch him on television and Chico and the man was like, my God, the only Latino on television at the time. I mean, he had Desi Arnaz, but he was in the 50s.

They say every two decades, we'll throw one out there. Yeah, that's the thing is that when I saw Chico and the man, I guess, as a kid, it was just another funny show. So I would have thought, looking back, hey, maybe they should give more than Latinos a chance, because this one's working really well. This show is very funny. It fit right in. No one said a word. It was just like,

oh, another funny show without even separating it. It was like, hey, whoever's funny, throw them out there. Because talent is talented. People care with your black Latino. They just want to see great shows, but they just weren't casting us. So when I got regarding Henry,

it was a drug dealer. I shoot this white guy. And it was like, my God, I'm perpetrating what they want to see, which is negative Latino images. And I didn't want to participate in that, but I really wanted to meet Mike Nichols

because he's one of the greats. I mean, you should have a great of Virginia Woolf, the graduate, carnal knowledge, some of my favorite films. I did it because of that, but then, you know, there I am with my half,

my sloppy fro, and I'm in the drugstore, I mean, in the bodega, and there's Harrison Ford, and I'm robbing the place. Oh, even talking about it just gives me P-D. Right, and I'm sorry about that.

I just sort of was like Harrison Ford, Mike Nichols, I was looking at that angle, like to be on a set with them when you're younger must have been in some ways other than what you're describing. Obviously, it's kind of a sore subject, but just interesting to see them on a real set and how it works. Oh, yeah, of course. I mean, just to be anywhere near Mike Nichols. And Harrison Ford is always when he sees me. He's so lovely, you know, and I'm like, oh, wow, he's such a great dude to be around these folks, you know. I love Harry Ford.

I do. I really enjoy Harry Ford. And Mikey Nichols. You're the guy from the bodega. Did anyone ever say to you, John, can you latin it up a little more? Was they ever like push? Yeah. They didn't have to say that to me as much because I was the flavor that they were looking for,

sort of like a ghetto hood. Yeah. You know, I had been working against that because, you know, my acting teachers when I was 17, they were all like, oh, no one can understand you with that accent. Do you really speak that way? Good God. I was like, you know, I was like, dad, yo, man, what you want? What you need for me?

I'll be right there for you, bro. What's up? You know, I would like that. And I don't, you don't really hear that anymore. There you go. That's what we're looking for. That's our man right there. Yeah.

Kind of really, they totally understand, man. This is the lesson that I've become. All right, baseball fans. You can register with Bet MGM and official sports betting partner of Major League. Baseball. This MLBCs and new customers can download the BetMGM app and sign up to receive up to $500 in bonus bets with code fly, of course, if they don't win their first bet. You get access to odds, boost tokens, same game parlays, bet MGM original bets, special boosts and tokens, and so much more. Yeah, and like, you know, the first pitch to the game winning fireworks, you know, there are more ways than ever to supercharge. your excitement. It's like, it's like really cool. You know, I think it's great. It's good that John Travolta came by. Yeah. Why? He's taking over my space, David. I don't like that

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TNCs apply. You play the Spanish squirrel in Ice Age. What's going on? By the way, very funny. What is a sloth? It's a sloth. It's just a shosh.

Dude, Ice Age is a killer. I did research. Because I give the guy like a thousand voices. I was like, you know, I was like, what if he's from Shashi Station? And he talked like this. And he said, what if he's from the deep, deep sound and you talk like? He goes, nah. I said, what if he's heard and something like this? And so I did research on the Discovery Channel, and I got all this footage on Sloths,

and they store the food and the cheap pouches, you know, and it ferment. Oh, great. And I was like, oh, my God, this is my character. And it's a hit. Yeah, I say this is such a smash. That's great. My celebrity worth. It's 90% of your celebrity on Google.

I'm fascinated. by Celebrity Network, not that, but what did you get for the first Ice Age? What percentage more did you get for the sequel? Wow, it was dope. It was so dope because they thought it was going to be a bomb. They thought Ice Age was going to be a serious bomb. They had closed down Fox animation because they thought it was over. Like, I'm not joking.

They thought it was over. There was no merchandise, no advertising this shit. It blew up. It was so huge. And then when they wanted to come back for us for number two, we got, I took them to the cleaners. Yeah. The best position to be in. Did you actually indicate to them that this is my number or I don't do the sequel?

Because your character was essential at that point, I believe. Oh, yeah. No, we negotiated hard, man. I bought a country house. I bought a massive apartment. I bought a pool. Good God. Jesus.

I bought a pool. Do you have any idea of any animated movies that are coming out now? I'll take some on my mouth. I'll talk like whatever they want. I mean, you know, anyway, just if you have anything, just DM me. I'll keep an eye on. Listen, I'm waiting for Hotel Transylvania 5. Ooh.

Yeah. When they get up there. How much does that bring you, bro? I got a waiting pool. Blow a pool. But I know. Aiding for a pool? No, I think by five I should get a pool.

it was listen it's very it's a very fair paycheck uh fair i mean it's not fair to the real world but it's great and then it usually goes up increments i'm not as crucial as you would be an ice age but it's really fun to be a part of it also in the way that when i see kids it's a good relatable thing because they see them but dude i get the i get the for me it's a weird experience when i meet the kids because parents come up to me and they go, oh, hey, I'm a huge friend of I said, can I introduce you my son? I go, yo, it's not going to go really well because it'll ruin, scare them almost. And that and that voice is, and they really relate.

And then the parents come up and I go to the kids and I go, hi, how's it going? And the kids are like, horrified. Oh, I know. I don't know. Song and dance explaining to the child, so they're not traumatized for the rest of them. Yeah, they don't get it and they don't love it. It's better on the phone. They don't love it.

It's fascinating. And I can understand it. I mean, I'm not, I wouldn't force myself, you know, on these poor kids. I'm like, please don't do this to them. Does Isage have a ride? Are you a ride in a thing? Are you a ride yet? I know, I know, Conto, Bruno, there's a ride.

Because that's Disney. You know what I mean? Disney. Yeah. Bruno and Conto is Disney. Sorry, that's another animator. Oh, Encanto, Encanto, Judea. Yeah, you don't talk about Bruno.

The biggest hit song that Disney has ever had. Yeah, Dana. Oh, yeah. Oh, bra, bra. Thank you, John for explaining it. Come it. Let me see. I have more questions for this. Most talkative.

I love that in school. Yeah, chatterbox high school. That's chatterboxes, too? I think I was because I was, a bad sort of area where I think I read you felt like you might get beat up when you were growing up and I was in the same if that's true I was in an area that was and I was a little pipsqueak which you would never believe but and I wasn't as tough as I am now with these quads and how I work out all time so I would just go to school and go I'm going to get beat up today

or pushed into a wall and so I would try to joke my way out of it and I would try to joke my way out of it. And also my dad had taken off. And I think when I look back, I'm trying to joke around and make friends because sort of to get some happy stuff going, just to talk and talk and have fun. Oh my God, that's kind of like me. It was like my house was really difficult. My house situation was there was a lot of aggression and violence. My dad basically would edit out the humor out of the home movies. It was like there was a, uh, a fun free zone in my house. So I was always trying to bring humor and light and life to every situation.

Plus, my neighbor was really tough, so I was always fighting all the time. But let me correct, not fighting. I was getting beat up. Thank you. A few times, but not a lot. But I did have a good right punch, and I could knock people out. But I got beat up a lot. Yeah, it was up school.

I got people took my lunch money. They would pick on my brother, so I'd have to try to defend my brother, too. Yeah, there was a lot of fighting going on at home in the streets, which prepare me for Hollywood. Hollywood ain't got shit. They can't take me down. I mean, yeah, I'm invincible now. You try to keep it light at school, try to keep things fun because you want to be like valuable as funny so you don't get beat up all the time. So you're like, we like this guy.

He's kind of a clown. Yeah. That was my angle. Like, just leave me alone. I'll joke around with everyone. I'll stay out of your way. But I didn't back down, though. That was my problem.

I didn't have that thing that I could back down. If people cornered me, I wanted, yeah, I don't know. I needed to, I guess I had a lot of aggression and anger, so I needed to get it out. I do have that thing, so I do back down easily. Dana? We all have similar childhoods. It was not fun at home. There was a monster in the neighborhood.

In the neighborhood, there was a monster, a scary monster. And the monster was my dad. how is he a monster um you know if you he would if you did something he didn't like there were five kids you know gather everyone around you'd have to go get his belt and then he would snap it you know snap that belt and then you'd have to grab your ankles and then he would ask your siblings how many lashes and then it just wail on you yeah but i learned to be like a mouse i learned of being, you know, not seen or heard because of the threat of violence. So anyway, I kind of concur with you. I'm only fascinated that you had a right hand that could knock people out.

I just needed to know how old were you like fifth grade knocking people out or? No, no, no. I was 13. 14. Yeah, no, no, no. I mean, the fights that I had before were like stupid little kid fights, you know, you just wail on each other, you know, like that kind of right. Right. Sure. No, but then by the time I got 13, you know, I hung out. with some tough kids who would protect me because I'd make them laugh. So I'd hang out with them

and I do their homework too because I was a ghetto nerd. So they would protect me. But then I got, you know, I got, I think I had so much rage and fear when kids, some kids would corner me and try to beat me up. I would talk a lot and I'd go,

hey, dude, I'm sorry. I'd look down and I'd be like, I'm so sorry to, I didn't. And then I'd sucker punch him and knock him out with one punch. Shit. I like that. you know, I was kind of a push, so I didn't get that.

And I just had the rage build up, and it just stayed. So that's why my neck hurts. Other than that, wait, I want to hear a little bit about Legazzo on and as America, because I also want to ask about some other movies, too. But can you tell us a little bit about that right now? Yeah, you know, our first season was at MSNBC, number one, original show for the last three years. So we got a season two out of it.

And basically, I go around the country looking for Latin excellence, Latin brilliance, Latin genius, Latin ingenuity, and I celebrate it, you know, and I go to six different cities every year. And, you know, last season I went to L.A., New York, Miami, Chicago, the big Latin places. Right. And then this time I went to Raleigh, people down there, and New Orleans, Nola, San Antonio, obviously a big Latin population there, and Phoenix and Denver, and Philadelphia. Shit, yeah, I'm from Arizona. So when you go to somewhere like that, Do you have, like, a crew you kind of scout out

or do you kind of walk out in the world and just start talking to people, or how does it work? Oh, no, no. It's very heavily planned. Okay. You know, I have a great team. My director, Ben De Jesus, my showrunner, Caro Samedra, and, you know, and then producers for each segment,

and, you know, we find the best people. Okay. We walk and we do all these, you know, like an anti-Bordain, but of Latino culture. Oh, okay. Oh, what have you doing this show? Is there been surprises to you or experiences of learning or or is it you're just showcasing people from a lot of learning? A lot of learning is happening for me.

Yeah. I mean, when Philadelphia, I learned that, you know, you know, it's a big center of American, the colonies in the nation. And I learned that 10,000 unknown Latino patriots fought in the American Revolution. And then I went home when I got that news and I started reading it and researching. And I found out that there were 80,000 troops. And then I realized we were one in eight. We want one in eight. And then Juan Di Mariah funded George Washington.

They had a bromance. And he gave him $2 million from Cuba, Mexico, and Spain. General Bernardo Galvez got an army of 3,000 Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and freed slaves. And they kicked the British all out of the south so they couldn't have. Bush, the New England Patriots, the revolutionaries, not the football team. Not the team, okay. That's interesting. Yeah, well, I'm very interesting.

Is the Alamo a sore point for people from Latin America? Because it's kind of like John Wayne did the movie. And remember the Alamo, but from the other side of the fence, is it? Yeah. I mean, being a Latin person and the Alton is kind of, because, you know, all these Latin people, it was, first of all, it was Mexican. and Latin for like never. And then we let all these white people come in thinking that, you know, maybe we could,

the people in Texas could become a country on their own. And they would ban. And so they worked with the Texas, the, whatever, the white people that started coming in there. And they freed themselves from Mexico. But then the Texans turned on them and took their, you know, their land, their political power. And then started massacring and lynching all the Latin people there. so the john wayne movie wasn't a fan favorite of yours or you know i didn't know but i was rooting against myself you like to yeah well until you know something it's hard to uh john what i bet you

dana i bet you do the killer is yeah dana where's your john way come on hey all right here's my john wayne yeah john wayne uh and walter brennan the the thing i do like about John Wayne is not that he had no fear, he was furious at the idea that anyone else would have any fear. So, you know, well, let's attack him, Pappy. No, Duke, there's 10,000 of them and 40 of us. Duke, we're going to die. I said attack, Pappy. You'll attack when I tell you. Don't make me do what I did last time. What was that? What do you do? That's how he ends it. He never says. No, everyone goes, oh, fuck, I don't want to have no one hangar. Let me do one more, and then I want to ask you about your very first stand-up bit,

because this is one of my earliest stand-up bits. I would say, Lucille Ball in 1952. Oh, Ricky. Lucille Ball today. Well, oh, wait, no, sorry. Sorry, it goes like this goes, John Wayne, 952. Well, let's go over the ridge. John Wayne today.

Well, let's go over the ridge. Lucille Ball, 52. Let's go. come on rickie lucio ball today well let's go rickie i didn't do it very well but it killed it sounds like it's there's something there and we're still going to work show it always killed so your first stand-up bit that really worked for you you have five seconds oh fuck uh you have 25 seconds you know i was part of first amendment comedy troupe where bruce willis used to come in New York City and Robin Williams

come down, rest in peace. And I was part of the seat company. And the great thing about it, there was a lot of cute women. And that was comedy was wonderful back then for me. And yeah. When was it Mambo Mount?

That wasn't your first one was it? That was my first one-man show in 1990. Okay, because I remember hearing about that. Was that HBO? Yeah, then it went to H-Bombone. but I was doing it in the performance art spaces downtown and then I did it at the American Place Theater where Sam Shepard, Arthur Miller, Al Pacino, George Plinthe, I don't know if y'all remember who he was.

Jonathan, John F.K. Jr., rest in peace, all came down and were in my tiny, tiny theater, bro. I had 70 fold-up seats because they would lift my little tiny platform out of the way for the real show. I wasn't even a real show. I was like a sideline. So they all came down and watched you do that. Cool. And so HBO hears about this. You get some buzz. And that's how they come in. And they, yeah, yeah, like they hear about a stand. They hear about something and they want to see what's going on. So they throw it on HBO and that must have blown you up a little bit, right? What happened then after that was I wasn't in tiny spaces anymore. Now I was in big ass theaters traveling around the country. And especially because Latin people now found me because they were getting

the bootleg, HBO. They couldn't afford the regular HBO. Yeah. I know, I know, because everybody told me I got the bootleg. And I was like, oh, great. I didn't get anything from that. But yeah, then all of a sudden we met each other, and it was beautiful, man. It was like religion.

I mean, I think my audiences have always kind of kept me going against all odds, you know, because, you know, we land people at 20% of the U.S. population, but less than 3% of the leads. in Hollywood, less than 0% of the executives are stories being told. It's just, it's so crazy, you know, but that's... 27% of the population. Oh, really?

You'd be a good executive, actually. Mm-hmm. Dana? Yes. Would you be, would you be Lucille Ball as an executive or John? Well, John Luguziamo. Well, he does the one man. man shows just him all the time pappy is he good duke i he gets emmy nominations and all kinds

of stuff well i don't know pappy don't make me do what i did last time sorry that's way what he did last time yeah what the fuck john you're the only one who likes my john way that's i'll take away i like it too i like the lucio ballpark better well i i don't know i'm available for rickie whatever you know lucy don't do that to me you got a lot of Let me ask you a question about – sorry to – Desi Arnaz Jr., this is supposedly a thing I heard from a crew guy that, you know, he liked the ladies and Lucy and the marriage and the whole thing, and she's wandering around in the backstage in the studio, Ricky, Ricky. She comes along, sees him up in the slats, up in the whatever, and a woman is performing oral sex on him. He sees Lucy and goes, get out of here, ma. What are you doing? What are you doing? He's pretending he's being attacked by the woman.

Get a word from me. What are you going? What are you going? That's what I heard from a guy who was on the crew. Could that be true? Have you heard the one about Stallone that he left the speaker on in the trailer? And he was miced. And he was like, and he was like, yeah, yeah.

And he was going to cut the balls, work the shaft, cup the balls. That's right out of my playbook. Hey, you know what I'm talking about, yeah. Come on, you've got the balls. It's a good technique. I mean, it's functional. People don't know outside of Hollywood. You have a mic on, a Lavalier mic, and you don't turn it off sometimes.

Yeah. And a lot of bad stuff can happen with that. But they always say they can't hear you when you walk here from the set. I go, that's the biggest lie. I would just listen to people. That would be so fun. They always go, once you get to this, I go, I'm having a meeting. I don't want to take all this off.

Can you just turn it off? They go, sure. Yeah, that happened with Betty Davis, the director. I can't remember what his name is right now. Worked really hard to get her into, I think was it Jezebel, one of those big Southern ones. Then she left her mic on it. She was telling the producers to fire him that she couldn't stand the director. Oh, my God.

That's what happened. Alec Baldwin and Kim Baisner were either fighting or getting it on or something in a car, like between takes. I mean, Kerry Grant, his was on, he was doing North by Northwest, you know, and he was with the producers. And he said, I don't believe it. Hitchcock is a hack. He couldn't direct him sway out of a paper bag. Get that dumpy freak out of here. No more Hitchcock for me. I knew that set you into a bit.

That was just too much of a good setup. Nobody does, you know, Carrie Grant anymore. Nobody wants to do it. Nobody wants to even think about it. There. I've got John Wayne, Carrie Grant. Here's my last one. Only for John.

Here's my last one and it's the worst one. This is Madonna on the last day of her 180 city tour. Holiday. That's it. Because she's all her. Her voice is so. Dana. You still have.

No, it's the same joke. It's very much Lucille Ball. You can have it. You're my friend. If we took a holiday. Good night. Fuck it.

That's the last show. No, because I heard a video of her in Japan. hand and when she was singing holiday, she was bottomed out a little bit. But listen, let's not over-talk about how good that impression is. Searchlight Pictures presents The Roses, only in theaters August 29th. From the director of Meet the Parents and the writer of Poor Things comes The Roses, starring Academy Award winner, Olivia Coleman, Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Sandberg, Kate McKinnon, and

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I want to know from, look at all my notes on John. I want to know when you did Romeo and Juliet, was Theo coming off of like Titanic? Was Leo huge at that point? No, it's before Titanic. Oh shit. Was it? Yeah, yeah, before Titanic. But he was living large.

I mean, I don't want to speak out of turn or, you know. Go ahead. But we were living large. We were living crazy. I mean, we were in Mexico City, and, you know, he had a crew. It was a lot of male actors, and we were just acting like old Hollywood. Yeah, I'm sure. You can't do it.

Nobody does that anymore. You can't do. You shouldn't be doing that. Good. I like that you added that. You should not be doing that. Yeah, we're not quite sure what you're talking about. But anyway, was Leo, did Leo have a vibe then?

Did you think, hey, that kid's going to be a superstar or he was just another great thing? He was so good in the movie, man. And he was amazing, like, as another actor, you know, there are actors that are really mad, selfish, and they just take care of themselves, and they walk off. They don't even try to hang or even do off camera. A lot of actors will walk off. He would give the same or better performance off camera for us.

And it was so generous and so beautiful. And he was incredible. The kick was incredible. And he, like, gathered all the actors. He's only 19, and he brought us all together. I was almost 30. And the other actors were like in their late 20s dash my hoc. I can't remember all the other actors because I'm old.

Who else is there? Claire Daines, was Juliet? She was 16. She was mad young. She didn't hang with us. Did you see the movie Titanic with Leo? I didn't see it. I don't see commercial movies.

Yeah, good job. I was just curious because there was a problem I have with the movie. It's brilliant. But when the ship is going down, you know, it's Jack and Rose are the characters. He's Jack. And they say each other's names over and over again throughout the whole going running around the ship, you know, Rose, Rose, Rose, Jack, Jack, you know, I mean, every, Jack, go this way.

Rose, come over here. It's never, hey, you, or let's go. They say Rose or Jack like 200 times. Just, I watch a lot of movies. I like that observation. I watch too many movies. You wanted them to just go, hey? Well, just don't.

It'd be like me saying, John, David, hey, John, David, David, it was a book much. It's kind of like bad writing. Like, you want to get your character names in early and then go. Yes. But I want to ask you because what movies blow your mind? I mean, what are your favorites and what are your favorite directors? I just curious. Oh, I'm a cinephile.

So I like a lot of old amazing movies like Carl Dreyers, Joan of Arc. It's an amazing movie, silent film, where he took the actual transcripts of the lawyers from the 1400s and turned in into a movie. And then his first movie, because it was made from Nitro Glycerin, the film back then, it blew up. So he had to go back into the editing room and take all his B-sides and reconstruct the whole entire movie. It's amazing. That's the kind of shit I like. Literally silent films. You're going way back.

All the silent films. Grasem, Rosawa, Ozu. Porkies. You know, Pellini, Pazolini, all the inis. All the inies. All the inies. Spaghettiini. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. What's the worst example of whitewashing out there? Oh, wow. I'm sure there's a handful. Period pieces. I was pitching a lot of Latin period pieces because I had a lot of great stories. And they kept telling me, no, John, sorry, we're not doing any period stuff.

And then all of a sudden, the crowd comes out. All of a sudden, a thousand period pieces with only white folk comes out. And I was like, but then, you know, here, that's why Nolan is such a visionary. I mean, Lupita Nyong goes in it. I'm in it. Corey Hawkins is in it. Zendaya is in it. I mean,

you can do period and have people of color. We've been here for, you know, for hundreds and thousands of years. It works. It doesn't have to be just a white's only show.

You know what I mean? Well, Odyssey seems like it's going to be a monster. I think a lot of people looking forward to that. If it's Christopher Nolan, I'm going. It rhymes.

Got to see that. Got to see his movies. If it's Nolan, I'm going. If it's Nolan, I'm going. If it's stayed, I'll stay away. No, no, that's not a saying. That's a joke. That's something that happens, but it's not a common saying.

Well, let me see. We've got Dana, anything else for this lovely young man. Did you do anything with Arnold, Swarshenegger? Yeah, yeah, I loved Arnold. I did this terrible movie called Collateral. It wasn't terrible. Collateral. Not, not, I think, you know, I,

I think either the collateral damage. I did the one with Arnold, not the one with Tom Cruise. Oh, yeah, that was collateral. I think collateral damage is one. Yeah, collateral damage. I was between me and Jamie Fox with the Tom Cruise one, but I messed up my fourth callback. Ah. So Arnold, I ended up with Arnold the Constellation Prize.

I did the other day. How did he pronounce your name? Dollar Lug-Dama. He didn't pronounce my name. He didn't call me by my name. He go, hey, jog. Oh, he never tried. Because I just thought his accent with your last name would have.

I love it. I mean, he's so, he's so fun, man. He's a funny-ass dude. He had me rolling all the time. Like, he's a crazy funny guy. He's the most positive. He let me use his gym. I go, come on.

Are you kidding? You do some flies. Yeah. All the ways are so massive. I couldn't get anything up. I was like, I'll just stand in the corner. Look. Yeah, John, no offense, but you.

a little bit of a girly man. You know, your arms are puny, like little chicken sticks. Your buttocks are like marshmallows. You're lucky I don't have a campfire here. You mean nude. Boy, you have such a resume. I was blown away about how much you've done and how varied it is. And you're still going full bar.

Going strong. It's amazing. We've not had a guest like you with this many things. There's so much going on here. You're crazy. That's what immigrants do. I worked my ass and

four jobs at the same time. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, you got two Wong Fu. You've got... It was Wesley Snipes? Yeah,

Wesley Snipes and rest in peace, Patrick Swayze. Okay, that's right. Mm-hmm. And they were a little ahead of its time. The original... Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that was bold. That was a bold move by you guys. Oh, my gosh. Especially for the two of them because they were action stars. Yeah. For them to play drag queens, what we called them back then. That was a huge, for me, nobody really knew who I was.

So for me, it was just, I got to steal this movie from them. That was my only objective. Yeah. I think you did look exceptionally good. Yeah. It's shocking. You don't know how good a guy will look in drag and some look horrible and some look great as a girl. It's crazy.

Can't really predict it. I mean, well, you know, Wesley was still working out. I stopped working out like six months before the movie and went vegetarian so I could lose all my muscle. And it just makes a difference. You know, I committed like crazy to it. I wanted to do it ride and I wanted to steal a movie from them. That's smart.

When I go to a movie, I don't do anything ahead of time. Then the day on the movie, I go, what's this one? And then I pick up the script. That's a technique. That's something. approaching things. Yeah. Rando would never, he's,

had lines everywhere. He'd have open an orange and read the line. And Brando wanted to... It's inside the orange. Yeah, it's inside the orange. Come on, you're going to have a Brando. Come on. I know you're going to have Brando out there.

He worked hard enough at that point. He just goes, just make it easy on me. Come on. You want to sell some. Everybody does that. I mean, Brando and Apocalypse. Now, Brando and Superman. The first original Superman is a man.

That was sad. But he got $8 million. He needed the cash. for the island. On the dayday, street carding desire on the waterfront. Nobody can touch him. Nobody can touch him.

Stud, the way I got Trump initially was I did Brando and I mixed in Regis Philman. Do it, do it. Do each one. And then go. Are you an assassin? What are you talking about?

When you walk, you went towards Regis a little bit, and you do the two together and you got them here. We're going to do a lot of good things. We're going to do amazing things. Are you ready for this? Okay, that's fire. That's far. It was, everything was better when I first did it. But anyway, Super Mario Brothers is a classic.

Super Mario Brothers, 92, three. That was huge. Yeah, you know, it was huge because the directors fought for me to be in the movie because they didn't want me. And they fought really hard. Annabelle Tankland, Rocky Morgan, big props to them. And obviously, me and Hoskins don't share anything.

and they're playing. It worked. Hey, yeah, what is your name? What are you doing in a fucking movie? I don't know.

Bob Hoskins is great. Oh, man. He spoke Cockney English, not English. He didn't speak the King's English. Right. He showed. Oh,

they get a more sensation. Oh, right. Let's do it. Was that around Roger Rabbit? And she shot me what to do with me. You got pop me in a movie. He shot you right down.

little fucking movie. I needed subtitles for when I talked them because I was like, I can't, I can't. Did Roger Rabbit ever come to the set? No. That sucks. Who played Roger Rabbit?

Charles Fleischer. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, comedians. Please, Eddie. What a mug. Yeah,

that was a hit. Fucking A. John, listen, it's called, thanks talking to us, John, John, Legizamo does America.

Mm-hmm. And along with one, million other things he's MSNBC because I like specifics. Yeah. Sunday Sunday Sunday West Coast and 9 p.m.

East Coast. Yeah, let's let's let John handle that part. MSNBC. Yes. I just like, because when people say they got a show, I go, where?

What platform? Where are you? Say it. Make it easy. Who? I don't mind plugging myself. Of course. Why not?

That's what we're here. You're the star of the show. I mean, you're the host. It's not like it's something. John. Thank you, John. You're a good dude. And,

And it's nice talking to you. It was a blast, man. Great to see you. Thanks for laughing at my goofy old impressions. No, I love him, bro. I love him. I appreciate it. I hope we run into each other.

I hope so, too. All right, Dana. So we just hung up with John. Yep. And it's, you know, I feel like I had met him in the old SNL days. I feel like, because, you know, he was out there. That was right around those HBO things. And I brought up Mamma mouth because it was such a bit.

was a big deal on HBO and a lot of people saw that thing. That was when HBO was really big now, Euphoria, obviously White Lotus, but HBO was big. So you get a show on there and that must have blown him through the roof. That was, that was, yeah, everything was a lot bigger than because there were less venues to do stuff. But yeah, that was big. And this was one of those things where I didn't, I'd never really met him or hung out with him. So it was, he's a really, a fun guy, got a big laugh. And, And, you know, he's, I don't know, he's, he's, I don't know, he's, he's just a character. He's part of, yeah, he's a charming dude. I got off on the wrong foot, I'll ask him out regarding Henry, but I was, he understood,

Mike Nichols, Harrison Ford, how exciting. I mean, he's a bad guy in a movie, but what a great movie that was a big deal. I mean, I remember regarding Henry because later when I ran into JJ Abrams, who wrote it, he had the, he had the porn version in his movie. office called regarding heinie, which if you get a chance, it didn't follow the exact story perfectly, but close enough for me. Well, that doesn't sound like JJ Abrams, but maybe he's got a secret side. I don't know about that. Someone gave it to him as a joke. You're like, you know you're famous when your movie gets turned into a porn. I don't think they do it anymore. That's sad. Wayne and

Garth are in a porn or something. I don't remember. Yeah. They take the title. You have a good title. You You have to have your ass licked park. You have to have like a good title that kind of lends itself. And basically, it's a porn with a dinosaur in the background. You know, they don't, they're not sticklers to their original script. Right, right. So anyway. Yeah, you brought up Hank Ford or Harry Ford.

Oh, yeah, Hank Ford. What did I used to say? Oh, this is too old of a movie, bang the nun slowly. That was an old joke. I knew two comedians who just went back and forward. It was part of their act. It was kind of a team act. Oh, and they do porn. They just do porn titles, fake

porn titles back and forth. It's very exciting. Anyway, back to John. He's done so many movies. I heard he was, oh, I didn't ask about fucking Carlito's way. That's what I want to ask. The Sean Penn, Pacino. What a cool movie. I just didn't want to step in shit again, but

I just remember Carlito's way, and Sean Penn was so hilarious in it. It was such a cool movie. Sean Penn is a brilliant character. We've got to get Sean on here. He loves putting a wig on, an accent. I mean, you can. He was such a plus in Carlito's way.

It was so. Yeah, it was hilarious to watch. He's like a Coke snorting lawyer or something. Anyway, I think people, I hope you liked it. John Legazamo and check out his show. The guy is a force to be reckoned with. He's out there and he's always working. I guess the takeaway is like, here's a guy who just started from where he started.

scrambled for everything he got and he still looks at it that way it's still going for it yeah you know after a hundred movies 100 movies and and you're and you're presently in a chris nolan movie i mean yeah that's as good as it gets yeah yeah so anyway all right thanks for watching guys thanks for listening and uh we'll see you next time hope peace out peace out sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app, give us a review, five-star rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now.

Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kirk Courtney, and Lauren Vieira.

Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answer on the show. You can email us at fly on the wall at odyssey.com. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y dot com. Thank you.