Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade - Steve Buscemi

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

Relationship with Sandler, SNL hosting stories, and the Coen brothers with Steve Buscemi. 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

This NBA season, make every three pointer alley-oop and buzzer beater even more exciting with FanDuel. Download the app today to see why we're North America's number one sportsbook. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling.com call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Boo Boo Shemi, Steve Boo Shemi, friend of the show. A friend of the show, what a treat. We got to know him, we meaning me and myself and I

and David got to hang out with him a lot at the, in Washington DC for the Sandler Mark Twain Award. And so we sang songs together, we hung out, couldn't be a nicer guy. One of our great, I don't know, he's just been around a long time. When Steve Buscemi is in a movie, you're always happy. David? Yeah, first of all, he's a very interesting dude. He's very earnest. He jokes around, but he's got a very quiet coolness to him. He goes back to from right when he hit the scene that he's

always had such a attention scene-stealing look and he backs it up with great acting. He's just he's a great guy to have around. He's in a lot of Sandler stuff and I sort of met him through the Sandler verse and then I just see him at different events. That old Happy Madison party and so we've gotten to where we can shoot the shit and it was a great time with him. Glad he did it. Yeah. He's done movies with the Coen brothers. Kind of Fargo was the one that I think got him incredibly noticed. We talk about that movie. And then he's directing a new movie. It's the second directing effort in 10 years. And he

goes into that very interesting. He'll tell you all about that, which is fun. And he's just a nice, humble guy. He just has a great sense of humor. Yeah. We try to get him out of a shell and crack up. And we always have fun guys like that who are just innately cool dudes. And he's got a very Guys like that who are just innately cool dudes and he's got a very good funny bone, so he liked it. We cracked up, I cracked up. Without further ado, click play and then hear a commercial. When I did Grown Ups, oh my God, a few people remember I heard some of those.

Well, you weren't Grown Ups, but the one I was in that I don't know if you this was the one you were in the cast at which one is that is that both of them or is it? I was in both of them yeah. Okay yeah so so the one where but Dana this is boring as fucking shit but I'm being Steve will crack up. You're already mesmerized good. Okay, so we're doing a drunk, a scene where we're all around and it's nighttime and we're all drinking and the couples start to pair off in slow dance and this Joe Walsh song comes on or something and I, or not Joe Walsh, but sentimental lady,

and I go, oh no, oh this is a good song. And I'm drunk and I get up and I sort of stumble around and I interrupt Adam and Salma and then I wind up falling down drunk. But it's a seven page scene and we're all in it so it's hard to shoot. So we shoot it all night one night and we get to my coverage and they go, it's getting light. We'll pick that up another time. And I'm like, another time?

Because I just had it all memorized because I'm doing it all night. I'm like, I'm kind of glad I'm last because I have a lot of life. So three weeks later, McCartney is playing in Boston. We're pretty close. We might be in swamp squat. I just do this. Yeah. McCartney sounds.

Yes. I thought he was here. I was looking around when, I thought he was here. I was looking around. When did he jump on? So I go, I, Chris rock is in the movie and I say, Chris McCartney's in Boston tonight and he goes, his ticket lady was my third grade teacher. And I said, Oh my God. And he goes, let's call it right now.

And he goes, we're all dialed in. I said, we're done around six, seven. We haul ass. We found it exactly when he goes on. And then he goes, and he wants to say hi right before you were like, Oh my God. Wow. So about right before the end of the day, it was maybe Jack or someone came into my trailer and goes, we're going to pick yours up tonight.

I go, pick up my what? And they go, remember're going to pick yours up tonight. I got my what? And they go, remember that scene you didn't finish. I'm like, it's my fault. I go, yeah, I didn't finish it right. And he goes, I think tonight's a good night. I go, no, it's not. It's fucking Paul McCartney. You're just not a worker. You know, you're not a real worker.

Paul McCartney waited till midnight to go on. He's like, are they coming? He's 81 and he's up for half the night. Yeah. So I go, I go in and then they go, I said, do not bring that fucking cast in to do all their shit again. I go, I'll do it. I said, I can't do that to them.

So they gladly all scrammed. And then it was Sandler, you know, he's overseeing it. And then I'm doing it too you know a bunch of like tennis balls or whatever the eye lines and I do my whole seven pages I'm drunk and so I come to Video Village this is sort of the point of the story yeah and uh can't wait and I'm like like Adam like we got it and uh yes I haven't taken any classes but yes I'm really good it and yes, I haven't taken any classes, but yes, I'm really good. And I sit there and he's just looking at it going, uh, and I go, are we watch the playback and I'm behind him kind of chuckling, like this is working.

And then he goes, were you drunk or last time? Were you, was it a little, it was a little different. I don't know if it's matching. And I'm like, so I go play me back something from the last time, you know? And I was, and so we were trying to go, okay. And it was really hard to match the exact tone of the drunkenness. Sounds crazy, but I go, I'm going to go under on this one. And then I come back and then I go, okay, I'm going to go a little bigger.

And we did it until it made sense. And now when you see the movie, you don't even notice, but it kind of fits in. Oh, you notice. I noticed when I saw it. You go, he's medium plus drunk. David is a little drunker in this line. 30 seconds later, he's slightly less drunk. Just come. Just play it. Six and a half Tito's and Diet Cokes. And I'm like, oh, that's a big one. Okay. I can play that.

And then, um, so that just shows you, first of all, Adam's eyes always on the ball. Yeah. And, and little things like that matter. And it's, you can't tell yourself when you're acting and you need someone else's eyes to go, it was good. I just don't think it's exactly what we had. And so it took a little bit of a collabing right there. And then that's kind of fun when you finish and you feel like you got it right. And everyone goes, got it. And then you all go home and you go, got it, got it. And you just knock it out.

I have two questions for you. Did you make it to the concert? Not a fucking chance. It was until 2 AM. We did that. All right. Well, I guess my second question is not a question. It was that it's a comment about Adam because I Think he's always so involved in like, you know all the all the films and I said to him

Why don't why don't you ever direct? Yeah, I said and he said he did doesn't want a location scout Like that was the extra extra work. Yeah. That was the reason he works morning, noon, night anyway. I mean, there's block, he's re blocking, he's doing things that directors all do. So I think he's listened to so much in me Wayne. It's sort of just, uh, you know, uh, given then he's going to have a lot of say, but.

Uh, I guess you're right. It's that extra. Well, it's a little bit like Saturday Night Live. If you write a sketch, you're sort of the de facto director. We had Davy Wilson, he's setting up shots. He's got just, it's live so that it's not, but you're still kind of the boss of your sketch. You're the producer and the director. If you wrote it, you're casting it with other cast members. And Sandler is like that. He's like a co-co-director. I mean, he's sort of, everyone knows he's the overarching creative force. He's got his eye on every ball. So I think the way he did it was brilliant. You know, I don't think anybody else in history has done that many movies where they are in a sense an auteur. Right. It is Adam, you know, and I don't know.

He puts his stamp. I mean, definitely when he, the fact that he actually cares and even when we're doing movies where you think this will probably not get good reviews just because they have a sort of bias, he still puts everything into it and really cares. I mean, another grownup story is, do you have a half hour? We'll get you in a minute, Steve. The listener is out March 29th. My real question. That's all I wanted. Everyone just jump off now. March 29th, if you want a great ride in a movie theater, a sophisticated adult drama, beautifully done by Steve Buscemi,

boom, your publishers right now is actually having a glass of champagne, even if they're sophisticated adult drama beautifully done by Steve Buscemi. Boom. Your publicist right now is actually having a glass of champagne, even if they're in AA. They go, Steve, you can check out for the rest of this. And now David Spade. So now we're going to David. I want to ask Steven, when did he get fitted for the full body cast? And what was his reaction to going, wait, what do I do here? Or do you see the script and go, uh-oh? Yeah, I could tell I was in that one. Even on the day, like, because I remember, and the whole cast was there, you know, because it's like one of the big scenes, and it was starting to rain and they got the scene and then everybody just scatters.

I thought these are like, I thought we were friends. Like, nobody's checking on me. Like, and then the AD, you know, and then I thought I was done and the ad said well i think they want to get a shot where the dog comes up and sniffs your balls and i actually got mad i went are you fucking kidding me are your are your real hands in the real sticking straight up my goalpost or do they put fake hands in there so you don't have to put fake hands in there? They put fake hands in there. Thank you, God. It couldn't move. Thank you, Jesus.

I thought it was real until right now. I just went, wait a second. Could you hold your hands up all day? Because also the thing about it, when you're like that, like if I was being like that, I go, well, obviously they're going to shoot me out first. And no one even gives a fat buck. They're like, Nope. Oh, Bushamu, we never picked up.

We'll get him at the end. Sit there in the rain. We'll come to you while you're rotting and getting rusty. Yeah, it is tough. Movies are so complex and especially Grown-Ums, you've got 55 leads. Oh my God. There's so many people, yeah, that are on set. And I don't know how the producers and the A.D.'s do it, but they somehow manage. And just for the people, young people listening that are

in the groundlings or whatever and aspiring to have a career in television or movies, we understand these are first world problems. Sure, stupid. But the thing is, you're on a movie set, I would say the most tired I ever been, I was, because it was one of those 21 hour days and they said, okay, Garth's gonna go in the diner, I'm gonna do this thing I worked on for weeks, this dance. And I'm going, and I was young and fit. I go, I am as tired as I've ever been in my life. I've been up like 40 hours and here's your shot for eternity. Go for it. Oh, at the very end of the night they get you. Yeah, well that's with Steve's film.

I'm assuming like Woody Allen would do, like night shoots would end at eight o'clock. Let's say, you know, I think we should get some Chinese, you know, did you, were you able to have civilized hours in a sense for the listener, March 29th? Pretty much. But we know we wanted to, we knew we had nighttime shots so that by the end of the week we were

going to be shooting outside. So, you know, we started at the beginning of the week, normal hours, and then each day we would just start a little bit later. By the end of the week, it was, it was night shoots. Going to splits, lingo, lingo, lingo. You know, I wasn't going to say splits. Yeah, splits is lingo and I want the people want to hear it. Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast.

The Daily Show Podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show,

year's edition wherever you get your podcasts. First of all, we were watching your movie this morning. This is The Listener, right Dana? The Listener is a heavy film. It's very, very interesting. The conceit of it, this volunteer helpline woman. I mean, we'll talk to him in a minute. It is your movie that Steve directed. It's compelling and it just kind of captures the angst, post-pandemic angst or just human angst, post-pandemic angst, or just human angst and sadness, it's extremely well done and well acted by Tessa Thompson, who is the only actor in the film.

You go ahead, Steve. Well, she's the only actor that we see in the film. Right, thank you. There's an amazing cast of callers. Yeah, she plays a home helpline worker. She works the night shift. She works from home and she gets all these calls during the night that she navigates and we have a wonderful cast of the callers, but you only hear their voices and you only see Tessa on

screen for the duration of the film. And she's amazing. Because they are characters also, and I was watching with someone, and the first guy that called in, she was more into the guy. She was like, I like his voice, I like his tone, I like what he's saying, I like this guy. And so it's actually a big challenge to be a voice and to have any sort of resonance or impact. And Tessa is obviously great on her end. She's got a very calm, soothing voice

and she's, you know, she could get very riled and it seems she's got a very, you have to to have that sort of job. That's what her whole job is and very interesting. I think what she worked with was you know because we did everything we could to make it cinematic you know if this was pre-pandemic and she was at a call center where she was you know kind of tethered to a desk I don't know how I would have made that film but because she is able to work at home we purposefully found a location that had a nice flow to it that she could walk around, be in different rooms, go outside and yeah what's amazing about Tessa is that yeah her voice was you know she always tried to keep you know like a calm level tone but then but you could see on her face if she was upset about something that somebody said

or worried. Yeah, she had a lot of these micro expressions that, you know, sort of gave you an inkling of what she was going through herself. And you know what she really captured, which you do a lot when you're young anyway, where you'll like a girl or something and then you'll talk on the phone at night. It's very intimate. It's cat and these two people test character and the strangers calling and they don't know each other. It's very dim. It's the middle of the night and they're having this intimate conversation and the voice actors immediately the first one just sounded very just extremely real like your eavesdropping you know you captured that

so thank you thank you so much I appreciate you guys watching it yeah I you know the voices first of all I kind of want to ask you one other question about about this but when I was on the phone as a kid or dating or doing anything in life the voice was kind of a fingerprint so when I think of Women I've dated in the past or present a voice is one thing. I really appreciate in people because they are fingerprints it's so unique and you I think I was brainwashed growing up like Trying to talk to girls on the phone and talking for hours So many liked and you always remember that and sometimes people get older and everything, but you know, their voice right away.

And so when I go into seven 11, and if I asked for something, they go, Oh, I was waiting to hear you talk. That is you. So, you know, it's kind of interesting. So when you have people call in, it's very powerful to have the right person with the right, cause you have to make them all a little different. And that's a trick. And then you have to make for people that don't know that sort of a indie budget is

like, if you have one location, what you were saying is you have to use some trickery and some movements and some things to keep it alive. And you did that. And that's the hard part with one subject in one location. It's less expensive, but it's very, it's hard to keep it going. So to make a good movie is tough. We also shot the movie in six days because Tessa was still working on Westworld, the HBO show. Oh, okay.

And that was her hiatus. She had seven days off and she chose to work with us. You know, we were trying to find a window and she's so busy with other films and other things, but she had that one week off. So we shot the entire film in that one week, which was doable because it is a confined space and one actor, but still it was,

it was a bit of a challenge. And another interesting layer, frequency, I don't know, I went to state school, is this idea when you take on a role, like when you see a teacher outside of school, you go, they're just normal, what are they doing? So in this case, her character has their own issues. And yet she's in the helper mode. It's like when you have a therapist and you kind of wonder what's going on with them, you know? So that was a whole nother layer to the film that the people don't, you know,

she's just in the helper mode and then she's in that mode, but she had so many other issues herself. So. Yeah, I mean, I think most of the people who do that work have been through it themselves. And part of the conceit of the film is that Tessa's character, she breaks protocol because you're not really supposed to tell, you know, your personal story callers,

but she does so for this one call where this woman is in crisis. And she reveals, you know, a lot about herself in order to help or save the person that she's talking with. But I know what you mean about the, you know, seeing people out of context, like seeing your therapist on the street or I remember when I was a kid, I went to Catholic school and I remember one time during lunch, seeing my teacher who was a nun eat a sandwich and I was blown away. What? They eat?

It's true. You never see them eat. They never eat. I saw Pastor Jerry, I was raised Lutheran, Pastor Jerry at the mall and he's wearing desert boots. And I go, Pastor Jerry wears desert boots? Because those were very cool back in the days. Yeah. I saw a rabbi on a pogo stick and I was like, what are you, you're never on that.

Right. I know. You know, Steve, I'm looking at this. There's so much Dana about Steve that we love because he's a, oh, actually one more question about the movie before I get into your illustrious. I have a question about the movie too. Okay. My last one is being a well known actor and a name and I don't want to hype you up too bad, but you know, you direct and you're a well-liked guy out there. Is it still hard to get a small movie off the ground? Yes, this is the first film I've directed

in 15 years and there were others along the way that I tried to do. This one was, you know, hard to get off the ground as well. But yeah, I think the climate out there is tough for any filmmaker, but you know, but where there's a will, there's a way and we did it. You got through it. Yeah, single location helps with the budget. And were you like, I was just at, as you're making your film, first film in a long time, and now it's digital,

digital playback and you're going, you, first film in a long time, and now it's digital, digital playback, and you're going, you get six days, and so you're with your DP or your producer or whatever, and you're looking at stuff, and are you going at some point, holy shit, this is awesome, or you're being self-critical, or I just wonder what you want us, who will enjoy the movie, what do you, what did you want us to feel, what were you trying to reach for, and do you feel that you got it? Yeah, I just, I wanted to create this really intimate atmosphere and have Tessa's, the location be totally her world where you're getting clues about her. and for the audience to want to lean in and be involved.

And it is exciting to see that on set. It's also overwhelming because there's so much dialogue in it. And so I'm constantly thinking, you know, I try not to think of the editing process while I'm constantly thinking, you know, I try not to think of the editing process while I'm doing it, but yeah, I mean, that's things that you have to think about. And is there enough movement? Is, you know, when should it be still? When, you know, when or if the camera should move?

When should Tessa get up and move around? And so we spent a lot of time actually working that stuff out before we, before we shot it. Did you ever once on the set after a take just go, what are you doing? They like Sandler. You sound like Sandler. I want to ask a question because Steve's been famous for a long time. So it's hard. You're kind of, you're okay. I get to talk to Steve. It was so much fun hanging out with you and at Sandler Sing in DC, you know, because you're one of the people I'd say, uh, Steve Buscemi is here. I'm, you know, I'm doing this thing with Steve Buscemi. It's like, what? You know, it's like, but I just, here's something maybe you've never been asked.

Who's more talented, Joel or Ethanantino or anyone else in the planet? Is he like feet or is that like a fake thing or is that like a joke? I don't know. I don't. If he did know, he wouldn't tell you. Well, no, he can like feet. It's fine. I like things.

I just don't know if that's, you know, how much or... Okay. We've got a... What's it called when the witness is being very troublesome? I'm a hostile witness. A hostile witness. We were trying to trend, Steve. We're like, no one knows we exist. We have a sweetheart deal with a feet finder. Okay. I'm reading this. This is what I read about Steve Buscemi because there's so much to know about him. This guy goes, frequently plays fast talkers, frequently plays cowardly characters, and

often characters mixed up in crime. All true. A little generic, but all true. They're just, Steve's in so many good movies and he's someone that everyone thinks is cool, which is really what I'm going for. Not there yet. But I think like Con Air, cool fucking movie, just a random movie.

Yeah. Con Air, fun, big movies. I miss those kind of, you get to work with Nicholas Cage and his whole Nicholas Cage thing. It's great. Um, you remember that movie? I've had a great cast, John Malkovich and, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Danny Trejo. Uh, can't shoot, tell that he's lying. I'm working on a Malkovich. Nicholas Cage, why God, why? Oh, you know, Dana, to bore the shit out of Steve again, not to bring it back to me and it's not about me. I do not care about me at all.

I'm timing you this time. I read three times for his part in Conair. For whose part? Yours. And you probably was an offer. I'm sure you got offered it while you were milling it out and swishing it around. They whose part? Yours. And you probably was an offer. I'm sure you got offered it while you were milling it out and swishing it around. They were dragging me to the valley back and forth going, do it like this, you monkey.

And then they go, no, we got our guy. Thanks. Bye. I never knew that. Wow. You would have been. I have a Steve. When's the last time you auditioned for a movie? Yeah, good one. Oh, wow. It's been a while. I remember auditioning for a movie and then reading,

you know, reading one of the parts and then asking the casting director, can I read for the lead? I was like, well, you know. And she looked at me and she said, oh no, we're going to get a name for that. And that's the first time I ever heard that expression. We're going to get a name for that. Like, well, I have a name. And then I thought, oh, I see. I have to get my name known. I didn't know it worked that way. I just thought if you were...

Oh, so many things I auditioned for were offers out to people and I was jumping around to kill time to scare them like we're having auditions right now. I mean, no one's good yet. Don't worry, no one's good yet. I hated when he walked into an audition room and I saw all these, this is in the 80s, baby face men with no chins. Like I go, okay, I get it. Oh, I get them. That's your look. Yeah. They're all lookalikes of me. No chin, baby face. Okay. Cherubic. I get it. But I was all for 150 at one point, 150 auditions. I've got one time the agent called me, you didn't get it and you frightened them. I remember auditioning for Barry Levinson once and reading, you know, reading this part and he liked it.

He went, that was good. It was good. Now, how can you do it? And he gave me a very specific direction. Did it again, exactly the same. And we both looked at each other. I was mortified. He was embarrassed. And I said, that wasn't that different, was it? She went, no, no. Okay. Okay. Can't take direction. My fucking acting coach shocked.

Yes, I had one. They said they might give you direction just to see if you can take direction. A lot of people can't. I'm like, why not? And they're like, it's shocking. They can't. They go, Steve Buscemi. They just start listing people.

But honestly, it's like you just say that and you go, oh, I would just change it. And some people are coached so hard or they're with their teacher or whatever. And they go, this is the right way to do it. Even to the director, they're like, I've got the right way. You don't. Right. And they're just testing you. But I've done that.

I bomb every, every commercial audition, even more embarrassing. Do the Cohen brothers give you a line by line reading? Like say the line like that. Well how are they? They you know their writing is so specific you know that they really want you to you know say what's written and so there's very little I think I improvised something once on Fargo and I was nervous about it, but they liked it. But I remember in the beginning when I first started working with them, they, I think in Miller's Crossing, they just wanted my character to be even, you know, he was a fast, he was

the fastest talker that I think I ever played. It's hard with lines to do fast talk. Yeah. And they just wanted it even more. Like they just wanted it more intense or more shrill. And I remember doing the scene where I, you know, all I do is talk, talk, talk, talk. Gabriel Byrne had like two words.

And I talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. He would just wait until I stopped talking. And then he would say two words. And there was a whole casino of people behind me on my coverage. And I remember on one of the takes, my late wife, Jo, she came to visit me on set, but I didn't know she was there yet. And as I'm doing the dialogue with the whole casino, you know, extras behind me, I see her head poke out, you know, behind somebody to watch and I just stopped talking. Oh, it threw you, yeah. And then, all right, back to one, you know, and it would be a lot of rumbling.

And she felt horrible. I could see the look on her face. She knew what happened and she just ducked back out. Yeah. As your brain just switches you go. Yeah turns you off. You know, Dana, I don't know if you remember this one. Of course you do. I don't know who you played in this. Maybe Travolta. One of my favorite sketches was Welcome Back, Cotter. When Tarantino's Welcome Back, Cotter. When John hosted. Oh, was John was playing John? Okay. John Poblotta hosted and it was Welcome Back Kotter directed by Quentin Tarantino. At the end of it, yeah, because Michael McKeon was on the show and they had Lenny and Squiggy pop out,

and they had Lenny and Squiggy pop out, remember? And then I came out at the very end as Mr. Pink and said something like, up your hole with a jelly roll, something like that. I remember in the rehearsal, where the dress rehearsal show, I was late getting out there and I didn't think it was my fault. I thought I was queued late, but you probably don't remember this, David, but afterwards

you did give me a little shit about that. Shut the fuck up, did I? You gave me a little bit. You did. You did. You were like, hey, Johnny on the spot there. What happened? Something like that.

They didn't kill me. How dare I? I was nervous. I was horse, they didn't kill me. You know? How dare I? I was trying, I was nervous, nervous. I was horse-check and I was in character. I got out. I got to play horse-check. I loved it. I thought that was such a funny idea, funny sketch.

It was great. One of my all-time memorable ones. That's fun you got to be in that. And I just watched your monologue of character actors. That was a good idea. You were, people in the audience, cast members were character actors asking you how to be a lead. Wait, you remember this?

Yeah. They said like, Hey, you're a lead, but you play a lot of character actors, but now you're a lead, but you play a lot of character actors, but now you're a leading man. I play the girl with all the bags at a store that's the best friend and then she falls out of frame. And then Kristen Wiig is like, I'm the girl running from the killer with a knife, but I don't know where anyone is.

Steve, are you here? So everyone was playing a character and they were asking for your advice to get past being a character actor. I thought it was advice to get past being a character actor. I thought it was pretty clever. I thought that was good. That was good. I should watch that again because I totally blanked that out. I'll send you a link. Thanks. Alright, let me ask you a question.

But now that you say it, now that you describe it, I do remember it. I mean, it is a blur because you've got 13 sketches you've hosted, I think twice. Twice, yeah. Yeah. So it's hard to remember every nook and cranny, but it was a good job. I thought that was interesting. Like what I remembered about the first time hosting, during the dress rehearsal, I came out to do the monologue and I spotted a friend of mine from high school sitting in the front row. And again, it was just like seeing my wife on set. I looked at him and I was like, hey, it's Eddie. And I was like, ah, fuck. What's my, like, I don't know what to do now.

On top of your nerves, you see that throws you off. Oh, scary. One take. That's the hard part. You're like, let me start over, nope. But thank God it was a dress rehearsal. And then for the show, I just went, just told myself, just don't look at anybody. Just avoid eye contact, yeah.

So what a run you had in the nineties, I mean, and then the SNL calls, you'd been in at least five giant movies, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction. When did Fargo come out? Yeah, that came out like in 96. I was surprised that I got the call for it because I didn't think I had really done enough to like warrant me being like that people would even know me. But John Tetreur was also on that year. And I thought, oh, is this the year that they're like going after independent film actors or something? And I was

like, I'm so thrilled to like get it. But I was nervous that I think I suggested, because in the opening monologue, it was some monologue about my name, Steve, and something, you know, it was, and it just wasn't me. And I was nervous about that, so I sort of addressed that. And then I suggested something, I can't remember who came up with the idea that we were going to, like, I was going to take suggestions from the audience and do like an improv with the rest of the cast. And then I would just insert scenes from movies that I was in. But the ulterior motive was to remind people I was in Fargo or Reservoir Dogs. I'm nervous that people wouldn't know like, who is this guy? But I was glad that they changed that. I was very shy to say,

do I have to do this opening monologue? Can we change it? And Lauren was really open to it and receptive. But that first time you host, it's just so mind boggling. I was so anxious and I didn't know if I was allowed to say anything or contribute. And even though they were asking me like, is there anything that you like to do or you have any special talents? Can you sing? Yeah. Whatever you want. Right. Did you feel like you're being a problem if you say too much on the set? Yeah. yeah. And then also like, what do I know? Like aren't, like, you're the experts. Yeah, you put yourself in their hands. I think they just test you to say,

we have a sketch we've been sitting on, but we need someone that can speak Russian or we need someone that can, you know, sing and they, they need, yeah, and you need just dialects and weird shit. And you go, I can juggle. They go, okay, we can put that in something. And then that helps. Did Lorne calm me down or is he sort of imposing

in his own way, but normally he would really take a host. You go to dinner with him, you'll be nervous on the dress rehearsal and then on air, it'll all just come together. That's yeah, he's kind of both. He's very intimidating and comforting at the same, you know, kind of at the same time, because he's so calm, you know, that it like, and it's, no, this is what we do and you'll be fine. And it's like, okay, I'll believe you.

Do you, you know, we had an old movie you did was called Airheads. I saw it again on the flight because we had lovely Brent and Frajan who was a super sweetheart. He's great. And then of course Sandler. For seeing Airheads again, because I went and saw it on Broadway and like 69th, wherever there's that little theater in New York during, I think it was SNL. And I saw the whole thing again. Pretty fun to see the whole thing again. And Billy Madison, of course, is such a big one that people remember you from. I did one day on that movie.

And everyone remembers it. When you cross the list of who to kill, that thing? Yeah, yeah. So memorable. He calls me up and he apologizes for his bullying behavior in high school and then I cross his name off. Just people to kill? And then for no reason at all I just put on lipstick.

Which was my favorite part. You know, we went- Do you think, I mean, being the character actor is great. We saw Sandler tape his thing. I thought I might see it today. He's doing his stand-up special. I know. And Bridget was there. Yeah.

Veronica Vaughn, the teacher in Billy Madison. And and I said, you get to be for history in one of Farley's funniest things, saying that Veronica is one fine piece of ace. And Billy goes, you went with her and he goes, I had a couple of fun nights with her. And he goes, no, I didn't. or whatever he says. It's so funny. It's very, very, very Chris. Yeah, it was funny. Yeah. He plays the bus driver in Billy Manning. So funny.

Yeah, that's fun. It's fun to be a part of even like that one scene you did. Just everyone remembers it. I loved and you know, yeah, and Chris was in Airheads. And I remember when we did the read through and afterwards Chris said to me, there's a part in Airheads where my character gets angry and I'm like yelling at Adam and Chris says to me, wow, Steven, when you were yelling that one time, you sounded just like you did in Reservoir Dogs. And I kind of looked at him like, what are you

saying? And I realized Chris really was that way. Like when he had that sketch on SNL, he was like, oh, God, remember when you were in The Beatles? He really was that way kind of. But he was excited, I'm sure, to see you. Yeah, it's fun. And I just, you know, and I kind of looked at him and he looked at me and then we like just laughed, but it was a really funny thing from the start. Yeah, he is a sweetheart. Was Fargo the one you get asked about the most only because one best picture, right? No, it's the Big Lebowski. Oh, and that was another. And it took a few years for that to happen because that was the one that followed Fargo.

And I think critics didn't know what to make of it at the time and it kind of fell through the cracks. But then like five years later, I would start to get these like college kids come up to me and mention it because they watched it on VHS like over and over and then in 10 years time then it was yeah and then it got to be where I knew the Lebowski fans like somebody would come up to me on the street and they'd be about to say something and I'd say shut the fuck up Donnie and they'd like look at me like yeah oh wow

yeah yeah yeah god I I'm telling you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God, I'm telling you, I hear about that. Like people, I'm not in it, but people go, God, have you seen The Big Lebowski? Oh, like the one on my, when they listing movies they like in comedies and it just really did resonate. Yeah.

Hey, I'm the dude, man. Jeff Bridges is such a stud. Such a stud. Jeff Bridges, I always say that when he became a cowboy actor, he always sounded like he just had a hoagie. I'm going to do a take here in a minute, but I just had a big deep fry. I said, sign with him. He, you know, he, his, Jeff, now, if he listens to our podcast, he just, once he did True Grit, and then he just stayed, his voice got gravilier. Well, he just sort of, he went post-acting.

I think some people, if you see Hell or High Water, he's been so playful in that. It's almost like Anthony Hopkins in the one he got the Oscar for a couple years ago. So kind of like beyond acting, they're just playing. I don't know what to describe. He's like, let's get a giddy up on this car. I don't know in the hell or high water. I went, hell, he jumped the shark. He's not acting anymore. Do you know what I mean?

It's just, yes, he's just become whatever. Yes. Rules are out the most in the pocket. You feel you've been, like in a role like okay this is the most I'm not thinking that I'm acting in a way or I'm just feeling so so great in each take if it ever happened. Well no, I mean the first feature that I directed, Tree's Lounge, was a character that I wrote for myself that kind of was like an exaggerated version of me, but it was me. But it was weird because I was also directing it and I always get very anxious when I direct. So it was hard to really enjoy it fully in the moment

if somebody else was directing, I think maybe I would have felt like, oh yeah, I'm nail on this. Otherwise I'm just like, I'm just thinking about the rest of the day and just wanting to get through a scene, make sure I got it right. But yeah, but my anxiety I think just gets in the way.

Wait a minute, an actor with anxiety? I mean, and in self, and in self, you're telling me a brilliant actor has self doubt and anxiety, except for Brando maybe, I don't know. But everybody else was a little shaky, I don't know. Hard to place Brando. I'll bet he was insecure, Brando. No, he got the earpiece at some point.

So I think he was like, I'm sick of memorizing lines. It's too stressful. Not giving a fuck is another way to do this. Now I'm saying the word anxiety, I didn't know growing up, I would have said it every day, but I think now that you give people this word, like kids, they're like, I'm anxious at school. I'm like, well, no fuck, I've been anxious since the day I was born till right now.

Like it's a very rough life out there. And they're like, I don't want to do my homework. It gives me anxiety. No shit. Like everything does. Oh, I had panic attacks before I do stand up, but I didn't know I was having a panic attack. Yeah. You don't know what it's called.

You're just like, I was- I'd give it a name and then I'd have to go talk to a therapist for $2.25 an hour. Maybe a talker down to $200. Oh, that's enough personal information. Before tip. But, uh, yeah, everybody is anxious now and depressed. Steve. True.

We can now we know what we are. We know we're screwed up. We have vocabulary. Before I let you go, Steve, because you're a wonderful guy. And you're doing 12 other podcasts after this for the listener. You know, the good thing about Steve is he's not totally out there on everything. Like, that's the interesting mystery of Buscemi. He's just kind of cool, lays back a little bit, doesn't smother us.

I think it's unintentional, but yeah, he's effortlessly cool. And the fact that you, I mean, I'll just throw this out here because it's not common knowledge to everybody that you were a firefighter who dreamed of becoming an actor, who became an actor. 9-11 happens and then you apparently volunteer and you're going into the rubble with the firefighters, not to bring up such a dark subject, but that's an extraordinary thing for a human being to have done, you know. Well, thank you. Yeah, because I was a firefighter for a few years in the early 80s. And then, you know, as the years went by, I got further and further away from it and lost touch. But then 9-11, yeah, it just put me back in touch. And I felt really honored that they would even let me come back and work with them,

with my company, Engine 55. And I had access, but I know so many people who would have done the same thing that wanted to be there, but couldn't get in there. And I had the opportunity and the access because I used to be on the job and I felt very honored that I was able to do that. It's hard for any of us to imagine that scene and what you went through. And you were invisible in a sense with the gear and everything. No one knew, hey, that's the Fargo guy.

You know, what's weird is that, you know, I still had my turnout coat and my helmet and boots. And so I went there thinking that I could blend in, but I had been off the job like since the mid 80s and all the and all the equipment changed and the bulk of you here. You look like Curious George or something. I kind of stood out anyway. And then people were like kind of looking at me like,

oh, why, who is this guy? Why doesn't he have like why is he a relic from the past? Oh, wait a minute. It's that guy. It's that actor. You know, Dana, it's funny. He did that anonymously and he helped for weeks in a related story. I brought cookies down and had tipped off TMZ to follow me. And then later and I was in full makeup and then. Hey, man, you both, you both are heroes.

And I sent them a bill. You're different kinds of heroes. I wanna ask Steve a question, cause I don't know if this is true either, cause I was a pipsqueak. David and I were pipsqueaks in high school. Like I graduated, I was probably 125. Me too.

But I heard you wrestled at 105 on the varsity. Oh really? But you got bigger than that, right? Were you that a freshman, 105? I know, I did that up until my senior year. Maybe I went up another way. 105? I don't think so. 105? Yeah, that's crazy. I know. Were you your heights? Because I was pretty wiry and I was pretty, uh, strong from my weight. I did pretty good during the year. Uh, you know, like in the, in the team matches, but then in the

tournaments, I always, I always choked. When you started wrestling guys, was it harder? He says the girls a little easier and then they started putting me up against guys when it got to 110. Then it was two girls versus Steve and he'd take them down three girls. And it was getting hard. And then they had a 87 pound guy. No, but you were good.

I mean, you were actually you would seem like the kind of guy who would be good at wrestling. I don't know why I think that. But you have your intellect and kind of I think wiry people are secretly strong. I was, I was okay. I did, I, you know, I had, I had a great coach, Mr. Earl and, and, and his son, Richie Earl was my wrestling partner. So, and like, he was like the best on the team. So it kind of rubbed off on, on me. I had one secret move called the reverse cradle.

And if I got you in it, if I got you in the reverse cradle, you know, it was like a surprise. And I actually beat some like guys who were probably better than me. But then, you know, that's why I would choke in the tournaments. Cause then you wrestle these same people again. Oh, they're on to be the older, worst cradle. It always seemed a little close quarter in a way. Did you ever wrestle in a guy and all of a sudden

your face was right up against his junk and you're going, why am I doing this? It's very homoerotic wrestling, it is. Okay. You know. That's okay. It's part of the appeal. It's part of the appeal. It's part of the appeal.

It does get a diverse audience. Yes. Yes, that's good. Yeah. All right, Dana, what do we do with Steve? We let him go? Well, we could do hours because of, he doesn't need our help, but yeah, he's Steve Buscemi.

He's a national treasure. I'm gonna use that as a, because you're just been around so long. And if I see you on it in a movie, I'm going to use that as a, because you're just been around so long. And if I see you on it in a movie, I'm just happy. Yeah. You're like this guy. It's this guy. And I think when you are in your lane, I don't know who your peers are. I don't know if it's Christopher Walken. These are older people, but there's the cool factor.

You're not a pretty boy in front of a movie doing all the press. You're just the guy who goes in and you can't take your eyes off that guy. I mean, it's like you weren't, in Fargo, it was like, it didn't feel like you were acting. You weren't an actor in that movie. They're like, they got a real guy to do this.

They got, where'd they get this? I had that once with Rip Torn. I saw that movie. They're like, they got a real guy to do this. They got, where'd they get this? I had that once with Rip Tore and I saw a movie. Where'd they get this guy off the street? He was so good in this movie. And I think you have that vibe about you. Thank you. So I'm not a pretty boy. That's what you're saying.

Well, I'm saying you're ruggedly handsome. Thank you. Do you think David's a pretty boy? Yes, absolutely. Look at handsome. Thank you, thank you. Do you think David's a pretty boy? Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I've gotten away with every time I date someone it's Beauty and the Beast in every article. I'm like, enough for this.

Like, just why not just say I'm okay. You don't look like a beast. They say, they go, yuck. That's like exclamation is the headline. I'm like, all right. You can't do that. You can't do that with the girls You can't say look at this great looking guy with his dog. It's like you can't you can do with me

All right, Steve. That's really what I wanted to get off my chest. Okay Thank you for talking to us. You're a stud and we'll talk soon. Hopefully enjoy that. I love you both and Hope you see you. Thank you. Okay. See you bug This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all this stuff, smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts. Fly on 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 Holtzman.