Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - BRENT SPINER: Data’s Return From the Dead, Star Trek Negotiations, Pissing Off Shatner & Terrifying Stunts

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

Brent Spiner (Star Trek, Independence Day) joins us this week to drop some bombs about a certain someone’s return from the dead in Picard Season 3. Brent shares how he feels about being recognized (mostly) for a single character as Data in Star Trek - and later gets into the weeds on what his experience with the android has been like over the last few decades. We also talk about lessons learned from Joe DiMaggio, how he beat himself out for a Saturn Award, and tons of stories from his other roles in Night Court, Master of Disguise, and more! Thank you to our sponsors: ❤️ Betterhelp: https://betterhelp.com/inside 🚀 Rocket Money: https://rocketmoney.com/inside 🟠 Discover: https://discvr.co/3Cnb1V8 🧼 Dove Men Plus Care __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. You know, we've had some great episodes, and I've had a lot of emails, responses to the episodes, and I really appreciate that. I try to bring guests that. You may not know sometimes, but that will open up, kind of maybe you can relate to some of the things they're saying, maybe some of it helps you, things that I find interesting. And I just want to, it's sort of about human. humanity, you know, how people evolve and where they come from and how they tick and how they deal with loss and all these things. And I really am enjoying the podcast more than I have ever because I think I'm really just more relaxed now. The learning curve is over, folks. You're

dealing with a professional interviewer here. And I will say that. Please follow us in write a review. If you're liking the podcast, it helps substantially. There's there's so many podcasts. And if you really like this and go, hey, I like him interviewing and I like his style, please subscribe and write a review. It helps the show immensely. And we're a little show. We're like the little red caboose that could or whatever. Our handles are this. At Inside of You pod on Twitter, at Inside of your podcast on Instagram and Facebook.

That's right. And if you want to join Patreon, the lovable patron, all my patrons support the podcast that give back something that really helps in more ways than one. Go to patreon.com slash inside of you, become a patron today. there's so many perks and so much fun we do so many great things um and last but not least the inside of you online store uh you can get great merch smallville merch uh podcast merch and go to sunspin com my band and get some cool swag there uh my band sunspin the album never is what it is is out streaming everywhere so i'd love you if you could take a listen but more importantly we got a very important guest today no we always have an important guest uh brent spiner is um and

Jonathan Frakes hooked this up. I think I might have met Brent a while back. But this was, I said, hey, could you get it? And he, you know, emailed his buddy. They're good friends. In fact, they're going to do maybe a reality show, which he'll talk about on this podcast. And Brent says, yeah, have him email me. And he came over and my dog, Blanche almost bit him.

And she's never been aggressive with anybody. So thank you, Brent. No, this was a great interview. and there are you know he's got a lot to say about the Picard show so a lot of cool responses from and also you know career and all that important stuff and dealing with life and we cover a lot in this hour so I appreciate you thanks for listening please subscribe if you like it and without further ado let's get inside of Brent Spine It's my point of you

You're listening to Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum Inside of You Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum Was not recorded in front of a live studio audience All right, well, first of all, it's an honor to have you here Well, thank you.

I've heard so much I think I met you briefly Out of a con or something. Yeah, yeah, but you meet millions of people, right? Oh, I mean, listen, I'll never forget meeting you. He's such a liar. Already, a liar. You and my mother would get along well. Liar. No. Oh, thank. The first thing you started talking about, and by the way, my dog, Blanche was a little bit timid around you. It was weird. I don't know. I was the nicest guy. It's just, she's so weird sometimes,

but she's like, she just has to warm up. I don't get it. I love her. And, uh, I'm hurt. Yeah, it's, you know, If John Ham, you're a dog, that's my dog, John Han. If John Ham treated me like that, I'd be a little bit. He might. I mean, you know what's weird? He treats me like, too. Really? Yeah.

He's like, I don't know. Do you have a treat? Okay. Well, a lot of people are thinking, did he just say his dog's name's John Ham? Yes. And you told me that story, but your son, the dog was eating ham? No, no. The dog was part of a litter that we adopted the dog from a litter that they had.

named all of the litter with pizza toppings. Oh, right, right, right. And our dog was named Ham. And we didn't particularly love that. But then my son went, oh, what about John Ham? Because Mad Men is his favorite show of all time. And so we went, yeah, John Hamm, good. And you've never met John Ham.

No, I've never met him. But if he met him, would it be the first thing to break the ice is what you'd say? My dog's John Ham. Totally. That'd be the very first thing. Well, I might say, hey, we watched Fletch the other night. It was great. Was he in Fletch?

Yeah. He was Fletch in the new Fletch. Oh, there's a new Fletch. Right. Is it, is it good? Yeah, it's good. It's, he's, he's terrific. He's always good. And it's not great, but it's good. And it really has a real kind of 70s feel to it, 80s feel to it. It's really clever. Those are big shoes to fill, I think. Yeah, they are. But I mean, Tom Hamm, he's fantastic. He is. And I've met him a couple of times. My friend's really close friends with him from Madman. My friend, J. Ferguson, name dropper. Yeah. And, you know, he's just, he's a guy's guy. He's just like, hey, man, how's going? Oh, yeah, let's, yeah, Cowboys, I think they're going to win this. Yeah, he's great. I don't know anyone, I'm trying to think if I know anyone from Mad Men.

Well, well, I knew Bobby Morris, but I don't want to drop names. I remember Zach Galfinakis, he had in between two firms and he had John Hamms. He goes, John Hamm, he goes, do any, does anyone ever call you John's sausage links? And he goes, no, they don't. So you were on a show called, he goes, madman, madman? Madman? He goes, madman. Yes, he goes.

And it was a story about 60-year-old men. No, no, it takes place in the 60s. I just remember that. That was a great show. It was. There's nobody like that guy. Zach was, he's so funny. Oh, he's hilarious.

Yeah, he's hilarious. I did one thing with him. I did a comedy, comedy bang bang you know that show we sounds perverted but yeah no it was a really funny show on comedy central i did an episode and he was on it too do a lot of comedy i mean you did a lot of comedy for sure i mean you were like back in the day you were doing that's all you were doing you were you were funny you were like i mean not that you're not funny but like you know i mean memorable parts like night court right people always remember that right night court totally i i can't tell you how many

people say to me, Bob Wheeler on Nightcourt. Are you going to be on the new night court? Are you? Well, let me say this. They have to ask me, don't they? I can't just show up. So no one's asked you yet. No, there was a thing. There was at the Critics Association this year, apparently. I wasn't there, but somebody told me that they asked Laracette, is Brent Spiner going to be on the show? And he went, well, I'm not sure we could afford him anymore. And I thought about that. And I thought, he's probably right. Yeah. No, there's no such thing to scale in my world anymore. I mean, do you do you do things still for I mean, you have such a body of work. You've been so many things. Do you still take on jobs that is it more like if I like the content,

I'll consider it and it's not about the money or do you have to be paid? There's something that, you know, I want to be paid here. But you know, I mean, obviously content is first. Right. I mean, not that I wouldn't do lousy shows. We all have. We all have. We all have my career. I mean, I've made some of the worst movies of all time. What movie is the worst of all time?

Well, I mean, I, you know, they're almost classics. I did a movie that is a classic, I think, and it's called Master of Disguise. Oh. Do you know that movie? Dana Carvey. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. I haven't seen it, but yes. Dana wrote it, and it was, he wrote it for his two nine-year-old boys at the time.

And it truly is a film for nine-year-old boys. But it didn't do well. It didn't do well, but it was so much fun to work on. Isn't that funny how the worst movies, you know, according to critics and whatever and how well it does, are the ones that you had the most fun. I did a movie called Sorority Boys, and people love it. It's Colt. And I had the most fun I've ever had on a movie. And I don't regret doing it for one minute.

No. I think it's funny. My uncle thinks it's the funniest movie he's ever seen. He hates everything I've done. I understand. I love Master of Disguise in its in its terribleness. And it's it was so much fun. You know what happened with that film? Dana wrote the film and Adam Sandler produced it. And you know, Adam has this group of people who work with him all the time and his crew. And he kind of looked around and he says, who wants to direct this movie? And he, he, nobody raised their hand. And so he said, the DP, you want to do this movie? And he said, no. And so finally, the art director said, I'll direct the movie. And so he said, okay, you're the director. And he was. And the art director, directed the movie. Yeah. The art director of all of Adams films directed, Master of Disguise. And I have to say, he directed very much like any wonderful director you've ever worked with. It was like, you know, he had ideas. and he would say let's try it again and you know it was great that's amazing you know when we got in here

before we were rolling we talked about william shatner and he just turned 92 years old yeah and um you said you just had dinner with him last night saturday or saturday night are you close friends with william we're friends do you call him bill right you don't call him bill yeah you don't call him chat? No, no. There is a famous story, however, of, you know, he famously, or not so famously to people who don't know theater, but he, one of his big hits on Broadway when he was a young man was a shot in the dark, which later became a Peter Sellers film. He didn't play that role. It was completely rewritten, but it was Bill and Walter Mathau. And apparently Mathel told me this story that Judy Holliday came back afterwards.

And she said, this guy, Shatner, is his name in the past tense? It's funny because I do say that to my friends. I'm going to go take a Bill Shatner. You know, I don't think he'd appreciate that job. No, I doubt it. But, yeah, I'm friends with Bill. And you call him? If I need to.

Or a text? I have. I have done. Yeah. Yeah. And what would you and Bill text about? Well, one time somebody. somebody

somebody tweeted me privately that he had can't he had what do you call it when he he blocked them and they were really upset about it I'm so sorry I but I can't I don't know what to do

how do I apologize will you I said look don't worry about he probably doesn't write those things anyway or have anything to do with it and and then I get this this text from him or a and said not him wasn't a text it was a direct message saying what in the hell is wrong with you why would

you say something like that and i thought oh my god have i overstep so i called him and uh he happened to be in and he came to the phone i said bill i'm so sorry i you know i didn't realize that was i was crossing the line with that and he said what are you talking about and i said well he didn't know anything about it oh my guess so someone writing for him yeah but you know what's he like, I mean, when you're hanging out and having dinner with him. I mean, I didn't even think I was going to ask you this question until you brought up dinner with him. But like, is he fun? I'm sure he has endless stories. Endless. But he's also one of the most well-read people you'll ever meet. I go to cons and his face is buried in a book. Always. Every time. Always. And, and he's so knowledgeable.

He really is. And he's so interested in the world. I think that's why he's who he is now. He's, uh, his energy is unbelievable. Uh, he has way more energy than I do. Me too. And, uh, he's, uh, he's just a voracious reader. He's interested in all sorts of subjects, anything about, uh, you know, space, space, but the world, uh, trees, bees, birds. You read books about them. I mean, he's just a fascinating guy.

Do you like having a friend who knows everything? Uh, Because I have a friend who thinks he knows everything. My friend Tom, Lally, this guy, I will say, you know, I might do this show. And he was like, well, there's a show like that. I'm like, no, there's not. And we dig something up and that no one's even seen. I'm just saying what I'm saying.

Yeah. He just knows. You can't say anything without him saying he knows something. I know more than one person like that. And you don't hang out with that much. No, I actually do. But it is tedious, I have to say. It's a lot.

I like to have conversations and where no one knows the answer. It's sort of ambiguous. You know, you'll find in this interview, I know nothing. You know nothing. Right. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about something that's going to help you save money. Period.

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Go to quince.com slash inside of you for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash inside of you. free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com slash inside of you um when you were a young boy i mean it was i read this i was like i don't know if you ever talked about it maybe i'm sure you have but i know your father passed away when he was 29 years old when you were like 10 months old right it was that um it's something obviously you weren't aware of having a father so it was no you have no recollection of anything at 10 months old but um did it may as you got older when were you told by your mother that this had happened when you

understood it it seemed to always be an awareness of it i don't know when she exactly told me but i mean certainly as soon as i could understand anything i was aware that i didn't have a father and uh my mother was single i had brother and uh she raised both of us for many years yeah was that something that you sort of found difficult but didn't realize it was difficult. And later on, you realized that it was affecting you a certain way, not having a father around. It didn't seem difficult at the time because my mother really just dug in and did everything. My mother's still alive, by the way.

How old is she? She's 96. And she's close to 97 and still sharp as attacked. Really? Yeah. How beautiful is that? Did she live close? No, she lives in Houston.

Do you see her a couple times a year? Yeah. as often as I can. And you talk to her how often? Every day. She calls you or you call her? I call her. You know, it's, she doesn't have a lot of, you know, doesn't have a lot of joy in her life right now because her husband is not well and he's in a facility and he's actually 11 years younger than her.

And that was a big surprise to her that she would wind up having to take care of him. Right. Right. But so, so I feel like I can give her, you know, something to look forward to every day. And it's, it costs me nothing. And, and I enjoy talking to her because she's sharp and interesting. And, you know. Was she one of those mothers who never asked you for anything?

Or she always someone who was, buy me a house. No, no, no, no. Never asked for anything, anything. Oh, you're so lucky. But when we were kids, she was like, you know, she'd play ball with us, you know. She'd go out and. you know play catch with us and whatever we needed uh she was great and she was always loving and whatever you wanted to do she said yes she wasn't like hey the acting thing let's go in a different

direction let's nothing totally question anything totally supportive uh even you know i mean when i was first in new york uh i didn't have any money and um so every now and then i'd call and i say listen uh could i borrow some money and you know uh and she'd send me some money and I would, you know, got to the point, I think I could borrow $1,000 because I had to pay my rent and live and eat and all that stuff. And she did it continuously until one day she finally said, I said, can I borrow $1,000? She said, I tell you what, I'm going to send you $5,000. And I'm like, what?

I'm rich. And she said, but that's the last money I'm going to send you. And you're going to have to either make something happen. Or invest. An apple. Right. I should have. Yeah.

You know, or come home. There was a family business. And I was. Furniture business? No. Well, that there was initially she was in the furniture business. Right. But my grandfather, my grandfather invented, to my knowledge, frosty root beer.

I don't know if you know, remember frosty root beer. I think I do remember. Yeah. But at some point in time, very early. on. He sold the recipe and kept the bottling. And so he had a big bottling and he made bottles and sold bottles and cans and containers was his stuff. Is that a lucrative business? It was. He did very well. And all of my family, except me, worked for Texbury Container Corporation. And did they expect you? Did his grandfather think, Brent, when are you going to do it? No. I think they thought,

what is he going to do? You know, but. But, no, so everybody was pretty good with my going into show business. But this came, you know, finally it hit the wall. And my mother said, you know, you got to make something happen or come back and work here. Yeah. And fortunately, something happened. And I started to work and I didn't need to ever borrow another dime. What made you want to get into acting?

Well. I mean, you're in Houston, right? Yeah. And there's probably not, is there a lot of theater in Houston at the time? Well, the Alley Theater was in Houston. It was a well-known regional theater in Houston and had great directors and actors. But I never worked there. But I had a teacher in high school.

His name was Cecil Pickett. He was a brilliant man who encouraged a lot of people. My drama class at Ballard High School, with the people in my drama class were like Randy and Dennis Quaid and you knew them mm-hmm and Tommy Shlami Thomas Shlami yeah was in my drama class Marianne Williamson who's running for president you know again it was quite but but it was all because of mr. picket because he had a real nose for talent and if you were invited into the six-period drama class that was a new something was special right

And he was a wonderful director and teacher, but more than anything, I think he gave me a sense that I had something to offer. And I think that's what he did for all those people I mentioned and others, many others. You know, it is. I've talked about this before, but it's you have to have someone along the way, whether it's one person or a few people that inspire you that give you this confidence that you build. Yeah. And if you don't have it, I don't know. how you can do it without someone believing in you how can you believe in yourself yeah exactly and if you're lucky enough to have someone like that or particularly a teacher uh someone you already

respect and admire that says to you i think you're going to do it you know go for it yeah i had a you know dr bill leonard he's still at western kentucky university i don't think he's teaching anymore but i went in after it was my senior year and i said yeah i'm thinking about going to grad school for theater and he goes go to new york i go is there a grad school new y i'm sure there was something i don't know if i can get in in n yu or something he goes now no go to new york i think you're ready i don't think you should do that i think you should go to new york yeah what a blessing right i mean if he would have said go to grad school i would have gone yeah and he just yeah i think if if mr pickett had said to me uh you know no don't don't don't do it i mean there are other people too

You know Brett Cullen? I know the name, yeah. Yeah, Brett was there. There was a wonderful actor named Trey Wilson, who was one of my best friends. And he was in the movie Bull Durham. He played the manager in Bull Durham. Oh, my God, I loved him. Yeah, he was in Raising Arizona.

He had that gruff voice. Yeah. And he had a craggy face. He looked 45 when he was 19. Like a Wilford Brimley. Yeah. Just always looked way older. He would have worked forever.

But he sat. He sadly passed away when he was, I think he was 39, 40. What? I think he was around his 40th birthday, yeah. And you were close friends. Oh, very good friends, yeah. Did you go to the funeral? Yeah.

Watching your friend pass at that age. It was one of the most, that was still one of the most shocking events of my life. The phone call I got from another friend in New York who said, told me, Trey passed away. I was like, just knocked out. I couldn't believe it. What did he pass from? He had a brain ass. aneurism.

Oh, my God. And it was like gone. Yeah. Yeah. But he would have, he was so gifted and he would have done so much work. I think he did eight films the year he passed away. Grant Imahara was a dear friend of mine. And he passed a few years ago.

And he was the smartest, sweetest man I've ever known. Yeah. And he had a brain aneurysm. And it was just like that. I met Grant. Yeah. Yeah. What a lovely guy.

Terrific. Yeah, you know, when you're, when you're struggling in New York and you're doing all these things, what did you ever deal with any sort of like depression or just, you know, I'm not, I should just go back. I should do. Or was it, did it happen fast? It didn't happen fast. But, you know, I was talking to my mother about this the other night. And I was saying, you know, she said, she was like, I got to give you credit. You hung in there and you do, you know. And I said, well, you know, arrogantly, I kind of thought it's going to be okay. I always thought it was going to be okay. And so I never really got depressed. I got depressed about other things like being dumped by a girlfriend. Oh, yeah. That's the worst. Yeah. But it really is. You know, the first time it happens to you, you think you're going to die. It's so painful. I don't know. Yeah, you lose yourself. You're like, what are you doing? I know. You can't sleep. You can't eat. You can't think. And then you hate yourself for going through that after.

Yeah, you're going, what is wrong with me? Why can't I? Yeah. But no, the show business thing, I just, I just had confidence that it was going to happen. Or are you always good because I, everything, it seems like you always, everything you do, you always have a lot of lines. You always are, you know, boom, boom, boom. Do you have this thing called a photographic memory? Can you, can you learn things really fast? No. But how do you play a guy like data, character like data? Well, back in those days, when I was doing it, you know, every day, it is a muscle. And, you know, you get better and better and better at it. I used to have a deal with myself. I would go home after 16 hours or whatever because we were doing also 26 episodes a year back then. And I'd come home and I'd say, okay, let me, I'd open up the script and my stomach would turn over.

You know, thinking, I could learn this for tomorrow. For tomorrow. Yeah. And, but I had to deal with myself that if I, if I couldn't, I couldn't go to sleep until I could say it out loud one time perfectly. So I knew I could do it the next day. Did you ever have those nights where you didn't? Well, you know. And the next day you struggled.

Well, there were a lot of times I didn't sleep. Let me say that because I had that deal with myself, that unfortunate deal. But. Did you ever, did you ever tell the. producers like, hey, can you back off a little? Can you give me a little time to learn this stuff? I did have a, I had, there was, the first season or two on the show, we were all working all the time. And then finally, the producers sort of figured out, hey, you know, each one of these guys could kind of carry a show and we'll do data episodes, we'll do Picard episodes, we'll

do Riker, you know, everybody had their shows. And we would, you know, there would always be scenes on the bridge where, you know, we would all be there and sometimes two, sometimes three, you know, it was always fun to see who you're going to work with that day. But one or the other of us would carry the show. And I was doing a show, I don't remember what the name of it was, but it was my show. And so I was working all day, every day, and everyone else had done the first day, and they were off the rest of the time. And the day before we were starting. And the day before we were starting a new show. And I was thinking, oh, thank God, this is going to be over soon and somebody else's show. I get this script and they're like five characters. I'm playing five

characters. And it's again a data show. And, uh, oh, I'm getting anxiety. Really? So like, I, I, I phone the producer, or one of the producers who was still there and I said, I can't do this. I mean, this is how am I going to do this? I'm still working on this show. And tomorrow, uh, at some point in time, we're going to finish this and an hour later, start the next show. And I've got five characters. I can't even read it, much less figure out what I'm going to do with them. And her response, her name was Jerry Taylor, a wonderful woman, wonderful producer. And she said to me, we have faith in you.

And that was it. Oh, okay. See, I wouldn't have hung up. I would have said, fuck off. Yeah. I know. I cannot learn this. Well, you know.

You did it, though. I managed to do it. I mean, I gave, you know, the episode that we did where I played the five characters is an episode called Masks. And I only remember that because I get a lot of feedback on it. But I do some of the most preposterous acting you've ever seen in your life in it. I mean, the other actors were laughing in my face at some of the characters I was doing. Really?

Literally. And you didn't care. No. I mean, there was a point. The last, when we finally got to the end, of it. Patrick and I were in masks and facing one another at two o'clock on Saturday morning. And he was playing the god of the sun and I was the goddess of the moon. And we couldn't get through the scene. We were laughing at each other so much that the crew hated us.

Oh, yeah. That's what happens. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, but we couldn't control it. Stop laughing. Inside you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses as so many people use Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. Crazy, right? How cool is that?

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Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show. Ever wonder how dark the world can really get? Well, we dive into the twisted, the terrifying, and the true stories behind some of the world's most shit. killing crimes. Hi, I'm Ben. And I'm Nicole. Together we host Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast that unpacks real-life horrors, one case at a time.

With deep research, dark storytelling, and the occasional drink to take the edge off. We're here to explore the Wicked and Reveal the Grim. We are Wicked and Grim. Follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform. Is he that much fun to work with, Patrick? He can be. He can be really fun. And he also, I'm sure, be intense.

Well, yeah. I'm sure you could all be intense. Well, you know, to varying degrees, yeah. I'm usually the guy who, you know, I'm going to get my stuff done and get out of there. Yeah. After I've done 100 episodes. Right. In the beginning, it's, you know, but after a while, it's like, hey, let's do our thing and let's go home.

Yeah. We've got lives. That's your intent. We know what we're doing. Exactly. Were you ever like that? Well, you know what? I'm not very intense or confrontational.

You don't see that way. So I, you know, would more like say. hey everybody let's finish this and go home okay yeah i understand you know i text jonathan freaks right before and i just said um any inside scoop or questions for spiner interviewing him in an hour and this is what he responded with judy garland joe demaggio stephen sonheim brent and johnny show how would you sum up those four things Well, where shall we start? It was Judy Garland first?

Yes, it was. Well, I met Judy Garland when I was 16. We had a brief. No, I'm kidding. Oh, wow. That would have been awesome. No, no, no. It was just this amazing thing.

And there's a photo I have of it that when you run this, you'll want to, like, put that photo up. Put that photo up, Bryce. Yeah. I'll send it to you. Oh, yeah. But, yeah, I was in, I think I was in high school. maybe my last year of high school or junior year of high school. And I got a call to go to the principal's office in the middle of the day.

And I was like, oh, my God, someone's died. And or I did something horrible. And so I went to the principal's office. The principal of my high school, by the way, Belar High School, he was, his name was Harlan G. Andrews. And he was the brother of the actor Dana Andrews. and another actor named Steve Forrest, the three of them were brothers. Dane Andrews, a fantastic actor.

Best viewers of our lives. He gives the best performance in that movie. He's fantastic. And very underrated. But Harlan G. Andrews had white hair and lots of it and was craggy and handsome and intimidating. But he loved the theater. He was a big supporter of all the shows we did. anyway he said listen uh someone's coming to pick you up you got to go home and then that's when

i thought uh oh this is going to be bad and he said no no no it's not bad it's you're going to like it and so i was taken actually to the shamrock hilton hotel in houston which doesn't exist in was a giant in fact it was the hotel that in the movie giant uh it's the hotel that jet rink is opening um yeah james dean yeah of course anyway great place uh spent many years there in my youth but uh but so i go in i said what's the deal my mother's there she says well we're going to meet judy garland and i went what why yeah and uh my uncle ted rogan was a promoter of sorts in houston and an advertising guy and but he was a promoter and a PR guy and he brought Judy Garland to the Astrodome to perform at the Astrodome.

And her opening act, by the way, was young girls called The Supremes. Oh, man. Yeah. But there she was. And I was introduced to Judy Garland. Were you starstruck? Well, yeah. I mean, you know, in my mind, of course, I'm thinking Wizard of Oz, you know,

but she was a grown woman. and very sweet, very nice to me. I mean, this jerky, nerdy kid, 16-year-old, and she took my arm and asked me, you know, talk to me, and they took a photo of us, and she signed it. And it is kind of my prize possession to this day. Well, how is it not? That is, it doesn't get better than that.

Well, it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. It's like, you know. Particularly now when you see Judy Garland and a young nerdy data. in a picture together. Right, right. But yeah, it was thrilling. The second one is Joe DiMaggio.

Yeah, well, I just told Jonathan this story the other day, and it's a lesson to all of us and me and you and anyone. But my mother tells this story because she was at a football game at Rice Stadium in Houston one Sunday, and she saw Joe DiMaggio, and she went over to him and she said, Oh, my God, Mr. DiMaggio, so could I have your autograph? And he said, well, yeah, all right. And she said, oh, I don't have a pencil. And he went, well, get a pencil.

And she said, okay, she ran off to get a pencil. And she came back and he was gone. And to this day, if you see, well, all through my youth, whenever the Mr. Coffee commercials would come on, my mother would say, oh, he's a terrible man, terrible man. Because he wouldn't wait for her to go get a pencil. Right. And I think about that.

as you know where fans are concerned and who want you know a moment of your time and yeah you know i keep i have to go remember joe damasio remember joe you know what i remember you always forget the moments that i mean i i signed a lot of autographs and i am always very very kind and open and energy energetic with my fans and i love them and i was at a football game where i grew up a high school football game my old high school and it was when smallville first came out i was mobbed and i couldn't even watch the game and i was signing autographs and blocking people and i and it just didn't stop and then i in a joking way in a sort of chris farley way i just went somebody came out to make out that's it i'm watching the rest of the game here we'll talk later and i remember this kid just

kind of turned and walked like was not happy like oh my god and and i go no no no no no I was just I was I was kidding and they left and I go and I still to that day yeah so to this day feel like I let I let him down well here's the thing you need to know that kid tells that story all the time he's a dick yeah exactly no I know I have this inadvertent thing I do when the only thing you know I'm I'm pretty good with fans I mean if they come up to me and you know want you know a photo or autograph or something yeah Yeah, exactly. But the only thing, it's when somebody goes, data, you know, and I'm like, because that isn't actually my name. Yeah. And, I mean, I know what they mean, and I get it and all of that. It's just like, hey, just say my name. But that's a fictional character, and I am, you know, a real person.

Yeah, yeah. Anyway. That's understandable. My son and my wife point out to me that I have this really unfortunate habit when that happens of rolling my eyes and going, here we go. Right. And they say,

why can't you be nice? Why do you have to do that? Why can't you just be nice? And I said to myself, well, why do you think what happened when, I mean, like if you saw Harrison Ford and you went,

Indy or, you know, Han Solo, you know, don't you think he'd kind of, and he goes, I wouldn't do that. Okay. Never mind.

That's a funny way of putting it. Some people just don't, you know they don't get i hear it all the time lex yeah in fact this guy um he fixes my house things that go wrong um and he always goes you know um he's Hispanic and i you know awesome but in a fun accent he's always going lex you know lex luther what are we doing to your house today lex it's always lex luther mr luther what are we doing i'm like jeez i don't say anything i know you know what he always asks for things but you know here's a lot punchbox. Here's a, here's that, you know, you just make people happy. But at some time, oh, and then it's like, can you get my brother and then his son? And then you, and it's like, all right. It's just part for the course. But it's totally understandable. And it is limited of me not to react positively to it because it's a nice, it's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's better than them going, who the hell are you? I don't care about you. I don't know. Yeah. It is those moments where who do I think I am really, you know. Yeah. I do. I do that quite often. Yeah. Um, quickly on the Stephen Sondheim and the Breton John.

show. Right. I feel like Jonathan's interviewing me now. No, no, no, not at all. He's just helping. Yeah, no, no. But I mean, look, if they're not, I know you work with Stephen Sondheim. I did. I did. Yeah. Sunday in the park with George. Sunday in the park with George. Yeah. It was fantastic. I mean, he's a genius. One of the big, probably the biggest legend in Broadway. Well, certainly the biggest genius of my lifetime in the theater. Oh, yeah. And the fact that I got to work with him was unbelievable. I was so intimidated by his, just, you know, greatness that I hardly ever spoke to him. And, I mean, he gave wonderful notes and, you know, helped a lot with things, but.

But was he like, great job, Brent, that's great. That's great. That's great. Do that. No. Okay. Well, no, no, he did really, he let the director do that. Okay.

But, but he did write some really terrific stuff that I could. got to sing and say and uh but uh and he was never you know unpleasant ever uh he's a really he was a really really good guy um but years later um a friend of mine john logan really good friend who who wrote the screenplay of sweeney todd called me and said uh sometimes coming out to L.A. And we're going to have lunch. Do you want to come? And I said, yes. So I went to lunch. My wife and son came. He was very, very small at the time. And Rick Berman, who produced Star Trek and his family game. It was a big lunch. Well, it wasn't. His wife. There were maybe six of us. And Saddam and I talked the entire time. We had this great conversation. And you never really talked

Not really. Right. And I learned so much about him. Do you know that, do you remember the TV series Topper? Vaguely. Yeah, I'm older than you. But Leo G. Carroll, a great series. And based on the film's Topper.

And I said, is this, do you come out to L.A. much? He said, no, this is the second time I've been in years, years. You know, I said, what was the first time he came? And he said, well, I wrote an episode of Topper when I was 19. And I was like, what? Oh, my gosh. Just to go from that to what he became. Yeah.

But we had a really, really nice conversation. And he said to John afterwards, I can't believe I never talked to Brent when we were doing this show. We had such a nice rapport. You could have been best friends with Sondheim. I know. But years later, I'll do an addendum if you don't mind. Years later, my wife and son and I were in New York when we went to see a friend of ours. Kelsey Grammer in...

Because you were on Frazier. I was on Frazier, but I knew Kelsey from the workshop of Sunday in the Park with George. And so we went to see him in La Cajotje Fall. And what happened to Kelsey in Sunday in the park was he did, he had this moment. He was brilliant in the show, really great. But he had a moment that he kind of missed every night. And we got notes after the show in the workshop. And the director who is a very talented man, James Lepine, he didn't have a vernacular then for talking to actors, really.

He was new to the game. And so he couched his note in a really unpleasant way to Kelsey in front of everyone. And Kelsey blew up and said, don't you ever talk to me like that in front of every? And it became a really unfortunate moment. So that when we went to Broadway, which was like six months later, Kelsey was not invited to come. Because of that moment. Because of that moment. And so ironically, the week we started rehearsing Sunday in the park with George for Broadway, Kelsey got a phone call to go to L.A. to audition to play a character called Frasier on Cheers.

So if he had been in the show, he wouldn't be Frasier. Right. So when we went to see La Cajafol all these years later, we went afterwards to a restaurant to eat and sitting behind us with Sondheim. And I said, let's go say hi. And he said, yeah. So we went over and he was friendly and great as he always was. And he said, Kelsey, you know, you really owe me a big favor. Yeah, right.

He said, if we hadn't fired you, you would never have been Frasier. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Did you, I mean, did you ever think and were you sort of, well, first of all, there's this, this could be lore. This could be myth. Yeah. But somewhere I read that when you were doing your contract for data for the movies. Yeah.

Which you did four movies. Right. That you put in the contract that I'll do this, but you have to put me in another movie every each time. Is that true? Well, the first movie, uh, I, I felt that had. some leverage because uh which actors rarely have yeah so when you have particularly actors of my stature rarely have you know me too you know uh but uh they had a contract they had it all worked out and i didn't really want to i knew we had to start shooting immediately

because the script was already written we finished the series and two weeks later started the the movie And so the negotiations got really intense. Really fast. And basically I said, look, I'm not doing it unless, you know, I make X amount of money. And more importantly, I get another role. Only did that once. There has to be something that's not Star Trek that Paramount Pictures is doing right now. And so they, they, it's a long story, but it turns.

out, I caught that deal. I was the first, you know, it was the first, maybe an only deal I ever got that I wanted. But, um, but there was a clause in it that if they didn't find another movie for me to do,

uh, they had to pay me off, you know, some nice figure. And as it turned out, they, they did not find another movie for me to do or want to find another movie for me to do.

So they just paid me. See, I thought the movie was maybe Independence Day. No, but in fact, Before that all came to a finish, I had already gotten in the Penn State, so I didn't really care whether they found me another movie. At that point, I thought, well, then just pay me. And that's fine.

Was that probably your biggest payday, that first one? No, and I guess not because the ones you did sequentially, those became paydays. Right. They're going to give you a raise on each one. Yeah, exactly. Wow. Yeah. That's so cool that you have a series and you think, okay, I'm on a TV series.

And back then, if you were on TV, it didn't, you didn't cross over to film. Now, it's like that you could do whatever you want. You could be a YouTube, a reality star, be a movie star all at the same time. Right. I don't have to give you, I called a movie star, but whatever. Yeah. But the fact that Star Trek, they wanted the movie version with the TV cast, is probably blew you guys away. Well, there'd already been a precedent for it with the original cast.

Oh, I guess that's true. That's true. And they had done films. So you always thought, I guess you always thought that. Well, we thought. Ontario. The weight is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived.

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Learn more at SLOR.com. And ask your family eye care professional for SLOR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. once we were quote unquote successful that maybe there were movies in our future and and indeed there were i was so upset when we did smallville i thought by season three or four they'd do a movie of it and i was like come on come on it'd be great everybody would go see it's the height and they should have and people would have gone my son by the way wanted me to tell you how he saw every episode and loved it oh oh i got to give him something just for fun yeah exactly small little autograph lunchbox um how about your saturn award oh we both have saturn awards yes well there was a

segue was yeah that was a good segue yeah well yeah i sort of have a saturn award why you know i was nominated for a saturn award back in the day uh for first contact the film first contact i was up against myself that year for uh independence day right of the first independence day for supporting actor in both cases and um uh you know and there were there were other people nominated too but uh but i did win for first contact and so i won a saturday award but i was in new york at the time doing a play and uh so my managers my then managers um accepted the or took the award and they kept it in their office and when i got back from new york they decided to split and go their separate ways. So before they broke the office up, I said, well, can I have my

Saturn award? And to the guy I was going with, I went with one rather than the other. And he said, I don't have it. I'm sure it's still in the office. So I called the other guy. And I said, hey, do you still have you have my Saturn award? He said, no, I don't have it. And what? Yeah. So you don't have your Saturn award? No. It's missing. Why don't you call Saturn's, Saturn people? Well, you know what? The Saturn Association of... They've asked me to present. So, give me an award that I'm doing.

And I've told them this story. And they... Oh, that's nice. Yeah. But they've never said, oh, well, we'll give me another one. But, you know, I got a really weird phone call one day. It wasn't a phone call. It was an email from someone, a female who was an attorney in Australia who said, I have your Saturn

award. Do you want it? And I said, how do you have my Saturn award? She said, well, somebody, my cousin, worked for your managers, and I wound up with your Saturn Award. And I said, well, yes, I want it. And I never heard from her again. Please, if you know any information on Brent Spiner's Saturn Award, please, write, P.O. Box. Yeah.

You know, I have this thing I want to do if I'm ever, you know, on stage at the Saturn Award. Awards again, I have this idea that I want to say, listen, I tell this story that my Saturday Award disappeared and I'm going to say, I know who took it, I know you happen to be in the audience tonight, no names, I'm not that kind of person, but what I'd like right now is for all of us to go out into the lobby, everyone in the room, 10 minutes, and when we come back in, I want that Saturday Warner to be here on the day. And then I want to say, okay, let's go and see if everybody goes out with me. I was hoping if you presented or you got the award

and you were there to accept the award, you would have said, I want to thank all the wonderful actors who were in the category, me and me. Well, I've always resented myself for winning that award, by the way. Yeah, exactly. How difficult was it to say goodbye to data

on the first season of Picard? I mean, at this point. No, it wasn't difficult. I didn't even think I was going to do it. You know, it was just fun to come back and have another shot at it. It was, yeah. Were you nervous? How many years had it been?

I don't know, 30 years maybe. Aren't you a little nervous? Can I still do this? Can I, am I any? Or you're like, I can just fall back. You know, I didn't know really if we could still do it. But the first day I shot was, I shot with Patrick and we were on a stage. playing checkers or chess or something.

I haven't seen it. But we looked at each other. We go, this is both very strange and not strange at all, all at the same time. It felt very natural. And this third season of Picard of working with all of my friends, again, people ask, you know,

was that weird or strange or difficult? It wasn't. It was very easy because we know each other really well. We're all friends. That's what Jonathan says. It was hard for me to believe that you guys just all really enjoy each other. You travel together to do cons or you do, you know, a cruise and you do.

Right. And we have lunch or we just talk on the phone or we, you know, we see each other all the time. It's still that easy instead. You didn't get sick of each other? No, not at all. Was there any one person that you can't mention that was a pain in the ass that you don't talk to that much? Yeah. It's all, no, no, not at all.

To a person, we're all friends. And that's kind of great. Yeah. I love that. Do you love being directed by Jonathan? Very much. Primarily, because he's a very good director. But we do have a second hand, I mean, a shorthand sort of thing. You know what he wants. You're like, I got it. I got it. I know what you want. Yeah, exactly. Right. And I'm comfortable with him and he's comfortable with me. And so, yeah, I love working with him as director. Is there anything about this, the stunt that you did that you talked about in some interview or some, was that was that?

for that's worth just talking about briefly? Well, I could tell you, yeah, and that was Jonathan directing. What was he directing? What was it? It was first contact. First contact. And they needed me to, there was a scene where I was on a, we were in a missile silo, Patrick and I were.

And Alphrey Woodard is shooting at us from below. And I say to Patrick, I'll take care of this. Or I say to Picard, or Data says to Picard, I'll take care of this. And I jump off the platform and go sailing through. the air down to the floor where she shoots me in the chest to no avail. Right. And I'm terrified of heights. And even when we were in this missile silo, just standing on the platform, I was terrified.

And Patrick has no fear of heights. So he was bouncing just to, you know, make me nervous. But anyway, the stunt guy did the fall, you know, the jump. And he jumps through the air and lands on the ground. And it looked great. And Jonathan looked at the dailies, and he came to me and he said, You got to do it. You have to do it.

Yeah, you can tell it's him. And I was like, oh, God. So what they did was, we're in a soundstage. And you know, they're very, very high. And they rigged me up in a halter and everything. And basically had to take me up to the top of the sound stage and drop me. And so they said, we're going to take you up just a couple of feet so you can feel what it's like. I said, all right, so they took me up a couple feet.

Well, I was ready to throw up at that point. That's, you know, I don't like, I mean, for me, when I say I don't like heights, I had the problem with standing, you know, I mean, sitting is semi-comfortable. I prefer to be laying down. Right. But so they took me down and they said, how was that? And I went, it was horrible. And they said, okay, we're going to take you up a little further so you can see what it was.

And I said, no, no, just let's just do it. Take me all the way up because I'll, I'll, I'll. I'll lose it if you keep doing it in increments. So they took me all the way up to the top of the sound stage, many, many feet. And there was a guy on a catwalk because I was doing this in the wind. They took me. Spinning. I've done that, yeah.

So they took a, like, I had a pole and straightened to me out. Yeah, so that I would stop spinning. And then they dropped me. And, you know, the hydraulic kicks in just before you hit the ground. so that he slows down. And, but I got into the right frame of mind for it. I just decided to, you know, get into the character, just play the character and think about my, you know, intentions and all that.

And I did it. And the crew burst into applause. The stunt guys came over and, you know, gave me a hat. And, you know, it was fair. And then Jonathan said, I think we have to do it one more time. But that was, that's my, and that's my friend Jonathan. That's Jonathan, yeah, something you hate. He's going to make you face your, maybe he did it on purpose.

I'm going to, I'm going to help him with his fears. But he still have that fear. Yeah. Oh, totally. I love that you, you're kind of like in, what's the word where you just, you're versatile. You do everything. It's like, it's almost like you have so many passions. Like, I mean, not only do you do Broadway, TV, movies, but like you wrote a book.

You wrote the memoir. Yes. And that's, that just came out like two years. years ago, right? A year ago. A year ago. And where can people get this? And on Amazon, Audible, bookstores.

Do you sign a lot of cons? I do. Fortunately, that means they bought it. Yes. But the audible version is, I think, really good if you like listening to books on tape. Yes, because Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Franks, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, yourself, Marina Surdus, is that right? Yeah.

And Gates McFadden. They all are... They do themselves. They voice themselves. And so, yeah, it was a wonderful experience writing it. And I had a wonderful person named Jeannie Dars to help me with it and a great writer. And they didn't get that on Amazon or wherever. Yeah, exactly.

Or do you have a website? I don't. You don't. Are you on Instagram? You are? I am, but I haven't been there in a while. I'm getting real social media shy. Can you tell me something that happens in season three?

that we won't air until it happens. I play data again. What a reveal. You become data again. Right. Everybody thought it was a goodbye. That was it. Well, I've died twice, you know.

And very likely will again at some point, not in episode, I mean, season three. Were you surprised, but did you know all along? Well, I knew. I mean, Terry Metallis, who wrote and showed and directed the last two episodes, you know, we talked about it before we started. did, can we do this? Can I get away with this? How do I do this? Because data's different when you see him again. It's a different data. Wow. Was it cool to play? Yeah, it was. It was, it was like, really, can I pull this off? Because he is different. He's, he's not, he's, he's, you know,

there was a thing, Roddenberry, I'll say this really briefly, but from the very beginning, Roddenberry said, here's what I want from data. I want him to get, as the show goes on, get closer and closer and closer to being human, and by the end, still not. And that continues along this thing, because he's much, much closer to human, but still not. Wow. That's awesome.

Yeah. Tell me about the Brent and Johnny show. Yes. The Brent and Johnny show, it is in the works. We're kind of formulating it right now, but we're going to. to do it. And it's basically a reality show. It's kind of a cross between, oh, I don't remember.

Jonathan has a whole list of shows like pickers and things like that that it's similar to because we're basically on the road. But it is, you know what cameo is, right? Yes. Yeah. Well, it's kind of the ultimate cameo in that, you know, people write in and cameo and they want a video, little short video greeting or birthday something. Happy birthday, anniversary.

Yeah. Pep talk. Yes. That sort of thing. And this is sort of the ultimate cameo because we don't just send you a little video. We come to your house. And it's kind of make a wish only and crossed with pickers and we help you with do things that you want us to do, dirty jobs. What?

You know, whatever you need us to do, we'll come, we'll be there with you. will, you know, we'll do whatever you want. Wow. Yeah. If this goes and it's a big success, if you do a season two, do a celebrity version and I'll call you to have someone. Well, you know what? In fact, our idea at the moment, I don't know how this is going to work out, but the

idea is, obviously, we're going to do the wraparounds for the whole thing and host it and do most of the episodes, but we also are going to ask other people to go in our stead. You know, if somebody wants somebody else like Michael Rosenblum, Baum. Bloom. You could be Bloom. People do that though. Bloom. Why did I say that? Berg? And I'm like, I'm not your rabbi. You know what? I said this last night to my son. And he said, it's Rosenbaum. Yeah, but everybody messes it up. I'm so sorry. What if I called you Brett Spiner? They do. They do. Or how about Brett Spiner? Spinner. Or how about data?

Exactly. But there's a whole story on that too. I love that story. Next time. But go. Yeah. So, Fred and Johnny. We may be calling you and saying, hey, Michael, do you want to? to do one of these with us. Yeah. Great. And so that's it. And that's what we're coming to your house. And there is a website, I mean, an email, Brent and Johnny Show. That's J-O-N-N-N-Y. Brent and Johnny Show, one word, at gmail.com. And send us your requests. And if you need us to come for what reason. And you're going to get it. I mean, you're going to get a lot of responses. Yeah. And then we get to pick the ones that we want to. do right yeah i love it yeah all right this is rapid fire you answer like quick question then we're done

ready yeah this is uh my patrons it's shit talking with brett spiner yeah um my patrons uh my patrons patreon dot com slash talkville if you want to support the podcast and help us out we love you uh rzzi when you first read the script for your character on night court what did you think a piece of gig i've been doing that character in houston texas all my life and so i thought can i do this and they hired me leanne what has been your favorite and least thing about playing data, what makes him so likable? My favorite thing about playing data was, you know, he's, who wouldn't want to play data? I got to be this wonderful, accessible character and all kinds of other characters that

data played it being. So it was a, it was a limitless character. Nico P. What was it like joining Will Wheaton on the Big Bang Theory, where each, you each got to play yourselves as characters? Great. The easiest job of my life. It took me longer to get there than it did.

to actually do the part. Little Lisa, do you have any fun stories you could share when you were filming Independence Day or just a brief one quickly? Yeah. Well, again, I worked with my friend Randy Quaid, who I'd known since we were in high school together. And there came a moment where he was on camera and I was off camera doing something that the director told me to do.

And he stopped and went, stop, you've been doing this since high school. that's amazing Maddie S can you share any crazy memories from the Star Trek fan cruises any one memory of particular that comes out you know what there's nothing crazy they're actually very nice

the fans are very lovely and respectful and we get to hang out with tons of our friends who are on the cruise and we have a really great time oh man I mean how's your life now how do you feel when you can look back are you able to kind of every once in a while just go

look at this kid from Houston yeah I mean sometimes I feel like that I mean you know it's it's all kind of it's a double-edged sword with one side being incredibly great and the other side being a little and that's just that you know being known for a character in particular is nothing I ever dreamed about you know my idea of what I wanted to do is as many things as possible and I've done a lot of things and that's That's the good side. It's just that the association with one character by so many people, it's a little, you know. Sure. And you have to think, though, it's so rare for someone to embrace a character universally that you think, how's that going to happen? I'll just play different roles and I'll like it and I'll be able to. But it's like this, boom, everybody knows you. You are that.

You are awesome. We love you and it's great and it's awesome. But it's like you're a Thespian. You've always done theater. You've always wanted to do theater. You've always wanted to explore and do all these things. So I get that. Yeah.

I mean, and I think sometimes like in terms of doing other films or TV things I haven't been cast in that, you know, it's either because they say, no, that's data. Everybody will think that's data. Well, that's actually the upside. The downside is it's just, no, you're lousy. That's why we didn't cast you. Listen, you promise you'd come back. Indeed. I love this.

You're so easy to talk to. There's so much else to explore. Can I throw one more question in? Because I take... You got to hurry. Well, because my friend, Rudy, I told him you were coming and he freaked out. He sent me a thousand questions. Oh, if it's for Rudy, sure.

So this one's for Rudy. I'll just pick one. What's the most valuable lesson about humanity you learn from playing a non-human? Trying to be human. But, gosh, that's deep, Rudy. That's a little too deep. You know, I was just trying to learn my lives. Yeah, Moody!

So I can go to sleep. All right, what's your favorite data-heavy episode there? Name some. He says, his is the one where there's a trial about whether data qualifies about being a living being. Right. That was called Measure of a Man. And that was a really excellent episode written by Melinda Snodgrass. Maybe my favorite is the offspring because Jonathan, it was the first thing he ever directed.

And actually, my book, Fan Fiction. is kind of set the offspring centric. You'll see what I mean if you read it. Fan fiction, a mem noir. A mem noir. A mem noir. Yes. I mean, you get the audible and listen to all these amazing people.

Yeah, you'll enjoy it. I know you. I'm going to do it. Yeah. I'm going to do it in my car. That didn't sound right. This has been an absolute joy. I already love you.

I'm going to message you to see how you're doing. And this will air. I'll let you know. You'll let me know. Yeah. We'll be in touch. Okay. Thanks for doing this.

My pleasure. You're easy to talk to, too. Thank you. And all you want to talk about is me. Who doesn't want to do that? I know. Well, I like it. I like hearing the story.

Next time, let's talk about other people. Yeah. You know? Then we're really like the Hollywood scene. Exactly. That's what we do. We talk about others. Exactly.

All right. Thank you. Thanks, Michael. Td Bank knows that running a small business is a journey. From startup to growing and managing your business. That's why they have a dedicated small business advice hub on their website to provide tips and insights on business banking to entrepreneurs. No matter the stage of business you're in, visit td.com slash small business advice to find out more or to match with a TD small business banking account manager. Pretty cool.

Yeah, pretty cool. Such a good dude. And I love that story about like his kids are like, dad, one of the guys like calling him out. or whatever that's what i actually have a name um you know and it's true it's like you know it's like but it's just i i i've heard it all the time so people just deal with it differently and some people get a i i remember there was a time when i was i got annoying people go hey lex you know it's just you know it's a part for the course but you know i mean you like it because 99% of the fans don't they're cool michael hey yeah you know it's it's you know

i've learned to just take everything in stride and i think he has too at his point he's got a big way bigger following than I do um but I really appreciated that conversation it was fun wasn't it it was really good yeah very kind of advanced for all the questions there was a lot of uh yeah star trek questions and yeah and he didn't have any problems he just uh I think he really enjoyed it so um thank you Brent Spiner and please subscribe if you dug it that's all I'm going to ask and write a review and all that stuff and patron join patron today patreon.com slash inside of you join the other patrons who are supporting the podcast and keeping it afloat if you're if you really dig it you want it to stick around hey uh i got you and now without further adieu you know what we should do

uh-huh you know what we should do we should we should we should read the top tier patrons okay you think that's important i think so i mean that's part of the perks it's part of it if you're listen if you're a patron you're going to get your name if you're a top tier patron you're going to get your name right off as well you should should. And maybe we should keep that accent through the entire run, or it's going to get kind of boring. Oh, let's see how it goes. Nancy D. Leah S.

Little Lisa. L. Lisa. M. K.K. Co., J.E. Brian H. Nico P. Robert B. Jason W. Sophie M. Ross C. Joshua D. Now you can get a little bit. Jennifer N. Stacey L. Jemal. F. Janelle B.

Mike A. L. Downs Supremo. 99 more. Santiago M. Chad W. Lien P. Janine R. Maya P. Maddie S. Belinda and Dave H. Sheila G. Brad D. Ray H. Tabitha T. Tom N. Lillian A. Taliaen. Bitsy D. Chad L. Dan N. A what message?

Angel M. Rian and C. Corey K. Dev Necks and Michelle A. Jeremy C. Brandy D. Camille S. Joey M. Eugene and Leah. Corey, Heather L. Jake B. Megan T. Angel F. Mel S. Orlando C. Caroline R. Christine S. Eric H. Shane. R. And Emma. R. Andrew R. M. Zadoici. Oh, 77. Andreas. I don't know. I don't know. And Oracle. Carina N. Amanda R. Jen B. Kevin E. Stephanie K. Jarrell. Jammin J. Leanne J. Luna R. Cindy E. Mike F. Stone. H. Ms. S. Brian L. Kady B. Aaron R. Kendall L. House of Joelle. Meredith I. Proff. Dr. Scoots. Charlene C. Carac C. Mary R. Kyle F. and Marisol P. Those are the top tier pod patrons. Thank you for the support and love. I will do a top tier Zoom sometime in the near. future also a YouTube for the patrons is going to come up and do a YouTube live I like to play songs and they tell me what to play and they ask questions and it's kind of a fun thing maybe you should

join me on one of those I would love to ask Ryan anything I accidentally walk in on some of your sessions yeah you do and I join it for about five minutes mm-hmm five minutes and they love it they love it for about five minutes thank you for listening to the podcast we love you and I can do it without you so from the hollywood hills in hollywood california i'm michael rogianbaum i'm ladies and gentlemen weird wild stuff here we got a great show and uh thank you thank you for kindly listening to the show and um be good to yourselves good night was that a decent johnny carson yeah because i mean to me the the johnny carson i hear is the dana carvey impression so i think that's pretty close yeah it was so cold last night

How cold was it? I was so cold I saw Robin putting his worm in the microwave. Weird wild stuff. See you guys. Football season is here. Believe has the podcast to enhance your football experience. From the pros. One of the most interesting quarterback rooms.

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