Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - DANNY TREJO: Respecting Death, Punching His Way into Hollywood & Living with Gratitude

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

🎬 Check out Danny's new film 'Seven Cemeteries' now available on Digital and On-demand! Danny Trejo (Machete, Desperado) joins us this week to share his story of breaking cycles of incarceration to make it in Hollywood and ultimately transform his life to lead with gratitude. Danny opens up about his misguided childhood and the lessons learned growing up behind bars. We also talk about the heart and horror in his new film Seven Cemeteries, tension working with method actors, and longevity at 80 years old. Thank you to our sponsors: ❤️ Betterhelp: https://betterhelp.com/inside 🦰 Nutrafol: https://nutrafol.com + "inside" 🏈 PrizePicks: https://prizepicks.com/inside 🌟 JCPenney: https://www.jcpenney.com __________________________________________________ 💖 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

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and a weighting depth of 900 millimeters, the Defender 110 pushes what's possible. Learn more at landrover.ca. You're listening to Inside of You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Thanks for joining me today, allowing me to be your entertainment for the week. I'm sure you have other means of entertainment. Ryan's here with me. Hi, Ryan.

How are you doing? You're holding your cheek. Are you all right? Oh, today's election day. So, a little stressed, but just wouldn't be, would be remiss if I didn't mention it at least. Things will work out the way they will. True. They just, you know, you can't control certain things, so you just got to go, hey, I did my part.

I voted. Yep. I voted. Hope you all voted. If you didn't vote, don't bitch. I wrote a rap about voting. Yeah. Go watch it. Go watch it. On the Warp Zone YouTube channel. Warp Zone YouTube channel. You know, here's a thing.

I'm not going to get into politics or anything, but just if you want to see change, vote. And then if you don't vote, don't bitch. There you go. You're not allowed to bitch if you don't vote. That's it. I don't like the way this person's wealth. Did you vote for them? Did you not vote for them?

Anyway, here we go. It's very easy. Anyway. And we got a great show for you today. That's the first time in 330 episodes I've ever even talked about this stuff, I think, probably. But I'm not talking about. I'm just saying vote. I'm not going with any, tell you who to vote for.

I'm just saying, vote. Listen, we got a very good guest today. Yes, we do. Danny Trehouse somebody I've been trying to get on this podcast for a long time. You know him from so many movies. I just, there's too many to, to talk about. But we do talk about some of them on this podcast along with his amazing career, how he got into all this, you know, life in prison, how he's been such a good role model. and citizen and helping others and his taco stands,

Trejo's taco stands and so many other things. This guy is dynamic and he's fun and you're going to have a great time with this. A few things. If you get a chance, go to my Instagram at the Michael Rosenbaum, my link tree. You can see stuff there for Rosie's puppy fresh breath. It's my new product in Amazon.

You can just put a little capful in your dog's water, tasteless, odorless, and make your dog's breath good. So thanks for supporting me. And the talented farder is still available. Get it. Of course it's still available. I just came out. The talented farder is my book.

Ryan got one. I'm going to sign your books when I go out there. Thanks. Yep. He brought a couple books to sign. And it's a sound book. It's touching. It's cool.

Great illustrations. And I hope you get one of the talented farder on Amazon. We were like, we're doing it really well with the numbers. Like in children's humor number one. Sire spot on television on local. Yeah. I went on KTLA. I'm doing us week.

I'm doing a lot of stuff for it. So hoping people buy us great, great gift for the holiday, $20 for this great fart soundbook. And it's good for kids, good for adults, good for white elephant parties and holidays and all that. So grab that. Inside of You Online Store, great stuff on there. Lexmus script signed by me, Shipkeys, Funkos, Lex Luthor's, shirts, tumblers, we have it all. And yes, and Tom and I are working on some things for next year. We're going to be doing a lot of cons, but we have a couple, maybe a small velcone.

We'll announce that when we can. And then there's something else really special, but I can't say a word about that. But what are you going to do? Yeah, but hopefully Ryan will join us. Well, who knows? Who knows? But happy Halloween. I hope you had a happy Halloween.

Yeah, we did some pumping carbon. We did some pumpkin carbon in my house. Yeah, we did. We always have pumpkin carbon in my house and a taco. truck delicious tacos aren't they yeah it's a it's a it's a positive night of the year it is it is and i don't i don't do a lot of gathering so much you know um but when i do it's it's a fun time there'll probably be some karaoke there'll probably be some giant size connect four outside maybe some um what's that game out there shuffleboard the shuffleboard the uh

the standing shuffleboard love you thanks for joining and if you want to join patron and support this podcast to keep it going please do without you we couldn't do the show um so i really from the bottom of my heart thank you so join patreon p a t r eon dot com slash inside of you become a patron and there's a lot of perks there's a lot of tears some people get boxes from me every couple months and uh notes and just there's so much stuff uh so check it out check it out patreon dot com slash inside of you and let's get inside of danie trejo it's my point of you you're listening to inside of you with michael rosenbaum inside of you this is awesome this is like you know this is a legend in the room you're a legend do you know you're a legend uh I know I meant

Keith Legend. Who's that? I don't know. Keith Legend, what's his name? Ledger. John Legend? Yeah. The singer?

Yeah. You know what? It's, you can't be a legend having this much fun. You do have fun, don't you? I won't do it if it's not fun. I mean, because I can't believe it, you're 80. Yeah. You don't look 80.

I swear all my life. You know what? It's really scary me because everybody's 65 and 70 or dying oh my god now i have to think like out of all the people that are like people always fear death right there was it's you've been probably so close to death so many times do you honestly fear death at all no i think i i i don't fear it i i know i respect it i know you can die that quick you know you just put too much a foot on that pedal or you're you're ride that motorcycle too hard you're that quick so i really respect it i think i really respect

death and and uh take it take us any time you that ticker can just stop and so it's just like let's let's get everything out of today we can yeah no you're right you're right i mean i think people forget that until it's too late sometimes about living about and you someone who's gone to prison and someone who's had such a tough upbringing, all these things, it's like if anybody could, like, learn to appreciate life. Every day. Wake up, and as long as I'm on the green side of the grass, I'm like, all right, I'm cool. It's going to be a good day.

You know what I mean? Yeah, man. I want to get into that stuff, too, but also I want to talk about seven cemeteries. It's fun. It's so fun because I just watched it. Yeah. And I'm a good friend with Ephra and Ramirez. Yeah.

And he comes to my, I have horror movie nights every Tuesday night and he comes over and we talk about it. And, you know, what I noticed is it's got everything in this movie. That's what actually caught my eye. When I read it, there's the script, I gave me script. And there's enough horror to make it a horror movie. But then there's enough jokes in comedy to make it a comedy and there's enough action to make it an action flick. So it's all kind of melts together. Well, what I was surprised at was like, you know, I'm watching it.

And I see a lot of movies. But that opening is so intense. Like, it is one of the most intense openings to a movie I have ever seen. It's gruesome. It's intense. Who's, yeah, the lead guy, the bad guy. Sal Lopez. Sal Lopez.

Wellito, yeah. How good is he? It's amazing. I've done about three or four different movies with him. And he's amazing. In fact, that whole cat. was John, the director, he just, he just like, he just was like putting a puzzle together and did it perfect. Yeah.

You know, it's like, and we had that one messed up piece that, ah, it goes in and everybody, it's like everybody were, it was such a, it became a close knit. I think it's going to be a cult. I think it's going to be one of those things that gets a following because even the scene where the, the cop is shooting you when you're walking through the grass. and you keep getting up and you keep walking. It's so good. And then you're like the, you just got out of prison. You got to, you're trying to make good on your life. And then you get trapped into this thing.

So look, man, I hope people see it. And it was, it was a lot of fun. It's going to be, it's going to be a pretty roller coaster ride. My question is, at 80 years old, how do you have the strength? I'm 52. And I can't imagine. Like, aren't those days long on set? Yeah, really long.

But you know what? it's like a, you know, it's, it's, it's, I'm, when you're having fun, you know, it's, you forget that you might remember the next morning, but, but, but you're having, like a blast. But do you have, do you have any pains? Do you have like bad knees at 80? Do you have like, well, I feel like shit. Like, I feel like shit when I wake up. I got my knee rat right now, but I twisted that walking down some steps. Are you so? I wasn't even a stunt, you know.

And so, but other than that, you know, I'm pretty good shape. And I think one of the keys, you've got to walk, you know, you just got to walk. And we drive everywhere, but I'll, if I got to go to the store, I'll walk, you know, and go to the bank. I'll walk. But don't you get recognized too much that we always have to stop walking? Yeah, but you know what? In my, in my neighborhood, they've kind of just kind of like accepted me, accepted. If I go out of there, you know, if I walk down, down it, I can stop.

But in my neighborhood, I got my little spot to work. You bought your childhood home. Huh? Didn't you buy your childhood home? No, I, well, I've had it for a long time. I think I just sold it. And then I gave it to my daughter, and then she said, we sold it. And now I've got, I just lived down the street.

You know, I just bought a place down to work by where my mom used to live. In your wildest dream, did you ever think you'd be where you are? or get to be where you are? You know what? In my wildest dream, I never thought I was getting out of prison. I mean, that was just, all the friends that I grew up with, that was our lives. You know, this is what we did. You go to juvenile hall, then you go to camp, and then you go to Youth Authority,

and then you're in prison for the rest. And it was like we've seen each other all the time. And, man, I've got so many letters from people's, brothers and yeah you know charlie passed away blah blah and acquaint or wherever you know do you still have friends in prison no most of them are gone you know most of them are gone but for a while did you ever keep in touch with him or visit them no i used to visit my uncle when he was in the joint uncle gilbert you know and fold to me and see him and and uh and to hatch a be when he was there you know and i'd visit him and it's funny it's he he when i did he

You know, I, I walked on to the instead of heat. And Michael Mann said, hey, Gilbert. And I said, no, Michael, I'm Danny. Oh, yeah. And we started, how's Gilbert? And we started talking. Michael Mann did a movie called the Jericho, Myo. And he did it in Fulton Prison.

Well, the African-American inmates came out. The Caucasian inmates came out, but no Mexicans. and Michael, man, was like, what hell's going on? You know what I mean? You can't make a prison movie on Mexican, like, and it's unheard of.

You could say that. No, but, and so somebody told, well, you've got to talk to the guys that, you know, run. So, you ended up talking to my uncle and Charlie and a couple of other

of the guys that ran it. And they gave the guy's permission to work but Michael Mann made friends with my uncle, Gilbert. And he remembered him. Oh, yeah. Years later. You know what? Michael Mann won't admit it, but he paid my uncle sag wages while

while they were doing really? Yeah. Cash? No, can't say cash. I don't think they can't take cash. But he gave him, you know, I paid him and and it was they got that movie so So when I told him, now, you know, when Gilbert passed away, you know, when I got on the heat,

Gilbert passed away and said, ah, man. And he's, well, okay, when we started. He changed the script three times. He changed my name. Every time they changed my name, we'd get a new script. Finally, on the third time, he said, Danny, you know what, every time I look at you, I think of Gilbert, can I call you Gilbert in the movie? Wow.

And I said, yeah, you happen. That's how it happened. My whole family was crying because in the movie it says Gilbert Trajo, played by Danny Trejo. You know, and it was like... That's crazy. It was unbelievable. My whole family's kind of an homage to my uncle, you know. That's awesome.

Desperado, Heat from Dustal Dawn, Reindeer Games, Once Upon a Time, Mexico, Machete, Spy Kids, Connie or Anchorman, Breaking Bad, you have a taco canteena, coffee, and donuts. It's like, what the FF? Don't you do? You know what? What? I'll tell you to everything good that has happened to me has happened as a direct result of helping someone else. I actually, I got into the restaurant business because I helped this producer, director, this director, he needed a name for this low, budget movie he had.

And I was kind of waiting for this other flick come down to the pike. There was, you know, a big budget movie. And he was asking me and my agent, my agent said, you know what, this might not be a bad idea, Dan. And

I said, yeah, but you know, we got checks over here. Guaranteed money coming in. And she said, well, okay. And agents have a way of Gloria, you know, so right. She had the way of it. Okay, I'm the agent.

I don't know anything about this. Okay, let's do the movie. So we do the movie, turns into a trilogy, a movie called Badass, right? It broke every record there was. Yeah. But on the movie, I met this producer named Ash Shaw. And he saw that I like to eat good food.

I won't eat, you know, just go to. want to eat shit. Yeah, you know, I'll always, a low-budget movie, I'll always bring like a chicken salad or a tuna salad. If the food is, okay, I'll, I'll eat it. I'm not fussy. I just don't like. Shitty food, right.

And, and he mentioned that. He said, Danny, I watch you, you eat really well. I'm 70 years old. I'm better, you know. Yeah. And he said, why don't you open a restaurant? Jokingly, I said, Treyhos tacos. We did badass, badasses, and badass on the bayou.

He brought me a business plan on the last one and says, check this out, Dan. And it was for a restaurant, but I opened the first page of no killing, no murder, no, not suiting anybody. I don't carry a machete. So I gave it to my agent, and she kind of said, Dan, is this a no-brainer? Look, every time somebody wants us to do something, they need $100,000 up front. They need $50,000 up front. You didn't? And they weren't asking.

They were saying, this is what we'll do. You have the say-so in everything. You have the dot, dot, dot. It's your name. And she said it's a no-brainer. So I said, wow, okay. But were you surprised when this thing? Absolutely.

I mean, we opened up one. How did you know? How fast did you know this was a success? But I opened up L'Abrea. I couldn't believe that. We opened up one on L'Brea. And what had happened was the, you know, we had said, announced, hey, we're opening up a restaurant, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Somebody, I don't know, the bikers, somewhere the bikers came in. So, but there was this announcement that the bikers were riding in from Malibu to my restaurant. But those are bicycles. Well, the bikers in San Bernardino, those are motorcycle. So we had a whole bunch of shuins and a whole bunch of Hey, that's what you want.

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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 and so i mean that that place is always doing well we did that we opened up hollywood we opened up farmers market you know we had a great one in uh woodland hills woodland hills but the problem was when the pandemic hit everything closed yeah out there you know so we're trying to open up another one out there but That's crazy. We've just opened up one on Portobello Road in London, and that was killing it. That was killing.

And you show up. Oh, yeah, yeah. You love showing up. Yeah, every few moms up. You get mobbed? Yeah, yeah. Sign my taco. Well, right.

Well, you know what's funny? I was signing the cocoa pot. The, what are those things? The cereal? No, those things there. Oh, the funco. The Funko pops, and I kept saying, no, I'm doing a cocoa pop signing. And every one, how you said?

You called a Coco. It's like Cocoa Pops for cereal back in the day. Finally, my son was, Dad, you're not signing these, okay? That is, oh, yeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's amazing. I mean, look, I talk about your childhood. You've talked about it before, but, you know, it was rough. Right? Yeah. I mean, 10 years old, you were, like, doing heroin and things like that.

12. 12 years old. I smoked a weed at 10. Did you have anybody really guiding you or? Well, you know what? That was the thing. It was like my, okay, my grandmother and grandfather, they had, I think, 11, 12 kids. My uncle Gilbert was the last one. So they were kind of burned out on kids. My dad, my dad pulled me away from my mom, my real mom at three. And then, He needed a mom for me. So he married this, Alice, who was a great lady, but just didn't really, you know. No, I had a parent?

Yeah, well, didn't like kids. Oh, shit. That's even worse. So, you know, we just didn't gel well. And so Gilbert, me and Gilbert, my uncle, he was, oh, I'll give you an example. Okay. You go to your mom, it's on the phone, and you go, mom, mom, mom. yeah go ahead and keep talking right and yeah okay you interrupted or so you go to your dad right he's gonna you do it

dad ain't this and talking to my boss no one's paying attention to you well it's just to don't have time now i could go to my uncle gilbert that's why he'd be on the phone and i go hey gilbert yeah hold on what do you want and we'd talk whatever he was the only one Only one. And so, because everybody else, my uncle Rudy, who I adored, right, but he was going to college. So he was all, and then all my other uncles were working. My family, we were growing up in the 50s, so women were secondary, and they didn't work. Men work.

In my family, we would have like a party, a family party. and well the guys are all beer out there drinking beer and hey Art you want a beer oh wait hold on hey Bonnie Bonnie can I have a beer because she worked

so it was humiliating for your wife to work and that's the way I grew up so you know if you like the caveman you're a girl you might have liked me but Gilbert was like completely different

all these other guys were construction and hard and hated their boss and were angry and Giller was always dressed at the 9th but I didn't know he was dealing weed

you know Wow so you really had one person that would listen to you Yeah that's the funny thing And you know what I can remember When we live in Burbank

29 East Palm Burbank The 5 freeway goes right over it right now And I can remember My dad My grandfather other, had a 1936 Dodge, in the 50s, I think, and I was seven, eight. The clock didn't work.

My grandfather would go to sleep. Me and Gilbert would take off in the Dodge, and he had a bowl of Sensemia, marijuana, a big bowl of it. And he would pull up to a house and give a whistle. They'd come out, give me two, and he would roll two joints. And he'd give them, you get the money. And my job was to count the songs because the radio worked. So my grandfather would be asleep for about two hours. So I would count the songs, which were about three minutes, three songs, nine minutes.

You know, that's ten minutes, you know, and four songs. Knowing how much time you had? Knowing how much time we had. That was my job. I didn't know it. I didn't know he was telling me. Wow. I just glad to be there.

That's so visual. That's a good movie I was just glad to be there And then they turned me on to grass I'm about eight And then grass led to other things Then grass I smoked grass Eight to 12

And then 12 I caught Gilbert Shooting heroin And so I threatened to snitch If he didn't give me something I didn't even know what it was I just can't imagine How old were you when you went to prison

16 How scary is that Well If you've been at juvenile hall and stuff you've kind of been initiated. You know, it's kind of like a student. You go to elementary school, then, oh, boy, junior high, and you get initiated, and then, oh, boy, high school, you know,

and then. You sound like it's exciting, but it's not exciting. Well, it's... It's just like you don't think about it too much. You don't. It's like, you know the rules. Once you know the rules, it's like, okay, now I can die in here, or I can...

kill somebody first. I mean, that sounds weird. Did you always fear, like, getting stabbed, getting, like... Well, it depends on what you're doing. It's like, you know, the saying, I got your back. People don't understand that saying. That saying was developed in prison. When you're talking to me, I got your back.

And when I'm talking to you, you got my back. You can see behind you. And so that's part of the thing. So you always have somebody watching your back. And it was like, I had, I had, I had, I had three people. Tyrone Rye, who was a Mexican with a name Tyrone. So if you said Tyrone wrong, you're in trouble, you know, I would call him Thai. I wouldn't say Tyrone.

If you said Tyrone with an African-American accent, you might get killed. And, and, but he's, that little, you get killed. Yeah, well, his mom loved an actor, what's it, Tyrone Powell, Ta-Rone Powell or something? I don't know Tyrone Powell Yeah, yeah And so she named him Tyrone

So he grew up angry All right And then Cookie was so pretty That that he grew up angry Because people thought He was a girl

And he wasn't He's a killer And frog So these are my posse Right And they had your back Always How many times

Did they take care of someone When they mess with you You know Ty Ty was Me and him had a little thing going with, this was in the 60s. And in the 60s, a lot of young kids were doing acid and flipping

out and coming into San Quentin. And so we would approach them and say, look, you might have a problem because you look like a girl. So if you can either come with us, we'll protect you for a certain amount. Or, you know, go ahead. So they would, nah, I'm a man. But the first time they got a black guy and somebody threatened to kill them if they didn't, they'd come back, hey? What do I got to pay? So in there, it's protection. Out here, it's extortion.

You know? Do you understand? I mean, and I had, after I got out of prison, I got out of prison in 1969, I got letters from family members of kids that we held for two years you know thank you the Christmas guardian and so uh wow that's that's the you've got to make your money only problem is if somebody wants that kid you've got to be willing to do whatever needs to be done to protect them because then if if something happens to him your

credibility is kind of shot did you ever i just imagine myself in a prison cell that in this small prison cell, lying in my bed, staring up at the bunk. Yeah. I mean, do you remember those thoughts going through your mind every night when you went to sleep? Like, am I ever going to get out of here? Like, I just want to die. I just want to, like, what was going through your head?

You do if you went, if that's your first time, you know, like all that you lost in juvenile hall. Then the next youth authority, you're already, you go to. asleep. In prison, you kind of, this is my life. This is what I do. So you are accepting. You absolutely accept it. Because if you don't, you go crazy. Did you think you were going to, when was the thought of like, I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to change my life? I'm going to change man. In 1968, there was a riot, Cinco de Mayo, 1968 and solid death.

Now, all the Mexicans thought, like Cinco de Mayo, it's independence. No, it's not. The Mexicans won the Battle of Puebla, which are a little stinky town, and they finally won a battle against the Spaniards, so the national holiday. So Cinco de Mayo, everybody thinks it's Fifth of May, but it actually means get bail money. You're going to go to jail. It's that simple. You know, you're going to crash your car.

Your wife's going to stab you. You're going to shoot a gun, fight a... Something's going to go wrong. Right, right. And that's why they invented tequila for Cinco enayos, softening, blow, and whatever. But you had this riot. Unbelievable riot, right?

And you... Well, what happened is they brought in an outside baseball team. Cinco de Mayo, okay? here's guys never been in prison. They're in college. They all got real thick wallets. And it's, it was like stupid. I remember Ray Pacheco, a good friend of mine,

he's passed away already. I grew up with this kid, right? And he had come down from Tascadero because he had killed his girlfriend. He should have shot the guy. She was going out. But anyway, he killed his girlfriend, and he came down from Descadero, which is the state mental hospital. But state mental hospital only has seven years.

That's when you only get seven years on the middle. So they sent him from there. He had two years left to solidate. And this third baseman was chewing gum. You know, loudly. big, you know, white boy, and Ray's, God, I wish I had some gum, man. He was just, almost started crying, wasn't some gum. I said, Jay, Ray, don't mess that dude, man, no karate.

It was just a, you know, okay, I am I? Right. And I went to the bathroom when I came back to this big riot, and Ray had socked the guy with the gum. Henry ruptured the coach. It was alleged that I threw a rock, and he, Lieutenant Givens. Did you?

No. No. No. It was alleged. And so I went, so we went to the hole. And Henry yelled out, hey, Danny, they're going to top us. Because we all had gas chamber offenses. And the thought hit me that, I'll say no joke.

You could die. Yeah, again. And so it was like, all lives of dear heavenly father, let me die with dignity. you know because I remember this this movie it was with Pat O'Brien it was something about on the Hudson I don't remember but but it was like the East Side kids

yeah I know you're talking about the big guy was going to the chair and ah he'll spit in their eye yeah he was he'll go out tough and and Pat O'Brien had to come back and he went out like a bitch screaming yelling you know and I said I had a reputation

of lightweight and Walter always chance. Yeah, champion in prison. I said, you know what? Let me die with dignity, Lord. I'll say your name every day, and I'll do whatever. You made a promise for my fellow inmate. I didn't thought I was getting out of being. By the grace I got, that was May, that was Cinco in my own, 1968. I went to board in 1969 in July, yeah, July. And I remember Mad Dog, Mad, the parole agent that Treyho, we're getting sick of you. And I remember saying, what's a pleasant way to start a conversation

between two gentlemen? And he says, we're kicking you out of here. You got a 10-year-top. Bring us back a life sentence. So they had no hope of me being successful on the street. They said, you have forgotten how to be an honest citizen.

And I thought about, that you buy a pair of socks that's two socks you buy a pair of bomba socks that's four socks because one purchased is one donated socks are the number one most requested clothing item in homeless shelters so when you buy a pair of super comfortable bombus socks you're also donating a pair bombus customers have powered over 150 million donations so bombus would like to thank you 150 million times but we only have like 30 seconds Go to bombus.com and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's BOMBAS.com and use code audio at checkout. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses it.

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Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show. My first day out, I remember Frank Luzo picked me up. We went to a meeting and an A.A. meeting. And the next morning, a Sunday, I'm standing out in the yard. I went to help a lady take out her trash can. I'll never get what she said. No, me robes.

Shut up, jeck, got her trash can and brought it out. Because that was when they used to put everything in one trash can and pull it out. They didn't have the nice rolling kind, you know. Z-tops. And that's what I started doing. So it's the first good deed, and you just felt like... That was what I did. I was like the trash guy.

And you didn't look back? Did you ever get into fights after that, some fights? Oh, yeah, you know, I've shocked a couple people. Were you on the streets, you were kind of fearless? Like, you weren't afraid to anybody? You know, it was kind of like you don't... Fear is... The fear of losing.

is is is real strong and if the fear of losing is real strong you're dangerous you know you're not you're not afraid of anything until it's there and then if you become afraid of looking bad you're dangerous you understand yeah yeah because because then you're willing to bite somebody in the face and and say I won you know i know i know you know i mean i know people that have shot somebody and walked like i won and so so if it's winning you know if it has to do with winning then there's no rules yeah i mean it's and it's amazing how you started this acting career because it was kind of by luck by chance right yeah yeah i mean somebody said you know who was it was it was a kid who was extra i was a kid who got me

into being an extra and then I got a call from him one night and said Dan there's so much blow down here man come on down I went down uh it was 1985 and uh there was so much blow on a movie said in 85 and I went down there and we uh in fact the the guys that he had signed me up with were going to send me to this movie anyway and we went down there and we went down and it was a movie called Runaway Train, John Boyd and Eric Robert. I walked on that movie set. The guy said,

hey, are you going to be in this movie? I don't know what I've got to do. He says, can you act like a convoy? I'll never forget that. Can you act like a convoyant? I thought San Quentin, Folsom, Soledad, Gino, I'll give a shot. And so

he told me, I took off my shirt to put on a blue shirt. And he saw my tattoo. And he said, leave your shirt off. I'll never get it. They go like this. Oh, the movie thing? Yeah. Where he's like this? I'm thinking, what gang is that? I'm thinking he's a gang sign. He's doing like a camera. He's looking to see what angle he wants. And so this other guy keeps looking at me. I know this guy. I know this guy from. And then he walked up and he said, you're Danny Trail. He says, you know, Danny, I saw you in the lightweight and the the way to title up in Quinn.

I said, you're Eddie Bunker, and I knew this guy. This guy was the captain's clerk in San Quentin. That is the most powerful position you can have. Because anything you put in front of the captain, he signs and says, go ahead. So if a guard is bugging you and you got some money, Eddie, and he goes, all of a sudden, the guard is out in the tower, out in the bay. Right. The one, you know, so everything is money.

Yeah. So we started talking. What are you doing there? I'm going to get 50 bucks for acting like a convict. And we both laughed because we'd been doing that for free forever. Doing it for free. And he said, he said, oh, you know what? We need somebody to train one of the actors.

I had a boxer. Are you still boxing? And I'm hell no, I'm 40 years old. I'm a train. I'm still going to say. we did somebody train one of the actors on the bond. And I thought, what's it paid? And he said, 3.20 a day.

And I said, I'm in. I said, how bad you want this guy beat up? You know, that's a hit. That's not like, you know, after anything after 320 is, you are killing. You know, and so I started training Eric Roberts out of box. He was just on the podcast last week. He was just right here. And from that, it just kept going.

Well, what happened is I trained in Eric Roberts, and Eric, he'll admit he was kind of a loose cannon when he was, you know, an actor and star. And that's when I found out movie stars suck. You better just be a working actor. And so Andre saw that I could handle this kid, right? And he, I never forget, he came up and he goes, you be in movie

because Andre Cajalowski it was his first American movie runaway train and he was very right you be in movie you fight Eric in movie and you be my friend

okay the first two I got the second the third one is a red flag in the pen somebody says you be my friend oh hold on

okay hold on Listen, no showers together. Yeah, yeah. No, it's just, you just, it's a red flag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, I got you. So, and then he leans over, and he kisses me on both cheeks and leaves.

I remember I turned to Eddie with my face with, hey, listen, I'm going to train that kid for the 320. But if I'm going to be kissing that old man, I want more money. No, he's European. That's what they do. do. If I would have known what that man did for me by getting me that sad card, that changed my life. Change your life. I mean, I'm, you don't, I was making probably 160 a week before taxes.

Now you're making 320. And then it just went up because they wanted. And you know what? I learned how to follow instructions in the pen. And when I was showing Eric, right, this stunt coordinator is really. everybody who's been in prison he's been in prison. I'd been out of prison 18 years when I did that movie

but he's been in prison and so the stunt coordinates and look down, throw a left jabber. I bow my throat and stuff perfect like that. He says, that's beautiful you know, I know you're a professional fighter but that doesn't show on camera you know, it's like all the punches you throw have to be somewhat

round. I'm okay so I would show an Eric the same thing and he saw that. After we wrapped that movie he said dan you know what i got another film and i got room for one guy and and there's a fight scene blah blah blah blah blah don't worry but i can hire you as a stunt guy fine you know 320 you know and i went from movie to movie to movie i couldn't believe it i was making 320 you know like for four days at 320 for you never seen this kind of money never i mean a robbery but i mean yeah but there's a price to pay I mean, that's amazing

And that's what just started all The first movie I did When I got to wear a shirt Was I swear the guy Every time I go Oh yeah, you're the guy

With a tattoo ticket I have no shirt, right? And I did a movie called Death Wish 4 with Charles Bronson And Bronson That's my hero, man Wow Was he cool?

Oh, he was awesome He was awesome I had to jack up some dude, right? And this guy was getting shitty with a guy named Perry Lopez, who had been in the business for years, right? 80 years old. Had a

infasema. Couldn't blow out a candle. And he was trying to set us up and this kid, hey, I've been the I've been the Hoonia Art or whatever or some art class or something. And you can't tell me what to do. And

I thought he was joking at first, and then he got shittier. And so I said, hey, bitch, listen, I told him to tell you, okay? So now, I wanted to just listen. Oh, I'm getting into character. I didn't know what that meant. I'm getting into character. Oh, so you didn't like how it was.

Yeah. Put him in his place. I said, well, I'm going to kick your character's ass. I'm getting into character. I'm going to kick you in your character's ass. So he shut up. But then when I turn around. Bronson and the director are right behind me.

I didn't know, they just heard me threaten somebody's line. And I'm looking at him and the director says, I have a little problem with that guy. I think you'll be all right now and he walked away. Bronson looks at me and goes, you're like some kind of counselor or something, aren't you? Yeah. I'm thinking he'd get the piss off my...

He goes, I like the way you counsel and he walked away. are you off to win. Are you serious? Lord of God. I'm like, my God. Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget online casino is live.

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please play responsibly oh this is it the day you finally ask for that big promotion you're in front of your mirror with your Starbucks coffee be confident assertive remember eye contact but also remember to blink

smile but not too much that's weird what if you aren't any good at your job what if they demo you instead Okay. Don't be silly. You're smart. You're driven. You're going to be late if you keep talking to the mirror. This promotion is yours. Go get them. Starbucks. It's never just coffee. What do you, let me ask you this because this is like on this podcast, there's so many people out there and this helps their mental health and facing adversity. And if it's one person that's faced all this adversity in your life, in their life, it's you. And so what do you do for your mental health? Do you ever get, when you get depressed, when you get, you get, you? you get anxiety or what do you do to conquer that you know i i i have anxiety attacks you know a lot but i blow into a bag that always helps me and uh but but as far as like there's an attitude of

gratitude that we have to keep you know what i mean it's like man uh i i don't know how to say it but being grateful i'm so grateful i'm so grateful that i'm on the green side of the grass you know that's okay there's one you know i mean good friend Like, Sam Rubin, he passed away 56-year-old. Yeah, sweetheart. You know what I mean? A beautiful guy. So it's like, wait a minute, man.

It's like, he's got me here for some reason. So I am, I know it's not to do bad. So I got to do good every day. I got to help somebody. I don't care what it is. I don't care if you go to a neighbor and just knock on the door. Hey, are you okay? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, yeah.

Could you help me take out the trash? Sure, I'm going to do. And help him take out the trash or whatever. I, 100% agree. And it's like... Just a kind gesture. Exactly. Just do something for another human being, not yourself.

And there was a dog. It's funny because I got dog. I love dogs. And there's this one lady who I guess she had hurt her leg. And I knew she always, we always see her walking her dog. You know? And so Mario, my assistant, I see the knocks on her doors. Hey, would you like me to walk your dog?

I've noticed you haven't walked. Oh, yeah. Oh, thank you. And the student, she grabs a leak. the dog's jumping up and down and walking and it's like okay 10 minutes you know what is that out of your life and yet and it means something oh my god you know what I mean so so that's that's the way I want to live my life and that's and that's what you do live your life and I think that's one of the reasons I got to be 80 wow 80 shit this is called shit talking with Danny trejo it's rapid fire I'm going to ask you questions from

these top tier patrons uh patron dot com slash inside you I love you thanks for supporting podcast William Kay says, I know you're big on community. What are some of the programs, opportunities that you've supported that have gotten a lot of attention, but you think more people should know about it? Rapid Fire. Cry help, impact, health right, 360, and San Fernando Recovery. Those are the ones that I really work with. San Fernando Recovery is parolees coming out of the pen.

They're actually still in the penitentiary. And all the help, they, you know, close, job. anything and same thing with uh uh health right 360 they're they're over on 6th street and uh and they need you know like all the help they can get you know and so that's great those kind of guys and at me i just sometimes i just pick up hamburgers and go pass them out it's it doesn't matter just if you want to feel good help somebody a million percent uh i do that with ronald maddonald uh house And I always would go do movie nights for the kids and bring pizzas and movies. And I would, you know, Echoes of Hope or foster youth and just bring them to my house and watch a movie.

Just something to get them away from just enjoy moments. So, yeah, it's so important. Michael Kane doesn't blank says, out of all the Robert Rodriguez films you've worked on, what was your favorite role? You know what? I love Machete. I mean, you can't, you hell can't help him. Come on. But then there's spy kids.

He's, you know, he's batted a thousand on every movie he's done. I love him. Except for the ones I was. I wasn't in. Ross, tell me about the last time you had a good cry. My son did a film that just went into Kahn, and it's called From a Son. And in it, he plays my son. He overdoses and die.

And when he's dying, I'm waking up 90 miles away. I don't know where he's at, and I'm looking for him. And that came from my mom. when I used to get hurt on the street, she would wake up. She knew it. She knew something that was wrong. And I used to call her the mom, you're a witch. But, I mean, she literally would feel the pain.

And so that's where he got that. She was an unbelievable. And you cried. I could say you got a little choked up just now. But then he, I had this cry, and I wanted to cry like John Wayne. I'm a tough guy. I don't, you know, cry didn't cry. My mom.

I cried to anybody. I just, I wanted to kind of do it like John Wayne. Okay, pilgrim, we got a beast, but he kept showing me baby pictures all week. Hey, Dad, remember this? Check to the, remember the, and I'm all, yeah, yeah. And so, we had this little girl who was supposed to be his partner in crime, and they lived in the desert, and we're walking to where he's buried. and we stopped, and it's freezing cold.

It's actually really cold. And I asked, did you kill my son? You know, and he said, no, I loved him. The only friend, she bust out. I lost it. I lost. I cried for everything I didn't cry. I had a bugger cry.

This was not. Oh, like you're an ugly cry. Nothing manly about it. And I was trying so hard to be manly, but. And he saw this. he's got it on film i bet he cried and well when he said finally said cut the whole crew was crying you know it was like uh oh i think they knew that i was not just acting you know that's awesome i bet it felt good oh god man it's cathartic man me and him uh really bonded over that you know

and it was just really he's cool he's a director now uh flirtatious be what's the biggest life lesson you've learned not to get too close to anybody named flirtatious flirtatious bee hi flirtatious be that's a perfect answer um this is so exciting i wish i had you longer but i don't but um seven cemeteries is coming out and i think it's going to be a cult i think people are going to really enjoy it if you like a little horror if you like a little intense and drama and emotions and comedy all mixed into one and you know you play another badass but you got a heart yeah well that was the thing that drew me to this movie was the fact that yeah there's horror but there's laughter there's excitement but there's passion you know so it's all there god i just you know i watch

this cowboying movie oh god they made such a mistake they tried to put these four movies together and it was like wait a minute you should have just had four different movies you know what I mean right and it was just like uh it was just too goddamn they lost a lot of money seven freaking cemeteries he's awesome seven cemeteries it's awesome watch it i'm excited this is great this is it's so great having you i hope you'll come back you are a great guest you are like your stories your laughter you're i can visualize everything right ryan it's truly you're truly a great guest i admire you uh go to treos tacos treos donuts uh uh They're everywhere.

See this man's movie, Cemetery, support him. I got Treos music now. Traos music. You know? I just hope I don't get Treos diarrhea after some tacos. They're good tacos. You won't get diarrhea for them. The tacos are awesome.

They're awesome. I've had him like 25 times. I love it. That one in London's killing it. I love that. And what's your Instagram handle? At Danny Trajo, probably. I have no idea.

Oh, well, he's got, follow him. Yeah. And see Seven, Cemetery. and be good to yourself. This guy is, he's went through the ringer. And the one thing I've noticed that you've learned out of all this is to just be kind to people, be grateful. Grathe what you got. Attitude of gratitude.

God bless everybody. Hit pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure. This fall get double points on every qualified stay. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions. Summer's here, and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost?

Well, you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan, sorry, nope. But a box fan, happily yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. I loved it. He was jovial. He was, uh, he just was, he had, you could just see he's got a positive

outlook on everything. Like, everything's good. Life is good. I wish I could think like that sometimes. I think it, you know what? I think about that because the, he is not the first 80 year old man, if you can believe it, who to come through here. Yeah. So, I mean, I likened him to John Reese Davies. and Billy D. Williams. They all sort of had a similar sort of, I've been through it, and I came out alive. Stop wasting time. Just enjoy life.

So maybe you just have to get to 80, and then maybe you'll be okay. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think when you get to a certain age, when you just don't really give a shit anymore, where you're just kind of like, I'm going to do what I want to do. If I want to sleep till 12, I'll sleep to 12.

I want to have coffee with some friends. I'll have coffee. If I want to have dinner at 4, I'll have dinner. for yeah i'll take a little vacation i mean i guess that's retirement but like these guys haven't retired that's just the thing they're they're they keep going so anyway thanks for uh being here today and thanks for supporting the podcast and if you didn't listen um i don't know to the opening then you just rewind i guess they see rewind anymore i guess so you can rewind let's go to the

top tiers who these folks really give back to the podcast and keep it alive my top tier page patrons patron.com slash inside of you we're going to read their names now because they're very important very important people nancy d lelisa you kiko jill e brian h nico p rob l jason w sophy m i'm giving boxes to you guys like as we speak i'm making boxes for you guys me and joe we're putting boxes together raj c jennifer n uh stacey l jamal f jennel b Mike and Il Duns Suprimo 99 more Santiago M. Maddie S. Kendrick F.

Belinda and Dave H. Dave H. Brad D. Ray H. Tabitha T. Tom and Talia M. Betsy D. Riann C. Cori K. Michelle A. Jeremy C. I'm out of breath now. Oh, you're out of breath. Mr. M. Eugene and Leah the Salty Ham Mell S. Eric H. Orkel. Amanda R. William K. Kevin E. Jerell. Jammin J. Leanne. J.

Leanne. Well, let me tell you something. Luna R. Mike F. Jules M. Jessica B. Breyer. Kaylee J. Charlene A. Marion Louise L. Romeo the band. Frank B. Gen T. R. Oh, God. April R. Randy S. Claudia. Claudia. Or Claudia. Rachel D. Rachel D. Gen Carolina girl. G. L. Nick W. Stephanie and Evan or? Stefan. Stefan. Stefan. Correct. Charlene A. Don G. Jenny B-7-6 Tina E. N-G. Tracy. Keith B. Heather and Greg.

L.E.K. Elizabeth L. Ben B. Jamin. P.R.C. Sultan, Ingrid C. Christina S. Brandon C. Mrs. Lex Luther. Finally. Dave T. and David L. Couldn't do without you guys. Thank you very much for all the support and love.

And from the Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, California. I am Michael Rosenbaum. I have Ryan Taze. I'm here, too. No way to the camera. We love you, and thanks for listening. Be good to yourself. We'll see you next week. Football season is here.

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