Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - John Schneider

Episode Date: September 1, 2020

John Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville) joins this week to open up on the success he’s had in Hollywood over the last several decades through the idea of expecting greatness in one’s self, rather than anticipating failure. John also explores the differences between one’s ego and destiny, while sharing how he has lacked nervousness through the strength of his own optimism and ignorance. We talk about his wife’s battle with cancer, John’s experience on Smallville and Dukes, and also how he was able to transform from the “fat kid” into a Hollywood success story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Great guest coming up. He's never been on the show. I've worked with him. You know him from Smallville. We'll get into that. But some important stuff I'd like to share with you. Get a little personal. It's been a crazy week.

My dog, Irv, went to the hospital. I woke up. He was fine the night before. It was a couple nights ago. Ryan, you know the story. And he woke up and he was able to, he was limping a little bit and barely moving. And I was like, well, you know,

know he has leg problems because he's old and all the stuff so i thought you know maybe slept on it wrong certainly i wake up and limp around stubbed my toe uh took him up to pee and poop and all that stuff and then that was that thus began the downfall and um he just lied next to the dining room table and i was like something's wrong it wasn't eating and then i i put these booties on him right so i took off the booty and i know his paw was twice the size of the other and there was a little puss and i said he's got infection and he felt really warm and i'm not a doctor but i was like i've got to go to the hospital i called up my friend rob thankfully it was on a sunday and um he raced over he thought it wasn't going to be a big deal and then when he saw irv i could see the shock in his face

because he knew i was freaking out we carried irv he was limp i'm talking jello like this dog was not moving and i was like i have to hurry we carried him to the car he defecated all over us I mean, there was shit everywhere. You know, I did the best I could, but I was on the move. We'll clean that problem later. We drove to the hospital. I said, Rob, listen, man, trust me, but I'm good. I'm going through every stoplight.

And I went through every stoplight to the hospital. Got him there. They came out. And I was trying to keep it together. And I was like, keep him away, keep him away. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth. I knew like, oh, my God, this is, am I going to lose my dog? I don't know if I could deal with this right now.

And I took him there and I, you know, you're not supposed to go in the place, but I open the dog. I go, hey, my dog is dying. Can someone please get a stretcher? I really need help. And they raced out there that people at Access Hospital in Culver City were enormous. And put him on a stretcher. And I went in with him just petting him and saying, hey, buddy, it's all right. Looking at him going, oh, my God, is this the last moment to see my dog?

And he went in and I went around the corner where Rob, my friend Rob wasn't, and I just bawled. just let it out man and i was emotion i was just really raw emotions i've had him for a long time he's the only person i've lived with you know and um and we stayed there for a couple hours and we ordered food in the parking lot rob was a good friend and um is a good friend and you know the doctor called and said hey his temperature's down a little bit we're running um antibiotics through him fluids through him and then i finally went home and they said he's definitely staying the night in the hospital and i finally get a call and i'm calling them you know incessantly just like you know and i mean that's what you do i think you know i didn't feel bad about doing it but and i wasn't hearing back and i called

you know because they were you know they're busy they're i mean you've seen other dogs go in there it's a hospital you know things are happening and i'm like well either he's just not that bad hoping And then the doctor called me and said, hey, his temperature's gone down, fluids. He actually went, he stood up and he started slowly getting better. I kept them there for another night, went to see him the next day, kept them there another night, took him home, and I called Jess, my friend Jess, and Jess came over, and she's been helping and just cleaning it, his, you know, he had an abscess. So if your dog starts crapping or not eating or you feel his head, dogs have a higher temperature.

So his was like a 106, I think. And, man, I thought I was going to lose him. So I was, I thought I was going to get a little emotional talking about this. But look, the good news is he's, he's much better. He's walking around. He's taking tons of pills. I mean, the regimen he's on. And then, of course, little bitch, Blanche, my puppy.

she's got these bumps on her back. I'm like, what the fuck? And she had an infection. It wasn't like a bad infection, but she had to be on antibiotics. So it took her. So it's just been, I've probably been to 15 to 20 vets, hospitals,

PTs in the last three weeks. And I called my friend Tom and Benin and they're like, hey, what's up? And I was just like, I'm overwhelmed. And I usually don't talk about me being overwhelmed unless I'm talking to my listeners or my patrons or you. But it's funny in my personal life,

I don't really, something I don't allow. I don't want to burden people. Everyone's going through their own shit, but I was really in a tough place. I'm just thankful that I have, I get to see him again and I get to hang out with him. And I know he's old.

My friend Harlan, funny story. Harlan, you know, from something about Mary. Tricking the simple grandpa's cough medicine, are you, buddy? Dumb and dumber. He was on that. Something about Mary. Sorority boys with me, good friend.

And every time something happens to her, he always leaves a message. Hey, bud, I'm so sorry. you know maybe it's the time to like say goodbye you know maybe put him to sleep or whatever i'm like harland he has an infection last time you know he's he went blind yeah maybe it's time no it's not so i make this joke now i i send messages like hey earth stubbed his toe so i'm thinking about he's like he's like hey buddy i wasn't i was just saying you know he's old i'm like yeah but just because he's old you don't some old guy says you know all of a sudden i've got uh i fell you don't

put him to sleep anyway so there you have thanks man uh you're good friends everybody uh it's too hard i suggest if anything ever happens to you guys and inevitably it will send an email at all your loved ones at the same time and just say i will keep you updated i'm not going to respond to messages because it's too much yeah and so i just sent a picture i sent little things and everybody was really supportive and irv's doing great so thanks for everybody out there even fans my patrons just sending love and uh you know it's uh it's been an emotional time and this you know adding the whole pandemic adding all these things of course you know you don't know how stressed you are and fucked up you are effed up until it hit you and then it hit me so um there you go i'm glad he's okay

yeah thanks man uh a big shout out guys big announcement right now you're hearing it first uh it's in the trades but first time i had a chance ryan uh westwood one bought the show exciting stuff we yeah man we've been talking about for a long time and I'm just so pumped that we have a big company that's letting us do our show the way we do it from my home it's like there's no interference other than just incredible support and there's so many I wish I could name all of them but I'm doing I'm having meetings now I never had meetings is just like you know so it's just it's really amazing to have someone behind your show that could really help you and help the show get out to more listeners and people who might

benefit from listening and enjoy it so i want to say thank you to everybody for attending our stage it show rob and i if you go to stage at com we did two shows on saturday online show was tremendous people are amazing we do zooms and prizes and it's uh thank you to all the patrons and uh uh yeah it's just incredible and we're making a lot of good music and record is rob on your shirt is that the two you guys oh yeah this is the uh new band shirt they're available at rosembaum and dancing dot com and go to catalog and we have women's v necks and all that shit and men's um i don't want to be that guy that gets a sound i hate that i don't want to become that guy uh i'll be doing some virtual cons i just did one it was really awesome and so check the

instagram and all that we do zooms and tom welling and i from smallville we do some zooms with people and uh thanks to all the patrons again for the support and all the amazingness uh right now this this guest is like i've been trying to get him and he's the hardest guest oh there's one another guest on Smallville that I couldn't get but anyway it was funny because if you watch you're watching this if you're listening you should probably watch it too John's shirtless and uh you know I really appreciated him being shirtless because he's got a great body he's uh you know when I get to be his age which is not you know not that too far away uh but he's working on his uh he's got a studio down in Louisiana and uh I think it's Louisiana right it was Louisiana

and uh he's working so we go a little from location location because of sound but uh Ryan here did an incredible job piecing it together and it's really interesting because he gets personal talks about the lawsuit going to jail uh his new studios new life the new love of his life scares with his his wife with dealing with cancer but also some fun stuff and uh really interesting story and i really really i love you john thanks for opening up and being so sweet so you know i'm from smallville duks of hazard have and have nots There's just so many things he's done. Let's get inside, John Schneider.

It's my point of view. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. Where are you here? Louisiana. In Louisiana at John Schneider Studios. we have 150 acres or so here actually I don't have it

that's a whole other long story but it's a beautiful place just hey folks just before we got on the air here I was showing Michael the pool this used to be a summer camp from like 1940 until 1990 it was either a summer camp or a church camp so it's got this most amazing pool

it's 200 and something thousand gallons and when people rent the place to to shoot movies and do different things, they wind up invariably hanging out at the pool and having a great time. So I showed Michael and he went. Yeah, and he's also, what he's insinuating really is that you're all welcome to come down and hang out in his pool. He'd love that.

Well, yeah, you know, we have Airbnb here too. So, you know, you can't come for free, but you can come down and for, you know, a couple of pennies. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll pay whatever money if you promise to have your shirt off. if I come there. Ah, I was working. I was working when this happened is either take your call or run to the house and get another shirt, but I figured this would be okay.

Look, I said this before. And you said I'd be your first shirtless guest. It is. It's the first shirtless guest. And by the way, I got to say, I looked out, you know, obviously, I didn't know how old you are. I never would have thought 60 years old, ever. I don't know how you looked this good.

I always said this. Like, my mom said it. My aunt said it. Oh, my friends said it. Like, he's really hot. when we were doing small though and I'm like okay thanks all right I'll thank you I don't know what to say but I'll tell him oh thank you thanks but thank you I'm happy you are happy and by the way someone who has like you know I know you're writing a book I know you're doing all

these I mean you've done everything I we'll get into that but dude I wrote the book I wrote the book the book is out the book is out now my life my way yeah it's out now my life my way get on Amazon why not do you tell all the truth no the next one I I tell the truth yeah but I The next one is called Naked. So the next one will be a little bit more darker in depth as far as into the dark stuff. You know, because I write dark things. So when naked comes out, there'll be a little more.

The first one is absolutely true, but the first one is like PG. You know, so that people will go, oh, that's cool. I didn't know that. I didn't know, you know, the divorce is in there, losing the studios, and all that stuff is in there. But it's more with the smile. It's more of a light at the end of the tunnel.

And then the second one is going to be a little bit of finding out that the light at the end of the tunnel is attached to the front of a train. But you know, like you look at a lot of actors and people think, oh, look at them, they're successful. I bet they were popular in high school. I bet they had it all. They just always have been lucky and talented and they have, whatever it is. And so on my podcast, I like to find out things that sort of make people human, make people, others relate and say, oh, wow, he suffered from it. And you think, oh, John Schneider.

I mean, obviously we've had some hardships, which we can get into. But when you were in high school, you were overweight, to say the least, right? I was the fat kid. Yeah, I was the, if I was in, if I was a character in Sandlot, it would be the fat kid with the inhaler. You know? You had an inhaler. I had an inhaler. Primantine missed. I remember it well. I was, you know, the last guy kind of chugging along at track and field. You had to take track in New York. I'm from New York, New York State. Right. But yeah, there was there was something, though, Michael, when I, when I, I used to go to the movies every Saturday. And I would,

I would go to a double feature. And I would sit there. And I don't know how to describe the difference. I get into this in my life my way, but I would look up there and go, not, that's, gee, that's where I want to be, but I look up there and go, that's where I'm supposed to be. That's where I'm going to be. But it wasn't like wishful thinking. There was something, something in me from about eight years old on that said, this is what you were built to do. This is why you are here. when kids would pick on me and, you know, push me, they used to do this wonderful thing in New York where one guy would get your attention

and the other guy would get on his hands and knees behind you and then they would tip you over into a pile of dog shit. That was fun stuff they did in New York State. So when things like that would happen, I would think, well, it's all right, that's okay. You know, they probably picked on John Wayne because his name was Marion. his name was Mary

Marion John Wayne Marion Michael Morrison So there was never a point Now granted Dukes of Hazard happened when I was 18 But it happened when I was 18 Because I'd already done 10 years of theater I was already on the path

I was already Pretty much unstoppable Which is why I walked into the audition for Dukes with a six pack of beer and I gave them what I thought they wanted and I was right. What beer was it, John? Paff's Blue Ribbon.

PBR. Do you remember what was it? The David Lynch movie who's like, Hyneken, fuck that shit. Paps Blue Ribbon. BBR, baby. Yeah, what was that? David Lynch was a blue velvet. Blue velvet. You're right. What can I say?

So, John, I mean, you're overweight. You're 250 pounds. People are making funnier. But you see something. that no one else sees you see almost I guess your future in a way right yeah well it was um when I was a kid I love the television show I love the television show uh lost in space right and I had a weird dream that they were shooting lost in space at my dad's upholstery shop and I was like 10 so I didn't have a dream that I was in you know on the jupiter two with the robinson family I had a dream they were filming at my dad's shop and there was uh there were lights and

there was the clapper board and all that but there was there was craft service how in the world would i know there was such thing as craft service on a television show set i was going to make a fat joke but i'm not going to do it yeah yeah yeah about craft service yeah but hey hey hollywood but um they were there and i was sitting talking with the with billy moomy or mummy i'm not sure uh yeah and we were just we were pals i wasn't with will robinson so It was weird. I had a couple of things like that happen in my life. Later on, I ran into June Lockhart, who was in the dream, too. Had a weird dream that I was at a party in a tuxedo, and I bumped into somebody, and I said, oh, excuse me, the guy turned around. It was Dean Martin.

And Dean Martin, also in a tuxedo, like he always was, said to me, thanks for having me here. And I'm like 11 years old, right? And years later, during one of the last Children's Miracle Network we did at Vitiopolis out at Disneyland there, I was wearing my tuxedo and I bumped into a gentleman. I said, oh, excuse me, turned around, it's Dean Martin. And he says, thanks for having me here. So when opportunities come around like Dukes of Hazard, when opportunities come around like Smallville, which I said no, emphatically, I said, I don't want to be. part of the demise of the Superman legend. I don't want to have anything to do with Smallville.

You really turned it, just turned it down. Three times. Wow. I turned down the audition. I said, I'm not going to go audition. I'm not going to take the, no. And then they said, just read the pilot. My agent said, read the pilot.

And I got to the part where I have the keys to the truck that you gave, you gave Clark on the wall. And I said, he said, so you're saying the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? And I said, no. I just want you to realize where the money came from that bought that truck. And at that point, I knew that this was not going to be the demise of Superman. This was going to be something that would firmly plant Superman into the psyche of watchers forever, that it in fact would be the best part of the Superman legend. And at that point, it wasn't like, oh, gosh, I want to be Jonathan Kent. It was like, oh, this is the next thing. This is the next stepping stone for me. So I didn't have any doubt in the world that I was going to get it, even though there were other people there.

And somehow, Michael, somehow this is not, it's not arrogance. it's like seeing it when i was 18 and i read dukes of hazard i thought oh this is it this is the springboard what i've been working toward uh gosh it's hard to explain no no i absolutely understand it listen to me there are some people who think and you know i think i've been both these people that you're like this is me this is the role i'm getting this role and then there are a lot of people who think, oh my gosh, but they're going to go out to somebody else. There's going to be so many other people. You know, you start thinking there's a certain confidence.

And I think certain inadvertent, I don't know if it's inadvertent, but it's this brave sort of intuition or feeling you get when you're younger and you're like excited about something. I remember in college saying to Alexis Combs, I remember her name, sitting on the porch. And I go, I'm going to go to New York and I'm going to make it. And she's like, oh, okay. She didn't talk like that. She was way smarter than me. I don't know why I made it. I tried to differentiate my voice.

She was just like, okay, great, Michael, that's great. And by the way, we've texted in the last six months. And, but I said, no, no, no, no, I'm going to New York. I know the odds. I know all that stuff. It doesn't, it's not, that's not about me. I know what I'm going to do. So there was a certain, and I go, remember this moment because you're going to go,

oh, my God, I remember him saying that because I felt it. It was just something I felt. So I understand that you had that. this feeling that this is going to happen. Yeah. Well, you know, you have to, they say that success is when preparation meets opportunity. Right. But there's another part to that.

I know a lot of very talented people that throw opportunity away with both hands because they don't recognize it. You've got to recognize, you have to expect great things. If you don't expect great things, if you look at life like, ah, fuck, what's going to happen now? nothing is going to happen now, certainly nothing good. But if you look at life like, I get like a little kid, there's an Easter egg. You know, where's the Easter egg? I know there's an Easter egg out here because they're supposed to be.

So if you look at life that way, then you start recognizing the Easter eggs and you start realizing what you have prepared for. So success is when preparation meets opportunity that you recognize and you recognize it when you expect. it. So, um, when I first saw this property where, where the studio is now, I came in and it was like, I saw, I saw, I saw nothing but opportunity here. I saw my God, I can, we could shoot this, we could shoot that. We could film here. We can build a barn. We can put on a play. We've done all those corny things. You saw it. That, yeah, that, that, that 13 year olds want to do when they, uh, when they get together and they're going to do the odd couple. You know, let's do a, let's do a play that where we only have, we only have one room.

So they go and they do the odd couple, right? And that's what I live here every day. Alicia and I have made 11 movies, Michael, 11. We've been together. It'll be six years in October. And we've made 11 films. When I saw you at the good neighbor, I have to plug them because it's my favorite little breakfast place in the world

in Studio City, sort of North Hollywood. I saw you there. And it's the first time I'd seen you in a long time. You were sitting there with her. I remember you looked at me and you go, I'm really happy. And it made me so, just, I felt so warm inside. I just felt so good that you felt that way and I could see it. And, you know, when you just said, you are happy, I could see that.

There's something about you that it's not saying that you weren't necessarily happy in the past when I saw you. But now when I, there's a certain glow where I think, I think you said this on the phone when I was trying to get you to do this podcast. And you said something like, she lets me be me. I could be myself. Something along those lines, right? Yeah, well, and also, you know, one of the greatest lines of dialogue ever was she makes me want to be a better man. Right. Hey, let me ask you.

What? When you, I mean, look, you go from a kid who's, you know, an overweight kid who, you know, suddenly gets this confidence. Supposedly I read about, is it true that your brother, you found a hundred, bucks under a video game and you took that and you went to the gym with it is that true i did yeah i did but hey i got to back you up a little bit because um even when i was a the fat kid i still had the confidence you know so it was a an unusual combination i had the uh Denver pile said uh i had the strength of my ignorance you know i i didn't know it was impossible so i did it I think it's important.

It's like it's nice to see that you sort of knew who you were then in a way, you know, where I'm still figuring it out. But like you were like, I don't care. And that's what I like to say, you know, I have family members or friends that, you know, are overweight or don't like this about themselves. I don't like things about myself. But I'm like, just learn to love yourself. I mean, that's what we have to all do.

And you see, it seems like you had confidence in yourself and you loved yourself and you're ready to go to the next level. Well, I believe, Michael, that we're here for some reason. You know, we aren't just around, we aren't just taking up space, that there is something we're supposed to do, everybody, not just me, not just you, but everybody. And I think my grandmother put that, instilled that into me. And that's a lot of that, I think I passed on in a very real sense to, in smallville, Jonathan to Clark.

You know, you're here for something. Um, so do it. So you're not here to be a failure. You're not here to be a, uh, a problem. You're here to do something good for someone else. And I knew that. So as a, as a kid, I knew, well, yeah, I'm overweight and I, I did have to make a decision, which my brother helped me make.

Uh, my brother one day after my, like, third slice of pizza at Six Flags said, So I guess you've just forgotten all about that movie star thing, huh? And I said, boom, what do you mean? And he said, well, how many fat movie stars do you know? And at that point, all I could think of was Zero Mostel. And I knew I wasn't made to be Zero Mostel. John Candy, John Belushi? Well, not at that point.

This was, I don't know, I don't think had Saturday Night Live happened in 76, 75. Sure. Maybe. I think so. So when you're on a path and you hear somebody tell you the truth that will steer you in the right direction, you recognize it. Again, that's that opportunity, recognizing that opportunity. So I had the opportunity to either continue eating the pizza or stop because he was right. but who I was up to that point was the fat kid who made up for not being able to run in track

by having a guitar on my back and playing music for everybody all the time in high school. So I wasn't an unpopular guy. I was kind of that guy with a guitar that would sing those Jim Crocey songs. But that stopped. As soon as my brother said that, that stopped. The next day we were to bowling alley and I was, was playing an evil-can-eval pinball machine. I dropped a quarter.

I crawled underneath the machine to get the quarter, and I found a $100 bill. Across the street, it sounds like fiction. Across the street from the bowling alley was a big sign. Nautilus had just opened up. The first Nautilus, I think, anywhere. And it was three years for $100. So that night I asked my mom, you know, what should I do?

she said, well, if you're really going to do this movie star thing, then you should spend your $100. So I did. I spent my $100. And two months later, I was 185 pounds and looked great because I'd spent two months dieting and working out at Nautilus. The next couple months later, I was one of the hardest trainers at Nautilus there in Sandy Springs. So it's, it's, this is like, this is a movie the first act this is the first act where the kid goes and he picks up the quarter and he sees a hundred dollar bill and his boo's like i don't know what should i do with it well you want to be a movie star don't you he's like well yeah but i could buy a lot of pizza and a lot of other cool things with this it's like okay i guess you're not going to be a movie star and then

he looks across the street and there's a freaking gym and if three years and the kid goes there which most kids won't ever go they won't do that i wouldn't have done that i would take in the hundred bucks that would have bought a calico vision i would have bought whatever and and i just i i don't have that you that's amazing i remember when you first got smallville well when i first got we first got smallville i had it sounds fancy but it wasn't five thousand dollar catalogue el dorado convertible that didn't run very well it looked good but it was a piece of shit i bought it for five grand and you let me keep it at your mansion if i may say uh in agora hills i lost it don't don't let them kid you i lost it folks I lost it but you had one that's more than I had a jet too I lost that too all right well

you know we could talk about that but right now I'm talking about my shitty Eldorado cattle out of convertible John your El Dorado it was like from smoking the bandit yeah I remember you came over one day you have I don't I don't if you had any more but you had the general in your garage yeah I have I have two of them now okay so I go okay I see it and you're like yeah and I was kind of nervous asking you and you're like let's go for a ride and we got in of course I jumped through the window it was hard because I just had surgery a few years back so I was a little stiff but we drove down the highway and we got looks and the girls I was like oh my gosh I'm in the generally some people that were younger are like what the hell of these guys but it was my brother I got my brother it was before FaceTime he was like no way it was so exciting but you're so giving you're so good to me you eventually said come get your piece of shit I can't keep it here anymore but it was after about a year or two and I understood that but you know those days did you have a great time doing the show that you love you doing the show. Did you, uh, I mean, I could tell that you were just really enveloped sort of in the, in the role. You took it so seriously, which I think really helped the character and the

show. Well, thank you. Uh, yeah, I have, I have, you know, it's been a long time. So I have, I have great, great memories. Another part of me remembers, though, being kind of pissy about scripts or about, uh, the shallowness of, uh, of the writing at, times. But, you know, now I realize, you know, it's hard. It's hard to turn out 24 stories worth watching a year. It's hard to do that. So, but I didn't, I didn't really know. And I just did a YouTube video. I do, I answer Duke's questions. And people always ask me my favorite episode. And somebody said, what is your least favorite episode? And I had to tell him that when we did it, we did one called the Ghost of General Lee. And I remember reading it and thinking, oh,

Great. Now we're stealing from Mark Twain. This is Tom Sawyer. We show up at our own wake. I mean, these guys are so lame. Years later, it became my favorite episode. So once I became a member of the audience rather than a member of the cast, I loved every minute of Dukes. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I didn't piss and moan a little bit during our seven years. I think we all did. Look, I mean, you're you're caught up in it. You're tired. You're working. I think everybody did such a fantastic job that we were always pushing each other in different ways. And so, you know, you always want this to be better, that to be better. And nothing's perfect. So you do the best you can. And of course, I look now and I'm like to write 22, 24 episode one hours a year, how could how could more than half of them even be good? It's so hard that you hope you have a hand.

But you know, I work now. I've worked now to the last seven, eight, seven years, eight years. Anyway, with Tyler Perry. Tyler turns out 22, 24 episodes of the haves and have-nots a year, 24 episodes of six other shows a year. Somehow he manages to write them and direct them. It's called speed. Speed.

The hardest and easiest schedule I've ever had is doing the haves and have-nots. We have shot, we shoot between 100 and 140, pages a day screw that i wouldn't do it i'd fall apart i can't memorize i need i need a week to do five pages yeah well yes i won't see you on the set well you know by the way my mother said wow he just plays a real evil character on that have and have knots wow he's so dark and i'm like did you do that purposely like i think as actors sometimes we're like going we're playing such a a nice you know a genuinely innately good person on smallville and then it'll sudden you just you want to turn it around and say hey look at me i could do something different was there

part of that well again there was uh after smallville there was uh i did a uh wheel on nip tuck yep uh and then i did a show called dirty sexy money oh yeah then i did i did an episode of leverage which was great so all of a sudden again recognizing opportunities all of a sudden these characters started to change a little bit well quite a bit for me but these darker things started coming in so when the haves and have nots when I read that and I had to read for it. You read by invitation for Tyler. I read it. And again, I said, oh, there it is. There's the next one. And so I went in and I was like, this is mine. I don't know why anybody else is here. Maybe they didn't have anything to do

today, but this is mine. Months later, when I had kind of forgotten about the whole thing, I got the call that, yeah, we're going to do this show, and you're going to Atlanta, and it's going to be great. So, and it's been, it's been wonderful. But again, that was that thing that I recognized and said, oh, you know, again, I'm a 13-year-old. Oh, there it is. There's the next stepping stone. Do you ever get nervous? Do you ever get nervous while you're acting? You ever get nervous about, and by the way, who helps you learn lines? You learn them quickly? How do you do that? I learn them quickly. I don't get nervous anymore. I really, you know, Michael, I don't get nervous. Why? What's the secret?

Knowing that the part is yours. I remember I did a thing, I went and read for Rob Reiner or something. And it was, I thought, oh, this is great. This is, this is me. It was a lot like Smallville, though, and there were dark things coming. But dark things coming. That's a good title. But I read for Rob Reiner and found out a couple of days later that somebody else got it. And my first thought, and this is not my New York sarcasm, my first thought was, wow, I thought Reiner was smarter than that. You know what? I know John Schneider enough to say, I could have told you you'd say that. You're definitely one where it's, I like it.

It's an ego, but it's like, you know, you believe so much in yourself that you're like, nah, wrong decision. I know what I can, and it's not even what I can do. I know what I can bring. And what I bring is believability. So if you want people to believe the shit that you wrote, then you've got to have someone who can convince people the shit that you wrote is real. I'm that guy. I'll note that.

I've taught a couple of acting classes when people, when the teachers couldn't be there. And I say, we're throwing out all this checkoff in Shakespeare. And we're no Neil Simon, for God's sake. We're not going to do Neil Simon because Neil Simon is brilliant. The chance that you will ever have the opportunity to be the first person to utter a line the likes of which Neil Simon wrote is slim to none. However, your job is to make atrocious dialogue believable. So let's find some atrocious dialogue and make it believable. That's what I teach.

or do it the best you can i've i've had some atrocious dialogue in my time and uh you know i remember being on a show where even my own family it was like wow that's bad and i'm like what oh my god my own family i'm like and i'm trying they're like i'm at night i'm like what can't do you can't do you can't do you just can do your best it's a 20 wide ball it's a 20 wide bulb you can't make it burn at 60. You just can't. You can make it the best finely polished turd that you can. Inside of you is brought to you by Quince. I love Quince, Ryan. I've told you this before. I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater. I wear it

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and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash inside-of-you. Free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash inside-of-you. Inside-of-you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about something that's going to

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I had rocket money and they said, that's good. This will help you keep track of your budget. See? See? It's only, we're only here to help folks. We're only trying to give you, you know, things that will help you. So rocket money really does that. Rocket money shows you all your expenses in one place, including subscriptions you forgot about. If you see a subscription you no longer want rocket money will help cancel it rocket money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you the app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to save and then goes to work to get you better deals they'll even talk to the customer service so you don't have to yeah because i don't want to press one now if you want oh get alerts if your bills increase in price if there's unusual activity in your accounts if

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through in your life I mean I obviously a lot but what's the one that just resonates at the hardest moment in your life where it was just you thought you know and I don't know what you thought if you can get through this or well when my smile when Alicia a year and a half ago now was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer oh oh I'm sorry now she's clean. She's clean. We attack that. That's just the most amazing thing about Alicia. We are so similar. And yet we are, we, we both come to this relationship, this marriage, with a full toolbox, full of tools. But neither one of us have the same tools. Because I like to say if, if, if two of us are the same, then one of us is unnecessary. So when a, when a person in a white

coat told us that she was three years into a five-year shelf life, and her pet scan lit up like a Christmas tree. We both, and hear this folks, we both looked at each other and said, no, we have things to do, not only individually, but together, we have a tremendous amount of things to do. This is not going to happen to us. We are, going to figure out everything that cancer wants and stop it. We are going to find out everything that cancer hates and do it. And we did. And now she has a clear PET scan. And she, cancer is, by the way, cancer is not something you beat. Cancer is something, I know this because I'm the founder, a co-founder of Children's Miracle Network. Cancer

something we all have, but we also all have the system that is built to fight it, to keep it at bay. It's like oil and water. You know, it's got to, you've got to keep it at bay. So when somebody in a white coat tells you you have cancer, what they really are saying is your cancer has gotten stronger and your system that fights it has gotten weaker or has given up. So you have got to weaken the cancer while strengthening that system. How do you do that? Well, you do it with diet. You do it with, I mean, people say, cancer can't live in an alkalinity.

So drink alkaline water. Well, yeah, do that. Cancer can't live in heat. So get a, every opportunity to get into an infrared sauna. infrared saunas go up to 158 degrees. I have one of those. Cancer loves sugar. When you get a pet scan, they will give you a thing called glucose so that they can see where the cancer is.

Why? Because cancer attracts glucose. So stop eating sugar. It's not a matter of choice. It's a matter of absolutely a matter of life and death. There's something about CBD oil that helps. I don't think it fights cancer, but I think it takes your system that is there to fight cancer and gives it something it can recognize.

And that system goes, oh, thank God, you're here. Where are you been? And it enables that system to get stronger. It enables, I believe, it enables the medicine that the doctors will give you to work better. So the second that person in a white coat walks in and says these things, your mind, you don't, I mean, do you get emotional? do you start going, oh, or do you just turn? Yeah, I mean, I can't even think about it without getting, because I mean, I was there. And Alicia puts it this way.

She said, for the first couple of days, let the house be on fire. You know, you woke up in the middle of the night and there's flames out in the hallway and there's no way to get out except jump out the window and it's three stories. Okay, we'll live that way for a couple of days. don't don't deny yourself the cleansing of panic but don't live there you can't live there it almost sounds like she's consoling you in a way she's like saying hey this is like almost she's like she was I don't know there's this inner strength where I think I would just fall apart I wouldn't and she's like hey this is it's almost like you guys jumped into a plan like we've got to

get this. Let's grieve. We panicked. We panicked and, uh, you know, all these, all these long term goals. I couldn't look at it. Couldn't look at a tree. I couldn't look at a flower. I couldn't look at anything without wondering if she was going to be here to, to, because we plant. We do a lot of plantings and things. Plant paintings. Planting. And, uh, yeah, gardening is great for the soul. Um, so everything made me sad for a little while. Nothing made me mad. You can't get mad because if you realize cancer is something we all have. Just some of us have stopped fighting it for some reason.

Well, figure that reason out and fix it. So that was hard. But we were strong together before. You know, now, I mean, we're Johnny and June. it was on last night i watched uh walking phoenix that it just came on i was like oh look at that you know i remember when you um when your dad passed and i remember you made a there was like a video because you i don't know if you're on a photo shoot i can't remember exactly but i remember how emotional it was and but you wanted you wanted to remember it so you filmed it how had that go

well we were doing a press shoot for haves and have nuts and during lunch i had my dad had had a stroke and he was in bad shape and he passed away during lunch and I had a couple of more setups to do and when they had said this was this was your last one so when I said let me know when you when you take the last picture he said oh don't worry I'll get you out of here I said it's not about that just let me know and he said okay all right that was it and I said come here take my picture and he said no we're done I said no no no just take my picture and I'll tell you why. And he took this series of like 38,

ching, ching, ching, ching, pictures. And then I told him, I said, I learned during lunch that my father had passed away. And I wanted, for some reason, it was almost like, you know, God said, capture that moment. And I did. And later that gentleman asked if he could publish those pictures.

and I saw them and they were, you can't act that. And I said, absolutely, you know, go ahead. Because I believe that when you see, again, like you don't deny yourself panic, don't deny yourself grief. So that was on display. And somewhere during the next year, that photographers, he was doing a shoot and he found out that his brother, to dive. And he turned to his assistant, handed him the camera, and said, take my picture. What? Oh, my God. And I have, I have the pictures just from my cell phone within three minutes of finding out my mother had passed away. And there's, there's something healing about

those pictures. And I'm not sure what it is. But, uh, if, uh, if, If you have that opportunity, it's not a selfish thing, it's not a narcissistic thing. Capture that moment. So here's why. I'm just figuring this out. So you can always remember how much you love them. I just thought that. Because I think sometimes when you lose something and, you know, someone passes or this,

like, you know, I should be, you know, did I grieve long enough? Did I, you know, and you start to question things. Like, why didn't I? And it's a moment like that that makes. you realize look you absolutely love this person i can look at those pictures on my phone and they're not for anybody else or just for me um but it's a it's a good idea it's a good thing to do uh it'll it'll uh yeah like you said like we said it'll keep you it'll it'll remind you how much you love them um speaking of which you care if i play this little song it's my favorite

song it was the number one hit that you did oh sure sure it's your lives i stick here What's a family like you? Do you need a love like this? Oh, that went up. You played that for me on Smallville. I go, holy shit. This guy does it all. All right.

This is called shit talking with John Schneider. My patrons, who I love, who support the show so much, these are some questions from them. So this is rapid fire. You don't have to. to sit here and dive deep if you don't want to. Steph A, were you offended by the Dukes of Hazard film with Jessica Simpson, or did you like it? I thought it would have to be considerably better to suck.

There you go. Thank you. Nancy D., you've had such a varied and lengthy career. How have you stayed so grounded with such incredible credits on your resume? Because I know I'm not there yet. I can see the finish line from here, but in many regards, I feel, and this is, I mean this. I feel like I'm, I've just started. Wow. You have that attitude, man. You have to have that attitude. It's not like athletics. You know, somebody is faster than somebody else. Somebody throws a ball faster than somebody else. Somebody hits a puck more accurately than somebody else. With us,

it's all relative. It's all speculation. So you've got to have your own unit of measure. And I've hit a couple of triples, but I haven't hit the grand slam yet. But I will. I love the attitude. Charlie H., how difficult was it playing Jonathan Kent when you knew there was a time limit on his involvement in the show, and did this affect the choices you made in playing him? The way I played Jonathan Kent was mostly affected by the fact that my son, real son, has Asperger's syndrome. So I chose to treat Jason as if he was someone who had special gifts, not special needs. and we talked about that on Smallville a lot because we had to forget that this boy

was going to be Superman because Superman didn't exist yet. Wow. So there. My death, my impending death never even occurred to me. All right. Anna A. What prompt did you co-found the Children's Miracle Network? How much are you still active with the organization?

I'm still very active with Children's Miracle Network, although we're doing things in cyberland like this now. But when I was a kid, when I was a fat kid, I had asthma, I had an inhaler, I spent a lot of time in hospitals being poked and prodded. When Dukes of Hazard happened and I became, I was on the number one show in a three network world, I felt the need to do something so that children wouldn't have to go through what I went through when I was a kid. And that's how Children's Miracle Network was birthed. Really? Well, it makes perfect sense. Jennifer Ann, she grew up watching Dukes of Hazard and loves the song, good old boys. What is your favorite episode in the show? I think you said that.

Yeah, my favorite, I'll tell you, my favorite episode is Ghost of General Lee. However, I had so much fun doing Carnival Thrills, also doing Go West Young Dukes, because I got to have a mustache and a bullwhip and a gun. Didn't have to carry a bow and arrow in my pocket. It's kind of hard to carry a bow and arrow in my pocket. So those would be my top three. Lisa H. What was more brutal on you mentally? Starring in a weekly TV show or your stint on Dancing with the Stars?

My stint on Dancing with the Stars is the single most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. And I've been on Broadway. I've played music for 120,000 people. I've done all these television shows, but Dancing with the Stars kicked my ass. All right. Hey, I wanted to ask you, no, I never got to. I think I'm asking you not because it was terrible time in your life, but maybe it's selfish. of me to ask this because it's always scared me but you you had to go to jail for a couple days right

well i was supposed to go for three but the jail was full so i went for nine hours nine hours well but there's an important important thing to know there okay i went for three and when you go in you go in when you're processed into the twin towers in l.a you're processed into the twin towers in l.a you are make no mistake you are in jail and i was fully believing i was was going to be there for three solid days because that's what my ex-wife's lawyer made sure that the judge checked some box. So in my mind, I was there for three days. I was shocked. And, you know, oddly enough, Michael, if you'll believe this, I don't think anybody else will believe it. I was looking forward to the research I was going to be doing for three days in jail. And when they let

me out. I was like, wait a minute. Are you, are you sure? I mean, do I have to come back? No, no, no, you're out. You came. You had every intention of doing your three days. There's no room. So you're, they're letting you out. You aren't nervous at all. You aren't, you, honestly, when you first went in, I was nervous in court, because in, in court, I said earlier, I don't get nervous. Well, I got nervous in court because I realized that this judge, for whatever reason, didn't like me and really I don't know if he had a relationship with my wife's counsel or what but he they would do the most atrocious things and say the worst the terrible things and he would just sit there and listen and I would say something in defense of myself

and I was treated like, I was treated terribly. So I was treated in jail much better than I was treated in court. In court, I was treated like I was guilty until proven innocent. Wow. So whatever anybody, you know, when somebody says, you know, I was framed and they did it, believe them. Because I found no justice whatsoever in the court in. Los Angeles at 111 High Street. No justice whatsoever.

You know me, Michael. I mean, I will try to do the right thing. But when you push me to a certain point, especially when you call me a liar, my God. So I asked when it was all, when it was all over, he gave me a date, I had to report to jail by a certain time. And I said, Your Honor, I want to get this behind me. Can you just send me now? He said, what? I said, you told me before that, you know, if I didn't show up, you're going to track me down and have a bench warrant for me and throw me in jail.

Well, it can't be that difficult. So just send me now. I want to get this over with. I want to start my three days. As soon as I get out of here, I want to walk to jail and get this over with. What did he say? He said, um, bailiff, can we do that? No one's ever said it.

This guy's lost his mind. No one's ever done that before. And this was a guy who threatened to throw me and, you know, come across this. state, come across the country and throw me in jail. So he had a sense of humor about it, and I went to jail. And they weren't ready for me. I had to ask. I had to beg. I said, look, I got the paperwork here. I said, I love the show. I said, which one? But I had to request that the deputies call the court and figure out how to admit me into jail. And they did. And they said okay well come on in and took the shoelaces took the belt took i mean did the whole thing

and i was you know waiting for an orange jumpsuit right and uh wound up being let go right and if you guys don't know the story obviously this is taken out of context but it was like you know uh obviously you know you have you know the story your your whole ranch your movie studio was completely like trashed right from the for hurricanes it was during that time yeah where i'm standing right now yeah the water water was this high you really can't get much of a picture of that here. Right. Everything I had in the world was destroyed.

What is today? On August 13th, 2016. And we had just had in March, we had the 100-year flood. So we lost a lot of things in March, but it was nothing compared to what happened in August. And so that's pretty much why you're saying you had no money to give or you would have given it. Well, I had nothing.

My tax returns proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that I have. that I had lost almost a half a million dollars in 2016. The lawyers on the other side talked to the, I had the third time I had to bring the CPA out who prepared my tax returns. And I thought it was all going to be over at that point. Well, here are the tax returns. They're tax returns. They're undeniable. Well, she said to the CPA, excuse me, did you prepare the tax return?

And she said, yes. She said, and the receipts that the tax returns were prepared from. Did you compile those yourself? And she said, well, no. And she said, it's here, say, Your Honor. And my piece of shit lawyer didn't say, just a moment, Your Honor. May I cross-examine? May I say, all he had to do was say, do you know the person who prepared the receipts?

And she would have said, known her all my life. known her for 20 years. He didn't do it. Wow. So the judge said, and this is why I, this is why I have bad feelings toward you, Judge. He said, people lie on their taxes all the time. Sustain. At that moment, my tax returns proving I didn't have two nickels to rub together or inadmissible. And I now was a guy who had millions of dollars who would not pay it. And that's the why I went to jail. What a story. I can't wait to read the next book.

Well, but I put it in a script. I put a lot of that in a script. You know, there's a, as the optimist said, looking at a pile of shit, he said, you know, there's a pony in there somewhere. So, uh, I love you, Michael. Dude, listen, I love you. I mean, I'm amazed. You're so open and so honest and so sincere.

And I love hearing all these stories. And I mean, we talk about your success. And it's amazing when people listen, you know, a lot of these stories, you know, I think it gives them hope. And you opening up about your wife and the cancer is just inspirational. And let me throw one more thing at you, Michael. I think this is important. All this, my life has been great. I love every minute, even the bad stuff.

And here's why. If you know, you're a hockey player. If you have the puck and nobody's on your ass, then you're not a threat. So if you don't have problems like this, if you don't have a judge to look at and go, am I speaking some language you don't understand? If you don't have those things to me, those things that try to stop me, let me know that I am indeed on the right track. If I didn't have those things, I would question whether or not, whether or not I was on the right track. so if there's somebody out there right now who just gets piled on them don't let that weaken you let that give you strength to get through it because there's something up there around that next corner that somebody doesn't want you to see go for it with everything you've got I love it hey this is awesome I'm glad we finally found an area where you where I could see you and I can

Allie Arague. I'm going to come down and visit that place. It looks great. Please do. You love it, Michael. You'd love it. This has been real nice. It's been amazing to catch up.

Bring your dreams and bring him here and get them, put some light on them. I will, Johnny. Good talking to you. Love you, Michael. The one thing you got to love about John is he says what he wants to say and what he feels. He doesn't kind of like people will call me and say, cut that, do this. He's like, I want you to air this. I want you to air this.

The judge was an idiot. it you know and uh it's just you know he just kind of what's the saying you uh go by your own tune of your horn you can go you all that too but you go the beat of your own drum the beat of your own bongos man whatever i never meant for uh clever things i want to say thanks again to everybody listening and keep listening is big announcement with westwood one which is incredible they bought the show and they're so amazing over there they're really rocking it everybody over there thank you i have sales meetings now when i have meetings about the show and the guests and it was just me and bryce and ryan going hey i'm interviewing him okay let's do it and which is great

but now i hopefully this is this is definitely the next level they're a big company and they really support the podcast and i and i really want to give a shout out again to westwood one for supporting us and believing in us and thank you. Also, support the podcast, follow us, subscribe. It helps so much. We're really getting more subscriptions. And if you like this guest, you know, stick around. The handles are at Inside of You podcast on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter is at Inside

of You pod. So it really, really helps. I told you about the virtuals. Make sure you watch the virtual cons. We do Q&As. we do duo zooms me and tom and single zooms with me and you know you only get a certain amount of time but i'm always pressing the more time button for people and they're like rosembaum we got to move on i go i know but these people are they're paying for a zoom i want to you know give them a little

talk to them and so check those out and yeah i'm on the cameo i think that's it let me uh shout out to all my shoutouts the uh the patrons of course can't forget the most important nancy d mary b lea s trisha f s sara v little lisa ukiko jill e b b b b b ral lisa ykeko H. Brian. Lauren G. Nico P. Barry I. Angelina G. Robin. S. Jerry W. Just heard from Jerry W. Hi, Jerry. He cameoed me. Emily K. Bob B. Robert B. Jason W. Stephen J. Kristen K. Amelia O. Allison L. Tom and Jess J. Lucas M. Raj. Everybody knows Raj. Joshua D. Emily S. C.J.P. Samantha M. Humza. B. So easy to say that. Humza. Jennifer N. Casey B, Carly T, Jennifer S, Janelle B, Tabitha, 272, Kimberly E, Crystal H, Mika E. I'm sorry, Mike E, Marissa Nanninello, Ramira, Beth B, Chris App, Chad W, Leampi, Jackie P. Rodriguez, S, Rachel A, Maya, P, Megan D, Jennifer C, Maddie S, Tiffany, I, Kendrick F, Ashley E, Margie M, Thomas T, Matt W, Belinda N, Benjamin R, Lisa, Jay, Kevin V, Robert S, Joy W, Nicole M, Am,

Number F, James R. Chris H. Snow R. Snow, Noah K, and Sean V. Those are the patrons. Give an extra support to the podcast, and I love it. So, hey, guys, be safe out there. Love your dogs. Love your family. Give them a call. Text. It's so easy to say, I love you. You never know what's going to happen. And we've got a lot of great guests coming up. So please stick around. All my love. Thanks to Ryan here. Thanks to Bryce. Thanks to Westwood One. and everyone else. Thank you for allowing me to get inside each and every one of you. Until next time. Football season is here. Oh, man. Believe has the podcast to enhance your football experience. From the pros.

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