Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Supernatural’s MARK SHEPPARD: Filling a Void

Episode Date: April 19, 2022

Mark Sheppard (Supernatural, Doom Patrol) joins us this week and opens up on his experience throughout life filling a void with things like substance abuse to professions in the spotlight like being a... musician and actor. Mark gets candid about the evolution of his time on Supernatural, his fondness for the cast and crew, and the issues he had with his departure. We also talk about his experience alongside Brendan Fraser on Doom Patrol, his opinion on the “c word,” and Mark’s strengthened relationship with his father after working side by side. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:19 That's what we hope, Brian. We hope that we get a second chance and people subscribe and that they can easily subscribe. We're on Spotify. we're on apple we're on youtube we're on all these things we're everywhere we're omnipresent um ubiquitous even ubiquitous i like that word's good word um in our our handles follow us at inside of you podcast on instagram and facebook at inside you pod on the twitter you know uh we're growing i think people are starting to realize that we're not just talking actors talking about junk we're talking about real stuff sometimes mental health we get deep we get uh
Starting point is 00:01:59 I just hope you'll listen next week instead of, if you're just here for Mark Shepard, maybe you'll stick around. I also want to tell you that Patreon, it really helps the show out. So join Patreon. It's a place where people congregate, where they online. A lot of people have become friends, established relationships. They also get little perks. There's different tiers.
Starting point is 00:02:23 There's the top tier, which you get your name yelled at on the podcast at the end. And I also send you a box of mur. merch every couple of months with a little letter. So there's lots of cool stuff. So join Patreon if you want to give back to the show. And that's Patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash inside-of-you, right? Yes. Patreon.com slash inside of you.
Starting point is 00:02:44 Yeah, that's right. I'm also, we have a wonderful, wonderful, on Shopify, who's also a sponsor. We have the Inside of You online store. And you can get tons of merch, Smallville merch, Smallville merch, small-vill merch, small-vill lunchbox sign. You can get inside of you tumblers and coffee mugs and tons of great stuff. And also sunspin.com, that's my
Starting point is 00:03:05 band. You can get, you can book the band on a Zoom. I'm also on cameo, but you can get cool merch at sunspin.com. You know, Stephen Amel wears Sunspin hats. I've heard of him. I've heard of him. Arrow, the guy from Arrow. What's he like? A great guy he's been in the podcast like, what, four times? Has he? I think so. Huh.
Starting point is 00:03:23 Also, I'm going to be Fan Expo in St. Louis. May 13. weekend. Friday night we're doing a smallville nights with Tom Welling, me and Tom doing a two-man show at Fan Expo, St. Louis, May 13th that weekend, whatever that Friday is, figure it out. Also,
Starting point is 00:03:39 May 21st, that weekend or whatever that is, we'll be in Liverpool at a con, so hopefully you join us there. And of course, June 10th, Metropolis, Illinois, that's going to be a sold-out show as well. June 17th, for two weeks I'll be in Australia, Perth and Sydney.
Starting point is 00:03:56 Get down there. Go down to. We'll hang out, mate. Oh. Was that terrible? Jennifer Lopez. Jennifer Lopez. I like Jennifer Lopez. That's the best way I can get into the Australian accent.
Starting point is 00:04:08 I just use the cities. I say Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Italy, Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne. Melbourne's a good one. Yeah. Brisbane. Gold Coast, Brisbane. Brisbane.
Starting point is 00:04:19 Yeah, anyway, you're bored. You're bored. Let's just get into it. New South Wales. This guy is New South Wales. I love this guy, Mark Shepard. He's been on the podcast before a long time ago, in the name of the father, you know, and supernatural.
Starting point is 00:04:35 He's just done so much work. I don't need to get into it. He's a really great listen. He is another individual who opens up. And I thank you, Mark, for coming on the podcast again. It was a real pleasure. I enjoyed having you in studio. No Zoom.
Starting point is 00:04:51 We're doing a lot of in studios now. So without further ado, let's get inside of Mark Shepard. It's my point of you You're listening to Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum Inside of You Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum Was not recorded in front of a live studio audience
Starting point is 00:05:16 Do you do a lot of voiceovers? Some. I've got a, I spent years languishing Instead of voiceover hell My father was known for having the same voice as me But an octave lower even lower yeah so he was uh he did hundreds of games and all sorts of fun stuff but uh so i was always the kid and so i finally switched voice over agents like uh middle of the pandemic and i started
Starting point is 00:05:43 doing things like quarter duty and really you got to do fun shit like that i got to play like a 280 pound irish specialist in the last rish so you had to do an irish accent oh yeah my family's mostly Irish. But you don't speak in it with an Irish like, what's it called? Irish. Really? You've done your research now? Well, you don't sound really Irish. Well, not naturally, but I... Well, that's what I'm saying, naturally. I had a thick Dublin accent
Starting point is 00:06:10 in the 80s because I was in a big Irish band. So you could just jump into it? Well, jumping into it's weird. The first film I ever did was a film called In the Name of the Farn. One of my favorite movies. Right, and that's a thick Belfast. Remember when I pissed on your Giuseppe name? You poured Giuseppe name and I pissed on it. That's when I knew I was back. Bad bad. On the medal. Right. On the medal. That's right. That's actually a true story, which is kind of brilliant. A lot of things about that film are just extraordinary. I have to watch it again because I've seen it many years ago, but you have a decent little part in that?
Starting point is 00:06:41 One of the leads, yeah. You're one of the leads? Dude, you have to watch the numbers. I haven't watched it since I was in college. That's why I didn't remember. I'm one of the Guilford four. I played Patty Armstrong. That's me in the Afghan coat when they come to London. and that's the first person. I sound like an idiot, dude. No, that's all right. Ryan, have you ever seen in the name of the father? No. Daniel DeLewis. I urge all of you.
Starting point is 00:07:05 You know that when I don't like something, I tell you it. When I like something, I tell you in the name of the father is one of the great movies, a great movie, great cast. True story. True story, based on the true story, yeah. And I know the man that I played, which was fascinating to me. And unlike any other role that I kind of ever. usually have or i'm thought of for i played a man with no actions he's literally day lewis's character playing jerry conlin like asked me a question in the squat he's like you're coming you know this
Starting point is 00:07:37 happening you're coming i'm like i don't know it's like he's he was literally a person who was steamrolled by an entire system uh without going on for hours well i know that i'm i am interested without going on for hours the bottom line was at the time in 1974 um 21 people were were killed an IRA bomb explosion in birmingham and you know this was the largest fatality since the blitz and then in gilford uh pubs were targeted that were uh british soldier pubs squadies pubs and seven people were killed in the gilford bombing so the entire country was bane for blood uh this hadn't happened and this was under the edict that the ira i think basically had said one bomb on the mainland is worth a hundred and ulster so if you take the fight
Starting point is 00:08:35 to england you cause attention whereas there was very little attention being paid to what was actually going on in northern island at the time and so these people got caught up the gilford four and their associated families who were called the Maguire 7 and a lot of other people. Let's just put it this way. At the end of the 70s, I think they had to let out 70 Irish people from prison who had been convicted wrongfully. Wow. So it was part of that era of British and Irish politics, which is very, very important.
Starting point is 00:09:09 And my favorite thing about it, whatever your position is, whatever your belief system is, or whatever your politics are as irrelevant. The bottom line, these were people that were caught up in a mass hysteria moment that had never happened before in England. Certainly hadn't happened since the war. And two things.
Starting point is 00:09:28 One, it was the biggest grossing film in Ireland. It beat Jurassic Park is the biggest grossing film in Ireland, which is wonderful. And secondly, it's just one of the pieces of the jigsaw that makes it harder to convict people of a crime they did.
Starting point is 00:09:43 commit um the people that did it admitted to doing it which is something they weren't doing at the time they were usually saying chucky out which means our day will come and get like and not referencing their court case at all even even in the dock they were just like we don't care but they went out of their way to say we did this you've got the wrong people for this and nobody cared and what was really funny was the british the british people the jerry johnson said to me once he said uh um the real jerry yeah the real jerry said to me said uh it was the British people that got us out. Wasn't the Irish people who got us out.
Starting point is 00:10:15 The British people had enough at this point. Wow. It was a wonderful British lawyer called Gareth Pierce, a woman called Gareth Pierce, who risked everything and managed to. Well, don't give away the square. No, no, no, risked everything and managed to get a look at something that nobody wanted to look at. That's the way it's about.
Starting point is 00:10:32 It's about human beings. It's about the product of struggle, the product of sedition, the product of stuff. And it's just, and I think it's really interesting with films like Belfast out and stuff like this that's going on, I think it's really, really difficult to tell an objective view of any part of quote unquote the troubles in the north unless you find a small piece of it and tell that small piece because it's such an endemic thing. It's such a socially polarizing and governmentally polarizing and policy polarizing and hundreds of years of sedition and all the rest of this stuff that's going on and gangsterism and all.
Starting point is 00:11:10 the rest of the crap has gone on over the years. I'm paraphrasing, I don't think it's crap, but I'm just saying. Right. Just to be quick, to be brief, is to say that I think the greatest stories told up there are told in music, told in art, told in graffiti, told in, you know, as in song, as in plays. There are fragments and moments that allow you to piece together how these things could have happened and why this area foments certain
Starting point is 00:11:41 behaviors and certain things. The Shankill Butchers, you know, all these incredible stories that don't I mean, they exist in other formats in other countries and in other political situations, but not quite like this. And the wit and the humor, I was talking to Billy Connolly about us years ago,
Starting point is 00:11:57 the wit and the humor and the music and the art is beautiful in the midst of somewhat chaos. What other people viewers chaos, but the daily life in Belfast in the 80s is very, very different than anything we've ever experienced this, but in that way. And I used to play in a band in Ireland that was very big and very political and was actually sanctioned under Section 31 of the Broadcasting
Starting point is 00:12:20 Act in Ireland several times, et cetera, et cetera. I open the Joshua Tree tour with you two at Crokepo. Wow. A very, very political band. And used to play with a particular flag, a plowing star's from the workers flag of Ireland. This is the fast way I do it. I can do this for days. We could have seven days are talking about this and i mean i still you would see the limitations of my knowledge and understanding you know you've said things that i have no idea about but it you know i mean everybody has a there's there's been a lot of it's the history there's been a lot of reasons to keep a romantic view of it as it's not romantic at all but to actually investigate it and see it yes you investigate it and there's a brutality and a sadness and a but there's a beauty and a humor i can't tell you how
Starting point is 00:13:06 how dark and beautiful the humor is um i'll tell you a connolly story one day we we always used to stay in one of two hotels which is the europa of the wellington park in belfast and they've got you know 20 feet of chain neck fence going upwards outside and barbed wire the most bombed hotel in europe is in belfast and it's the culture isn't driven by that the culture is driven by the opposite of that the culture is driven by the one to survive the want to succeed and to be in Ireland and southern Ireland to be part of um it's escapism well to be but to be in Ireland and see us as like almost a third world country for so long with lack of investment lack of funding lack of anything and then suddenly the 80s hits and we
Starting point is 00:13:56 we beat England at football I have a pair of boxer shorts with the score on it from that day I think you could have robbed any house in Ireland on that day. You know, Jack Cholten, who was English, took Ireland to the World Cup. I mean, this is a bunch of part-timers who were playing. Right. I mean, and that was kind of the beginning. You two got signed. We got signed.
Starting point is 00:14:19 Jeremy Bono. Many times. He did the music for in the name of the father. There was a really funny thing. Jesus. We could talk about in the name of the father for an hour. But we were in, we were at the Savoy Cinema in the middle of Dublin. when my dad used to go to the cinema
Starting point is 00:14:35 as a kid in tuxedos and, you know, was showing in the name of the father in Ireland for the first time and everybody is there and Bono's called down from the stage and he's in the middle of the Europa tour Zoroa tour, right?
Starting point is 00:14:48 And I come down the stage and he goes, I know you. I said, yeah, I played Paddy in the film and he's like, he's like, no you are so he goes, I know you. I said, yeah, I used to beat a drummer in light of big fire. He said, yeah, I said, once upon a time
Starting point is 00:15:01 I open for you, now you're opening for me. I love it. I mean, you know, but... That's awesome. But to be in a country at the time that changes so much and it's about youth and it's about... It was a good time. It's incredible. The 80s are incredible.
Starting point is 00:15:17 I don't know if we truly believe there would be any version of peace or any version of change in our time, but we could feel something fermenting and changing. Yeah. And it took an awful lot of people, an awful lot of work to even get to this. point yeah it's it's just magical and so i think the stories about the north the greatest stories about the north are these little stories about people not about the politics necessarily and and they shine a light on the antidote right to the suffering and the difficulty and and and just the some of the mayhem inside of you is brought to you by quince i love quince ryan i've
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Starting point is 00:17:40 and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors you're spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings this is just a wonderful app there's a lot of apps out there that really you know you have to do this and pay for and that but with rocket money it's they're saving you money. You're getting this app to save money. I don't know how many times that I've had these unwanted subscriptions that I thought I canceled or I forgot to, you know, the free trial ran at, Ryan. I know you did it. That's why you got rocket money. I did. Yeah. And I also, I also talked to a financial advisor recently and I said, 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
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Starting point is 00:21:28 like uh you bring up your dad a lot and you i look on instagram boom there's up the pictures of your dad well last time we talked he had just passed away and it was yeah how are you dealing with that now it's really weird my dad was a wonderful actor he was a really interesting actor never really made it made it but actors knew who he was and and just loved his work and he was in everything for a long time that guy right oh yeah yeah he's in this oh he's in the prestige always in needful things oh he's in all these movies and all these games and this voice like this yeah morgan sherbetir and we weren't very close when i was a kid and then we became very very close when he moved over here to do max headroom and we sort of fixed whatever problems
Starting point is 00:22:15 that we have by working together, acting together, directing together, doing all this crazy stuff we did over the years. And so any successful moment, any happy moment, any sad moment, I'm used to picking up the phone. He either lived downstairs from me, across the road from me, or down the road from me for the last 25 years. So it's hard to... We lived on Laurel Canyon together, but I'm used to picking up the phone and saying, oh, so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I, I don't have that. Do you still think about it? Like I pick up a phone all the time?
Starting point is 00:22:49 But my dad was in serious distress by the time that he passed. And his passing was such a relief. I could feel it was such a relief. For him. He was done at 86, I think. That I wouldn't have wished him an extra day. I wouldn't have wished him an extra minute. The selfish side of it, of course, I want him around forever.
Starting point is 00:23:09 Of course. But to be a person who studied history and had stories and pulled people together. and people just loved him um to not have that in the last five six months of his life very very quickly he descended into um you know he just didn't get enough oxygen blood to his brain he had some he had some issues and problems and they all got worse and instead of being able to have open heart surgery he ended up passing before that was possible and that this was like three years ago two and a half years ago two years ago yeah two and a bit years ago um it escapes me it feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like 10 years ago but it's not it's not tragic there's nothing tragic
Starting point is 00:23:49 about it and when i think of my dad i think of really positive things i think of fun things i think of things he said i you know i just worked with timothy dalton for the last couple of years oh nice i remember seeing tim dalton there's a great picture of my dad and tim doughton if you look it up doing the romans at the mermaid in england which i saw as a kid and my dad was playing sees. It was just like, but I know him from then and I end up working with him later. And every time I see John Rhys Davis, it's like, please remind your father, he's far, far older than I. It would be, he would always say, but he was connected to so many people, but never as a, as a big star. He was just somebody that people liked and did. I mean, did Gettysburg. He narrated Gettysburg.
Starting point is 00:24:33 He's the first voice in Gettysburg. So, you know, it's a lot of fun. Those are big shoes to fill, right? That was the whole thing. Did you feel like that when you were going on? You didn't. Absolutely not. I refuse to be an actor for that reason. But I don't act like him. we've taught together i mean i'm more of a guess a checkoff trained actor and he's he was in peter brook's real shakespeare company so he did marasar and broadway he did all the all the great stuff that ever existed he worked with utahagen he taught at the actor's studio in new york he did all this stuff so he's part of that era of theater but his transition into film was a tough thing for him because he always wanted to be an american and so when he finally got over here
Starting point is 00:25:11 to do max headroom he did max headroom here and then he did gun smoke he did the last Max Hedron the voice. No, he was, he was Blank Redge in Max Hedron. Really? The punk guy with the six-wheel bus, the pirate radio station. Oh, yeah. So he came over to do that. I think he signed a Gersh.
Starting point is 00:25:26 And then he was in the last Gunsmoke movie. He's in so many things that are just fun. And he reinvented himself again and again. And what it was is like, you know, I started acting because I did this play and then it got big and stuff happened. And I remember the front page of the calendar. So I'm not an actor. I'm a musician.
Starting point is 00:25:45 My dad's an act. and I just got like drama critic circle of water something stupid so I was like it was just one of those things where I didn't want the path he had because I didn't like you like watching the negatives of what our job is when you see people that don't love it or struggle with it or start to get angry because the work isn't there or frustrated because they're getting older or whatever and the time is getting harder for them and there's less and less joy involved in it right and then the other side of that is watching somebody who's happy when they're working and miserable when they're not which i hate have you ever been that guy yeah many time my kids will tell you that really yeah my
Starting point is 00:26:29 kids will how so what what made you miserable because you haven't drank in 32 years right but waiting is an action that consumes all other actions waiting the action of waiting destroys and consumes anything else yeah So being busy doesn't work for me. I'm too smart to con myself into the idea that I'm busy, but actually doing something. And being sober is part of that, as you realize, you know, just for me in particular,
Starting point is 00:26:56 if I sit still and the world revolves around me, I get into a hole and then drinking looks like a, does that make sense? Yeah. Because if it did for you, what it does for me, you'd be doing it right now. Wow.
Starting point is 00:27:08 If it does for you, if heroin, alcohol, stain zippo lighter fluid you did anything you can get your hands on but i didn't think it was like that but on reflection looking back i was trying to find something from the age of 12 that would fill that void and then i pick a profession well i was a musician but then i picked a profession i told you my first job i came second and it destroyed me you didn't get it it went to timroff first film was it rose and cranson gilden's no pre that it was it was made in britain which was a
Starting point is 00:27:42 fantastic piece and I didn't get it. And so I got a phone call from the cast and director the next year. I said, uh, so you drive, right? I'm like, no. Good. I'm glad you can drive. It was one of those calls where they were obviously in front of a bunch of producers. And they said, so we want you go to Spain and do this movie. And I'm like, now I'm doing an album. Refused. Absolutely refused to do it. Would never step into that arena again. And that was the hit with Terrence stamp. Tim Rutherstainville. I'm entirely. responsible for Tim Rosker. No, he's a fabulous actor. He's a wonderful actor. And there's a reason why they were right for him and they weren't right for me. But then to do all that stuff, tour the world, do all this stuff I did live in Ireland, blah, blah, blah, blah, come back to America and then do this play sober. And then go, wow, this is like jumping off a building and finding out you got wings. It's not like jumping off a building and hoping you don't hit the pavement. It's literally like jumping up a building and going, take a breath, breathe out. Everything you need is here. And it was kind of scary.
Starting point is 00:28:44 And the weird thing is my drumming suffered as a result because I didn't pick up a pair of drumsticks for 20 years because my drumming was all connected to my drug use. I didn't, I mean, I patch it. And it was Billy Moran and Mike Boehren and Steve. I love those guys. Loud and swing. Want to get up and play this song?
Starting point is 00:29:01 I'm like, no, I'm good. So when I got up and played and they were like, oh, you play. I'm like, well, yeah, I've always played. I hadn't picked up a pair of drumsticks in 20 years. And then suddenly I'm back playing a Rob and Hitchcock and doing all this stuff. I'm really weird like that. My anxiety and my stress.
Starting point is 00:29:14 So I picked the worst job. Yeah, so you have a lot of anxiety still. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course I do. And I've got, you know, I've got three kids. And you don't have drinking to kind of... To buffer me from it. But you and I have sat recently, we've sat in a bar and watched unnamed actors, totally unnamed actors will never be named.
Starting point is 00:29:33 You know, I wouldn't even say what... Get smashed. We're in. No, not get smashed, but getting smashed is easy. But you can, you watch them deteriorating into a place that it just doesn't fit some people. You can see and you can see the one or two of them start behaving badly, start being uncomfortable doing that stuff. That's me. And I also see other people, stressful day, have a beard, have a beard, do whatever.
Starting point is 00:30:02 Your buddy, Tom, brilliant. Watch him ever drink. He's the happiest dude. Oh, my God. I watch, I'm going, I'm so jealous of the fact that you can actually sit there and not destroy. things being your size well you know by the way he adores you he just was he crashed at the house and he just left this morning but i told him his eyes just lit up and he's like he's so great he just he's so forthcoming he just you know he's such a sweet guy and tom's a really honest dude
Starting point is 00:30:30 it's really weird because you wouldn't expect when you see him in smallville and you think of you know i start then i started to think of god the pressures he must have had to be that for that long in that situation. So I've, I've, you know, I'm not using number one on a call sheet. It's been a couple times I've been close to being, but, but it's not generally the vibe here. And what I loved about you with, with Lex Luther is you at least had room to play. You are not constrained by the rules of number one on the call sheet or number two on the call sheet where you're the last person to have any information. It's like, really? Oh, no. I'm doing that now. Yeah, exactly. Right. But This is like, ha-ha, you know.
Starting point is 00:31:11 You've invented a new version of how to screw with number one. Well, you were kind of like the Lex Luthor of Supernatural. It wasn't designed that way, but it's kind of where it ended up. But Crowley was sort of, you know. He was middle management when he started. And like me, like Lex, you had to give all these monologues. You spoke a lot. Oh, God.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Do you miss that? Jensen once to ask me, he was being very polite. But he asked me one day, he goes, okay, I've got to ask you this. So Bob and I were wondering, how come? when you when you're doing your off-camera dialogue you're perfect you everything's right and then we turn around onto you it takes you three takes or four takes to get it and one time he asked me this when he was had a couple of drinks so he was nicely lubed up and it was like at three in the morning and something stupid and I said listen you're the lead you're basically talking
Starting point is 00:32:02 bollocks they give me a story that they think is funny they give me lines that they give me lines that they think is incredibly funny when they've written it on paper i now have to read that find a way to believe it and find a way to make it actually mean something otherwise i'm halfway through going oh this is cack it means nothing to me so i said that's the reason why i'm carrying the bloody plot or i'm carrying the counterplot or i'm carrying the sea story or i'm carrying it's for how many years i did eight you did eight seasons and Listen, I'm telling you, I love those guys. I love those guys with all my heart.
Starting point is 00:32:44 Yeah. Absolutely. We had ups and downs. I mean, the thing at the end was the weird thing. What was the weird thing? Nothing to do with the boys. I had nothing to do anything else. They didn't ask you to come back?
Starting point is 00:32:53 Well, no, it was worse than that. It was kind of tacky. It was like, well, we don't think we have enough money to pick up your option next year. Are you serious? Well, because they were working out how to do what they were going to do with a story that they needed to continue beyond, you know, into the 30. and 14th seasons and rest. And I think a particular showrunner remained nameless was trying to kill me for about four or five years
Starting point is 00:33:17 and it was just funny because I kind of knew because I knew the rest of the writers. But I didn't care about it. That wasn't the problem I had. The point being is I went from being a guest star that refused to sign a contract for five years to now I'm three years. I mean, Warner's put me on the poster
Starting point is 00:33:32 before my deal was done. They put me on the video box. They were just like, well, you can't sort of ignore him. And then it was like, take it or leave it. And I think it was majorly about getting the boys out on a Friday more than anything else than anything, which is smart. I mean, for God's sakes, they've been working for, you know, 10, 11, 12 years at the time.
Starting point is 00:33:49 And I worked their ass off and they'd just move back to Texas and all that. I mean, it's just smart stuff. They've got families and they're starting families. But I used to get away with going, I can't do that. I'm going to my kid's soccer game on Friday, so I won't be there. And then they were like, take it or leave it. And I was going through a divorce at the time. I was like, I could just disappear or I could just pay my bills and what I'm supposed to do.
Starting point is 00:34:09 take the job and say thank you very much so i was grumpy for a little bit and they tolerated me being in a bad move for a year or so and then i started to make friends and things are wonderful and then they come to the end they're going like well we don't know if we can take up your option and i was like and i said to bot i think it's what pissed bob off is i said if you take me off the poster i'm not coming back because i don't do windows and that was not received well really you just said that well yeah it's exactly what i said because the truth you felt like you'd earned it well the funny thing was i mean with all due respect to my friends i am so grateful for myself and for all my friends that they had work for this amount of time it was good work and that everybody on that crew was
Starting point is 00:34:54 was just fantastic they were all at my wedding for god's sense yeah you know it was it was a big deal plus the fans the fans fans are amazing yeah that's that's that's that's without saying but I was playing I played the same scene in season 12 five times over five episodes and I was like all right gig's up you know the gig is up and so you know everyone's kind of yeah they won't get rid of you they won't get rid of you I'm like I'm done I know I'm done you know it yeah I know it's done what season was this what season was this 12 12 I was killed at the end of 12 and transpow went like take your car home I'm like well I don't have transport then it's like we'll do it so I took my car home like a month and a half early two months early i was taken to and from set every single day i was
Starting point is 00:35:39 taken home was dropped at airports brought back it was just i was looked after i was sweet it is sweet and people don't have to do that they and they did and it was and what i think was surprised everybody on set on my last scene is i'd already spent two weeks saying goodbye to everybody and i didn't want to make a speech for the first time of my life and i think they got a little upset that i didn't make some big speech because i'm big mouth you didn't say anything i said thank you very much and walked away i'd spent two weeks talking to every single person. So you didn't have to say anything. I didn't feel I had to say anything, but I think it got a bit weird.
Starting point is 00:36:11 And then, I don't know. Do you get invited to the supernatural conventions? I don't. No. You don't? No, I did 17. And then it was really weird for my friends. It was weird for my friends.
Starting point is 00:36:25 What do you mean? Okay, so Ruth, plays my mother, wonderful, lovely actress, beautiful human being, worked her butt off on the show. It should have been my ex-wife. It would have been even better. It would have been fantastic. She should have played my ex-wife in the show. It would have been just something else.
Starting point is 00:36:42 But, okay, she's my mom. It doesn't really make sense in the can. She's my mom. But we made it work. And she's just brilliant. She's just wonderful to work with. And really, do I want to go to a convention where every single question she gets is, when's Mark Shepard coming back?
Starting point is 00:36:57 Because that's what happened for a year. Yeah. That's not cool. They got work to do. They've got things to do. They deserve better. that right so i opted out of those at first it was very uncomfortable for a bit and then i opted out of it after i'd done my 2017 stuff and i went on tour of robin robin hitchcock and i didn't act
Starting point is 00:37:14 for a year or so i was miserable it was like everybody was having a party and i wasn't invited not talking about the convention i'm talking about just generally right and that's not nobody's fault and i genuinely with my whole heart i've never begrudged them a moment a minute right do you talk to them still yeah i talked to everybody you talked to everybody yeah i talked to Jared on occasion. People come over the house. I see Kim all the time. Kim's daughter swims with my son.
Starting point is 00:37:40 Kim Coates. Yeah, I love Kim. Just did Rob Rich's podcast after a period of time, which was fun to do. I want to interview them just to annoy him. Richard Spate. I love him. And I have them on the podcast and Rob Benedict. They're fantastic people.
Starting point is 00:37:56 I know, you know, I've played with them. But like in any real family, you have ups and downs and dynamics. Absolutely. The smart thing for me to do was to back away because they were on an ongoing position and they were still pushing. And they managed to go to 15 years. And it wasn't for me to be, you know, the thorn in the side. Did you ever lose your temper and yell on set? You're like, this is fucking shit.
Starting point is 00:38:19 No, I don't think so. Never. Well, I have lost my temper about a couple of things, but I did it. But never on set. No, I don't think it's my thing. I mean, the trouble is, though, with my face and my tone, people think I'm annoyed when I'm. People think you're just not happy. Yeah, and I'm...
Starting point is 00:38:35 Mark, are you okay? Yes. There was a director that I really hated. Oh, I bet I worked with him. Yeah, you did. And he was dancing around this idea of doing this particular stunt, but he hadn't told anybody. And then suddenly he takes me aside. And apparently, Pellegrino was supposed to stick one of our demon artifacts.
Starting point is 00:39:01 You know, the pointy thing that you kill people with? Yeah, what are those called, Ryan? Blades. Demon blades. Demon blades. Richard Blades. Yes. Go ahead.
Starting point is 00:39:11 Dashing blades. But, I mean, God, I've dropped more of those out of my sleeves than anything you can imagine. So he literally had the Kung Fu dummy, you know, the Bob Kung Fu dummy in front of him. And this contraption, and supposedly he was going to stick this thing up my nose, which had a breakaway tip and squirt blood on my nose. And it was going to be Pellegrino that did it. And I'm like, that's not going on my nose. isn't that you're not sticking a solid piece of metal up my nose to do a gag from Chinatown which is what it is um oh god sakes so actually called jim jim michaels down
Starting point is 00:39:43 never done that before who's jim micha was the producer the de facto line producer producer and i'm like am i in trouble because i'm not doing this he goes no so two weeks we've been arguing about this crap don't worry about it now mark milosh the wonderful um uh visual effects guy came down and goes i can do a green screen just use the rubble one i knew you're going to say that thank you so much but it it got caustic you know there's moments there's ups and downs but it's easy to get but the behavior on that set was exemplary nobody would tolerate jerry and jensen wouldn't tolerate somebody losing their temper it's just not okay you don't throw things and everybody knows he he did that the crew go ooh what's wrong with you you know you don't but it's hard people say
Starting point is 00:40:26 you got to separate business from you know and it's sometimes hard because you know i i dealt with it with uh you know warner brothers and going through negotiations and they just they know how to really cripple you they know how to make you mentally just never did it to me because i'm not that important well they they had a way but it's it's amazing how it could change your spirits because i was always doing stand-up comedy on set and everybody's like laughing and i'm like farting and doing Christopher walking and action and I'm Lex Luthor and then all of a sudden you're worthless you're not important to us you're not without saying it how many flights do you get why don't I get a bump this year it just well it was it was it was a lot but it was also one day one of the uh the
Starting point is 00:41:05 my friend Greg Beeman who's one of my favorite directors and producers he came up to me and we've done some projects together he said hey I know what's going on but they've got nothing to do with it the studio doesn't give a shit how you feel they don't know you know on set but i could see your disposition your don't let that affect you continue to have and and i it was an awakening for me oh but it's still it was i was i was going through a divorce and on different and on different occasions both jared jansen misha again you're right and literally made sure i was okay or somebody said something that had happened which hadn't happened and one of those things and it's like you know one of them takes me out of dinner
Starting point is 00:41:49 things I say is this going on you okay so you have people who cared about you always and that's the thing and it was it was a big boys club I mean we played hard I mean watch any of the nerd HQ videos and that's like we've done a year's worth of publicity in two days yeah Misha and I get to do one day of stuff and they had to only have to come in on the second day and do it but we're like running out of things to do after year seven yeah and it's what can we do but we are the custodians of these are the plot points these are the changes this is what's going on don't talk about this do talk about that and it was wonderful and i i don't i don't i don't regret a second of doing it i don't i miss the camaraderie of the time around
Starting point is 00:42:30 season eight when we were all in the in the you know season eight is the end where um i'm tied to a chair in a church and jared myself and you know it was three days three days on stage in sequence i'm crying quoting girls HBO's girls it's nuts i'm singing bowie it's i'm being injected with human blood and falling apart and he's falling apart and jensen did six hours of off camera dialogue one day i mean if you're talking about class what was the amazing thing crew never made a sound for three days in between in between the shots wow to make a sound wanted us to be able to do the best we could do that's we we had support everywhere yeah we had support everywhere i mean that's that's that's a big part of it i can't
Starting point is 00:43:18 I can't talk, I can't talk more highly about the boy's behavior. Yeah. Especially towards those that weren't very good necessarily when they came. They would, they would be even more generous. Unbelievable. It was always, that's the way. They come from good families. Good leaders.
Starting point is 00:43:34 No, they have great families. Yeah. And you can tell, you meet, if you ever met either Jensen or Jared's family, I haven't. You could tell he's raised well. They're just good people, man. They're just good people. Until Jared has a few beers and then you're in trouble.
Starting point is 00:43:47 Jared's easy. I love Jared. I'd love you, buddy. Ever wonder how dark the world can really get? Well, we dive into the twisted, the terrifying, and the true stories behind some of the world's most chilling crimes. Hi, I'm Ben. And I'm Nicole. Together we host Wicked and Grimm, a true crime podcast that unpacks real-life horrors, one case at a time.
Starting point is 00:44:09 With deep research, dark storytelling, and the occasional drink to take the edge off, we're here to explore the Wicked and Reveal the Grim. We are Wicked and Grim. Follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform. Hey, what about working with, I know you worked on Firefly and Badger with Joss Whedon? What was, I mean, now that all this shit came out, do you remember anything that you kind of saw as, you know, rubbed you the wrong way and you're like, oh, you know, in hindsight, that was, or did you never see anything like that? Was he a joy of work with? I did Firefly and I did Dollhouse.
Starting point is 00:44:43 Dollhouse. Right. So here's the thing with Just, I'm not one of Just's guy. I wasn't in Buffy, I wasn't an angel, I wasn't any of that stuff. I'm not one of Joss's guys. Go-to's. I'm not any of those things. But the role he wrote in Firefly, he wrote for himself.
Starting point is 00:45:00 Adam Baldwin is a buddy of mine, and he said about halfway through the 12 hours of shooting the scene, he goes like, you know, he wrote it for himself. I'm like, oh, okay, fine. He's extraordinarily smart, ridiculously smart in the same thing. intimidating i don't think so i don't but i've never had an issue i don't i don't i don't i don't i don't i'm not that guy i don't think if you hire me to do a job i'm supposed to be the most interesting five 10 20 30 40 minutes of whatever that job is that's my position right that's under my ego that's to do with i'm not very good at standing in the back and holding a book or or do it's not my thing
Starting point is 00:45:44 so if you hire me i'm the object of attention and i'm going to take the air but i'm not i'm not ungenerous i'm not i'm not dismissive yeah but you know we did the end of season did the end of season nine where jensen's in the bed it's supernatural right and he opens his eyes and they're black demon everybody goes nuts and got warner brothers to find all the reaction videos for him put on the DVD because it was so much fun and tom wright was the director remember tom right he painted all the pictures in night gallery Oh, wow. Wonderfully grown older gentleman who is just brilliant.
Starting point is 00:46:19 Right. And he did Baby, he did the episode Baby that everybody loves. He's done some amazing stuff. He was just funny and brilliant. And he worked for Hitchcock as a storyboard artist. I mean, he's that sort of pedigree. And it's just a fantastic human being and fun to play with. And this scene is here and it's me talking for whatever it is, 27,000 minutes,
Starting point is 00:46:39 giving a speech and making him open his eyes. And I said, what are you going to do? and Tom goes well I see the opening shot as you in silhouette in the doorway rest is up to you have fun and then spend five minutes
Starting point is 00:46:53 trying to find a place I want to be and then suddenly I find this armchair and I go my God this speech is all about truth it's his Abraham Lincoln I'm literally thinking
Starting point is 00:47:02 of the Lincoln Memorial going oh my God I've got two arms oh this is weird no I won't be on the couch I'll be over he let me play for five minutes he works out how to shoot it
Starting point is 00:47:12 that's not because I'm you know I get to be in charge right but he's like here's your parameters go have fun that's what we always want to hear as I'm not the guy in some people that frighten have you had line have you ever had line readings from a director sometimes uh they couldn't articulate what the fuck they wanted and it was terrible direction so I said hey tell me exactly how you want me to say the fucking line and I would I would great and I'd just go boom boom twice the way they said it just to move on I don't care I'm like, let's go. Yeah, just give me a line reading.
Starting point is 00:47:45 I was dying in 24 and the director of the episode. We'll get back to Josh Whedon. There's nothing to say about Josh. All right, fine. Because, I mean, like, so I get a phone call. Like, Josh wants you to be in Dollhouse. I'm like, okay, can I see it? Again, it says Tanaka.
Starting point is 00:48:00 I'm like, well, obviously wasn't the first choice for this, was I? So I show up at Fox. And I go, and he meets me at the gate. He's like, hey, so you don't, we're doing this. I'm keeping the name. I knew you were going to say that. So it was like, he said, maybe you stepped out with Japanese or something.
Starting point is 00:48:20 I said, oh, I married a Japanese guy. He goes, this is Fox. You can't do that. But he was always incredibly respectful. So you never saw that part. He wrote nice things about me to other people that wrote with me and they passed it on. But the only thing he was asked to do Battlestar back in the day,
Starting point is 00:48:40 do an episode of Battlestar. Which you did. And he said... You did the reboot. The proper battle start you. The one we got Emmys for other than costume. So he was going to do one of the finale-ish episodes somewhere in that last group, you know. And I think, I can't swear to it, but I would think he actually asked, do I have to know the ending to do this episode?
Starting point is 00:49:03 I think Ron said, yes. He goes, I don't want to do it. I genuinely don't want to do it. It would spoil. I arrived at Dyerhouse. He's like, if you tell me the end of battle, I'll kill you. I'm like, I'm going to tell you, best kept secret for six months. Wow.
Starting point is 00:49:17 It was brilliant. Nobody wanted to know. Nobody wanted to know. It was like, do you know I've never seen a series? You'd love it. It's West Wing in space. It's West Wing in Space. I saw the pilot and I was blown away.
Starting point is 00:49:27 The pilot is, the mini series is the opener. Yeah. And then episode one is about the sensory deprivation. All right. I'm going to watch. You don't say anything. I think it's brilliant. But it's serialized.
Starting point is 00:49:40 You cannot jump into it. It's just, it's like, cliffhangers and, right, right, right. And what, what were you going to say about 24? Because I want to know what it was like, because Kiefer was in the podcast. I want to know kind of like your experience. And I go, great. Keefer knows I'm sober and never has ever spent a minute. I mean, I keep hearing all these things that people say about him.
Starting point is 00:49:59 And I've never encountered that. What he has, and I can't really speak for him, but I can say what happened around, is he doesn't like it when people behave unprofessionally. And there's plenty of actors that are like that It's like, please be quiet We're trying to work here Trish and bail Yeah, I mean, I understand that
Starting point is 00:50:18 You just don't want to do it when your mic's on Right Or go as extreme perhaps Well, he's so far down in the hole in what he's doing I mean, it's I've been, we've all been there I've been like this, I've been But it's more of a, it's, you're upset
Starting point is 00:50:29 But you know like So it's like Al for the fuck of fucks What are you doing? You know, banging nails and doing it But good Lord, son And then you laugh it off and you go on. But he just went mental, you know.
Starting point is 00:50:44 Wade, it's just, we always get the tip of the iceberg. You know, not to be crude, but you fuck one goat, you know. Now you're the goat fucker. Well, it doesn't matter what else you've done in your life. But you've, you kill one person, you're a murderer. Exactly. Well, that's kind of different, you know, I suppose if the goat died, there would be a worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:07 Well, but the truth of it is is, is the. intensity, the intensity in performance, the intensity and we never have enough time in television and the, and the belief, you know, you come in as a guest story, you're in a very, very different position than you are. Somebody who has to work 16 hours a day, five days a week for X amount of years. Sure, you're getting the money, but you have to go to your trailer and do all your business, all your home stuff. And no life. You've got no other life. Right, right, right. You know, and so I think producers were very clever with Jared and Jensen and Misha at least giving them the option of some spots here and there.
Starting point is 00:51:44 So my character was written up, I think, to just give some relief from that. Could you do it right now? Could you do if somebody offered you a lead role in a TV series, a one-hour drama? I'd do it in a minute. You could do it. Yeah, I'd love it. Physically and mentally, you think you could handle those hours, those being the lead. I'm never happier.
Starting point is 00:52:02 Never happier. And the weird thing is, is I'm getting a bit older. How old are you? 58. So as I'm getting a bit older. You don't like 58. I'm 50 in July. You're a baby, though.
Starting point is 00:52:14 No, that's not a baby. I'm half a fucking century. It's all that hockey. That's the problem. Yeah, probably. But, no, there's a 58 years old, I love doing the telling his stories. It doesn't matter it's music. You've got your bands.
Starting point is 00:52:26 You've got great stuff going on. I've watched your progression through the different versions of the bands and playing. And you love it. I just enjoy it. But you know, you don't enjoy it. You love it. If you enjoyed it, you know, you do it occasionally. But you love it and you pursue it.
Starting point is 00:52:42 In a way where I'm not going to be upset by the outcome of what happens. I know that I'm doing it at a passion. You don't have to sleep in a bus. Exactly. You could go stay in four seasons if you want to. Right, exactly. But the truth is to get a chance to act is an extraordinary thing. you know um to be paid to do something that you love to do is a privilege beyond all other privileges
Starting point is 00:53:13 but let me ask you do you are you an actor because i know some actors i'm an actor yes do you know because i know actors that are just like i want to work to work i just want to work to work i don't care what it is i want to work do you or can't do it i'm not that you have to love it or you have to be passionate about it or you have to see something that you could do with it right on the premise that every every time an actor gets a job another actor dies a little um yeah good man where it brings us all up yeah well done it's like no we don't feel that it's like damn but i'm not i don't know why i'm not i've never been good at commercials i've never been good at soaps i've never been good at any of those things it's not that never did a soap and i never did commercial jensen's like my god
Starting point is 00:53:56 that boy did like 68 pages because he wanted to go away for four five days or something one day. I'm like, he did 68 pages of soap dialogue in a day. I don't know how he did that. He's amazing. I don't know how he did that. He commits, it's about committing to it and the words are rubbish. To me, the words are everything.
Starting point is 00:54:14 And I have to find. It takes me a minute. I have to find some truth in something, a truth, not the truth, but a truth. To connect with. Otherwise, why am I saying it? I don't, I don't, I feel so self-conscious when, something isn't in a reality that makes some sort of sense to me. It can take me by surprise.
Starting point is 00:54:35 I don't need to control it. I don't need to direct it or make it be something. I'll find it sometimes to be something really funny when it wasn't supposed to be. But the truth of the matter is I own it. And unless I own it, I can't. And that cuts me out of about 60% of the work that's come across my, you know, and there's roles that came up. They're huge stuff for me.
Starting point is 00:54:55 It would have been groundbreaking changes in my acting. What's this, Doom Patrol? Doom Patrol is amazing. God damn. What is Doom Patrol? I haven't seen Doom Patrol. Do you know anything about it? No.
Starting point is 00:55:06 So I don't want you to give it away, but how would you describe it in a nutshell? It's a 1960s comic. It was a 1960s comic that got redone by Grant Morrison. You know, the guy did Happy, and that's that, right, Grant, wonderful Scottish comic book, graphic novel, TV shows, writes, rights, rights, rights, right, sort of another Irvine Welsh, another Neil Gaiman in a way, but maybe less prolific, but just as interesting. And he was very much the antidote to Alan Moore, whether he likes it or not.
Starting point is 00:55:38 They were very contrary. You know, there's a, you know, watchman and his stuff was very different. And he read it in the 80s on Vertigo comics. And Doom Patrol was actually the original prototype. I think that X-Men stole from. Really? There's a chief in a wheelchair. There's, you know, elastic woman.
Starting point is 00:55:55 And you're a regular. I'm bizarre. I'm doing my usual. I don't even want to know. Mark Shepard. But you do a lot of episodes. I'm playing Constantine. Wow.
Starting point is 00:56:04 But he's not called Constantine because Grant wasn't allowed to put Constantine in Vertigo comics in the 80s. So he was watching with Nail and I. Of course. Which you love. And so he drew it as Richard E. Grant.
Starting point is 00:56:14 So I got a hold of Grant and I was like a buddy of mine was doing Green Lantern with him. My buddy Liam Sharp, the artist, was doing Green Lantern with the one they've just done that's just brilliant. Everybody goes, oh, great, we can make a film now yeah um so i can't want to cry like so it's it's uh it's richard e grant
Starting point is 00:56:33 and and with now was like yep i'm right okay i said with all the love in my heart i don't think i can play it quite that defeat i think it'd probably be a bit be a bit more like a drunk mad eye moody he's that sounds good to me and he's not actually a producer on the show but he's so that's kind of your character it's constantine And where do we find it? Where do we find this? Well, the show was put out on D.C. And they tried to pre-tease it by doing it with Teen Titans.
Starting point is 00:57:03 And they put Cyborg into it. Javan Wade, who's wonderful. And they put him across. And they tried to do it that way, the typical D.C. way of doing it. And nobody watched it. And they did this first season. So you've got Timothy Dalton, Matt Boma, in bandages. Mark Shepard.
Starting point is 00:57:22 No, Matt Bomer. Brendan Frazier Diane Guerrero from Orange's New Black and Encanto and a lot of other things April Bowlby two and a half men remember Candice?
Starting point is 00:57:36 Yep. Candy in two and a half men. So a good cast. No, and then the bad guy's Tudik playing this Alan Tudor playing this diminutive Mr. Nobody, which is really wonderful performance by him.
Starting point is 00:57:48 Javan Way playing Cyborg and who's running it? Jeremy Carver who ran the interesting parts of Supernatural, the 8 through 10, 11 era. And it was like, oh, my God. And I'll just tell you this. The entire town disappears up the ass of a donkey in the second episode. Have you seen it?
Starting point is 00:58:10 I started it. I hadn't finished it yet. So HBO bought it. They went, what the hell? This is genius. Really? So it's not Supergirl and it's not the boys. It's something else.
Starting point is 00:58:20 It's about mental health. And it is truly disturbing. and beautiful and funny and begs the question which is why things have changed why isn't Brendan Fraser in everything yeah well he's because there's a resurgence now there's a resurgence as a result of doom
Starting point is 00:58:35 he's like he's it's this beautiful heart in this I love this show I truly love this show and it is we've done three seasons three seasons going into the four seasons wow and I'm a a recurre character that you can't kill so yes do you have a deep voice like that i have my voice that's a deep voice i actually got to say the c word in my first line cunt i literally had to email jeremy and go i i'm saying i avoided the c word for 35 years at this point or 40 years and he said oh let me have a look
Starting point is 00:59:16 oh yeah still in the script this is says a humor i guess i'm like okay it was the weirdest thing to do Was it exciting, though? No. You know that Americans can't say it. I know. Everyone in England can say it. No, no, not. Can't say it.
Starting point is 00:59:30 Literally cannot say it because they get guilty the moment it slips out of their mouth. You saw me say it a few seconds ago. Yeah, but you look slightly uncomfortable. Was I uncomfortable? Slightly. Because there's a knowledge that it's a bad word. In England, it's a different thing. Let me hear it, Ryan, say it.
Starting point is 00:59:47 That's going to sound weird. Say it. Cunt. It's cool. Yeah, that was. He's a cunt. But everybody, it's a. sounds better when you say it yeah but i mean he's a he's a can't yeah but i don't say no i don't
Starting point is 00:59:58 sound like dick he's a he's a real cant well last well two years ago cunty cuntish and cunting made it into the oxford english dictionary hmm your cunting daughter do you know what she did that's from the exorcist he goes your cunting daughter yes that's that's very old language but it's a little that was a little cunty it was a bit a tad it's a weird word because it polarizes so many people. The reason why I don't use it is because it's used appallingly. Right. It's used in an atrocious
Starting point is 01:00:31 manner and now it has taken on a meaning other than the vernacular that it was. Should we bleep it for this episode every time we say it? No. I mean, I'm not believing in censorship but do I, you know, I'm not going to have to have a conversation about how this
Starting point is 01:00:47 affects women or whatever. It's, it's, it should never have been. I'm not, I don't, I don't I'm not a believer in the banning of language. It's intent that's important. Intent is everything. Yeah. Should be able to say what you want.
Starting point is 01:01:02 I mean, you know, language is there for that reason. But it does kind of put you in a corner if you say certain things. Sure. Hey, this is called shit talking with Mark Shepard. You played it before. These are rapid fire from fans, my patrons who give back to the podcast, join patreon.com. Inside of you and message me and I will message you back. But these are questions that they have for you.
Starting point is 01:01:23 The patrons. That's a sunspin. That's my band's coaster. Do you like that? Real slate. How much you're selling those for? Not much. Eight bucks. That's pretty good. You put cheese on it, too. You can put cheese on there and cut it. Cut the cheese. Leanne, I have been hearing some rumblings of a possible Firefly reboot. Do you foresee that happening? I'm 58 years old. What does that mean? Like, yeah, if they do it, they're certainly not going to use me in it.
Starting point is 01:01:52 Why not? Because I'm 58 years old. You don't look 58. What are we going to have? We're going to have Firefly the retirement years. I mean, what's going on here? Well, how old was your character? When they reboot anything, they reboot, he was young.
Starting point is 01:02:04 God, how many years ago did we do that? 15, 20 years ago? 15 years ago, probably. But would you do it if they asked you? I'd do anything if they asked me to do it. If it's something that's something I love. Yeah, I want to do this, by the way. I want to go to this place.
Starting point is 01:02:20 But Lisa H says, I just want to say, I met you last July at Matt. monster in Arizona, and you were a delight. Your panel was phenomenal, and I absolutely loved how you called out the tiring, same old questions. Oh, I just, I have this nonstop thing of going like, that's a terrible question. Why ask you? You know what it is? You get bored. If you're sitting on a stage and you have somebody asking questions like, like, we could do this and then we put an audience in front. What are we giving them? Nothing. You and I would know that, like, you know, Nerd HQ, you play with them. That's the fun. The fun is that you involve and play. So I'm, I'm doing the Morton Downey Jr. meets Phil Donahue, grab a microphone and go walk in.
Starting point is 01:02:56 That's what I do. Yeah. I go high-fied babies. You have fun. Go see people dressed as you enjoy it because you want them to enjoy it. People dressed as Castile are an open season target for me. And Misha played Cassio. Yes. So I'm like, what did you come as? And you get these wonderful girls who go like Castile and I'd never heard of her. You just fuck with people. No. It's a it's a sort of unwritten, agreed rule that they're important to me they're not strangers they're important to me we're all in this together let's entertain the people sitting at the back let's entertain everybody let's do something that's fun yeah somebody gets out on a microphone they're nervous i'll go over and and you're okay what's going
Starting point is 01:03:38 what's going what you really want to know i noticed that when i'm signing autographs at conventions i'll look over when i see you and you take your time with every person like it's unbelievable like you really do you know how much courage it takes to dress up go to a convention and tell the entire world in front of you what you like what your favorite thing is and then meet somebody who you've never met before and you have an opinion about or an idea about and you go up and you've been practicing saying something for an amount of time and say you suffer from anxiety or depression or any of the things which the themes of supernatural tend to support a lot of these communities because it's about family and fighting and not giving up and all these things
Starting point is 01:04:25 and a sense of community, which is important. But then they come up and they practice something for three months and they say something, it's a non sequitur because I say something first by accident. Like, oh, nice hat. And they're like, you're a big twat. I'm like, oh, fuck, that was a line from something. They're just trying to do a line. Okay, okay, I got it. My job is. My job is is to welcome and care. Do you remember what I did when I threw something at you playfully, but I didn't know you were talking to somebody who was talking to you about something that was like really heavy.
Starting point is 01:05:00 It was like somebody's father or mother just died. And I'm just trying to get his attention. But I don't hear this. And I flick a rubber band paper wad at him. And it like goes and he just turns his head and you kind of just looked at me like, look at death. Not now. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:13 No, because I. Yeah, we weren't being a dick. No, no. You can do whatever we can do whatever we want. I was just going to go, God, if you hit that person. person with that, it's going to be the worst day of their life. Yeah. Michael Rosamond, who, you know, after I said my mother,
Starting point is 01:05:25 oh, no. And I mean, it's like, you never know where people are at. No, you never know. And if they're willing to share with you where they're at, then it's a lovely thing. Dana asks, what was the worst job that you have ever had? That's a job. A job could be anything. It was the worst job, but you go, oh, that sucked.
Starting point is 01:05:41 Built design and maintained video duplication systems in the valley when I first got sober. That's a little tongue twister right there. I've been a motorcycle courier, pretty weird, in London. I haven't had a lot of jobs. I ran a bar in Hollywood for a long time. Really? What was it called? The powerhouse.
Starting point is 01:05:59 The powerhouse. Gary Twin was the main guy and I was the other guy. And that was kind of way out of my league, drunk, dry and sober. I ran that place and I had to stop. I was like, I can't be here. I can't do this. No, why am I here? Somebody pulled a gun on me one day.
Starting point is 01:06:13 Somebody's like, it was crazy town. It really was crazy town. Maya P. What do you miss most in least about? about being a touring musician energy of crowd instant gratification instant organic they breathe we breathe a bowl f a bowl it's a ball if i messed it up again a ball you can kick my ass hello again mr shepherd you did me a solid by doing a video for my wife that just because i love her video my question is what's a guilty pleasure of yours i e
Starting point is 01:06:49 a song, wardrobe, or movie. Guilty pleasure. Top gear. What's top gear? British TV motoring shows was on for years. Jeremy Clarkson. You loved it? I still love it.
Starting point is 01:07:03 I was just watching it again recently. There's so many guilty pleasures. Yeah. You know, boys are back in town live from live and dangerous thing, Lizzie. That's a guilty pleasure. Will F. Leverage Reboot? Do you see yourself headed to Nola?
Starting point is 01:07:19 I wasn't invited for the first year I love those guys they're really really good and Dean Devinan is the last independent television studio here yeah right and I love him and John Rogers who was part of the creation
Starting point is 01:07:33 that Amy Berger created my character in that some really great writers and great people how this hodge for God's sake he's a wonderful wonderful actor and Christian Kane we've intersected off and over many many years lovely cooked he's a great great chef really good chef
Starting point is 01:07:48 nice but he says just a sweet guy and i was there to be one thing and then they did the amazon thing and they sort of went well i don't think he fits in what we're doing so i took a bit of umbridge with that but you never know they've been picked up for another one so right maybe go ahead dean gets just blasted all day with what about mark shepherd when stirling coming does he god stephen moffat said to me said would you please tell your fans that i don't cast things the way that they think I do. I write what I write and then when I've written it, I work out who I want to play it. Right. So why is 50,000 people saying you need Mark Sheppard
Starting point is 01:08:25 in Sherlock or you need Marks? It's like they don't understand. A lot of those writers don't understand that's a barrage. Then you do Doctor Who too? How many episodes? I did two episodes at the beginning of season six. Do you still get people coming up to you for Dr. Who? It's wonderful. It was in Nixon's White House during the space race. Really? Oh, God, yeah. And I'm playing a former FBI agent. Do you know I've never seen Doctor Who?
Starting point is 01:08:55 It's fantastic. I'll tell you where to start to what. Which doctor do I start with? Well, the thing is what you grew up with is your doctor, right? But me personally, it's not a bad place to start. Not to go into Monster of the Week stuff, but there is a really interesting art that starts at Fish Fingers and Custard. we can do this for him
Starting point is 01:09:14 when Matt Smith starts a fish fingers and custard goes through Pandorica through Christmas into the stuff I did in season 6 which is written by Neil Gaiman written by Mark Gaitis written by some of the best people so you watched a lot
Starting point is 01:09:30 of episodes no more than anything else I mean I've watched Doctor Who as a kid so they came to they came to me if it wasn't for Jim Michaels at Supernatural I wouldn't have been able to do it They flipped a schedule around in England so I could do it. They offered it to me.
Starting point is 01:09:47 I was like, of course. And they said, when are you coming over to the prosthetics is the older me, that'll make sense to you when you see it. And I said, why don't you just ask my dad? That's right. So he goes, would he do it? I said, of course he'd do it. So I called my dad and I go, like, you're doing Doctor Who? And he's like, I didn't even ask him, but you said, you're doing Doctor Who?
Starting point is 01:10:06 He goes, is it all cardboard and bits of string like it used to be for sets? I'm like, no, it's fabulous. And I sent him the same stuff that I'm telling you about. And he watched Matt Smith. He would go, this boy is incredible, beautiful actor. And he suddenly got that thing of why it's so precious to so many people. Wow. So he played you older?
Starting point is 01:10:29 He played the older me. What a genius thing. And he had to do it in Utah. So he had to get dispensation from SAG to do it as non-U. Oh, my God. Just helpful. Morgan here. I've got to do this thing, but it's not.
Starting point is 01:10:42 non-new you see you want a waiver i don't know do i want to morgan you want a waiver you want to oh okay fine then i want to waver do you do you still get uh anxiety like crippling anxiety or do you know how to deal with it and what do you do for the anxiety when you get it's about i've got kids i've got 22 16 with type 1 diabetes and five nearly six six in a few days yeah you know and i'm i'm wired badly for that stuff i get to panic i got to support them i've got to do this i got to do that what if this what if that what if this i've drive myself up up the wall you know luckily they've all got good therapists do they have therapists your kids have therapists yeah i think everybody should be in therapy that's good i got a 22 year old who's smarter than
Starting point is 01:11:35 i was at 30 i got a 16 year old who's smart than all of us and I got a five, six, almost six year old daughter who's just fantastic. The five or six year old daughter goes to therapy? No. No. I was like, wait a minute. That'd be interesting. My boys are, yeah, they have their own thing.
Starting point is 01:11:58 You know what, though, in this world, we didn't have that shit growing up that they've got now. No. Think of the idea of dating at 16 or 20 years old. It's like going to have consent forms and go take a trip to the, Got to take a trip to the doctor before you go out on a date. It's craziness. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:12:18 You know, everything's on video. All the mess ups and the stupid crap I did as a kid, would have had camera phones? I don't know if I'd have made it to 20. Yeah. I think that goes for everybody. Yeah, but it's like, so it's so harsh out there. It is.
Starting point is 01:12:31 And they're smart kids, you know. Yeah. I love having you on. You know, it's great because you just, you're one of those guests that you can get deep, but you also tell good stories. and it's easy to talk to you and I don't have to sit there
Starting point is 01:12:44 and I just sit back and enjoy. Don't you feel like that? It's just like all of a sudden I'm in Ireland. I'm in Belfast. Now I'm on the fucking sitting. Now I just picture your dad and he's going to Utah to film this
Starting point is 01:12:56 and it's just very visual. But the truth of this is when we discover, when we go do conventions or we go, that's where we usually will see each other and stuff, you know, out and about. And it's post show.
Starting point is 01:13:08 We're doing other things, but it's post the show that people are seeing is for. So our conversations are not about the show we're on. We're all in the same boat. We're all part of that same thing. And we're just trying to get a break and trying to be kind and nice to the people who've come to see us and try to elevate their day and elevate their weekend and get through and then go home to our families and get on with the rest of our lives having had a good weekend.
Starting point is 01:13:36 But we're all in the same boat. There are so many of us who are in the same boat of a certain. era and group and at any one given moment any one of us could be you know the next Timothy Dalton well not Tim Tim, Tim special not Tim I got a eight-foot poster of Tim in my dining room do you really from an Italian he's a gladiator Timothy Dalton he's in a centurion's uniform you know Timothy Dalton is yeah James Bond okay yes of course you know that yeah yeah who's your favorite James Bond he's actually the second most popular James Bond in England. You know who my first, my favorite is?
Starting point is 01:14:13 Sean. No. Oh, God, what's wrong with you? Roger Moore. That's who I grew up with. No. I love Roger Moore. More in Jaws and in, uh, the guy who played Jaws, Richard Keel. Mm-hmm. Richard Kiel's in. I met him, yeah. Richard Kiel in, in, uh, Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone. The book. Don't get in the ship. It's a cookbook. How to cook man or whatever. To serve man. To serve man. Well, hey, thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for allowing me to be inside of you. Will you come back again?
Starting point is 01:14:44 Anytime. We'll have to pick a different subject. Maybe I'll interview you next time. You know, that's a possibility. Has anyone interviewed you yet? My brother did a long time ago, but you know,
Starting point is 01:14:53 who wants to do it is Zach Levi. He wants to interview me. Zach would be really good at that. I'd actually, I think that would be brilliant. Oh, my God. He'd go right after me too, wouldn't he?
Starting point is 01:15:02 He'd just be quick. We'd just disintegrate into long stories. Which is fine. No, no, but he'd be quick. He's such a small boy. he is such a smart he's a good guy i love him i think he's a truly truly special person yeah i think so too he's a wonderful so's tom and tom's part it's the same thing man it doesn't matter who's whose turn it is in the barrel right now you know and sometimes we got to wait a little longer than
Starting point is 01:15:26 everybody else but we're all happy when we're all okay does that make sense yeah we are all happy yeah when the next thing it's like yeah okay that's good i'm happy yeah i agree you know and that's the big I think that's the biggest deal for any of us is that this is a tough job made tougher by circumstance right now and we just grind our way through and if you're lucky you end up like Tommy Lee Jones. Yeah, exactly,
Starting point is 01:15:53 and try to avoid the word or hackman. You know what I like about Mark? What do you like about Mark? You can talk. He sure can. And that's saying it in a good way. It's not like I have to pry shit out of them.
Starting point is 01:16:05 Take some pressure off of you, doesn't it? It certainly does. There's nothing worse than going, oh, so anyway, and they're like uh twice okay um so where are you from Brazil uh so um did you like doing that movie yeah okay go fuck girl so so yeah i mean geez louise thank you mark thanks for being on the podcast tell us what you think write to us we're on instagram twitter uh YouTube watch on YouTube, subscribe. Subscribe everywhere. It's really helps when you subscribe everywhere and you listen
Starting point is 01:16:41 wherever you can and we appreciate it. We're also on the, uh, the Patreon. If you want to join Patreon, Patreon by patrons give back. They help to keep the podcast alive. Go to patreon.com slash inside of you. I'll also be in St. Louis for Fan Expo, um, May 13th weekend, Liverpool, May 21st, Illinois, Metropolis, Illinois, June 10th. We're doing small little nights with Tom willing it's a two-man show it's going to be great um a lot of fun stuff going on and a lot of cool things to tell you here in the future if you keep listening there's some really exciting news coming up that i'll tell you about but i just want to thank you for listening today's today's episode um and now i'm going to read the top tiers do we need to do anything else
Starting point is 01:17:24 know they know where to go well tell them you go to inside of you pot on twitter and inside of your podcast and instagram and facebook and you can follow the thing that's what you can do that's what you can do so if you enjoy it today uh i would also ask you guys if you really love the podcast spread the word force your family in a nice way to listen to the podcast to subscribe to the podcast to spread the word and uh because we'd like you we'd like to be one of your choices when it comes to podcasts uh here we go these are the top tier uh patrons nancy d a lea s sarah v little lisa ukeko jillie b b r h nina nico jillie b bryan h Mika P. I'm going to keep reading and I'm going to do it.
Starting point is 01:18:06 And you say angry and then you could just say different emotions. Different emotions. Right. So here I go. All right. I'm going to start out with just Nancy D. Leah S. Sarah V. Little Lisa. Angry. Ukiko.
Starting point is 01:18:18 Jill E. Brian H. Sad. Nico P. Robert B. Jason W. Kristen K. Allison L. Roche. C. I sound like sorority boys guy. Really? Yeah, Dina.
Starting point is 01:18:34 Why do you let them treat you like this? Elated. Joshua D. C.J.P. Jennifer N. Stacey L. Jen, S. Jamal, F, Janelle, B. Kimberly E. Mike E. Eldon Supremo. Quisical?
Starting point is 01:18:51 99 more? Santiago M. Chad W. Leon P. Jan P. Janine R. Maya P. Like Tom Cruise. Maddie S. Belinda N. Chris H. Dave H. Spider-Man Chase. Sheila G. Brad D. Ray H. Tabitha. T. Tom N. Lillian A. Talia M. Betsy D. Chattel. Chattel. Rochelle. Marion Meg K. Travel. Dan and Big Stevie W. Angel M. Rianan and C. Give me another one. Buffalo Bill.
Starting point is 01:19:30 Corey K Super Sam Deb Nexon Michelle A Jeremy C Andy T Cody R Gavinator
Starting point is 01:19:38 David C Gary Oldman John B Brandy D Yvour Camila S the C Joey M
Starting point is 01:19:51 Willie F David H Adelaide N Omar I I Lena N. Design O TG. Eugene and Leah. Chris P. Nikki, G. Corey, Patricia. Heather L. Jake B. No, what is that? It's like the count. James B. Ambivos of the States of Nied. James B. Bobbitt, Abel F. Joshua B. I don't know what I'm doing. Walking. Tony G. Sean A. Megan T. Mel S. Solando C. John B. Carolina. Darren B. Robbie. Paul C. Christine S. Sarah S. Eric H.
Starting point is 01:20:32 Tom Welling. Spring. Jennifer R. I have no idea. That's a tough one to do Tom Welling. But guys, thank you all my lovely patrons who make this possible. And thank you, Jason Nelke, my wonderful editor. Thanks to Ryan, my wonderful engineer, and my cohort.
Starting point is 01:20:53 Thanks to Westwood One, Cumulus, for supporting the podcast. And thank you. from myself. Michael Rosam. I'm here in the Hollywood Hills of California. And Ryan Taylor's also here in the Hollywood Hills of California. We love you guys. Be good to yourself. Be good to others. Have a great week. Thanks for choosing this podcast. Look, not every one of them is going to be a slam dunk. I thought today's was a slam dunk. But, you know, stay with us. We're trying to give you good stuff here. And we love you and keep us around. All right. We'll talk to you. Hi, I'm Joe Saul-Ci. I host of the Stacking Benjamin's podcast. Today, we're going to talk about
Starting point is 01:21:36 what if you came across $50,000. What would you do? Put it into a tax-advantaged retirement account. The mortgage. That's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this addition that we're adding. $50,000. I'll buy a new podcast. You'll buy new friends. And we're done. Thanks for playing everybody. We're out of here. Stacky Benjamin's follow and listen on your favorite platform.

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