Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Supernatural’s MARK SHEPPARD: Filling a Void
Episode Date: April 19, 2022Mark 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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You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.
If you're hearing my voice for the first time, I really applaud you for taking the time and listening to this podcast.
If you're here for Mark Shepard and you're a big fan, maybe just maybe you'll listen and you'll go, hey, you know what?
I kind of like this guy and it was a good interview and I'm going to give him another chance.
That's what we hope, Brian.
We hope that we get a second chance and people subscribe and that they can easily subscribe.
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ubiquitous i like that word's good word um in our our handles follow us at inside of you podcast on
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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
I just hope you'll listen next week instead of,
if you're just here for Mark Shepard, maybe you'll stick around.
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And that's Patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash inside-of-you, right?
Yes.
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Yeah, that's right.
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You know, Stephen Amel
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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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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,
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
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
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
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.
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
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?
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
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.
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
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Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show i noticed that you always bring up
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
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?
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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,
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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Together we host Wicked and Grimm, a true crime podcast that unpacks real-life horrors, one case at a time.
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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.
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.
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
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.
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,
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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,
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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?
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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.
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?
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?
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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?
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?
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,
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?
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
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,
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Corey K
Super Sam
Deb Nexon
Michelle A
Jeremy C
Andy T
Cody R
Gavinator
David C
Gary Oldman
John B
Brandy D
Yvour
Camila S
the C
Joey M
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.
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.
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
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.
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