Senses Working Overtime with David Cross - Russ Tamblyn

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Catch all new episodes every Thursday. Watch video episodes here.Guest: Russ TamblynSubscribe and Rate Senses Working Overtime on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review to read on a future episode!Follow David on Instagram and Twitter.Follow the show:Instagram: @sensesworkingovertimepodTikTok: @swopodEditor: Kati SkeltonEngineers: Anya Kanevskaya and Casey DonahueExecutive Producer: Emma FoleyAdvertise on Senses Working Overtime via Gumball.fm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. I'm glad to see you're using the cane. Yeah, okay, and I will go All right I'm glad to see you're using the cane the walking stick You know, I gotta tell you the truth. I don't know what I did without it No, you were being you were being so stubborn and obstinate For years we had that major argument in the kitchen, remember, when you found some lady to back you up. And I was begging you for years to use the... Yeah, you were absolutely right. Yeah, you were just being obstinate and vain, I would say. Well, it's true. And I believed myself at the time.

But when I started using it, I realized that I just started, I got used to it and I couldn't walk without it anymore. What I did do though, I put the rubber thing on. Got some rubber. That's smart. Things, because it was kind of slippery. Yeah, this is, this was, I got this, I know exactly where I got it. There's this kind of, I don't know if it's famous, but old, like a hundred-year-old store

right near the British Museum of, what is it? It's right there. It's over near where I used to work in London. And they have like old maps and globes and walking sticks. And so this is an original, you know. Cain. Well, like it's a stick, you can see, and it's hand... What? I'm sorry, I was asking on that. Well, like it's a stick, you can see, and it's hand, what?

I'm sorry, I was asking on that. Is the hat, is it gonna have a shadow on the face? Most people are listening to this. Really? Yeah. I'll butt out. Thank you. That's my mother-in-law, everyone. You can take the hat, leave the hat, it's fine.

Some people, yes, you can put it on. Some people will watch, but I think most people, is that right, you guys? I don't know, I have the numbers on this thing. Why do I have the cane? You take it. I don't know, I'll need it soon enough. Do you guys know, have any idea whether more people watch or more people- I'm more familiar with the video numbers, the audio numbers, and a lot of people do

watch- Okay. Well, there you go, Russ. So I'm going to be talking today to Russ Tamblyn, my father-in-law and legendary Hollywood fiend. Or I should say legendary Hollywood figure and my father-in-law. Father-in-law is not. I should switch the order of importance. You're less known as my father-in-law and more known as a legend in Hollywood. And then my mother-in-law, his wife, Bonnie Tamblyn, the mother of my wife. Right.

There you go. A lot of people don't know how that works. And Russ, there's some water for you if you want. Oh, good. Yeah, I'm gonna have some water. Now, over the years, you've told me some amazing stories. I remember the first time we really hung out, I believe if I remember this correctly, this is before Amber and I were married, but we went to Hawaii for that

women's feminist powwow, whatever. And then you and I found a glorious hour and a half to get away from all the ladies talking about their feminists shit. And we went to a bar and that was the first time you started telling me some of these stories that are just amazing and I make you tell them to my friends and people because you have so many of them. And I don't think a lot of people know that you were a studio kid. You were contracted. When did you first start? Well, I was late.

I wasn't really a child, but I was under contract the last couple of years of high school at MGM. When did you start? What was your first thing? My first job in Hollywood. In Hollywood? Yeah, as an actor. It was a movie starring Dean Stockwell called The Boy with Green Hair. Right.

That was at RKO. And how old were you when you did that? I think like about, I don't know, do you remember Bonnie? About 11? Yeah. 11 years old, 10 or 11. Yeah. And then it just continued from then on. And the reason I bring this up is because you have a book coming out and it's a cookbook. No. And you're a terrible cook. That's the thing that's so fascinating. That is for sure. Yeah. You're good. You heat things up well. You're skilled at that, but as far as cook, no. However, Bonnie is an excellent cook. Yeah, she's a great cook. So what is the date of the book release? I'm not sure. April 14th? She knows everything.

Okay. Funny. We'll check and we'll get it. April 9th. April 9th. That's it. Oh, so the book is in Aries. Interesting. Yeah, it's a fire sign. Yeah. And I've been for the last week or so, I've been every day doing an audio book. I'm doing an audio book of the book. Have you ever done one of those? I have done two of them and they're hard to do. Exactly what I was going to say. I thought it would be much easier. I thought, oh, I'm a great reader.

I told you, we had this conversation and I said, don't try to do it over two or three days. You need to block out because after two hours, it's just you're done. Yeah. You're just done. And they make you feel dumb because they got an audio guy and a person from my publishing company, from Blackstone Publishing, and they keep interrupting you. No, no, no, no. You say this line, not that one, this word. It's like it's crazy. It's really hard and annoying. But a lot of people, it pays off because that's how people will

come to know your book. And I understand why they want to get the words clear, then they'll come back on the air and they'll say, well, that was kind of sloppy. It was a little mushy. Well, they're listening as people are going to listen to it, so they know. And just so people know, the name of the book is Dancing on the Edge. Correct. Yeah. And I've been writing it for over 25 years. Long time, yeah. Well, I know Bonnie kicked her ass into getting it done. Bonnie did a lot of work. And also, Amber sent me the PDF of the galley copy and I was in the hotel lobby last night and I was scrolling through.

I wish you would ask me for a picture of the two of us because the one you chose is not great. I would not say it's my most flattering look, but. Yeah, I don't have many pictures of you, do I? I don't have any. That's the one Amber sent. Well, then I will talk to her later about that. Yeah, you can smack her. But it's really good. I pick out a section and I'd read two, three pages, four pages, scroll down, pick out some more. And

scroll down, pick out some more. And Sarah did an amazing job. Oh, she did. She really did. I mean, it's those stories that you told me, that you started telling me a long, long time ago, but really in your voice, fleshed out. And they're amazing stories. I mean, you've led, and I know it's your life, so it doesn't, you've been inside of it, so it doesn't seem as crazy and phenomenal, but I think most people read this. It's just nonstop. That's nuts. With the supporting cast of characters that we know and don't know. The ones, Elvis, Elvis Presley,

Charles Manson, Jane Mansfield, I mean, Marilyn Monroe pops up. I mean, there's just, it's pretty nuts. The Queen of England. That's right. Yeah, I don't think of it as celebrities. I guess because people that I know, it's like you talked about somebody that you were in high school with. Yeah. You know, Neil Young, Dean Stockwell, all that. But it makes, you know, it just is…

You know, it just is, and look, I have my own kind of life that has a foot in the celebrity circles. And I, you know, I have to remind myself sometimes that, you know, because I'm inside of it and people are like, holy shit, you did this and, you know, you got to do this thing and, you know, hung out backstage, blah, blah, blah. And it really is, I'm, you know, I'm still like amazed at your stories and I just there, I see them as icons. It's cool. Also, it underscores what a lot of people don't think about when they think about actors and acting and Hollywood and that, and that it's a job. You're doing these things and it is a job, that was your job. And sometimes you had good days, sometimes you had bad days. And sometimes an amazing thing happened and quite often it was just mundane. It was a chore, you know? But it's also a reminder of that and that this is where you grew up and that's just, it would be like royalty. If you talk to a prince, that's his everyday life. He doesn't know anything different.

That's true. I mean, I was in school with Elizabeth Taylor when she graduated. Did you cheat off her? Did she cheat off you? She was just graduating. She was a little older than me. Well, then you should have cheated off her. I shouldn't cheat. Because she's taken those tests already. So she would know the answers. Yeah, probably. She's pretty funny though. There was one moment when Dane Stockwell and I were in the class and Elizabeth was in there and she raised her hand and Miss McDonald was our teacher and she had her hair in a bun. She

was like a movie, looked like a movie teacher, you know? She probably was, had no accreditation. They just grabbed somebody an extra off the lot. But Elizabeth raised her hand and asked if she could go to the bathroom and Mrs. McDonald said yes. So Elizabeth went in the bathroom and she was gone for like 15 minutes, you know, and she finally, we heard the toilet flush and she finally came out and Mrs. McDonald said, Elizabeth, you couldn't possibly have been going to the bathroom all this time. And she said, I certainly was. She said, go in there and smell. So, so you're saying Elizabeth Taylor took a stanky ass dump. And dumped something you wouldn't think.

Stinky dump. All right. Well, I know that your story about the Queen of England taking a stinky ass dump was something. I did not expect to see that coming. But yeah, and just how she reeked, she stunk as if she had been out in the fields all day. Yeah. And it was like a, I think you described it as old wet carpet that a cat had died on. Oh, I had never heard that one.

Come on, I'm trying to sell your book. I'll ask you to just pick one, share one story that you might want to share to get people to give them a whet their appetite. That's W-H-E-T. I've got so many good stories, but one of my favorites is… I did a movie with Vic de Mon, a musical with Vic de Mon, and Vic de Mon married… I can't even think of her name now, but I was working on the back end of the lot, way on the back of MGM, and I thought, well, I'll go over and say hello to her. And so I did, I went over and I said hello, and she was doing a movie called Somebody Up There Likes Me, with Paul Newman playing a rookie. Oh, his wife, the woman who played his wife? Yeah. That's...

Is it Pierre Angelie? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Who? Pierre Angelie? Yeah, that's who that was, Pierre Angelie. Yeah. I'm glad my memory is not so good.

But I went to see Pierre and she introduced me to Paul Newman. And Paul loved musicals. I didn't know that, but I guess even his wife had a gymnasium place where she used to dance in there. So he said he loved musicals, and I never expected that from Paul Newman. So we talked and we talked, and finally the light started to go. It was like late in the day and the light started to go out. And Paul asked me… Is that what you call it when the sun sets, the light is starting to go out? Well, yeah, they were starting to close down the set and Paul said, you know, we better

get out of here. And he said, oh, listen, can you and Paul said, you know, we better get out of here. And he said, Oh, listen, can you, he said, you have your car here? And I said, yeah, I have it on the lot. And I remember the story. So I said, do you think you could drive me, drive me off the lot? I'm getting my car fixed outside the main gate. And it's about a block, block away. And, and I said, sure, I'll, you know, I can take you. And so I go to my car and I forgot that I had taken all the clothes out of my dressing room and I laid them on the front seat. So I told him, I said, so God, I threw them all in the front seat so I could put it all in the trunk.

And DePaul said, no, I'll just write in the trunk. It's just off the studio lot. So he got in the trunk, he said, I'll hold it down, and he held it down. And we drove off and when we got to where the gate is, there were a bunch of fans waiting outside and I said, Russ, Russ, a bunch of fans waiting outside. I said, Russ, Russ, can we have your autograph? So I said, sure. So I signed about a dozen autographs sitting there. And so when they finished, I said, was really very funny. And I took off and as I was driving away from the studio, I saw the trunk open and Paul was waving at me.

That is the craziest story for a lot of people. Yeah. I mean, Mr. Salad Dressing guy running in my trunk. Man, Hollywood is messed up, man. They got stars given other stars. They ride in the trunk. I mean, it's crazy what they do up there. I must be high on weed. must be high on weed. One thing that I wasn't aware of until I, you know, I've worked a lot in London over the years and as you guys come out there for increasingly poor decisions, a tough Margaret. Yeah. I played your son or something. You did not play my son, Russ. That would have been a stretch.

A little bit of a, so we didn't have that kind of budget for hair and makeup. No, I played your son. So you would have played my father. That's what it was. So now one of my favorite memories and I occasionally bring this up was it was during the third season. So last time, the last so the last of at this point and all that. And it was, I think we were shooting in, gosh, we always tried to shoot in the closer the summer months because you get so much more daylight. You get in London because of

the, you know, where it is on the latitude, you know, you get a good, in the summer, you get a good, you know, like 14 hours of sunlight, you know? And so we would try to shoot, you know, productions, you know, if we could in the summer. So- It was a crazy building, I remember. I mean, I remember we had to walk up like eight flights of stairs. I was ready to go to sleep once I got up. Well, it showed in your performance. So you and Bonnie, who are lifelong Santa Monica residents, well, I think you both went to Hollywood High, right? I went to North Hollywood High.

North Hollywood and you went to Hollywood High. But basically, yeah, Los Angeles. So, you guys came out for those scenes we had to shoot, and we tried to shoot you out in like two three days and. And i wanna say it was i don't know off hand but i'm gonna guess it was around seventy degrees i'm gonna say and i remember andy. What are the ad's had shorts on remember. And we were shooting and you guys, you guys were, we had the fold out chairs, you know, a video village just wrapped up. You had full winter clothes on and blankets.

You asked for blankets. You had blankets and full winter clothing on and it's just one of my favorite memories. Everybody's shooting and it's, it was for London, it was a nice, it was a pretty nice day. Let's say it was May or whatever and even people wearing shorts and you guys are like, could we get a fire pit, please? Yeah, that's something that I would do. I'm 89 now and when you're that old, you just get cold. There's nothing you can do. Yeah. Well, my mom has very serious issues with that, with being cold and not being able to tolerate it, not wanting to tolerate it. You know what I mean. But I didn't know. I interrupted myself, I'm sorry. But I didn't know until we were working together in

London. And to this day, still people will bring it up. But Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is huge in England. Huge. I should say the UK because when people find out, they don't talk about West Side Story, they don't talk about Twin Peaks, they don't talk about anything except Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. They even do at whatever theater thing they have in Kensington Park and Hyde Park area, what they do like summer shows, they do Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as a musical. Really? Yeah, which was just, it was a film first, right? It wasn't a Broadway musical. No, it was a film first. It was a film and then they turned it into a musical and they do that. It's huge. Do you know this or no? Well, I mean, I knew that it was popular, but I didn't know it was that huge. It's the same.

People still bring it up. It's pretty wild. Not long ago, less than a month ago. It was like, oh my God, I'm such a, you know, I don't some Brit. And I'm the last brother that's still alive. Well, that was always your intention, right? Well, not really, but that was pretty crazy that being the last brother, and we all had our hair dyed red and we used to get in the back of Howard Keele's car and drive through a drive-in and it was pretty wild. All these redheaded guys in his Cadillac convertible, you know, and it was really crazy.

It's such a bonkers thing. Amber showed it to me early on in our relationship. She's like, it's insanely dated, sexist, but it's crazy. It's the most sexist. It's so over the top. It's almost a parody. It's so crazy, sexist, weird. And then the thing that, So crazy, sexist, weird. And then the thing that, if you're going to talk like a plot hole. So the general idea is that these kind of isolated brothers who live on top of this mountain and are very independent decide they want some wives. So they go into town, they go down the mountain, they go into town and they kidnap seven women,

seven brides for seven brothers. They kidnap them and everybody in town is like, oh, what's the name of the last name of the characters? Pontipy. Yeah, oh, the Pontipy boys are crazy and know, crazy and rough and so all these women from this small, tiny town get kidnapped. And then everybody's like, what the Pontipy brothers are, we're gonna go, we gotta go save them. And then there's like a big snow and like a little, and they get to the, they get to the point and they're like now we'll have to wait till the snow thaws to pass they'll go back home for three months or four months yeah it's insane your wife your daughter has been kidnapped by these goons and you're like nah all right

check the watch here should be we? I had to… It's not. I didn't have to, but they asked me if I would introduce the movie, Seven Brides, at what was it, Bonnie? The Turner Classic Movies Festival, and it was in Hollywood at Grumman's Chinese, I think, and the audience was full, and they wanted me to introduce the movie. So I told it, and basically like it was, I said, can you imagine somebody coming to the head of the studio at MGM and saying, listen, I got a great idea for a movie.

It's about the, it's based on the rape of the seven Sabine women. And- But with music, with songs. And you know, it's about these seven guys that live in the back, and they're great dancers, like ballet dancers. And so that's the idea for the movie, and the studio said, yes, that's a great idea. Yeah, it's bonkers. But the dancing is fucking nuts. It's incredible. It's incredible.

And they were all straight, which helped a lot. Well, that's what they say. You kissed me, don't forget. You remember that. I do remember that. Yeah, and you're the first guy I ever kissed. I mean, since then, you know, I kiss all kinds of guys. Yeah, why not? It's Hollywood, you know? You gotta give love, give back. You know what? Let's get Bonnie in here because you're going to be called on, I think, a bunch. So let's get you here and comfortable. Bonnie is my mother-in-law.

And she'll be... Do you want to sit here? Oh, no, it's better to be here because you'll be on mic. What are we doing? Oh. Oh, okay. Here, Bonnie, take the... Here we go. Thank you.

Mark Maron invented these microphones, by the way. Apparently. Mark Maron? Mm-hmm. Yeah, he invented the mics. He also invented starting as soon as one enters the room. He invented that. This is his space, then.

Yeah? No, no, no. He invented that. This is his face then, yeah? No, no, no, he did it in his own podcast. He came and did my podcast and I learned a lot about Mark and the things he kind of founded in podcasting. These mics, what else? Do you guys remember anything else Mark invented? When it comes to- It's the concept of podcasting.

And the concept of podcasting, yeah. Having a conversation on mic. On mic, yeah, for listening purposes. But video that was a- Was it? That was head come. Right here. No kidding.

All right, well, suck on that Mark. How about that? Was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers the one where the lady had the cheese in her? Was hiding the cheese. Yes. Yeah, the lady was Julie Newmar. And when we were in rehearsals, right around lunchtime, we kept smelling this awful smell and couldn't figure out what it was. And finally, it was my dancing friend Jacques de Mouffe from the New York City Ballet. He came running over to me when we broke for lunch. He says, I just figured out what that horrible smell was, that it was Julie Neumar. And he said what she would do is put some cheese in the morning when we came in

to rehearse, she'd put some cheese in her bra. And then- In between her breasts. Yeah. Sorry. Well, in her breasts, right. Yeah. This is a kid-friendly show, guys. Okay.

Yeah, and then at noon, she'd take it out and eat it. So, um, we had to tell her to cut it out. What, what, why would she possibly, what reason did she have for doing that? Because she liked warm cheese. There's other ways to warm your cheese. Pete No, not when you're rehearsing dancing. I mean, that was a perfect way to do it. You could just stick it in there. Jared I mean, sure, that is a perfect way. That's a good way. But I'm saying there are

other options to warming your cheese. Pete Like what? Jared Fart on it. You know? I mean, if you're going to, I mean, there's other ways. Put it outside. I mean, there's other ways. Put it outside. Go to a Five and Dime, you all had those back then, and get a magnifying glass. Situate it up on a second floor. Put it under a glass, like a bakery cake plate thing. And get your cheese. That way you don't stink up the whole place. There's one idea. I don't think she realized. I think that she just thought that everybody thought that it smelled great.

So you think that she thought that old tit cheese was a good smell. She's like, hey, everybody likes it. I think so. They should make candles with good smell. She's like, hey, everybody likes it. I think so. They should make candles with this smell. If she was smelling it, I mean, she would have said, listen, everybody, I'm sorry, but I got cheese in my boobs. But I ate it at lunch, so after lunch, it'll all be gone.

Maybe she thinks that's how you make fondue? Well, it was fun to do, but I don't know about you. Yeah, where's my phone when you need it? Fun to do fondue. At the hotel bar last night, I had a crazy full day and I was up at 5.45, I think. I was going to go out to eat, but I was too tired. I was like, I'll just sit and have a couple of glasses of wine. They have a very limited menu, but one of the things of five things was fondue. It's like, oh great, fondue, I love fondue. And it was just, it's the kind of thing where

you should be able to get your money back with no problem. You should say, hey, this isn't fondue. And then they go, you're right, sir, we're going to comp that and don't worry about it because it was like melted gouda spread cheese you know like spreadable kind of cheese gouda with like kind of croutons and some kind of sausage thing that wasn't good and then a slice of maybe a quarter of an apple very thinly sliced maybe 10 slices. And then they put a candle, like literally one of those little tea candles underneath the ceramic thing. They're like, that's not fondue. That's- Pete Slauson Yeah, it doesn't sound like fondue. Jared Slauson No, not at all. You should not call it fondue. just call it, you know, Gouda spread, lukewarm Gouda spread and pals, you know?

And it's like when the one that makes me the angriest is when people say they have poutine, which I love, I love poutine, and then you get it and it's not even remotely close to poutine. It's like American cheese and French fries and, you fries and red sauce or something. You're like, no, you don't get to call it poutine. It's a very specific thing. I love cheese, but I never stick it in my pants. Maybe you should try it. You know there is a term dick cheese. Called what? Dick cheese. Oh, what? Dick Cheese.

No, I did not know that. Yeah, you guys know, Casey's nodding his head, Anya. What's Dick Cheese? I'll Google it after the show. I don't wanna get into this with my in-laws. La la la la la la. I mean, this is a, yeah, it's a kid-friendly show, guys. We don't, come on.

I thought that's what you were alluding to. No. Geez. I have a good Seven Brides story. Oh, hit it. All right. Way, way back in the day, I grew up in Hollywood and where the music store is now at Sunset and Gardner. What's that store called? The big giant guitar center, is it? There used to be- Oh, Sunset Plaza, where the Lemley theater was? The Virgin Megastore was there. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, it was Gardner and Sunset. It's a big giant guitar store there now. Oh, I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

And it used to be the Sunset Grill there where he used to sling the hash and make... Well, there was a theater there called the Oriental Theater. That's racist. That's what they called it. It was lovely inside. The walls were all painted gorgeous with Asian images. Is that better? Yeah, I don't give a... I mean, I'm just telling you, I don't want you to get canceled, Bonnie. Okay. That wouldn't be the first time. And I went to sea with my mother. She took me to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers there. Oh, wow. Interesting. And I was about five years old.

Did you like the message? All I knew is that I loved redheaded And I was about five years old and maybe seven. Did you like the message? All I knew is that I loved redheaded boys from that point on and that's the first time I ever met my husband. Wow. I didn't know that. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. I did not know that. So I met him when I was seven. I think how old were you when you did that? Like you were 15, 16? Yeah. Probably about 16, 17 maybe. So I was little. I was like five. I think how old were you when you did that? Like you were 15, 16? Yeah.

Probably about 16, 17 maybe. So I was little, I was like five, but I loved it. I loved the dancing. Well, it was a good movie. Yeah, no, the dancing is amazing. And I'm not a- They're making a new one now, or they're going to make a new one.

It's a Mormon version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It's called Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It's called Seven Brides for One Brother. RG Yeah, here we go. When you were teeing that up, I'm going, oh, here we go. It's going to be, here comes Russ. That's pretty good. Now, do you get into your kind of Mormon backstory in the book? I don't think I'd… Because that's fascinating too. I might have done that a little.

I think, yeah, I think when they come to see you… What's that? That's my phone editorializing being a critic and making… My phone will occasionally chime in with what it thinks is… Sorry, sometimes it's inappropriate. Sorry, don't take it personally. Well, right now he's reading the Topanga section of the book. It's in three sections. It's the Hollywood Hay days is the first one. And then it's escape to Topanga. And then the last one is called rebirth. But it would be if that story. And then the last one is called rebirth. But it would be, if that story would be in the middle

because Russ, you tell the story about when they came to see you in Topanga. Well, they came to see, in the Mormon church they have- Just to preface, you were brought up, you and Larry and- Yeah, we weren't brought up in it, but my parents became converts to the church and we were like in high school or I was in high school in about the 11th grade when they joined the church. So I became a member too. And I even brought a friend there to join the church one time, and they pass around this water and… It's like they do

it in the Catholic Church too, but they use wine, and they pass around water and a piece of bread. Transubstantation of the water. Yeah, and I used to, I was a priest in the Mormon Church. And I used to have to pass, I used to have to pass it around. And I went and I handed the tray to my, he was on the aisle seat. And then you take whatever you want or one piece, then this little cup of water. So I put the tray in front of him and he says, no thanks, I just ate. And I thought that was pretty funny.

I always remembered it. No thanks, I just drank a glass of blood and ate human flesh. Oh, so go ahead. I just wanted everybody to know the backstory to this about the Mormons. Oh, that was the end of the the backstory to this about the Mormons. Oh, that was the end of the story. No, but the Mormons came to Topanga Canyon. Yeah, they came to Topanga and there were two of them and they're called... Elders?

No, they're... Pests. What? Pests. Pests, yeah. Yeah, they came to me. And I was at that time, I was just turning on… I was just doing a lot of artwork and a lot of crazy kind of artwork. And I was doing nudes and I had a couple of paintings of nudes and they came in and they

looked around and they got really shocked and sort of blown away by it. Because that's the first time they'd ever seen a naked body. I think so. They couldn't wait to get out of there. Without magic underwear on. They said, well, what made you leave the church? I said, I found God. Apologies to the Mormons listening in. Oh, fuck them. I mean, they're just as crazy as any of the other ones. They are. It's nonsense. It's a religion made up by a racist horny con man. So, it is. Oh oh I know what I wanted to ask each of you okay okay Israel v Palestine where do you stand phony would you stop please this

phone so inappropriate well you guys got saved by that one. Are you ceasefire or are you anti-Semitic? I'm definitely ceasefire. Oh, I'm very, I'm all, I'm ceasefire. We're kind of pissed off at Netanyahu and Israel. Oh, you should be. He's a scumbag. He's a criminal. He's corrupt. He's, no, what's happening is awful. I know that some people wanted to ceasefire right away, as I was one of them. And some people are kind of like they just want, they'd like to see maybe a thousand more children slaughtered before they get into the ceasefire. So, and we'll see who gets their wish.

We'll just think peace. Yeah, that hasn't worked, Bonnie. Yeah, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. It hasn't worked ever. I have a theory about that. I mean, when I was… That's a good one. Years ago, I was doing a movie in South America, Dennis Hopper's movie called The Last Movie. And

when I left, I was sitting on the plane next to a Jewish guy and he was talking about guy and he was talking about how horrible the Palestinians are. And this was years ago, this was like 30, 40 years ago, it was a long time ago. And I said, well, I have a theory. I said, I think that the Palestinians instead of, or the Israelis either one or the other, instead of bombing and going and getting revenge by killing, they should drop candy and flowers and just drop it from an airplane. And they should just keep doing that. And eventually, people will go, you know what, they're okay. I mean, we should stop killing them because all I do is send us candy. I mean, I thought that was a great idea and he thought it was the worst idea he'd ever heard.

Yeah, well that- And look what happened. I mean, they just kept on, the shit kept going on for… They are born into, both Israelis and Palestinians are born into, most of them I'd say, not 100% but a lot of them are born into a culture that hates, that reviles, that loathes, that sees the other as vermin, as beneath contempt, as animals, and they say as much. And they're brought up into that. So they're born and they're created to hate the other people. The children, they're all like- There's a really good, and I would urge the listeners if you care about this kind of thing to check it out, there's an organization that I've worked with numerous times

over the years called Seeds of Peace, and they get Israeli kids and Palestinian kids together, because kids are innocent and kids don't have that instinct. It has to be taught to them. They have to be shown to hate. And it gets kids to, if nothing else, see the other folks as just people. And then maybe when perhaps they understand the history and why this feud Hatfield and McCoys goes back thousands of years and tries to, through kids, try to make things better? Well, they try and they learn how to throw rocks, which is helpful. The kids do, because they don't have guns, so they just throw rocks. Yeah.

There are many organizations though are trying to, I mean, the work that I do, the Circlework Council, organizations though are trying to, I mean the work that I do, the Circle Work Council, bringing Palestinians and Israelis together to sit and hear each other when they're young. I think that's a great idea too to put them together. And you know, the other thing you got to remember is these are governments that are responsible. Netanyahu is not popular and Hamas is not popular. They're doing all this stuff in the name of their governments. These innocent people either get kidnapped or the atrocities of October 7th or they get anything post that, they get quarter of a million Palestinians and it will be a lot more than that when it's all said and done and their entire cities and towns are razed to rubble and dust. It's horrible what's going on there now. They're all in that like tent city. They're all…

In Rafa? …and they keep pushing them in the corner. Yeah. And then, you know, there are plenty of otherwise rational people because this is all based in emotion and tribalism and fear and hatred. And there are other people who are otherwise rational, empathetic people who either secretly or not so secretly would like to see the genocide of Palestinians. And some people would like to see the genocide of Israelis. I'm thinking this is the worst it's ever been. This podcast?

No, David. No, this thing that's going on in the- Well, if you're Palestinian, yeah. Yeah. It's just about. Well, it can't be good for the Israelis either because they're murderers, what's going on. So I can't remember if it's ever been this bad. And then the propaganda machine is just an APAC here in the States and the media is cowed and cowardly.

And you know, they, APAC has seen to it that, You know, they pack a scene to it that, I mean, there's all this disinformation. And I don't believe for a second that there was, oh, there were two Hamas guys hiding in a hospital, so we're going to raise the hospital. I mean, it's bullshit. Yeah, it's horrible. Yeah, the hospitals, that's what I feel so bad about it. All the children in the hospitals- But the thing is when Hamas did that, did that awful, terrible, just awful, awful thing, that wasn't the citizens of Palestine that did that. And Hamas, it's not like, oh, there's free and fair elections,

so everybody loves Hamas, that's not the case. And everybody doesn't love Netanyahu. It's just, you know, whatever, all right. That's enough of that. So what else horrible is going on? Way to bring everything down, Russ. Captain Bring Down over here. Who started that?

Uh, yes, it was me. With my question, um, I will often, you know, I end, um, have you listened to the podcast? I haven't had a chance to. Oh, bullshit. You haven't had a chance. You just put a thing in your ear and you turn it on and it's an hour. I've been taking care of him, but I will. This motherfucker naps nine times a day. Well, in between the doctors and the

recording and the writing and arguing with Warner Brothers to get his photos released and all of them. Are all those photos that I saw, they gonna be in there? Yeah, they are. They're great. There's some really amazing, really cool photos in that book. Yeah, it's wonderful. The book is really wonderful. I'm sorry about your photo though.

I would have much rather gotten one that you preferred. Yeah, really? I think my phone's calling bullshit on that. Yeah, it's not a very... There's got to be a million. That's what Amber sent you, huh? That photo? Yeah. I looked through all of my folders and then... It's kind of cute. It's not bad. I'm also... I don't care that much. It's fine. I'm just fucking with you. It's not. You're the man of mystery in the background.

There you go. All right. We did have, I mean, one of the people, George Shakiris, she's shaking her head, no, don't tell that story. Well, it's just that he didn't like the picture of himself. He didn't, so he called and asked. I thought it was a good one. Yeah, it was. The one with George, Shakira's?

Yeah. George likes posy kind of pictures. He likes to look beautiful, which he is. And it was a real honest, true photo of- I thought it was a real honest, true photo of Russ and George with their hands on shoulders facing each other with both cracking up. And it was like, so George changed his mind after much cajoling and begging. So. Russ, I don't know if you remember this, but when Marlo was about five months old, I'd say, we had to move to LA because I was shooting Arrested. And y'all had been out, you know, when she was born, everybody came to New York and I feel like half of America came to see that kid when she was a blob. And you

all were there. And then we came out to LA to, as I said, I had to shoot Arrested and we had a little Airbnb and then pretty quickly after we got there, you all came by to visit and you came in going, where is he? Where is that little guy? Do you remember that? We're like, it's a girl, Russ. It's our daughter. Oh, okay. Where is that little guy? Where is he? You should say that to her the next time you see her. How are you, little guy? We have a great photo of you and Marla with the red nose. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's really, it's pretty great. The Rudolph nose.

Yeah, the Rudolph nose. I love her videos. Amber sends videos all the time of her playing the piano. Heart and soul. That was a good one. Yeah, that was pretty impressive. Very impressive. That really surprised me.

I thought, God, I'm really getting old. I mean, to miss her, you know. Oh, how fast she's growing, yeah. How fast she's growing. She's reached that wonderful age of seven. Is it wonderful? It really is. Why? What do I have to look forward to? She has better control, emotional control, and thinking and she's all the little girlness, all the so

called negative aspects are calming down and she's starting to come into her personhood. When do I get to put her to work? Well, he started at 10. Yeah. Amber was 11, right? Yeah. And Marlowe's smart. You could start her earlier, I think. Yeah. But I don't want her going into this.

Amber really has very, very strong feelings about her going into acting and stuff. Amber feels she's, you know, has very strong feelings about it. And I do, but not nearly like Amber. I would, I would, I'm going to let her do what she wants to do and what she gravitates towards. Um, but you know, she said, this is crazy. This, uh, so, you know, we got, uh, uh, we got a new puppy, right? You've seen that.

Yes. That's growing. It's crazy how big she's getting. I mean, just every day, it's nuts. And she's going to be big. She's going to be a big dog. So we had to take her to get her at 12 weeks. We had to take her to get her first round of vaccine shots and stuff and took her to the vet and it's up the street. And we go there and it's Marlo and the puppy and I and it's the same vets who Ollie and all that. And she goes, oh God, what'd she say? How old was Ollie when you shot her? And they went, what? Like, how old was Ollie when you shot her? And we didn't shoot her. And she didn't understand. She thought that the vets shot Ollie, right, with a gun. And then I said,

tell them, tell them what you tell them what you want to be when you grow up. And she's like, oh, I want to be a veterinarian. Or no, so I want to be a doctor. What kind of doctor? A veterinarian. So when you put those two thoughts together, my kid is a psychopath who thought that the vets shot dogs My kid is a psychopath who thought that the vets shot dogs and she wants to be a veterinary. So, interesting.

I think I introduced the first concept of a gun to her. Really? Yeah. How's that? Well, I brought my old golden book from when I was a little girl and there's a wonderful story in there about a- Old Yeller? No, it was like, it's kind of a shaggy dog story, but there's a little chicken that hears a noise and she gets scared so she goes and tells the rooster there's a noise in the middle of the

night and I'm scared and the rooster says, oh, I can't do that. Let's go get the dog and the dog comes, I'm going to shorten this and he says, oh no, no, we can't do that. No, please include every single animal in the animal kingdom. See what would be next. Well, yes, there were several different animals that heard this noise and they wanted to do something about it. And finally, the dog said, let's go get the farmer. And they went and they told the farmer and the farmer says, well, let me get my gun. And Marla stops me and she says, what's a gun? Fairy tales in our time would have guns. and I went, well, you know, and I explained that people go hunting

and they get the deers and stuff like that, but she didn't know what a gun was, so. My favorite story though, my favorite gun story is your father. Oh, Alex Murray, Alexander Murray? Yeah, her father, somebody broke into their house and they stole stuff and they stole his suit, one of his suits, they stole one.

And like maybe a month later, the guy came back to rob his house again. This is in Nichols Canyon in the woods up there. And so her father took a gun and shot him. Wow. And shot him right through his suit. He was wearing his suit. Wow. And I thought that was one of the funniest stories I've ever heard. Funny? I don't know about funny. So that's a funny story to you. Yes. we didn't kill him didn't kill him. Just mess hilarious. He caught him. My dad. I suppose so. Yeah. And and and your dad was like a prominent architect. Is that correct? No, he was the concertmaster for Republic Studios. So violinist and if you watch the old John Wayne movies when you hear the sad sentimental violins that's our father playing.

Wasn't there something about your about the architecture or something about Nichols Canyon? Oh yes, yes. Local 47 had a huge strike in the 60s because musicians were, producers were taking music to Europe to have it recorded there. So Local 47 went on strike for God, like almost two, three years. So my dad learned how to be a contractor, a building contractor and started building houses. It was responsible for kind of the look of what Nichols Canyon is now. Absolutely. Yeah. And one of his hobbies was rocks and cement working with him. He had all these callouses on his hands. So he used to go to the concerts with callouses all over his hands.

Oh, band-aids. I don't know how he had band-aids. He was a stonemason. He was a builder. He was Scottish. He was born in Scotland, so lots of walls. Yeah. He built Hadrian's wall.

Oh, well, goodness, he's older than I would have imagined. He, wah, wah, wah. Yeah, no, no, it's gotta do it on its own. Can't prompt it. That doesn't count. Okay. All right, guys. Well, I thank you for coming in and I want to remind everybody about Russ's new book that Bonnie did a tremendous amount of work on. She did more work on it than I did.

Yes, she did. Yes, she did. And Amber was extremely helpful. She's been incredibly helpful. Nobody's more excited about the book being finished than Amber. Trust me. I believe it. And also Sarah just did a fantastic job. That's Sarah Tomlinson.

Sarah Tomlinson, yeah. Yeah, really, really good. Really good. And I enjoyed what I was reading. And Bob, Bob Oenkerk's going to buy a copy too. He was excited about it. So, the book is called Dancing on the Edge. It's out April 9th. Please check it out. It's just an amazing life that you've led. And I know it really came into focus when you met me, and that's one of the most important things. It's not mentioned in the book, but I know it's that you read into it, you read between the lines how much better your life got once I was a part of it. And I end every episode by asking my guests a question from Marlo. So yep.

All right. That's not a phony. It's not. Okay, here we go. Okay, Russ, this is for you okay oh boy this is from Marlo and I quote does your uvula help you with anything I don't know what a upla is it's a uvula. It's the thing that dangles down in the back of your throat, that little thing that... Oh. Yeah, that's your uvula. Yeah.

Amber also said you wouldn't know what it was. She said... She was right. Yeah. So now you know what it is. It's a little dangly thing. Does your uvula help you with anything? I don't think so unless it helps me talk or I don't know what it's useful for. It's out of my league or out of my territory. Would you like to make something up to trick a six-year-old or a seven-year-old? CB Well, let's see. It helps me gargle. RL It helps you gargle. Okay. So it's a God gave us that to help us gargle. CB I don't believe in God, so I don't think he did that. RL Well, I do. Okay, Mr. And my God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven on high.

Well, my God's a woman. Well, you just said you don't believe in God. So you don't believe in women? But he believes in women. I believe in women, that's for sure. Well, you're surrounded by them. That's right. How can I not be into women? Well, that's also a prominent part of the book. Man, this dude got much pussy. Pretty crazy. I had a lot of stories about women and Amber made me cut them all out.

Feminist bullshit. She was like... Actually, she did. She just crossed them out and she said, Dad, the problem is you can't... Every time you say you're working on something and there's a pretty woman, we know where it's going. We know it. We know at the end of the story.

Wait, you have the story about climbing up the, you have that story. Okay, good. That's one of my favorites too. Climbing up the balconies on the beach. All right. My favorite story is not even in the book. Amber made me cut it out. What was it? I had a date with this actress, Irish McCalla. She had a television series called Sheena of the Jungle. Oh, I know this story. You know this one? Really tall.

I ended up going to Hawaii accidentally with her. Accidentally. Yeah, it was accidentally. I know, I know. Don't sell the story short. I mean, it's a good story. And so I went to Hawaii with her and we went skinny dipping on one of the beaches and somebody came and grabbed our clothes and stole them and we came back out of the water. Clothes were gone. And there I was, standing on Waikiki Beach with no identification, even my watch. I didn't even know what time it

was. So that was my... That was probably the least of your concerns. Yeah. And it was the last time she ever dated me. I don't know why. Do you think it was the, do you think your clothes were stolen by the guy who robbed your house, Bonnie? Oh, that would be something. Son of a bitch, I'll get them. I'll show them.

All right, guys. Thank you so much for coming down. I don't get a question from Marla. It's, it's, it's a, you, how about you answer the same question. It's one question per podcast. Does your uvula help you with anything? Yes, it helps you from choking to death. Okay, now that's an answer we can all agree on. That's so real though, I mean. Yeah, it's real. Yay. Now, how does it work? It closes off the windpipe when you're swallowing so the food doesn't go down the windpipe.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Well, thank you. You're welcome. How did you know that? I took physiology at Hollywood High School.

Hollywood High. See, people knock Hollywood, but it'll teach you what a uvula's for. Don't be so quick. All right. Well, thank you for the interview. Absolutely, and thank you guys for coming down. Sense is Working Over Time is a Head Gum podcast

created and hosted by me, David Cross. The show is edited by Katie Skelton and engineered by Nicole Lyons with supervising producer Emma Foley. Thanks to Demi Druchin for our show art and Mark Rivers for our theme song. For more podcasts by Headgum, visit Headgum.com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and maybe we'll read it on a future episode. I'm not gonna do that. Thanks for listening.