SmartLess - "Kevin Bacon"

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

We sizzle up some Kevin Bacon on this week’s ep of our little pea pod. Sean almost reinterprets Footloose, while Will and Jason duke it out over who has fewer degrees of separation from Kev (he said we could call him that). So yeah, grab your puffy vest and guitar, and find a goat to serenade. This is SmartLess.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Listener, I got to tell you, I'm early for the session today, but it's fortunate because the light in the room that I record this in is just so, it's delicious, and there's a sunbeam just catching my mouth, just perfectly right now. No other part of my face is lit except my mouth, which is perfect because that's all I'm going to be using for the next hour. I'm going to have to chase the sun a bit so if my signal breaks up in the middle of this interview, you're going to know why, but my God, if you could see my mouth right now. If it looks as good as it sounds, you're looking at it correctly.

I actually was on a flight once and we started down the runway and like started to speed up, speed up, speed up, and they had that thing, remember these just sometimes put, they had the camera on the front of the plane so you can see the runway. Yes. And it was like a, you know, whatever, big carrier, going down the runway, and then slowed down and then peeled off, like whoa, and the pilot's like, well, we've got a bit of an issue here, we're going to go back to the gate here and take a look. We sat on the plane for like 90 minutes and he's like, we start to pull back from the

gate and he's like, okay, we think we've got it taken care of here, so we're just going to give it another shot and I'm like, give it another shot. Isn't that strange how you never meet the pilot? I mean, it is, your life is 1000% in this person's hands. When would you ever put your life and the life of your family in anyone's hands that you haven't met? And you're going to do that for a few hours. Hang on, let me just say, when would I ever put my life and the life of my family in

the air? That was rhetorical. Oh, that was rhetorical. Yeah, kind of. Okay. Yeah, you know, that's so interesting. I have a little fear, we talked about that last time, about the turbulence and stuff like that, a little bit of that.

Yeah, looks like you have a fear of waking up too. What are you still, I mean, it's not early. And your jail. It is early to me. I just have a fear of hair product. I have no product in my hair. I just had a bagel with flammable up there. Flammable?

Yeah, keep it away from flame. How, what are we at days wise from seeing Scevo? Like from the last one to the next one, where are we at? What's the guy who cuts his hair, Tracy? Yeah, I just saw him last week. Yeah, he's great. You just saw him, okay, you saw him last week on like on a bus bench or you weren't in the salon.

And he had scissors. No, I was not in the salon. No, you weren't. I was on a photo shoot. You were on a bus. Oh, you were on a photo shoot. First of all, let me just say it's 9.30 in the morning. It's 9.30 in the morning.

This is one of the earlier records we've ever done. I kind of like it. And so far, I got to say we're feeling it. Yeah, I like it. It's kind of low energy. It's like breakfast energy. Now listen, I would say this because we, you know, I want to get to our guests, but Jay, you have a real, everybody's got a real relaxed vibe.

You got a real relaxed hoodie on today with no tea underneath. Here's a tea. It's a... Is this sleepwear? It's a limpy tea. It's a limpy tea. Oh, and it's also the same color. Look at that.

You have me in my bedwear. Okay. But this is what I was going to say before. I started... I don't know why I thought of this. I... Scotty and I started doing this at night where we open the door. Well, mind me who Scotty is again real quick.

Tell me what you do at night. We open the door and even though it's kind of hot, we open the door and we open the door and we put it on the fan. It reminds me of being a kid when we didn't have AC. God, what a great story. And then I make a bowl of ice cream and watch a movie. I had a whole box of sweetest fish. Sometimes we don't eat at night just so I can really relate to all the people who are

starving in the world. No, no. And then I have a bowl of ice cream or something cool. But last night I had a whole box of sweetest fish and it didn't stay inside me. It didn't stay inside you. Oh, so weird. I'm through the math. So, but you know, usually those things now, are you sure it wasn't the back end of the

box you bought at Hollywood Bowl? No, because no, I bought a second box. Yeah. Buddy, you're not. You barfed. You barfed last night? No, no, no, it came out the other way. Oh, well, then that's just natural.

You don't need to tell me. I assume that all food you eat is going to come out the other. Just for what it's worth. Well, it didn't stay inside me very long. And doesn't it create a plug? Those things? Those gummy bears? I mean, it's.

Come on. Why are we going? I'm surprised you and Scotty did that last night because I know, I know how you are. I know you always. He's always got a fan. You open the doors. You put a fan on. No, he loves a fan.

He loves a fan. Yeah. It's so good. Always a fan for a fan. Hey, listen, speaking of fans, I'm a fan of our guest today. Oh, nice. What a great segue. Thank you so much.

I'm trying to win segue of the year. I think they're going to do it at the webbies next year. I, I've been a fan of this person for a long time and the reason is because this person has done so much in film and television as a director, as a writer, but primarily we know him really for his incredible breadth of work. And this is, and I don't want to embarrass this person, but this is, I, this term you don't throw around very lightly. This is an actor's actor.

This is somebody who's done it all. This is. Is this a story? This person cannot be. This is a storyteller. This person cannot be defined. He is a movie star and he is a character actor. He is all of these things combined.

I swear to God, it is one of the most incredible. This person has had so many different stages to his career and done so many amazing things. And I don't really know him that well. We met a couple of times. And you're not saying like what movie or anything because we'll get it right away. Well, yeah. Well, here, once I start going, and the list is so long that it's got its own page on Wikipedia for his filmography.

No way. His first film was Animal House. Then I'm going to jump a little bit just so to try to throw you off. Jamie Widows. JFK. A few good men, Apollo 13. Sleepers. Is this Mr. Bacon?

Patriot Day. Then I'm going to go back to. Is this Mr. Bacon? A bunch of, but then what, the thing that really shot him to superstardom was a film that we all still love. Footloose, Cutful Loose is Mr. Kevin Bacon. Wow. Incredible Kevin Bacon.

Dun dun dun. I'm trying to unsee Sean's bowl full of Swedish fish. All the fish swimming out of his colon. Oh, so is Scotty. Scotty's in the corner crying somewhere. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. It's so cool to see you.

Hey, man. Welcome. I haven't seen you since Will and Grace. I know. I know. Have you been? I know. And I've been good.

I can't tell you how many times I'll do that walking through the airport thing. Sean and people will come up to me and say, do you know what the best thing you ever did was? And it'll be Will and Grace. And it doesn't necessarily pop into my head as that was one of the options. I mean, I had a great time doing it. Don't get me wrong. But yes, that really made an impression on people.

You're going to have to narrow it down because my filmography is like a thousand credits. So let me tell you what I think the best. Hey, you know what? It's so funny. I was just talking about Footloose the other day. And is it true that Tom Cruise was almost up for that part or up for that part? And you got it or something like that? Probably.

Yeah, probably. I mean, I think all the young dudes were up for it. Going at it. It was just one of those things, you know? Yeah. So here I am on Smart List, Bucket List. So cool. All I could think, my wife said, clearly they have run out of important celebrities.

They've made their way down to you after, how was it a thousand and thirty-five episodes or something like that? Which, by the way, I've listened to every single one of them. I listened to every single fucking episode of my life. Oh, my God. Yes. Absolutely true. Kevin, that speaks less to how the quality of our show and more to your profound boredom,

I think. So, Kevin, you know, I've had the good fortune of bumping into you just a couple of times, and I'm always just kind of buzzing after I finish saying hi to you and your wife. And you guys are just always so kind and nice to me and pleasant to even the person you were talking to before you talked to me and the person afterwards. Where do you think that, like, were you always like that or does this come as a result of you both being in this business for so long and have such a well-earned appreciation for your longevity and, you know, is that why you're so kind to everybody?

I love being an actor and I feel just a tremendous amount of gratitude to be able to do what I do. And when it comes to being kind to people, I know, I kind of feel like that really is like, I think my mother was very much, you know, like influential in terms of that kind of stuff. I think my dad was somebody who was very driven and I kind of got the success thing from him, you know, the drive. Sean said was driven.

Yeah, I know. Sorry, that was such a softball. Thanks, pal. I don't let those go by. I was not planning on tossing that one to him. My dad was the driver who wasn't driven. Yeah, that's right. We do have to get a screeching tire sound effect on this podcast.

He was driven away in a Mazda. Now you know that I've listened to the show when I didn't even question what you were talking about. I know. That's true. Clearly I knew exactly. Good test. Yeah, all you had to say was Sean's dad was and I knew where it was going.

But you know what? We should have known something was up when he bought an MG. Remember those cars, the MGs? Yeah. He did. He really did. Oh yeah. Oh boy.

Yeah, what is that? We're all like, can't eat. And he's like, I bought an MG. Nice car. That's cool. You should have known when he bought new luggage. So your mom said a good example. Dad was a little bit more driven.

Yeah. My mom said a good example for compassion and being kind to people and stuff like that. And listen, I love to meet people that do what we do and to say hi and connect. And I have a certain kind of separation and a funny kind of way from our industry. It's weird kind of like I've never felt 100% sort of in it in the community in a weird kind of way. And I, you know, when I listen to you guys, I'm like, geez, I want to be, you know, baking cookies with Jennifer Aniston or, you know, playing pickleball with Brian Reynolds or

whatever it is. You know, it's like I listen, I go, shit, that sounds like fun. But you know, being like in staying in New York and stuff like that. So when I do run into someone like any one of you guys, you know, I'm genuinely excited. It's like, it's not something that I do in a normal course. Jason's very interested. Jason's interested. He asked you that because he's like, how, that's so interesting to be nice to people

like, how do you, how would I get there? Like he wants to be as well. So he's right. Jay is aspirational for you. Yes. I just can't crack it. You know. Do you, is it, is it, is it hard for you to keep that, that pleasantness up?

I just walk in the streets there in New York because I would imagine, because I know what Jason's saying. Let me, let me finish the sentence because he's so recognizable. He's been, as you said, in everything and that is an incredible accomplishment. His longevity is stunning. So I'd imagine you can't walk into a room, a restaurant, a subway car, anything without someone wanting to talk to you, especially if you're, if you have this big flashing green light up of like a smile and like, Hey, I'm approachable.

Come on up and take a picture. Like, does that get tough for you because you're so known? I don't walk around honestly with the approachable smile on my face. I have the opposite. I walk around with the opposite smile. It's the opposite. Consciously. It's, yeah.

I mean, well, just over years of doing it. And this is what I think, you know, well, first of all, you've been famous for 40 years. I mean, you know what I mean? Yeah. Right. So you got to get used to it as eventually. And I have no one to blame but myself and 99% of being famous is good. Fuck.

People give you shit. They, they say, they tell you, people stop you and say, I love you. It's like to be told that you're, somebody loves you. Yeah. Yeah. That's like gold. You know. Yeah.

I would imagine you get that a lot. You're a very, very, very well-known actor, very famous actor, but you're not a celebrity. You know, like, I feel like the celebrities are the ones that when they're walking down the street, people take a picture because it's like an animal escaped the zoo. Like, I got to get a shot of this walking down the street. I imagine people that come up and talk to you are like, hey, Kevin, I loved you on Will and Grace. Hey, keep it going.

You know. Exactly. And then, and then off you go. And you don't really get hassled that much. And yeah. So it does get a little bit much, but like I say, it's all my fault. And I just have to know that when I leave the house, it's, you know, that's going to be a thing.

I'll tell you, the one thing that has definitely has changed, though, is that when I became famous out of a thousand people, one person had a camera, and now out of a thousand people, a thousand people have a camera, only one person actually knows how to use it. So it slows things down, you know, just in life. No more autographs. Yeah, nobody gives a shit about autographs anymore, except for those guys that I call the blue men, you know, who are the guys that they always, they always have you signed with a blue Sharpie and they have just stacks of, right.

Don't personalize it so they can sell it at the airports and stuff like that. Sean knows a bunch of blue men, but it's a different David Cross knows a bunch of blue men too. But you know what? I feel bad, Kevin, because now we've blown up your spot. Like, like you're walking around with a scowl, but people now know that underneath you're such a nice guy. So they're like, Oh, that's just his walk around face.

I'll go up. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, the thing is that I don't want to stop being able to move. Yeah. That's why I love New York partly is because I really, it's a city where if I stay out of the neighborhoods that are super touristy, people just don't fuck with you because they're too busy.

They're just kind of like, they'll say, you know, how you doing? But that, but like that's it. I've always got to say over the years, I've seen so many, I've seen, you know, you're again, you've been just part of our sort of cultural fabric for a long time and any photo I have to admit this to you is, I think you've got, this is crazy. I think you've got great style and I've always thought nobody rocks a fucking jean jacket like Kevin Bacon. That's right.

I've thought this for years, man. That's right. It's my jean jacket. I was going to wear my jean jacket and I forgot. I love the jean jacket and nobody does it better than you, dude, ever. And you still look 17 too. I know. It's amazing.

It's just wonderful. Yeah. What's your deal? Why do you look so fucking young? Sean? We were at Scotty's. Swedish fish. Yeah.

He's not bleeding Swedish fish out of his ass. Fuck. Jesus Christ. And they were red. They were red. Get yourself a break. Let's get a message from our sponsor, Swedishfish, real quick. I still eat them knowing.

That's what I'm saying. I still eat them knowing. That's what they do to me. And now a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. Hey, Kev, can I ask you something? Yes. No, no.

Hey, whoa, whoa. I don't think it's Kev. I'm sorry. I'm not sure it's Kev. No, you can Kev me. You can Kev me. My brother's name is Kev. I don't actually like Kev.

This is the truth. I can't stand the name Kev. Really? I didn't like it when I was young. I don't like it now. Kevin, if you read, look at movies and scripts, and even in the UK, they use it as an insult. He's like Kevin.

You know, it's like a... It's like a Karen. Is that the male Karen? Yeah. It's like a Karen. It's like a Karen. Exactly. It's like a Karen, but it's also like,

you're like, my name's Keith and his name's Kevin and I'm a plaster and he's a plumber. You know, it's like that kind of thing. What? Yeah. It's a real sort of tongue. I'm Kevin. My brother's name is Kevin.

That's why I default of Kev. My point is that I do like the name Kev. You do like Kev? Yeah. So you're allowed to Kev. You can Kev me all you want. All right. What about K?

Like KB? No? KB. KB is great. Sure. All right. So my question is, and Kevin, we can totally cut this, but I'm only asking because...

Hard hitting. No, because when I saw it in the news, I was like, oh, my heart went out to you. So we can cut this if you want. But the Bernie Madoff thing, when that happened to you, and I know it was years ago, but I can't imagine what that was like going through that. Like, because I saw, I was like, wait, Kevin Bacon's affected.

I really did feel so badly. I'm the dummy who doesn't know that story. Yeah, me neither. Oh, that is the story. Just lost some money and made off. Yeah. That's the story. Yeah.

And we had most of our money in Madoff. Oh, yay. Yeah, there's obvious life lessons there. If something is too good to be true, it's too good to be true. Right. And when something like that happens, you look at each other,

and you go, well, that sucks. And let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. We've made it this far. Our kids are healthy. Yeah. We're healthy. Yeah. Let's look at what we have that's good.

We can still both work. And yeah, I mean, certainly, you get angry and stuff. But I have to say that that dude, there were a lot of people who were much worse off than we were, you know, old people, people whose retirement funds were completely, you know, decimated. Yeah.

So there's always going to be somebody that's going to have it a lot worse than you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, whatever, the cliché is all, you know, work, whatever it doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And, you know, we just rolled up our sleeves. Right. And also a story.

I remember reading this thing that a lot of people were made whole by that in the end. Did you guys recoup any of that? Again, we can cut it. But were you guys get anything back? Or was it? Yeah. Yeah, it's very, it's a complicated thing to explain,

which would just be too, I'll be happy to tell you about it someday, but just be too deep in the weeds. But basically, yes, we got sort of like a, you know, a portion of some money back. And there was also, you know, a lawsuit and stuff like that. But, you know, the thing about it is, is that it looks like a certain amount of money, right? There's the money that you put in to something,

and then there's the money that you've, in theory, gotten accrued with interest over the years. But that's just, that's not real. That's just the number that was on a piece of paper. On a piece of paper, right? Yeah, it was not, it was not a real thing. So you have to really just kind of switch your whole idea about Matrix and stuff like this.

I think people will be not happy to hear me whining about money. No, but you know what, I will say this, you know, just listening to the way you talk about it, and it makes no, I read a great article, you know, in anticipation of us talking today from talking about you and having, reaching like a different, having a second wind and stuff, and the article was from 1994, which was almost 30 years ago.

And I thought to me, it sort of reinforces this idea that I have that you're a guy who's able to kind of move on and adapt and change. Again, you came out, you were in the biggest movie, you were in Footloose, you were in the cover of People Magazine, you did all that, and you did a bunch of big studio movies, and then all of a sudden you're like, I'm gonna start doing interesting roles

and I wanna work with directors who matter to me. And reading that from 30 years ago, and you've continued to do it, and you've gone like, you know what, I'm gonna do a TV series, I'm gonna do a broadcast series, and now you're doing this cable series sitting on the hill, you've like consistently done stuff, I guess challenge yourself,

and people say also reinvent yourself, but I don't know, that term is misleading, it's like reinvent to them, to you you're just growing, I would imagine. What is that thing inside you that makes you just kind of wake up every day and go, now I'm gonna go this way, now I'm gonna go that way? I guess it's, I don't know, you know,

I'd love to tell you that it was a grand scheme, but it really is just a question of throwing shit against the wall to see what sticks. And also just kind of, you know, when I started out, there was no plan B, so I was just like, okay, this is what I'm gonna do, you know, I moved to New York. And it's what you love to do, so.

It's what I love to do, I love it, I love acting, I don't tire of it at all. The time between action and cut to me is still just the best. I love that. The rest of it, I've lost patience for, you know, the things that sort of have to go along with it. But the actual time where I'm on that set, the cameras are rolling with other actors,

tossing the ball back, I still love it. And I think that, you know, you like to say that, you know, there's no secret to longevity, longevity is a secret. If you just, you know, just fucking hang in there, you know, and if you suck when you begin, you're gonna get better eventually, you know. Right, right.

What was the first paycheck you got for an acting gig? Yeah, I'll tell you, I was about 15 or 16. I was still in Philly. I moved to New York when I was 17, when I got out of high school. But I was still in high school. And so I heard about from a friend of a friend or something that there was this job to be a kid

in a, it was like a ROTC recruitment video. And it was going to pay, I think, $450 or something like that. I was like freaking out. I was like, this is the greatest thing. Now, my mother was a serious anti-war activist and civil rights activist. Took me down to D.C. when I was a kid, you know, marching on Washington and clearly,

this was after the Vietnam War had ended, but it wasn't so far on the heels of Vietnam. And she was super anti-military. So I got this gig and I said, I'm taking it and she didn't speak to me for like a week. Oh, wow. Yeah, she was furious. She was furious.

Yeah, but at that moment, you know, at that moment I did that thing that, I think it's Robert Bly talks about, you know, an Iron John where you steal the key underneath the queen's bed. Yeah. It's a, you know, a rite of passage of a young man to walk away from his mother. And which, you know, we all hopefully do eventually.

I was around the same age. I got my ear pierced and my mom didn't talk to me for like a week. And then. And that's your moment, right? And you go, no, I want this. That was his moment. Yeah. I really was a nipple piercing.

I think a nipple piercing really sealed it. And your dad put it in drive and that was that. That's right. I'm surprised she could hear you over the erasure music that was playing. Wait, Kev, go ahead, Kevin. Yeah. So that was it. That was the first gig and I went and I did it.

And, uh, and, and it was awesome. How do you, how do you and Kira have, you, you maintain such an incredible, uh, success story as far as marriage goes. You guys been together so long with, with two very vibrant careers, never working in the same city. I'm sure there's tons of overlap with your schedules. Uh, it's got to be an effort. I mean, to the extent you're comfortable talking, you know, details and strategies.

What, what is, what's this, what's the secret there? Um, it's, it's a difficult thing to do, I'm sure. Well, you know, as well as I do that over the years, you learn the power of known and that's the question that I am trying not to answer. Uh, so I will respectfully decline to answer that, but I'm also going to tell you, I'm going to tell you why, I'm going to tell you why I won't answer. And the reason is, is that what happens is you say something like,

she's my best friend or, you know, um, you know, uh, uh, we just, whatever the fuck it is, you know, just don't fucking quote. And then people use that quote and you take whatever 34 years of marriage and it gets reduced to something that either comes out of my, whether it comes out of my mouth or not. I love that. It's a great answer though, man. I totally, totally, totally agree, especially now more than ever.

I've had instances where like stuff's happened in my life. It was like, it just becomes like a click link. You're like, my life is now a fucking click link. Like what the hell? Yeah, yeah. I'm just curious about that, that whole sort of, um, distance makes relationships difficult, you know, military families, uh, uh, professional athletes, um, uh, anybody that's got an astronaut's great point.

Well, their distance couldn't be great. Yeah, exactly. Really far away, but, uh, but because you guys don't, do you guys don't work together a ton, right? You have worked together for sure. No? We have. We have.

Yeah, I've directed her. She's directed me. We've, we've, and we've done a little bit of acting together, but you know, I think that you're making the point. It's true. People think that, um, because of the distance and distance is hard and because you have two actors, I think on a lot of people's minds, they think, well, they're two actors.

So the first thing their mind goes to is like sex scenes or love scenes or kissing other people or all those kinds of things. Yeah. And then, and, and so, so that's what goes into people's minds. And then they think, well, most Hollywood relations break up. And here's the thing. Most marriages break up. Marriage sucks.

Marriage doesn't work. Let's face it. The statistics are absolutely terrible. That's our clickbait. No, I don't care. We got it. Thanks, Kevin. You can't, right, exactly.

There you go. I'm fine. I'm fine going on to record with that because these are just numbers. You know, you can't, but you can't, you can't prove to me that, you know, two dentists have more successful marriages than two actors. I don't know that that statistic really, you know. Right. That being said, I will say that we do plane strains and automobiles

to try to get to each other as often as is physically possible. Yeah. Yeah. With the emphasis on physical. Yeah. And with the kids growing up, I'm sure the kids put in another element of complication and challenge. And that's tough to do as well.

Right. I mean, all this is just projection. But it's a, again, for the military families and the professional athletes and all that distance that vagabond. Astrodust. Yeah. Astrodust. You guys know, you guys know you've been married a long time.

Yeah. The kids, this is what I think. I am not. Yeah. I know. My kids, well, they were raised in New York. And they, I think that there's challenges to having two famous people as parents that are just inherent.

And I wish that wasn't true. In a funny kind of way, you think to yourself, well, Kier and I have no one to blame but ourselves for being famous. But the kids, it was kind of thrust upon them in a way, right? They didn't ask for this. And there's a weird moment where they start to, you know, for the first time they start to go. You're holding a kid's hand and someone comes up and wants to, you know,

take a picture or an autograph. You have to let that kid's hand go. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And the kid's like, what the fuck? I don't even know this guy. Right.

Like, why is this stranger, you know, stranger danger? By the way, you've taught them all stranger. Yeah, but that's the moment. It's an important lesson for them to learn when you let their hand go, which is what you're saying is my celebrity is more important to me than you. And they need to know that. Daddy's got to do something.

You know, it's funny. You know, it's funny. I just got back. So where I was on the East Coast all summer, we're out on Long Island, deep in Long Island, and it makes Jason crazy. It's so blue-collar. No, thanks, man. Yeah.

He's just running the bowling alley out there. Yeah. I work on diesel engines. Yeah. I work on diesel engines. Maybe I already told you this, but I was in the car. He's an officer fisherman. Yeah.

Checking my pots every day out there. So anyway, so I'm getting in the car with the kids in town, and this guy comes up and blah, blah, blah. I want to talk to his wife and want to take a picture and say, hey, man, they, by the way, the best part is now people come up and they're like, hey, tell Bateman, blah, blah, blah. And shot him, Scottie, and like, hey, you don't know them.

So shut the fuck up. But they go, the guy says all this stuff. So then I get in the car and my son, who's just turned 12, he's behind me, and I pull out of the parking spot in town, and he's kind of quiet in the car, and he just goes, hey, Will, you're a legend, man. And I go, hey, man.

He starts hassling me from the back, mocking me from the back seat. You're the greatest, man, like this. I'm like, dude, I know, it's weird. I didn't, I'm sorry. They keep you real. And they keep me real. And I was like, but I was also happy

that he had that kind of great kind of perspective on it. You know what I mean? Like it was kind of great. And he made fun of me, which was great. Oh, yeah. They get a really serious bullshit meter very, very early on because they can see it from the people that are surrounding their lives.

And the other thing is, I feel like to a certain extent, you can't beat yourself up too much about it because that's what you do. That's what we do. So other people have other challenges. Yeah. We will be right back. And now back to the show.

So Kevin, how was the summer? Did you do anything super exciting this summer? Was it nice and chill and relaxed and just played that guitar in your shot there? I was spending a lot of time. We have a farm. And so I spent a lot of time with the animals and riding pretty much every day.

And I was out with my brother touring. I have a band with my brother. Yeah. I was going to ask about that. Tell us about that. On the road now. So we've been playing. We were on one little run and I got the vid.

So we had to shut down. And then we picked those up. How was your time with that? Easy or? It wasn't great. Yeah. It wasn't great. But it was not, you know, I didn't go to the hospital

or anything. So that was great. And then now we're out doing a little bit more playing. I did a movie. Yeah, movie, maybe a couple of them. I can't remember. I know. This is amazing.

Like of course he did. I like the way he's like, I did a movie. Yeah, of course. Maybe I did too. I know. Maybe I did too. It's just a three month period recovering here. What was the thing for you?

Who are the people that you kind of looked up to? Like creatively, who are the guys? Like when you were a teenager, you're like, I like this theater. I like that stuff. Like who is the man? Directors or actors? Yeah. Who is the Kevin Bacon?

Yeah. Who is your Kevin Bacon? Yeah, sure. Well, you know, for me, it was, okay, so I moved to New York, which is kind of when I think of my career as starting around 1976. You did a lot of theater there? I did a lot of theater. Yeah.

A lot of theater. And Animal House, I think I started in 1978, something like that. Was that your first film, Animal House? That was my first movie yet. Wow. But I can tell you that the people, at that point, to me, it was the movies and the people surrounding Sidney LaMette, Francis Ford, Coppola, Michael Cimino.

So, you know, Da Nero, and Pacino, and Meryl Streep, and Raul Julia, and John Casale, and all of those gritty kind of like Dustin Hoffman. And really, one of the most influential things, yeah, yeah, for me was I saw, back to back, we had a dollar, in Philly, we had a dollar second-run theater. You could see films for a dollar. And back to back, they had The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy.

Wow. And when I saw Dustin in that, I looked at Midnight Cowboy first. That was the first one that I saw, because they were both in second-run. And I went, wow, where'd they get that homeless guy to be in the movie? A cowboy. Where'd they get a cowboy and a homeless guy? How did they get them to actually do this?

And then right after that... Cut to the preppy guy. Cut to the preppy guy. And I went, holy shit, that's what acting is. And that's the thing. Did you have a group of friends, though, at that time in high school who were in that same mindset as you, like, alone in this old, like, your own thing?

I was alone in my own head about that, yeah. Yeah, the only thing is I had this one kid who I was friends with who was wealthy. And his father had something that was unheard of, which was a giant home video system. And I think it couldn't have been VHS. It must have been some other, like, really, really early... Or, like, laser disc. Remember laser disc?

No, this was before that. And that was way before laser disc. Yeah, it was the 70s, yeah. And he turned me on to... He was obsessed with Brando and Clifton Dean and the switch in the style of acting that existed there. So he wasn't an actor, but he was a strange kind of movie buff. So I kind of got started into that stuff.

But yeah, those were my people. With all of that, and these guys will make fun of me because I ask this question all the time, but with all of that experience, that set experience, all the hundreds and hundreds of directors you've worked with... Have you thought about directing? No, he has directed. And my question is, do you not like it as much as acting?

Given all that you've absorbed, do you not find it... that it demands all those things that you've absorbed beyond just the acting? Well, someday I want to really sit you down and sound you on your great work as a director, but also in your great work as directing yourself, which is something that I find really kind of incredibly... I've done it a little bit.

I've directed City on a Hill, but I find that really kind of mind-blowing. People can do that well. You're aware of how you're performing while you're performing, right? You're sort of self-directing the whole time, aren't you? When you do your thing, yeah. I am. I think it's less about knowing if I got it or not and more about just the overwhelming,

consumptive thing that happens to you when you have to direct and you have to answer questions from dawn to dusk and then beyond. Just having all that kind of responsibility and then also being able to 100% throw yourself into the role. I would like to direct more. But as you know, when it comes to a film, that's an easy year of your life, done, right? So I keep getting these acting gigs that I go,

oh, man, but I haven't been that guy yet. So I really keep going back to acting, but it'll happen again. Do you ever develop... I'm forgiving because I think I should know this answer. I don't know if I can forgive you until I hear what it is. Oh, you're asking Kev, okay. He's forgotten his name.

Mr. Bacon, do you develop stuff for yourself, do you develop your own thing for yourself, like roles for yourself and do you enjoy doing that or is that like a big headache? I love that. I love that, I really do. Yeah, I do. I'm always looking for books, stories, ideas.

We have something that we're working on now. Kira and I are both involved in it. It's a little bit of a secret, but we're... Yeah, I really do. I like the development process. I mean, it can be a little... It can be a little frustrating, as you all know, when you put a lot of time into something and you go out,

you take it around town and it gets passed on all over town, which happens, but we still try to keep it going. Okay, so now you've done so many different types of character and whatever, and I'm gonna ask you the most basic question. Good guys or bad guys? What do you like playing more? Well... Because you do them both so fucking well.

Yeah. I don't care. I mean, I don't care if the character is a well-written, complicated, interesting character, if he's a good guy or a bad guy, I don't care. The thing that I don't do is worry about what the character does and how it's going to reflect on me as a person. I don't care at all what people think of me image-wise.

I really just want to be known for the work. It's a little bit of a hassle in this career, as I've come to learn, is that there is this other thing outside of the work that I almost wish didn't even exist. If I could just go... And the present company excluded, if I could just go and just say the lines and hit the marks and not have to do any of the rest of it, I would.

But when it comes to taking on things that are people that do horrible shit or are... I've done a lot of terrible, terrible things in the characters I've played. That doesn't scare me at all. It's not so much that the character is good or bad as it is. Are they complex? Are they different than the guy that I just played?

Is there just good shit to play? You guys know. Do you ever get close to thinking about... I've done enough of this. What about full-time music now? Yeah, Bacon Brothers. Do you ever get close to that? No, I still really love being an actor.

But the music you love, love doing, right? I love the music. And we've just put out new music. I've been doing a lot of writing. I continue to write. It's one of those things where what really keeps driving the band is not so much the desire to... I mean, people would find this hard to believe,

but it's not really that I want to be a rock star fantasy. Definitely that was in there when I was a kid for sure. All my heroes had guitars. That was the deal when I was in my early teens. But you write a song, and then you play your song for your wife, and then you play a song for your brother, and then you want to put it out in front of people, and then you want to cut it.

So if the songwriting keeps coming, that's just really what drives it. Yeah, I love that. And it's you and your brother, Michael, right? Yeah, me and my brother, Mike, yeah. Yeah, we put the band together probably in 1995. He's about nine years old with the band, and he's a musician.

He's a composer. He can arrange. He writes. He's got awards. He's like a classically trained musician. I'm just a plunker. I love that. Wait a minute.

How many kids in your family? Six. I'm the youngest of six. I'm the youngest of five. I have a brother named Kevin and Michael. Who are your other siblings? Wow. We have four sisters.

Yeah, four sisters. My sister, Karen, my sister, Eleanor, Hilda, and Kira, who's, she changed her name to Kira, spelled slightly differently than my wife, because my parents were terrible name givers, and they named her Prudence. And she was like probably about, I don't know, 18 or 19. She was like, fuck this, Prudence.

Are you kidding me? I wasn't going to say that your parents are terrible name givers. I was just going to say, though, I remarked that both you and your brother, you go, you like Kevin. He likes Mike instead of Michael and Kevin. So that's no. No, they were not good.

They were not good with the names. They were not good with the names. Now, our kids. What were their names? Their names were Edmund and Ruth. Our kids are named Travis and Sosie, and you'll get a kick out of this. Both names came off of crew lists when Kira was pregnant.

So. Oh, really? Yeah. She was shooting something pregnant. And we just, we found out she's pregnant. We just go down to the crew list and pick a name. No way. Sosie.

Jason, you can relate to that, right? Sosie, S-O-S-I-E. Sosie, yeah. I know. And she's a great actress. It's amazing. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, she's doing great. I love her. I'm a big fan of her. Thank you. But that's so awesome that you and your brother have this, this connection with something that you both love and that you get to do together. I love that idea that you guys have been sort of

doing it for a long time. Yeah. And I want to see you guys play. I know. I know. We should. Speaking of music, Sean, I can't wait to hear your, see your show.

Is it coming into New York? Oh, thanks. Yeah, that's very nice of you. Yeah. Good night, Oscar. It opens at, it's at the Belasco Theater, and we open April 7th. The Belasco Theater?

Go to Belasco. That's so exciting. That's so exciting. Belasco Theater. April 7th? Is that what she said, Sean? Opening the Belasco Theater. April 7th, 2023, I think.

W-W-W. Listen, Kevin. Thank you, Kevin. What about if you and Mike write a musical for Sean? That would be something, right? Yes. There you go. Come on.

Well, you'd have to be in it. How do you feel about rock musical? Yes. Do you like singing rock? Yeah. I mean, it's kind of what I'm known for. Sing some rock, Sean, real quick for us, just so we can get...

I'm baking in the morning, baking in the evening, baking all summer night. Oh, it's funny. You're singing about bacon, but it seems like your brain is full of scrambled eggs because that was terrible. Hey, listen, Kev, we have...

Horrible. That was horrible. That was horrible. We monopolized your time. I feel like we could talk to you for about three hours. You're just such a good dude. You are the greatest. I wish our paths across...

We'd crossed paths more, but hopefully we will in the future, man. You're just... You're a good dude, and you're so good at what you do. Thank you, guys. Thank you for doing this, Kevin. It's been a lot of fun.

Thank you. We love you so much. Bye, pal. Okay. Talk to you soon. Okay, pal. Peace. He's something else, huh?

Yeah. Old Kay Bakes. Love him. Kay Bakes. Kay Bakes. Can we start that? Yeah, we're starting Kay Bakes right now. By the way, if you see...

If you happen to see Kev on the street, old Kay Bakes, just go up to him and say, hey, Kay Bakes, you know? Feel free. Because he... We have got to start that. If you see Kevin baking on the street.

On the street. Hey, Kay Bakes. What up, Kay Bakes? It's like cupcakes. Yeah. What's... We need to bake cupcakes with his face on it. Man, how many...

So how many films has he done, Willie? You said a whole page. Yeah. He has his own... I wonder if he's hit a... He's probably hit 100. He has to. I'm going to say...

100 movies. So that would mean... So he's been in the business since he was 15. What do you think he is now? It won't listen. I mean, 5.53. Do you think he's 60 yet? What's his birthday?

Well, he looks... No, I know how old he is, and you try to guess, because he looks incredible. Well, if I'm 53, then he might not yet be 60, but he's older than I am. Sean, what do you think?

I was going to say late 50s. You ready for this? I'm ready. 64. Wow. Yeah. All right. So then he's been doing it for 50 years.

He's been doing it since... What do you say? 1976 was his first acting gig. 1976 when he did that ROTC. Right. So we're coming up on 50 years. Yeah. Right?

That's amazing. So that's two films a year. He's probably done 100 films. I love when he was like... I think I did two films last year. I know, he can't. And it's so funny. I think that's like a baseball player,

you know, 3,000 hits or something. I think if you do 100 movies, that is a real award for one-to-one. 100 movies, and also television, and he's done series in there too. And the movies, I mean, he's worked with everybody. Barry Levinson. There's a reason it's six degrees of Kevin Bacon, right?

Yeah. I mean, I don't think you can do that about it. You know, when I was really happy that we didn't bring that up. I was too. I was very proud of us. Can you imagine how exhausted he is hearing about that? Yeah, but don't you kind of want to talk about it?

I think he made up for it with the footloose references. Yeah, I know. Sean went straight away with the footloose references. I know. He made off stuff. I mean, what are you doing? Hey, man. Hey, man.

Do you lose a bunch of dough? God. Hey, this is a subject I'm sure you want to talk about. Yeah, in minute five. Yeah. I was just curious again. Hey, kid, what was your biggest disappointment? We had to warm up the guest.

What are you doing, Sean? I thought I was actually genuinely interested. I'm sure there's other people that are genuinely interested. What did Skeva, when he got on the hear, did he clip part of the brain out? What happened? Did he? Have you got a leak back there?

What happened? No, the only leak is my Swedish fish leak. Yeah. No. Get a clamp on that. Oh, gosh. Everybody thinking about a bye? Here comes Will.

Yeah, I'm just going to say, it's just gay. It's got something to do with Swedish fish. We just think you have all that Swedish fish and it builds up in the back there into a big lump. You might want to get it. Bye, Uppsy. Bye! Bye!

Bye, everyone! Bye, Uppsy. Bye. Bye. Bye. Smart. Let's. Smart.

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