The Adam Friedland Show (Cumtown) - JOHN C. REILLY Talks Step Brothers, Empathy, New Album

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

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age and every order is age verified warning this product contains nicotine nicotine is an addictive chemical guys that's the first ad I've ever read straight through you're six foot 11 you're six two hasn't that's nice dude for Hollywood that's a Hollywood 6.8. Well, people over six feet don't actually care about how tall they are. Oh, they don't care. It's the shorter people that are like, I'm 5.8 and a half. Five and a half is, I would, I'm a, thank God I'm 510.

Every inch is so like, I used to put 510 on my resume because I didn't. That is so annoying. I hate that. Why you do? You wanted to be below 6 feet so you didn't seem too tall. My culture is not a costume, sir. You can't. Well, I imagine, like, actor.

A real culture warrior. I didn't know that. Only about this one topic. Welcome back to the Adam Friedland show. I'm Adam Friedland. I'm going back on the road. End of this month. Emerald City Comedy Club, Seattle, Washington, January 22nd and 24th, 5 shows with Caleb Pitts.

Get tickets at Emerald Citycom. There's a link in the description below. Guys, also, happy New Year. And I'd like to thank all of our members here on YouTube.com. guys are fueling us into the new year you make our show popular seriously thank you guys if you'd like to join members get access to all the episodes early and there and if you pay a little bit more a couple of shekels more at the second and third tier you get your name in the credits of this fine program if you like to join the free life family foundation you can do so by clicking join

here on youtube or by clicking the link in the description below also there's a patreon set up if you prefer to use patreon link is below as well And there's merch, the Adam Freeland. Show. Fucking get the, get the merch. I mean, it was just the holiday season. Just buy the crap.

So we can get Obama on the show. My guess this week is Mr. Romantic himself. John C. Riley. He's hitting the road in 2016. You can get tickets. 2026. 2016 was 10 years ago. Guys, it's been a long year.

This is not January. 15th? What day or December 15th? My brain is shutting down, guys. This is the last thing I have to do the year. I'll be back second week. Okay, nothing. My guest this week is the legendary actor John C. Riley.

His new live act, Mr. Romantic, is hitting the road in 2026. Get tickets at Mr. Romantic.com. They're also selling these awesome Mr. Romantic black plates. What is it? Open it up. They're also telling these, oh, this is so stupid. This is killed. This is one of the stupidest ones.

It's not even black. I didn't look at it. I had nothing for this one. Guys. All these on one day and then this one minute. Okay. Guys are also selling these miso-romantic black plates. No, I'm leaving your copy as you wrote it.

Play with the vital record in a way that damages it. No. Please enjoy my conversation with John C. Riley, guys. Thank you. Boogie Nights. That boy had a big piece. Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to introduce a legendary American actor and now folk artist, John C. Riley, everyone. Give it up for him.

Be big. Thank you very much. The talk show debut. How are you? Having me, I'm good. It's thrilling to have you here. I don't know, you've been tricked or something, or... I feel like I lied and, you know, like a make-a-wish scenario,

and now I'm like, you have to hang out with me. No, I wasn't tricked. Someone said this is a good idea. Well, you were lied to that. But I've never seen your show. I have to admit that. Really? Yeah, was I supposed to do homework or something?

Oh, no. Well, I thought you were a member of the Manosphere just like me. Like, I thought you were... You remember the Manosphere? I thought we were going to talk MMA. I thought we were going to talk, what's that, the sex changing or so, I don't know. I'm trying to stay aggressive contemporary topics, but, yeah, I don't know. I don't pay attention anymore.

I don't have much to say about MMA other than it's too violent. Really? Yeah. I think it's not violent enough, if you ask me. No, I've only watched it like recently, and it kind of there was something there. I didn't expect for something to be there, but I was like, there's something. thing about like these guys who were like they put everything into it and it's a there's a passion that I that was a discernible well when I was a kid I was a wrestler for a while because like one of

the only kind of sports that we thought was cool in my tough little neighborhood in Chicago and wrestling is one of the most humiliating things to lose that yeah I'm like a baseball team like you're like well I missed the bat and some of the other guys also got struck out so our team When someone beats you at wrestling, you have tried with every ounce of anything you have to get them off you and you failed and you get pinned and you've lost. So it's so deeply humiliating that yeah, I don't know where I'm going with this. You were like Andy Kaufman, like wrestling. No, no, no, no. Except the way you were talking about the humiliation was as if.

Well, it is. You want to wrestle? Like I show you what it's like. You're a tall glass of water. I don't want to wrestle. I don't want to wrestle. No, I love it, dude. I'm a huge fan, man.

It's really cool. I mean, historically, I'd say probably since I was 15, my favorite movie's probably been with Boogie Nights. I think it still is. I think it's kind of that and Barry Linden are my two favorite movies. Barry Linden. They're kind of similar movies, right? They're like Rise and Fall movies.

It's true, yeah. Yeah, like a Nimrod is like, nature forces him upwards, like a leaf being blown around in the wind. Is he a nip around at the beginning? I think, yeah. Eddie? Yeah, Eddie Adams from Torrance. Well, he's a sweet boy.

Yeah, yeah. His mom's mean to him. It's just a very special film for me because it's, yeah, I mean, there's also a lot of Altman in it too. And, like, it just got me in movies, I would say. Paul just made a new 70-millimeter print of Bogie Nights, which I highly recommend you see.

It was a revelation. Yeah. They screened it a couple of times in LA recently. I mean, the photography, of course, in a 70-millimeter print is incredible, but the sound was so much better. You realize, like, a bigger negative has more room for audio information, and it was, like, yeah, it was like another movie in a way. It's really cool to, like, revisit movies like that in a cinema,

and, like, kind of... Because I never saw it in the cinema, right? I was, like, I rented it from Block. because I heard that it had sex. You know? Like I saw a taxi driver in the movie theater only recently. I'd seen that movie a hundred times, right? But I wasn't alive when it was like out in the theaters.

And it played like a comedy, right? So, which is... It played like a comedy in the theater? In the theater. Interesting. And it is kind of funny. Is that because everyone knows the movie so well already and there's iconic lines and whatever? Yeah, maybe it's like...

You're looking at me? It is funny to take a girl on a date that you're like, creeping on to a porn theater. He called you a piece of chicken. Yeah. He called you a piece of chicken. Yeah. And like a pimp looks like Michael Jackson, basically.

Yeah. But like, yeah, to think that this is what adults do, like this bizarre guy thinks that adults, like when you have a crush on a girl, you take her to a dirty movie. Like that is very funny. Like, Travis. Travis Pickle might not be like your average date goer. Yeah, I work with Jody Foster, and I think,

And I think that was a really surreal moment in her life, too. I mean, she came off doing Bugsie Malone, this kid's musical. She was like a 45-year-old, like 10-year-old. You know what I mean? In a way, but you know why? Because she was acting since she was literally a baby, and she was the main breadwinner of her family. So she was a veteran.

In fact, she told me, I was like, because I love the movie, Bugsy Malone. If you've ever seen it. Yeah, of course. Yeah. This great gangster movie that's all played by kids. kids and they shoot custard at each other. Have you seen the Biggie video that rips that off? The notorious B-I-G video. The sky's the limit, I think, but it's all kids,

rap, like, and there's a little kid rapping, anyway, go ahead. But Jody said, I was like, what was it like, I'm buggy, Bugs and Malone like this, one of my, it must have been so cool. She was like torture. It was really hard because I was a professional actor. I was someone had so much, I've been acting since I was an infant, literally, and all these other kids were like,

sometimes, maybe, what's his name? name, Scott Bejo maybe had some experience, but all the other kids were just, like, found off the streets, like whatever, the first-time actors. And they were just regular kids. Amateurs. Yeah, and they thought she was like, they almost like treated her

like one of the adults or something. She got bullied. Sounds like she got bullied. A little bit. Yeah, a little bit. It sounds like. Yeah, it's interesting because actually, like when I had a partner, Nick, who worked on the show with me and he's now doing other stuff,

but we directed kids. Nick wrote this short that we made. And it was amazing because the kids communicating intention to a child actor. And like a kid understanding like emotion and intention is really difficult because you have to be really emotionally intelligent, right? And the kids we had on it like got it. And it's like it was really incredible to like see it. And like also to see Nick like communicating it over to them.

And you know like when you watch Disney Channel, right, they're like, today I went to the story. You know, they can remember the words, but it's difficult. They're like little robots. Yeah, yeah. And they've been practicing with their parents all day. Yeah. I've directed a lot of children's theater, actually.

I wanted to go there. I've worked with kids from all ages in theater. And it's an amazing experience to watch someone, like the therapeutic qualities of theater and acting, like with little kids that are not necessarily, like, I did this at a Waldorf school. And it was part of the curriculum. it wasn't like these kids wanted to be actors like maybe maybe one of them had some interest or something but all the other kids it was just what they had to do for class so i watched how acting can like bring someone out of themselves and and we used to cast the plays in that way too like like

like you know we did like uh we do like nor smiths or like greek stories or whatever and one of them was thor betrayed and all the kids were like oh no uh so-and-so adam should be thor he's adam should be thor he's Adam should be Thor. No, certainly not. Whatever. Yeah, yeah, I don't have it. And so, but we wouldn't pick that kid. We would pick the kid who needed to be Thor.

Yeah, yeah. Because there was something about him that needed to grow. And so we let him be Thor and suddenly, you know, anyway, it was really beautiful. That sounds like some participation trophy snowflake kind of, no, I'm just kidding. But like, you're like, it's literally like therapy. Like finding out, like, finding out, like, finding their inner strength. Yeah. It's kind of cool.

But I was, when you mentioned taxi driver, I was, I was. I was thinking about Jody because here's someone, she was probably pre-sexual in her own life, you know, I don't know, but she played like a flusy. An adult. In Bugsie Malone, she plays like a, what do you call it, like a burlesque dancer. Yeah, yeah. Then she goes from that to playing a prostitute and taxi driver, like, oh, when she's pre-sexual or whatever, like not, I don't know. That must have been a really confusing time to be a young woman in the movies. I feel like I can't do that.

That's kind of old. And yet there's still, whatever, these movies are still beloved movies somehow. But I watched Bugs and Me Alone. That's the one part. I'm like, hmm, I don't know. The sexy outfits is a little. It's rough. When did you start acting?

When you were a kid? I was about eight years old, yeah. But not professional. You were doing theater. Community theater. Yeah, community theater. I was in. At the park near my house.

I was in mid. summer nights dream fifth grade what part as puck as wow yeah but I had to wear tights and I was really scared about it yeah yeah and uh were you tall as a kid oh actually did you seem free I don't know how tall you are but you seem long and like you're doing right now what are you say you know you're you call me a tall drink of water you're six foot oh you're six foot 11 six two six two hasn't that's nice dude for Hollywood that's a Hollywood six eight Well, people over six feet don't actually care about how tall they are. Oh, they don't care.

It's the shorter people that are like, I'm 5.8 and a half. Five and a half is, I would, I'm a, thank God I'm 5.10. Every inch is so like, uh. I used to put 510 on my resume because I didn't. That is so annoying. I hate that. You wanted to, why you do? You wanted to be below six feet so you didn't seem too tall.

My culture is not a costume, sir. You can't. Well, I imagine like, You're a real culture warrior. I didn't know that. Only about this one topic. No, no, I don't care anymore. But, like, no, I hit puberty late.

So everyone sprouted. It's kind of fucked up because you're with everyone your age, right? But there's some guy that looks 45, and I looked like six. Well, when you direct kids theater, you see the girls are like this. And then some of the guys are like, hey, you want to go on a date? You know, like, the difference in their development is insane. but I also bloomed kind of late in terms of my tallness. And when you did finally grow, were you a little bit like, oh, yeah.

How you like me now? No, I was like, I was mad at God. I was like, how dare you? I was like, no, yeah, I was like just counting. He's not listening. He's not listening. He's not really. I literally, yeah, when I got one, I was like,

he or she are not listening. There's nothing. There's nothing up there, dude. You know what's up there? Freaking just. He seemed confident. I was going to say, I thought I was going to come up with something good, and I started a sentence, I had nothing.

Rock and roll, dude. You know what's up there? The only God I believe in is freaking rock and roll, dude. It's got to be something. It's got to be something. I'm not saying I know what it is. I'm not saying it's God or Jesus or whatever. I think it's love, dude.

Seriously. Cut that. Are we going to be a smart ass the whole time? No, no, seriously. We're going to have a real conversation. I thought this was like Dick Cavett, where we could actually get into some fucking ideas. I cut that cut that of just snarky bullshit smart alky I said it sarcastically but

I watched Magnolia recently and after losing a parent it hits completely different and it was like I loved that film and then it was a completely different film that I lost my mother and that was the first time I said love sarcastic I'm such a shit guy why I like I act like crap but like the only thing as a transform experience that I like it was like the first time I realized what's the point is that like yeah it's like having love and giving love the fact that we were all together I think Paul asked his dad shortly before we made that movie so he was definitely coming from a personal place with him yeah the question people always

ask me about that movie is like what's that with the frogs why the frogs why the frogs well the first thing is that it's real frogs do fall out of the sky yeah Philip Baker Hall who's in that movie experienced a rain of frogs yeah in the 50s in Germany, where he was working for the government. Anyway. He was a spy? Yeah, he worked for like the precursor to the CIA. What was it called?

The naval intelligence. Yeah, they had another name for it before. But he would, in post-war Germany, he would drive around and do the government's bidding. Those guys had amazing lives. But the point is that frogs falling out of the sky makes about as much sense to a person as getting hit by light. or your father or mother getting cancer, like it doesn't make any sense. It's chaos. It's this thing that happens to us, you know, and I think Paul's never explained to me

what he felt the metaphor was, but to me that's what it is. Your father dying of cancer, like when my father died of cancer, and you know, I asked the doctor like, what, what is it? And they were like, well, it's a tumor, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, so what, what is that? Why did it happen? to happen. He's like, you know, I realized like, you don't know anything. They're idiots. This is very primitive where we are with this science. And so, yeah, it might

as well have been a rain of frogs. You're like an incredible comedic actor, right? And like, you're one of the best. Like, and I kind of just like, coming from a theater background, I can imagine, like, you know, there's some classically trained actors that, you know, just can't play comedy, you know? And like, coming from your background, you know, and like, coming from your background in the theater, like, how did you kind of learn that? Or is it inherent to you? It's funny that you, I actually don't think of myself as a comedian or like a comedic actor, per se. I think I'm just an actor as someone who really, who knows how to commit to make believe ideas and believe that they're true and believe that they're true for me. You know, like, someone like

Will Ferrell is a brilliant comedian, you know, he can make literally reading the phone book funny because he just has some kind of magical quality. You know, like, who else is like that? Sam brothers are one of the funniest movies. Yeah, so I understand that I have been funny in things. I accept that. I'm not like saying, like, I'm not a funny person. Like, I've been in funny things I get it,

but my approach is totally different than a comedian. My approach is like, okay, what are the facts of what we're talking about? Okay, this, this, this, we're going to go chop pumpkins in the garage with a samurai sword. That's funny. And if you commit fully to that, like, it's a serious. thing, you're in a comedy. Like, that's how I know how to do it. If Chris Farley's doing that, it's funny. Because there's an inherent thing. But that's another guy. He just, he just will something to be funny.

Brother, you got the sauce. You have the sauce. I'm saying it. I know. I mean, it's not, who cares? Maybe I have the sauce because I don't think I have the sauce. Yeah, of course. Yeah, I mean, in Step Brothers, like, you know, the basic premise of like two unemployed four-year-old men behaving like 11-year-olds. I mean, it's just like, it's always going to be funny. Yeah, it's the same. We took stories from our lives when we were 11 years old, and we told them as 40-year-olds, like, therefore it's a comedy. A lot of that stuff really happened to me. One of my brothers played the drums and was inspect the drumsticks, if there were any marks. He'd be like, I know you touched my drums. That was all real. That was just real for my life.

I got jumped by a gang of kids once when I was, me and my friends were out looking to try to start a gang fight with the Catholic school. I went to a public school. And they, they all ended up going to a liquor store to try to get beer and I was alone and got jumped by the other gang they left you yeah and they're like their comrade you know like the flying monkeys in the wizard of Oz like like just tearing me apart you got a couple in though or they it was just a melee I said he said what school are you from because it was kind of a school based gang fight scenario and I was like I'm from Eberhardt but I didn't come to like punched right in the face before I could even say I didn't come to fight. I was just trying to like talk my way out of this like anyway.

Because of the school your parents put you to like say you two that's so funny though. It's so arbitrary. It's very like Chicago is very like little you know kingdoms little city states. Where is Chicago are you from? The south side. South side. Yeah, I was just there. It's kind of like-

It has a very bad reputation among Jewish people in Chicago. Jewish people who have a bad reputation there? No, I think everywhere. Market Park has a very bad reputation among Jewish people in Chicago. Because the neo-Nazis of the 1970s started in Marquette Park. No, they didn't, they went to Skokie. That was a Supreme Court case, right?

They were from Marquette Park, my neighborhood, Frank Collins, and all those goons that started the neo-Nazi movement in Market Park because there was this big black, white divide, and he realized, like, this is the perfect place to be a Nazi. He went to Skokie to March because it was primarily a Jewish neighborhood. Yeah, there were a lot of Holocaust survivors there, too. Exactly. So, anyway.

Swap the music. To up to talking about... What do you want to do? I don't care. I mean, obviously, that's why I came here was to talk about my new album, Mr. Romantic. We're going to talk about it because I want to talk about music for a while.

Isn't this kind of a Jewish phrase? What's not to love? Yeah, yeah. To love? What's not? Exactly. Love? I am a little Jewish.

I named my album on that. Yeah. I don't want to watch the music yet, though, because I want to talk like a little bit more film and then, I mean, you want to stay forever. You want to have a sleepover. Whatever, man. Yeah, yeah.

You know, I was excited to be on the Dick Cavett show, but. He's 98 years old. He lives in modern talk. No, I mean, a format like the Dick Cabot show. I was saying to my friend on the way here, like, I've said so many times, why don't we have a Dick Cavett show anymore? Why isn't there a central square of our culture that can talk about ideas that can get into, like, what we really believe,

Why is it always like, oh, I'm here, I'm just going to keep it light and talk about my project. And, oh, they were great to work with. They were great to work with. Meanwhile, there's wars going on and all this shit. That was what I loved about Dick Cabot. You could have Tennessee Williams on there. You could have Marlon Brando on there. And they would tell you what they really thought.

They weren't afraid to express themselves as citizens of the country. When is the last time you talked to Paul McCartney? I'm just kidding. I did meet him once. He's the best. Who's your favorite? Wait, this is a stupid question, but like top five, who are your top five songwriters? My top five Beatles?

No, songwriters. Top five Beatles? Brian Epstein. There's only five. Yeah. Brian Epstein one. If you're Count Billy Preston. He's such a pure soul.

And he was part of so much other stuff that we love. Yeah. And some, yeah, anyways. He was a child prodigy, too, I believe. I think, yeah. I mean, like, I was talking the other day, and it's kind of like a dorm room conversation, but I'm like, for me, it's like Paul, Bob Dylan, and then, and then, I don't know. Then I can argue for a number of people after that.

John Lennon doesn't even get in after Bob Dylan? He's a pretty important part of that band. I'm not saying, I'm not diminishing him, and I'm not saying Bob Dylan's in the Beatles. That's the problem with these numbered lists. It's a stupid thing. People get diminished by being on them. It's very ESPN. But in my heart and in my formative experiences in music

Those I mean Bob Dylan is probably like made the biggest impression on me have you met him? No, but I was on his radio show a couple times which is a funny experience because he actually Oh no because you don't meet him when you're on the radio he doesn't do the radio show Was he was he nice you don't meet him you know you sit with someone else this guy Eddie who puts the show together for him And he's like okay like we just talk about whatever and like you know like what was like just tell me something interesting it happened you well when were you the most lonely he's like well the most lonely was my parents left me and the da da da da da but he's like but phrase it like you're

talking to bob and i'm like well bob i was the most lonely when i was uh when my family left me at a truck stop that's so stressful i know but no it's not but listen then so then you listen to the radio show and it's like i bet john c riley and bonds and noble he had this to say about loneliness and then they play this clip of me talking to eddie and it's sounds like I'm talking to Bob. It doesn't matter. You know, like, so Bob does all the kind of transitional stuff. Introduces the song.

He has a big part of choosing the music, obviously, that he plays. But the guests and stuff, I don't think anyone ever talks to him. But then you're, like, I would just be mad. And I'll tell you why I didn't want to meet him. Because I hold him in such a high place as an artist that I was like, actually don't want to meet the human being. I don't want to meet the human being.

You would hate me. I want him to live in the place where he already lives for me. It's already perfect. I don't need to know that he doesn't like asparagus or something. I don't need to know. Did you see the Rolling Thunder? He gave me visions of Johanna. You know, I don't need to know what his favorite beer is or something, you know. Do you see the Rolling Thunder? Yeah. I loved it. I loved that it was half, half, it was kind of Norm McDonald's memoir that he published was also the same thing. It was half true, half fake. It's like, it's a really, like, awesome way to tell a story. But one thing you see,

is that like there's this notion of genius and then you kind of look back in the day there were all these geniuses but then you see how people interact with him and it has to be very lonely because everyone's trying to say the most incredible thing they've ever said when they during their or some meaningful gratitude that that will land with you Bob no you don't understand how much and I was like everyone's trying to blow his fucking mind I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner with them one time with his family I know it why didn't you go sons because I was like I don't want to know why I don't want to see like the weird interactions at Thanksgiving I have my own weird interactions oh we would be

best friends with him dude no I get it I get what you're saying chances to meet him he's not gone you know like but for you know I've met some of my heroes and a couple of them were exactly like I wanted them to be and a couple of them I was like ah shit this was a better hero to me before I met them you know and I just didn't want to take that risk what was that what was the what was What were nice ones? What's the worst one? Jack Nicholson.

Oh my God. Exactly like you want him to be. It's as if you have a dream of Jack Nicholson, and it's exactly that. It's the coolest guy of all time. Tells you stories about Dennis Hopper. Tells you stories about Stanley Kubrig. He just totally free, like a man's man, like just shooting the shit, like exactly like you want Jack to beat.

What's the worst one? I don't like to talk shit about people. Well, just... It was bad enough. I don't need to publicize it. You see. Can you tell who it was? I'm trying to do it like this.

What were you saying? What are you saying? What kind of? Is it a music person? When you don't meet someone, you can just see them without their flaws. You know, you just see like, all I see is tangled up in blue when I look at Bob Dylan, you know? I don't see like, oh, he was mean that one. He talked to his assistant in a weird way or, you know, I don't, it's just garbage that's meaningless.

Have you been going to the, to his shows recently in the last couple years? No. He's locked in. He's locked in? It's amazing. Did you like that last record that he put out? I loved it. I contained multitudes.

I loved it. I absolutely loved it, too. I loved Key West. Oh, my God. He's just, there's something about, he just wants to be on the road the rest of his life. And this goes back to what I'm saying. It's like, everyone's trying to be the most profit. You see Alan Ginsberg stressed out around him, right?

You see like, you see a fucking Patty Smith. Like, and she just like, fuck, I'm a loser. Like just walking away and it's just like you realize that genius is just as rare as it always has been, right? And that has to be really... I don't think he thinks of himself as a genius, you know? No, he thinks of himself probably is like everyone's fucking being lame my whole life because... And it's probably a very lonely thing. Yeah, it's lonely at the top.

I've heard that before. I think he... I think... I mean, what I've read about when he talks about himself or how he sees himself, like, especially that era when everyone thought he was the political leader. of a new movement that he was going to him and Joan Baez were going to change the world forever she was mad at him he was going to be president or something he was like no man I write songs he just was the right song I'm a contemporary songwriter and you can see it lowe even this you know

him and the Rolling Stones are like that a little bit too they're like that's right no I'm not some I'm not like I don't have some particular thing that I do over and over I'm trying to move with the culture I'm trying to find out what do people want to hear from music right now. And Dylan's like that, you know, he described himself as a tin pan alley songwriter. It sounds like good. In the old-fashioned way of the Brill Building. Like you go in, you knock around some ideas, how does that sound? Put some words, me then, I don't change that word. He didn't see himself as like, God has told me how to lead the people, you know, like. Well, no one, the only way you could say productive. And people die who are treated like that.

And that's probably, in his era, it was probably like, no, man, they did this. this to Martin Luther King and they did this to Bobby Kennedy, you're not doing it to me. I'm a songwriter. You think the CIA was going to kill him? No. You think you're not going to hold me up as some kind of thought leader that some people are going to be pissed off enough with to kill, you know? It's just like if you want to make songs for 60 years, you don't think about what impact

this has on the zeit guys. You just go to the fucking studio, you make more songs. You know, you can't like get lost in your own legend. You're like, I want to make more songs. Maybe this album is going to sound like this. Maybe I'm going to get sly and Robbie because I'm done with my Christian stuff. Maybe I'm going to start working with Daniel and Waugh now. But if you look at him,

like if you go, there's a great exhibit of him at the Jewish Museum. Skirball Center in California. And there's this footage of him when he was like, I think he was speaking on behalf of Meg or Evers or something like that. That song is so good. He must be like 19 years old, maybe 20 years old. He's in a field playing a guitar.

surrounded by black people in overalls and shit. I love that clip. And he's just a song of righteousness. And so even though what I just said about his point of view about not being a genius and not being a leader and not being part of me feels like, but Bob, you are. Bob, you can deny it, but I see it. You know, you look at that film and you watch him standing there in front of those people coming up with the times they are changing, coming up with the words to express the

injustice of the time. You're like, no, you weren't just a Tin Pan Alley songwriter. You were someone that was tapped into something, you know, like... He just wanted to play electric guitar, man. I mean, in retrospect, like, watching the clips of like the people are like, you know... Don't look back? Yeah, yeah, like, the Royal album... What were you people looking at? You're like, you guys are fucking pussy's like, I came here for a fucking folk concert. Yeah, it's like, what's right? He's playing also like the best music. Four calls 76. Best Bob. Bass Bob.

Bass Bob. I've only listened to the bootlegs that he released out of respect to him. The video. The basement tape. Him doing Idiot Wind, and his life was falling apart, and he was drinking so much, and he was playing terrible shows up until that point, and something clicked. And Sarah, Dylan, and his mother were in the front row, and he's singing Idiot Wind, and he's so angry.

He's singing it so pissed. Wow. And it's like, like your wife is, like, it's a wonder you know how to breathe? You think he's talking about her? I think it's about that, yeah, he's pissed at his wife, no? What do you think that song's about? I don't know. Maybe, I don't know.

He never told me what it was about. You never got to ask him. I thought, when I listened to that song, I think it's about some idiot. Oh, maybe I'm just, I got to fight with my girlfriend, and I connected her on a different level once. But, no. Blowing every time you move your mouth. Yeah. It's a very sexist song, but it's just like...

Is it? It's a... Well, go, no. You know why? You know why? Because that album's a breakup album. That's why. So that's why I always thought that.

I try to take the songs that Baow offers, like he wants them offer. Like, this is just a song I wrote. Don't make it about my life. It's about some idiot. And then it's my song, too. Then when I listen to Idiot Win, I'm not like, man he should have been more fair to his wife I'm listening to idiot and going yeah that person was a fucking idiot I wish I thought of this song to say to

them when they when they treated me that way Sarah Dillon I know she was being an no no but I know in the context of that it's not about like celebrity whatever that I want to know about his relationships or something it's that why is this performance like so passionate is because his life is falling apart and something clicks in that concert and it's also filmed you know so that that entire concert is like you know was a television broadcast I think on ABC or something and I haven't seen what you're talking about you the one where he's has the thing tied around his head like because it's raining he has a t-shirt

tied around his head he looks like he's like in the Middle East or something and he's he does that whatever okay I think it can be interesting to to delve into what an artist was going through when they made a certain piece of art like when like for instance when Buster Keaton the famous shot of Buster Keaton the house falling on him and it just misses his head what's fascinating about that I mean it's funny as a as a bit of comedy film but what's fascinating about it is like he was on the verge of suicide his life was ruined he was bankrupt so he didn't care if the house hit him damn so that makes that much more point in it but like have you ever been in a like a where your personal life is like

affected a performance like that yeah of course yeah I don't think you can be a really true artist if your own personal experiences are not informing everything that you do that doesn't mean you advertise it or you tell people that sure yeah but for sure yeah and you're as an actor you're channeling stuff that you went through you know well past experiences yeah yeah of course no but it's just a It's interesting to say. My father died when I was making the river wild, which is a, you know, you could say, whatever, silly kind of Hollywood movie about a family gets taken,

gets kidnapped on a river rafting trip. But my father died while I was making it. And at the end of that movie, when I'm broken and my arm is broken, it's the final kind of, you know, end of the movie. And I'm weeping on a rock. I was weeping because my father died. He had just died right before that. But you didn't know that.

So when you watch the movie, you're like, oh, yeah. that guy's fucked up because they got caught and they whatever you know have you heard that Yoko Ono album season of glass no so it's have you seen the new Yoko and John Doc no where's what's it all should we watch it after you go and I or something are a sleepover should I get weed really really good it's really good it's really good I mean that relation I could go on about the you were gonna ask me something but I can tell you about three months that came out three months after this the the assassination.

I was about to say suicide three times. My brain is, I'm mentally, I, not the art. I'm the art. I'm just nervous right now. Okay, she made an album, and the artwork is amazing, because it's, they gave her his glasses,

and it had his blood splatter from, and it's right next to a glass of water, and it's taken from the Dakota, and Central Park is behind it. And she took a picture of his glasses in front of the window. That's going to make me cry. That's just too sad.

The album is just the purest expression of anguish and love. And in the context of that, and in the context of like, we know this guy John and we love him, and this woman is like in pain. I mean, it does contextualize this, like, amazing album that I can't just view as, like, that song's good, right? And, like, so sometimes I agree with you.

Like, sometimes it's art from the artist. But other times it's like, yeah, that makes me appreciate this all. Yeah, deeper if you know. Yeah, yeah. Well, also because I'm obsessed with Dylan. Like, I just like tend to know where he was in his life at that point. We were born on the same day. May 24th, dude.

May 24th. He being Minnesota. You know, one of the most beautiful things about that Let It Be documentary that Peter Jackson did? I watched it three times. It was like a gentle rain washing away the messrs. that people treated Yo-ko with. She was vindicated. It was like a gentle reign that showed you like,

no, these guys loved each other. They loved each other. This whole thing, this whole bullshit story we've been told that John and Paul hated it, but it's all bullshit. Well, they loved each other. How could they have done all of that with that bullshit storyline?

So that was a real gift that I thought Peter Jackson gave to the world that he showed like, no, there's a much more interesting story here than that. There's a moment where Paul says John loves her and if he wants her here, I want her here. Exactly. How nice was that? Yeah.

How about George helping Ringo with like, oh no, actually you should do the chain chip on Octopus Garden, you know. So stupid. Baby song. And it actually, and it gave me a lot more respect for Paul to tell you the truth. You're a John guy. I'm a Paul guy. I'm a Paul guy.

I'm a pop one. He was just always trying to keep things light or whatever. Actually, he's the workhorse. If you watched it, he was the ones like, ideas, ideas, ideas, ideas. ideas, you know. First guy and last guy out. There's a really heartbreaking thing that happens in that movie, which I'm sure you've noticed. But beginning, I think John and Yoko were doing smack at the time or doing heroin, and they were a little checked out. And John said he would do it, so he shows up with Yoko, they're there, but he's kind of like

not really participating for a while. And then George and Paul start to like come up with something maybe a little bit interesting. Suddenly John perks up. There's a good idea on the floor, and he moves in with Paul, suddenly John and Paul back together, and George's left, like, yesterday's news. He's so mean to him. And that's when he quits the band. Yeah, that's when he leaves.

He's like, I can't take this hurt again. It was so, you know, watching it from the outside, you're like, oh, wow, like, it's so obvious what happened there. Anyway. They were also, like, 27. And also the, yeah, super young. And a costume designer, a friend of mine pointed out something really interesting about that movie,

which is that first, I forgot who the first one, is who comes out all blinged out. I think it might have been Ringo. One of them shows up like with clothes, you know, like, and then the next day, another one shows up. We got a fur vest on now. And by the end of it, they're all stunting with their clothes. They all live like pips. Yeah, they're all peacocking for each other kind of like. Yeah, well, my understanding, my reading, and it's like the cool thing about that Peter Jackson thing was like, I was going to live the rest of my life and never expect to see that. Right. I had no, I had no, expectation and then it happens and I'm like I'm so lucky I this is something you imagine I have

imagined it's like the that was that happened before I was born it's like seeing pictures of your parents before you're born you create a narrative and a story in your mind but it doesn't it's it's it's not real right you're not there and so like that like those sessions like I knew that they were recording it all live I knew Billy Preston came in but like I didn't know anything the fuck else I knew what I didn't you know what I didn't I didn't know that those recordings on the roof are on the album. I didn't know that. Is that right?

Yes. Fuck! Dude, some of the greatest songs on that album are from the fucking show on the roof. Have you heard the ice? It was looped. It was wired to the studio. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I remember that.

Have you heard the isolated? I thought the concert on the roof was like a little thing they did for fun at the end. They were recording it. It's on the album. They were locked in on that. Have you heard the isolated tracks of like Paul's bass on like, don't let me down and stuff. It's like he's playing like Jack, like,

it's like Jaco Pistorius. You don't realize like this guy, like, until you watch that, that like this guy, in the same way as Bob, just cares about making songs. And like his friend is in pain. I just read a book about them. Oh my God, I could talk about this forever. There was a, when he wrote yesterday,

the band was John kind of as a featured, you know, John Beatle. And then, and they were best friends since childhood. It probably fucked one time, a couple, or a couple times. John also let... Hot take. It's implied that when they went to Paris, they were in love with each other. But they were also, like, there was a...

Nothing wrong with it, by the way. I just had never heard anything like that. John also let Epstein hit once, too, because Epstein was in love with him. That's why he signed them. He was in love with John. I don't want to... I heard about David Bowie and Mick Jagger. David Bowie's like, apparently he only tried once and he's like, it's not for me.

Really? That's what I heard. You have all the like gay-grey laundry. I know every guy who's had sex with every guy. Yeah. But no, I don't know any. Isn't it all just the same? Anyway, that's what we...

No, no, but that's interesting. That's what I talk about on this album. Gay sex. Yeah. Well, the fact that love is love, it really is. This character is trying to fall in love with someone during every show. And I start out talking with women at the beginning. I go into the audience.

And the idea is that, Mr. Romantic is this mythical character he lives in a steamer trunk that's been traveling the world for thousands of years these four musicians are carrying around the steamer trunk they know they remember but they're caught in a kind of purgatory he comes out of the steamer trunk and he has no memory of the past

all he knows is that he has to stay inside this steamer trunk and when he comes out of the steamer trunk he has to put on a show and he doesn't have to go back into the steamer trunk if he can find one person in the audience who will live. love him forever. Wow. Right.

So then in the beginning of the show, I start talking with women, right? And then at a certain point in the show, I walk out and I start talking to men. And the guys are like, wait, what? And I say, look, I'm not gay or straight. I'm desperate. Yeah, yeah. I told you I have to find someone. Don't go back in that box.

Yeah. Yeah. So then what happens in the room is like all the women, first of all, go, oh, thank God, it's not going to be just him leching on all of us the whole show. And all the men go. Oh shit, it's on me, too, to think about love. You're famous, dude. Why, Mr. Romantic?

So what it does is it brings everyone into this present moment. And, like, when you're talking about this gay stuff, like, why is it like this scandalous thing that John and him? I didn't say it scandalously. I meant it as, like, literally, like, literally that was mentioned in the book that there was a, like, a connection there. Real quick, they need to wrap, so can we talk a little bit? Hey folks, Adam here. I want to talk to you about ZockDoc,

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If they're pediatrician, you want them to remember. Yeah, if they're pediatrician, you want them to remember your kids' names. But sometimes, you want one that roots for your favorite sports team and makes you laugh? Makes you laugh. And still gives you a lollipop, even though you're a full-grown adult. Your diamond in the rough doctor exists. and finding them is easy on Zoc Doc, okay? Raise your hand if you've been putting off dental cleaning,

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Good mate. Thanks a lot. There's some things I wanted to talk about. Let's get into it. And it's not just promoting this product, which is actually not probably going to make me any money. It's just sort of a gift to the world. But what I wanted to talk about was... Well, let's act like I thought of the question. Empathy and misanthropy.

So what do you think about empathy and misogyny? Fuck. Empathy, we're in this weird, like, moment where empathy has become... uncool, like even Elon Musk said empathy is weakness or something, like the empathy trap or whatever, like, and he's completely wrong. And empathy to me is the foundation of civilization. It's the only way that civilization actually works is if I care about you, and even though I don't know you, I care about you. Yeah. All right. So being nice. Well, just trying to understand what it's like for another person and giving them the benefit of the doubt and understanding like

they deserve dignity they deserve kindness they they deserve whatever I deserve because they're also a human being like me like I do think that's we're at a really a juncture in the world where or junction or whatever the hell is um where we're on a junket junk we're on a junket junk I don't know do you have misanthropy oh yeah sorry is this really There's a trend right now among people that tell stories that make television shows, that do reality TV, that make movies where it's this posture people take where the world sucks. Okay?

This is what's wrong with the world. And there it is. Watch this movie. You'll understand why the world sucks. And people are ultimately stupid and they're not smart. And there's no redeeming characters in this story. There's nothing good. You're going to walk out of here and realize the world's a...

piece of shit right except I already know that I read the news every day so this whole trend to me people who are misanthropes are overly sensitive people who have decided if the world's not perfect it's a piece of shit and I think the truth about life is actually much more nuanced than that you know if you're at a funeral someone will make a joke and you might smile at a funeral. If you had a birthday party, you notice like, oh, that kid is having a hard time. You know, like, so to me, that's the truth about life. So when I see art, I want it to reflect the truth about life, that it's complicated, that sometimes people are shitty, but sometimes

even shitty people do something good. Because at the bottom of it all, all of us have good and bad in us, right? So to take this posture of a misanthrope and to be cynical about the way the world is, I think is lazy. I think it's immature. I think it's something like a 15-year-old who listens to death metal. You know what? Fuck it, man. The whole world sucks.

Well, if you grow up a little bit, you'll see... It's an adolescent thought. Yeah, the whole thing doesn't suck. There's joy out there every day. There's something out there every day. Also, they're human, too, right? Like, I think what I'm picking up on is that just the fucking... The fucking movies are all trying to engage with a discourse these days

and like about, you know, the public contemporary moment. And sometimes you just want to see a movie about, like, this kid has a big dick, and then he starts doing porn, right? And then he starts doing coke. But you know what that movie's about? You know what Boogie Nights is about? Boogie Nights is about choosing your family and finding your family. But we get that.

It's a family movie. We get that in the context of, like, this kid has a big dick and he's a mom's meat. nightmare so he finds another mother he finds Julianne Moore instead of his actual mother yeah chooses his family and at the end he's happy he's found a family that loves him yeah it's not about porn actually to me but I think I think that that I've read Paul saying that about the movie too you know and like the when you go like this they dream that yeah I wasn't aware that I did it yeah when apparently he takes out the monster yeah yeah yeah it's so funny

I mean, that movie is a sexy scene in that movie, and you don't see any nudity in it. Her first scene with him, is it okay if I come in you? Yeah, baby, whatever you want. Like, there's something so hot about that, and it's not even the explicit part of the movie. Don't tell her, you know her probably, so don't tell her, but I was so in love with her is crazy.

When I watched that, what I... If you include that in this segment, she's going to find out. Heather Graham is one? She's going to watch this? Heather Graham? I was talking about Julianne Moore. Roller Girl. Oh, no, no, that scene. No, dude. I was talking about Julianne Moore's first scene with dirt.

That's true. The Julianne Moore, yeah. That's that one. That was when... When Roller Girl does the taste... Yeah, okay. For a 15-year-old boy? Yeah. That was my bar mitzvah. Yeah.

That was a formative moment in my life. I had a similar experience when I watched Dangerous Liaisons. And Uma Thurman does that. I literally, I was with a wonderful... dear departed, dear friend of mine, this gay fellow named Ted, went to see that movie with me.

And after we came out, I was like, I turned out, I was like, oh my God, Ted. How about that girl? And he's like, oh, I know you like that. And I was like, what? And he's like, you really don't know what you said?

And I was like, what? He said, when she lifted up her shirt like that, you said, oh my God. You didn't realize. Out loud. And the audience laughed at me. And I was completely like... You're in a trance? You have children?

I do. I have two sons. One thing, my friends are becoming parents recently. This guy's Jewish. Boom. This guy's Jewish and this guy's Jewish. These two are Catholic. You can't...

Oh, cousins. Nice. You're an Irish Catholic? Yeah, I'm Irish Catholic. They're the best people on Earth, the Irish. Are they? I think so. Yeah, they're pretty good.

There's a soul. They've got a nice little democracy over there right now. I'll tell you that. Do you feel like why they coming over here taking American roles? Why don't those bastards go back over? I'm not going over there playing Shanae. I'm not going to play Shnade O'Connor go over there, even though I could. You know, the crazy thing is that what they're saying about people from Latin America,

about coming and taking God. This is exactly what they said about Italians and Irish and Polish and everyone else before. Like, it's the same old song, you know? But they're better at acting than us now? Well, I do have a little bit of a bone to pick about some of that. like the Australians like try getting try going to Australia as an actor and making it in movies well it's australia it's it's hot it's America there'd be like what are you doing here we're the best you're not Australian why would you come here to tell Australian stories some but somehow we

were much cooler but some of the like worst like comedians go over to London they get big because they don't understand what's funny over there in stand-up that's not true no no their satire is better than us Steve Coogan sells out stadiums they obviously understand what's funny. Their stand-up isn't good. Their satire isn't miles, light years ahead of us. Like, because it's...

I haven't seen enough stand-up there, but I might agree with you. All the stand-up is like, oy, and if you don't think that a trans person is a human being, maybe stop it, and then it's huge laugh. And it's like, it's not a joke,

and it's a good... That sounded like New Zealand, that accent, but... If you don't think, if you don't think, a trans woman is a woman, maybe not, don't. and then that they laugh

which I agree with but it's like they make points like their satire is amazing because they used to run the world and then they had to go back

to their shitty gray place that's the key to understanding the English and they just can't believe they don't have the world anymore if only they would listen to us again we could fix all of this there's an inherent irony in that

don't you think like they're like they just had to say goodbye like you know They were like, goodbye. It was a little more violent than that in Ireland. And in India. Ireland is the Palestine of England, basically.

Well, that's why. I think the Irish are so supportive of the Palestinian people because they understand what it's like to be under the heel of, you know, a superior military force. But you just want them out of Hollywood. The Irish? Yeah, yeah. They're taking all our jobs.

Come on, dude. It's a free country. It's still a free country. Who's this Kiogen thinking he could. He's great. That kid's great. Yeah, yeah. He looks intense. So I just want to talk, like, moving forward, like, you have a music project coming out, transitioning career-wise.

Like, is this just something additionally you want to do or something you want to focus on moving forward? Well, music in general for me is like something I've always done since I was a kid. I've been doing musicals, but it's something since I became a professional actor, something I've always done to keep me from doing things I shouldn't be doing in movies. because I know as an actor

and I know actors in general like to feel like we're working we're useful the world wants me to work and so we end up taking stuff we shouldn't take so I started doing music so that I would have enough patience to like wait for the next good thing to do

so I could have something I was inspired by and then I thought gave something back to the world and this one in particular this project in particular was really was really about like trying to address what's going on with this lack of empathy and the separation between people. You know, computers have done a real number on us. Last thing is, like, in terms of, like, the music that you're influenced by and interested in,

it seems like it's heavily influenced by Americana and, like, American folk music. I mean, like Bob Dylan, I contain multitudes, you know? I used to have a blues band. I used to have a folk band that did like, you know, roots music, for lack of a better word, or country music. And now I have this sort of vaudeville act that does songs for the American Songbook, a few Tom Waits songs. What tracks you got out of there? What track is that? This is a...

It's not a photograph. Yes, it's a photograph. That's a real photograph of me. These rocks are real. And then this is a painting that they put behind it. Why they paint you six three, though? Yeah, I mean, I think it's like... Stephen Birkman, you should look up his work.

That's who shot this photograph too. And this photograph. This is a photograph that's been painted over. So is it your... Like, so you get MCU offers, then you're like, I'm going to the studio? Yeah, basically. That's kind of chill. I did do one MCU thing, and I was like, that's enough.

Which one did you do? I was in Guardians of the Galaxy. Oh, that one was fun? Yeah. Which... I found it really hard. I found it hard. I couldn't, like...

Anyway. I don't want to get into this. Well, it's just like it's all like, what I understand is like, it's like blue screen? There's a lot of that. It was also, for the first time in my life, I've found it hard to memorize wines. Did you have, like, ping pong balls? There were no, like, there was no emotional content to it. It's all just like facts and plot points and things about spaceships.

And I was like, I just couldn't get it into my head or into my heart or something. You didn't have to wear one of those motion tracking ping pong things? No, I didn't have to do that. That would have been cool, right? The guy, yeah, there was a one-sey. The guy who was doing the raccoon was in a green morph suit. Bradley Cooper? No, the director's brother was actually on the set in a green.

And you know what's crazy? Coop is like Bob Dylan. He's making some other schmuck go out there instead of the coop play the raccoon? The director's brother played the raccoon so that people had something to look at. But he was like much taller than the raccoon. So it was very strange. He had to wear this morph suit. And he would crouch down.

Like, I don't know. It was very strange. Look at, like, making all the Guardians of the Galaxy. You'll see, it's crazy. Like, well, how they pull that off. Do you have any projects coming up that you want to plug or anything you're excited about? A few movies coming out. One is called Hads or Tales or Testa O'Croche, an Italian film I made where I played Buffalo Bill Cody.

Awesome. I have another movie coming out called A Prayer for the Dying, where I play this doctor in the 1800s dealing with, in Wisconsin, dealing with this plague. Is there something else? I don't think so. And who directed those pictures? A girl named Darvon Dussen, a woman named Darvon Duesen directed. The Italian? Directed a prayer for the dying.

And these two guys, Matteo and Alessio, directed the Italian one. And the film you just finished. Oh, right, yeah. I'm in a new movie, too, called How to Rob a Bank, with a bunch of the young kids. Zoe Kravitz is in it with me. I play an FBI agent who's trying to catch bank robbers. They respect you on set, the youngest?

Yeah, they do. You're an elder statesman. Although. Not that elder, but you're. Oh, I was way older compared to them. Yeah. Do you ever intend on directing? Yeah, I would like to direct, actually.

I think I'd be pretty good at it. Like I told you before, I've done a lot of children's theater. Like I've done a lot of theater directing, but I don't know. Acting is kind of a demanding job. Like, you're kind of always on this treadmill. And to direct, you have to, like, get off the treadmill. I'm not going to even consider acting offers. I'm just going to dedicate two or three years or seven years of my life

to getting this story told. And I just can never quite find myself in that spot. Like, no, I must tell this story. Like, I'm someone that's used to, like, telling, you know, just being a vessel for other people's stories. Well, that, I was going to follow up with that because it's like, I imagine a director has, Have you ever had a guy just like fucking with you just to get the performance he wants?

Like a psychopath? I imagine you have to manipulate. I can usually spot those people before you sign on and I don't sign on with people. I don't like people that are like patronizing like that. Yeah. You're not doing like a her. And I don't like bullies. And I don't like bullies.

And I don't like. If anyone ever tries to bully me or bully someone in my presence, they're going to hear about it and I'm not going to be working with that person anymore. There's no time for bullies. Were you close with Phil Hoffman? Yeah, very close. I mean, he was perhaps the best act. I mean, he's the best, right?

A lion, a lion among men, I would say. Yeah, really. He had gravitas as a young man that was a mystery. I was like, how do you have this gravitas? We're both the same age. Like, how, I don't know. They had a lot of respect for Phil. We did a show on Broadway, True West, together.

I know, I was going to ask about it. Yeah. They have to go. No, I have to go. Do they have to go to the airport? There's just no negotiating with airplanes. Please, yeah. I appreciate your time.

And it's weird to throw the film off the big at the end. But I hope you've enjoyed it. Yeah. It's funny that you mentioned it because I was just, I did some earlier interviews and other people mentioned him too. But yeah, you know, one of the all-time greats. I associate you with like an ensemble, I think because of all the PTA movies. Yeah, we were part of that ensemble together, definitely.

It was kind of like a crew that was like, oh, these are the best. But yeah, if you say so, thank you.