The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast - MacGruber: Remembering Val Kilmer

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Two special guests, Will Forte and John Solomon, join the pod this week to share their fond memories of making MacGruber, including their favorite moments with the legendary Val Kilmer. We dedicate this episode to Val, who passed away on April 1, 2025, and celebrate the joy, humor, and heart he brought to the screen and to those who knew him. MacGuber trailer - https://youtu.be/xQHHHBkigDY?si=n4kXjLy7daCn6NUu Werner Herzog on Chickens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhMo4WlBmGM MacGruber: Sensitivity Training - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPNZv8J94uA Behind the Music: Rock & Roll Heaven - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqPB1NlM4ew (Not all the clips we mention are available online; some never even aired.) If you want to see more photos and clips follow us on Instagram @lonelymeyerspod. Send us an email! [e-mail] Support our sponsors: Maker's Mark This episode of The Lonely Island Podcast is brought to you by our friends at Maker's Mark. You too can celebrate the spirited women in your life with a free personalized label to go with a bottle of Maker’s Mark! Head to makersmarkpersonalize.com and fill in the details in order to create and mail your custom label. MAKER'S MARK MAKES THEIR BOURBON CAREFULLY. PLEASE ENJOY IT THAT WAY. Maker's Mark® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, 45% Alc./Vol. ©2025 Maker's Mark Distillery, Inc., Loretto, KY. Vuori 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Go to vuori.com/island and discover the versatility of Vuori Clothing. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Rocket Money Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/island today. ExpressVPN Secure your online data TODAY by visiting ExpressVPN.com/ISLAND to find out how you can get up to four extra months FREE.

This episode of the Lonely Island podcast is brought to you by our friends at Makers Mark. We are celebrating Women's History Month by recognizing the spirited women in our lives and remembering Makers Mark co-founder Margie Samuels. You too can celebrate the spirited women in your life with a free personalized label to go with a bottle of Makers Mark. Head to makersmarkpersonalize.com and fill in the details in order to create and mail your custom label. Makers Mark makes their bourbon carefully. Please enjoy it that way. Makers Mark, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey,

45% alcohol per volume. Copyright 2025, Makers Mark Distillery, Incorporated Laredo, Kentucky. Incorporated Loretto, Kentucky. It's the lonely island and Seth Meyers podcast. All right, I'm gonna jump in. Hey everybody. Yes! Yes!

I'm Andy. Oh no, so Yoram, just to clarify, I said I'm gonna jump in and you took that as your opportunity to just start screaming in the microphone. I'm so jacked up for this episode. All right, so Yorm is today's Andy, but he's also today's Yorm and he's also today's Akiva. But we're joined by a couple other people.

We're having a special episode of the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast. We have re-invited back previous guests, John Solomon and Will Forte. Hello, gentlemen. Hello. Hello. Johnny, Will, Johnny. We, gentlemen. Hello. Hello. Johnny, Will, Johnny.

We had always wanted you guys to come back on to talk about more McGroober stuff, including the movie. And then very sadly, we had a reason to speed that process up. Our dear friend, Val Kilmer passed away. I highly recommend everybody go and read a beautiful piece that Will had published in New York Magazine. It was very lovely, the way you talked about Val. And I thought maybe we could talk about him some more on

this year podcast today. We could talk about him for a year and it wouldn't cover even a dent of who he was. Load it up. He's the world's deadliest villain. Sorry. He's ruthless. Don't speak Russian. No!

And brilliant. Straight flush. Damn it! I'm gonna turn Washington, D.C. into a pile of ash. He's known only as Dieter. And until now, he's been unstoppable. What the world needs is a hero who's so top secret, we don't even know his full name.

Hello, MacGruber. Can we just start with the casting of Val Kilmer in MacGruber as a character Dieter von Cunth? Dieter von Cunth, yeah. Dieter von Cunth. So in the very writing of the script, you have eliminated probably 85% of actors who just are going gonna hard no. I think it's a testament to either he didn't read the name of the character because he

did he was at the table read and I don't know if we talked about this that he admitted to us afterwards that he read it cold and he nailed it like just absolutely nailed the part. Yes. I think not only would 85% of actors not want to play a character named Dieter von Kuntz, I think probably 99% of agents don't want to call their clients and say, hey, there's

a part I think you're perfect for. For people who don't know the process, we went into the table read not having the role cast. He was just coming to the table read as a favor. Like not even to any of, I don't know who, who he was doing the favor for because none of us knew him. So we were so excited to have him at this table read. It had to be Lauren, right? Did. Yeah. Must've, he was just doing a favor and we were so excited that he was even just doing the table read. But I don't think at any point we were like, Oh, Val Kilmer would ever be a part of this movie.

I don't think at any point we were like, oh, Val Kilmer would ever be a part of this movie. Just because of him, I mean, obviously, I think we were pretty excited he was doing it. It was shocking. Honestly, just for all of us being just such massive fans of Top Secret to me was the first movie that I saw where I watched it and was doubled over most of the time. I can't remember how old I was watching it, but thinking like I didn't know that adults could be this funny

was my first thing. And so like, so just to have this man who like was such a part of our childhoods and that movie across from us, and then finding out that he was reading it entirely cold and just crushing. Yeah, Dheeraj Mukkhan. I will say this though,

he did do the movie. There was one joke though that he refused to do, which was that we did want to cut his penis off and shove it in his mouth. That was the one joke that he did not want to do. Yeah. I think now it's especially a good decision on his part. Like I don't think anybody,

it would be even harder to talk about him now, how do you guys made this poor person do this. I missed Top Secret and I definitely saw Top Gun first. So to know him as Iceman first and then retroactively see Top Secret. I mean, those are like two of his first, what, three movies and he does the absolute opposite pulls

of what you think someone is capable of doing. Like so deeply funny and so like heartbreakingly cool. Were those his first three? So it was top secret, real genius, and then? Top Gun. Top Gun? Yeah. At the time he was telling his agent he would only do movies with Top in the title. Right. Yeah.

And then real genius. It was like two for me, one for you. Well, it was originally called Top Genius. Right. Yeah. And then real genius. It was like two for me, one for you. Well, it was originally called Top Genius. Right. Did he want you to change the name of McGroober? He did. Yeah. We sucked him in by calling it Top Groober Top. You know, you say how do you get him? You take a read like that is one of the things Lauren delivers on as he gets people, you know, valid hosted SNL in 2000. I'm sure like a lot of people, he had an incredible experience and then felt indebted to Lauren. And so Lauren sort of probably pulled the strings to get him

there. And then, Will, knowing you, I would imagine during the read of MacGruber at the Table, you're having a million other thoughts. You're performing, you're probably over analyzing how the script is playing, what's good, what's bad. Did you also give yourself space to be like, holy shit, Val Kilmer is crushing? I usually am in too much of a state of focus. Like I'll focus on maybe things that aren't working, but I maybe won't be giving credit to the things that are.

It's like all the worry space in my head goes to the parts that are. It's like all the worry space in my head goes to the parts that are. And from what I remember, the table read went pretty well, but like he was fantastic. Yes. It was hard not to acknowledge how great he was doing. For me, just cause like the nervousness that you have for how much energy we put into the script and how much we wanted this to work, obviously for like, this is our chance to show that it can work. That's going to be funny in front of an audience or a small audience. And I remember that nervousness of like, for everyone, is it going to work?

And the moment he said his first line, I was just like, oh, my God, like, it's him. It's like it's absolutely him. Like we were iffy on other people. Like it took us a second to like even figure out Ryan's character and blah blah blah, like and Ryan crushes it. And then to know that you're like, he's just reading it for the first time. But that is what you learn from anybody who is in Top Secret, which is the comedy McGroober is to play it like it's not comedy. Yeah, which is I think very few people, you know, I think it's always the risk when people, even when people who are known as serious actors

get invited to host SNL, sometimes they push it too far as to what they think comedy is, but he really understood the game, which is, oh, I'll just play it super, what did he, I feel like he screamed something in the last scene, which is one of my favorite moments in McGroober. Do you know what I'm talking about? There's some, yeah.

He screams something, but every single take he would do He would scream and then keep his mouth open as if he was continued to scream But he stopped the sound part of it. So we'd go like He screams a girl that keeps his mouth open. What a funny take. Yeah, it's even a harder cut sound wise. It's so awesome. He doesn't complete the word.

He goes, I've seen a Groober so many times and yet there's something so off the wall about the way he does that it catches me by surprise every time. Oh, God. You know what I mean? There's all I always forget that he made that choice. Solomon, you probably were maybe more able to at the table read, be judging how people were doing. Do you remember your bounce on what Val was like at the table?

And it was just the same thing that you're saying, just complete like shock at how fantastically villainous he was and just also how hard to figure out what was going on in his brain, which was so fascinating and funny. Every choice he made was just fascinating. His first line is open it. And I remember me like, wow, that was really good. Those two words. Yeah, just so much gravitas with all of it and just like everything was deadly serious. He just like played ititas with all of it. And just like everything was deadly serious. He just like played it so real, all of it. Can we just talk like just for a second? Because I know we each probably have our favorite foul stories.

Oh, yeah. Well, I can't wait to get into the behind the scenes foul stories. Oh, my God. Well, just let me just tell you this. So in meeting him for the first time, I drove out to Malibu to meet him and his door was open. He just wanted me to walk in. The door was open to his house on the Malibu coast looking out over this beautiful, you know,

it's the beautiful sea, whatever, Pacific. And I go in the house and he's on the balcony and he's throwing something into the ocean. He's throwing these little chips or something into the ocean and he's throwing something into the ocean. He's throwing these little chips or something into the ocean and he's going, are you a king? Are you a king? And I was like, what? And he comes back into the room, he's turned away from me

and he comes back into the room and he starts tossing these little paper chips at me. These little chips, and I'm like, what are these? I start looking at them and it takes me like a couple minutes to figure out that he was invited to Mardi Gras that year to play King Baucus or whatever, the guy who like leads the float. And these are little paper chips that he's supposed to be throwing out to the crowd with his face on it. And he was saying that he was a king, but it was just the leaps of logic.

Was he practicing? No, he was just messing with me. I think it was just like this wonderful, like I'm this is how I'm meeting the director of this film that I'm going to work on from jump. I was like, oh, God, this guy like he was such this wonderful. We went to lunch and I was just like right after the lunch. I remember driving home with Mari, my wife, like he was such this wonderful, we went to lunch and I was just like, right after the lunch, I remember driving home with Mari, my wife, and was texting, I was texting Val after this lunch,

and I was like, can I say this to, it seemed like logically what I should be responding to what he just said was, I was writing back, my friends will kill your friends? I don't remember how we got to that part in the conversation, me texting him. I was like, can I write this to Val Kilmer? Like, it seems like that's what I should be saying to this man right now. Like, he was such this wonderful ballbuster of a human being,

like just fucking with life and just, it just, he was such a, on every level, the most interesting mind. And yeah, I will forever remember that particular meeting. And so fun and like silly, like he'd have this way of like talking very seriously to you, but very silly, but with no wink at all. And it was so disarming and fun. And, and then he'd kind of, then just the tiniest bit of a wink would come in at a certain point. So you're like, OK, good, he's fucking around.

This episode of the Lonely Island Podcast is brought to you by our friends at Makers Mark. And I'm with some of my friends right now. Hi, guys. Hello. Hi. You know, Margie Samuels was a spirited woman. She was also the co-founder of Makers Mark.

I don't have to tell you guys this stuff. No. No, we know it. But our listers might not, so continue. All right, the co-founder of Maker's Mark. I don't have to tell you guys this stuff. No, no, we know it. But our listers might not, so continue. All right, well, in honor of Women's History Month, we wanted to toast some of the spirited women in our lives. That was my idea, actually. These guys were thinking about not doing it,

and I was like, we should. Yeah, you are, in many ways, as trailblazing as Margie Samuel's Yorm, and I've often said that. Well, I kept saying, I want to mark this day with a maker's mark. And you guys kept saying, what does that mean? I was like, it means a toast, guys. Way to land the plane, buddy.

Thank you. Thank you, Seth. I want to tell a story about a spirit of woman I saw during the 50th. And I was a little bit lucky, because I was there on Friday for some rehearsal action. And I got to watch the Close Encounters rehearsal with Kate McKinnon.

And I feel it's the most I've ever watched an actor's process. Guys, I'm gonna wrap this up. You too can celebrate the spirit of women in your life with a free personalized label to go with the bottle of Makers Mark. Head to makersmarkpersonalized.com and fill in the details in order to create

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Visit the website for full terms and condition. Do you guys remember when he first showed up on set and was just visiting and he was dressed in this like all white linen suit with like a bolo tie and I can't remember what he was wearing, but I was just like, this man is amazing. Like it was just his day off and he like wanted to come visit us. There's just the level of dedication and fun and there was a million of those stories. I reached out to my friend Dave Stassen who's a really talented writer in LA and when we first

moved in LA late 90s, it was just so exciting. Anytime anyone saw a famous person, none of us were in show business yet, but he was working at the Chateau Marmont, and basically the guy who would go out and help you unload your luggage. I remember he came home and said, Valkilmer and his assistant pulled up in a Volvo station wagon, and he was staying in the farthest away bungalow.

So it was a long walk for anybody who's carrying his luggage. He said it was just filled with so many bags and so much junk. And he said, what do you need out of the car? And Val said, I guess bring it all. And then he said there was like a hundred loose tennis balls too. And so it was a joke. Dave said, you want the tennis balls? And Val goes, yeah, I might need those.'" And so Dave said he had to make, like, multiple trips,

like, holding his shirt open, which is loose tennis balls. And he said by the time he got to the bungalow, Val had taken, there was a two-bedroom bungalow. He had taken the mattresses off the bed and built, like, a mattress fort in front of the fireplace. It was like the speed in which this guy was crazier and like more memorable than anybody else. He was nothing but memorable.

I also, there's a place called, I think it's called the Artichoke Cafe in Albuquerque. I don't know if you guys remember that restaurant. Yeah. Yeah, I remember that place. We went there a lot. We went to dinner there with, I remember Lauren and Val, and I remember it because my wife's from Albuquerque,

and so we go back, and so I've eaten at that restaurant since with like my in-laws and people I love, but I'm always acutely aware that this is a thousand times more boring than the time I was here with Val Kilmer. Who like, who brought all these photos of his ranch in New Mexico, and was just with like Kilmer, who brought all these photos of his ranch in New Mexico and

was just with like these beautiful photos. He's like, yeah, it's like 75 acres. IRS, I think might be taking it away tomorrow. Like he kept, like he was like the amount of like incredible land and deep tax trouble he had. And he was talking about it. Didn't seem like his heart rate went up at all when he discussed it. No, I think that that was like, like, You've been there, right? Yeah. Did you guys did you guys come with me to visit? I didn't get to go. You were there before we got out there.

I think maybe just just me and Mari went and it was this awesome, awesome place. Like it had Buffalo on it. Like it was so cool. But it was 6000 acres. There was a six mile river running through it. Like it was just this crazy. So yeah, it was unfortunate that he had a, cause I think he wanted to like, you know, really make it into an artist's compound. Usually when you have that much land

that you want to turn into an artist compound, that's usually a dead giveaway that the IRS is about to show us. Now, you wrote about this, Will, but I do remember that you thought he was maybe going to stay with you for a couple days. Yes. This is after McGrouber.

It was after McGrouber. He was about to sell his place in New Mexico and he was having a dispute with his landlord. And so he said, looking for a new place in Malibu, can I stay with you? I was at a party at his place, the place he was leaving, probably on a Saturday. And he said, yeah, can I stay with you till I get this place? I think it's probably Thursday or something.

I'm pretty sure he set a date, because I had in my head, this is just a couple days. Which wouldn't have been a deal breaker anyway, but it was very easy to just say, oh yeah, of course. And then he shows up, and the first or second day that he was there, his assistant, Jamie, showed up with two huge duffel bags filled with books. And I was like, ooh, this is, this is. Books is the funniest thing.

A bad sign. Maybe Thursday is not going to be the end of this. Yeah, it ended up being two and a half months and we weren't there together at the same time the whole time. Like he'd be in and out, I'd be in and out. But I mean, we were there for a good chunk together and it was just so much fun coming back and... Okay, well there's a couple of things

I wanna ask you about. Okay. Because I remember you saying that I felt like he like pulled up in like a purple Porsche. I feel like that was like the car that he was driving at the time. I don't remember if that's true, but it certainly was he was driving when I first met him.

And then, which is great to then stay at your house. And then also that Jamie would like make smoothies for him in the kitchen, which is really funny to stay at a guy's house and then have their assistant be making smoothies in the morning for them. I don't remember the Porsche and I do kind of remember the smoothies. I do remember the smoothies. The main thing I remember he was watching a ton of 30 Rock. And so I'd go in all the time and all the lights would be out.

Whenever I'd get back, no outside lights would be on, nothing. It was just like completely dark house. And I'd go in and there'd be like a little, little hum of light under the door. And I'd be going up and I'd just hear him say, Hey, and I'd say, Oh, hey, what are you doing? He's like, I'm watching 30 Rock, and this show is so great. And I'm like, Oh my god, this is awesome. And then the other source of light that would come in, he had gone to Burning Man and had one of those like minor

lights, you know, those headlamp things. And so he would just be reading some of those books that had come in the duffel bag. He'd just be reading with that light on. No lights in the entire house on. It's just like that light. And it was so funny. Wait, Forte, in the article, because I haven't been able to read it, did you tell the story about the jogging or no? I did tell the story about the jogging.

Oh my God. It's so good. Can you just tell it again just because it's verbally? Yes. Oh my God. It's so good. Can you just tell it again? Just cause it's verbally you. So I was going to go for a jog and he said, Hey, maybe I'll go for a jog with you. And I said, okay, great. Yeah. Um, I'm going to go pretty soon. So, uh, yeah, let's get ready and we'll meet up in five minutes.

And so I'm, you know, getting ready, putting my shoes on. I'm waiting. He's sitting there in this like white linen suit. And I'm like, okay, I'm pretty much ready to go. And you know, I'm backed up again. Schedule wise, I only have a certain amount of time to run. So I really kind of have to go now. And he's like, oh yeah, I'm ready.

And I'm like, but you're gonna jog in what you're wearing. And he's like, yeah, let's do it. And so we go out, he's even got like this little, I don't remember what you're wearing. And he's like, yeah, let's do it. And so we go out. He's even got like this little, I don't remember what kind of happened. It was like a, you know, a hat that would go with a white linen suit. Like it might've been a straw hat. Isn't he wearing loafers too? Like he was wearing, yeah, like wearing loafers or top siders, something like that. Probably, probably loafers, but like, yeah, we, we walked down and started jogging a little bit. And there's like a public restroom down by the beach. And so we'd go by that and he's like, hey, I'm going to peel

off and go to the bathroom real quick. So I said, all right, so I'll keep going. So I jogged down to the end of this stretch, which is kind of by Shutter's restaurant for anybody who knows Santa Monica. And then I turned around, I was going to go back down, which would mean that I would pass him. And that was one of the greatest feasts for my eyes of all time was just coming down and then catching sight of him jogging in that suit, just alone towards me. And then he caught up and I, you know,

we started jogging a little bit. That was just like a million things like that. I am glad, I was glad to read that you have regret about it Forte because Buzz got out. I mean, again, we were all so happy to know that Val Kilmer was living with you. That was deeply funny to anybody. I mean, it just was so wonderful. That was deeply funny to anybody. I mean, it just was so wonderful. Again, you're a particular guy. You like things a certain way.

Val Kilmer is the loosest of canons. It was the comedy of it. I mean, anytime somebody said, have you heard the latest about Will and Val, it was just a feast. But you guys dabbled with the idea of doing the Amazing Race together. Yes. And yes. So I was in a period where I was watching a lot of Amazing Race and he came back and

said, gave me shit for watching it. That's going to rot your brain. I said, it's pretty good show. I think you would enjoy it if you watched it. So he sat down and he got into it. Then we would from time to time be watching more Amazing Race. And eventually he just said, we got to do the Amazing Race. We've got, let's do it.

And I'm like, I would love to do it. And we both called our agents and they, it was a resounding no. I don't know why, because I talk to them now. I told my agents that story and they're like, oh, you should have done that. I'm like, you fuckers were the ones who told us not to. Mike White did it. It's going great for him. Yeah. Oh my god, that's such a shame. That's such a shame. Solomon, do you remember those days? And did you go over to Will's place often when Val was living

there? Yeah. And I lived pretty close to Will and I would go over to his place pretty often. And just, even though I had worked with Val, like the context of walking into a house and looking over on the couch and seeing Val Kilmer laying under a blanket at 1.30 p.m. reading a book, even though I knew him, I just could not compute. Do you guys remember the party? Like, it was this moment of feeling so in awe of all of the people he knew, because I remember meeting like the Harmony Karens of the world. I met a woman who had survived the bombing in Hiroshima in like a bank vault, who was like 90 years old. He he found these people that he connected to like spiritually or creatively

or like emotionally like whatever it was that like drew him to people. And it made you genuinely feel so special to be like, Oh, we're included in this group of like, awesome misfits and like people that he relates to for whatever reason. One time he called us up and he said, Hey, I'm in New York. Are you guys in New York? And we were, I think it might've been the year like right after we had made MacGruber, but we were still editing it. And he was like staying at this super rich guy's house. And we went over there and it was like a place that had, I don't know, would you say $40 million worth of art?

It was over a hundred million dollars worth of art in this one apartment. Like some Warhol piss paintings and- Huge Warhols. There was a Basquiat in the kitchen that was probably like a $5 million painting. Like I have no idea what it would have cost. And with like sun drenching on it.

You're like, whoa. I will tell you that John Lutz, who we all know who's a writer at Late Night Today, told me that story because he went with you guys. Yeah. Then had breakfast at this house. And he said that you guys were all taking pictures. And then Val reached out like a day later and was like,

hey, maybe delete all those pictures of the art. I think Val was constantly living in a world where like the biggest villain for him was the IRS. And every friend he knew, the villain was the IRS. Yes. I don't know if it was that trip or a later trip, but like I would text with him sometimes and he was in New York and he said,

hey, what are you doing? And I was like, just hanging hanging out what's going on he's like let's go take a walk and I was like sure I'll go take a walk with you so we started walking and we got to Paragon Sports which is a sports store just north of Union Square yeah we go inside he goes come on up here I want to show you something. We walk up these stairs. He walks me over to the knife counter where you have all the hunting knives laid out. The salesman looks at him, obviously knows him,

and he's like, hey, Val, clearly he's a regular customer coming in here looking at the knife. He points out a knife, it's like a pearl-handled, you know, flip-open hunting knife. He goes, let me see that one like a pearl handled, you know, flip open hunting knife. He goes, let me see that one. And the guy pulls it out, kind of makes small talk with them. They're obviously buds and he just gives it to me.

He goes, feel that, feel how heavy that is. He just, you know, is appreciating this knife and then we put it away and he just loved hunting knives. And then we kept walking and after we got to the end of the walk, he's like, okay, I gotta go. Here, take this. I don't want it. And he gave me a $50 Paragon Sports gift certificate card. And I still have it. Like, I'll probably frame it. Support comes from acorns, right Seth?

Yeah. And hey, Yorn, you know what each month is. So if I said what month is April, you would immediately say it's? January. Financial literacy month. You thought April was January? You know what, actually, can I tell you something funny? My brother recently was like,

this is like five years ago, was like, I don't even know the month's in order, dude. And I was like, what? Your brother doesn't know the month's in order? I don't feel like I'm salting him out too much, I was like, what? Your brother doesn't know the months in order? I don't feel like I'm salting him out too much. He was like, I know most of them and then I get to like September. And then I'm like, November?

And I'm like, oh, I don't know, man. I don't think this is something you should be proud of. Well, this is actually gonna tie in nicely with the ad because here's the thing about Acorns. Acorns early is a very helpful way to teach your kids about money or money lessons you learn too late in life. Now obviously you know with the Tacones they needed one of these for the months of the year. Yeah that's just a calendar you know I mean there's already an app for that but this

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dot com slash island to find out how you can get up to four extra months free ExpressVPN.com slash island. Island. Island. He was such a sweet dude. This is another story I told in that article. But while we were making MacGruber, I showed up one day, John and I drove in together and he had this red plaid shirt on, like this kind of a hunter type shirt.

And I was like, really, especially back in that day, that was just exactly the shirts I was wearing. And I was like, oh, that's a great shirt. I love that. John, isn't that, that's exactly my style of shirt. John said, yeah, yeah. And Val just like took it off just immediately without even hesitating, took it off. He's the only shirt he was wearing. Then he's just sitting out there, naked on the- Wait, he's naked? Oh, wait. Not naked, from the waist up.

That's how people describe it. Just in pants, just hanging. And then we just continued talking. It was just so him. He was such a sweetheart. Knew all these super fancy people, but also knew it just a bunch of people who weren't fancy and who were just like the most interesting guy with the most interesting connections. He could meet people anywhere. And just like he was fascinating

to talk to and fascinated in people. And he would lock in on you and just, just bore into you for information. He just was fascinated by people. I think that's why he was such a good actor, because he would like study people. He was fascinating to look at as well. I mean, Velcomer is one of those genuine movie stars, where in the way that you said, you just can't get used to him,

no matter how sweet and human he is. I mean, intermittently over the years, he would send me very nice text. And again, we've all been lucky enough to meet people who are incredibly well-known and incredibly accomplished, but I always sort of felt like I wanted to gasp when I got a text from Val Kilmer. He was so magnetic.

And then to also be the kind of guy who was game to do MacGruber, you know, I mean, he did great stuff after as well, but like that to me was like, oh my God, this is everything you could possibly want. Do you guys, do you guys, everyone saw the Mark Twain theater experience, right? Yeah. Yeah. So amazing. My dad actually worked with him too on trying to figure out the

one man show and like turn the Twain thing into something else and for a while and then didn't quite work out with them but like my dad got to work with him too and who's a theater director but I do remember one of the two times that I saw the first time I saw the Mark Twain show there was a moment where there's teleprompters going and I don't know if you guys are at this show but at one point he's doing this crazy complicated, cool monologues and like stuff from the original books, but then also things he's written and I look over

and I see the teleprompter just start to go, be like just desperately trying to find out where he is. And it goes on for like seven minutes. I'm like, like desperately going back and forth, trying to figure out what it was. And then finally it settles down and figures out where he, but he was just doing like,

I don't know if it was off the cuff, but he was like living and breathing this character. It was such a cool, cool thing. There's a very cool movie called Cinema Twain that captures Val playing Mark Twain, which is really, really special. Can I shout out a couple of, I think lesser known Val movies that I really love.

There's a David Mamet movie called Spartan that I love Val in so much. It's that great David Mamet where everybody's just, he's so flat throughout the whole thing, but you can't take your eyes off him. And then he was in Porticole, New Orleans with Nicolas Cage, which is a movie we've talked about, a great Werner Herzog movie. And I believe that it kind of opens the two of them together and you're just so happy

those two lunatics were in a cast together. I just realized when you said that, that Val was the one who he was like, hey, have you ever seen Werner talk about chickens? And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah, just look up Werner Herzog chickens. And it's him talking about how much he hates chickens. And I was like, what? And he was like, yeah, just look up Brenner Herzog chickens. And it's him talking about how much he hates chickens. He hates chickens. He fucking hates chickens. But look it up.

And it's great. It's about how you can hypnotize a chicken, but, and how unbelievably stupid they are, but it's a really funny video. By the way, when he was living at my place, it was right when he was kind of forming that Mark Twain show. He would be constantly going through stuff and he'd just come in,

just in character doing Mark Twain stuff and it was so fun. I actually got to go see the very first performance that he did, which was in Bismarck, North Dakota. Wow. It was not ready. I mean, it was just like, it was filled with it was just like, like our first MacGruber pass just sprawling, you know, our first MacGruber draft was 180 pages long, which for people who don't know how long they're supposed to be, usually 100 pages, it was so long. And he had the confidence to know that it was a little too long

and he was just going to try it out. And it was so awesome because then I went there and people loved it. And it definitely was like long in parts and he was able to work his way through it. And there would be parts they liked more than others, but they were listening the whole time and responding even during the parts where you're like, oh, I hope he hasn't lost him because they got quiet. Then they would just roar approval so deep into it. He's just a mesmerizing performer and pretty fearless. It was really impressive to watch.

I think that's what it was about him, but I've never seen someone so confident in like an emotional way too, but it was just this sort of bravery to be himself at all moments. And that's sort of what it made it on like unnervingly captivating to me was just like, oh, he's just fearless.

And you see it in that movie, Vow, that amazing documentary that they made with Jack doing the voice, you just rarely get to see somebody that is that confident on so many levels, but it's just his own being was out there and on display. And then to get to see every step of that way, as he chiseled that into what it became,

which he filmed for Cinema Twain. Why did he do Bismarck? Like, is that where Mark Twain's from or no? There was a convention, uh, it felt a real connection to his Native American roots. And there was a, some kind of convention. I forget if it was a specific tribe, but he was out there to be a part of that. And, uh, and I think it was also just, was also just being somewhere away from a major media center. It felt like probably a safe place to try stuff out.

Yeah, I don't know the answer to that, but that would be my guess. Speaking of that, Thunderheart, another movie. Oh, yeah. So good. Of Vals that I love a great deal. And we talked about this a little bit. Of course, he empowers Booth. We're both in Tombstone. And I just remember once watching the two of them have a conversation.

They were talking about it the way you used to talk about, like, if you had worked at a shirt factory together. It was just like they were being so matter of fact about it. And it was just you couldn't believe you got to sort of stand next to it. And again, not to give away too much. McGroober was not a big budget movie. And one of the cool things about when you have a Val, we have a Power's booth guys who had been on those big things. Like they just brought the same integrity day in and day out. They never had any errors about them.

They never acted like big shots. They just wanted to be a part of it. And that I feel like says so much about him as well. Yeah. That's really true. They could have just done it and bailed, but they kept in touch and wanted to stay in our lives. What a thrill for us who were such huge fans,

like to get to be buds with him. He's a special guy. He really was, he's a special, special guy. You know, what a, what a guy. He really was. He was just next level special man. He was, yeah. I'll miss him so much. Goodwin, I just thought of, I thought of the other story. I got one more too. Go ahead. Do you remember the pillow story? Yeah. Yeah, I told that one. So while he was living with me, there was a stretch where I was kind of working

during the week and I kept coming back. My kitchen was just like fricking smelled funky. I was like, what is going on here? Is there something in the, and I would open the fridge and there's nothing in there. I couldn't figure it out, but I was, you know, coming home late and I'd have to go to bed and wake up early and go to a job or something like that. And finally, over the weekend, this smell had been going for like five days. Over the weekend, I get in and I'm finally going to do a load of laundry and I open up the washer and there's just this pooled water. It's just a significant amount of water that just reeked.

And so I closed the door, ran the wash, went all the way through. And then I ran an empty cycle with detergent in it just to wash the washing machine out. Then I put my stuff in. When that was finally, finally finished, I opened up the dryer and there was this completely mildewed, still soggy down pillow that had clearly been

so heavy that it just was thrown around the dryer and just disconnected the circuit breaker or whatever and just stopped. And then the pillow sat in there for like six days. And that was the thing that was like reeking up the whole kitchen. So I grabbed this pillow by one of the few places that didn't have a bunch of mold on it. And I brought it in and Val was on the couch and like, Val, you know anything about this? And he's like, that's my pillow. And I'm like, yeah, I thought so. I thought it might be. Well, it was in the in the dryer. Didn't quite make it to his like, yeah. Okay, that's just a bunch of things like that. And then we

just kind of moved on. Well, I don't think we really talked about it more. I didn't even know people wash. I guess people do wash pillows. God, it's so funny, though though that, you know, there was there was so little aggression to him, like to push against him was to just sort of like push air. Yeah, yeah. He wasn't gonna fight you back. Oh, yeah.

The whole time he's saying, yeah, that's my pillow is like smiling like you said you had another one. You're well when when he first got sick and he came over and you know it affected his vocal cords and I don't think he could he could swallow so he had to have this pump in his stomach but he just fought through and he would speak in this very raspy that kind of blue he fucking powered three like it was almost like it didn't matter to him he just was gonna communicate but I remember we went over to his place that he was staying at, I think it was either his house,

I'm not sure where it was, but he cooked us this whole taco meal, and I remember being like, just like, he can't eat this, and he made us this whole meal, and it just meant so, it just shocked me with the selflessness of that he just wanted to make a meal for people, one that he can't eat. And it was just, I don't know, like it was, it makes me tear up thinking about just, but he, he was just this really generous dude. Yeah. You know, there's just

so many levels to him. Constantly giving gifts, you know, he was constantly making art and would gift art to, you know, he was just giving art out all over the place or just little gifts just because, you know, no occasion, just like to give people things, to share things with people. Yeah. Support for the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast comes from Airbnb. Hey, everybody.

Obviously, this podcast is about four friends hanging out, talking about old times, and all four of us are parents. And sometimes we go on vacations with our kids. I just recently took a trip with my kids, and they're very loud. And I want them to have the freedom to be the children they are and not always be shushing them because we are in a hotel.

And that was one of the many benefits of taking our spring break in an Airbnb. You can hang out in a living room, not in a hotel lobby. And you know what? I kind of feel like a meal is better shared around a table than a bed. I feel like eating in a bed is a sign that things aren't going great.

So it was fantastic. We had a great time. They did not wake us up early because they had their own rooms and it was just so much better. And maybe you're someone who's thinking, you know what, my home can be a great get together for old friends who are not looking to meet new people.

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It does, Yoram. How are you buddy? Thanks Rocket Money. I'm good. Well, Yoram, I think if there was a sort of through line of the podcast, it's that you don't have the best memory. And sometimes people without the best memory forget that they've signed up for maybe a trial period for something and then they forget to cancel and they're charged month after month after month. The subscriptions there you are but you're just not using them. Guess what percentage of people have at least one paid subscription going unused each month?

A thousand percent. A thousand or one percent. That's my guess. Eighty five. So you went higher, which for an ad read is not ideal, but you know we want people to gasp when they hear it's 85%. I'm shocked it's 85. That's so I thought I was gonna be 2%. So here's the thing Yoram, Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower

your bills so you can grow your savings. And right now we're both watching Andy in the Zoom box just furiously using his Rocket Money to cancel apps. Oh, my God. Andy's really going to town. Look at him go. Look at him go. Rocket Money has over 5 million users. It has saved a total of $500 million and canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features.

Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash island today. That's rocketmoney.com slash island, rocketmoney.com slash island. He hosted SNL 2000 and U2 is the musical guest. And it was before I was on the show, but I was in the audience.

I had sort of begun my process of being someone that was on the radar of SNL, and I, Ella Cohen, who worked in the talent department, invited me to come to New York to see the show. So I got to be in the audience and I was just so excited to see Val Kilmer live, which it was more than just SNL and obviously to see you too as well. But I was at the after party as well and I remember just going into the bathroom as he was coming out and talking way more than I had any right to as somebody who had been

invited to the show and just saying, hey, I'm just a huge fan, you're so great. I just remember how sweet and patient he was then at two in the morning at an SNL after party. But he was in a sketch that episode that took place on like a commuter airline where he is playing Iceman from Top Gun 30 years later with a bit of a paunch and thinning hair. And our friend Mike Schur wrote that sketch. So I reached out to Schur to ask him if he had any memories. And so he left us a voice note. So here is Mike's memory of the Top Gun 30 years later.

He left us a voice note. So here is Mike's memory of the Top Gun 30 years later. Hey fellas, it's Mike Shore. I have some Val Kilmer memories. He hosted in December of, I think, 2000. I remember it was a holiday show. I think the monologue was like a ghost of Christmas future kind of a deal. And I remember him being very intense but very nice and sort of down for anything. Scott Wayneo wrote an incredible sketch. It was a behind the music parody which was like the biggest show at the time and it was based on the old saying that if there's a heaven they must have a hell of a band which is what people used to sort of in a cliched way say about the deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix and people like that.

So the idea was it was the band that those people had all formed in heaven and Val Kilmer did his Jim Morrison impression which was incredible. And it was wonderful and they got the real guy from behind the music to narrate it. And side note, Wayneo got that guy to record the outgoing message on Waneo's answering machine. So for a while when you called Waneo and you got his machine, the guy from behind the music would say, Scott is not here right now because his life is falling apart due to drugs and infighting.

And it was great. Anyway, Robert Carlock had a great idea for a sketch which was, it was like 25 years after the events of Top Gun and Iceman had retired from the Navy and was now flying very boring commercial flights for Delta. And so I wrote it with him and Parnell played the pilot and Iceman was the co-pilot. And so Parnell would get on the PA system and be like, oh, good afternoon ladies and gentlemen gentlemen our flight time from Cincinnati to

Hartford will be two hours and 20 minutes and then Val Kilmer would get on the thing and go like there's bogeys bogeys nine o'clock we got bogeys on our tail and then Parnell would grab it back and go that is incorrect there are no bogeys there will not be any bogeys on this flight from Cincinnati to Hartford. It was a very funny, silly sketch, but very fun. So at the show, we went to the floor to watch it live and Tom Cruise came to the show and Marcy walked him down and he was on the floor, like standing eight feet away

from me watching this sketch and just enjoying it a great deal. And Marcy came over to me while the sketch was airing and was like, Tom Cruise is here, should we get him to like walk on? And I was like, yes, of course we should. And she was like, what should he do? And I was like, okay, just tell him,

like at the end of the sketch, like I remember I told her what the last line of the sketch was. And I was like, at the end of the sketch, just have him walk on and grab Val Kilmer and just say like, hey Iceman, let's get you out of here, bud, come on, or something like that. And she was like, okay.

So she went over to him and she was whispering into his ear on the floor and I saw Tom Cruise nodding. Like I remember very clearly he was nodding like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, I get it, I get it. And I was like, oh my god, this is gonna be incredible. And literally, I'm not joking, Tom Cruise took a step toward the set, like heading over to walk on and the sketch ended and the applause was queued and Val got whisked away to run and do a change. And we missed it by like, I would say eight seconds we missed a Tom Cruise walk on into the sketch, which would have just like, you know, 30 Rock would have like crumbled to the ground.

Anyway, RIP Val Kelmer. Miss you guys, love you guys, bye. Thank you very much, Mike. The other thing that Val kept saying in that sketch to the co-pilot and the navigator was, you're dangerous. Yeah, there's a problem. You, because you're dangerous. You're dangerous and foolish, and that makes you dangerous now, let's cut the crap And he was a real delight every time you're dangerous

Really really fun just cuz I have you guys and I know you have to go but you know we didn't talk about all the McGroober sketches the last time you're on and But, you know, we didn't talk about all the MacGruber sketches last time you're on. And maybe to me, the perfect MacGruber three-parter ever is the Charles Barclay MacGruber, which I don't believe we talked about, did we? I don't know. Did we? I don't remember. You know, my brain. It was like later in the run.

I mean, no disrespect to the other MacGrubers, but that is for sure my favorite. I'm glad to hear that. That one is? Yeah. I'm glad to hear that. That one is? Yeah. I feel like that and Financial Ruiner maybe my two faves. I just, I love Barclay.

I love him. I mean, Barclay's great. He's so funny. He was so funny in it because he's like a very patient person putting up with your sort of like late in racist tendencies of McGroover. But you keep calling him Darrell. Yes.

MacGruber, this door is magnet locked. We're trapped. That's not our only problem, MacGruber. From the looks of that nitrogen bomb, we've only got 20 seconds. Don't worry, Vicky. Chill, Darrell. We'll have plenty of time to relax,

time to chill, Darrell. Once we get out of here, once we scram, Darrell. Is pronounced Darrell. Oh, like a white Darrell. 10 seconds. To which you say, oh, like white Darrell, which I'll never forget. Yeah.

And then my favorite line of his is when he says, I don't think this is gonna work out. He hands you a pen and you scream, he's got a gun. That was the night of, God, I feel like it was some kind of championship game. It couldn't have been the NBA finals, but there was a huge game. I remember like, oh my God, I cannot believe that we're making, I think it was the college football playoffs or the national championship game.

And he was so cool about it. They did bring down a TV. I don't think he even asked. I think we, I wanted to watch it too, but like he just was just, I love that guy. I love him. I think he's one of the funniest people around and I love him. My favorite moment making that was yeah, him looking over and a play going bad and him going, come on man. And then getting straight back into the scene and immediately filming. Maybe my favorite, you're giving a big speech

about tolerance and how you're enlightened. And during the speech, Wig has told you there's 20 seconds, Vicki has told you there's 20 seconds, and you give a very long speech, and then she goes, 15 seconds, and then under her breath says, take your time. Like she appreciates what your, your moment of enlightenment is more important than the bomb. And then maybe one of my favorite,

just the tightest writing. -...that I announced that in two Mondays, for the first time ever, we will be taking the day off to celebrate the life of a man that I consider to be my personal hero, Dr. Martin Rufus King. -"That's Luther." -"Right. Luther. You're Rufus."

-"I'm Daryl." -"Whatever. Look." -"15 seconds." -". You're Rufus. I'm Daryl. Whatever. Look. 15 seconds. I know I have a ways to go, Daryl. But I'm headed in the right direction. So put her there. ["Pomp and Circumstance"]

Hey, he's getting good! Boo! Oh! Hey, he's getting good! So dark. McGrubber's a horrible person. But it's, you know what, I will say like, it's what saves it from being dark is the just the sweetness of Barkley. Oh, totally. The Darryl he is in this sketch really does believe that McGrubber's gonna turn it around.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He seems rather earnest. Yeah. Just a bad person. It's a perfect three beat. I mean, all McGroober's were, but that one, I never get tired of watching. Thank you. Thank you, Seth. Well, it was really nice to have you guys join us for this one. Yeah. It's nice talking about him. He was a great guy. Loved his kids.

Yeah. His kids are really phenomenal people. You know, I got to spend a lot of time with, not a ton of time, but Jack would come over his son and they had a really special relationship. I didn't get to know Mercedes well, but I know the way he would talk about them was, he was a sweet dad. Rest in peace, Val.

Rest in peace. It will definitely be missed. Thank you guys for making. Again, the guy had one hell of a career, but you guys know where I stand. I'm a Gruber and I'm really glad you made it with him. Yeah, same here. We're very lucky.

Honor for us. Love you guys. Love you. Love you. Love you. Love you, Val. Love you, Val. Love you, Val.

Oh, look at me. I'm a groomer! It's a poundsome cut! Ooh you wanna go? Fuck you! Fuck you! You wanna go? Well, poundsome cuts? What a good idea!