The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Cary Elwes

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

Actor Cary Elwes joins Andy Richter to discuss the surprising parallels between "The Princess Bride" and "Elf," their Marlon Brando stories, reuniting with Mel Brooks for the upcoming "Very Young Frankenstein" TV series, his new Peacock show, "M.I.A.," and much more. Do you want to talk to Andy and his comedian friends live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Tell us your favorite dinner party story (about anything!) or ask a question - leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the three questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter, and today I'm talking to Carrie Elwis. You know him from The Princess Bride, Robin Hood Men in Tights, Days of Thunder, the Mission Impossible films, and much more. He stars in the Peacock series, MIA, which is out now. And he's also the president of the United States in the upcoming FX series, Very Young Frankenstein. Here's my conversation with Carrie Elvis. Well, Carrie Elwis. No, Elis, is that Welsh? Yes. That's what I thought.

All right. Well, I just wanted to ask you that. You can go now. Thank you. It's great. Well, thank you so much for coming in. My pleasure. Thank you for me.

Right off the bat. I have to tell you, I'm going to get my own plug in here. Don't worry, you'll get yours. But I co-wrote a book about the making of the movie Elf. Oh, cool. And your book was kind of our model. No way. Yeah, yeah.

was sort of like, I mean, we're not like, you know, line for line or anything, but it's like, this is kind of the vibe of what they wanted. Oh, thank you. We used your book about the making of Princess Bride as kind of a guide for us. And it's such a fun, enjoyable book. And I'm amazed, are you a journaler? Like, how do you remember so much stuff? Okay, so I was very fortunate in that the late great Norman Lear.

Yeah. Who produced that film. Yeah. And financed it himself. Uh-huh. I called him in a panic when I got the offer from the publisher to write it. And I said, Norman, I didn't keep a diary. I don't remember.

I remember maybe five stories, six, something like that. He said, I'll send you all the call sheets. Oh, wow. And he sent them beautifully bound, Andy, in a file with little red ribbon. And I opened it and it started with rehearsals with Mandy learning to fence. And I was there. And it just opened up. Yeah.

Wow. There every scene, every location, every drive, every hotel, every day. It all just came flooding around. He's like, oh, that's great. And he knew. Yeah. And that was a big, that was a big production. It lasted a while, right?

A while. It was pretty, I mean, pretty consuming. How long were you underwater? I would say about, I was never underwater, by the way. Well, you know what I mean. But, no, it was honestly, was just the most joyful oil rig you ever want to be stuck on. I can imagine. I mean, dude, we left every single day.

I bet. I bet. Every day. I bet. Yeah, no, that's, I mean, it's a similar thing with Elf. It's just beloved. And so it's like, oh, yeah, that's going to be easy. a good easy story to tell, you know.

As I understand it, that was not something that was considered to be an easy thing to begin with, right? Elf? Oh, yeah, no, because everyone was untested, everyone involved. Everybody involved was something. No, Will, too. Honestly, SNL, he was not, you know, the way, honestly, the way that they're like, they hang so much emphasis and so much responsibility on somebody being able to open a movie.

Right. And the only movie thing aside from the, what's the Night at the Roxbury. Right, sure. That was the only movie that he had really done up to that point. Right, right, right. Okay. And then he had also done old school, which he sort of steals. Yeah.

But that didn't come out until Elf was in production. Really? Yeah. So he was at that time, he'd left SNL, he'd done old school. And I think, you know, there was good word of mouth. But he was shopping around this script called Anchorman. That everyone was like, this is too fucking weird. Like, we're not doing this. Get this out of here. So they wanted him to do elf. And he said, yeah, I'll do elf. And then after Elf, it was like, well, let's make Anchorman. So it, you know, it was really sort of a. Yeah, I heard that. I heard that you guys, there was some uncertainty. And you look at it now, you go, well, it's... Yeah, yeah. We had great uncertainty.

I mean, don't forget, the studio wouldn't even finance it. Yeah. That's how uncertain. Why? Why? What was... Didn't know how to sell it. Yeah. Didn't know what it was. Because it's not, never been done before.

Right. No, I guess... It's a film that makes fun of all these genres and respects them at the same time. I guess kind of like Mel Brooks sort of, but it's not a Mel Brooks movie, you know? Is it, they didn't know, is it a comedy? Is it a fantasy? Is it a kid's movie? It's an adult film. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What is this thing? Yeah. What is this beast? Yeah. And how do we sell it if we don't have, it can't fit in the box? Right. And that's what happened. It opened and bombed.

We opened the same weekend as three men and a baby in Fatal Attraction. We were gone in five days. Oh, wow. Five. So what happens? And is it just, the home video? VHS. Wow.

Saved us. See, I don't remember any of that because I, that movie is just like, so beloved now. It's like a bulletproof movie that like, you can say nothing about it, but you know, but love and, you know, and it is so funny and so much of it, you know, I mean, you know, Shrek,

I don't think exists without it either, you know? I mean, but it's the same. Yeah. Yeah, the same author. But that was such a beloved book too that I was, I'm shocked that they're what, because it had all these people going for, Norman Lear, you know,

uh rob reiner and so many comedians that love that book and it was such a special book to people you'd think that would be an easy sell that 10 he'd wrote it in 73 yeah i think he had so many directors attached to he had he had john boorman the british director oh yeah yeah that's that's what like the conan guy right conan the barbarian wow no no isn't that john borman no no no john boorman did uh hope and glory he did excalibur okay that's who i'm yeah yeah yeah yeah uh then uh then And Francois Truffauter was attached. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

I know one of my favorite directors all the time. But what would he? Yeah. Couldn't get it made. Yeah. He had Jean-Paul Baumondo attached as Montoya. Wow.

Isn't that crazy? Yeah, yeah. Then who else had it? Robert Redford had it. Wow. And he had, I can't remember. He had Jimmy Stewart attached as the grandfather. So, I mean, all these people tried to make it and couldn't make it.

Yeah. And Goldman said to Rob, he could. goes, I like you, you're a nice guy, but it's not happening. Yeah. I think once to you actually fold it, trying to make it. Oh, wow. It went bankrupt. So Goldman had given up on it, but he wouldn't let anyone, he lost the rights to it,

and then bought them back. That's how much he loved the book. Yeah, I remember that from the book. And then he gave it to Rob, like, kind of cheaply. Yes. Yeah. Just because he felt like, yeah, it's not as well. Nothing's going to happen.

Nothing is happening. And how did, and how did you, was just casting that you got involved? I had done a picture, a Paramount, British Paramount picture, period movie called Lady Jane about Lady Jane Gray. And I played Guilford Dudley and it was Helena Bonham Carter's first movie and directed by Trevonan. And that was 1985, came out in 86. and Jane Jenkins are casting, Rob, you gotta see this picture, this kid, Carrie, he's pretty, he might be the guy.

And was it your first picture, too? No, I'd done a couple at that point. But luckily, I had made this picture, and they'd spent some money on it. It was one of those costume dramas that they thought, oh, well, you know, we'll get the, We actually had the same costume designer on Princess Briders. Oh, wow.

She designed a little film called Lawrence of Arabia. Oh, yeah. Wow. So anyway, Rob sought and went, where is he? And they said he's shooting some low-budget foreign movie in Berlin. And he flew out. He flew out to Berlin to meet me. So I knew he was serious.

To woo you. I mean, he said, I'm a Jew in Berlin. You know I'm serious. You know. Yeah. I was immediately enamored with him. I knew his work, of course. Yeah.

But it was his personal charm and his giddy energy that he had, that I just thought, okay, I got to get, I got to find a way to get on this picture. Yeah. And he had other actors he was still testing. Yeah. And he had to fly back to England to do that. So I kind of try to put it out of my mind.

and finished the picture I was shooting. I was in the last week of shooting. So it timed out great, actually. Yeah. Because I could have been unavailable. Right. I mean, that's how life works. Sure.

Yeah, yeah. And like, I think a couple of days before I wrapped, my agent called and said, yeah, you're flying straight to Shepperton, getting off the plane and going straight to Sheperton for fittings. Wow. Had you seen a script at that point? No.

No. No. going on good faith. I'd read the book. Yeah. You know, but they were still working on it, him and Bill. That was the other reason why Bill really liked Rob. They had been finessing the script. Yeah. And Bill really loved the notes that Rob was giving. That's great. Did, um, uh, was he just able to hire you because there's, all he has to answer to is Norman Lear because there's no studio that you have to run. Yeah. I mean, you know, that's how he got Robin Wright. Yeah. She was the last one cast in the picture. Yeah. You know, we were like a, a,

a week before starting principal photography and we still didn't have the princess bride yeah you know norman was getting a little stressed yeah yeah you know and uh finally jane again had this picture of robin on a wall because rob had been looking for british actors you know because he cast me thought oh then the princess bride has to be british as well and um jane said you know there's this kid i'm I'm telling you, you've been walking past her face every day. You should read her. He's like, oh, she's American. I don't know.

She said she can do a British accent. Yeah, yeah. She's great. She's doing a soap opera, Santa Barbara in L.A. Oh, that's right. And they flew out in New York. So Bill had to approve her as well. Yeah.

And so they both got on a plane, Rob from London and Robin from L.A. And they met in New York and read for Bill. Bill Goldman and the two of them, she left the room and Bill said that's, she's it. Yeah. That's it. Wow. And the rest is history.

Yeah, yeah. That's great. And was it, was it a rough shoot? No. Like I said, we laughed every day. Yeah, yeah. You know, weather was our biggest issue. Yeah.

Whenever you plant a camera in England outside. Right. You know. And fall down hills and, you know. That's now a tourist spot. People pay money to throw themselves off that. That hill. Crazy.

You should have bought that hill. I know, right? You should have bought that hill. You wouldn't have to do all this acting anymore. No, right? Can't you tell my loves it grows? I found it interesting in kind of looking at your stuff that you were, you've been on movie set since you were a teenager, that you worked as a production assistant on a number of films in England.

And how did that happen? Because that's usually kind of, you know, you don't just sort of. sort of waltz into being on a movie set. No. As a team. I had a number of jobs as a teenager. I was a photographer's assistant. I was a bricklayer.

I did bus boying, all of that. Yeah. And I was fortunate in that my mother remarried an American, a producer. And suddenly the dream of becoming an actor became closer to being a reality. And he said to me, if you want to be in this business,

you've got to start at the very bottom. That's the cheapest film school I can give you. Yeah. I'm not paying for your film school. It's not happening. You know, and he said, if you want to learn this business and how a movie's made,

you've got to go in there and start at the very bottom. And he was right. Yeah. I mean, my appreciation for how a production works, how the unit works, how the team works, how. I was in film school and I worked as a production assistant. There you go. So you know.

I have a holistic appreciation for the making of, and I mean whether it's a commercial, a television show, anything, that a lot of actors don't have. And like when I, you know, work with actors who complain about what's taking so long, I think like, well, you wouldn't know, would you? Because you don't have any understanding. No clue. Yeah. And so it was the greatest education I could have had.

Because by the time I decided to go in front of the camera, I was really comfortable with the whole setup, you know? And so I was really grateful for that advice. Yeah, you mostly were, you assisted Marlon Brando, correct? How was that? Well, I mean, for an upcoming wannabe actor, you can't really get much better than that. Yeah. You know, taught me a lot about it.

But behavior. Obviously, that was his thing. He could look at your shoes and then he knew exactly who you were. Yeah. Yeah. So he taught me about observing human nature. I, yeah. Was he friendly right away?

Oh, yeah. He nicknamed me Rocky for some reason. I don't know why. Rocky? Yeah. But what am I going to argue with Marlon Brown? Were you wearing boxing trunks? No.

The entire time? Yeah. Can you imagine I showed up in there. Yeah, yeah. Hello, Mr. Brent. I actually worked with him for half a day. Really? On Scary Movie 2.

Wow. Because there's an Exorcist parody at the beginning of the film. And he's the priest, right? And he was going to be the Max von Sito. And I was already cast as the Jason Miller. Wow. And at the time he was not well. He had pneumonia.

And he apparently had a pattern at that point, or this is what they told me, of taking jobs for a big sum of money, showing up for a day and then being unable to fulfill it and getting a portion of the money. So he came in, like I said, he had an oxygen tank and was not very mobile. And one thing I noticed that was,

because it was in the scene, it was me and then Natasha Leone was playing the uncredited Regan and she's on full demon makeup and Marlon Brando went around and introduced himself and shook hands with everybody on the set except her and me and I really was like

wow that's like why what is that about I didn't fully understand and he and he had his ear piece. Yeah, sure. Yeah, you know, which I mean, for people that don't know, he, he had a belief that that the best film acting came from spontaneity and that if he memorized his lines, he felt that they would be flat. So he wanted to be surprised with what he was going to say every time. Right, right. He did memorize them, but then he forgot him. Yeah. He would try to forget them.

Yeah, yeah. So that he could be reminded by by a prompt. Yeah. But yeah, he was, he was, you know, it's the greatest actor of all times. So, I mean, you can get away with a lot. Yeah. Oh, no. I mean, listen. Yeah. I'm not complaining.

You know, it was, and, but there was like lots of technical difficulties. Sure. Where he'd be like, you know, the power of Christ compels you. I can't hear you. Yeah. What did you just say? No, I can't hear you, you know. Yeah.

And at one point, the only point that we were sort of alone, um, we were running lines. sitting behind the set in kind of the dark running lines. And there was a joke in it where, you know, in the movie Reagan says, it burns, it burns, and she gets hit with holy water. So this is a joke where he's saying it burns, it burns off camera. And then you cut to him and he's holding his groin and says, that damn Tijuana hooker.

And he said, well, he had already asked, like, can I, he goes, can I say, you know, can I say prostitute and say like, you know, waterfront? Like, because it's pejorative to say Tijuana hook. Yeah. And they're like, yeah, sure, whatever. So it was waterfront prostitute or something like that. But then we did it a couple of times. And then he said, like, I don't get. What is a joke there?

What is the, what's going on? And I said, I said, well, it's a VD joke. It's like a gonorrhea joke. You know, like you got gonorrhea from a prostitute, and he went, oh, the clap? The clap's not that bad. Oh, my God, that's so him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not that bad.

He wouldn't complain that much. That's hilarious. Yeah, that's a method actor. Yeah, he went straight there. Yeah. That's hilarious. But he was, I mean, it was really something to see and really like, you have. You've got stories for the rest of your life.

And really, it was like being around a living monument, you know. He was. Yeah. You really get to, like, instantly appreciate, like, oh, this guy is the foundation of all modern film acting. Yeah. Like, everybody, everybody is branched off of this guy. Yeah. Everybody.

Everyone. Everyone we love. Yeah. Yeah. And then he couldn't do it. And James Woods came in. Okay. I did it, which was a different take, but it was pretty good.

And then it was being pretty good. But yeah, so that's, you know, we get to share our Marlon. Did you ever see him outside of that? No. No. Never crossed paths again. No. Yeah.

But, you know, I got to watch him work and get his lunch for him and run lines and all of that. It was great. Was it any offset work or was it just onset production system? Just onset. Yeah, yeah. And so how many, I mean, how much, how many years did you do that for? Were you a sort of PA onset? I can't remember how many movies I did, Andy.

I think I did maybe three or four, I can't remember. Yeah, yeah. You know, but that was enough. Are you going to school at the same time? Yeah. So it was on summer vacations. I see, I see. And is this like during high school?

High school. Wow. What an amazing opportunity. Yeah, amazing. Yeah. Now, at what point did you start to think, yeah, I want to be in the movies? Well, as a kid watching TV, you know? That was it.

That was it, man. I'd get inside that box, you know. They're having so much fun. Right, right. And was it primarily TV or were you thinking movies to? Well, movies, too. I was both a TV addict and a movie addict. So any chance I could get any adult to take me to the cinema, I'd go.

Yeah, yeah. And if they didn't, I'd just plant myself in front of the TV set. Yeah, yeah. Did, I mean, did you, was that sort of aspiration met with support? Not initially. Yeah. But I was doing my own education. It was essentially like the film school of being a PA.

Yeah. I thought if I can't go to film school and or study film history or film theory, I can teach myself because I have this incredible invention that runs movies in England, quite a few. on a regular basis. And, you know, I can study. Yeah. And learn from the masses, from O'Toole and Burton and Guinness and Peter Sellers.

Yeah. You know, all of that. And did. And then great directors, you know. Yeah. So by the time, like, when the Princess Bride rolls around, had you been to any kind of, like, real hard acting school? Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. I did. And in England? In England. Yeah, yeah. But was it more theatrical? More theatrical.

Yeah, yeah. They don't have sort of... They don't have film acting. And how do you, I mean, do you just sort of... Learning to project to the back corner. Yes, of course, of course. But, I mean, do you, how do you make the adjustment? You just sort of got a feeling to do it?

I watched, you know, Marlon. Yeah. I saw how he, what he gave in a close up and what he gave in a wide and a medium shot. He did his own makeup. You know, I mean, he was really hands-on about everything. in regards to the character. Amazing. And not all his makeup, but the specific things, right?

Yeah, yeah. That he wanted to show for the camera to see. Yeah. You know, and so I just studied him. It was the greatest acting class I'll ever get. Yeah. Did you have a preference, like at that point, like when it was theater or film? Well, theater doesn't really pay the rent in England.

God bless him, you know. I mean, I love it. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, but you know. actors are always like, my first love is, you know. I respect that there's some brilliant actors, who I got to work with, actually, who have come through the theater in England and become very successful on film. Yeah.

Burton being one of them. I didn't work with him, but, you know, John Wood, Patrick Stewart. I did Lady Jane with them. Jane LaPotere, all these wonderful actors who'd been trained theatrically. And I thought, you know, I was offered by Trevor Nunn when I finished Lady Jane. He said, you know, the only thing I can offer you is you can do, you know, a year at the Royal Shakespeare Company. And you won't get paid what you got paid on this pitcher. And you'll have to start at the bottom and maybe even just start holding a spear.

I don't know. Right, right. You know, it'll be great training for you. And I turned him down. Really? you know um and what was his reaction he was he understood i said look i have i have to pay rent you know i was living in chelsea at the time and it's no way that that the money at the r c was going to cover that yeah and my folks were not they were like you're on your own yeah you know you know so um i

was already sharing an apartment and that was tight yeah were you just making your living acting in those days? Well, as I said, I took occasional jobs bus boring and things like that. Yeah, yeah. Supplement. Yeah, yeah. But nothing sort of like regular, just, you know, here and there. Yeah. Take the job and then be like, oh, sorry, got to go. Off to Berlin. You find jobs where you can do that. Yeah. You know, like the toughest one, photographer's assistant, I think they were pretty not too happy about me handing my notice. But other jobs like brick laying or busing, you could sort of get away with that. Yeah. I imagine, too, in brick laying, you're mostly carrying bricks. Carrying and laying. Laying, I did lay a few, but carrying most of you. Yeah. That was boring as

how. Yeah. Can you still, could you, could you build a wall today? No, no. Well, it would be shabby. I don't know. It's one of the reasons they were quite happy for me to go for you to move on. Yeah, show business is better for you, kid. Can't you tell my loves a girl? Well, I imagine that things kind of, well, you know what? I know that it's not true that after Princess Bride, there was a lull for you. There was. Yeah.

Because the picture didn't perform. Yeah. And so there was no sort of, you didn't get any sort of come to Hollywood and we'll take you around town. No, no. I got a laugh at a lot of fantasy films, a lot of swashbuckling. kind of rolls. Yeah. A lot of pirates.

And I just didn't want to do that. Yeah. You know. And so I turned everything, all those things down. Yeah. And I stayed in New York at that point. And I had the opportunity to go back to acting school with my own money. And I auditioned and got into the Lee Strasbourg Institute.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, and that was based on someone's recommendation, right? Yes. Who was it that recommended you? You know who it is. I can't remember. I read it.

You just had him as a guest, Al Pacino. Oh, Al Pacino. No, it wasn't me that had him. No? No, he's in, if he was in here, he's in here with Conan, not with me. Okay. Yeah, it was Al. And had he known you from Princess Bride or just from kicking around?

Not at all. He was very, you know, he asked, I, for, I, for, I, I, I, was having lunch with another actor and who wanted to meet him. And he was very forceful. This guy pushed his way over to meet Al, who was having lunch with friends and wasn't that excited about being accosted. Yeah. Yeah.

But I'm, you know, I think he's used to it. And I begged my friend to leave him alone, but he wouldn't listen to me. Anyway, he introduced himself and said, I'm an actor and so is my friend, you know. And Al basically said, oh, really? Well, what are you doing? And I said, well, I said, I'm between work and I'm going on auditions. And he said, oh, so you're drifting. And I thought, great.

Michael Corleone just call me a drifter. That's so perfect. My day is working out. And he touched my heart with his finger. He said, what's that? I said my heart. And then he tapped my head and he said, what's that? I said, it's not my brain, is he goes, no.

He said, they're muscles. He said, do you work out? I said, yeah, he goes, what happens if you stop working out? I said, do you atrophy? He said, yeah, you got to go work out. That's what I do between shows. I go and work out. So you've got to go train.

And he convinced me. And he told me, go audition. It's up to you. I can only introduce you to the people you audition with, but the rest is up to you and I went and changed my life. I was working within a month. Yeah. And what is your friend who barged in on Al Pacino?

He's still giving you a career. No, he's great. He actually was a college buddy of mine. He's a terrific guy. He now runs the Tribeca Film Festival. He's doing it. Oh, okay. He's doing okay.

But I mean, did Al give him the same advice? Was it sort of? It was mainly to me. Yeah. My friend introduced me and said, this guy's an actor too. I see. And I'll focus. Oh, because your friend, okay, I get it.

Your friend wasn't an actor. He just, he just was pushy. He was pushing. No, he was an actor too. We were both struggling actors. Yeah. But for some reason, I was fortunate enough that Al focused his energy on giving me that class. Yeah.

Did what, I don't remember, I don't, what took you from England to New York? What made you decide, like, was it Princess Bride and thinking like, okay, this is going to be it? No, no. Well, there was that, but mostly it was this. I'd gone to college in New York. I was familiar with Manhattan, and I went to Sarah Lawrence, which was about a half hour outside the city. And the decision to go and study at American University was a conscious one for me because I'd studied in England. I'd studied all these actors I mentioned and the directors I'd mentioned. from the writers and films and done my British education, right? Now I felt it was time for me to get your American education. Yeah. And I got it in full, I got Al Pacino giving me my first lesson.

Yeah, yeah. You know, and yeah. Did you, at that point were you, because you end up doing a lot of comedic things. I mean, you know, and were you sort of looking to be that kind of, you know, utility player where you could do lots of different things? Or did you have a preference for a kind of acting that you wanted to do? No, not really, Andy. You know, I mean, obviously when Norman Lear and Rob Reiner and Bill Goldman

approached you to do a role that has some comedy in it, what are you going to say? Yeah, you know. But then when Mel Brooks comes and says, do you want to do something very silly again? Yeah. You know. So Mel had seen Princess, right, he came to the first screening, actually.

He brought Carl and Gene Wilder, which I blew my mind to meet both. It was a trifecta at the first screening, and I just thought, this is, I've made it. Yeah. You know? And he said, I might have something for you. And he waited quite a few years before coming back to me. but apparently had me in mind for that. So that was great.

Yeah, yeah. I just heard a story about, like, the naming of Robin Hood and that somebody was like an assistant or somebody came up with men in tights. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. I wish I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, no. They were trying different sort of, oh, really?

Yeah, yeah, different sort of Robin Hood, colon. Right. And they had different, different ones that weren't really cutting it. I mean, you also have done, you've done kind of those same kind of romantic period pieces too. Right. And I mean, are those rewarding to you? Like, do you like that kind of work? You know?

Whatever I feel I can stretch myself as an artist and push myself. And if it's well written and the character's nuanced and it's talented people. Yeah. In front of and behind the camera, I'm pretty much there. Yeah. Are you, do you still do any kind of theater work? Do you do? I would love to do theater.

Yeah. Unfortunately, you may or may not know that if you haven't done a lot of theater, they're quite reticient to take the risk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of giving you that opportunity. So, you know, one day, I mean, you know, I watched a lot of theater in England. Yeah. You know, I saw the great Anthony Hopkins du Pravda at the National Theater.

And so I saw the original theater. of Amadeus. Yeah, I watched a lot of theaters. I would love to do it. It just hopefully one day someone will give me that opportunity. When you were in New York kicking around at Lee Strasbourg, were you getting auditions

for Broadway and off-Broadway? I did meet with Joe Papp. I did. And unfortunately, did not time out right. I got off at a movie. And I'd already agreed to it when he came and said, Yeah, I want you to do Shakespeare in the park.

And I was like, that would have been it. The great Joe Papp, you know. Oh, wow. Yeah. And then you just got busy, right? Busy. Yeah. Thanks to Ow.

Yeah, yeah. You know, just got busy. Yeah. At what point do you become a Californian? Because you're here now, right? Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah. I, I have you never become a California.

No, I'm a California now. Yeah, yeah, through and through. Yeah. Um, no, I, you know what, living in New York, you want to hear the story? Sure. Okay. That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for.

So I, living in New York, if you're not working consistently in Manhattan, I don't know if you've had that experience? I certainly have. It's rough. It's a tough town to be broken. It's not great. Yeah. And I was living in a loft.

It was small, but it was a loft in Tribeca before, uh, Mr. Tenero got his hands on it. It was very cheap. It was paying. And dicey too. I was near the precinct there on Northmore. Anyway, I had no heat and it had no air conditioning. And that was why it was 300 a month. Oh, wow. So I had a futon and a fridge and a TV. Yeah. And a bunch of fans, you know, standing fans. And my brother called me, one landline. My brother called me in the dead of winter and I took the call and he goes, I can't hear you.

I go, why? He goes, some weird fucking noise. What is that noise? I go, it's my teeth chattering. And he said, what? I said, I don't have any heating in this apartment. He goes, you're crazy.

Why are you there? You know, the work is in L.A. Yeah. You know, I mean, there's consistent work. It's warm all the time. Yeah. beach, L.A. Yeah.

What are you fighting it for? Yeah. And I was fresh out of excuses, Andy, you know. I hung up on him and looked at the pigeon that was shivering too. So we're out of here. Yeah, yeah. Now, do you have an agent that can transfer from New York to L.A. at that point? Or are you coming out here cold and cold?

No, at that point, I had a wonderful agent at L.M.A. Okay. Yeah. So they, and they were supportive of the relocation. 100%. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, it's only a certain number of movies come through New York. Of course. If you're going to be a coal miner, you better go to Newcastle, you know. Yeah, yeah. And, I mean, did you take to California right now? Oh, I love it. Yeah. I love it here. You know, I met my wife here. We have a family now. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, the one thing about acting, and I, and I always,

I think about this with people, because I think about it with myself. Like the really, the stability you can count on in this kind of life is instability. That's right. And is there like some sort of mechanism, some sort of strategy that you have to sort of just dealing with that? Because like I remember my parents when I started out being like, okay, you're got this thing and what's next? And it's, I don't know.

And it would blow their. They didn't understand. Same. And I, you know, I don't know what it was that made me go, okay, I'm just going to hang on. I mean, I think you have to have that belief, right? Yeah. Otherwise, I would tell anyone who didn't have that to not bother. Right. You've got to have that innate belief in yourself. Yeah. That no matter what, you're going to stick it through. Yeah. Come hell or high water. Yeah. And I didn't work for almost two. two years after Princess Bryant. That's rough, too.

That's what Marlon used to call being a lonely goat way up in the mountain all by yourself. Yeah, yeah. And it's brutal up there. Yeah. It's cold. Especially, too, with all the expectations and all, and having a wonderful experience. Right. And I mean, but that's, you know, that, too, that happens too.

You have a wonderful experience on a movie. Yeah, sure. And then it just, that's it, you know. But thank God for ancillary. Yeah, yeah. Thank God. Rob used to saying, hey, Wizard of Oz didn't perform, and then suddenly they put it on at Christmas, and look at that.

It's a classic. Yeah, yeah. You know. Yeah. You lost your home in the Palisades Fire. Yes, sir. Where is that standing right now? It's a process.

Yeah, yeah. You know, as anyone who will tell you, we're part of a club. We don't wish anyone to have membership, too. It's a, some people are rebuilding. Some are still in line like myself. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you have to, is it like, you have to wait in line, yeah. But you are going to stay in the same spot?

We'd like to. Yeah. You know. Where are you in the meantime? We're renting. Yeah. You know. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it's got it, it's got to be really just foundationally shaking to have something happen like that. Yeah. Do you just, are you just always sort of settled on, we're going back there, we're going to stay, we're going to stick it out, or was there ever any, look, at let's just, you know. Well, it's like the best analogy I can give you. It's sort of Sisyphus, you know, you roll that boulder up the mountain and get to the top and if you take your hands off it for a second and it'll head right back down. Yeah. So I'm, I'm, as you talked about earlier, Andy, about getting into this crazy business. and facing the reality that there are going to be lean years, right?

That it doesn't always work out to plan. You've got to be able to believe in yourself and believe in accomplishing your goals. And this is a goal that we want to accomplish, so we're not giving up on it. Yeah. Because that would be giving up on our dream. Yeah.

Can't do that. Yeah, yeah. I want to talk about, well, first of all, I want to talk about the FX series, very young Frankenstein. Yes. And that you are playing the president of the United States. Yes. Have you played the president of the United States before? That must be fun.

Great fun. What's Tycho, YT, who's like, he's one of my heroes. Yeah. Talk about silly. Yeah. It's beyond. Yeah. Right?

And then Zach Galapagos. who's another one of my heroes. So it's a great cast. We really had a great, great time making it. Yeah. And it's a series? How many episodes are there? Well, right now it's a pilot.

So we just go. Oh, I see. Yeah. And is, but is it, it's been purchased and. Oh, yeah. Oh, boy. Why would you turn down? Oh, no, I know.

No, no. I mean, did they, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about FX picking it up and saying it. No, for sure. Well, it's Mel. Mel, well, it's Mel. Oh, wow. And so, you know, he's working more than I am now.

Mel Brooks, yeah, yeah. You know. It's amazing. Amazing. Yeah. Where will that shoot? I think Vancouver. In Vancouver, yeah, yeah.

Oh, that sounds like fun. I'm going to call my agent when we're done and say, give me, you know, give me a part as a townspeople. Yeah, right? Give me a torch or a pitchfork. But I also want to talk about this new peacock series MIA that you're in, which I haven't seen yet, but I've seen clips in the trailer. And it looks, it looks like a noir classic.

Oh, yeah, it is. It is. And I mean, I love them, revenge tales. Oh, they're just so. It's the perfect revenge tale. It's so good because it's just, it's all right there. Yeah. You know, the revenge tale, it's, you know, I mean, there's surprises, but you're just no,

like, okay, I know what I'm good. You know, it's a steak dinner. I know what I'm going to get. That's great, Andy. That's a good analogy. And, well, tell me about that film because it looks so good, yeah. Who gave us Ozark and so you know the kind of entertainment you're going to get that show. My wife and I, we binged that right away when it came out.

Yeah. He's brilliant. Yeah. And, you know, after that came out, you know, he got bombarded with people asking what else he had. And this was the one he wanted to do next. And it was, I read it. And I thought, I gotta do that. I've never played a private investigator. He's an ex-Miamie detective, police detective,

who's turned private investigator. And he's been hired to track down the killers of this young girl's family, played wonderfully by Shannon Hizzela, this wonderful new actor. And the cast was great. They just put together the best. the greatest actors, character actors, and we all just got in there and just bonded.

And it was, every day was exciting. Every single, the show is riveting. I mean, people are, oh, you're in it. Of course you're going to say that. I'm quite discerning after watching projects I've been on. And if I don't buy it, I'm not going to get that excited about it. Yeah. But this one really grabbed me and I was like, wow.

It's also, I think, too, you know, You wouldn't say it. You can be in things to go like, yeah, it's good. Go see it. Yeah, yeah. But if you say like, no, no, I really like this. I'm the same way. No, really.

You have to do your best acting to sell it if you're not buying it yourself. Yeah, yeah. Right. And this one I bought right away. Frame 1. And we went back because they didn't let us see it until it came out. Oh, wow. It was like that.

Wow. Yeah. You know? And so we had to watch it along with everybody else. On TV. TV. Wow. And so my wife and I like, holy, you know.

Yeah. That's great. Yeah. That's great. I mean, I imagine your, you know, this character is kind of grimy. Yeah. Maybe a little CD. A little bit.

He's, um, so they wanted me to have this character, Kincaid, I play, to have a different energy than everybody else in the show, right? Because the show is very high octane. It's drama, but it's a lot of action. Yeah. And so they wanted this guy to be sort of a few steps behind the investigation because he's sort of trailing the killers, yeah? And so the showrunner, Karen Campbell, she said, Carrie, I think for Kincaid, we should give him that kind of Key West laid-back vibe, you know. Let's put him in shorts and flip-flops and Hawaiian shirts and a hat and glass sunglasses.

And so I kind of helped inform who I was playing. And of course, I do. I have a complete different energy to everybody else in the show, which is fun. Yeah, that is fun. Yeah. And the wardrobe's comfy. It made me the envy of the whole cast. We shot in July in Miami.

And so everyone was like, oh, you get to wear the shorts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really great, really great, you know. Get to dress down when you show up to, you know. Well, thank you so much for coming in. I do want to ask, and this is something I often think for people is, like, do you have, because I think about this question for myself, like do you have any advice that you would give your younger self,

you know, like at this point in your life that you could go back, that would just, I mean, not necessarily to change anything, but just to make young Kerry sweat a little less, you know. I probably wouldn't have stayed in Manhattan as long as I did with a stress of not being able to make the rent. Yeah. That probably, but you're asking more psychological rather than. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I mean, no, but I mean, it can be, it can be Padgett Brewster, the actress Padgett Brewster said, you know, and I said, you know, kind of the what have you learned that you would, she'd say you can sharpen scissors by cutting aluminum foil. Oh, that's hilarious. I was like, oh, okay. And she's right. It works, you know. No, I really have had the most incredible path. Yeah. If you think about it and I would, if I put it on paper, you wouldn't believe any of it. Yeah. And so I think that these. And so I think that these. all these doors that opened and closed did so for a reason, Andy, you know. I mean, the chance meeting of Al Pacino. Yeah. And also to make, you know, your friend forced your hand in order to do it. Yeah. And so, yeah, I wouldn't change any of it.

I really wouldn't. I think perhaps not sweat the small stuff so much. Yeah, yeah. That's what I tell. my kid. Yeah. You know, I see, you know, just other things to worry about than that, you know. Yeah, I think back on like just, I just was so afraid of lots and lots of things.

Now I just seem like, what the fuck? Ridiculous, right? What the fuck was I afraid of? Right. You know. We have, it's life, right? Yeah. You go through periods of having anxiety.

Yeah. And stress over things you think are important at that time. Yeah, yeah. they are to you. Yeah. And then with wisdom comes, with age comes wisdom and you realize what was I, what was I, yeah. What was that about?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that thing didn't happen. Yeah, I'm here. I'm still here. That thing did happen and it didn't change that much. Not a whole lot. Yeah.

Well, Carrie, I was thank you so much for coming in. My pleasure, Andy. Thank you for having me. Everybody go check out, MIA. I know I am. It looks really great. so. And also in a very young Frankenstein, I'm going to set my DVR right now, even though it won't know what I'm talking about. All right. Well, thanks everybody for listening. I'll be back next week

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