Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) - Harrison Ford

Episode Date: May 13, 2026

The one and only Harrison Ford joins Ted Danson and his “whimsical friend" Woody Harrelson in studio this week. They talk Harrison’s early stint as a carpenter and how it led to “Star Wars,” whether actors are inherently needy, finding creative solutions to the climate crisis, what Harrison finds so refreshing about working on “Shrinking,” and much more.    Like watching your podcasts?  Visit http://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

He laughs all the time. He thinks this is funny. I do think it's funny. I mean, life. Welcome back to where everybody knows your name, and you will know the name of today's guest. Harrison Ford is one of the most celebrated, highest-grossing actors of our time. He's also one of my personal heroes because of how he used his fame

to become a leader in the environmental movement. He currently stars in the Apple TV show, shrinking, playing Dr. Paul Rhodes. And if that isn't exciting enough, we've got Woody here. Yep, in studio. So let's do it. Harrison Ford and my good friend Woody Harrison. We need to start because Woody is like a half hour late, I think. Okay. We really don't need him. And you know what's funny is when he does get here. And you know what? He doesn't fucking need us either. I know. I know. He's the most whimsical. reality of it. It is. He goes where he wants, when he wants, and answers to nobody else.

Well, there is someone else. Laura Lewis. Yes, he does. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. The free spirits, by the way, somebody else is paying the price because she carries his phone. You can't get Woody on a phone because he does. No, of course, because he's, he's, well, he's eccentric and very whimsical. Oh, oh. Oh. Chestered to show without me. Well, we had to. So weird. There was a little business we had to get out of the way.

Hi. Hey, Teddy. How are you, my friend? I miss you. So anyway, we were talking about Woody and his whimsical go where he wants when he wants. Yeah, yeah. Because he was late. You're late.

I'm not late. It's one o'clock, right? Let me back up a second, because the last time I saw both of you was at the Actors Award, where you got your life achievement award and you. And you won me, oh, sorry, that was Seth. Yeah, it's the year of Seth. I tag along to make them look good. But you introduced and made me laugh very hard with your introduction.

It was lengthy. It was lengthy. It was twice, three times as long as your speech. Pace. It was, it was longer than my speech. And, and, frankly, was not as funny. You're funny guy. I thought you were, I thought that you were perfect for the, for the room, but what a crowd.

You know, that's hard. That's a hard. No one's really there. That was a tough crowd. Yeah. I heard that it was some of it was hard to hear because it was impossible to hear. You couldn't hear anything in the room. They cleverly decided it so that.

either you could hear it on television or you could hear it in the room. Yes. But not both. Mary had a note for you, which is don't claim thinking that, you know, making fun of yourself for not getting a laugh in the room. She said in TV land, it was funnier in hell, and she heard every word, and it was great. Yes. Oh. So. Okay.

Just started off with fuck you all in the audience. I'm playing to the TV crowd. I'm playing. That's a good way to go. But I do remember when my first two jokes missed one after the other, I saw you over there just cackling. Well. He got real joy out of it. Why did you ask Woody?

How did that happen? You haven't worked together. Well, I asked 20 people first. Right, but there are more than 20 people. You could have gone 40. I could have gone 40. He only went 20 D. And now I'm thinking about it.

He could have gone 40 days. But he wanted to go with the sure fire. You know why I wanted him to do it? So that when it comes his turn, he thinks of me and then has to fucking deal with that. That's good. Racking around in his mind. That's good.

What am I going to do? Am I going to go on forever and never let him talk. Yeah. Is that what I'm going to do? You lost me, though, because you said when it was his turn and my mind went, fuck, I'm going to have to deal with that, too? That would be wild.

Come on, they're going to get around to you. They got around to me. And, dude, it's a different, you know, of all the people we've interviewed, I have to say, is this an interview? Is this an interview? Wait a second. I thought I had the job. Only one person does it say?

considered one of the greatest movie stars of all time. That's what it says on here. That's what I wrote. By who? By who? By who, Woody? By who? My mother?

Dude, I watched Jimmy Kimmel last night. Boy, that crowd, this is everywhere he goes. People just go bananas. And he's like, oh, it's embarrassing. saying stop, stop. But, you know, you have to deal with that everywhere you go. Yeah, and you don't. Not like that, such a pity.

Not where people are standing on their feet cheering and screaming and for five minutes. And you're finally like, shut up so I can, you know, do the interview. Okay. So shut up and do the interview. You said there's a fucking interview going on here. I didn't know I was going to be interviewed. What is the job I'm being interviewed for? Okay, all right, let's go off of that.

When was the first time you went, oh, fuck, that amount of energy, which film, which moment in your early career did you go, oh, shit, I'm famous. I think it was probably Star Wars. Oh, shit, I missed that one, but yes. Yeah, yeah. In fact, the first interview I ever had was BBC, and they said, I was working on Star Wars, and this guy came in with a Nagar,

and he set it up, and instead of having lunch, I had to sit with this, sir. And he said, well, this is that one in the mix. We're here with BBC, and we're talking to Harrison Ford about Star Wars. Here's what is Star Wars about? And I'm not.

I had no fucking idea what it was about. It was about two hours long as much as I knew. And I had, so is this that kind of an interview? This one right here? Oh, yeah, no, no, no. This is somehow make you embarrassed and squirm. I did notice when you said Star Wars. First off, it was a lame question on my part.

But when you said Star Wars, it's almost an embarrassment of having to say Star Wars that it's like saying I was in... Is he awake? Did I do that? I think that boars him. He doesn't like to talk about himself. I know. He should never be doing an interview.

He doesn't like to talk about himself. I don't need to be interviewed. Did your mother love you? Everybody knows. Well, now we're getting down to grass. Grass tax, aren't we? My mother was Jewish. She didn't need to love me that way.

She loved me in the Jewish way Elaborate Well first they take a piece of you And throw it away And then they Teach you a bunch of stuff That's supposed to be good for you And they're not

It was normal A normal family And she was She did radio acting No No, that's a lot that's a lie that people tell about my mother. I don't know why.

My father was a radio actor. He didn't, let me tell you about my father. My father was one of five guys who dressed in tuxedos and went around on the vaudeville circuit. And each week they did, I stood around a microphone in their tuxedo with their scripts and did a radio play. about gangbusters, about, you know, FBI or something, something like that. And that's what my father did for a while.

And did you go watch him do that sometimes? No, this was before I was bored. Oh. And then he became like an advertising guy. And then he was in advertising, yes. He directed and produced television commercials. Kennelration. You know, they used to have, you could listen to Boston Blackie, like three years, 30 years ago when we were doing cheers on the way home.

I would listen to radio shows. They had them and they'd replay them. Did your dad do the sound effects too or was it just the play? No, no, no, no, he was an actor. He was not a technician. My father was an actor. That's very cool. Yeah.

So when you started acting, he was happy for you. No. Really? No, no, no. He's, well, not at first, I don't think. Because in order to become an actor, I at first, to be thrown out of college four days before graduation. Ah, it leaves a taste in your mouth. Right.

If there's never been a member of your family that had the opportunity to go to college and then got kicked out four days before graduation. They couldn't get their money back for the reservation for the motel. Oh, right. Yeah. To come see their son graduate. Yeah. Oh, this was big.

So that lasted for a while. You brushed over the panes. of that, you mean? For me? No. I'm saying the pain. It was a pain for them. Right.

Oh. Yeah. So they weren't too sure about me. And your dad was Irish, so, I mean, did he, was he a kind of firm Irishman or what? He was a normal Irishman. He lived well into his 90s. He smoked. He drank.

He never exercised. I'm going to try that. I hope I have his jeans. Yeah. I'm not so sure. You look like you're winding down. I am. Bad damn.

I am so winding down. I am falling apart. In pieces. But so you, because I saw this thing where it said you had in high school, there was a high school radio started. And you were the first voice. Was I? No, I don't think so. I mean, who knows?

Why do I have to be the first voice? They're real. He just doesn't want to. He doesn't want to fuck with you. I don't have that kind of information about myself. I forget. But I'm just asking this because, you know, the way I understood it was you like you were, you became a carpenter. No, I think what you're saying is that because I did this.

radio program in high school. I was already interested. Yeah. Interested in a theatrical career. Is that true? No. That's not true.

No. So you had no interest? Nah, well, maybe. I don't know. I didn't, I, if I, I've never thought of the radio show being connected with the fact that I did plays, you know, but maybe it is. Maybe I'm just, maybe I'm just a needy person. just needs, wants a lot of attention.

No question about that, of course, dude. Like you. You wouldn't be an actor. If that's true of all of this than you. Desper for attention. Yeah. Desperate. Give me some fucking love.

It's like someone called me a show off the other day. I said, dude, I'm an actor. Every actor is a show off when they're young. And then they do, then that's what they do for 11. They show off. Yeah. No, I wasn't a show off when I was. was young. I wasn't.

Really? No, I kind of, I was a hider. Yeah, I'm more with you, too. Really? Yeah, no, you had balls early, man. No, no, you're playing basketball. I know, I know your type. Yeah. You're the, you're the type that used to beat the shit out of me in the playground. Motherfucker. Yeah. And I am the stupid fuck that, that operated on the theory when fighting that you didn't want to hit the other guy too hard because he was going to make him

even matter and he would therefore increase the pain on you. See, I was just step ahead of you. That's the way I thought. I would look at Woody the bully on the playground. That is hysterical. And would try to make Woody laugh so he wouldn't hit me. If I made him laugh, he might go, he's funny. I won't hit him.

I wouldn't give him the status. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of making him laugh. It's too fucking easy. Oh, it is. He laughs all the time. He thinks this is funny. I do think it's funny. I mean life.

You think life is funny. I'm really getting a kick out of life. I'm so glad somebody is. You too, man. I'm so admired that about it. Would you turn on the television. get over. Get over the joy.

We're suffering. Yeah, no, if we look at all the shit happening in the world now, I mean. Don't do it, man. Yeah, I hate to. I'm just, I'm sorry, I brought him down. You brought me right down. Jesus Christ. How many wars do we have to have going,

including the internal wars and the brown shirts and all that shit that's going on? It's like unbelievable. Okay, let's get off that. This, I hope, is true. Okay. This is one of the things that I saw. That might be true. According to one anecdote.

So this is anecdotal. Okay, now you're blaming somebody else for it already. The producer, Jerry Tukovsky, told you that he did. He just got a call to leave because this is going south. Is that what that one? No, no. That was Jerry Tukowski. He said, please don't do this again.

Please don't do this again. Oh, because they've been done a lot. But I never heard it. No, no. I'm quite willing to do it again. Jerry Tocovsky. I could spell the last name for you if you really want to write it down. He said that when Tony Curtis delivered groceries,

he said that Curtis was a movie store. You could see him when he delivered groceries, that it was obvious he was a movie star. And he said that if Curtis was truly a talented actor, he would have delivered them like a bellhop. No. I love that. No, no, no.

That's all fucked up. That's all messed up. I played a billboy. Yes. In a movie with James Colburn. Yes. I called him James, James Colburn. And my entire part was, and I'm dressed as obviously as a billboy,

Mr. Jones, paging Mr. Jones. And he would say, boy. And I'd say, oh, Mr. Jones, room 251? And he'd say, yes. And I gave him a telegram. I got called into the office of the head of the new talent program, a man named Jerry Tukovsky. He was a few years older than me.

So that allowed him to call me boy. Wow. Boy, he said, you're never going to make it in this business. I saw the dailies from yesterday. I'm going to tell you a story. the first time Tony Curtis ever walked on a stage, he delivered a bag of groceries. You took one look at that guy and you said, that's a movie star. And I leaned across the desk and said, I thought you were supposed to think it was a grocery delivery boy.

And he said, get the fuck out of here. And I did. And it went on like that for a year and a half. He did not like me. I did not like him. years later, I'm sitting in the commissary at, what's that place called, 20th century Fox. And I'm sitting there in the executive dining room, having lunch. And a man comes over with a tray, a little tray, and there's a card on it, just like in the movies.

And I pick up the card. And it says, Jerry Tukovsky. And I turn it over and on the back it said, I missed my bet. Wow. Some self-awareness there. Kind of cool, huh? Yeah, yeah. Did you say hi to him?

I looked around the room and everybody looked like Jerry Tukowski to me. But nobody looked like, you know, I didn't know who he was. I let it lay like Jesus flung it. I did not disturb anybody's lunch. I just went on with my life. That's cool. And he was probably waiting for some sort of, gosh, where are you?

I'd love to say hi and nothing. I hope so. Yeah. I don't think so. I don't think he liked me. I got blacklisted four cheers from NBC. I mean a memo to everybody. don't hire them.

Really? Yeah, I found out. What had you done to offend me somewhere? I had been in a pilot with, and I'm blanking on the head of NBC back then's name, but I'd been in a pilot with his favorite ingenue, who was supposed to play my daughter. And when we were cast, it made sense, but then she developed into a young girl, and we were supposed to be father-daughter detectives in San Francisco. And it just didn't work because of aging processes in life.

and it sucked, and he blamed me for that. And literally there was a memo. What's his name? What's his name? Well, I'm going to say it if I can get his name. Come on. I will, but my brain's not got it in there. Oh, the brain.

Okay, I think it might have been Jerry Tukovsky. No. Maybe it's a polite thing not to mention his name. Well, but thank God I didn't know. Why would you bother to be polite? I've said it before. I just remembered the name before. So tell me about the, you guys did this thing for how many years?

I mean, I'm in, yeah, how many years? We did 11 and I did 8. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. And we have a memory. I don't know if you remember of this, but you, me, George, went to the, after a shoot one night, Tuesday night. We went to the Paramount Lot tank, you know, the water tank.

Yeah. And you were sitting in your little chair waiting between tanks with a towel over you because you'd been soaked in some water scene. Jack Ryan. Yeah, they flooded the whole parking lot. Yeah. three foot of water and then put boats in it for us. They were fighting boats at night in a rainstorm. You were so sweet to us.

Really? Three TV actors. Maybe you were. Oh, because I was a movie actor? And I was being nice to TV actors? Yes. I had no idea you could do that. Well, you did it.

Maybe you thought we were movie stars too. I probably did. Yeah. Yeah. He does. He looks slow. Look at that chiseled jar. I know.

I walked in today and he was sitting in the sun. I could see the back, only the back of his head. You recognize my both spot. And it was perfect. Yeah. It was perfect. So I knew there was him. You know what I was doing then?

Can I tell you? Because of Flea, who was one of our first podcast people to visit the flea, red off, chili peppers. before he started, he actually, while we were rolling, he said, can I just take a minute? We just sat down. And he meditated for like, I don't know, not that long, maybe a minute and a half or two minutes because he didn't want to bring anything extra into this moment.

So I was meditating, trying to get my wits about me. And how do you go about this meditation? None of your fucking business. Oh, okay. You're sure you meditated and you're totally zen right now, dude? Can I tell you something? Can I tell you something? Yes.

It didn't work. It didn't work. No, it didn't because you should have seen me before. I could see several parts of you. Fuck you both. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. This is just...

I'm taking a competitive meditation course, and maybe it's not the right thing. But do you just like breathe and try to if for your mind? I did. I just counted breaths and tried to get my... brain, you know, say, hey, just be nice and be curious and listen. Come on. This doesn't take a lot of brain power, does it?

Brain power, no, but attention, yes. So you could come in here with me having made the commitment to be here. Yes. And you could possibly be inattentive? No, because I meditated, didn't I? No, no, no, no. Before you even meditated. you were Ted Danson and you wouldn't do that.

I know that. What's your point? You're just losing me completely. You don't like the meditation. No, I just don't like the taking this seriously is what I don't like. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

You know what it is? Truly, it's me thinking, oh, I need to be a good podcaster. Oh, I need to think of something interesting for Harrison Ford. And I need to junk that and get rid of it. Because we're just guys, we're just going to sit here and bullshit anyway. Yeah. Because that's who we are. I get it, though.

One of the greatest movie stars of all time. I get it. Oh, yeah. Let's get that in again. One of. Yeah. Oh, that's what he didn't like, the one of. Yeah.

He's like, well, who you put in a button? Well, as long as you. You know, long as you're dreaming. Okay, let me jump around. Yeah, jump around. You're not fucking jumping around. You're sitting still and you're concentrating. My brain is, I'm going to take you back.

This is your life. Yeah. Carpentry. Yeah. You said, it said I heard maybe we're wrong that it was self-taught. Yeah. Carpentry. Yes, it was.

And it was because you probably weren't getting that much work during the contract year. Right? Yeah. Okay. A minor statement. But that became a real. you became a real craftsman, right? I became a real carpenter.

I was, yes, I did, I did learn the craft, the physical craft of, what was it? Carpentry. So more about houses than woodworking kind of thing? It was house carpentry, mostly, although later on I did build cabinets and I worked in a cabinet shop doing making cabinets and installing them i was a carpenter i i the reason i became a carpenter is that i had

bought a house um here l a in the in the hollywood hills for i'm serious 10 thousand dollars this was a long time ago and uh the reason it was uh 10 000 i i found out two years or so into living in it and starting to do work on it to remodel it, restore it. It was a ranger station brought up on muleback into an area that was a park at the time. And it had no stuff. stud walls, you know, the stud wall. Yeah.

Yeah. So there was no place to put electricity in the walls. I mean, it was a shack. And I bought this thing for $10,000. And I would live there with my wife and my first child, two children, actually, two childs. And I started to take it apart to restore it. And then I found out that there were no stud walls.

And there was no, I was knob and tube electricity. And I'd spent all my money on tools. So I didn't have any money for studs. Studs or walls or. So his friend of mine, Peter Pallafian, there's a good name. Peter was working as a recording engineer for the Mamas and the Pappas. and he said, why don't you

and although he was working with the mom and the papas, he was also recording Sergio Mendez. And Sergio said that he was going to, in conversation, Sergio brought up the fact that he was thinking about building a rehearsal space at his Encino estate.

And Peter said, why don't you go talk to Sergio? And I did. Sergio came out of his house in a big, fluffy robe with a cigar at 8 o'clock in the morning. Nice as pie, sweet, sweet man. We walked around in his backyard and he talked about his plan to turn this garage into a rehearsal space. And even as we talked, it began to grow. as a proposition.

And eventually I ended up building a 10-track recording studio for him in this garage. He forgot to ask me if I had ever done it before. And I forgot to tell him. And I was up on the roof with a book from the Encino Public Library about how to cut in a roof. you know but it turned out fine and I was I had a career in carpentry

I never I worked time and material and I picked and choose my job I had an incredible luck in that area wow isn't there a story that you

did eventually get work out of it because somebody Oh, yeah. You were working on whose house. I eventually did get acting work out of it. Out of the carpentry, I mean. Yes, yes, I did. Which was it?

Well, I was working at the time for this guy named Francis Ford Kobla. Yeah. And Francis's art director, Dean Tavillaris, had designed a beautiful entrance to his offices at Goldwyn, which is new offices. offices. And Dean couldn't get any, they made the millwork in the studio, but he couldn't get anybody to install it. So he asked me to do it. And I said, okay, I'll do it. But I'm only going to work at night because I don't want to confuse people about what I am, blah, blah, blah. And I and I and And George was casting a movie called Star Wars.

So he says it funny each time. He says it funny. Star Wars. And had let it be known to our agents that anybody that was in American graffiti need not apply because he was looking for new faces. fresh faces, not the worn-out old faces we had. But I'm sweeping up, and he walks in, he's using Francis's office, he walks in with Richard Dreyfuss for the first interview, for Star Wars.

And I'm there a carpenter, a lowly grafman. But buff, really buff, you were looking buff up, but. Sorry, go on, Harrison. I don't know what I, You know, I don't know whether I was having a good day or bad day, but I was there in my carpenter belt and blah, blah, blah, with a broom in my hand. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Not, you know, not a movie star. But like Richard Dreyfus. Well, and then, but then then time goes on by hand. And Fred Russo, was the casting director, asked me to read as a favor to them. would I read with the other actors? Yeah, I'll do that. So I read with all the other actors. And then they gave me the part.

But they had three. They had another group of three people. I don't know who the other two, the girl and the younger man would have been. I can't remember who they are. But the part that I eventually played, would have been Chris Walkin. He was in one of the other groups.

He was the other group. That is wild to think about. But when did you get the feeling that they were like, you know, you're doing the readings and stuff. And when did you get the feeling like, I think they're starting to be interested in the way I'm... About two months after they, you know, I signed the contract because I didn't,

You know, I don't know why. I never got it. I didn't, I didn't think that. I didn't think they were testing me. I thought I was doing it in my favor. That group of three. So that's how lucky I am. That's the kind of luck I have.

Yeah. But if I was really lucky, I'd be Chris Walkin. If I could. we'd all be Chris walking if we could. I'd fucking fight you for it. Unbelievable. Okay. Yeah.

That's funny. So, wait a minute. Backing up. So you'd already done American graffiti. My bad. Yeah. When you were doing the carpentry work and all of that in between. How did you get that?

What? American graffiti. How did that come about? Contract playing. Interference. No, it was the interference of Fred Ruse. Who was the casting director. He was, he was.

he somehow convinced himself that I was of some use. And he continued to exhibit that behavior for about 10 years until somebody finally gave it. It's true. Yeah. He knew. Fred Bruce, no. I'm very grateful for the, for the,

effect that I was an overnight success and that the night was 15 years long because it gave me time to figure out the job. It's a weird job. It is. I don't think I could, Mary went from waiting tables to working with Jack Nicholson and being directed and all that relatively overnight. Yeah. I mean, close to overnight. I don't, I couldn't have done that. I, I, I couldn't have done that. I, I think I needed my whatever needed to take little steps and do this, which is kind of what I did. I think so. That's what I needed.

I dealt with it. I loved doing it from the beginning. But, you know, I just, I didn't have any technique. And not that you need it. Why did you? When you say, not that you need it. Like, I have no technique. What the fuck is that, dude?

Look at a hard to me. It points right to me. I was just looking. You were, you were, you're, it's, your face is kind of electric. And you drew me in with your, with your big open smile and your, in your warmth and, and self-satisfaction. I had your fucking deal with it. You very nearly turned that around. You're very hard to compliment.

So I'm, without it making. So I'm going to, I am going to try harder. I'm going to move on. Let me say to you as well, we're interviewing you, but you are also one of my favorite actors. And you have, truly, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, this is brief. Because I don't want to dwell, because I do. Can I get in on this? No, it's my, oh, fuck, okay, what?

No, I, I, I, I, I, I am absolutely amazed at the, at the, at the work that, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the. this one has done, Woody. What's that? Woody Harrelson. What's his real name? Woodrow. Woodrow. Very kind.

Woodrow did. He's, he, you know, we've, we kid around and stuff, but the work that you've turned in over the years, Woody is absolutely an amazing range of indelible, unique characters. And there's nobody. to compare with you. You are both a leading man and a character actor. You defy every convention. You make everything that you do work on its own terms. You just don't do the woody shit.

You invest and you work hard and your work is phenomenal. Wow. Boy, this is the greatest day. Thank you. What was your name, please? That's all right. Teddy. Thank you. Teddy.

Teddy. Okay, but here's where I'm going with two. Teddy's pretty good, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, come on, man. I've never seen, I've never seen you do anything. Yeah. I've never seen you do anything that was wrong.

Or anything less than very specific. elegant, tasteful, gorgeous. The three of us are very happy right now. And thank you. So here's why I brought this up, because this applies to both of you. One of my heroes, Robert Redford, did the same thing. You have done the same thing where you,

and you too, Woodrow, where you use your fame, your acting, your success, whatever, to make a difference into the world. And for you, I saw you, and Redford, it was in the environment by and large, many other things. But you've been part of Conservation International for as long as I was around doing water stuff. Yeah, and you've been doing it for 30 years, too, I know. I have. Yes, but I looked at you and you were an inspiration to me.

And you say I inspired you, but you have taken off and done so much with your fame. And I just have so much respect for that. Oh, wow. Well, thank you. Yeah. Well, I really respect what you've done for the oceans, man. It's been really incredible and huge and for literally 40 years. It is, yeah.

And what's comforting to me right now is the one thing. Started when it was not in fashion. Yeah. And the world is better off for it now. But we have a long way to go. Oh, my God. Same fights over and over again. Yeah.

But now we have, I mean, who would have thought 40 years ago, that we would have what has just been signed the high seas treaty. That's true. To establish governance of the high seas. Which we refused to sign for many decades. Which we, America, refused to sign, yes. Well, that's another issue, isn't it?

The one thing that gives me comfort right now in this time of sadness and wickedness that's going on, is Oceana for me. It is my club. I get to fight back in an area that I feel comfortable fighting in, which is science-based.

Yeah. You can buy someone's opinion. But science, there are tests of truth. There's good science and bad science. And self-interest. And the status quo, the establishment.

And so when you want to change something as basic as human behavior, and part of the problem is that we behave like animals too. We have increased intellectual capacities. I'm not sure about that. Well, because think about it. Dogs, they understand like what, hundreds of words of ours. We don't understand one dog word, not one. whof.

I, what did that make? I didn't know. I have to go pee outside. Okay. But it was one of six or seven. Now. That's, I really have to go pee us. I guess, yeah.

No. No, this is serious. We're, we have to, no, I didn't mean, that didn't mean to stop you. I just mean that me and the intellectual. Yeah. Oh, God. No, this is a serious issue with humanity. Actually, we are the first species in scientific history

that is deeply involved in supporting its own extinction. Yeah, yeah, true. Never happened before. We are changing behaviors. young people have so much more knowledge and understanding of the issue and the urgency of the problem and the willingness because they know that the world we're living them don't work as well as it used to. Well, I mean, it feels like the number one thing we need to do is alter our personal and our planetary

energy, what we're energizing ourselves personally and planetarily. Break that, do that again. In other words, and personally, I mean, like a change of diet, you know, like just the impact of meat eating and livestock and all of that and on the water resources and everything else. No, you're right. It is one thing, but certainly we need to stop get off the dining. dinosaur tit as soon as possible. I mean, it really is. It just continues to focus. And we're only in Venezuela for certainly, certainly, because of the oil. We're in Iran because of the oil. We're in Iraq because of the oil. We're in Afghanistan because of the pipelines to move the oil. Hey, but look at how much money is going into space. If you could find somewhere out of

in the firmament, a planet with an atmosphere, with gravity, with water, with developed societies, with hundreds of languages. Surely you'd want to go there. Well, you're already there. Yeah, right? That's where you are. That's your home. Why are you wasting all this money going to space?

Right. Nutty. So here's, I mean, we can go on and on because we all are on the same page, I think. Oh, because we've got nothing better to do. No, I mean, on and on about the condition of this country and what's going on right now. And it's very sad and all of that. You've got grandkids. You have kids. You can't show up and say, oh, man, this is fucked up. We really messed up. And I'm so sorry. Good luck. You have to have hope. You have to have, right? I suppose you do. So young people are. more aware than ever before of the actual condition of the world they're living in. They have not yet found leadership because like every other aspect of our society, they've been disaggregated into little groups as a business plan. And it works.

And this disaggregation has kept them from finding cohesion. You know, young people that are the greatest uncoelaced, political constituency in this country. They could own the store. They really don't want to, I think. Why? Because they don't know really how it got to be the way it is. I'm making ridiculous blanket statements.

I don't mean to be doing it. I'm just trying to simplify. I do think that once they find an issue or leadership that they can coalesce around, then things could change. we're going to lose agriculture in the middle of our country because of drought. It's been predicted by NASA for 30 years now, and I see it coming. This is a kind of hairbrain idea that I have. I believe that we should develop the infrastructure for alternative energy in the middle of the country,

using all of the wonderful craft skills and capacities that people have been using in the middle of the country so that they can have economic opportunities and rebuild the grid and repair our infrastructure. That's what I would like to see happen. There are solutions to many of the problems, and maybe not all, but there's not the will to do it And that's something, man, we have to.

Yeah, well, the political will is dictated by the people with the money. I mean, people get into office because of people with the money. They don't want to fuck with the system. And, in fact, they, you know, like, just think of the massive subsidies that go to the oil industry, massive to nuclear, to pharmaceutical, to all these industries. Why don't we put that toward, like, clean energy? Yep. Yeah, I don't see it happening. By the way, I have to go to Texas in a few days.

I hope people will still be talking to me after this little diatri. Do you know the more clean energy comes out of Texas than anywhere else? Is that right? That's accurate. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know that.

Yeah. Well, you know, me and Matthew did this show, Brothers, together, and it's the cleanest set in history. All the recycling, all of the things. running on solar. Yeah. I mean, it's really been an incredible thing to watch it happen like this. It's like it's the most eco-conscious set that's ever been. Kind of proud of that.

You should be, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I got off the, I went total selfish, but. No, no, you didn't. In that vein, because we're in California, we have, we're about to start offshore oil drilling according to the particular administration. in federal waters. And there's a way to stop them, but we all have to literally talk to every representative. And this is not about tree-hugging. This is about your business on the beach, your tourism,

your hotels, your restaurants, your fishermen, there are a lot of wallets that can stand up together and go, no, don't drill. Yeah, I was just in yesterday. I was, you know, I came in from upstate and I was hanging out with Michael J. Fox, actually. And he showed me some of y'all's scenes together. But anyway, I was out there with him, and we're looking straight out. He's on the water, and we're looking straight out, and it's just oil rigs. Still out there after all these years. It's like amazing, right off of Santa Barbara.

Yeah, and still leaks. Let's move on to happier waters. Okay. Let me ask you a question. Yes, sir. Working with, I love Peter Weir, love Peter Weir. I just think he's one of the great directors of all time. Absolutely.

And so you did two films with him. What was it like to work with him? It was great. The first movie we did together was Witness. Brilliant. And it was the first time, anybody asked me who I thought might be a good director for a script I had read. Wow, I mean, that was a big step.

I was very impressed with Peter Weir at that time. I had seen, I can't remember the name of the film, but I'd seen a film that he'd done that I thought was Cracker Jack. And so they, and it was Katzenberg, Jeff Kassenberg was head of Paramount at the time. And so he hired Peter. We had four weeks of pre-production. Four weeks. That's short.

I can't remember why, but Peter, I think Peter had an obligation or something. And so it was deemed possible. So we split the task of doing research. He went off and researched the Amish, which I had already some knowledge of. I had traveled there with my family when I was young and I was fascinated by them. And I went off to work with the Philadelphia Police Department

for a couple of weeks. And then we came back together and shared what we had learned. and we were in production. Four weeks. Amazing. Wow. Wow. And we didn't have an ending. The end of the movie was that Danny Glover got kicked to death by the

train, by the mule, by the old Amish grandpa's mule. That's my job. Yeah. That's my job. Yeah. In the story. So I remember that the day we shot the ending was the day we decided to dump the corn in the silo on the bad guy. And we had to go find an aqua lung.

We had to go find a scuba gear in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And we did. But we just made shit up. And it worked. It was great. It was brilliant. And then we went right into doing Mosquito Coast, which was an incredible book. I don't know if you read any. Yeah, both.

Again, it was a fantastic experience. It worked in Belize. There was no place. The place was very funky at the time. You're living on a boat. Yeah, Jimmy. My friend Jimmy Buffett got me a boat that he worked on when he was a kid. kid. And then I had two deck hands, Bubba and Bubba. There were two Bubbas. We had two

Bubba's. And Jimmy's sister was my cook, the cook on the boat. It was fantastic. It was a 110 foot long wooden yacht. And we just sat off the office. shore, a quarter mile offshore. Wow. Cool. And did Jimmy come out or no? He did. Yeah.

That's good. He came to visit a couple times. Boy, he was so fun. Oh, man. Shrinking. Let's do shrinking just a little bit more. You're really wonderful. You're really wonderful.

You're promoting it. Yeah. I'm promoting it. Yes, I am. And I'm doing a very bad job right now. It's shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. It's good. I love it.

It's really good. I really, really. I got one script, Brett Goldstein, who I love me. Isn't he the best? He's the best. He came, I was working in London, and I got the script. It was arranged that we would have dinner, and we'd talk about it, you know.

So he knocked on the door of my London apartment. I opened the door. He said, hello, and I said, I'll do it. Literally. That's great. And then we had a nice evening. It was a character that really appealed to me. The writing was fantastic.

The other characters were exciting, interesting, concepts. And I fell for it, and I've had the best time. All the other actors are deeply committed, wonderfully talented. We have great writing. And I don't have to go to Hungary to do it. I work in Burbank. I get in a car for half an hour, and I sleep in my own bed, and I live my life, and it's, It's a dream come true. That's great. Yeah, I really enjoy it. It's really good.

Jason is a buddy. He's pretty remarkable. He is very remarkable. He's wonderfully intelligent. His warmth is beyond compare. And generous. He gives a lot of way. Just a good, good person.

I'm having a ball. Yeah, you can tell. And Bill Lawrence is a, genius slash mogul. Yeah, but don't tell him. No, no. Okay. He doesn't listen to us.

He is brilliant. Don't tell him. You know, I knew him for a long time. I used to play basketball with him with Gary Goldberg all the time for years and years and years. And we were always on opposite teams. If he heard this, he would say, you know what? You're right. We were always on the opposite team.

Did you ever? He's a good player. Huh? Did you ever get into fistic cups with them? No. No. No. We did have disagreements. No, I'm sorry. That's Byrd. You got into fight with him. We had disagreements, but we never came to fisticofts,

but I did almost get into fisticofts with Gary Goldberg. Really? Yeah, it was. He was tough. He was tough as could be. He was Manhattan basketball. He was a great shot. Yeah. He could, he could shoot the lights out. Yeah, I'm not a real boy.

I run with the boys. I'm not a real boy. I'm not a real boy. But I did that, I did that show with, with, with Mike, the one he did with Goldberg after. Spin City.

Spen City. Thank you. Spen City. Yeah. And, but Bill was really the guy doing everything. Already back then.

Yeah. So, I mean, he wasn't like he just sprung out of nowhere. He was, he was already just crushing it back then and making it better. He's doing five shows.

Wow. He's got five shows on the air. Ted Lassau. Is that coming back? That's him, right? Yeah, that's coming back. Ted Lassow, Bad Monkey. Which is fucking crazy.

The new Steve Carell. Oh, yeah. Rooster. Yeah. Rooster. And I don't know what. Shrinking. Scrubs.

Scrubs. Damn. And shrieking, yeah. Yeah, he just walks in the room and the studio goes, yeah, we'll do it. Sure. You don't want to hear the idea. No, we're in.

We're in. That's great. What is your work week like? Do you get, are you flat out or do you get three days? No. I don't have any control. I don't, I have not thrown your weight around. Oh, I didn't.

Of course I did. Well, that sounds like a pretty good idea. No, I didn't throw my weight around. I didn't, I didn't, I said, I don't like to work more than 10 hours a day. That's good. That's very good. But I don't. A little weight there.

There's a little weight there, but go on. And I don't like to work more than two days a week. Well, no, that's the only thing. I'll work, I'll work five days a week. You work three. I work, yeah. So you don't, you don't do a day thing. So you can work every day or not.

Yeah, yeah. But there's, there's a lot. lot of other interesting people in the cast to talk about. Yeah, that is. Which makes it nice. Yeah. Makes it very nice. Well, hell of a show.

And you're great. I've been doing this for quite a while. And when shrinking came out, the whole tone of chance encounters on the street with people, customers, changed. And it's quite remarkable. People simply want to say that they value the experience. Yeah.

That they love the show. And then they walk away. They don't want a picture. They don't want an autograph. They want to thank you for putting something out in the world that really is nurturing. And oh, my God.

I mean, that's a gift. beyond measure. Taking something out there that makes people feel good. Yeah. Feel better. I'm very grateful for it. Well, you've done a lot of that over the years.

I've done a lot of that. I know you don't like a pat on the bat. No, no, no, no. What I have done is I have been part of other people's success. I've been part of George's success. I've been part of Stephen's success. I've been part of Peter Weir's success. And their success has made me,

has given me the opportunity to be a part of it. But that's a truism. Yes, you're right. It's the script. It's the writing, it's directing, all of that stuff. Yeah. But then there, and this is the part that's hard to take. as an actor. I mean, if you're basically a good actor and, you know, good at your job. And there are

many, many of us. Yes. But then there's the fact that you are who you are as a human being, as a man in which you put off, which is hard for you to see or acknowledge or whatever. But that part is pretty amazing. What you have to give out to the world, Harrison, is so fun to watch, so nurturing, so caring, so all of that stuff. And that's you that you bring before you even start to act. And that's pretty cool. You're a good guy. Suck on that.

We continue to eat it up. I'm eating it up. That's bullshit. But it's warm. Yeah, no. It's warm bullshit. It makes me want to roll around. in it.

He just shuts down. It's much more fun to roll. Yeah. I hate that cold bullshit. You know what? This is what I love about actors. They are generous to each other. Yeah.

They have to be. Yeah. Because you work naked. Hmm. And everybody can see. Yep. And after a while, to be comfortable, I would never call myself an act. People say, what do you do? I would say,

I'm a carpenter, because I was being paid to be a carpenter. I would never say that I was an actor until I was being paid to be an actor. It's a privilege. And it is earned in different ways. Different people have different approaches, different talents, different things to offer. I love the collaboration. Yeah. Being in a context of a literal, in a job that in which so many people supply intellectual and emotional input and generate that condition for the thing to happen. I mean, I'm just so grateful. to have this job.

It's unbelievable. The emotional exercise is what I, I think what I'm addicted to. Pretty cool tribe we belong to. Yeah, it's true. I was thinking about, you know, from Carol Kane and, you know, she did this play with John Cassavetes,

and it was Carol and Gina Rollins and, you know, Peter Falk and what's the other, Ben Gazara. Ben Gazara. They rehearsed it for three months and they put it on for three days just for friends. They all said it was the greatest experience they had. I just love being a part of this creative soup where we all get to fucking, you know, how do we make this? but oh, it would be funnier if you did, yeah, that's a good, you know, like the way people,

you know, I agree with you. Like just, just that coming together and bouncing ideas together and coming up with something, you know, like the way you came up with the end of witness, you know. But the other thing I love about it is the tension of it. You got a certain amount of time to do this. You got the clock. Yeah. And you don't get another chance, dude.

This is what we're doing today. You get it today or you don't get it at all. Yeah. Yeah. And that extra tension on the process is kind of exciting too. Yep. And when it works, man, it is such magic, man. And you just, you walk into a room where you've never been before with three other actors

and suddenly everybody knows where they should be, you know, and they're overlapping. And it's, you know, it's pretty amazing. Yeah. Magic. Yeah. We're lucky. We're very lucky. We're so goddamn lucky.

We're super lucky. Maybe we should end it around this, but let me just say how. happy I am. We got this be with Harrison together, buddy. Me too. Yeah, really lovely. Thank you. Thanks for coming in, Harrison. Thank you, my fellow Thesbians.

Yeah. Give our regards and love to Callissa. I will. Yeah. And say, I'm married for me. She's great. I really like her. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, you don't have to say that you do, too. I'm just assuming. Man, we'll go out on that edit. Wow, that was fun. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, Harrison Ford. Catch him in shrinking on Apple TV now. It was great to see you, too, Woody.

I always miss you and love when we get to do this together. Let's do it again soon. That's it for this week. Special thanks to Team Coco. If you've enjoyed this episode, send it to a loved one. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and maybe give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Why not?

If you like watching your podcasts, all our full-length episodes are on YouTube. Visit YouTube.com slash team cocoa. See you next time, where everybody knows your name. The show is produced by me, Nick Leow. Our executive producers are Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovich is our supervising producer, engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez.

Research by Alyssa Grail. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Battista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Yen, Mary Steenbergen, and John Osmore.