Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes) - Jeff Goldblum

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

There really is no other Jeff Goldblum on Earth, and his conversation with Ted Danson is out of this world! Jeff seizes his chance to talk to Ted about some things weighing on his mind including where they first met, their acting methods and influences, and their longtime mutual admiration. Bonus: Jeff’s catchy ditty about Ted.   Like watching your podcasts? Visit https://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes.

Here we go. First of all, I just have a piece of paper that I wrote these things down. Is this in case I was a terrible interviewer? I knew you weren't a terrible interviewer. I knew this was going to be fun. Welcome back to Everybody Knows Your Name. Today, I'm talking to Jeff Goldblum, somebody I have long admired and who, frankly, fascinates me. He's a jazz musician. He often gets cast as a scientist in movies like Jurassic Park, The Fly, Independence Day. It's like life imitating art because he really does have this amazing brain. Jeff and I share a manager and we're both huge supporters of Oceana. Truth is, we're not that super familiar with each other.

It's kind of weird. We see each other at our party and go, hey, hi, hey. And that's about it. Probably because I'm ridiculously shy. But I can't wait for you to hear us talk. He is one of the fastest talking, quickest brain, most creative person I've ever met. So buckle up. It's going to be quite a ride.

Let's meet him. Here's Jeff Goldblum. You are amazing. There's no other Jeff Goldblum in the world. No one even close. So I can't wait to spend this hour. Me too. Really?

Me too. I can't wait too. I have things that I wrote down. Can't wait to spend this hour. Me too. Really? Me too. I can't wait too. Should I? I have things that I wrote down. I was dreaming about you and thinking about you for the last 24 hours and more. But, well, first of all, there are things, and I mention it sometimes when we have our brief little brushes, you know, together. And I probably told you before, but maybe you remember, maybe you don't. You know, when we first ran into each other, how long I've known you,

or not really known you, but ran into you. Pre-Mary and I getting married on Martha's Vineyard and you were there. You're asking? See, you don't remember. Isn't that interesting?

I'll tell you the whole story. Did it have anything to do with Carnegie Mellon? Yep. Yep. I'll tell you the whole story from my point of view. Go. So here's what happened.

So I was born in 52 um in i i go to i want to be an actor in the worst way i'm in pittsburgh i grew up in pittsburgh i went to chata music day camp after i got the idea and around that time around 10 years old to be an actor and i got obsessed with it and they had a drama program and that's when I got the idea. But for two years summers, six-week summer sessions, in 67 and 68, I went to my mom, said, Hey, because I'd still kept it a secret that I wanted to be an actor. And I was a parent. I had some talent for painting. And she said, Hey, look, I got this.

There's a brochure here for the different things one could do for six weeks. Camp, day camp style. Yeah, yeah. Well, not day camp. Yeah, day camp style. And study over the summer. This is CMU. That's Carnegie Mellon University.

They're offering this and that. And they have painting. You want to paint? And I look and I go, oh, look at that. Drama? Hey, maybe I want to do drama. Really? She says she, anyway, I, I enrolled in the drama course and studied with, now I want to talk about all these people at length. It's going to bore

everybody else and you can cut this out, but I want to talk about, you know, Bob Parks, Bob Parks, Bob Parks and Jewel Walker and Mordecai Lawner and, and Baker Salisbury and Edith Skinner. Yeah. I want to talk about all those people because I know you know them because here's what happened. I mean, I'm in the school, I think either the first or the second summer and weren't those heady days. I was so thrilled with meeting all the people that had come there from all over the country. And this is 67, 68 and working for Bobby Kennedy and da-da-da-da. And it was so exciting. I was at that point, that's when I became, started to write every day on my shower, steamy door every morning, please God, let me be an actor. I was, I thought

it was my, you know, that was my future and I was obsessed with it. So it was maybe the first year that I went to see something with my parents or they came to visit this place that I was, you know, gushing about. And, um, and we were walking across, you know, from the, what's it called? The main meeting. Skibo. Skibo Hall. Yeah. To, uh, you know, wherever it was, the theater or something or across the fine arts building. Yeah. The fine arts, that big lawn that I loved so much. Um, and you, you who had come and apparently, you know, you were, I knew you, I knew of you because they said, Hey, see that guy that's Ted Danson. He's in the regular program and he's just kind of hanging out here. Maybe he'll take a class or two, but he's in the regular program. And at that

point, my ambition was, didn't go any further than if only I could get into this school as a student, what do you have to do? I know it's very competitive. I want to be in this school. I love this school so much. So you were one of the, one of the people who were in the school. And on that night, we're crossing one direction. I think going from Scebo Hall to the other way to the Fine Arts Center, you're coming the other way. And I said, look, look, as you're 20 yards away, hey, you see that guy? Look at that guy. That's Ted Danson. He's in the school. As we pass, as we pass, because then I'll tell you how we knew each other. As you pass, I think I went, something like that. And you went, without breaking

stride, you went, hello, Jeff, something like that. You passed, and my father turns to me, says, did you hear that voice? Did you hear that voice? Because I think at that time, one of the things we thought about actors were that they were going to be on the stage and that they were already developing or had an instrument and had a voice. And I said, yes, I know. So that was a big night for me. And the fact that you said hello to me and seemed to know my name, that was big. Tell me the truth. No exaggeration.

Hello, Jeff. That guy's Ted Danson. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Oh, that's the story. No, that's exactly the story as I remember it. Although it's lo these, you know, however many years ago. Because I must have been, if I'm born in 52, that's 60, either seven or six.

So I'm 15 or 16, and you must be 20 or 21. Yeah. Right. So here's the only time we've shared a class for a moment together. And that's when I really, I guess, got introduced to you is when I was in Mordecai Lawner's class. And where did he used to have that,

at least that summer, in that building that was marbly and in one of those rooms? That was the Fine Arts Building. Okay, so that was the Fine Arts Building. So we were having our class and he was introducing us to what he knew, his specialty, which was the Meisner technique

because he, and these improvisations, because he had studied with Meisner and then taught with him in New York at the neighborhood playoffs and then moved back to Pittsburgh. I did not know that. Yes. I did not know. Yes. And I was like, wow. Yeah. And that's when you decided not to go there, but to go to the neighborhood playoffs. That's when I, you know, fell deeply in love with you and da da da da. And then that night happened later. And then fast forward, I auditioned for that school. I was dead set.

I said, I'm not applying to any other school, and it's going to be an acting school. So I looked at Boston or whatever, the different things, and NYU or different, whatever it was. I said, no, no, I'm just applying to Carnegie Mellon University. I love that school. And we lived there and everything like that. I auditioned. I did a tear. I think I now realize, of course, I, I came to realize a terrible audition. I did two things, you know,

as an actor, you have to come to know yourself, right? I'm still doing it now. We may still be doing it now. You know, who, what am I right for? Who am I really as a, an actor? What's my, where am I at? Well, at the time I did, I picked a thing from, I guess it was Biff Loman. I guess I did that thing from Death of a Salesman because I did love that play then. I still love it now. But at the time, that guy is, that character is 35

and he's been deeply disappointed and is going through a crisis of awareness and conscience, as you know, about his father and the load of baloney that has ruined his life, really. And now he's about to become his own man. Well, I couldn't have understood that speech. I did it quite poorly, I'm sure. And then I did something else. Oh, you know what I'd seen? I'll bet, I don't know if we overlapped. I used to go, my parents used to see the Knicks at the Nixon Theater, which was a theater there. And you would get road companies of New York Broadway shows. And I saw Beyond the Fringe, which had been started by, you know, Dudley Moore and those guys and Peter.

Peter. Peter Cook. And, but this is with a replacement cast. This is with Rene Auberginois. Who was a Carnegie graduate. Really? Yeah. And I came to work with him later, you know.

But anyway, that was it. So, wait, I was telling you the fascinating thing that I'm forgetting that I was telling you. Oh, so, yeah, later I went and studied with, oh, so I auditioned for this school, only that school. And I did a horrible audition and was rejected. They turned me down. I scrambled around that summer, 1970 now, where I graduated high school. And you're only 17. And I'm 17.

I have not turned 18. 18, my birthday is October 22nd. It was going to happen in 70, that next fall. So that summer, I'm still 17. I go to New York. My mom helps me, and I meet somebody from NYU, and I meet Sandy Meisner. I arranged, oh, I'm still 17, I go to New York, my mom helps me, and then I meet somebody from NYU, and I meet Sandy Meisner, I got arranged, oh, I know how, because Mordecai Launer, I'd gotten a little bit palsy with, you know, I know he was on the faculty, and I, you know,

admired them so much, but he said, oh, yeah, and I said, what happened, how did I fail, and, you know, they didn't take, they're not taking me, and what do I do now, and he said oh yeah and i said what happened how what how how did i fail and you know they didn't take they're not taking me and what do i do now and he said well you know if you're going to new york you should meet to see if you can meet with sandy meisner at the neighborhood playhouse the greatest acting teacher well so that's what i did so it's 17 and i lied about my age because you have to be 18 to start I filled out the application as if I was a year older. We had a little talk, he and I, in this office. They took me, and I started, and I moved to New York, which all turned out for the best. On your own? Yes. I mean, Carnegie Mellon would have been great. I loved it. But moving out of the house, moving out of the city that I grew up in was a good thing for my maturity and

my development. Studying with Sandy Meisner was fantastic. And being in New York, it turned out, all turned out for the best. But how about that? But it was Mordecai Launder who helped me to do that. And it was those classes where I first saw you that still kind of were in me. So that when I started the first year, I was like, I know how to do this. I know what they're talking about. I know what Mr. Meisner here is getting at. And I kind of started to, I think, do well at it. Let me catch up with you. I left Carnegie. I was a transfer student. So I was there from 68 to 71. And then I got married in school and I left and went to New York. How many years were you there?

Three and a half because I was a transfer student. From Stanford. Correct. I read. And that's because you transferred. You really wanted a serious, whether it was a good school, good acting school. And then, but you left before you finished? Because I was a transfer student.

I was qualified to leave after three years and I was married and I was afraid to go to New York. So I decided to go before my wife, then wife, graduated from Carnegie. I went to New York and knocked on doors and I was so scared. I went to see John Hausman at Juilliard's and said, please take me in. New York's too scary. And he said, no, you'll be fine. And then I started studying. And then that following year with Robert Patterson, who was a student of Sandy Meisner, and I did the two-year Sandy Meisner program. Did you? That's what somebody said the other day. I said, oh, I don't know. He went to, I know that Mary Steenburgen was at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Right. A couple years ahead of me, I think.

No, behind you. Behind me. Because you started at 17. Yes, at 17 in 1970 and 71. And she was in there. 71, 72. I see. So just after me.

Yeah. So you and she, of course, have this reference. And you did the two years with Robert Patterson. Patterson, who just happened to be an actor who had studied with him and decided to teach. But that technique is so solid. It did something for you, really? Yes, 100%. More than anything else I've ever studied.

You did. And then I went and taught it. I taught it in order to learn more thoroughly, I thought. And that's a good way to learn something, I think, for a couple of decades whenever I wasn't working. Here in L.A.? Yes, I did. Yeah. So, I'm, you know, I have deep convictions about and a connection with that, you know, the working off of and all that.

But it's actionable. There are things to do. Yes. It's not a mind mystery. Well, if you read, I'm sure you know about the group theater and how that all started. And Meisner, you know, studying with, along with everybody else, with Strasberg, who got this, you know, Stanislavski stuff at that point in the 30s and started to study. And Harold Klerman and da-da-da-da-da. Yeah. And then Stella Adler and Sandy kind of broke off and did their own separate thing and all of that stuff.

But yes, I think Meisner's because I was exposed to Stella's stuff for a little bit and Strasberg I saw teach. And yes, I have a good feeling about what Sandy Meisner did too. It's a very doable, early foundational exercises that really do something good for you. Did you strictly do it or did you use parts of it and go off on your own when you were teaching or what? Well, of course, I think now, of course, after all this time, he always meant it, as he said, as a two-year foundational beginning

that sets you on a maybe 20-year process. To become an actor. After which you can, if you've done it continually, say, well, maybe now I have an inner life, an inner, I have a system of an actor. And then you can work out your whole life and get better and better and better. Okay. Some of the things in life are worth bragging about. Like when you finally cut ties with big wireless and switch

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Savings based on Consumer Cellular's single-line 1, 5, and 10 gigabyte data plans with unlimited talk and text compared to T-Mobile and Verizon's lowest-cost single-line post-paid unlimited talk, text, and data plans. January 2024. When I look at you as an actor and a person, some of your interviews, you, you, the musician, the jazz musician is very much in your body, no matter what you're doing. It really is. I mean, I see the improvisational, the, how you listen to people. It feels like you are doing that improvisational jazz thing because it's just in your body whether you're choosing to do it or not

it feels that way to me so do me music go back I know you credit your brother who passed away early as an inspiration he was into music of a certain kind yep yep yep

he had albums you know he brought home albums he had his own little room. He was four years older than me and loved Stan Getz and some, you know, Bossa Nova stuff, but loved the modern jazz quartet. We had a couple of those and Miles Davis.

He had Sketches of Spain as I'm now remembering, but my dad was also a jazz fan, brought home Errol Garner Records, who was a Pittsburgh piano player. Yeah, so I was exposed to music, the whole family. But yes, including Rick. And including piano? Piano.

Did you take piano lessons? I took piano lessons. Yes. So there were four of us originally, my two older brothers, then me and then my sister. And my mom, you know, they took us to the Syria Mosque. I don't know how well you got to know Pittsburgh, but we saw the Bolshoi Ballet there. And we went to, you know, the museum and they exposed us to the arts. And I took dance lessons here and there and, you know, all this stuff with Carnegie Mellon that came from them.

And they're, you know, what I now realize is our, you know, our duty to, you know, try to expose the kids to the best things possible. And it really, I owe it to them. And so they gave us music lessons. Yes. So teachers came over to the house and taught me piano from nine, ten on. My sister, who now plays piano and sings with the ukulele. My brother's Rick chose the clarinet. And he was tooting on that for a while.

Didn't really stick. My brother Lee was not really, I don't know if he did anything, but nothing really stuck with him. He was not the arty type, and that was it. So me, yes, I started to take lessons. Didn't know at first the joys of discipline. I was a good student and kind of did things easily and, you know, read. But something really where you want to get better at it, where you really need to work at it. I was a good student and kind of did things easily and, you know, read, but, but something really where you want to get better at it, where you really need to work at it. I hadn't experienced

yet piano. I was bad in these lessons. I had some facility for it, but the teacher would come once a week. I hadn't practiced and he would, he would be miserable. I would be miserable until he gave me a piece after a couple of years or two that were jazzy. And this was in my body early on and in my appetite. And I was like, oh, I want to sit now and just learn. I'll sit as long as it takes to learn to play that. That's how that happened. So, yeah. So I started to play piano.

And then around that same time, around 10, I did those. I got it in my head. I wanted to be an actor because my dad said, if you find something you love to do, that's a career, you know, guide. And I realized, geez, I better figure out a way to support myself. And I need a career. I need a profession of some kind. So it was that. And, but piano was always, I loved it, but I never thought I'm going to be a piano player, but all along, it was a parallel, separate track of passion that I kept doing. And in fact, in Pittsburgh, as I've told this story a few times, I would call places kind of secretly cocktail lounges. And I got a couple of jobs playing piano.

While you were still in Pittsburgh. While I was still in Pittsburgh, just for fun. And that's kind of what's developed all these many years. And now I've made, we're about to come out with our fourth album on Decca and Verve. Tell me the name. Sorry. It's the Mildred Schnitzer Orchestra. The Schnitzer. Yes. Tell me about Mildred Schnitzer. About 30 years ago, Mildred Schnitzer was the name of a woman who was friends with my mother, and she lived to be 103 or 104, and she'd come over. She was an interesting gal, but we'd already started to play under the radar about 30 years ago. Peter Weller started it, and we started to play around, radar about 30 years ago. Peter Weller started it and we started to play around and he knew some places. We started to play out and about just for fun, still just

for fun, not with any careerist ambition. And then it got better. People did pay attention to us. And we were invited to go to the Playboy Jazz Festival and play at Hollywood Bowl, you know, in the first 10 years or something like that. And they said, well, you know, we got to put you in the program. Don't you have a name? And in a day I said, Mildred Schnitzer. That's a funny name. Maybe we'll be the Mildred Schnitzer Orchestra. And that's where we still are.

And how many people are you? You know, it's been a, you know, it's been a growing and a sort of changing thing. But now for the last, the guys I'm with now, mostly the last 10 years have been still with me all that time. About like five of us. We have a singer. But, you know, we've gotten great singers to sing half of the songs on our albums and half of the things when we do it live. Miley Cyrus and Fiona Apple and really great people.

Greg Reporter and really great people. And on this next album, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but we've got a few singers that are fantastic. And so, you know, it's fun to do and we record and it's really, really fun. But it came from and still remains this sort of parallel, you know, fun way of using myself. But as you say, it is an overlapping craft endeavor. And as I was always a little bit improvisational and jazzy, that Meisner stuff suited me because I thought, hey, this is a little bit like

you got to listen and it's a conversation and there are things that overlap, you know, as you know. Yeah. I love your brain, man. I love your brain because music, yeah, my turn still. Music is to me like you're into the stars.

You're into a different universe. You're into math. You're into all these things. And you are, I'm jumping all over the place, but you and Ed Begley Jr. were great buddies. And he, to me, has your similar like brain. I don't know if he's got the music. He's a witty. I was just with him the other day at Art's Deli.

We had breakfast together. You're two of the smartest people I've ever met. You have that similar brain. Well, he is sharp as a tack and funny, hilarious, and the best guy in the world, you know. Okay, you can ask me something. I want to ask you something. Well, music.

So you say you like music. I wonder how you use it in your... So, of course, with the Meisner thing, we don't want to get too inside baseball, but you must have come upon this emotional preparation stuff and how to stimulate yourself and make yourself alive. And maybe you use music sometimes, as I've experimented with,

and still make use of here and there. Does music have anything to do with your acting? Do you ever make use of it so-called in one way or another? I have the strangest relationship to music, which is as soon as I hear music, literally, pretty much any, but mostly good music, I

immediately go into a fantasy. I immediately go someplace else. So I cannot tell you a Beatles lyric, but I know every, I can say, yes, I heard that. And I know where,

but I, I leave, I leave when I hear music in this wonderful way, but I'm very ignorant until Mary, my wife. Yes. We did a movie together. Yes.

That's right. That's next. I'll tell you. But she started, she's now a songwriter. She works for Universal. She has gotten awards. Keith told me this story.

Well, in this strange neurological event. Right? Yeah, yeah, okay. You'll tell me about that. Okay. But she made me start to listen to lyrics again. So to answer your question,

I don't know what my acting thing is. It's everything in the kitchen sink. It's Meisner. It's letting the words, if they're good words, letting the words play on me like a musical instrument. And if I do it enough and hear it enough, it starts to inform me about the character, the music of the word. That's so interesting. So interesting. Then, of course, there's improvisation, as I told my students to, and I've come to know myself more clearly. Sometimes you're doing a play or sometimes in a movie, you need to be, I think the Coen brothers work this, is very meticulous about wanting you to do the lines and the pauses too. So, you have to be able to do that and make it seem as if you're making it up spontaneously.

But there's also the chance to do some of that Meisner-esque, if you use it correctly, improvisation and curb your enthusiasm. You know what I did? I'm actually known, let me just throw this in, keep your thought yeah as the improvisational killer killer yeah i killed improvisations on the set because i get scared i get so when it's zinging around the the improvisation it's like when my sister chased me up the stairs and even though i was ahead of her i'd stop and scream you know i get panicky and quit and i bail on the improvisation i'm terrible really even though my even though you took that monster thing you took with mordecai loner but you're so good on i i can't believe it entirely that's different i have one role on that which is to push him into a corner and

make him a nutty so here here we go first of all i just have a piece of paper that i wrote these things just in case i was a terrible interviewer i know i knew you weren't a terrible interviewer and make them nutty. So here we go. First of all, I just have a piece of paper that I wrote these things down. Is this in case I was a terrible interviewer you brought to us? I knew you weren't a terrible interviewer. I knew this was going to be fun anyway,

but I thought, I don't want to do what I described before, which is leave and go, oh no, why didn't I ask him about this? Look, I didn't even, now that I look him up,

I forgot about that. That's what I'm talking about. So, but this just occurred to me. I'm sure all these jokes have been made, but you're a dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing machine. Have nobody ever said that to you? No, I got tiny dancing, man. How's that go?

I don't know. It was something Zach Galifianakis got me into. Hey, by the way, Mr. Danson is wearing sandals right now. And sometimes I have my own feelings about that, but with feet as lovely as yours. into uh hey by the way mr danson is wearing sandals right now and sometimes i'm i have my own feelings about that but with feet as lovely as yours an adult man like you i i'd show them off too in public okay now i know you're full of shit jeff because i got some of the ugliest feet you've ever seen what are you talking about yeah you didn't really look well how do you care for your your toenails may i ask these days well that, there's the answer. I don't.

Okay. Well, we'll concentrate on that later. Dancing in the dark. Yeah. Anyway. Hey, so your name is Edward Bridge Dancing III. Did you guys know that? Edwards, because you're the third Edward, huh?

Yeah. And your dad was also Bridge. Yeah. Where's that come from a great bridge came from way back way back uh yeah and thank god i had a daughter so i didn't have to wrestle with you know calling her edwina or something uh yeah i had i had a yeah i had a kate weena hey speaking of weena do you know uh who plays who plays who plays the character of Weena? Her name is, the character's name is Weena in The Time Machine.

Is that Mimou? Mimou. That's exactly right. Thank you. And of course, the lead character, which you. Taylor, Ron. It was Ron Taylor. Yeah. That's right.

Really wonderful actor, by the way. I don't know. He was good. Well, I like the birds. I like him in that. And I like the birds too. I want to see the birds. I want to show my kids the birds.

You must have all sorts of answers to what do you show your kids when? What movies do you show them when of yours, and then, of course, not yours, and what are they ready for when? It's probably a case by case. Mary has a harder problem with that. Why?

Step Brothers is one of her iconic moments in film. She's so spectacular. Oh, you know, Step Brothers is one of her kind of iconic moments in film. She's so spectacular. Oh, you just reminded me. I love her in Step Brothers. I love that movie, but you know what also I love?

Clifford. Clifford. I love the movie Clifford. We had Marty here, and oh my God. And she's so great in that. Yeah, they were digging trenches for him to walk.

I know. For anybody who doesn't know that movie, I recommend 10 Goldblum's out of a possible. It's a cult hit. People love it. Oh, it's great.

And Charles Grodin, who is one of my favorite movies, which is Heartbreak Kid. Heartbreak Kid. You like Heartbreak Kid? Midnight Run. He was spectacular. Midnight Run with De Niro.

Midnight Run, fantastic. But have you ever seen his Heartbreak Kid? Yeah. You know who directed that, of course, is Elaine May. Elaine May. Yeah, I love that.

And it's a simple shepherd. By the way, my mind is such that you say the name and I say two seconds after you'd like the kid in school who raises his hand when he doesn't know the answer. That's me. Anyway, you got fast brain. Well, you look fantastic. Well, I like to play that movie game, you know, where one thing leads to another, but we're kind of playing it inadvertently here and there.

We'll probably not get to, but later I want to talk to you about Robert Parks. He was great. And he had that yoga class in 67, 68. You must have been part of his classes. That's when yoga was first introduced in America, really, in that way that it was. To help you, your instrument relax. And for actors, at least in that school, it was a little overlapping. So we would breathe and relax and do the sponge and, you know, et cetera, et cetera. Jewel Walker was one of my favorites.

I loved Jewel Walker. I had a little flair for pantomime, for mime, before it fell on hard times. Everyone hates mime. I don't know how that happens. Tootsie, you know, he does that thing, and they're at malls and stuff. Everybody hates it now. But I saw Marcel Marceau live on stage. Me too.

Me too. And Jewel Walker recommended that we see Children of Paradise, Les Enfants de Paradis, and, you know, Jean-Louis Barreau. It's just the most fantastic actor and practitioner of mime. Time for me to ask, how many languages in which are they that you speak, English and what else? Me? Nothing.

Only English. No, no, You speak three languages. I certainly do not. No. When I say another word, I say it with the dialect, which is probably wrong and insulting. How many dialects do you speak? Also none. But my kids, I have a seven and eight-year-old and a seven and nine-year-old, two boys.

They speak French and they speak Italian and they speak English. I know. I know. It's incredible. Do you know where that mistake came from? Our manager, Keith Addis, who does believe you speak three languages. So don't disappoint him. Well, that's his, I'm sure, knee-jerk way of puffing up our resume at any opportunity. Oh, Ted? Yes, yes. He rides horses like the wind. Like the wind. That's my phrase. Yes. Like the wind. Hey, how about that theater my phrase. Yes, like the wind.

Hey, how about that theater? You know, I loved that theater so much. That's one of the things I fell in love with, that whole campus and that theater. And how about backstage where the classes, that's why I wanted to be Ted Danson or one of the people in the regular school. They'd painted their names way up high backstage in the wings.

Do you remember that? No one painted my name, Jeff. Really? No. No one painted my name, Jeff. Really? No. No one painted my name because I was never there. But the one name I remember that was recognizable because even people who are at CMU mostly went on to do nothing, as we know.

But George Pappard's name was there. George Pappard. My first day looking for an apartment to rent, I'm walking down Baum Boulevard and knocking on doors and some lady opens and I said, I'm a student at Carnegie, freshman, and I'm looking for a place to live. She says, you remind me of a young George Pappard. And I just walked down the street, you know, going, oh my God, I'm going to make it. Well, I mean, that's one of the things, not only your voice, but of course, at age 20 or 21, you were astoundingly handsome. Oh, you know what I forgot to do?

I still am, Jeff. And you still are. Yeah, that's crazy. That's what I mean. That's crazy. No, but you absolutely are. Yeah, but you were a supermodel. You were, you know, you have, you still have, I mean, hey, for people our age, I mean, I'm sure you're approached all the time. You're like those couple of people that you, you know, if you Google them, you know, are still the main, you know. Oh, huge. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's true. Baker Salisbury, Mordecai, well, there you go. There you go, George Rapport. You know, that year, do you remember on the radio,

I was so taken with, I played it over and over again, I got a 45 of it. My cherie amour. You know, that year, do you remember on the radio? I was so taken with it. I played it over and over again. I got a 45 of it. My Cherie Amore. It came out that those summers. I was so deeply in love. Hey, you were on Laverne and Shirley. I was. So were you. Yeah, I was too. I made up with

made out with Penny Marshall. I made out with Penny Marshall. Oh, the little tramp. Really? Oh, no. Yes, she was in this episode. One episode, with Penny Marshall. Oh, the little tramp. Really? Oh, no. Yes, she was in this episode. One episode, she was like, hey, we like guys with suits. So I was a guy with suits.

She picked me up and we had a date and we came home and we were making out, making out. I was the fireman that we were going to get married and then I got burned up or something bad.

But we made out for a while. Hey, so you and I are, we really have a connection. Hey, so you and I are, we really have a connection. Hey, now body heat. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We crisscrossed there a little bit. We a little bit crisscrossed.

Do you know, I don't know what part of the elephant you felt on that and if our stories coincide, but here's what happened. So his next movie is The Big Chill. I got cast in that. Yes, huge. Right.

Right. You were fantastic in Body Heat. Thank you. How about that? All the right things. Dancing. Literally everything that we, you could take the script

that we auditioned with, go to the movie right now and conduct it like a symphony. There's nothing on the page that did not make it. In Body Heat. In Body Heat. How about that?

William Hurt, of course, who we knew. And he was in Big Chill. And of course, Kathleen Turner. Richard Crenna. How about, did you have any, you know? No, I later became good friends with him, but no. Oh, well, I was on the TV when we were kids. It was Real McCoys. I used to watch Real McCoys all the time. Hey, little Luke. He was little Luke. Sand Pebbles. Sand Pebbles. good friends with them but no oh yeah well i was on on the tv when we were kids was real mccoys i

used to watch the real cause all the time hey little luke he was a little sand pebbles sand pebbles remember that movie he was in the sand problems oh my parents took us to see the first run of that with liz taylor and burton no no different sand pebbles wait steve mcqueen not sand piper not the same oh that's the same i'm talking about i'm thinking about the sand piper you're right. What was Sand Pebbles? Sand Pebbles was Steve McQueen and Richard Crenna. And it was China in the turn of the centuries.

The Boxer Rebellion. I've never seen that. But have you ever seen Sandpiper? That's what we went to see. I think I did. And then I came to later know Liz Taylor. Did you ever meet Liz Taylor? I did because of Roddy McDowell. Knowing Mary. We have to do Roddy McDowell. I knew Roddy McDowell. He came over to our house where I still am and took some pictures of me.

And of course, he was close with Liz Taylor, with everybody, and was in National Velvet with Liz Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor. So you knew Elizabeth. Did you ever go to his dinners, the round table dinners? He'd have Mary. They became great friends. When Mary divorced, she said, whenever you come down to LA, stay with me. So she did.

And he'd have these dinners with every movie star from every age and writer and producers. It was like an oral history of, you know. Fascinating. I got to sit next to, you know, Bacall, you know, I got to hug Gregory Peck all because of Roddy McDowell. I love that so much. I mean, Roddy McDowell must have made himself into that kind of person. You don't just get handed that he must have said, I'm going to meet everybody. I'm going to.

And be great friends. He was a true friend for so many people. Right. Okay. I need to take over here, this podcast, because this is out of control. You must. We were done anyway. The only thing left, and now this is, you can keep this for the,

I can, I'd like your wedding. Speaking of your engagement, I was at, yes, you and Martha's Vineyard at our wedding. That's right.

With the, with the, with the president, president Bill and, Bill and Chelsea was there. He came over to me at one point. Oh, I love this.

It was just me and, and, and, and he came up with his arm around Chelsea and said, Jeff Goldblum, I don't do an impression of you. I've loved everything you've done, but I never missed an episode of 10 Speed and Brown Shoes. That's sorry. I wanted to bring that up.

That's when I saw you first. You were amazing. Oh, thank you. Thank you. But that's 1980, right? But you were like full-blown, interesting, fascinating star. You really were. A were amazing. Oh, thank you. Thank you. But that's 1980, right? But you were like full-blown, interesting, fascinating star. You really were. A little bit. I'll tell you, I've tried to get better and I look at older things and I go, I'd do it differently now.

I could do it a little better now. Nevertheless, it was great. Well, Ben Vereen, of course. Robert Weber was my, in the pilot episode, was my father-in-law, prospective father-in-law, and then all hell breaks loose, but he was in 12 Angry Men, which we just showed the kids. You must know 12. That's an amazing. Amazing. And maybe they're too young for it, but I think they got a kick out of it. No, never too soon.

Well, seven and nine. Charlie Ocean is his middle name. That's how much I care about the ocean and Oceana. We named Charlie Ocean, Goldblum. And then River Joe is our second one. What a wonderful, wonderful name. We ran out of water names, so we didn't have any more.

If we'd had another one, the only thing I could think of was Brackish Puddle. Brackish Puddle, Goldblum. But he wouldn't have fared well with the other two. No more kids. Okay, that's enough jokes. No, no, my turn. I'm looking at your eyebrows. You do manicure those things.

Let me get a better look at them. I have to. You know why? Because they're like Carl Betts. No, they go straight down and stab my cheeks if I don't. Those are good eyebrows. And you do a lovely job. I do.

Can you see where I cut my nose this morning, though? Wait a minute. Because I do something inside the nose. What do you do? Well, scissors. And it was a mistake because I literally, right before I came here. I use scissors. Sometimes something bad happens, but I'm very good with the scissors. I don't like those things that go weed whacker, you know? Yeah. Nope. No. Okay. My turn. Go. All right. You have two amazing things

according to the trailers that I watch because there's nothing else to watch right now. Chaos. Please talk to me about Chaos. It looks astounding. I will. You are so sweet to ask. Yes, people, let me, I'd like to alert people far and wide, because I like it. I've seen all eight episodes.

It's just eight episodes on Netflix. It's called Chaos, spelled K-A-O-S. It's the Greek mythological characters, some of them in a modern setting, in a kind of daring dark variation. Do we ever see you in the mythical Olympic Zeus? Yes, Mount Olympia, our version of Mount Olympus, yes. Yes, and we see the underworld. David Thewlis plays my brother Hades in charge of the underworld.

And we see Prometheus with his liver getting chewed up on a cliff. My friend, but my prisoner, played by Stephen Delane. And my wife is played by the great Janet McTeer. She's my wife and also my sister. And then you come down to present day. You're always present day. Our Mount Olympus is present day, kind of indeterminately 80s. I'm wearing track suits that look like they're from the 80s.

Yeah, we're sort of in modern times, though. And that's where in our parallel universe or wherever it exists is Mount Olympus and Earth and the underworld. It looked amazing, Jeff. It really, really did. I like it. I'm happy to be in it. Charlie Covell created it, who's done other things that you'll know.

But yeah, the acting is, you know, everybody else is acting. I try to keep up, but everybody's very lovely. And I think they did a good job with it. Yeah. Take a look at it. You may get a kick out of it. I plan to.

I'm not doing this to you. The trailer is unbelievable. It's a good trailer. And you really, really want to see it. Yeah, yeah. What music did they surprise me with that trailer? They're a nice shot. There's some nice shots of me that I like. And then that,

this bitter earth. I like that song that I only discovered recently. It's good. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You have another huge. So that's coming out August 29th.

That comes out, by the way, all eight episodes. Yeah, I'm going to, as I was telling you, I'm doing a bunch of publicity, you know, you know, Yeah, I'm going to, as I was telling you, I'm doing a bunch of publicity, you know. You know, these days, they've sent me out. They're sending me out to New York and Amsterdam and London and, yeah, like that.

Fantastic. Yeah. Okay. Then you have another huge thing coming out. Yeah. Wicked. Well, yeah. And that looks really good, too.

That's a nice trailer. Yeah. I loved doing it. Do you know that show by any chance? No, I'm sorry. I don't. Do you keep up with the theater? I know what it is, but I mean.

Yeah. Do you keep up? I mean, it's been here and all over the world. But do you go to New York, by the way, and see a crop here or there? Mary just got commissioned to do a play musical for the Atlantic Theater, which I'm sure you know. Yes, David Mamet. Yeah. And so we've been going all the time to watch

everything. Fantastic. What musical is she going to do? She sings like a bird. No, no. She's just writing. I'm not saying no to the singing like a bird. Of course she's a writer. This is just writing the music with her. Just writing the music.

So that's wonderful. And so you and David Mamet, are you in cahoots with him? Is he involved at all? No, no. Oh, okay. Because he's interested. I did Speed the Plow at the Old Vic some time ago, which I enjoyed. But so you've seen this crop currently.

Yes, amazing. Interesting. You know, we'll talk all about that. But what was I going to say? Wait a minute. Hell's Kitchen blew me away. Really? These days?

Hell's kitchen is is i know where it is but it's alicia's keys story i didn't know that and it's a lot of her library and music and then about three or four songs who were written for it but just so powerful anyway i want to see that i want to see that talk to me about wicked yes wicked yeah if you haven't seen it have you guys seen Wicked? It's a stage play. It's been widely seen for the last 20 years. Stephen Schwartz, you're on Godspell

and many other things. I have a Godspell story, but go on. You do? Yes. I do too. We should exchange. But he did Prince of Egypt. Anyway, he did. Now everybody knows him along with everything else from this successful show, Wicked, which tells the story of the witches in The Wizard of Oz

from the movie that we know and from a book that was written about it originally. And now there's this other book called Wicked that tells the story from another angle, almost like, you know, Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Right. My favorite. I love that movie. I've seen that recently again, too, but I saw

it first run when it came out. But you see it and you see the truth is very different from another angle. That's what this is. And the Wicked Witch is not wicked at all, really. She has a complicated, interesting character and her relationship with the Good Witch is interesting. The people who have seen this will know

what I'm talking about. And the music that brings us to life is delightful and in our movie john m chu who did in the heights who made a musical movie that i love out of the stage play very successfully i think and then he did crazy rich asians and he's a great guy he directed it and it looks just spectacular yeah it, it's really great. You know, they've put a lot into it. And Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are the witches. Michelle Yeoh is in it. Jonathan Bailey is in it.

Is it okay to say who you play? I play the Wizard of Oz. Yes, you do. Yes, yes. I play the Wizard of Oz. How about that? That's amazing. I can't wait for both of them.

You would have been great as the Wizard of Oz. How's your singing? It's non-existent. Don't even ask me that. We're going to edit whatever you say about me singing. Oh, Jeff. Well, you. We're still probably going to just see each other at parties and go, hey, hey.

We should have dinner once a week now. But the hug will be different this time. The hug will be different. Much different. I hope it doesn't cross any lines on your part. I'm more worried about you than me. Yeah, well, you should be. Yes.

I am so admiring of you. I love your brain. And you know what? I love your creativity. You are a bundle of creativity. Everything we've been talking and speed talking, by the way. Yeah. What do you do to relax?

I apologize for that. No. Relax? Well. Marijuana was probably never your drug, right? No. I like getting stupid, but probably not. Did you smoke a little weed?

Yeah, I did. Here and there? Yeah. Yeah, you know, I did that for, you know, experimentally for a couple of months, you know, back then. My mom used to. Must have slowed you down too much. Yeah. It was.

Well, it sort of makes me wild. Once, you know, once every two years, I go... And I go wild. It makes me wild in ways I can't even tell. I can't tell.

So I don't do it. Well, your brain needs no stimulants. It doesn't. I really don't. You are astounded. No, this is me. I had a little...

You see, I'm sipping on a little coffee, but mostly no caffeine. I'm just... If I get a nice night's sleep, I'm in good shape. And then a little, I don't mind a nap, you know, but that's my intoxicant of choice, you know. But wait a minute. So, oh yeah, I was going to tell you my mom used to grow weed in Pittsburgh. You know, she wanted to be part of the younger, the new freedoms. Well done, your mom. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, yeah. She was growing in our backyard.

But no, I never did that much. But how did you start that? What did you say? Your brain and how wonderful it is and how fast it is. Oh, I know. What do I do to relax? Yeah. That's what you said. Yeah.

See, I dropped mental breadcrumbs, even though I'm tangential. I've heard you say that. I love that. I do. Yeah. I know where I've come from. Let me see. Sometimes.

So to relax, well, I don't know. You probably relax with music. It probably puts you in a... Well, I play every day. I'm now disciplined. I mean, I told you that story at the beginning of this, saying I was disciplined. I then learned, after I studied with Sandy Meisner,

and after I learned how to teach it, and et cetera, et cetera, through many things, I learned how to do my homework. And what kind of preparation put you in, you know, the best place and what kind of, how hard to work and how conscientiously and how you need to work. And I'm still discovering it and learning about it, but I'm interested in discipline and now trying to expose my kids to it. I mean, at what age can they be expected to buckle down, really? You know, they do what they do, the things that they're interested in. I follow their curiosity, of course. But some other things, like they're taking piano lessons, in fact. And they're doing well, and they like it.

But sometimes they need a little, you know, encouragement and firm, come on. Have they seen you perform? They must have. Yeah, yes, they've seen that. They've seen a couple of things. I don't know what it means to them or what's going to become of them, but we're trying to expose them to all good things. They seem to be flourishing in one way or another.

But this one area, I like to, you know, we're experimenting with how much to kind of, you know, try to get them to, you know, do some homework. You know, we try to get them, if they have school homework, they got to do that, right? Yeah, yeah. Unless they're not in one of these programs that's very, you know, forgiving of that. They have some things that they got to do, you know, that they may not want to do.

And she was my wife. Emily was in the Olympics. You know, she was a… Can you just tell me about that a little bit? Yeah, she's still a world-class athlete. And she was in, you know, from when she was 11, speaking of our stories, when she was, and I still have to hear more about yours, but I told you about me a little bit. But she was around that same age, 11 or something. She was growing up in Toronto.

She saw the Olympics, I think, on TV. And she went, that's it. That's what I must do. And her mom's a regular mom. She had no, nobody around who was doing anything like that. And, um,

and she started to study, follow her sister or older sister to ballet class and this and that. And then lo and behold, this Bulgarian coach who was kind of high up in the, you know, in the, uh, solar system of that kind of thing, saw her and saw other kids there and went,

mm-hmm, mm- went, you've got the right structure there. And if you have this steely will, like it seems you do, she might be okay for me. And I want to take her to Russia like half the year from now till she's in for the next seven years. Oh, you're kidding. And her mom went, no, no, no, certainly not. No, no, my God. And at that point, she went on a hunger strike and went to Emily and she said, I have to do that. I'm going to do that. I want to do that. And she did.

And it cost a little money and her mom got a couple other jobs to send her there. But she went, she studied. And after... Gymnastics. Yep, yep. Rhythmic gymnastics, you know, where you're very flexible and you do all that dancing and stuff on the hoop, the ball and the, and the ball and the, and the clubs and the, uh, ribbon and, uh, did all those routines. And, um, she was the, when she was 16 was the Pan-American champion. She was the best rhythmic gymnast in all of North America, Canada, Mexico. And then she went to the Olympics and, you know, and did that. And then she learned aerial Cirque du Soleil kind of things.

And now she does, she dances behind all sorts of people, you know, Taylor Swift, da, da, da. And does body doubling in movies. She was Emma Stone's body double in La La Land when they were dancing outside the, you know. Wonderful movie. The thing. Wow. So she's an amazing. She's amazing.

And she teaches and she's still an athlete. She's amazing, and she teaches, and she's still an athlete, and a kind of... It really took... It didn't break her, and she didn't kind of... And her, this is none of my business kind of question, and if she was here,

I would ask her this, but is her body... Did her body get punished by the early discipline or no? That's what I was telling you. No, not her body and her psychology. She was... It was a, you know, Eastern European Bulgarian, as you can imagine with all the, you know, abuse that came with that. Nope. Her body, even though she was crying and it was,

you know, to make her feet do that, make her body do that. It took blood, sweat and tear, plenty of tears, but she liked it. She wanted to do it, and now she still does it, loves to work out every day, loves her body. Her body serves her. She teaches how to use the body in order to uplift your entire system and, you know, work out. And her psychology is just the right balance of fun and playfulness and normality and toughness. How did you guys meet? And athleticism. I mean, in raising kids, you know, the fact that she's that kind of athlete in every way kind of, I think, helps. We met at the gym.

I work out, and I have my own little disciplined regime. Nothing like hers ever was. And her sister had her first child that morning. So like sliding doors style, she wouldn't have been in that early. I usually go in early. I saw her from across the crowded room and she was doing, not to be showing off, but she was doing some things that I could tell. And I'm an admirer of, you know,

dancers and I danced a little myself and people who are athletes. And so I, you know, immediately, you know, locked onto her vision and, uh, and we were toddled over to her and we struck up a conversation. That was it. Well done. Well done. Yeah. Something like that. I said, what, what are you doing? What, what? What are you doing? What do you do? You know, that kind of thing. That's how it started. I love that you're doing all of this. I can't believe, speaking of connection and the will to go on and your life force, I mean,

you're still working like crazy in every way, but better than ever. And you're doing this. I love this. I love this because instead of being the wallflower shy person asshole that I can be around you

I now can go Jeff tell me all about yourself. Let's talk and it's such a privilege to sit down and do that. I've loved this. I have too.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Travel safely. I will thank you. Be safe here. I'll see you soon. That's Jeff Goldblum for you. I am so grateful that we got to sit down together. It was a great

conversation. That's our show for this week. Thanks for listening. Hello to Woody, wherever you are. I miss you. And special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you like this episode, be sure and tell a friend and subscribe on your podcast app of choice

and get new episodes as soon as they drop. Leave us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you can spare a second, it actually makes a big difference. So thank you. We appreciate you. And we'll see you right back here next week, where everybody knows your name. Take care. You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, Sometimes.

The show is produced by me, Nick Liao. Executive producers are Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovich is our supervising producer. Our senior producer is Matt Apodaca. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Batista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Gann, Mary Steenburgen, and John Osborne.

Special thanks to Willie Navarie. We'll have more for you next time, where everybody knows your name. Consumer Cellular offers the same fast, reliable, nationwide coverage without the big wireless cost. Freedom calls. Sign up with Consumer Cellular at consumercellular.com slash TED50 and use promo code TED50 to save $50. Terms and conditions apply.