Will Cain Country - Revisiting Will's Uplifting Conversation With Kelsey Grammer

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

While Will is off this week, 'Will Cain Country' features a special interview from the vault with Emmy-winning actor and director Kelsey Grammer, centered on his Fox Nation special 'Blood on the Bridge: The Battle of Lexington and Concord.' In this intimate conversation, Grammer reflects on his deep personal connection to American history, including his grandfather’s World War II service and his own regrets over not serving in the military. He and Will explore why the founding of America still matters, not just politically, but spiritually, and how retelling those stories may be our last defense against cultural amnesia. Grammer speaks passionately about the courage of the Minutemen, the brilliance of the Founders, and the sacred responsibility of remembering who we are.  Subscribe to 'Will Cain Country' on YouTube here: Watch Will Cain Country! Follow Will on X: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Exclusively on FanDuel Casino. Where winning is undefeated. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling problem? Call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. Please play responsibly. This is Will Kane Country and I'm off this week, but I thought we'd dive into the vault and revisit a conversation I had with Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey is hosting a Fox Nation special, Blood on the Bridge, the Battle of Lexington and

Concord. He's a big student of the American Revolution and the history of the United States of America. He got emotional as we talked about this great country. Here is Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey Grammer, actor, comedian, director, also the host of Fox Nation's brand new series, Blood on the Bridge, the Battle of Lexington and Concord. It's up April 28. Kelsey, great to see you. Likewise. Thanks, Will. Like I said earlier, I said congratulations on everything. You're doing some great work. Well, thank you so much. I mean, you find yourself in surreal places in life.

One of them is interviewing Kelsey Grammer, who you've watched for most of your life. One thing I think that someone who maybe hasn't been as plugged into some of your more recent work, especially that with Fox, would know is how interested you are, how captivated you might be by American history. Whether or not it's been sitcoms or any of the other

projects you've done throughout your life that have made you so well known, what is it that grabs you about history? I suppose what got me started down the road of it was my respect for my granddad who raised me but he served in World War II, Wadakone All, he was there for 28 months. I had to do duty and then we would go to Fort Monmouth when I was a boy to shop and he was a retired colonel at that time. I just had this great sense of reference for the people

that served the country and thought, understanding what had happened and why we existed, why America was as important as it is, and why it remains in my mind as important as it is, comes from my sense of history and why my connection to these guys. I mean, for instance, I'm sitting here in my office kind of I got to this is a book written by George Washington George Washington's writings I mean I said I leave through

that all the time my reference for the founding fathers and for their their idealism and for their focus on the individual is what has carried me into an interest for history but also that sense of identifying with what they did, the personal sacrifice that went into making up the fact that we exist is something that I want to revere and celebrate and keep in people's minds, especially with how things have been going lately, you know, the narrative,

and I don't like using the word narrative because everybody else uses it. But what has happened in terms of our traditional understanding of our history has been sort of warped into another kind of, into an overlay of political kind of influence and change has overridden it. And I think if you don't know who you are, you're easier to control. And I think we have to help people understand

who they are, where they came from, the stuff that we're made of. And the stuff that we're made of is pretty extraordinary. What do you think is so extraordinary? To listen to you talk about not just America, but the founding fathers of America, it reminds me of the way I feel as well, when you have a sense of history,

which probably for me began to be something more than emotional, more than simply reverence. When I went to law school and I began to understand the unique nature of the rights that were enshrined by those founding fathers, unique genius and wisdom that they displayed in creating this experiment, which I think stands out from the rest of humanity. For you, what is it that you have this understanding

and listening to you talk about the founding fathers that sets apart us here in America? It wasn't the arrogance of thinking we were individual, but the insistence that the individual be the defining factor of our government. And of course, I think that principle has been so woefully abandoned in the past 50 years or so. But I know that there's always hope and we always pull it back.

I think that's what's great about it And I do think there is a I think there is a spiritual component. I think there is God but what I What I continue to abide by in my understanding of it is that The living sort of breathing experiment that is the United States of America is a daily effort, is a daily involvement and a daily commitment from everybody that's in the country

to really remember how important it is to celebrate that spirit of freedom, that fight for freedom, that willingness to do the right thing. It's characterized by people who are willing to do the right thing. It's characterized by people who are willing to do the right thing all the time. And that has been, that's what keeps me going, keeps me on it. And that, and I don't like, I respect your, I've gone to law school, I never went to law school.

I've had a good deal of time dealing with lawyers. I've had a good deal of time dealing with lawyers. I'm not so sure how high up on the rung they are for me. But I've certainly met some that merit respect and some real honor. And I know that that profession is still capable of producing people like that. I'm not here to defend the profession, but I would defend the education and the education did begin the process of giving me a great understanding of rights and the enshrined documents, the documents that enshrined those rights, both the

declaration, but most notably the constitution of the United States. But for me, Kelsey, that meant that most of my exposure, and then therefore my attraction to what made us unique, was the thinkers of the time. It was a bit of the Jeffersons and the Madisons and the Hamiltons that envisioned the experiments of America. In this story, in this series you have at Fox Nation, Blood on the Bridge, you actually talk about, though, the revolutionaries, the men of action, not just the men of ideas

that you focus in as you host this series on guys like Samuel Adams. What did you, I wanna talk a little bit about the history and what you've learned and what you share in this series, but let's talk a bit about the men, like just the men involved in this unique moment in history. Right. I don't know what it was that kind of harvested them

and brought them together in this moment of crisis or even just a dedication. They put the idea of human freedom above their individual rights. They were willing to sacrifice their lives for it. I don't know where that came from. That may be, I don't think it's specifically American, I think it's been part of what we're given. I think it's biblical. I mean, I think

people are dedicated to the idea that freedom is God's greatest gift to us. And that was enshrined in our constitution, certainly, and in our Declaration of Independence, which I think, you know, I'd look on the Declaration as the founding document of the country, basically. But this battle took place before that, which is fascinating. And so the conversation about freedom and what you're willing to do for it was already in their minds. And the idea that the Minutemen existed was, I think that was John Hancock, who donated a great deal of his personal wealth

to this idea that we should be ready to deploy, and I guess that's where a lot of our Second Amendment stuff comes from. He knew that we had to be ready to fight, and he put that into motion. And of course then the British got wind of this, and then thought, well, we're gonna go stop this, and ran into a bunch of ragtag guys

who got the warning from Paul Revere and several other writers at the same time that the British were coming to basically take their weapons and take their ammunition. And they said, no, you're not. And of course they got kind of slaughtered at first, but I think it was, I forget the exact number of British regulars that encountered them,

but it was an overwhelming odds. But then on their way back after After counting a smaller group of men they ran into a mobilized minute man force that Overwhelmed them and then the war was on and it was that was pretty extraordinary We'll be right back on Wilcane country This is Jimmy Phelan inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas.

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Thank you for taking the quiz. Welcome back to Will Kane country. What about the driving forces, which you explore again in this series, like among the men, as I understand it, guys like Adams, Samuel Adams were huge figures in pushing this into a rebellion, a revolution, not simply an argument, not simply a cause, but to understand and to push others who might have been more reluctant towards this complete rebellion from the British. Right.

Well, that I can only chalk that up to, I don't, I only know what they did. So I can only tell by their action what kind of people they were, or at least sort of translate what kind of people they actually were. They put their lives, their souls, and their sacred honors. Freedom suddenly became the ascendant value for them in all things, and they did have some wealth and

Samuel Adams certainly had some concerns in terms of like, continue to be to continue to prosper and be treated decently. They were willing to fight for a fair shake. It's fascinating these guys. But one that was defined by the individual in his own needs, rather than I sort of a group think or a, but eventually enough people finally came along for the ride and said, we request and desire and are willing to die for freedom and for somebody else's freedom.

And I thought that was, I think that's the defining thing. Samuel Adams' devotion, you know, and the whole idea of the freedom trail. And when I was on Cheers, of course, I went and visited Boston years ago. And it, I found it remarkable that the most popular tourist attraction in Boston at the time was the Cheers bar. half a block down, you can see where the beginning of the

country started, you know,, like where the idea started to ruminate and sort of, you know, fester or or or or come together and percolate and create this movement that became a nation. I mean, they built a nation there and most people were going to see, you know, where Sam and Diana were hanging out. But I always loved the people of Boston. I had a great relationship with them. But at the same time, in a biting sense, that history, I'm gonna visit all the iron sites when I was there.

And really enjoyed that visit. And I became great friends with some of the cops on the force there. And I'm with Mayor Menino at the time, who was just a fantastic guy and that sort of civic pride that they had that they were still basically connected as one of the great birthplaces of our country and that was still sort of in there. So it was still sort of the fabric of visiting Boston.

It's a great place and the birth of a great nation. You mentioned a moment ago in very kind terms me going to law school. I'll tell you at the outset, one of my great regrets, which I probably developed a little bit later in life, but there was a seed even in my 20s, like I did not serve, I wished I served. I'm just curious in listening to you talk about your grandfather and the great reverence that you have.

Was that ever a path that you considered? Yeah, I consistently have a sense of shame. It's not a, it doesn't eat away at me, but there have been moments when I've always thought, you know, I'm around guys who have served and I've seen them, you know, what they've been through and what they've done.

I kind of sensed that, well, I should have stepped up. I should have been there. What happened to me was I wanted to be, I wanted to attend Annapolis when I was a boy. I loved sailing, I loved the sea. That's kind of where I grew up on the East Coast. And my grandfather was good friends with the Admiral of Admissions at the time and he invited him up for dinner when I was 12 years old and the Admiral told me that he said well if you keep your grades up you get a full ride to serve the country for a few years you come out as an officer and just make sure your math is in good shape and you'll get in and so I have assurances I was gonna go to Annapolis

and that was that to me was the ultimate goal. But then my grandfather died. Suddenly, you know, we didn't anticipate he was gonna die. He retired early. We moved to Florida. And a week after we got there, he died. And that just threw everything into a tailspin. I mean, I was suddenly the only man in the family.

And there were three women in the family. I had to kind of look after her and I wasn't quite prepared for all of it. And so I turned to acting, which is interesting. I found this love of literature that kind of nurtured me and got me through all that and My path then was kind of defined in a different way now we were in the midst of Vietnam at the time as well and It not being a popular war certainly had some influence on me

not that I wouldn't have gone, I mean, I went down and registered for the draft and thought, well, you know, if my number comes up, I'm going. But by then, President Nixon had begun the sort of the draw down and the leave but they get the kind of thing that didn't work out so well but still he sort of saved my life.

I didn't have to go through that but I admire the men who did and I Consistently feel like there's just a piece of my manner that isn't quite fulfilled by having not served I It's a wonderfully well put way to think about it because I feel the same just a piece of my manhood is not fulfilled Not a complete sense of shame, but a bit of regret that that's not part of my manhood is not fulfilled. Not a complete sense of shame, but a bit of regret that that's not part of my story. We'll be right back on Will Kane Country. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five minutes. We asked people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at the quiz.Fox then come back here to see how you did.

Thank you for taking the quiz. I'm Janice Dean. Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at FoxNewsPodcast.com. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. Well, I think telling some of these stories is part of that. You know, let's set aside the moral,

the moral pull to tell these stories and just make sure that people understand the nature of, as you put it, of the United States of America. But from a commercial aspect as well, Kelsey, and you brought up two elements here. There are two bodies of work that I just feel like, America, but from a commercial aspect as well, Kelsey, and you brought up two elements here. There are two bodies of work that I just feel like, while not unexplored, are still such fertile ground for storytelling, and one of those is the story of America.

I mean, yeah, you can watch John Adams on HBO, and there are series here and there that crop up, but certainly I don't think to the extent that you get a heist movie and I love a heist movie. Don't get me wrong. I love a heist movie. Just watch Den of Thieves part two the other night. But one wouldn't make the argument we don't have enough heist movies. I just think that the story of America all of it by the way is so such fertile ground. By the way so is the story of faith.

So is the story of religion. This is the animating story probably of humanity, if not humanity in its entirety, most of the globe. I'm just, what you think about that, if I were, and I'd like to think in some ways I am and you certainly are, if we were Hollywood production studios, you and I, I mean I would immediately sit down and go, look at these two fertile grounds to plow. What stories do we have about faith and about America?

I think the Hollywood community, quote unquote, is actually starting to warm to the idea of more faith-based stuff they've seen that succeed, of course, and then something like success to make something attractive. Of course, I was in Jesus' revolution a while ago, and that's where it kicked off my openness about faith. The stories in the Bible are extraordinary stories. I mean, and honestly, it is interesting

how just a sentence about one person can turn into a whole story. It extrapolates into a huge story about the human existence, about human existence, about our fight for discovery. I mean, Barabbas, for instance, there's a wonderful film about Barabbas that I'd love to remake actually about, you know, the guy that was freed instead, and then Jesus was taken in his name. He was haunted for the rest of his life by this Jesus guy. He didn't know what to do about it. And finally, he became a Christian. It's a fantastic story

about this relationship with the spiritual and sort of the balancing line between the physical world, which is earth, and the spiritual world, which was Jesus's realm and where it crossed over. But anyway, there is definitely awareness of what a great treasure trove there is of storytelling left in faith. And certainly in our American story, we've covered quite a bit of it. I mean, I've done a lot of the battles for America

and the other stuff that I've done that I will still watch once in a while and think, oh yeah, I forgot we put that in there. Oh yeah, yeah, let's go to, it's complex and huge. And I am related to General Putnam, it was the Battle of Bunker Hill. Don't fire it, you see the whites of their eyes.

That maybe has always stuck with me a little bit, you know, that, oh, I'm related to that guy. That's, which is one of the great, great sort of advice, advice, I guess, battlefield advice would be don't fight to see the whites with their eyes. I suppose that's, that makes as much sense as any of the other things are okay, you can't miss it that close. It's, I'm trying to think, there is something so wonderfully engaging about it that we've lost a connection to the value of those people and what they went through.

And to personalize that, I guess would maybe revivify a sense of how important it was, this event, our revolution, and becoming the country we became. Right. Granted, we're full of flaws, you know, we make mistakes, we stumble, we fall, but that's the beauty of it. We have a constitution and a structure

that allows us to overcome what goes wrong. And I think, you know, we sway back and forth on a sort of a pendulum think, you know, we sway back and forth on a sort of a pendulum between, you know, error and accuracy and the government has a sort of a sweet spot where it's focused and engaged in our lives and let, you know, and yet enhances liberty and leaves us alone up here, you know, and allows us to make our own decisions on things. I mean, I do think taxation is ridiculous and is excessive. We're finding out a lot of things about that now

in our current society, but the experiment in the United States of America is still underway. It's still happening, it's still unfolding. And that's what I love about it. I did hear something a while ago that I really enjoyed. I thought. We don't need to rewrite the Constitution.

We need to reread it. I think I think that's a really good idea. Yeah, that's a. How was that? We're going to fix that. I don't know. You know, honestly, just went back and reread it. You might find it's in there already.

You might be impressed. that's a really good line Alright in this series Blood on the bridge the battle of Lexington and Concord you have four parts You focused in on what happens in Boston with episode 1 the powder keg then the ride of Paul Revere The alarm system the midnight ride then the shot heard around the world and that is the focus on exactly what happened at Lexington Concord and then finally the siege of Boston. I'm curious, is there one story or one moment that either you didn't know about that was

eye opening for you or that has really stuck with you in the same way of don't shoot them till you see the whites of their eyes or we don't need to rewrite the constitution, we need to reread the constitution. Is there one moment in here that's really stuck with Kelsey Grammer? The one moment really is the understanding that they were prepared. That to me is that for reeducationally,

that was the birthplace of the second amendment that became, it was an organic necessity to understand that you needed to be able to stand up against the government that was not being fair to you and that and that's me but it's a foundational belief that is maybe just American I don't know you know the countries all over the world abandon their right to come ownership all the time I see it as a as a as a duty to actually be able to say no, to say no to an overreaching government to say we will not do that. And some of that depends upon the fact your ability to defend yourself.

Illegal search and seizure comes along with the riot. I guess that's Fourth Amendment. But the value of it and their preparedness. I mean, and then of course, when they got up and the moment they got, when somebody rode through and said, the British are coming, that somebody decided they'd get musket and ball

and walk out in the middle of a field and say, stop. That's breathtaking heroism, you know? Said, no, you will not do this. That's, my love for them is still alive. I weep at the bravery of that. We'll be right back on Will Kane Country. Hey, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking, not think about it.

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follow now at FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. Welcome back to Will Kane country. All right finally Kelsey, you've done as you mentioned several series and stories on American history to your point. And if we and I together agree as well, but there's still such fertile ground to tell stories. And when I say tell stories, for me, I think it's so fascinating to think about in a number of a variety of ways.

If people have trouble with narrative arcs and narrative history, meaning not just documentary, with costumes and period pieces, then make it modern day. You know, teach me the same lessons and show me the same characters in modern day. But what would you do next, Kelsey? Like if you focused next on the next part of the American history that fascinates you and you haven't yet told, what would that be? Right? Well, there's a there's a whole bunch of them of course.

I mean some of them, I'd love to do some of the World War II stuff. But the Pacific Theater especially, because that's where my grandfather was, I mean I have a personal connection to that, the fact that so much carnage and bravery existed in that engagement. And some of the stories I know,

I'd love to see the Battle of the Coral Sea done on the first first American battles that we actually sort of turned the tide a little bit. I think it was sort of a draw really, but it's it came out as the first time it looked like America actually fight for itself in the South Pacific. I'd love to sort of enter into interweave the idea of what the Panama Canal is why you know a lot of people still go like, why does he care about the Panama Canal?

Well, Stephen Ambrose basically said, without the Panama Canal, we wouldn't have won World War II. And if people could understand that, then they'd understand why is it so important to China? Why was it so important that they come in and take over there? It is a gateway to our independence. It remains that in terms of on the international stage.

It remains that. And of course, we should do it with dignity, but maybe giving it up in the first place was probably a mistake. What a fascinating story that would be. Yeah, I think we could definitely do that. Yeah. So there's more. I know that you guys at Fox Nation and we've talked several times, I know there's more to do. We're going to do some more and we're going to throw another one together and you

know, see how it works. I'd love to do also the battle for Baltimore, you know, the War of 1812, the Star Spangled Banner inspiration because that's that's an amazing tale And I don't think people understand why we sing it and why it was written Francis Scott Key was just a doctor who had been sort of tapped to negotiate a prisoner swamp so he went out to one of the to the British ships that were there and arranged for this swap of 400 prisoners of war basically but the British commander at the time said why don't you just spend the night tonight because Come morning that flag

Sitting over Fort McKinley won't be there And he pointed at all the ships behind him There were hundreds of ships on the on the horizon and he said we're gonna bombard that place till that thing falls And Francis got key wrote through the night, is it still there? And it was. It was there because the men in Fort McKinley were holding it up. Whenever it would fight,

whenever it would start to fall, some man would either sacrifice his life, sacrifice his entire body to keep it standing. And that understanding of what our flag means, I don't believe anybody would burn our flag again. Wow. I am taken aback not just by your understanding of American history, but your emotional connection

to it. It's touching. And it certainly inadvertently, but serves as a selling point for making sure we all invest at the very least in checking out blood on the bridge the battle of Lexington and Concord. I would love to talk to you more Kelsey. I would love to have you on the Wil Cain show as well at four o'clock to talk about some of this deep understanding of history.

I'm fascinated by tying in the history of the Panama Canal to even the current modern day debates and you seem obviously a very, very eloquent voice on for all of us to understand these issues. So you have an open invitation and you'll probably get an invitation to come on the Wilkane show. Okay, great. I appreciate it. Okay, Kelsey Grammer, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Oh, good to see you, man. Thank you. That's going to do it for me today. I'll see you again next time.

Listen ad free with a Fox News Podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast and Amazon Prime members you can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon Music app. Hey I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at FoxNewsPodcast.com