WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1042 - Walton Goggins

Episode Date: August 5, 2019

Walton Goggins has played tough guys, weird guys and guys who completely defy description, but to him it’s all just playing pretend. Walton found himself as the center of attention at a young age while he was being raised by a group of women - his mother, his aunts and his grandmother. He caught the performance bug wile living in Georgia and a random American Express mail promotion became his ticket to Los Angeles. Walton tells Marc what it was like to learn on the job from Robert Duvall and Anthony Hopkins, why he panicked after watching Vice Principals for the first time, and how he first met Quentin Tarantino. This episode is sponsored by Lights Out with David Spade on Comedy Central, Squarespace, and SimpliSafe. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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fucking ears what the fuckadelics what's happening i am mark mar. This is my podcast. And fucking what a grim few days. I mean, what a grim couple weeks. I mean, fuck, what a grim couple years, right? And look, man, you know, it's a sad, horrible reality when people are massacred in the street. I mean, come on. the fuck is wrong with people it makes me sad it's horrifying and it's just part of American life and look you know I I'm sorry to be so intense right out of the gate but I I'm I have to you but I have to say something and I have to express my feelings I have to say what I'm thinking I'm a citizen with a microphone and don't give me that shit you know don't you know I look I don't mind criticism and it's always interesting the criticism from the

rotten peanut gallery the sort with the angle of like, you know, stick to comedy, you know, lead the politics to who really to who? I mean, are they listening? Are you listening to politicians or are you listening to washed up morning zoo jocks who after years of failure and irrelevance morphed into autocratic enablers dumping their broken egos into a hackneyed tsunami of brain-altering bullshit hateful talking points for dum-dums oh yeah those guys those guys know better yeah those guys come on sorry man I apologize. No, I don't. It's fucking it's it's just sad. And I feel bad for the people that lost people. And I feel bad for all of us, you know, because it really seems like the seams are just they're all ripping.

As the evil and the angry just kind of push through and find ways to destroy any sense of security or safety we may have once had when we leave our houses or our apartments or our places of work or we go shopping. And I got to be honest with you, it's coming from the top down, man. And I don't think there's any way to separate that. I don't think there's any way to negate that. It comes directly from the top, directly through the channels that go straight into the minds of the unstable, who have wrapped their brains around an ideology of hate based in their own sickness enforced by repetitive talking points and like-minded cowards online. I mean, this is what it is. These are radicalized people. They are radicalized in their isolation and through the information that they choose to take in. and domestic terrorism passively or, you know, quite honestly, blatantly encouraged by the current administration.

It has to be recognized for what it is. It's it's fundamentally anti-American. It's terrorism and it's coming from the top. And they walk among us unchecked. and they walk among us unchecked. But more specifically, Americans are killing their neighbors, massacring their neighbors because of ideological and political reasons. They are massacring their neighbors. That's what the divisiveness and the rhetoric has provoked. It comes down from the top.

And there are mentally unstable people. And Americans are massacring their neighbors. All right. On the lighter side, I really enjoyed my time in Raleigh, North Carolina. I loved it. I loved going down there. And I'll tell you about that. I will tell you about that.

So season three of Globe premieres this Friday, August 9th on Netflix. Sword of Trust is opening in more theaters this weekend. You can go to swordoftrust.com to see where it's playing near you.

I'll be at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon this weekend. Then I'll be in Dallas, Austin, and Houston, Texas, August 22nd through 24th. You can go to wtfpod.com for all my upcoming tour dates. Dean Del Rey, I believe, will be with me on the Texas run. We're going to be driving to texas with dean del rey did i mention that walton goggins is on the show walton goggins the walton goggins yeah from vice principals from hateful eight from justified it's got a new movie out that i thought was very uh it was it was it was eerie but it was um it was human it was real it's called them that follow it's a very specific story about a very

specific group of people that would be a small clan of pentecostals, snake handlers up in the mountains of somewhere. And I found it very compelling and I love him. And it was a high time we met. So Goggins is here. You will hear me talk to him soon. But I should tell you about North Carolina. Every time I go there, I'm nervous, but there's no reason to be nervous. It's America, right? There's no reason to be nervous just to go to another state that may not, on a majority level, have the same beliefs as you, right? Americans, we're all Americans, right? But I love it down there, and I've never had a bad experience down there. I always meet nice people, and I have a great bunch of fans down there.

And I did five shows at Good Nights in Raleigh and it's a great club, well run. Mary Radzinski opened for me. She did a great job and the people came out. And that last night, that fifth show, I was loopy and a little dark and a little weird, but it was cool, man. Had a good time, rented a car, took the advice of a listener because of my pottery obsession. As I said before I left, it seems like I could maybe get a lifetime's worth of pottery in Seagrove, North Carolina, which is a pottery hub historically from way back in the day. And I went, man. historically from way back in the day. And I went, man, I went and it was, it was a really kind of a great experience. The craft, the art of pottery, but just the basic craft of it is

sort of fascinating. And Brian Jones, who makes mugs for this show, and sometimes we sell them to you. He hooked me up with some friends of his so i drove out to seagrove and i went to bulldog pottery i met bruce and samantha over there spent about an hour they're just geniuses with glazes and they just make pottery i didn't realize how quickly you can make pottery but that's besides the point and so i talked to them for like an hour the way of life seemed appealing to me they had a nice plot of land and they just uh they're very peaceful people the life of a potter man the life of a potter maybe in my heart i was looking for me alternative lifestyle options for when this shit hits the fan head to the hills and get a wheel get a deal on a kiln and just hide out and make pots plates bowls cups

sculptural things right i could do that i'd have to learn how to throw a pot i have to learn how to pound the clay and spin it around but i could could do that, right? See, that's always really the weird thing about fantasies, about alternate life fantasies, like, you know, different options is that, yeah, if you're going to choose one that involves a, you know, a fairly deep skill set, you might want to think it all the way through. I can't go up there and just, you know, based on my, you know, small amount of celebrity and kind of wing it and maybe open up a little gallery and just maybe call it like, hey, I'm trying pottery by Mark. Yeah, that plate, I don't know if it's really practical because it's kind of thick and heavy and weird looking. I fucked up the sides

and I didn't get it thin enough, but it's nice. I think it's nice, don't you? I mean, I can even give you a gift. You know what? You can have it. You can have it. I'll give it to you. Want me to sign it? I used to be on Glow.

And then, like, they told me to go to this place called Starworks in Star, North Carolina. That's about five miles outside of Seagrove, which used to be a sock factory. And it's now this art cooperative. It's a community. People do residencies there and ceramics and glassblowing. They have a huge gallery with a bunch of different artists.

They have a cafe. It's just out there, man. It's out in the middle of North Carolina. And it's fucking great. And then I went over to this dude's house who brian respects a lot his name is david uh stem flea and this dude does wood kiln pottery so this he's got a kiln on his property you drive out i'm driving out into the middle of nowhere he's got a nice chunk of land a beautiful house and out back he's got a giant oven that looks as long as two trucks and it's

clearly he built it and it's a wood burning kiln. And he's not even using that one anymore. He built himself another one. And he makes these pieces, these ceramic pots as wide around his tires, truck tires, and they're about three or four feet high, just giant vases. Then I went over to dean and martin pottery jeff dean and stephanie nicole martin she turns out to be a fan i didn't meet jeff but she was there and she was making me i didn't know she's making me a peter green mug yeah with peter green's face on it and that's going to come and i bought another one of her pieces and one of his pieces but i think the the the real mind blower, just in terms of the experience, I went over to this guy,

Eck McCandless, his place, and he does these pots and you look at them all and you're like, is this a gimmick or what? They're almost psychedelic, you know,

and you think like, is that glaze or what? The patterns on them are fucking mind blowing and they're trippy and I didn't know what to make of them at first and I'm like,

do you, is that from, you paint that on? He's like's like no that's the clay and i'm like what do you mean he's like i only use clear glaze that's the clay it's like just trippy almost almost looks like just random patterns that are that are kind of like organized you know i i can't really explain it but he said you want me to show you how you do it and we just go into this other room and he takes like three different colors of clay and he smacks them together and he plops it on the wheel and he wets it and just starts working it and this is this took like four minutes and he's spinning it and he just he just pulls up on it and makes it and he just he fucking threw a cup in like four minutes.

And I didn't realize you could do it that fast. Because in my mind, it's like, oh, man, you're going to make a pot. It's going to take a fucking hour. Nope. Like three minutes. I think I'm doing it, folks. I think no meditation for me. I'm going to get a potter's wheel. I was going to make the garage the studio for this.

But I'm doing okay in the bedroom. I think that's going to be the pottery place. Is it too late to start with the sort of ambition of being great at it at 55? Pottery, is it? I'm half serious. I'm half serious. But seriously, if anyone can get me a wheel, an electric one, I don't want to go old school. I think the one time I did pottery, or a few times I did it when I was a kid, you had to kick it with your foot. Is that possible? I believe so. Now, Walton, Walton Goggins, you know him. You probably, if you don't know him, you know him. All right. That's what I'm telling you. He, you know, you might know him from all

the way back. He was in The Apostle. He's been in a lot of movies with Robert Duvall. But more recently, he was in The Hateful Eight. He was also in Justified. I talked to Timothy Oliphant about him a little bit. I just love him. Vice Principals, Hateful Eight. Did I mention that already? Now this new movie, which I watched. And it's pretty amazing because it sort of sets a vibe like it's going to be a scary movie. And it is a little scary, but it's not a's it's pretty amazing because you know it sort of sets a vibe like it's going to be a scary movie and it is a little scary but it's not it's not a horror film it's an actual sort of well kind of grounded human story that sort of takes place in a very rarefied world of uh pentecostals and it's called them that follow And I thought it was, I thought it was great. And he's great in it. And this is me talking to Walton Goggins. That film, by the way, is playing now.

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18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. I'm ready. We're ready. We're here. Do it. And let's do it. Hi, my name is Walton Goggins. Nice to meet you, Walton. I'm auditioning for the role of Mark Maron's guest on his podcast.

Okay, great. Great. Thanks for coming in. Great. Good to be here. Yeah. Did you prepare anything? I prepared nothing, man.

Good. That's the best way to be Mark Maron's guest. Like literally zero. I have no preparation whatsoever do you move that move that you can move the mic and you don't have to see like there you go closer to me there you go watch this yeah because i'm leaning back you got some you know here's what i was going to ask you is going to ask you the color of gray on your wall yeah oh you want to know i'd like to know what color gray this is oh for your house from my house yeah i mean we mean, we just did something downstairs. Yeah.

Look, guys, we're talking about houses. I walked into Mark's house. I think I have it downstairs. After the thing, we'll go down and I'll show it to you. You can take a picture of the color gray. Lovely, yeah. Of the paint can. Yeah.

You like it? I absolutely love it. You have a beautiful home. Thank you very much. And it's an old home. It's an anomaly in Los Angeles to kind of find these. I, too, live in an old home. Is it a craftsman? No, it's not a beautiful home. Thank you very much. And it's an old home. It's an anomaly in Los Angeles to kind of find these. I, too, live in an old home. Is it a craftsman?

No, it's not a craftsman. Like, is it a mission style? No, it's not. This is what's so cool about it. Let me keep guessing. Keep guessing. Go ahead. Is it a ranch?

No. Is it a weird thing? It's an igloo. Oh, wow. It was crazy. It's hard to keep those up in Los Angeles. Yes, it was a trend. Yeah, you know, my air conditioning bill is fucking insane.

It's so crazy. What is it? No, it's kind of like a new regency kind of house. It was built by the biggest lumberyard dealer in the city of Los Angeleseles i think in southern california yeah and and he built an all brick house weird weird but in the hills and in the hills and the lower and the lower yeah the lower hills and but he uh he he supplied as the story goes he supplied all of the studios with the timber yeah the wood to build all of their sets and and he used uh apparently ran out he ran yeah yeah that's right and he used the best tender like

timber to to build you know the interior frame of of this house and uh you know we bought it we're only the fourth owner and uh whatever 97 97 years that's wild and i love man i love i love design and you got a kid yeah we have a kid yeah eight and a half year old yeah yeah he's uh yeah the love the love of my life and it's and it's um it's it's it's great i mean i bought my first house when i was 29 years old um and uh up in laurel canyon i was much older you were i didn't even know how to buy a house i was probably 40 wow wow well you know uh you weren't on a basic cable show. So that's what you're saying.

I was on FX and I had a little bit of money in the bank and we did the pilot. And it's like, you know what? Worst case scenario, it had a unit downstairs that I could move into with a tenant. But I thought, look, if I never work again, then I'll just move downstairs and rent the top. That's my plan with the thing I'm doing. Always. Make it comfortable, man. Yeah.

Yeah. If the worst comes to worst. My fear is I'm going to have to move a parent in there. I still got both of them. Yeah. I don't know. Like, you know. That's a big, that is a big fear.

I mean, I'm afraid to even say it publicly. I don't want to give them any ideas. Yeah. Right. Come on. Mom, dad, like, you know, keep it together. I just did. Well, I did. I did't want to give them any ideas. Yeah, right? Come on. Mom, dad, like. Keep it together. I just did. Well, I did that, man.

With your parent? Well, we're talking about houses. And I just went through this extraordinary experience. And I think we're all lucky if you get the opportunity to do this. But my mom went through a really tough time. Yeah. Physically, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Physically, you mean? Yeah.

Yeah. And it was like happening. My mom's a really cool chick. She's a cool woman. And I was raised by a group of very cool women that were extremely functionally dysfunctional. It was a group of women? Yeah.

Well, my mother and her three sisters and my grandmother and my cousin my cousin who's like a younger sister but still she's wow i don't know she played a big part of it um but uh but my mom went through you know it was raised in the same house she lived in the same house that i was raised in where's that georgia a little town called lithia springs and i was like 900 square feet yeah and uh two bedroom one bath my old house yeah yeah you had to walk through my bedroom to get to it yeah oh really to get to the bathroom yeah yeah and it and it was uh a little house in the country it was built in the 1850s and um and uh you know butane heaters and like and you lived there your

whole life i mean until i was until i left to go away to college yeah i lived there your whole life? I mean, until I left to go away to college, yeah. I lived there, yeah. And it was my, the way in which I was raised was very unconventional in the sense that, you know, my mom had a very eclectic group of friends. Like, super fucking cool. What version of eclectic? Hippie eclectic? Like, yeah, hippie, yeah. Hippie, yeah. Like, the big chill meets biker gang meets hardcore. Like, I say Yaggies.

There was this religious group in Decatur, Georgia that wore refurbished mops. What? Yeah. Wait, who were they? Yaggies? Yeah, it was just the name of this little group of people that kind of got together. My mom has had a lot of, between her and her sisters. Yeah.

It's a Southern eclectic. I've seen a lot of things. Yeah and her sisters. Yeah. It's a Southern eclectic. I've seen a lot of, yeah, Southern eclectic, yeah, which is, come on, it's harder to be eclectic in the South

than it is in the North or on the West Coast. I know, no, it's different. It's more specific. It is. you know,

like there's a, the West Coast eclectic, there's a spectrum of it, but Southern, there's always some mix to it that you're like, what are those, who are those people?

Like, yeah, there's a slight hillbilly tinge. What the fuck are they doing? I want to know more about the Yaggies. The fuck are the Yaggies? Is that what they call themselves? I think that's what they call themselves. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just remember this group because my mom's sister, who's as esoteric as they come, it was like some of her friends.

And your aunt was one of them. My aunt was one of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Was there a leader? I don't remember. I never met the leader. I don't know what would happen to me if I did. Maybe I've become the leader.

You're ready. I'm auditioning for the leader. You played kind of a cult leader in the movie that you're out doing. Kind of. We'll get to that. And I would not say cult because, you movie that you're out doing. Kind of. We'll get to that. And I would not say cult because, you know, this has been around for 125 years. Pentecostals.

Yes, that's right. So how is it that you were brought up by all these women? Where's the old man during all this? You know. You don't know? No, I do. Yeah. And, you know, my dad was a tough fella.

And he did the best that he could what what version of tough fella you know you know i mean i don't know i think i'll leave that up to individual interpretation whatever tough fella would mean to you you know but he he was my parents were divorced when i was three years old and uh and you know my dad had to go out and and and and make his living and he was on the road a lot and lived in different states and i just didn't i didn't see him that that often but but his father yeah uh my my grandfather uh was uh like the rock in my life like the rock oh yeah male figure he was around life yeah he was around yeah i was with him a lot and uh but but these women in my life, they were all kind of all over the place.

And one aunt was an actor in the theater. Oh, yeah? And another aunt, she was a number of things, but she worked with B.B. King as a publicist. I think he had a lot of publicists, but she worked with Phyllis Diller. Music business? Show business, publicist? Kind of, but I don't know how i don't know how influential like she was like in his life but they were very very good friends and but that's a

weird jump like phyllis diller and bb king yeah and wolfman jack mate oh so those are the clients those were some of them you know and i think she had a lot more jack yeah dude um but i uh yeah so so it was you know meeting like and then another aunt was a a nurse and yeah but they were all uh strange and and uh around and around and on the road and i wasn't raised really by anybody i think my mom would say that like you're the only child i know that raised himself you know no that's not true i'm not the only one, but, but I was, it was a community of people. Yeah. Did you have a siblings? I had, uh, I had no siblings growing up. I have a half brother. Yeah. Um, that, uh, yeah, for my dad. Yep. Yep. And I, and I just haven't spent, you know, he's 14 years younger than me. So, uh, you know, I just haven't

spent that time. I do. Yeah. I know him. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And your dad's still around? Yep. And we are very close. And he has come back around. And I had dinner with him not too long ago. It's been really nice. Yeah, to accept someone for who they are, you know? And he accepts me for who I am, and I accept him for who he is. So you had a sort of a moment where you had to come to terms with each other? I think a lot of people have that,

that moment or either you don't have that moment or what you choose to do. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we did. Yeah.

We've had that. Did you have like a, one of those kind of like a, you know, fuck you, man. And then like, we had like,

we had a lot of fuck you, man. Yeah. We had a lot of fuck you, man. Yeah. And it's, uh,

you know, it's, uh, God, I hope I don't have, I'm really, I'm trying very hard with my son not to have the fuck you man conversation. Or at least just one. Maybe one. One or two at different points.

Or maybe it's like a joke. Maybe it's like, fuck you, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, maybe it's one of those. You get a fuck you man at like 15, and then maybe another fuck you man at like 22 and then maybe a level off maybe but some of it's just natural sort of like i'm my own dude yeah as opposed to like where the fuck were you good you know it's different yeah yeah yeah you seem like you're

on top of it yeah i'm yeah i'm pretty yeah we're pretty on top of it yeah yeah we're trying really really hard well in that look look my relationship with my father was very uh difficult you know and uh and and i was so uh afraid i never wanted to have a child ever never never entered my i didn't have any you didn't yeah i made it through well then can i say then i'll just be here with you saying i'm just gonna say fuck you man yeah thanks buddy fuck you mark good luck with your life man good luck with your fucking life all right buddy all right well you know i hope everything works out for you and let me know if you need anything could i borrow like sure man whatever dollars yeah yeah whatever you need and just your in the name of your gray paint in case i get a house someday dad that's all that's all anything you need yeah just i hope you

work it out i'll be here when you're ready awesome wonderful yeah but but i I was with this friend of my wife's actually, and he's an artist. His name is Sasha Newley. What kind? A painter? He's an extraordinary guy and is one of my wife's dearest friends. And he was over at our home when my wife was pregnant, early stages. Yeah. And I was just freaking the fuck out, man. I mean, but it was a conscious conception. This wasn't an accident. Yeah. Like we knew exactly what we were doing kind of in that moment.

I never wanted to have a child until 4 o'clock in the morning on a beach in mexico very sober looking at my wife i'm a scorpio my wife is a scorpio we're looking at our constellation in the sky and she said do you know the scorpio constellation really no and she said well here it is and we're very sober it's been raining for three days the rain stopped my wife said let's go outside i said but it's four o'clock in the morning she said exactly or two o'clock and we just sat up and talked two and a half hours and saw and i just like wow i fucking love this woman yeah it's amazing yeah and saw a shooting star yeah they look like it landed in our room and we both turned to each other and said that's our son let's go get him come on swear to god swear to god i'm not making this story up swear to god walked inside and uh you know and made love

and and i said are you are you sure you're absolutely sure here you know she said yeah and there it was and that was when it happened that's when it happened because i left uh we came back home a few days later and um and then i got on a plane maybe a few days after that to go to australia and um and she called and she had a reason to get blood work for something else. She said, oh, by the way, that, what happened? That did it? That was it. First shot.

First fucking shot, man. Boom. Were you excited? Yes, I was very excited, which gave, you know, I was extremely excited, which gave way to panic. Hardcore panic and claustrophobia. And it really kind of freaked me uh and it's no way out now

yeah no way out that's exactly right and uh that's funny it was claustrophobia because that came directly from what you came from it's sort of like i could run yeah ah yeah right yeah like that you had that learned impulse yeah i'm out yeah i'm out yeah that's very true. Yeah. And, uh, and I, uh, and I, and, and in this conversation with this guy, Sasha, I just didn't know that it was possible like to have like the relationship that I would have wanted to have with a father. Like I just didn't. Right. Even though my father and I have a good relationship now, I just, yeah, after the fact. Yeah. And, uh, and he just said, uh, you know, his, his his father he said i i held my father's hand at a party until he passed and well into my 30s i would walk into a party with my father and hold his hand because i adored him i loved him and and i thought fuck man well maybe that is possible sure that does happen in the world and so so he he came and you know and that's kind of really what i'm endeavoring to do and he said that to you, and it moved you. Big time.

Yeah, because I just had a weird thing with my old man where I've had problems with him, and he's problematic. But when they live in your head, you kind of hold them in a place. Yeah, yeah. And then I just checked in with him recently. I saw him, and he's 80, and he's frail. He's 80 years old. And I just was like, oh, man, I got to let all that shit go. You know, and I just.

Oh, is that when you said it? Well, no, I've said it before, but, like, really now. Yeah. It's sort of like, you know, time to sort of, like, appreciate that he's still around. You know, sit down with him, see what he wants to eat, put your arm around him, tell him you love him, and, you know. And, like, appreciate the good things that you got from them. Yeah. You know, whatever the hell you're mad about, it's long.

And I've known this for years. Yes, of course. And you can know it intellectually. Like, I'm not mad at them. You know, they did what they could, whatever. But then one day, like, it really goes away. Yeah, man. Right?

You know what I mean? Where it's like it's lifted out of your heart. It's not some exercise yeah of of acceptance right you feel it yeah it's not something you read in a book right and you know and i and i felt it was good yeah yeah did you have that with your dad i yeah i i i i did have that with with my father um but at not before it. I thought I had it. I had it intellectually, as you stated.

Yeah. And I've known this for a long time, just to accept him and to love him and to meet him, kind of where he is. Yeah. And it's cool. Right. I get it.

Yeah. And I'm all right. Yeah. I dig me, and I dig where I am in the world, and you contributed to that. Right, right. And we're all guys now we're all i'm older than you but i mean you get to a certain point where it's sort of like i'm my own

man that guy's that guy absolutely he's flawed i'm flawed yeah i'm not gonna do what he did but the only way i can stop that from happening is if i let if i accept that fuck yeah yeah that's right yeah but but for me what happened was uh you know i had had a child and then I got angry because, you know, I'm sitting here and I'm doing this so fucking well, man. I'm trying so hard. To be dad? To be a good dad. Yeah. Like a really good dad.

And I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted by it. That's normal. Yeah, it's normal. Of course it's normal. But then what started entering my mind is how difficult this is just to be a bad dad. Like, you know, like you've got to work real hard to be a shitty dad. Or you just don't give a shit.

Yeah, you just don't give a shit. So it's like it's not even hard. You're just missing a piece of your brain. Then I came around to thinking, well, you know what? My dad always gave a shit. He just didn't know how to to to convey his his emotions right yeah then i was able i let it all go for real yeah it wasn't intellectually it was viscerally it's almost sad but it's nice to let it go yeah wait a minute where's that fucking anger my yeah my entire personality was built on that thank god God I'm already working.

Thank God, dude. I don't need it. Thank God other people have pissed me off. I can tap into it when needed. I don't have to live in it. It's so true, man. It's wild. Yeah, it is wild.

So you're in Georgia, and you're being raised by a pack of interesting women. Yeah, yeah. Your dad's out doing whatever the hell he's doing. Yeah. And I imagine you're somewhat the center of attention somehow. Yeah, look, the reason why I'm looking down is I'm looking for that water that I brought up here. What happened to it? Did I put it right on the other side of the screen?

The bigger question is, did you leave it downstairs? You know what? The answer to that question is no. I don't think I did. Hold on one second. Oh, look, Mark is going to look around. He's on the other side of the screen. I carried it. Okay. Look at this. This is rifling through a bag right now. This is what's happening. I'm rifling through this bag. Oh my God. I found my son's socks. Oh my God. There's a crazy wet bathing suit in the bottom of this. And you hear him talking in the background.

He's saying that I left my water somewhere, which is true. I did. I left it somewhere. Here we go. Found it. Got it. And we're reunited. We're back.

H2O reunited. There it is. How was your riff? You know, a few people have had to do that, but you never know what they're going to do. I think you can. I can riff. I can riff. I think so. I can't riff the way that you can riff right now but i i i can i can i can riff i don't know about you i mean you do you i mean you you're good at improvving you improvise that's kind of what you do that's what conversation is yeah but yeah i do

stand up and you know i i do uh improvise in that. I'm not a sketch improviser. I'm not the one you, me and three other people on stage go. But just stand on stage by myself and my thoughts, yeah, I can do that. You can do that really well. I can solo riff. You can solo riff very well. So for me, I don't, like in a script or whatever, especially working with Danny McBride and those guys.

I was so fucking insecure about working with them. I was so insecure, man. I was so deeply insecure because their pop cultural references are so spot on. I mean, even this one, this wonderful actress, Edie Patterson, who was also in Vice Principals. Oh, wait, Edie Patterson, the one who lives over here? The one who played the one who was obsessed with you in Vice Principals

or obsessed with Danny? Yeah. She's fucking great. She's amazing. She was really good friends with your friend, Michaela Watkins. Right, right.

She's inspired and then you meet her and you're like, oh, you're like that a little bit. Not crazy, but she's got that brain. She's got a brain

that kind of does that. I don't have that brain. No. No, I have to. So I work out, like, okay, well, what if Danny goes here? I just work out, like, five or six different tangents I could go on. And then as long as I have a direction and I have some parameter,

and as long as it's rooted in truth and it's not an actor masturbating. So that was improvised a lot? No, we improvised a lot only to kind of come back to the script. But we improvised a lot. So, yeah, back to the to the script but we improvised a lot well so yeah if it's in truth if it's in truth it has to be kind of rooted in truth and not like uh i'm just being cute right now and i'm off script and i'm improvising and look at me i fucking hate that but that was with that that character was definitely was different than some of your other ones but they're all kind of different but that guy was a real fucking oddball well i you know first and foremost you know i love those guys man the roughhouse boys and uh that guy was sort of weird kind of like you know the the sexual nature of him was weird his sense of fashion

was weird you know you didn't quite he was kind of writing all kinds of weird lines it's a lot yeah yeah there's a lot so fundamentally a southern character yeah yeah i guess yes he was he spoke with a southern accent right yeah he was uh you couldn't tell what kind of his sexuality was and um but there's a dandy element to this southern southern dandies are like their own thing they're their own they're their own thing salmon the color salmon is a very big deal it's a very big color for southern dandandies. But did you have a guy in mind? Yeah, I did. And I told him this.

There's a friend of mine named Eduardo who I just kind of channeled him, like, you know, kind of early on just to kind of find it. It's like, oh, well, maybe, you know, it's this. But our wardrobe designer, Sarah Trost, really helped me early days. Makes a big difference. Oh, my God. Here are the pants. Oh, I know who wears

these pants that's exactly right and she just pulled it out and we put it on and it just kind of came right and um and but i but it's also in the writing man and as soon as that's true yeah as soon as i i read it the very first time and i was doing the hateful eight uh at the time and i was in tell you ride and um and i got this and I got this, you know, this offer and, and, and Danny called and, and I, and I read,

I'd read the first, you know, eight scripts or whatever he sent, sent him to me. And, uh, and I, I was,

we were on the phone and I just, it was very nice. It was very nice of him to offer this role, but, but, you know, you also, you know,

that you, they want to hear it. They need to hear it. And so I just went into it and I just kind of did, you know, the whole want to hear it they need to hear it and so i just went into it and i just kind of did you know the whole first first episode for him and what's the other guy's name it was just him oh yeah it was just him and we were just kind of talking about his producing partner uh well david gordon green yeah yeah yeah and uh and jody hill yeah those guys yeah yeah yeah and uh it's kind of the three of them really that make up rough house pictures and uh and he

got it and and it's like man I want fucking whatever you're selling. And so then from there it turned into this whole other thing. You know, but at the end of the day, what I said to them, you know, when I said to him, you know, the very first day when we were working is I said, look, buddy, you know, you know, and they write dramas. They would say they write dramas. It would be funny. I said, but, you know, these are two deeply flawed, deeply insecure people, and all this is coming from pain. Yeah.

You know, and Danny said, yeah. Well, how did Danny take that? He said, yes, that's, yeah, yeah, that's what we're doing. And then he just let me do my fucking thing, you know? So then once you got the clothes and once you found the sadness and the pain and the insecurity and then you guys just kind of went at it let's go well yeah kind of at it you know uh yeah with my korean mother-in-law yeah just loving it yeah yes that's right and then it just kind of turned into this whole thing. And the very first time I watched it,

we were all together and I watched season one. And man, it wasn't funny to me, man. Like what I meant by that is, I thought like after we burned Belinda Brown's house down, I went into sweats. I started to panic again, like panicking, panicking again. That my fucking career was over. Like that was it.

It was done. No one will ever forgive me why no one will ever forgive me no one will ever forgive me for this no not a bad choice but but that i crossed a line man like i crossed a line and i'm the one that's egging neil gambion right and it's like oh man that's there's no yes of course yeah but you know that whole show crosses all kinds of lines yes that's right yeah and then and then And then I kind of recovered and I'm just so proud of it. And I just, I love him, man. And I love those guys so much. What are they doing? And we just finished The Righteous Gemstones.

Oh, you did? Yeah, I just did it with him. He just finished The Righteous Gemstones. It's a movie? I did it with him. No, it's a new TV show for HBO. Oh, really? About a family of TV evangelists.

Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. family of TV evangelists. Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And with John Goodman. John Goodman. Oh, I just saw the coming attractions for that. Is it on yet? No, it comes out in two weeks. Yeah, I think by the 16th of August.

And that's a Danny show? Yep, Danny wrote it and directed the pilot. And then David and Jody came in. How many are there? Nine. Oh, that's exciting, man. Yeah, and Adam Devine. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And just a great, great group of Nine. Oh, that's exciting, man. Yeah, and Adam Devine. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And just a great, great group of actors. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. So he asked me to play this 67-year-old man. Did they put you in makeup? No, Mark. I did it like me. What the fuck?

Yes, they put me in makeup. What are you kidding me? Do I look 67? No, no, but I don't know what the hell he's up to. Yeah, maybe they could do, yeah. No, maybe he just said you are 67. He left it at that. He just left it at that.

It's God. God made you look like you are. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. But no, a really good friend of mine kind of came in and knocked this look out of the park. Oh, I'm excited now. Yeah, and it was, yeah, it's pretty cool.

I had so much fun. I've never laughed harder. They make me laugh harder than anyone. Oh, he'm excited now. Yeah, and it was, yeah, it's pretty cool. I had so much fun. I've never laughed harder. They make me laugh harder than anyone. Oh, he's so funny. Like, there are guys, like, he's so natural himself. Like, I've had, there are two, there's a couple of guys that are just so fucking funny. And, you know, and he'll fucking, you know. Who's another one?

Who's another one? Give me another. Will Ferrell. Yeah. I've never met Will. Just once. But the thing about Will is that like he'll go

he'll play straight and he's not he's not gonna turn it on like he it's like a spigot with him like I talk to him and he's just straight as hell and he's one of those guys

who are just sitting there waiting come on you're gonna you're gonna do it and he can you know at the drop of a he can just do one thing

and like he wasn't even trying. And right when he animated some story, he was telling, like, oh, that's it. He did it. He did it. So do you think that like...

I don't know. I feel that way about Jim Gaffigan. Yes, that's true. That motherfucker makes me laugh. Jim Gaffigan can certainly turn it on. And I thought he did it. He's done a couple of pretty good dramatic turns but I think in this movie,

what is it, Those Who Follow? Is that the name? Them That Follow. I thought he did, I thought he had a little more, a little more meat on the bone. Yeah.

He had a little more work to do and he showed up pretty well. Yeah, yeah, he did. I thought he did a good job. I thought he did a fantastic job. He's very funny. It's not easy being Olivia Colman's husband.

Yeah, that's, that's, I mean, not like, not that her husband has a hard time. No, I'm just saying the acting. You're just going into that where you're going to play her husband. I got to imagine Jim's like, what the fuck? Yeah.

You mean with the greatest actress in the world? One of three? Yeah. That woman? Yeah. Let me sit with you and let's talk about snakes. Let's be around snakes together. Yeah.

No, I thought he did real good. And I like the movie. But before we get to that, let's get back to. Let's be around snakes together. No, I thought he did real good, and I like the movie. But before we get to that, let's get back to, so there you are, the star of a childhood surrounded by women. Dad's doing his thing. How does it evolve that you're going to be an actor? I mean, where does it, because I didn't see, like I poked around and I looked at the stuff you've done.

There's not a lot of biographical information, but it doesn't seem like you studied. I studied when I got to Los Angeles. For here, but not, you didn't go to college. No, not before. No, I left, I left, I left, I left college my first year. Where, where, where did you go? Small, small college in Georgia, Georgia Southern. Oh, yeah.

And, and I, and I left uh because i got this you know look only thing i ever wanted in my life was adventure and i wanted to see the world i just desperately wanted to to see how other people lived and how other people thought as a kid in georgia like were you you stayed out of jail you weren't setting things on fire you weren't yeah no no i was always a pretty you know i mean but but fast cars cigarettes i mean southern comfort where we at no we smoked a lot of weed you know did a lot of fucking uh xc you know yeah and uh so you're with i could never really i wasn't i wasn't cool enough to sell it you know i tried to sell you know but you were the laid-back bunch of freaks i mean i had a my group of guys uh we were called the fellas. And I was about five or six of us.

Yeah. And we ran with everybody. Right. We were friends with everybody. Right. You're the middleman. I was like that. Yeah, I was like the middleman.

I know a few jocks. I know a couple of those weirdos. These cats are all right. Yeah. And we were just fucking cool, you know? Yeah. And I was probably the earnest one like a month in the group how are the rest of the fellas holding up now uh you know uh pretty pretty well good doing

well my best one of my best friends is uh i'm the godfather of his two children and uh and we're still you know that tight and we're all still really really that's good yeah another buddy my name cory is uh is doing really really well That's good. Yeah. That's nice. Another buddy of mine named Corey is doing really, really well. Everybody's doing really well. A couple landed in jail, you know. One buddy who just stopped by when I was home recently is a big wig in the sheriff's department. Oh, yeah? Yeah.

So you got a cop and you got a couple of jailbirds from the crew? Yeah. But you know what? You know, most of my buddies, most of them, they all joined the service. Oh. And I moved to California and i moved to california i moved to los angeles uh so there's definitely a ticket out mentality like yeah i think so yeah how do i get the fuck out of here yeah like what is life on the other side of this wherever we are right and um and i and so i i yeah i was in school and i got this uh this invitation from American Express. Like literally, I got the thing in the mail from American Express.

What do you mean? Like to get a credit card? This is what it was, to get a credit card. And if you sign up to get a credit card from American Express, at the time the promotion was we will give you a round-trip ticket, two round-trip tickets, anywhere east of the Mississippi for $99 each. Anywhere west of the Mississippi for $199 each. This was back in a time where you still had to pay to call long distance.

Right. This was back in a time where going flying from Georgia to California was, $7,800, $900 in 1989 money. That's a very different time. Sure. And so I just looked at it, and I knew that this was it. I'm going to finish this year. I'm out. I'm done.

I'm going to sign up. This was the sign? Yeah, this was the sign. This was the fucking sign. An Amex promotion. From Amex, yeah. An Amex promotion. How clear does that have to be, man? The clouds opened up.

A-M-E-S. Postman gives you the same thing he gives everyone on the street. And you take it to be the ticket out. Yeah, what can be one man's trash is another man's treasure. Right, that's right. You know what? Honestly, I'm really not that bright, mate. I mean, not that I could have used them all.

This shows you how really not bright I really am because I just thought, well, wait a minute. What if I would have gone down there and I picked up all of those? Still, I could have maybe done them in different names. You have several different tickets. I'd still be using them right now. Oh my God.

No, it still only cost me $99 to fly around trip from Atlanta to LA. No, but I left cost me $99 to fly around trip from Atlanta to LA. No, but I, you know, I left my college and went and moved to LA with 300 bucks in my pocket. No one was disappointed? Your mom didn't say what the fuck you doing or anything like that? No, my dad had a moment of that, you know, and, you know, it didn't last that long. And I had already worked in Atlanta. Doing what? As an actor. Oh, okay. Yeah, I started kind of working as an actor. When you were in high school? Yeah, like in high school. Doing what? As an actor. Oh, okay.

Yeah, I started kind of working as an actor. When you were in high school? Yeah, like in high school. Doing what? What kind of things? I did this really big movie of the week called Murder, Mississippi. Oh, so you go on casting calls? Go on casting calls, yeah. Did that.

In the Heat of the Night was a big rite of passage for people from the Southeast. This was before college? Before college, yeah. And it was great. So you knew you loved it. I loved it it was great it was uh you loved it i loved it yeah i really really loved it i always kind of wanted to be a storyteller but more more importantly i wanted to see the world yeah and this was an opportunity and and i took it and left and came out here and uh and i had your land right away where'd you end up well it's weird

man because i i had uh i didn't know anyone. Yeah. Really? No, I knew no one. And I met this manager doing an episode of In the Heat of the Night. This woman. You got cast out of Georgia? I got cast out of Georgia. Okay. Yeah, but I met this woman. And Sean Penn's father was directing this episode, Leo Penn.

Yeah. And I met this woman. I was fucking horrible. I met this woman. I was fucking horrible. I met this woman. I got her phone number. And then I told her when this opportunity arose from American Express. You really hang out with that thing.

Amex. And I'm still a member, buddy. Yeah, me too. Still a member. There it is. Pretty good. Not as long as me, though. Probably not.

Or maybe you have. Maybe 95. Maybe 95. Okay, no. Because 89. No, 91. 90. 90 90 yeah yeah i can look at my card 89 do they still put it on the card maybe they do i don't know i don't know why are we proud of that like i when i see it i'm sort of like yes i have been because that means that you can pay a bill off every single month that's right that means you were responsible that's good yeah for a long time didn't he used to say a member since you know on the card i don't think it does anymore. That was with the green ones.

No more. Yeah. No more. Yeah, because the shit's gold. It doesn't matter. Well, wait. Can I just take this one out? See, I've got two.

Oh, snap. Two. You got the silver. Woo. I wish I could pull out the black one. You have the black one? That's my Soho house card. Do you have your black one?

No, I don't. No, but maybe. It's for business. It don't matter. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's exactly right. So I landed in her house. she picked me up at the airport her husband picked me up at the airport and you met her in atlanta she met in atlanta and she said listen you know you can you know i'd like to you know if you come out you can stay with me yeah oh my god wow hey thanks for

that i appreciate it and uh so uh i said i'm coming you. And this was back when it was long distance phone calls. There was no fucking email. Right. And maybe I sent her a letter. Maybe I didn't even send her a letter. I didn't even think about that. That you were coming? Yeah, that I'm coming.

And then she called or whatever. And her husband picked me up at the airport, brought me back to her house. She lived on Poinsettia. Yeah. Poinsettia in Hollywood. Right there. Yeah. Yeah.

lived on poinsettia yeah and poinsettia in hollywood huh right there yeah yeah and uh and then um i came in and and she said you know bags were down and and she put a piece of paper in front of me signed you and said you know let's let's you know we needed to sign this paper and i felt a little awkward before you even unpacked a little fucking weird before you even got unpacked at all yeah and that was the first order of business your mind yeah and i and i was like first and foremost i'm nobody like i'm nobody's nobody yeah right i mean i've done an episode in the heat of the night so have a thousand other people right you know and uh and then this movie of the week and uh and um but i am enthusiastic you know and i do have a passion for what we do i still don't know what the fuck i'm doing right but you signed it but i no i didn't

sign it no i said uh you know i gotta make i gotta i gotta i haven't even seen hollywood boulevard she said take a walk two blocks come back that's exactly what happened her husband took me on a walk and uh and then uh so we went on this walk, and I saw Hollywood Boulevard. And I came back, and she said, well, here you go, need you to sign this. And I said, well, you know, actually, I just need to make a phone call.

And I called this friend who came to pick me up. That was my, I've never met him before, but my aunt gave me his name. Right. And so I said, okay, all right, yeah. And I called this manager who was a friend of mine back in Georgia. Right. I said, this is happening to me right now.

I feel really weird about it. I don't even know what any of this really means. Yeah. And she said, don't sign anything. And so I came to her and I said, listen, I'm sorry. This is just a little weird to me. Like, I don't think I can, I can't really sign this. And she said, well, then, then you have to leave.

Really? Yeah. Yeah. And I said, what do you mean? Like, like, right, like now, like right now. Yeah. And, and she said, yeah. And I said, well.

That's, boy, that's not Southern hospitality. And I said, well said well well could I could I just kind of could I wait like till in the morning could I just just sleep like spend the night on your couch and uh I just said okay yeah but you got to leave first thing wow and uh and so the next morning came sun up you know I had my stuff had my bag and I had an audition that this manager friend of mine in- Different manager. No, yeah, different manager from Atlanta, from Georgia.

From Georgia, big casting director. Yeah. Set up for me, and I flagged a fucking cab down with my bag and took my big-ass bag in this room with this cast. Her name was Pam Dixon. She was a huge casting director. And I went in and had my thing. And then I had one beeper number from a guy that I did that episode

in the heat of the night with. And I called him from a pay phone and I said, man, this is what's happened. I'm here, I'm in LA. He said he was moving to LA and I didn't know if he did or not, but I had his beeper number. And then it was, and there it is.

And he came and picked me up. And then he stayed with him? And I landed in the valley. Yeah, I landed in the valley. And then I moved for 14 i moved 14 times in 11 years but so everybody else i was on the road i lived all over the city but when pam dixon did you get the part no i didn't get the role but i got a knife but then i did i got another role in a movie that she cast later on i don't remember the name of the movie but i

met with pan who i've known a lot of people out here now you know i've been out here for 30 years yeah yeah yeah yeah but uh but I did do a job for Pam I think I did more than one job but that's a while now that now I assume that have you run into that manager that fucking never I don't I don't remember her name but here's the thing yeah my house is uh right around the corner from there friend and I have gone down that street and I can't remember the apartment yeah but I have like an idea of what it was and I know gone down that street and I can't remember the apartment, but I have like an idea of what it was and I know it's like between like two or three apartments, but I have definitely walked down the sidewalk.

And you kind of look over there and think, this is where Columbus... I mean, fuck you, man. Fuck you. No, I just, you know, I love the little boy, man. I love the guy who sat out there and just said, you know what? Here it is. Just the i love the little boy man i love the i love the guy who sat out there and just said you know what here it is just step out here and just you'll figure it out but you did it you didn't you know that could have that was like a crossroads man

you might still minute man for a minute no but i mean it's like it's one of those situations where the story could have been so much different where you like you you eventually had to pay her to get rid of her and like you you know like yeah with those things that people sign yeah and all of a sudden like to extricate yourself from it would have been a fucking nightmare yeah that would that would have been a nightmare yeah that would have been a nightmare although it took me a long time to start making money mark like really yeah i know i know but you still you know anybody yeah that's right i didn't know anybody anything yeah yeah that's right uh but i do i walked i walked down that street you know sometimes and uh and i and i just i want to hug that little that little guy you know for taking the chance taking the chance walking the mean streets and thanking amex you gotta thank amex

at every thank you amex yeah i'd thank you a lot more if a member since 1989 walton goggins there you go yeah this is your amex thank you for my life, Amex. Thank you. Thank you for making me pay my bill at the end of every month. Thank you, Amex, for the sign. It's awesome. When did you, so what were the first gigs like? I mean, you know, when did, so you got here in 89. I started working right away, man.

I started working immediately. Yeah. And I, like. Just little things here and there? I did, my first gig was Billy Crystal, Mr. Saturday Night. working immediately yeah and i and i like just a little things i mean i did uh uh the first my first gig was uh billy crystal uh mr saturday night and uh i never fit going in and reading for him and i was so fucking again nervous and uh and you know and he just said okay it's all right man you know you got the job man i like you i don't know why what'd you do i like you

i did i played uh the nervous soldier that's what it was called the nervous soldier yeah and it was cut out of the movie but he included it on the dvd oh that's nice yeah it was super nice and then i ran into him i ran into him at a play about six seven years ago on broadway yeah and uh and he looked over at me and he said, nervous guy. Hey, nervous guy. I gave you your start. And it's like, and I had a lovely conversation with Billy Crystal. Isn't it funny how he's actually become the character he played in Mr. Sudden Egg? The destiny.

You do a much better interpretation of Billy than I do. But yeah, and then Forever Young, Guard at Gate you know with Mel and uh and you know you just went through all of that until I did this movie uh the the next Karate Kid that really kind of that kind of changed it was with Hilary Swank oh yeah and you had a real part in that no but I auditioned for a real part in that yeah and got called back four times for a real part in that yeah and uh and and lost the real part in that yeah and uh and walked you know went back to my uh job selling cowboy boots at thieves market you were a cowboy well i mean i didn't i couldn't work in a i could never work in a in a in a restaurant man because i'm not good at people telling me what to do right it's just not my fucking thing like i'm not good at it it's like i'm just not i'm not you can be a cowboy when you sound cowboy

well you can be but i started my own valley parking company you did yeah as soon as i moved here first job i got was at la fitness uh making you know minimum minimum wage uh and they would give me from 5 a.m to 9 a.m like the worst shift that's what i'm doing what just sitting there just opening the fucking club alone yeah you know alone in the dark like in the valley la the one right on oxnard and cold water canyon you know with the shitty parking uh-huh and uh and then i you know i was alone i did that and then i said you know what i can do i asked him if i could become a part-time salesperson and then in the first month and a half i became one of the top part-time salesperson. And then in the first month and a half, I became one of the top part-time salespeople. At LA Fitness? Yeah.

You got that in you? The hustle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hustling. And then I just said, well, I'm just going to start a valley parking company. Well, let's walk through it. So I'm thinking I want to get in shape.

And I looked at some other gyms. Hey there, how are you? I'm Walton Goggins. Mark Marin. Mark, lovely to meet you. Yeah, man. just i just came here i just moved here from georgia i really love your city oh thank you thank you yeah i've been here all my life yeah yeah how did you hear about the club well i got a buddy of mine keeps telling me she's getting in shape and like you know i kind of work out at this other place but you know it's not i don't like

the locker room and you know yeah yeah yeah yeah it's it's interesting you know, it's not, I don't like the locker room and you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's interesting. You know, this, this, this club is a, uh, I don't know. I don't know about you, man, but I look for me working out as a, it's a part of kind of who I am either. I was the person I was before I started working out and the person that I am now after starting to work out. Yeah. I still got it. I got to just commit to it. I think. Yeah. That's it. You know, that really is it. Can I give you a tour of the facility? Yeah, yeah, man. Dude, I didn't bring my shorts or anything.

Not a problem. We have some here, actually. Yeah, brand new with LA Fitness. There's always, what, ABC, always be closing? You know, but I wasn't really, I mean, I was good at it, but I was good at it because I, you know, I actually,

I liked it. Yeah. I liked it. Yeah. But here, and here's the kicker, right? So I worked for this company

and then I left and I started a valet parking company. Valet like at people's houses? No, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, I went down Ventura Boulevard and stopped at the Great Greek, knocked at the door,

here you go, sound effect. Come in. Come in. And I walked in and said, hi there, my name is Walton, knocked through the door. Here you go, sound effect. Come in. Come in. And I walked in and said, hi there, my name is Walton Goggins. I just got here from Atlanta, Georgia. I used to valet park in Atlanta, Georgia,

and I see that you have valet parking. I'd like to bid for your business. They were like, who the fuck is this guy out of my fucking face? What are you? And then I went down, and I went down to the next one, the Moonlight Tango Cafe.

I went to Cha Cha Cha Cafe Athens down in Santa Monica we had a couple parking lots and eventually people just started to say yeah okay sure

why not and we didn't make a lot I hired a bunch of guys and did it with a few friends brought a few friends that were also actors out here

and a little group of us that met up and became friends and we all kind of went into this endeavor together and the parking endeavor the parking endeavor yeah and uh and then we did it we had we didn't make a lot of money but we had our freedom sure and enough to get by and we got our tips and and uh and we did it for a couple years yeah and uh and then it just kind of didn't really sell it to anyone else, but gave it over to someone else. And then I started working at Thieves Market.

And next credit kid. Yeah. Big deal. Didn't get it. 21 years old. Yeah. But I go back four, I get called back four times. Yeah.

And there's another guy there. His name's Michael. I'll just call him C. Yeah. He's still a really great guy. I saw him. It's been about 15 years. Yeah, an actor.

Yeah. But he's not a really great guy I saw him it's been about 15 years actor yeah an actor but he's not doing it anymore but so it's down to me and him we're eye fucking each other across the room you know this is it I'm like this is my bad

I'm the guy but so I go in and I kill it I slay it I walk outside and say well you need to fucking go home

right now because it's not gonna be yours and but he still you know does his thing he walks in and I'm sitting there I'm pacing outside it's cause it's not gonna be yours and uh but he still you know does his thing he walks in and i'm sitting there i'm pacing outside it's because it's just down to the two of us

and i hear screaming and i know that he didn't get murdered i know i knew that that's uh what you love when you they loved him and he got the job right and so uh worst the thing to hear from the fucking casting room is laughter that's right yeah's right. Yeah, yeah. Fuck off, man. He's not that funny. No. It's not that funny. I heard it out here. It's not that good.

These doors are paper thin and he sucks, man. Let me tell you. And I just kind of like held it in and started walking off that lot. Yeah. And just held my head down. Yeah. And went back to my job at Thieves Market. And got back there and was helping somebody out with some cowboy boots.

And I just said, fuck this, man. And I called because I knew they liked me. I knew that they liked me a lot. And called back. And I said, can I have Jerry Weintraub's office? And the operator gave it to me. And this woman named Susan worked for Jerry. She's a lovely, lovely lady who came outside and gave me a hug and said, are you okay? Are you all right? I said, no, I'm fine. The

better man got the job. It's okay. I'm just going to go back to my job selling fucking cowboy boots, but that's cool. You guys have fun. You guys go have fun making the next karate kid. That's awesome. And I went back and did it, man. And I called them. Jerry picked up. I called Susan. She said, yeah, sure, Walton. Chris Kane, the director, picked up the phone. And Jerry Weintraub picked up the phone. And Chris picked up the phone.

And he said, hey, Walton, hey, man, I'm so sorry. Sometimes, you know, you were wonderful, man. Sometimes it's just a look. And you have to put these things together and i understand that man i understand that all the thing i'm asking for chris is an opportunity to can i could i read for like his best friend for the bad guy's best friend could i could i do you guys could i read for that role and he said you would do that and i said are you kidding me yes i'll do it please and he said hold on a second jerry

and he comes back on the phone he said walton the role's yours you got it because i said i just want to learn you know i just want to be around it i need to learn and uh and so then yeah then cut to turned around and everybody working at these work at fuck all y'all i'm out here's your fucking justin boots back i'm out and And even though I love cowboy boots. Yeah. And then never didn't go to work again, except to LA Fitness. I went back one more time.

But check it out. This time, I went with two other guys, and we said, okay, LA Fitness, we're going to pay you to be members of your club. You're going to pay me. What? We're going to pay you $500 to be members of your club so You're gonna pay me, what? We're gonna pay you $500 to be members of your club so that we can train our clients here.

We were the first three personal trainers in their company, at least as I understand it. You were a personal trainer? Yeah, I was a personal trainer for a couple years. So you got the role in the Karate Kid, but you went back. Yeah, I was 21, I went back to work. And for me, I'm a poor kid.

I used all the money that I made from what we do for a living, telling stories. I put all that away. And then I just lived off what I made as a personal trainer until I was 24 and I did The Apostle. So The Apostle, so you're working with Duvall? Working with Duvall. Yeah. That must have been the fucking.

Oh, buddy. There's no, you know, you have, he's my end all be all. Yeah, I figure. Yeah, you guys kind of come from something similar yeah that's the same well yeah yeah yeah i i suppose yeah yeah yeah i'm trying to remember you know i don't remember them i don't have the movie at the tip of my brain what were you what and in the apostle yeah i played his right hand man oh that's right yeah yeah it's kind of sammy and um yeah and. And he took to you?

Yeah, he did take to me. Yeah, he did. You guys still friends? We are still friends. Yeah. I don't talk to him as much as I used to. What'd you learn from him? Oh, pretty much fucking everything.

Really? I mean, look, when you said, as soon as I got to Los Angeles, I started studying. I studied with two people. Who? I studied with David LeGrant and Harry Master George. And I fashioned my life in a way where I was able to make money in my job. Or when I'd go to work, I'd put all this money away. And I studied.

I went to class every day for a decade. Really? Everybody else was all fucking around. I didn't. I took it very, very militantly. I was a militant about that discipline and really kind of understanding what it was that we were asking ourselves to do. And I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. And my coach, David, was very, very, very important to me.

And there were a number of people kind of in class. But then I found Harry, Master George, and it really, really, really changed my life. What's the core of the discipline? Well, you know, he only quotes three people, really, and that's Anthony Hopkins and Robert Duvall and Jessica Tandy. He might disagree if he was sitting here, but he's not remembering it correctly. Right. And maybe he'd throw a few other people in, but that it's a child's game,

and it's no more complicated than that, and you turn yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstances. That's it. That's all that we do for a living. And he would quote Duvall, who said that over and over again. The actor's studio taught him nothing, that it was playing pretend, you know, and turning yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstances. And Tony Hopkins, he would say the same thing.

So then I got the chance to work with Bobby. And one of the first things I asked him, and I was so overwhelmed by the whole experience. He was very kind to me. And he said, you know, that very thing, that you turn yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstances. And then he took to me because at the end of that movie, none of that was really there. I don't think he anticipated Sammy, his right-hand man, having that reaction to his arrest. And he took me under his wing. What was the reaction? That this profound remorse or regret at the loss of, at the loss of this, this man, you know, who had been such a

seminal figure in, in this character, Sammy's life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, and, and I've, and I've had the chance to work with anyway, so with these two teachers and, uh, and it, and it really changed my life. You had the chance to work with them more than once? With, with, with Bobby and, and with Tony Hopkins and, uh, and. Which movie was that? With Bobby and with Tony Hopkins. Which movie was that? The World's Fastest Indian. Oh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And got to ask him the same questions. What were his answers? He was very, very, yeah, very kind and very generous with his time. Did he? Said the same thing. He did? Yeah, that's what he does. He reads the script.

You turn yourself over to a- To an imaginary set of circumstances. It's a child's game. You turn yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstances, and you read the script it's you look at yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstance it's a child's game you turn yourself over to an imaginary set of circumstances and you read the script 300 times 300 yeah between 250 and 300 times it's no more complicated than that everything that you need is in the story for the most part yeah yeah was there a point where you had a break where you like i mean like i know you won an oscar for something didn't you yeah yeah yeah yeah for this for this short film um uh that uh that i i three of us my partner ray mckinnon and

lisa blunt and myself ray mckinnon is an actor ray mckinnon is an actor and a writer an unbelievable writer yeah and a really good director too and um and yeah it was a short film and we you know raised the money family and friends and we went out and did it and lo and behold there we were you know we got we got on stage you know right behind sydney portier and then there it was it was an extraordinary experience and then yeah i had a you know a decade uh really of kind of making those movies with him we made four did the oscar and that attention because it's a short film, it didn't matter. You're already working, right? I don't think any of it matters, man.

I think it's in the aggregate that all of this shit amounts to something. The Apostle meant something, and then it meant nothing. And The Shield meant, you know. Yeah, you're working. It meant you're working. Yeah, but it was also, you know, we were at the beginning. It was The Sopranos, and it was us. That was the new batch of where story was going to go yeah and um and that really that that really kind of helped me and then you know but i've been around man you know and uh and uh

and just keep and you keep working one foot in front of the other and you didn't you know machete kills i how about that yeah i had dann Danny Trejo on my show on IFC. How about that, man? But you want to hear a funny Danny Trejo story? Sure. So, you know, Trejo, like, you know, the setup was, you know, I'm in recovery, which, you know, in real life, but also in the show. And he's a newcomer, you know, and I'm going to be a sponsor.

So, and Trejoy was big recovery guy right yeah but he knows the score but he's got to play this guy who can't keep his shit together you know he's fresh out of jail or something and i'm his sponsor me right so i got trejo and he's like i can't play this guy i'm not this guy you know like already he's like you know i'm not you know i'm strong you know whatever but he's got you know he's got a lot of sort of lines. He's got lines. And right away, he can't remember them. And he's having allergies.

So now we're putting up cue cards. We're taping them to the dash. There's cue cards all over the inside of the car so he can get them. But he just goes, he says, there's so many lines, man. This is more lines than I've had to do in all the movies I've done in five years, man. And he looks at me and goes, they hire me for my face. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Wow. Yeah. Well, what a great face. Yeah, no doubt. Great face. Yeah. Oh, we were shooting in Island Park and he gets out of, he's walking down the street and just kids and families come to windows going, machete, machete.

I did a movie. Well, Robert Rodriguez, I love Robert. I've talked to him. He's great. He's a cool guy. But I did this movie that Robert produced, Predators, with Danny Trejo. And we were in Hawaii for a couple of months and then in Austin for a long stint.

Yeah. Yeah, we had some good times. Great guy, solid guy. So what about Tarantino, man? So that, you know, the Hateful Eight, that was a fucking stunning weirdo that you played in that one. Thank you, Mark.

Thanks for this. Yeah, stunning weirdo. I appreciate you saying that. Look, man, I just think he's a- That's a compliment, don't you think? That is a very big compliment. Thank you very much. Look, I fucking love the man.

I love him. I'm so, I can't believe that I'm in his stable. That's right, you're in Django. Yeah, yeah. Are you in the new one? I'm not in the new one, no. But I read it. I read it early on in his backyard. I haven't seen it yet. dope yeah yeah and that was in the new one i am not i'm not in the new one no um but i but i read it i read it early on yeah and uh and i haven't seen it yet this is one of the best scripts i've

ever read in my life i gotta see it have you seen it i did when i went to the premiere and it's fucking awesome you loved it it's so fucking great i'm gonna see well i'm going to raleigh tomorrow i'm going i'm doing shows at the club there so i have time during the day i'm hoping it's playing oh yeah you gotta be playing yeah it has have time during the day. I'm hoping it's playing down there. Oh, yeah, you get out. It's got to be playing down there. Yeah, it has to be. Yeah, of course it is. Yeah. Look, it's him, man.

I mean, the guy is, you know, he's in the Pantheon. He will forever be talked about. Oh, no, yeah, he did something. Like, it's weird with his movies. It's like, even if you don't know how you feel about the movie, there's going to be about at least a half hour where you're like, what the fuck? Yeah, yeah.

Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's just so stylized and so much attention paid to so much stuff where something's going to, you're going to be amazed somehow. You know, I mean, this is like this kind of strange kind of meeting, this intersection between these two people. After the apostle, I went to this,

I got invited to this tango party. A tango party? Tango, yeah uh i got invited to this tango party tango yeah i got invited to this tango party in venice and this is whatever 90s whatever let's call it five right 96 okay and uh and and lo and behold you know i go there's only bobby and luciana oh he's into tango. That's right. And, uh, this other couple that are hosting it and fucking Tarantino and Quentin. I'm like, this is just after like Pulp Fiction. Six people there.

Yeah. It was like six people and me and, uh, my, my, my wife at the time I've been married before. And, uh,

and then we're at this house and it's like, God damn, like this is really fucking happening. And I had a lovely conversation. It was lovely then. and uh and i and i and now cut to you know 20 years later or whatever i'm two in i just dig him dude and i dig his whole thing it's kind of interesting right yeah it's really cool you've been hanging around where am i gonna like where are we gonna where are we gonna hang out like on camera yes we'll hang out bring me in we're gonna pull me in and we'll hang out next time yeah next time you're like, you should get married.

Are you doing another season of GLOW? I don't know. The third one drops August 9th. Yeah. Isn't that when Netflix usually cuts out? Yeah, no, I'm completely anticipating that. We'll probably find out by the end of August. And then, yeah, I'm freed up.

So, you know, whatever you need, just let me know. Just pull me in. Lovely. Give me a call. Wonderful. You're all set. We got a part for you. What do you use these dice for? Your guests, need, just let me know. Just pull me in. Lovely. Give me a call. Wonderful. You're all set. We got a part for you. What do you use these dice for?

Your guests, these are just kind of there. Are these things that you've accumulated over the years? Are they there for guests to kind of play with? Yeah, I just put them out, and people have different reactions to different things. Some people go for the hammer. Some people go for the dice. There's a top over there.

Is the top over there still? The little spinning top? Yeah, there's a spinning top. The knife is popular. The knife gets a lot of play. Does this top over there still? The little spinning top? Yeah, there's a spinning top. The knife is popular. The knife gets a lot of play. Does this? Not anymore. No, not anymore.

But the knife usually gets a lot. You know, Dorf took to the knife right away. Dorf did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And the guy who plays back, and I didn't take to anything. No, no.

I didn't take to anything. Well, you had to relax. You just took to the dice you know what you know what's really interesting about this like uh i uh i don't know how you'd kind of deal with this but i do like i have like low-grade anxiety i have high-grade anxiety you do but you were not you you enjoy talking to people you must oh yeah yeah like this well yeah when you get to it yeah and you really get to it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if it's just in passing, I'm not great anymore at it. We got to it immediately.

We got in there. Yeah, that's what we do here. Yeah, that's what we do here. But some people, like, it takes a little more work than others to kind of pull it out of them. Well, you just wait. This is, I'm having so much fun. I had this low-grade anxiety, and as soon as I met you, like, it's all gone. But I feel that way about, not I feel that way about not performing.

This isn't a performance. But just in general with the things that, like a new experience, right? Yeah, right. Like it's just the anticipation. Oh, it's the worst. It's not even really anxiety. It's the anticipation. Yeah, I get dread.

Do you really? Yeah, because before you come over, I don't usually do two in a day but i interview this writer what this morning yeah are you exhausted no no no no but it's like you know this guy david shields he writes very fairly difficult books but they're they're they're art and they're good and he just made a little documentary but i was nervous about him because he's an academic and he's a fiction writer and he's a high brain dude yeah so i'm like sort of like i'm oh fucking i don't got the goods i don't got the goods for this wow and then we got in it i'm like i'm holding up man i'm like you know and then you're coming over and i'm like, sort of like, I'm like, oh, fucking, I don't got the goods. I don't got the goods for this. Wow. And then we got in it. I'm like, I'm holding up, man.

I'm out. You know what I'm telling you? And then you're coming over and I'm like, and I felt relaxed because I just knew because of my relationship with your characters and then the SAG Awards, you know, you said nice things about me. And right when you walked through the gate, you're like that, you know, like we knew each other already. So that happens sometimes.

Some people do that. Brolin was like that. But I think Bro brolin's like he's got some sort of weird disarming charm like he gets out of the car and like he looks at me like we've known each other 20 years and i'm like oh this is gonna be easy good good for him he really he really knows how to work us at interviewers like i'm right away i'm like oh sure pal come on yeah yeah okay so let me just say this about the movie and and I'm glad that the anxiety dissipated. Yeah. I found that the movie, was it Them That Follow?

Yeah, Them That Follow. It was interesting because the pace of it, you know what I noticed about it after I watched it, is it's sort of set up for one of these rural, kind of like these are rural people, and it seems a little creepy. Yeah. And you're sort of like,

there's no way this isn't going to get fucked up and weird in a stereotypical way. But what I thought was amazing about the approach that the directors took to Pentecostals was it was all human. Like these were just people. It wasn't like, you know, there's no weird murder. It was like, this is the situation with this group of people. And these are humans. And this human predicament, you you know that is of their own

making but you know it was sort of a an examination of a subculture as opposed to like well those hill people are weird and i thought that was kind of amazing that at the end you're expecting some where's the fucking big you know thing that we're going to judge these folks on and after all said and done it's just your humanity that you're dealing with. It was very straightforward. Like, oh, this isn't a freak show. No. This is a strange phenomenon that's been around forever.

Yeah. And the obstacles they're up against because of their beliefs and practices. Yeah. And also their disconnect because of their beliefs and practices. I really thought it was an empathetic exercise. You know what? I'm happy to hear you say that. I mean, I think that was kind of the goal of everybody, everyone involved.

And there's a speech that this character that I play, Lemuel, first and foremost, the cast is extraordinary. Olivia Colman. You play the pastor? I play the pastor. The shepherd of this small flock of Pentecostal Christians in some hill somewhere. That's right.

But when I was reading it for the first time, the speech that kind of got to me is, and then they let me kind of rift and do my own thing, and we just kind of talked about it early on. But once his church has been invaded,

and he says, they came in here uh or early on and and but but once his church has been invaded yeah you know and you know and he says i you know they don't they came in here they took the very thing that we used to show our allegiance to god they don't understand you they look down on you and you and you and you and you know that is look insert that speech for any uh misunderstood community throughout the history of time man i don't know i just think that you endeavor you if you live a life that is curious and you endeavor to understand culture in general subcultures in your own culture your own society or different societies that you know on the other side of that, even if you completely disagree with it, at least your disagreements are coming from an informed point of view. Yeah, yeah. And I thought, like, you know, whatever, you know, they had their deep flaws in their actions, but, you know, you got it. Like, it was fair.

Yeah. So, your mom. Oh, so, uh was fair. Yeah. So, your mom. Oh, so. Not doing well. You know what? No, now she's doing great. Great. I moved her to L.A., never wanted to come to Hollywood,

and now she's here a mile away, and she's killing it. And I, but I, coming back to houses. Yeah. Right? Sure. We started with houses. And she hangs out with your kid and stuff? All the time. Great.

Her grandson. It's great. It's great. Beautiful place where she moved into over over here in hollywood and you're able to take care of her a bit it's it's all good and she's doing great great like she can come and go she can fly to see her friends great it's all fantastic but i just said goodbye to my childhood home and uh and i about homes and why you know they're they're so important this is a home that i was raised in for 40 42 years i was there and our 42 years it's been home and um and i uh i haven't been back there in a long time and i you know as we all have mixed feelings about our homes yeah so many great memories were there and so many bad memories were there and all of that kind of gets mixed up since I left home 30 years ago.

But it was as if this house was saying to me, because my mom had to leave in a hurry and it's been there and it's been just sitting there for like a year and a half. And it was as if it was saying, you know what? Hey man, you need to fucking come back here

and you need to take care of me. You know, I took care of you. I took care of you and your family and your mother and your friends, your mother's friends, when you didn't have much. And I didn't have much to offer by way of square footage. I didn't have much to offer by way of conveniences, and it was fucking cold. But, God damn it, I had a roof over your head, you know.

And I went back, and it was in bad shape, Mark. It was in bad shape. And was in bad shape and i just i got like in four days i went through that whole house i relived all those memories in such a intimate intensive period of time and at the end of it i had it all gone away i sent it all away i packed up the stuff that i was bringing out here. I let all that trash go, everything. And I had it looking prettier than she's ever looked in my entire life knowing her, you know. And it was as if she just said, thank you. Now it's time to let me go, you know.

Goodbye. I can now let you go. And damn if we didn't get an offer on that motherfucker the next day by a young family that's just starting their journey and love it the way that we did. That's beautiful. And that's kind of like, you know, anyway. I want to get the color of the gray in your walls

and just talking about homes. It would have been different if you said, I burned that motherfucker down. And I burned that motherfucker down, dude. And I got the insurance money. And that's what my mom's living on in fucking shit. What a joy, dude. What a pleasure.

Great talking to you. Yeah, man. Walton Goggins. Good dude. Good dude. And he asked me for the paint color, and I sent it to him. He liked the gray in here. And I went downstairs, I the paint color, and I sent it to him. He liked the gray in here. And I went downstairs, I found the can, and I sent him the color.

And he was happy to have it. Now he knows. Now he has the gray swatch. Anyways, that film, Them That Follow, is now playing. Go to WTFpod.com slash tour for my tour dates. Sort of trust.com for theaters where the movie is playing and where you can stream it. And now I will play guitar for you. I want you to know that I might be phasing out for a while the echoey Gibson sound. I'm going to restring my Fender Stratocaster with flat and see where that takes me. But here's a Les Paul, a black one, a black Les Paul custom. Thank you. guitar solo Boomer lives. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea and ice cream?

Yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing.

With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative.