WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1043 - Greg Kinnear

Episode Date: August 8, 2019

Greg Kinnear actually bailed on being an actor. Even though he performed in high school plays and hosted his own radio show as a teenager, when he started acting in college he decided it wasn’t for him. As Greg tells Marc, it felt like too much of a crap shoot. So he tried broadcast journalism instead, eventually hosting Talk Soup on the fledgling E! channel and Later on NBC. Greg explains how these gigs led him back to acting, and they discuss some of his best roles in As Good As It Gets, Auto Focus, Little Miss Sunshine, and his new movie Brian Banks. This episode is sponsored by Anchor (anchor.fm/maron), Good Boys from Universal Pictures, Capterra (capterra.com/WTF), and Google Fi. 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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This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series, streaming February 27th, exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required.

T's and C's apply. Lock the gates! Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fuck nicks? What the fuck-aholics? Yes, you. What the fuck-aholics? What's happening? How's it going?

I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast, WTF. Greg Kinnear is here. Greg Kinnear, he's been around a while. What do you know about him? I always knew that he came up a different way than most people in the show biz. Like, you know, like it wasn't the standard career. I remember I auditioned for his job at Later when he was leaving. He's got a new movie out called Brian Banks. It opens nationwide tomorrow, August 9th.

A lot of things happening tomorrow. A lot of things happening August 9th. For instance, season three of Glow premieres tomorrow,ust 9th on netflix that's right third season 10 episodes i'm in it allison brie betty gilpin and the rest of the gals it's back tomorrow hope you like it i thought i uh did good work and i thought the shows look great and it's a new story we're in Vegas anyways it's back it's nice now you only have to wait about a year in between seasons so right when you're about to forget it existed at all you can re-watch the first season today and and the second season

yeah re-watch both seasons today and then get geared up for tomorrow's premiere or the dropping or the delivery of the third season of glow that happens tomorrow sort of trust the movie i'm in that lynn shelton directed me michaela watkins toby huss jillian bell john bass sort of trust is opening in more theaters this weekend holy shit that's that's i did not anticipate that. You can go to sortoftrust.com to see where it's playing near you. I believe it's playing in my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico

at the Guild Theater, which was the art theater that we went to sometimes to see the art movies. Wasn't Don Poncho's. Don Poncho's was the revival house. Went there more. Don Poncho's was a little theater right across pull the plug on the history of cinema and put some washing machines in there depressing but the guild has been plugging along

for a long time i don't even know if it closed and came back or whether it's always been there it's up on central up near knob hill and my movie is playing there in Albuquerque. So hometown folks, go check it out. I will be at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon this weekend, tomorrow and Saturday. And then I'm going to be on Colbert on Monday. And then I'll be in Dallas, Austin and Houston, Texas, August 22nd through 24th. If you want to get tickets for the big special taping, through 24th. If you want to get tickets for the big special taping, that's going to be at the Schubert Theater in Boston, Massachusetts, October 12th. Two shows, 7 o'clock and 10 p.m. Go to wtfpod.com slash tour for those dates and for links to those shows. Pow! I just shit my pants. Justcoffee.coop. Haven't done that in a while.

See, some of you have been here a long time, man. Some of you have been here a long time. Almost 10 years we've been together, some of us. Me and you and you and that guy over there. Yeah, you didn't know he was into it. Now, that lady, she loves my show. Look around. Yep, her with the headset on.

Some of you have been here a long time, and some of you know me pretty well, but tomorrow's a big day. It's just another day, but it's a big day in that if I don't drink or use drugs today, tomorrow I will have 20 years of sobriety. I'm not saying I'm not nuts. I'm not saying that I don't have my problems. I'm not saying that I've been a saint, but I am saying I've been sober.

I have not drank any booze or taken any drugs unprescribed for 20 fucking years. Isn't that crazy? Maybe I should share a little bit about that story because I get a lot of email from people about sobriety. So 20 years, 1988 was the first time I was in rehab. I was in rehab in 1988 at the care unit

in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I left Los Angelesifornia after being here about a year i'd driven here after college uh on a coke bender from new mexico got to la moved to culver city ended up you know on a fluke i got into the uh comedy, worked there for, I don't know, seven, eight months, did a lot of cocaine, coked myself into psychosis, ran away from L.A., being chased by things that only I understood and only I could see. But I knew what was going on. I got my passport renewed and I prepared. Yeah, I was out of my fucking mind. And when I got back to New Mexico, I checked in. That was 1988.

28 day rehab, got clean. That was the first time I got clean. And I moved back to Boston where I went to school and I started my comedy career over again. So 1988, I got sober. I didn't stay sober. I got 20 years. So it took me about 30 years to get 20 in a row that's how it goes it just got ugly folks you know it gets ugly you go I'd get a year here 14 months there I'd gradually ease my way back I was in a marriage that was not happy in but I don't know if I would have been happy anywhere uh she wouldn't tolerate my drug use she had known I had a struggle with it so i'd use on the road or i think i'd get away with it i would start on like a on monday you know that

that was when luna lounge was maybe sunday or monday so i'd i'd be the early bird at my coke dealer's house hammerhead i'd go down a little over east side down there at seventh and like be down there at 7th and like B upstairs to see Hammerhead. I'd get there like 5.30 before he even got the shit ready. Still light out, closing the blinds. And I'd load up and I'd think that, man, I'll get a half a gram. I'll knock it out before 10 and no one will be the wiser. I'll go do my show.

I'll go to sleep. What was I thinking? I remember one time, did I ever tell this story i'm sure i have i went there to get the early bird special at my coke dealer hammerhead's house and the guy who he got it from this little latino guy showed up an old man who looked like he's about 70 just showed up and handed hammerhead a wad of tinfoil. He opened up and there was this beautiful, shiny, flaky snowball of blow. And he's like, yeah. I said, that's it? That's the stuff that you get?

Let's do some of that. And I remember doing a line of that and just feeling my brain peel away. Just like this tingly feeling went from the center of my head all the way back over my brain, down my spine. And it made everything so clear and everything popped open and everything was perfect. And I said, why don't you sell that? And he said, because no one would leave me alone. And then he dumped that thing into a bag of shake and shit and cut from day before and crunched it up it was heartbreaking should have known i had a problem then huh how sad seeing that nice chunk of coke be grounded up with garbage but anyways let's not

get too nostalgic point being i was in a marriage I wasn't happy with. I was fucking around. I was doing drugs. I would lay in bed. There's nothing worse than laying in bed with somebody who loves you and who you're lying to. And you're on blow. And you're laying there. And your heart is about to explode.

You can't stop it from beating so fast. You don't know what the fuck is going to happen. You don't want to wake her up. But you kind of do because you're afraid that you're going to die. So you might want to wake her up and say, like, I'm dying. I fucked up. That's a popular apology, kind of, from the alcoholic drug users. Hey, I'm sorry.

I'm dying. I fucked up again. I fucked up. But no, you just ride it out, laying there, sweating with your heart pounding next to a sleeping person who loves you. Just pounding away your heart. And the sad thing is that it would be easier. It would be easier to have a heart attack and die than get clean or get out of the situation you're in that makes you unhappy. Those are the thoughts.

Please, let's end this shit. Enough already. So how it happened for me. Was. And this is not orthodox. And it's not even correct. But I was sweaty. I was chubby.

I had given up on my career. I was doing local segments for a local TV show. In Manhattan. I do Conan every once in a while. But I was bloated i was bitter i was resentful and i couldn't stop doing blow was that the comedy seller talking to i believe brian's brian scalero maybe sweaty bloated drinking probably some resentful diatribe or explaining the history of comedy to somebody i think it all

it all started with prior or fuck that guy why he doesn't deserve to be on the tv and some woman almost like a vision walked up to me beautiful beautiful woman i'd never really seen her before maybe i didn't notice she just walked up to me and she goes you're Mark Maron aren't you and I said yes I am she goes what happened to you what happened to you huh what huh she was beautiful I said what are you talking about she goes you look all fucked up you're all bloated and fat and sweaty look like you need help. Do you need help? I'm like, what? What do you want?

She goes, I can help you get sober. And I'm like, I don't know. But she was beautiful, man. So I'm like, yeah. She's like, yeah. You want to talk about it? I'm like, yup. And I said, you mean like meetings and shit?

She goes, yup. You mean like God and shit? She's like, yup. And I'm like, eh. But she was beautiful. So I shit? She's like, yup. And I'm like, eh, but she was beautiful. So I walked with her for like 30 blocks. She laid it down how it works. She was a sober person three or four years at that point. We got to her house and like a fucking jerk douchebag. I bought a fucking can of Fosters on the way. I had a joint.

And I sat there in her goddamn apartment with this sober girl who's trying to lay it down for me. And I drank that beer. And I'm like, does this bother you? You gotta smoke this weed. Like a fucking idiot. But I fell in love with her, of course.

I was gonna follow her anywhere. So we started going to the things. Now I'm gonna break the tradition here because this is what it's about what i did it took me a few weeks maybe a month or two to to get you know to get straight i started going to meetings start going to meetings with her i would go with her anywhere anywhere i was fucking crazy about that person but she got me straight man and she got me focused and she, you know, she knew the program inside and out. And that's what I needed at that point in time. You can get sober however you want, but this is how I did it. I went to at least one meeting, one to three

meetings a day for about a year and a half, two years. And I met dudes in the program. I met women in the program. I became a regular meetings and I just went. I was told that if you put your sobriety first, the rest of it will follow. And also once you start getting a day count going, you don't want to lose that fucking thing. It becomes competitive. I'm not giving this up. And I was a miserable fuck. I was angry when I shared in meetings. I was like, fuck you guys. Fuck this meeting. Fuck this program, but I don't want to fucking drink, so fuck it. I was that guy, and people would come up to me after and say, you sound good, man. You're in the right place. Good for you, man. You sound great. Keep coming back. And I'm like, you fuckers

misunderstood. Got a sponsor, picked a huge asshole because i figured yeah they tell you know get somebody who has what you want and i'm like well that guy's an asshole so he kept his personality in the middle of this cult like behavior i'll take him and he was an asshole but he was uh he kind of had an interesting program you know i went a little fuck crazy i went a little food crazy you know you can go all kinds of crazy just as long as you don't go cocaine crazy or crack crazy or dope crazy or booze crazy. He was like, go ahead, fuck your life away. Do whatever you got to do.

If you don't drink, not orthodox, but it got me through. And I just stayed with it. When I moved out here with her, 2002, on a deal from Fox that didn't go anywhere, wrote the script, made a little money, enough to move, enough to get us set up out here. I was nobody. I was angry. I was resentful. I was bitter.

I was frustrated about comedy, about my career, everything else, but I was fucking sober. Obviously, because of the nature of that relationship, we locked in. I took a hostage. I wasn't going to let her go we got out here i married her in 2004 as a volatile relationship i was a complete fucking asshole i was mean i didn't fuck around on her but who cares you know i melted that thing down because i couldn't handle it so i lost that marriage she left me but because of that divorce down because I couldn't handle it. So I lost that marriage. She left me.

But because of that divorce and because of what happened afterwards and because of my panic and fear and darkness and sadness, I went into my garage and I started doing this show. That story is pretty public. All I know is I stayed sober through two divorces, through near bankruptcy, through all kinds of shit. And a lot of people, the last 10 years of my 20, you've heard it here. But by the time I started this podcast, I'd let go of any sort of hope that anything would happen for me in the career that I spent my life pursuing. And because I was able to let it go, which I did, it was heartbreaking. But at some point, you have to realize what's delusional and what isn't. And I, I, I had surrendered that. And I think because I let all that stuff go and,

you know, I wasn't good at humility, but life did it for me. And I don't drink and I don't use drugs and things have happened for me. And now I just, you know, have to remember to be fucking grateful and to, you know, talk like this to people that it is possible. I don't know how you want to do it. That's how I did it. I still do it that way. I'm still a relatively godless dude, but the steps work in my life. I understood it from my own point of view. I try to help other people. And when I get letters from you people, I try to respond to them. It's just possible. I mean, it doesn't mean everything's going to work out.

I mean, life's fucking hard. But, you know, it's not going to be any easier with drugs or fucking booze. It just isn't. And eventually you find your level. It's crazy town for about five years. But who gives a fuck? How horrible is it to be out there? You know? But I just want to thank you people you know for being there for me because a lot of this is about sharing and i got

to be honest with you that you know really the very nature of what i do here the very nature of how I do this show is the core idea of recovery in a 12-step way, really. The basic idea of staying sober in that program is that if you're an alcoholic or a drug addict, reach out to another alcoholic or drug addict and try to help them. Talk to somebody. Get out of yourself. That was really the nature of how this podcast saved my life at the beginning. It wasn't so much I was talking to drug addicts and alcoholics, but I was getting out of myself and listening to other people's stories the best I could. Now, I'm not saying I didn't interject, but the process and the act of talking to other people's stories the best I could. I'm not saying I didn't interject, but the process and the act of talking to other people gets me out of my own head and into theirs. It teaches me empathy, moves me. I'm able to take in someone else's life. But the important

lesson was like, I'm not thinking about me. And I learned how to be empathetic because it wasn't second nature for me. So really, the thing that changed my life was not only AA, but the sort of, one of the tools I learned there, I applied right here on these mics. And that was how I evolved whatever the fuck it is I do in here.

And I couldn't have done it without you people. And I'm happy to hear from you. And thank you. Thank you for my sobriety. Thank you for my success. And I hope you're okay. So I talked to Greg Kinnear and it was interesting to see him. He took a different route and I was curious about it. And I had some weird questions to ask him about something very specific. You'll hear that. His new movie, Brian Banks, opens nationwide tomorrow, August 9th.

And this is me talking to Greg Kinnear here in the, it's actually a bedroom. Are you self-employed? Don't think you need business insurance? Think again. Business insurance from Zensurance is a no-brainer for every business owner because it provides peace of mind. A lot can go wrong. A fire, cyber attack, stolen equipment, or an unhappy customer suing you. That's why you need insurance. Don't let the, I'm too small for this mindset, hold you back from protecting yourself.

Zensurance provides customized business insurance policies starting at just $19 per month. Visit Zensurance today to get a free quote. Zensurance, mind your business. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by james clavelle to show your true heart just to risk your life when i die here you'll never leave japan alive fx's shogun a new original series streaming february 27th exclusively on disney plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply Licencies apply. Whoa, look at this. I know, dude.

I haven't listened to that yet. You know what? What? I have, oh my gosh, just seeing a Maxwell C90. Oh, I thought you were referring to what's on it. Well, I'll get to that in a second. But seeing a Maxwell C90 tape, I mean, this brings me back. Right. I think we're

about three months apart. Right. Yeah, so. Yeah, no, me too. And that was the top end. That's when you really wanted to get the good tape. That was the good one.

That's the gold, baby. That's right, the gold. Where you're making that mixtape and you really want it to be great. Yeah. Yeah, I found that.

I haven't listened to that. I kind of heisted it. I clipped it. I did a documentary for Mike Binder on the Comedy Store, and that was in Mitzi's office, and I just took it. Who did the recording? I don't fucking know. Was it just in some during a show?

No, yeah, it must have been at the Comedy Store. Yeah, yeah. It just says, Sam Kenn uh trying to provoke tamayo now tamayo otsuki i lived in a house up on the hill that mitzi owned the owner of the store and she lived in the house and they used to go out so this has got to be pretty wow did she know you took it no she's dead oh no did did whoever was there well they do now they're they're slowly learning that i've taken right now in this broadcast they're slowly learning that because when letterman was on i showed him this i i took this too this is mitzi's driver's license which is just on the floor wow but it's like really uh i don't know it kind of gives me the the willies in a good way so you steal shit no i don't

that place yeah you do a couple of things i stole i mean but they were no one was gonna i mean i'm curating a collection no i understand i'm not judging i'm just saying i'm not by nature a stealer but it was like i don't know the the history of that place in my mind it's important that i have these things someone's got to take them i uh i did a radio show when i was a kid and overseas and uh i had used to have all of my some of my shows actually still on cassette and at some point just in my life i i lost them i don't have one yeah i lost those before they were digitized yeah never got it digitized and also the one of the great recordings of my life was my dad interviewing me. He got me a little Sony recorder, you know, where you hit play and record at the same time. And I was nine years old, and he's like, so, Greg, tell me about your day. And I'm like, well, I was out by the lake, and I saw a turtle. I was out by the lake and I saw a turtle.

And we had this great interview. I mean, it was like really an unforgettable interview. And I left the cassette with my dad and I always knew he had it. Right. And I came back one time, I was talking to my mom. Hey, where's the, I want to hear that, I want to hear that. And I put it on and it's Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon Days recording. And I realized that I've been snuffed out.

Yeah. And I forgot to remove the little tabs that would have made it a permanent recording. Right, you got to do that. You got to. Did you do that for that? I don't know if this is done. But I used to do it, and then like, you know, oh, no, they're there.

You got to take those off. I also have to find a fucking cassette recorder to play it on. Right. There's a couple of things. And there's that. A couple of things that have to happen. They're not really around anymore.

But yeah, you used to do that. You used to pop them out. But then if you really put tape over it. Yeah, that's true. You just put tape over it and record right over it. That's true. So I have a funny memory of you that doesn't involve you directly. Okay.

And I need to validate it. I need it to be confirmed. When you left later, I guest hosted for two days. I interviewed Roger Ebert, Robert Loja, David O. Russell. Wow. You got better guests than I did. Walters. What's her name? Lisa Ann Walters? O. Russell. Wow. You got better guests than I did. Walters. What's her name?

Lisa Ann Walters. Yeah. Yeah. But on the set- So essentially you did a week. I did, yeah. I did four shows, and I was not great at it. I interviewed like this then.

There was no jokes. I didn't carry the- I was very involved with connecting with the person. I don't know what happened. Roger Debert was snippy with me. Oh, why? Who the hell knows? He was a cranky, but I was trying to connect.

Nobody seemed to like to go into that little stage. I don't know what it was. It wasn't you. It was a cursed place. Really? I think so. I think a lot of them would come off the Tonight Show, and then they'd be walked down that hallway at NBC, and they'd have to take a left and go to stage nine or whatever we were. And by the

time they got down there, it was like, all right, what do you want to ask me? But here's what I wanted to know. There was a, I remember waiting to go on stage and there was this like huge glob of gum. Did you used to take the gum out of your mouth and stick it on the wall? That sounds right. Like, and it was one of those things that just became a thing and it was just this huge mound of of gum that no one fucked with i don't know if that i now wrap them in tissue if you might have noticed when i sat down here i don't know if it was policy with you like don't touch the mound no i i guess they just left it up there, but it does sound right, but I don't know. It's right.

Yeah. I don't think you have to be embarrassed about that. I'm honestly not embarrassed, and this is going to be a horrible, horrible job for you because honestly, I have, I don't know when it happened exactly, but I have little bits and pieces that are very clear to me, extremely clear, like talking about the Maxwell tapes. Kid stuff. But then there's other parts that are unclear and a little dark for me.

So I don't remember the gum. Well, not, I just mean like, I don't remember. Oh, right. And that would be an example where I'm like, that's, I'm not joking. That sounds right, but I don't actually remember before every show at later taking a big glob of gum and sticking it on the wall the glob on the wall was big it was probably just a regular piece in your mouth it turned in no i understand i guess when you get into a show like

that and i've noticed this it's just uh even talking to letterman you don't remember i mean it's just like every day right you don't know conversations you had you're just showing up for work and there's another person sitting there and you've got the cards and you go totally i mean i i did that show i think for about a year and a half that was it yeah yeah i didn't do it uh for longer than that it was about a year less than a year and a half actually and i i had gotten actually i got as good as it gets which was the time when i went in to don oldlmeier, who was running the show, who was the big dog. And I literally went to his office. You know, once again, I had the nine-year-old voice.

Hi, Don. Yeah. And had to sort of ask him if maybe I could move out because I'd been doing movies and trying to do a talk show. And it was just madness. Well, this is a weird thing. It's like I remember – well, I mean, we can go back. But I remember when you were on TalkSoup and I found you immediately irritating. Thank you.

Yeah. And then – but why – Take a number. Wiser people, people who I respected comedically took a liking to you. I just didn't, I didn't understand what you were doing initially. And then people were like, you know, you should really watch it. He's an odd, funny guy.

And then I, I grew to like you very much. And, but I don't know where you came from. I don't know what you just appeared on the show business landscape, almost fully formed. What, uh, what, Where did you come from? Where did you grow up? You seem kind of. I'm from Indiana originally. That makes sense.

Yeah, sure. What part? I'm from a little town called Logan Sport, which is up near Fort Wayne, a couple hours north of Indianapolis. Lived there until I was about nine. Yeah. And then I was in D.C. for a few years, like three years.

My dad ended up working at the State Department. We were overseas for a lot of years. Was he a lifer over there? He wasn't a lifer. He started working for the State Department in the 70s, and he had had a business in the Midwest for many years with his father. What was that? Well, they had a clothing store, and they had a vending business. Vending machines?

Yeah. Oh, so did you have to go service the vending machines? He didn't really bring me with him to that. I remember a couple of times where we got a call late at night and he had to grab a like a shotgun and say i'll be home later come on yeah because they had a few they would the main uh place where they kept and all the storage would get robbed once in a while and so he would of the vending machines of what went into the vending machine. What was it, mostly candy? It was candy and like little gooey, heart-stopping, you know, sort of spongy things. Yeah.

And rolls and stuff like that. Sandwiches, coffee, the whole mix. He had a bunch of different machines. He had a lot. And then he just had them in places. Yeah. He had a couple of guys go out and get quarters. That's right.

And you'd have to, they'd go collect, you know, you'd have to go collect, I think every 48 hours they'd go collect and they had them. It was all about location, sort of like a Starbucks today. Where are you? Well, if you're down at the GM plant where they're, you know, putting on building hubcaps, that was a great spot because you had a big crowd. And if you were, you know, otherwise you got, oh, by the way, i'm missing the big one what and you'll appreciate this yeah tobacco oh he had cigarette machines yeah nice yeah yeah well that's a good business i don't know if it exists that much anymore if i think about it they're around they have very complex ones at the airport where you can buy like a car right yeah yeah that's

true like those ones where you can get like an iPhone 10. Exactly. Yeah, that is always strange. And there are, aside from the airport though, I mean, a bowling alley, like I guess if you go to like a bowling alley, you'll maybe see- Are they still around? I don't know. Did he have the sandwich ones?

He had sandwiches too. And he said that was a real pain in the ass. The refrigerated ones. Yeah. sandwich ones he had sandwiches too and he said that was a real pain in the refrigerated ones yeah so he had to go make that at a separate place and then they go drop the sandwiches off and have to get a minute it was a lot of different moving parts but he had a whole warehouse of machines uh well the machines were actually out right service but he had a warehouse where every kind of a fulfillment center yeah everything had to kind of go from be distributed to all these places. That's such a niche business.

Yeah. My neighbor, when I was growing up, his dad had a couple vending machines. Not a lot, but enough for us to go into the garage where he lived and steal candy bars. Yeah. Plenty of candy bars. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And you know what's funny is I don't remember having the opportunity. I do like a good salty snack as much as the next guy today, but I mean, I don't remember being like, you know, covered in Kit Kats and Snickers or anything. Chips. Chips. I don't remember that, but I'm sure that it was around me. Lay's sour cream and onion chips.

I remember those from when I was a kid. That's a good chip. Yeah, it's a good chip. Yeah. All right, so you're there. You're in Indiana. Your dad's got a clothing store. What was that?

Good clothing? Mediocre? I think they did okay, kind of mid-level sports and leisure stuff. How does he get sucked into the State Department? Well, his brother actually was working in Washington, and he had an opportunity to go there, and he took it. This was in 1975. Yeah. And started in one part of the State Department, moved to a couple of different areas, but basically was there for three. We were there for about three or four years until he got a diplomatic assignment overseas.

Who was the president? President in 19. We're in Jimmy Carter years, aren't we? I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. We're in Jimmy Carter years and we are there actually Ford. Yeah.

I guess we were first there and then Jimmy Carter once we went overseas. You know, those guys who work in the State Department, I had a buddy who was in it for a while. They're there for many presidents. They're there to serve the diplomatic mission in the United States. So your dad, what was his position? I'm trying to think the whole time he was there. You know, I think it was about, it was probably ultimately about 11 years and then he retired. But he was the, when we went to Beirut, Lebanon. Wow. He was working in the regional trade and development

office, which was this office to help set up imports and exports from U.S. and Middle Eastern countries. So he traveled a lot. Yeah. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, all through the Middle East. You lived in all those places? No, we were in Lebanon, but he would move, he would travel to have to hit those spots and meetings and trying to just grease the wheel for U.S. business it was uh you know i don't remember how much he was away but i remember him being away a lot i remember i talked to another guy whose dad i think was a military guy but was he lived in beirut and in saudi arabia yeah it's like it must it must be

bizarre i mean do you have memories of it i do i remember getting there and uh you know the the prayer in the morning begins you know the the sound of that the call yeah um and yeah it is just upside down immediately i i felt and originally from a few years prior to that being from indiana won't surprise you to hear that i was on mars and felt completely uh, you know, kind of out of body. But I guess at some point, you know, the reality becomes the reality of where you are. I was only 12. Became kind of cool. And there was a school, the American Community School there, and, you know, made a few friends.

And your folks were together, and you have sisters and brothers? Yeah, and brothers i have two brothers one was in college the other one was there with me that's good yeah but did you get out much did you go into the streets yeah we we did uh to eat the foods meet the people we we we did there was no way not to meet the people and eat the foods yeah that was the only option um but i do remember like uh as we were there and in a fairly short period of time the civil war started so at night you started to hear a little bit of spotty gunfire right um there was a little bakery downstairs uh on the place we were temporarily living when we first got there that literally got blown up. Wow.

Which is a weird hit, right, on a bakery? Why do you go after a bakery? Well, it hits people right where they live, breakfast. Yeah. You know what I mean? Maybe you're right. Yeah, it's scary. There was, you know, and there were a couple of really scary situations where it just kind of started to feel like,

wow, this is, you know, I was a kid, so you're not really thinking about your own mortality, but I was like, this feels real. Yeah, right. Yeah. You know? So after Beirut, did you go like another exotic place? We went to Greece. That's nice.

Yeah, that was nice. Wow, that's an exciting childhood. Now, did you feel disjointed? Were you one of those people that, you know, that's that's exciting childhood now did you feel disjointed were you one of those people that you know you made friends in a place and then you sort of like gotta go yeah i mean there is a little bit of that you know whenever i hear you know that they're actors i meet actors and they're like you know i you know you read so many stories of actors who've moved around a lot and kind of had to redefine themselves. I don't know how much to, where that fits into my own makeup, but I definitely felt like things were unstable.

Like I, you know, when I had a footing, don't count on it for long. Right. Because we're moving on. Right. Listen, we were in Greece for six years, so I should be grateful for, you know, that was a pretty long run

and I still have a lot of good friends from there. Really, from Greece? Yeah. Like Greek guys? Mostly have moved back to the States. They were Greek Americans. I have a few friends that are still in Greece and, you know, obviously it's been a really rough time there for the last few years, but I have a few, you know, a few friends that are still there, married families. Do you go back there? I took my kids there two years ago. Good food there. Oh, yeah. So after Greece, you come back here?

Went to college. See, you don't seem like a guy that was, you know, like when you say that, hear about other actors who you had to readjust, redefine themselves. You seem like a fairly consistent, solid guy. I do? Yeah. Am I misreading that? Well, you dropped the word insecure i'm well i gotta tell you i'm thrilled to hear that okay all right why am i in good company

of course come on buddy of course give it up i guess i guess that's it i guess that's you're not insecure you've got a knife on your desk i yeah i have that there so people i don't know what it's just things i collected over time and people pick them up but no i i think that's probably why i connected immediately with you and uh when you're on talk soon you said i irritated you that's right because we probably had something in common i'm like you you were you had this attitude you were seeing yourself in me sure sure that guy's overcompensating and being defensively funny. I'm familiar with that. Let's be friends forever. All right. I'm game.

All right. Do you live far away from here? I'll come over after this. Okay. Yeah, you're more than welcome, man. I got, I'm a bachelor this week. Come on over. Family's gone?

They are. That's what I, you got a big family now, huh? I do. I have three daughters. Oh, did you keep trying for the boy? I promise you I didn't. It's a great question. It's a fair question, and I'm not answering it to sound like, oh, no, no, I'm fine. I'm totally fine.

I don't know. I didn't want a boy. I would have been perfectly happy with the boy. I will tell you that I have two brothers, so we were three of a kind. Right. And I kind of like that. Yeah. So the fact that we have three girls, it's good.

They all hang out together. They get each other. I don't have to add the whole other composite of dealing with the guy thing and the next of it. I only have to know how to deal with girls, which is not easy. Really? I bet. Yeah.

All right. So you go to college. Where'd you go to college? I went to college at Arizona. My brother did too. Oh, did he? Yep. University of Arizona, Tucson.

Is he older or younger? He's two years younger than me. Oh, okay. Yeah. He was a tennis guy. He was probably there around the time I was there. Yeah, for sure. He still lives in Arizona.

Wow. I like Arizona. I like Tucson. It's a good town. I like Tucson a lot too. It's my favorite part of Arizona, but not this time of year. It's a little hot there. It's like 200 degrees there now.

Everything's changing. I didn't do anything show business related at Arizona other than start as a drama major for a minute and feel like I can't do this. Where did the radio show happen? Greece. Really? They had an armed forces radio station there

and Casey Kasem, American... Sure. They had an armed forces radio station there. And, you know, Casey Kasem, American Top Four, you know, they had all that. You know, they do the news on the hour. And they had a little one-hour show called School Days. And the guy who was doing it was graduating. So he said, hey, do you want to do this? So I was like in 10th grade. So I went and became a you know I played some music and talked about what was going on at school and that was my thing every Saturday

Where did you have like? Any sort of mentors or heroes around that did you learn how to broadcast without saying that and I mean were you focused on it? Was it a thing that you're like I'm good at this I got fired No, I'm good at this? I got fired. So no. I did get fired by a Marine Admiral who I guess I wasn't great with being on time. But in terms of doing it, I just tried to kind of figure it out on the job. I didn't really have a mentor. You know, Casey Kasem was at the prime.

Oh, yeah. So American Top 40. Hello and welcome back to American Top 40. I'm Casey Kasem in Hollywood. You know, so I don't know. I mean, like him, my other guys on the Wolfman Jack. I don't know. You heard these guys.

I basically spun records and tried to just keep the show on for 60 minutes but do you remember like liking it i remember liking it and i remember thinking uh i liked the platform yeah for it um i had done some uh some acting in school as a kid in high school and i think that stuck with me i had some really great drama teachers over there. Really? Yeah, yeah. Miss Panopoulos and Miss Gibbs. Like what'd you learn?

I was pretty good at just kind of being in the moment. I felt like I was pretty good at listening. I felt like I had teachers who were really intent on letting you try stuff and all the same shit that happens now. I felt like I was in an environment that was safe and you could explore. And they did surprisingly good stuff. Listen, a drama teacher, when I got to college, I didn't feel like I had somebody that I could really connect with. But certainly in high school, I felt that. I felt like there were more than a few people there that made a big impression on me.

So when you got to college, that was sort of the plan. You were going to do drama. Yeah. And what happened? I just had a drama teacher come out very early on and say, you know, less than 2% of you are ever going to make a living doing this. And that was the first day of class. Something like that.

It may have been day two, but it was heavy whiskey with the water. And that sunk in? You were like, what am I doing this for? Maybe I'm not good enough or what? Yeah. I think I just felt like I didn't know anybody really in the – I didn't know – the one connection to the entertainment business, but very few – I didn't know the one connection to the entertainment business, but very few people out here.

Yeah. I had been here one time and the idea of coming out here and trying to make some sort of living at it just seemed kind of crazy. Does that make sense? I mean, you know. It is totally crazy. It's a totally crazy ambition. It's a totally crazy thing to commit your life to. Right.

No doubt. I mean, I don't know. But I mean mean some people don't think that way no you can't right right i but i'm saying i can you i can and i did but i'm saying some people have the chip where they are literally able to just say oh no i'll put that aside and i'm gonna go do it yeah it's called uh active delusion committed nurtured delusion. Right. Yeah, I mean, I think about it all the time. Like, after you get to a certain point, like, I wanted to be a comedian. That's all I thought about doing, and that's what I came out to do. And then once I got started, you know, doing it, there was no turning back,

and there was no other option. Right. You know, when everything fell apart a decade ago, I was like, I was like, well, I could always, oh, fuck, there's nothing there anymore. Right. There's no, I can't do it. I was scared of getting to that point, I think. When I got to college, I just saw it.

I was like, this is what's going to happen. Right. And I felt like I just didn't know what it took. I didn't know what I needed. And I was afraid maybe of getting to that place and it just all falling away. And, you know, I just didn't know what I would do at that point. Well, that's good that you had that because people come out here with no clue. I mean, there's still this idea, I think, about show business where you just go to Hollywood.

Right. And then what? Right. I don't know what to, like, it's so heartbreaking sometimes when you see people where you just, like, there's no advice you can give to anybody. But the great thing is with, like, the internet, all I'd say is stay home with the internet and with the ability to kind of do these things, whatever it is you want to do. You could do it yourself.

You can do it wherever you want. You don't have to dive all the way in. Not anymore. Yeah, I mean, you can sort of find your own way and maybe make a living. But, I mean, it's like there is no three networks anymore. Movies, you don't even know where they come out anymore so it's weird right you know it's a i'm just happy to be making a living in show business that's all period yeah i'm with you man and i and i honestly you know uh so i got spooked and i i switched to broadcast journalism and thought maybe i'd go into the news

oh so yeah that makes sense you know i thought i'd go the news. Tom Brokaw seemed like he was this far away from being an actor. I think you could do the news. Yeah. So what was that curriculum like? Did you do like on-camera stuff? We did. I had, I'm trying to think.

So that's interesting because that's close, right? So you're not going to go do, you know, Odette's plays or, you know, whatever. You know, you're not going to go do the drama school thing, but you're going to get in front of the camera. So I'm warming up to something, right? I'm at least cozying up to something there. I'm going to be on camera in something that seems more practical.

It was a great cheat for myself. It really was. I tricked myself. And there were guys like Dan. If you watch golf on NBC, you'll see Dan Hicks there at the US Open like this weekend. Dan was at the same year I was there. And there were a few people that came out of Arizona that- Is he a golf commentator?

Yes, he is. But we had the same broadcasting glasses. Right. same broadcasting glasses and right you know he you know they were just we would do weird stuff the teachers would have you get in front of a camera read some copy try something it was all strange but no but no actual reporting no actual reporting nothing of any substance no we didn't cover that that was more of a graduate program that i didn't get to mark so it's just it was literally an on-camera major yeah did and radio too or no no radio no they was just uh broadcast journalism i think we did tool around i think there was some radio classes that were also part of that but uh

you know all these were electives i mean you still had to get through the basic just stuff you're very good you're very good at reading prompter that's it that's not and not everyone can But, you know, all these were electives. I mean, you still had to get through the basic just stuff. You're very good. You're very good at reading prompter. That's it. That's not. And not everyone can do that. I'm so good at reading prompter.

It's insane how good I am. Yeah. Like, how do I not have a job reading a teleprompter right now? You could. I know. But I don't want to go back. Doing what? What am I going to do?

You know, just. I'd be better. I'd be a better actor if they put it on a teleprompter, quite frankly. I really had that skill. It's an innate thing. I don't think you can learn it, really. I did a teleprompter show at Comedy Central, and I was pretty good at it. Were you?

Yeah. Yeah, but it is kind of, you know, there's those moments where I go back. Yeah. Okay. But, well, it's two things. One, you got to have the right roller. You got to have the right teleprompter roller.

And on, on TalkSoup, we had a great guy, Perrin Spicoli. Yeah. That wasn't really his name. That's what I'd call him on the show. We did a couple of bits like around you.

I remember, cause I wanted to do some original comedy bits. And I had David Cross in the audience as a Greg Kinnear superfan. He stood up, and he took his shirt off, and he had pictures of your face on each of his boobs. Is that true? Yes. How does the nipple fit into the Greg Kinnear face? It doesn't.

It was a weird idea. Okay. And then I said, well, Greg's not here, but I'm not a bad guy. And we did one of those sort of weird montages of him and I having fun in the studio riding bikes and stuff yeah that was the bit i did on your show yeah yeah yeah did you like the crew and the group there yeah it was great i was nervous and uh you know but in my mind at that time you know i was doing comedy and i was obviously you know given the opportunity to do that and i thought that i could do it but i didn't really you know it's weird because that was a little longer form than like a letterman it was no my god we had one guest you kidding me

i had a i still have a i have a uh what's it called a paperweight from my producer with the words what else question mark on it which he gave to me as a as a joke because i was always like my horror moment i was like what what do we get to what are we going to do when we get to what else? Talking to Tori Spelling or whoever, and no disrespect to Tori. I know what you mean, yeah. I mean, because you want it to be a real conversation, but you have stuff to cover. Like I remember David O. Russell was the guest,

and he was an hour and a half late because he was in a meeting with Steven Spielberg. So he comes in from that. The audience has been sitting there. God, the warm-up guy is really good. We're working him now. Yeah. But it turned out to be interesting, I guess.

I didn't – I remember Robert Loja being – I was excited. I'd never done it before, so it was all – I wasn't jaded at all. But you're so good at this. I would have thought – I was 12 years old. Well, I would have thought easier, probably easier for you

than many of the other guest hosts. And two, you also had experience in front of a live audience. I came off of Doc Soup to go to Later. I had never, I really had no, I had no live audience at all.

I don't know how the hell I ended up, I thought I was going to do like Bob's show. Yeah. Bob Costas is who I took later over from. And it was just two guys talking. And I'm not saying that would have been good television, but suddenly I was walking out and doing a live thing. And it was, it was a real adjustment for me. And I was, I wasn't particularly great at it. I never felt like i got into a comfort zone with it oh with that with the jokes yeah yeah getting the laughs yeah yeah but

that wasn't later wasn't um tom snyder show right that was it was it was before before uh costas added it was i kind of remember tom snyder, interviewing Manson. Yeah. Yeah, that was crazy. Smoking his ass off. And he always had that great quote, you know, well, at 1230, you get your smokers and your tokers. I don't know why. That's not a Tom Snyder. That's a Carson. That is not a Tom Snyder.

It's a good Carson, though. That is not Tom. where the fuck is tom so you can do an impression or two but so how did you get the gig on talk soup because that was like a new network or something right wasn't it crazy it's funny because it was uh kind of humiliating i i had before uh before e was e it Movie Time. Yeah. It was my first job. And it was a new channel that was going to start up. And they were going to be the MTV of movies. And we shot it over in Santa Monica. Yeah.

Basically, we would run EPKs and trailers of movies and just try to fill time. And I got a job there. I was building the show at Eclipse. Because that's all it was. I did that. I did short attention span theater. There you go. Yeah. So we would literally have to fill i would do what's called the core hour and

i'd go in and have to fill three hours of time with uh you know with trailers with trailers yeah and and just whatever interview happened to be on that tail end of a trailer right and uh it turns out that that's not very entertaining. But you came right out of college and just came out here? No, I worked for a while for a low-budget film company called Empire Pictures, and I got a job doing marketing there for about a year. Really? Out here? Yeah, they were located on, it's where, I'm not sure if Gold's Gym is still there, but it was off of

La Brea on the west side between Hollywood and Sunset. Oh, yeah. And that building was Empire Pictures and a guy named Charlie Ban actually. What were the movies? I mean, what did they do? Was it a distribution place

or was it a production house or it was a it was a production house we made uh we made feature-length uh emotion pictures did you uh yeah they made uh like a lot of stuff they made reanimator and i think space sluts and the slammer and uh classics the imp no they were kind of like it was very kind of B level stuff, but it was, uh, but it was cool. I actually,

uh, you learned the business. I learned a little bit of business. And then I got a, a, a opportunity to go audition for this movie time thing, which I took and ended up getting a job, basically filling hours of time with clips and trailers.

And he came in and fire, you know, if one day the channel came instead of being called movie time was called E yeah and they changed the look and they changed the the feel and they changed all of the hosts that got fired and uh I went away for about a year and then came back to do which my tail between my legs to start you know talk soon what'd you do for that year back to do which my tail between my legs to start you know talk soon what'd you do for that year back to empire no i went and uh i sold with a friend a show at fox uh called the best of the worst so it was uh we were looking at the worst jobs it was kind of a reality show kind of look

at the worst jobs of all time the worst inventions and the worst shows so you like somehow you got your representation when you got out here and you just i mean you know off of the movie time thing okay i got an agent oh i get it because so you got it seems like you took to it pretty well you were going there was a lot of different approaches like you created a show you got the sense of how the business worked at empire you hosted a Yeah. So you kind of knew like, all right, this is how this works. A little bit. I mean, I never felt like I had a strong handle on anything because I was kind of flopping all over the place. But yeah, I mean, I was out here and I was kind of, you know, in the orbit of something that was really interesting to me.

So when TalkSoup starts, I mean, what was was the premise is that you were just going to take clips from talk shows and riff yeah we were going to basically uh look at uh look at daytime moments right um you know geraldo sally jesse rafael the today show whatever we could get whatever we could get for free yeah and we would uh and we were going to just show the clip and it wasn't it was not intended to be a comedy show really no no there was no expectation no talk of that just like a recap thing completely it was nothing more than a a billboard to tell you what was the reason we got the clip free was because we would tell you what was coming on tomorrow on jerry springer so it was promotional we got the clip free was because we would tell you what was coming on tomorrow on jerry springer so it was promotional we got the clip free and and very quickly after

we started the show uh my my producer eileen graham and i were kind of looking at these clips and we were going wow this is that we you know this is i, I don't even know when the moment happened. It was unavoidable that that show became kind of this. Making fun of the clip. Yeah, a little bit of a, you had to look at it with an arched eyebrow. Right. Because there was no other way to fucking do it. Yeah. It's just crazy.

And it got more and more absurd, not by the year, by the month. Right. Yeah. And so that's what defined the show ultimately is like once you guys decided we got to take the piss out of this stuff. Oh, then we just went for the rafters, man. And it became like a big show.

Yeah. And then we had like, I remember I met Phil Hartman, who I was like, I was just like, I honestly, I was like, Great guy. He's such a nice guy.

He's like, well, hi, Greg. And he's super cool. I met him at a restaurant. And he said, yeah, I like your show. And I was like, oh, well, if you – I think the voice came. If you ever want to come on, Mr. Hartman. Yeah. And he said, yeah, yeah, I'd do that.

That'd be great. And next thing you know, Phil Hartman showed up. He was our first one, first kind of celebrity to come and kind of join in the fun. Right. And we did this bit with him that was, honestly, I was just trying to keep a straight face. Yeah. He hit it out of the park. He was so engaged.

He was so great. And yeah, that was cool. Because I remember now, it really became this weird kind of cult thing. Like Talk Soup was, because that's it because i remember now like it really became this weird kind of cult thing like talk soup was because that's what happened is like guys i knew were funny guys were watching you and saying like you got to check that show and i'm like what is this what is that show yeah and then like all of a sudden became this phenomenon you know it's funny because um no one certainly nobody at e knew that it was a I mean, they didn't even know we were on the air. But it was, wasn't it?

It was. We started to get numbers, and somebody would be like, hey, we got a one this weekend. Which, by the way, today, that is actually a hit today. But at the time... For basic cable. It was a joke, but it really wasn't a joke for basic cable. It meant something, it really wasn't a joke right basic cable it meant something because it wasn't a point one right right and and so suddenly it was clear that you

know that people were watching the show and suddenly we were uh we we i never really felt it i mean i would show up park the car go building, go up, we'd record the show. And then I'd, you know, go to Ralph's and get a sandwich. Right. You know, I mean, and I didn't really feel, I didn't, there wasn't like a lot of recognition of it. I didn't, like people weren't like, hey, you do that show. So it was kind of a quiet thing. But I think we went down to Florida and did did a special down there that's where you do it

right yeah we went down to florida we did a special down there and i was down in florida i was like wow people really uh they uh they really see the show well that's where everybody's watching tv all day baby so okay so you're becoming this this weird kind of host talk show star guy, and then you get the later shot. The guy who took your place, John Henson, right? Yeah. Yeah, I went to college with that guy a couple years behind me. Really?

Yep. Where did you go to college? Boston University. Oh, yeah, Boston University. A lot of smart people out of there. I guess, but I kind of knew him, and then he was a comic as well. I knew he went that way. I don't think I've ever met him.

Really? No, the only one, I met Aisha. Yeah, Aisha Tyler. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny because I did it for three years. I started on January 1st of, I don't know, 92 or 93, and then I did it exactly after the third year my contract was up on December 31st.

Yeah. And it was like December 15th. And I was like in to shoot the weekend edition of Talk Soup, which was kind of going to be our year-end show. And nobody had said anything. And I was like, I kind of went in there knowing this is it. Yeah. Because I wasn't going to go back at that point. Did you already get the offer from later?

I was doing later. Oh, from later? I was doing later. So I was doing later kind of in the last year. I was doing talk soups. I was doing both. Wow, that's a crazy schedule. So you'd strip talk. No, you couldn't. You had to do each of them day to day.

I had to do it day to day. That's the weird thing about how you establish yourself in the minds of people and in the business, and then you go on to get an Oscar nomination. That's like, that doesn't happen much. I mean, it's rare when TV actors at that time could make the jump to features and really succeed at it. And it's like, how did that, why?

I don't want to skip over later. I mean, how you're at later a year and a half. Well, yeah, so I'm doing, I was doing later and I'm finishing up my contract at TalkSoup, and I have had a couple of meetings with Sidney Pollack on a movie called Sabrina. He's great. I love Pollack. I love him. And so he had brought me in to his office.

How did he find you? I got a call from my agent saying, Sidney Pollack wants, he would like you to come in and meet him about this movie, Sabrina. Wow. And I was probably like November or something. I was like, oh, my God. All right. Well, sure.

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you don't even have the internet for me to like research Sidney Pollack and know that he's from Lafayette, Indiana, which was about, you know, 15 minutes from the town I grew up in. No kidding. Yeah. And in fact, I'm convinced that's why he brought me in,

because he couldn't believe somebody was from Logan Sport, Indiana. So I went in to meet him, and he was, you know, I still remember the moment. He kind of called me down. I was walking the wrong way, and he goes, Greg! Greg! Gave me a wave down to his office, and I was sweaty palms and all. We had a conversation, and he said, we talked for an hour or so, and then he just picked up a piece of paper. He said, here, read this. Read this. We're just going to do this.

He's a great actor. He's Sabrina. Yeah, right. He was able to be Sabrina, and that's how good he was. And I played the David Lar know, David Larrabee lines. We kind of went back and forth and he said, okay, try it again, but don't act.

Stop acting. And I was like, oh, I see. Natural. I see what he's looking for. He's looking for that insecurity, the vulnerability. And I think I did it again and I, it's kind of a long pause and he was like, yeah, all right, well listen, I don't think anything's come out of this. But listen, thank you for coming. And but really nice. He wasn't being a jerk. He just was like, I think that was kind of the test. And and then a few months later, my contract, you know, as I say, the show came up at the end of Talk Soup, and they made a play for me to stay. But I was just like, you know what?

I felt like I had done three years of that. Yeah. And I just felt like the time was— A lot of gum on the wall back there. I had a lot of gum on the wall. It was just time to move on, man. Yeah. And so I basically left.

And so I basically left. And then a couple months later, Sidney called again, went back in, auditioned, and ended up getting that role. Wild, man. Yeah. And by the way, if I had kept doing Talk Soup, if I had taken that, I don't think I could have done that. But you were doing later, but you could get out of it. I could do later. Don Ulmeier let me go do the movie. He said, yeah, go. We'll get you a guest host or whatever and we'll figure

it out it's late at night play tonight you're on a 1 30 in the morning who cares no one's gonna freak out yeah nobody's seen you anyway and you're nervous in that seat man go have some fun see if acting's your thing and it was that's but you so you shot for what a couple months we shot for about uh it seemed like a yeah it was probably about three three or four months i mean it was a big harrison ford you know is that the prime and we we we shot in the uh north shore of long island in glen cove yeah and uh we were shooting this monstrous house. And I was living in New York and just kind of would go out there and- You were in the city then?

Yeah. And then I would come back periodically to LA to shoot various episodes of later where we would bank them. So instead of now doing them day and date we would suddenly do a week's worth of shows in one sure right yeah you just line up the promotional whatever they're lined up yeah yeah yeah yeah so and and so speaking to sitting down and talking to somebody for a half hour on that kind of format yeah and then trying to do four of them and trying to have the warm-up guy keep the show you know yeah i mean it was it was crazy so uh that's where we went to i mean i do that too i mean that like i can't get people a lot of times i wouldn't have gotten you if you weren't out promoting something you know like that's not true well i mean okay but i'm just saying that i know

what it's like to bank interviews right of course you know what i mean of course no it's necessary yeah so but were you like when you got on set were you like i can't fucking believe this is happening i mean this is harrison ford and were you like nervous and terrified i mean i can't imagine what would it be like to come out of the gig that you were in and then be put in that position yeah i was uh i wasn't i wasn't as nervous on the first day as I should have been out of sheer stupidity and just, you know. Cockiness. Cockiness, I guess.

Yeah, yeah. No, it really wasn't like I felt like, I got this. But I did feel like, you know, we had rehearsed it a lot. I'd spent some time with Harrison by that point, who was, you know, you know, intimidating, but, but, you know, it's okay. I don't know. Sidney made me feel like, I felt like he was there. I felt like I had Sidney there and he was like, you're okay.

You're, we're doing good. You know, he kind of gave me a pat on the back. I love that guy. Yeah. I love him as an actor. Yeah. My gosh. Great director, but also a great actor.

Like never, not one bad performance and maybe the greatest performance in Tootsie. I always thought. Great. The firm. I think he took a, did he play a role in the firm? I don't think, I don't feel like he did. He directed it, but maybe he didn't put himself in it, but I thought he might have. I love that movie.

Yeah, me too. It's great. Have you seen the new trailer for Top Gun Maverick? I just saw him trolling around in the plane. Tom Cruise, he's very good when he has something to focus on if he's got to climb something or operate a thing yeah it's the best a lot of operating in that yeah is it like when they go upside down yeah i always remember how they look over their shoulders yeah in the planes because i do that in my car and every time i do it my car i'm like i'm like top gun i'm top gunning it in my car gotta look on top of you it's gotta be somewhere yeah yeah that thing where it's almost like a

panic yeah where's it you know but uh so did you when you re-enter this acting thing after like doing it basically in high school did you feel because i'm at this point with it myself where i'm like i've done a few movies and i want to get better at it because i'm at this point with it myself where i'm like i've done a few movies and i want to get better at it because i'm sort of like you know if the script is tight i can you know get out of myself but i feel like i should get some some lessons or something a coach did you do that no all right you just you just went i didn't i didn't i didn't never have i didn't have an acting coach i mean i i unless you consider directors acting coaches which i do you like you like directors who are hands-on because i've talked to some directors they're like i hired the guy to do the thing no i'm not gonna i not for me i like i like uh counsel and conversation and uh

and i've and i had some really good guys like that to work with. And also, I feel like, you know, acting, particularly screen acting, is not – it's acting, of course. Right. But there's also a technical aspect to it. So having somebody who is, you know, knows cameras and knows what's happening in that scene technically is also valuable oh yeah jeff daniels told me recently it's like you got to know your face yeah it's all in your face by the way i went to hollywood cemetery uh saturday night to watch dumb and dumber and speaking of jeff and uh i don't know if he likes the movie or not how can he not like i mean he he is so committed in that thing i mean like

when you think of his more recent work and then you think this guy is is sitting there taking a squat taking a dump on the toilet you know i mean it's unbelievable it's such a a great performance from him and i uh shout out to jim carrey too i know it's an old movie but man seeing it again 20 years later is incredible we just work with the guy who directed a lot of those movies, right? Not Dumb and Dumber. Yeah. He did a lot of Jim Carrey movies, right? Yeah.

Tom Shadyac. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did. Not funny anymore. What I did with him was, he actually is. He's charming.

He's funny. He was very loose on this set. But Brian Banks is not a a uh dumb and dumber and brian banks do not live on the same or i don't think did he direct dumb and dumber no he didn't that was the fairly brothers oh that's right of course yeah but he directed a couple of jim carrey movies i can't remember well he did liar liar oh yeah yeah yeah he did liar liar and he did uh you're right he did one other maybe pet I'm not sure. I don't know. But so, okay. So you do Sabrina and then it just starts from there.

You get out of later and now you're a movie actor. Yeah. I mean, I got a shot pretty early to work with Jim Brooks and as good as it gets. So yeah, I guess at that point, that's what I was doing. Yeah. I mean, that's what I was doing yeah i mean that's what i was doing you had this great uh you know like i've interviewed brooks he's great i love him yeah i know you have yeah and uh sorry hey jim love you baby but but that like then you're dealing with another like

you know nicholson yeah i mean you've got this thing going you guys have a thing you know in the movie like a dynamic that has to be i mean i can't imagine what what it would be like to work with that guy yeah he he was uh that that one scared me uh a bit getting into it but uh you know i i just uh we had such a good script. That was a beautiful script. Yeah. And I felt like everybody had their place. I felt like Jim was, you know, really had a handle on obviously what we were doing. Yeah.

And it's Jack. And so, I don't know. I just felt like this, you know, he's running the show. I'm the, I needed to just try to keep up. And he was brilliant. I felt like I had a front row seat to one of the great performances I'll ever see. I bet. And when you get a script like that where you have to play a gay character,

is there some part of you that's sort of like, can I do that? I felt really connected to that character. You know, first time I read it, I just I love Simon Bishop. I felt like this was a I felt for him. Yeah, I felt for his dilemma and what his search. And yet I got the comedy of him being faced with having to deal with this monster in Melvin. And I just loved the dynamic of that friendship that grew. And I just thought, man, if this ever were to happen, God damn, is this going to be fun. Yeah.

There's a scene like when Jack's dressing me down at the door and saying don't knock not on this door not ever i'm standing there you can you can see my shoulder slightly vibrating because i'm i was kind of losing it i had like tears coming down my eyes i was kind of laughing and i went to jack afterwards and i said listen jack i'm really sorry i was kind of laughing on on that shot when they were shooting you I just thought it just made me laugh and he goes that's fine I used it kid he used it I didn't know there was any other way because this was an early movie for me and I was like good lord because I felt like he was completely, well, the cameras, he didn't care where the hell the camera was.

All in. Yeah. All the time. Yeah. So. He loves it. Pretty cool. Yeah.

Yeah. So in the middle of all this, you get married? Yeah. No. Gosh, I got married. Actually, we just had our 20th wedding. We just had our anniversary. So it's been 20 years.

Yeah. Yeah. It's been a long time yeah and did you meet her on a movie i didn't i met my wife she was uh a bit of a cradle robber young young gal uh over here with friends she's from england yeah she's over on holiday yeah and uh and and i met her at a friend's house he was was having the Stanley, the Kings were in the Stanley Cup the first time. So this is like way back, like 25 years ago. Gretzky's on the team.

Yeah. And I just was never that into hockey. So we kind of struck up a conversation at this party. And that was it. That was it, yeah. I went back to England and kind of we volleyed back and forth. But yeah, we just, I was talk soup days. Yeah. I was it, yeah. I went back to England and kind of we volleyed back and forth. But, yeah, we just, I was talk soup days.

Yeah. I was doing talk soup. And you were struck. You were in love. I was struck and I was in love. What's the age difference? 27 years. Really? No, six.

That's not bad. Six is nothing. Are you kidding me? Six is the new, like. It's fine. I think it means she's older than me. Yeah, it's not, yeah, that's not even, you're not cradle rubbing. No.

What are you talking about? Well, at the time, though, because I was like, I guess she was 23, I was 29. No. Okay, all right, take it easy. Take it easy. Go easy on yourself. Now, we got to talk about, this is where the interview really takes form here. All right.

Autofocus is one of the greatest, most fucked up movies ever made. Wow. Thank you. And I mean fucked up in a good way. Yeah. Now, Schrader I'm kind of fascinated with. Like, you know, that guy's like, you know, I don't,

I can't imagine what's going on in there. I've seen some of it. You met him? Never. But his movies, you know, I'm fascinated with him because he means business. These are independent art movies from a very particular point of view.

And that movie is just such a bizarre, how did that thing take shape? I mean, it's his script, right? You want me to check? No, it was a guy named Michael Gerbosi wrote the script and brought it to Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who are great writers themselves and producers. Right. And he was actually, I believe the story is he delivered Jerry's Deli to them. Yeah.

And he was their Jerry's Deli deliverer. And he one time dropped a script off with the Jerry's Deli sandwiches. Right. And they read it, and they were like, oh, a little story about Bob Crane. That's interesting. Yeah. That's kind of how the property started. Okay.

And then Paul got a hold of it, and he sparked to it you know, was the right man for that. Yeah. And he, you know, he worked on it, of course. And then I read it and I thought, you know, first of all, I read it and I thought it was really, there was a humor in it that jumped out at me. in it that I that jumped out at me yeah and I I really enjoyed the uh uh I I remember hearing about Bob Crane when I was a kid living overseas I yeah you know he was killed I was like what yeah he's a star yeah Hogan's Heroes and Hogan's Heroes star and it was just so bizarre and he had such a all-american thing so I remember hearing something funny charming guy and that was one of those shows that was just in, it was always on.

Right. It was in syndication everywhere. I grew up with it. Right. And I just remember being really thrown by that. And then all of a sudden reading the script and then meeting with Paul and talking about it. And then I read this book. Paul had already got tons of notes and books and archives of Bob's sex picture collection. And he took me into this world very quickly. And I was like, wow, this is crazy. But I liked the script. we had a good script and uh and then i remember paul calling

me and saying uh yeah i'm trying to get uh willem defoe to play uh carpe and i was like oh please if there is a god yeah and uh turns out there is because uh yeah willem was so great in that and we had uh we had a great time making it and and yeah, it is a bizarre fucked up movie. It's so dark, too. Because the humor, it's weird because I don't remember the humor so much. But if I think that scene where the two of you are just looking at old tapes, jerking off on both sides of the couch

and just talking, like, remember that one? I was like, oh man, that is dark. I mean, I guess, listen, it's a fine line. And I get it. I get it that you can watch it. No, no, guess, I guess, listen, it's a fine line and you, I get it. I get it that you, you can watch it. No, no, no, but you can say like,

I don't know, I don't know what you're talking about, man. I didn't see any comedy. I've had plenty of people say that. I'm just telling you from my standpoint, it struck me

many of those scenes had a through line that made, I don't know, it made me laugh. Recounting it is hilarious. Like if you say like, you guys are just having

a casual conversation while you're jerking off on opposite ends of the couch. It's so funny. I can see how it's funny. Yeah. But I guess because of the compulsive sexual addiction and the weird relationship you two guys had or he had with you and this weird focus on equipment. It was just whatever Paul brought to it. It was definitely the comedy was there it was deep dark comedy well and i don't think that that's not why paul was in it uh that maybe have

been what i saw yeah and then suddenly i'm at like a swingers party and i'm being asked to take my clothes off and i'm like holy shit uh maybe this isn't so funny yeah i mean it definitely was like i think there were a couple of different currents working while we were making it, both a deeply troubling, dramatic current and also maybe maybe some sort of comedy thread. But but subsequently, I think the end result is is unusual. And and it it does have a tone to it that is its own. Yeah, I think it's sort of dealt with the nature of like sex addiction before there was a thing totally you know this is before the internet for sure so i mean good god i mean i don't know what would have happened i mean bob or you know would have been today would have

been yeah just a guy right exactly but but yeah because it's so accessible but but what they had to go through to get what they needed right Right. And then not really address whatever the hell Defoe's problem was. Right. It was just like, and what did you notice? Because I imagine by that point you've worked with a lot of directors. I mean, what was Paul Schrader like? How did he strike you? And how did he handle you?

I thought he handled it very well. He basically had every scene, you you know we'd show up he had the thing set up the way you'd expect it to be he was very straightforward i don't i mean there wasn't you know he'd say try this try that i don't remember anything particular about it i think most of the work for that had been done before we got there and i mean work i mean like there were weird problems like there's a there's a swimming pool party and all of the girls uh he remembered he said thinking many of the girls were showing up that they were using and they had were shaved right and all right they had so we had a merkin box yeah had to that was the first time a movie needed that. And then there was a swingers party

where Paul had actually gone on to, I think like the back of, what was the LA, is it LA, no, not the, what was the LA Magazine here? LA Weekly. Yeah, LA Weekly. And he had recruited a number of swingers. Right. So when Willem and I walk into the swinger party, it's a real swingers party. Oh, wow. Yeah. So the work had been done to give it an authenticity before we ever got there. Swingers parties are not glamorous. No.

I learned that very quickly. No, no, no. It's really not. How did Little Miss Sunshine happen? no no no it's it's really not how did a little miss sunshine happen that was a script that was floating around for like a year and i was given it by a friend uh david friendly had handed it to me and said hey listen this is something you you should you should do and uh and i I read it and I thought it was pretty funny. And John and Val were into- The directors? Yeah, they were into me doing it. And I met with them and I had a great meeting with them. And then

it just wasn't happening. They didn't have the money for it. So it kind of went away. And they were so bummed because they had this girl, Abigail, who kept getting older. She was going to age out of the role. And so it floated around for like a year, year and a half. And then I got the call that, you know, it was back on and they got the money. The producer, actually one of the other producers, just literally, who's a wealthy guy, just wrote a check for $7 million and said, we're going to make this and took a big risk. And so we started rehearsals a couple months later. They had a great rehearsal process. What do you mean? How so? How was it different? Well, they just brought all of us down to this big warehouse. And I remember playing dodgeball with, you know,

we had, you know, Steve and Alan and Abigail, Tony, the whole gang, and all six of us just were in this thing. And first we read through a script. Then they were like, okay, let's play dodgeball. I don't know why. But it got everyone together, yeah. Yeah, and then we did a few lunches. And then they,

they had the van so they would be like, why don't you guys go, why don't you guys go bowling? Greg, you know, you drive and everybody goes bowling. Yeah.

So we went bowling and took the van and it's, I've heard other people on your show talk about, I think it was maybe Steve and Dorf

or somebody was talking about like a rehearsal for something and it was like, you Dorf or somebody was talking about like a rehearsal for something. And it was like, you know, I don't know. You don't. This rehearsal thing just doesn't happen as much anymore. And it really was a great gift for that movie. And I and I tell you, it wouldn't have been the same movie without having a good week or two of doing what it is we were doing so um i i

it's a shame that it doesn't happen more often it's because you get to know everybody and you get your characters kind of in reaction with the other people as opposed to just showing up on set yeah i remember i talked to shalhoub and he he did a movie with denzel and something happened where he he got there on the first day of shooting and had to step into the the biggest part of his the biggest you know the most lines he had in the whole script was day one he'd gotten there that morning it was with Denzel and you just got to go right and it's a lot better if you got some time it is it is uh it's infinitely better and I guess you're right and it's a stupid observation to make, Hey,

rehearsals, good actors. Uh, but I swear, I find it amazing that it's, this is the, not the norm that this is the, but I guess,

you know, money and budgets and stuff. And with a movie like that, you didn't know what was going to happen with that movie. No, no, we didn't. We just,

well, everybody, you know, I, the truth is when I, when the script, I liked the script. Yeah.

So it was funny. Yeah. It wasn't until I got into that rehearsal until I sat there and we started reading this with these actors and I was like, oh, there's this, this is something special. Right, right. And, and then we, you know, I mean, certainly once we got shooting, I was like, okay, something's good here. Right.

Alan Arkin. Yeah. Alan alan was alan was so wonderful he's so good god and just the scene i remember us all sitting around actually after alan dies where we have to take his body and get it out of that hospital room and get it out to the car all of us sitting around the monitor and just like loving that moment and just because it was all very real and normal it was just like it was no we didn't do like a it wasn't like any tricks to it was just it was a really heavy body it wasn't actually a body but i mean it weighed a hundred they made sure that that thing weighed a hundred and you know right 60 pounds yeah and it was just me and i think paul dano sliding it out the window to Tony and Steve. And the things, I mean, it's just priceless.

Man. So like it seemed to work constantly. How do you judge what you're going to take? I don't know. I always feel like it's a lot of different factors. You know, who would I get to work with? And, you know, what is it? And how does it fit into, you know, my life to some degree? But, you know, mostly it's, you know, I mean, obviously you have to be connected to something, and that script or somebody who's going to be making the thing is telling you something where you're like, oh, I see. I see what this can be.

And it's never entirely clear to me, so I always find that a bit of a learning process. So what's going to happen with this Brian Banks movie? Is it released in the theaters or is it on Netflix? What is it? It's in theaters. It's in theaters now? No, it'll be in theaters August 9th.

I know it's a few 1,500 or 2,000 screens, which is, you know, listen, it's risky. It's Bleeker Street who's doing it. But I think it's a really cool film. And I think it's, you know, I guess I always feel like, hey, it's got a chance. Right. I am a little optimistic that way, but who knows?

I mean, I feel like the, you know, the movie business in the last couple of years, as I know you'll be surprised to hear this, Mark, is changing. No, really? Yeah, yeah, the movie business is changing and by the way, I want to- I way i have no idea yeah i'll fill you in on the details later man um but i i so i don't really know what to expect from it other than

it's a it's a hell of a story i think it's well told aldous hodge is is fantastic in it um and uh and and you know i play justin brooks who who's a real life guy who's an incredible, incredible dude. It's called the, what is his foundation? California Innocence Project, CIP, which he operates from, you know, his tenured classroom down at Western California School of Law in San Diego, along with his law students. law in San Diego, along with his law students. And they've exonerated, and I'm not talking about people who are in jail for some sort of bullshit technicality. I mean, they have flat out exonerated innocent people. I think 35 people who have been in prison for as long as you know 30 years to as short as just 15 right um i guess the advent of dna stuff is really that's been a game changer and and it's not just california there's you know the innocence project does exist around the country but this that his organization i do

have to cite it as one that I find to be the real deal. Justin is never taken a dime. He's never taken a dime for his work for this thing. It's all just, you know, pro bono. He goes and these events that he does where, you know, they'll bring a few people that they've exonerated and try and raise some money. that they've exonerated and try and raise some money. And Brian Banks was a football player, had been wrongly accused of an incident and of a crime. And basically, Justin ended up, along with his students, of taking the case and trying to help him out.

They resisted at first because it wasn't the type of case that they would generally do. Well, Brian was an incredible football player who had an incredible football career ahead of him. He had been ID'd by Pete Carroll, who is now at the Seahawks. But he was in high school. And when he went away for six years, seven years, accused of rape, he comes out. And after, you know, just a shell shocking amount of time, I mean, he took a plea bargain. Right. Where was the bargain?

You get seven years. He comes out, and now he's got an ankle bracelet, and he's on parole. He can't go near a field. He can't pick up his football career again because he's a registered sex offender. And so he makes the plea listen i still am in jail and he makes a convincing case first to the law students and then justin you know who's not doing it to be a prick but he's just you know that you didn't see the case you don't i don't have a case here and and you have to have something remarkable to kind

of and and much to brian's, and he's a remarkable guy. You know, listen, he fought. And, you know, it was so nice to have both Brian and Justin on the set for making his movie. And those guys, you know, watched us like a hawk. You had a never-ending surplus of facts and details that you could sequence at any given moment. And how, now, when you have to play a real guy, in this case, he's still alive, how much time do you spend with him? Yeah, you know, I first went down to San Diego and just kind of sat in the back of his law class. Oh, okay.

And just kind of watched him doing his thing down there for a few days. And he was very accessible, very generous. You know, he's become a friend. And then, so I guess that was incredibly valuable, just to have the access to him. And you're right. I mean, he's alive. So, you know, the Internet's great. You can watch clips of anybody.

But did you feel yourself, did you feel like, you know, like I got to do an impression of this guy or just pick up the vibe? No, I didn't. And I wouldn't know how. I mean, there is a funny kind of a California, he's not from California, but there is kind of a Californian vibe to him that I thought I was trying to kind of wedge in on. But ultimately, I felt like, look, this is all a distraction. I want to tell this story, this guy. Right. And I didn't want to – I didn't feel like there was anything.

Copy and nobody knows who Justin is. That's right. That's right. I do, Justin, and I love you. Right. But no one's going to be like, he didn't get him. Right. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. I just did a independent movie where I had to play this music publicist who spends a lot of time with a young David Bowie and this is a real guy but like apparently he's not healthy enough I couldn't meet him or anything but ultimately no one's gonna call me like you're not really like Ron Oberman right the two guys that know Ron or his handful of friends so did you just throw your hands up or did you feel an obligation do you do you feel like as you were doing it am i is this okay that i'm not doing that i'm not following well we wanted to get the look right so like when i showed up on set and they had it was in the 70s yeah very weird little movie that takes

place over about four weeks of david bowie's life in 1971 before he's really david bowie right and i play this guy who works for the label doesn't't have a lot of money, has to get him into radio shows and stuff. He doesn't have the right papers to do performances. So it becomes this weird, odd couple buddy movie. Yeah. But I got there and we wanted to get the look right. Sure.

Low budget. And he had these very specific glasses from the 70s, like these horn rims. And he's got long hair. I had the wig and everything. and i'd shave my face and they you know they show up and there's like well these warby parker glasses are pretty close i'm like you can't do that it's the one thing that's the one thing you can't right you gotta i gotta have the you know it really was like it fucked with me i'm like i'm not gonna be able to believe this. Right, right. If these are on my face. Right. And somehow another director went out that day in Canada and found some vintage 70s glasses.

Wow. And we had, he had to wear the contact lens to make his eye like Bowie's. Yeah. So we had an optometrist on set doing that who had her own shop and she was able to get my lenses into the 70s glasses in a day. Right. Because they weren't going to be able to do that. No, of course not. And it just fucking worked out.

Yeah. But it was like that. Like I couldn't really honor who the guy was exactly, but at least I could do is look the period and have the glasses close. Yeah. And I guess with Justin, I felt like just the amount of time we hung and just kind of getting to know him, I felt like, you know, I felt like that was it. I felt like that. That's OK. And there's no. But by the way, there's no particular. He has a thicker hairline than mine, which we did. But I but I mean, I don't there wasn't any particularly distinguishing thing that I had to follow. So it's all, you know, it's all job by job. But it comes down to the page, right? Like that's one thing I'm learning. I just like in terms of acting advice or like what is that, you know, if you have a character, whether it's

real or not, it's in the script. Right. Right. I mean, like it's weird because you always sort of like, what am I going to, what's this guy think? It's like, it's like, it's there. It better be. Right. Right. You know, like, I'm just learning about that stuff. But the answers are usually there. I agree.

And like, and the screenwriters that are able to really craft that and really make it come alive and jump out at you. Yeah. Oh, we need more of those guys yeah because it's uh and gals and gals oh my gosh yeah i use the term i use guys all the time um but i mean it really we need that because that that is um you know that's what pulls you in man yeah it's it's the trick of it i mean that's the the art of it yeah i mean i just the reason i threw uh gals and i just talked to gina davis about this horrendous imbalance of equal representation right on all on all and you know and it just completely with data and i'm like holy fuck right we gotta fix it like right right i mean it sounds like greg needs to spend a little time with gina davis i'm going to the gina davis room for a while no i i uh i i definitely

uh i was as a daughter as a father of three daughters i i i believe that must be wild i mean that must be something to deal with three daughters like growing up what are their ages uh they're 15 12 and 9 wow yeah yeah what are your big fears for them, like in general? Well, you know, I literally was talking to a friend yesterday who his daughter is engaged, or they're talking about getting engaged. Yeah. His first daughter's married and happily and da-da-da, and the wife and him, they just don't like him. Yeah. So that one jumped.

That stuck with me a little bit. Right. But my fears are that, you know, like any other father, you just feel like I'm not doing something right or I'm short or I'm not teaching some lesson or I'm, you know, not being as present as I need to be. Right. It's just all my own personal failures. And they just kind of become their own people though. Like I, that's one thing I've learned. I'm not unhappy. I don't have kids. It's probably

better off for everybody. But, uh, but, but, you know, it's like, it really seems that after a certain point they just become people. They're their own people. That's right. And all of a sudden the terms change right you know in a way yeah but you don't feel that way you you that's true i think that is true intellectually i can i'm down with you on that right but i also know emotionally i'm kind of like no you're my people you're all three of my people right and that's good though you know that instinct stays there you can't just be like alright you're good take care hey you're nine

you're nine dude you're your own person you're all set let me know if you need anything I gave you everything you need I'm down the hall it was great talking to you man thanks for doing it yeah thanks Mark it's a pleasure that was Greg Kinnear and the movie is Brian Banks. It opens nationwide tomorrow, August 9th. Now, whether you believe in God or not, think about the logic of this.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. The serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. If you're out there suffering, there's help available. There's help on the way

if you're willing to get it. Thank you for my 20 years. I'll play guitar for you now. Thank you. Boomer lives. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. 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.

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