WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1270 - Alan Ruck

Episode Date: October 14, 2021

As Connor Roy on Succession, Alan Ruck finally has the kind of role he's been waiting to get for more than 30 years. And as Alan tells Marc, some of those years weren't very fun. There was the time after playing Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when he could only get work in a Sears warehouse. Or the time before making Speed when he left acting and started tending bar. And then the time when he got sick while shooting Spin City and almost died. At least there were some Star Trek conventions sprinkled in the mix. 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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We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global bestselling 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 plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast i'm kind of one earring it today my left ear is fucked up. How's your head?

How's your head holding it together? I mean, I'm not talking just about the thoughts. I'm talking about the actual structure, the machinery, the piece itself. How's your head piece working out in terms of the rest of your body? I think I told you about my ear. I mean, I'm getting old, I guess, but I don't know what the fuck is going on with it. Maybe it's allergies. I mean, maybe there's pressure on my face from the inside of my face. Maybe there's something going on with my jaw. All I know is I

got a rattle in my ear and I went to the ENT guy, freaked out, went and paid out of pocket to see an ENT guy because I needed needed answers and you know what usually happens when you do that when you freak out pay out of pocket to go get answers uh they don't have any it's the beginning of a long relationship of it it's weird isn't it when you go to the doctor and it's inconclusive or everything looks fine yet something's fucked up yeah i mean you don't want to hope for something but sometimes you would like a little not even closure it's not even closure sort of like oh this is what this is let's just do this and that should do it as opposed to i don't know what the fuck this is let's try this and see what

happens and call me after it doesn't work. And then we'll try another thing. Then you'll come in for the other tests. And then if that doesn't work, we'll have to take your head off and send it out to the lab, the whole head. And then they'll have to see what's up. They'll put it through all the machines and then you'll, yeah, it's going to be a little uncomfortable and you're not going to be able to work for a few days. But when the head gets done, you come back in, we put it back on, and it should be working good, but that's pricey, all right? This is a new thing that they're doing with the taking off the head, but it's relaxing because you don't know what's going on. The whole time, you're not

even going to be with it. You're just going to be laying there headless in a suspended state on machines while we clean out your head, okay? How much is that going to cost? How much you got today on the show? I talked to Alan Ruck. Now, most, you know, Alan Ruck. All right. You've seen him in dozens of things for the past, like 35 years. He's always going to be known as Cameron from Ferris Bueller's day off okay that's who he is but you remember throughout most of your life you'd see him in a movie and you'd be like oh there's that guy and uh well he's Connor Roy on Succession which I've watched the first three episodes of because that's what I get the privilege and man it goes man I'm in but now I gotta wait

man. It goes, man. I'm in. But now I gotta wait. So, I've been playing the guitars and I'm doing a live show next week. I'm doing a show at Largo with me and Vivino and

Ned and Schwartzel, Brandon, and we're gonna lay out the jams again and have some comedy. Maggie Mae is going to be on the show. And I'm getting Bobby Lee out. I'm getting Bobby Lee out to Largo. He's never done Largo before.

So Bobby Lee will be at Largo with me. He's only doing like 15 minutes, but I talked him into it. That's on the 19th, Tuesday. I can give you the song rundown if you want. We've been working on songs. Rehearsed with Jimmy the other night. Me and Vivino. Ned Brower on drums.

Brandon Schwartzel on bass. Vivino on guitar. Me on guitar, and I'm singing. But I always get nervous when Vivino comes because he's the real deal. What am I? And I swear to God, no matter what amp I bring to rehearsal and no matter what amp I bring to the gig, it always cuts out. It feels like it always cuts out when Jimmy's playing. And then I was thinking about it.

Is it possible that my amplifier is resonating my insecurity? That it's literally like, you know, we'll just, we'll just, you know, maybe we won't, let's just,

let's just be quiet. Let's just, let's not make a spectacle of ourselves. Is that, is that happening? Is that an electrical possibility to where my amp gets insecure? Jimmy knows what he's doing. I don't know fucking anything.

You know, I don't know about the guitars I own. I don't know about the amps I own. I've just accumulated stuff, most of it free for one reason or another and i enjoy playing but but i'm finally like i'm a little more relaxed we didn't need to rehearse as much this time and we're gonna jam before you know before the show but jimmy vivino like he said something to me the last time we played it's like we were we were communicating. We were interacting. We were talking like this interactive relationship between guitars. And I felt it yesterday at rehearsal.

I'm like, oh, man, just relax. Listen to where he's going. And, you know, you can fucking step out a little bit and fill in some holes and, you know, go back and forth. He's going to he knows how to do this. And it was amazing. So that's it. Largo on Tuesday, the 19th. I have no idea if there's tickets left but the

the song list is we're going to do Will Blues Jam at the beginning come out too now we're going to do Slippin' and Slidin' Buddy Holly's version because it was one of my dad's favorites and he can't remember uh too much so I thought I'd remember it for him and then we're going to do Mystery Man uh Tom Petty B-side, I would say, from the first album, I believe. One of my favorites. We're doing No Fun, The Stooges. We're going to do the Jimmy Reed song, Little Rain, which the Stones covered on their last record. But we're going to do our own version, I believe. Jimmy corrected it. He pointed out to me that sometimes when guys play blues, if they make a mistake, they commit to and jimmy reed sort of made a mistake on his version of little rain and then the stones

laid into that mistake but i guess the deal what we're going to do is we're going to fix it we're going to play a fixed version of jimmy reed's little rain and we're going to do uh uh the run and choose by the fabulous underbirds um which is a riff on a Howlin' Wolf song, Meet Me at the Bottom, I think. And we're doing Oh Sweet Nothin', Velvet Underground, Close It Out. So that's a pretty good song list, right? Swippin' and Slidin', No Fun, Mystery Man,

Runnin' Shoes, and Sweet Nothin'. I think there's still some tickets left. Los Angeles for Largo. So that's that. I'm enjoying the playing. Is there something more that has to be said? Did I mention I'm on Sudafed? I'm on Sudafed.

I fucking hiked today. I hiked it. Up the mountains. The weather's been fucking beautiful here. Just fucking beautiful. And I trot down. Listening to Bill Evans. Oh my God. I'm alright. beautiful and i trot down listening to bill evans oh my god i'm all right i just feel like something's pushing my face out from inside of my head we'll have your head back in a couple of days

all right three days max labs a little backed up a lot lot of heads. A lot of heads. So Alan Ruck is here. Season 3 of Succession premieres this Sunday, October 17th on HBO. If you're not caught up, get caught up now on seasons 1 and 2 on HBO Max. I've seen the first three of the new season. Yeah, that's who I am. And I'm going to flaunt it. I'm going to flaunt it in your face. I've seen three already.

Yeah, I got screeners. I'm press, man. I am press. And Alan Ruck plays Connor Roy. But you know him. You know Alan. I'm going to talk to him right now. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence.

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Visit Zensurance today to get a free quote. Zensurance. Mind your business. Now. You have a lot of guitars. I mean, obviously you play. I play. I'm okay. And it's like I'm not a collector. I do amass them. But I gotta be honest with you. You like tellies, huh? Well, I've got a few tellies. I've come more to

be a... I like Gibson. I like that Gibson at the end. That gold top. It's a reissue with the P90s on it. Do you play? Not for public consumption, but you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I fiddle. Yeah. Me too. But I mean, I. I fiddle. Yeah, me too. But I mean, I've been trying to play out a little bit.

I have a very funny thing. I have a pig nose travel guitar. Oh, yeah. But it has the- Amp built in? Yeah. But the body of it is perfect. It's just small and lovely.

And then the neck, it's like a Gibson. Oh, full neck. Yeah. It's lovely. It just feels great. So I went to this guy, I went to Luthier, and I'm like,. Oh, full neck. Yeah. It's lovely. It just feels great. So I went to this guy. I went to Luthier, and I'm like, I want you to drill this out. I want you to put extra pickups in.

He's like, no, no, not going to do it. Not going to do it. I'm like, why not? He's like, you're trying to reinvent the wheel, man. He said, just appreciate this for what it is. Oh, so you wanted to use it as a regular guitar. I wanted to, yeah. I wanted to put in like two new, two extra.

Like humbuckers? Yeah. You know, and then, you know, put in switches and everything. And he's like, no. He said, you're talking like $1,500, $2,000. Let's go get a regular guitar. He said, just go buy one. Do you have an electric?

No, I had like 20 years ago, I took lessons and I was starting to play. My older son lives in New York. Yeah. And then I just like gave him everything i gave him a tally and a strat yeah and um i have a beautiful old he has it a 1937 uh regal dobro oh wow is he playing it yeah i mean he i don't think he messes around too much anymore um he's getting his master's in education so i just i don't think he's messing around. Yeah. But what's that kind of, I actually don't like it.

He's got that guitar that has the round. Ovation? Yeah, I don't like them. I never liked them either. Because they slide, they slide. I just never, I never thought it was a gimmick from the beginning. And oddly, I don't like their electrics,

I don't like their basses, I don't like anything about Ovation. My little girl, my 11-year-old, just started to take lessons and I bought her a Baby Taylor. Yeah. With a pickup in it. Sure.

It has a slightly rounded back. Yeah. And there's something about that rounded back, the sweet sound. Oh, really? Out of that little guitar. It's not plastic, though? No, no. It's all lovely wooden guitar.

Well, that's good. She's going to be musical? Yeah. I mean, she's doing musicals. She's with this little group called Yada, Youth Academy Dramatic Arts, yada, yada, yada. 11 years old? Yeah. Yeah, and she's like singing and dancing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's nice. So you have two new kids? Yeah, I do. I have a 33-year-old daughter, Emma. I've got a 27-year-old boy, Sam. I've got an 11-year-old girl, Vesper, and I've got a 7-year-old boy, Larkin. And I'm done, and I got clipped, man.

About time. vesper and i got a seven-year-old boy larkin and i'm done and i got clipped man about time how's that uh how's your energy holding up for all that i'm tired yeah i mean there's there's just no getting around it it's just like that alarm goes off in the morning and i'm like what what did i do yeah i i when um I actually met me Ray while I was in the middle of getting divorced. This is your new wife. Yeah. Yeah. We were- You met her in the middle of the divorce?

Yeah. Grabbed hold. You know, I'm getting divorced from my first wife, Claudia, and I'm like, I'm never doing this again. I'm never doing this again. And I meet this beautiful younger woman who's flirting me up, and all of a sudden, I'm- Doing it again. I'm doing it again. And I told a friend of mine, a of mine a friend from back east i said i'm gonna get married and

she wants to have kids so we're gonna have some kids yeah and he said you are glutton for punishment because he has kids as old as my big kids and he's like what are you why why you do that through you're through the tunnel man yeah you made it. Yeah. And you're in one piece. Yeah. What's wrong with you? But anyway, I'm having a really good time. You are? Yeah. So is there a difference between your approach?

I mean, is it a different experience? Yeah. I believe that I am at least a little more present. I mean, in the old days, I was worried about, you know, making money or, you know, who I thought I was or, you know, don't you know who i think i am and all that horse shit and uh self-involved yeah yeah yeah and then everything took care of itself and you know those kids turned out okay they turned out well yeah they're great so this show like you know i i remember the first season like people were kind of talking about it, and then I started watching it, and I was like, what the fuck is this?

Who's writing this thing? Yeah. And I just love it. It's very satisfying. Yeah, good. I think there's something elevated about the language. I think there's something almost Shakespearean about it. Like, I don't know that these people, because you're all such good fucking actors, I don't

know that people in this world necessarily talk like this. Well, I just appreciate it when people have a large vocabulary but say fuck off all the time i just think it's a nice counterpoint well i just think there's a you know there's a beautifully elevated sort of language of power going on and entitlement i just i think the whole thing is very smart yeah uh when you what was the process of you getting this role because i i don't see you that often i know you're around yeah i'm around but usually i mean like i'm like cockroaches man you never get rid of me i mean you're definitely a lifer oh yeah yeah yeah i'm a survivor dude i am um but what was it how does this happen because like in the last few years you've been doing mostly episodic stuff right yeah i um i actually coattailed on my my wife on mire uh we were doing a play together in

new york uh uh is she an actress oh yeah good one mire enos she uh you know that show the killing oh yeah yeah yeah she played lyndon she was the oh okay all right yeah okay all right so she's she's really really good anyway. So you're doing theater? Yeah, so I was in the middle of getting divorced and I was losing my mind and I was like, I got to do something. I got to get out of the house. So I was living outside New York

and I auditioned for a couple of plays and I got this one and I didn't really have any feeling for it at all, but I'm like, I'm going to do it because I got to do something. Which one? It was called Absurd Person Singular by Alan Akeborn. Okay.

It was a remount of something they did in the early 70s. And I really, honestly, I just didn't get it. But I didn't care because I was like, I'm going to go to work. I'm going to work. Yeah. And Mireille almost didn't do it because she was doing another Broadway show at night. So she was like, do I really want to work all day and all night? But anyway, so she did.

And the best thing was that I met her. And there we go. So then she's younger than me and she pretty much right after we met she's like i'm going out to california because my manager says i really need to do that now and so i came out here just you know chasing her yeah and um and then you know you got married yeah and then uh you know people are like oh do you know who she's with she's you know because they thought i was like new york guy and you know, people are like, oh, do you know who she's with? She's, you know, because they thought I was like New York guy. And, you know, people forgot that.

Yeah. The casting directors out here kind of forgot about me. And they're like, do you know she's with him? Oh, bring him. Hey, you know what he'd be good for? Bring him in for that thing, you know? And so then all of a sudden I was starting to get more action because I was coattailing off my wife. Yeah.

Who was like, she was like smoking hot, new girl in town. Yeah. Really cute, great actress. Right. And then, so I started doing episodic and so forth. And I wound up doing The Exorcist with Geena Davis, the TV show. Yeah, what network was that on? Fox.

Okay. What did you play, the father? No, I, yeah. The priest? No. Did you see it at all? No. Okay, spoiler spoiler alert here's the thing she was reagan grown up okay okay but but she like reinvented herself after all that trauma

and you're the husband i was the husband but the devil came back oh for her the devil didn't quit right of course pazuzu said fuck you i'm going in round two and um so anyway i played the the brain damaged husband like i was supposed to be like a pretty smart guy, corporate guy. Right, right. And then the devil came and like dropped something on my head. Yeah. You know. Okay.

So anyway, I was doing that and I was flying home every weekend. To New York. No, no, no. Chicago. We shot it in Chicago. So I was flying home every weekend. It wasn't so bad. You're flying back and forth from Chicago to LA.

Chicago to LA. My wife is doing a show. But you know Chicago. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I felt like Rumpelstiltskin because, like, everything was the same except everybody was really old. And it's like, what happened? I've been asleep for 30 years. I know, yeah.

So, anyway, I'm flying back and forth. My wife was, like, really maxed out because she was working on the show that they were doing, like, 15-hour days, 16-hour days. Plus, she was being single mom at night. And she played out so i come home this one weekend she said our little boy at the time yeah two and she said uh larkin's got mommy and me music class and i want you to go with us on monday before you go back to chicago i said you bet yeah so then monday morning my manager calls up he's like alan i got you this audition today for this hbo show and i'm like wow honey uh mark's got me an audition for an HBO show. And she bursts into tears. She just like erupts in tears. And I'm like, dude, I'm sorry. I can't,

I can't. I made a promise. I made a promise. I promised my wife I'd go to mommy and me. So we go and you have to take your shoes off and leave your phone outside. So we do that. We're like banging drums for an hour and so forth. I come out, there's like seven text messages. banging drums for an hour and so forth. I come out, there's like seven text messages. There's five emails. There's voicemails. And he says, just go to Adam McKay's house before you leave town, before you go to LAX,

just drop by his house. They really want to see you. And I said, I really don't know the material. He said, don't worry about it, just go. And so I go and this woman named Francine Maisler was the casting director. She'd put me in something before. So I guess she thought of me for this. I said, Adam, I'm sorry, but I'm really, I don't know the material.

He says, you know the situation, you know the, right? Yeah. I said, yeah. He said, make it up. Yeah. Whatever comes out of your mouth, just make it up. Yeah. So I did that, you know, except for one page that I had looked at.

What was the situation? What scene was it? Oh, I can't remember now, but it was just like back and forth stuff between me and my father or me and my siblings. But your sense of the character was that this is the son that- I knew that he was the only child by the first marriage.

He was not really involved in the business. And that's really all I knew. And then they said, this part will grow over time. So I was like, and then um the only the thing i keyed into and actually in the sides that they gave me is i saw this thing that said dad there's this job i really i really like it's called president of the united states and i thought well he's he's putting his old man on right yeah and adam okay said oh no he's deadly serious and then i knew i like oh this guy is damaged this guy is delusional right and then i had a key in right and uh so then i i you know we we ran through a couple of things and he said that's great alan thanks a lot yeah i said

okay and then i fly back to chicago and by the time i land they said they don't want you to do it oh it's great so i mean i, it fell out of the sky. Right. I mean, it just fell into my lap. And now it's a big thing. It's a big thing. Like every 10 years or so with me, somebody from the top shelf says, hey, Al, come up here. Hang out with us for a little while, you know? Just hang out.

Well, I mean, when I looked at the resume or the filmography, it is sort of interesting that if you think about it, if it wasn't for Spin City, do you think you would have stayed in it? I don't know. I mean, the thing was I had a real low point, like 91, 92. They were bad. I mean, I became a bartender for a little while really yeah and that's after buehr oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah wow well because why nothing was going on nothing was happening there was listen i came out here in 1989 i was uh i'd gone from chicago to new york i was doing okay in New York. So you started in Chicago? Yeah.

So how does it go? Where are you from originally? Cleveland, Ohio. Oh, do you still have family there? Well, I actually have my stepmom, my dad's wife. She was never really my stepmom, but my dad's wife. You go back there? She's in an assisted living place for what they call it, memory care. Oh, really?

Is that what it's called? Yeah, when people have Alzheimer's and so forth. Oh, really? Yeah do they call it um memory care oh really is that what it's called yeah when people have alzheimer's and so forth oh really yeah they call it a specific place yeah and you know it's just it's like lockdown it's it's it's like going to san quentin because that it covid they can't nobody right right so but cleveland when you were growing up great city um it was the reason i lived in this suburb called parma which was later uh voted one of the most bigoted uh cities in the united states yeah but um when i when i was growing up there was so much money being made in cleveland yeah steel mills right auto right so people paying all these taxes so the politicians were like they felt compelled to

give the money back to the people in some way yeah so it was education so we had a dynamite school system huh we had everything we had every music program we had drama full drama program we had every like vocational program like corporate responsibility at its height yeah i mean and then as soon as like or no i guess i graduated i graduated in 74 you know and then so as soon high school yeah oh so it's like hippie time oh yeah yeah and then like as soon as the industry died out you know all the money went away and all the school systems just crumbled so you got in under the wire i did i like but like because i go back i've been there a few times and and i know that there's this attempt to rejuvenate downtown.

I don't get much out of downtown. But because I've done comedy at Nick's Hilarities right there. Okay. And on, what's that one street that's all redone? Sixth Street? Euclid? No, it's all been re-kind of. Is that where like Theater Row is?

Close. It's by the stadium. But I do a lot of these cities that were once great cities and then they've just taken a beat and they try to rebuild and sometimes it takes and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it doesn't. Yeah. The thing, when I was growing up, I had relatives in Columbus and Columbus was a cow town. It was a state capital, but it was really like Hicksville, you know? And then Cleveland was, you know, big, bustling, industrious town,

million people plus. Closer to Chicago, kind of. Yeah, like, you know, all those, that whole Rust Belt, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, all that. And then, you know, they all just, except for Chicago, just, you know, faded. What was your old man's business?

He actually worked, when I was young, for the most part, he worked for a pharmaceutical job house. So he was a skilled laborer. He was like the cook mixing up big batches of drugs. Oh, really? Yeah. He wasn't a chemist, but they'd give him the recipe, and he'd be like, right, 400 pounds of sugar and then this stuff. So they made everything. They made kids' vitamins.

Where's my mixer? They made barbitur. So they made everything. They made like kids vitamins. Where's my mixer? They made barbiturates. They made everything, you know. And so I couldn't get away with shit when I was a kid because he knew like every substance, what it did to you, what it did to your eyes, you know. Oh, really? So I didn't start doing this until I went away to college.

Yeah. But anyway, he did that. My mom was a school teacher. Oh, okay. And you have brother and sisters? I had an older sister. She passed a long time ago. Oh, sorry.

A long time ago, huh? Yeah. So when does the acting start in high school? My sister was doing plays before me, and I was watching her, and I just kind of thought I could do it, you know? Yeah. And I just kind of put that in my hip pocket. And then, you know, like for most people, junior high, middle school was hell. And then by the time I got to high school, I wasn't an athlete.

We weren't fancy people. We didn't have any money. I wasn't one of the cool kids. I was kind of musical, but I didn't really play an instrument. I just sang in the choir. I didn't have a thing that was me. So were you just adrift? Yeah, so they say.

Did you have some friends? Oh, yeah. But really, once I found theater, I auditioned for a play because I was like, well, my sister did this. Yeah. There's tryouts. I signed up for an acting class as soon as I got to high school. Yeah. Because I was like, you know, I don't really want to take English.

And they had them. They had them. Yeah. So I did that. And then I found out I could do it. And I'm like, oh, this is it. This is it right here. You know?

And I never really let go of it. You know? And it never really occurred to me to do anything else did you learn anything like did you did were you just totally winging it or you did take some classes that you were able to apply some kind of we learned some stuff in high school our drama coach is pretty good I mean just like basic stagecraft of like like you're gonna have to learn to project your voice yeah you're gonna have to learn like how to not upstage yourself you're gonna have to learn how to play out i mean just just like basic mechanics yeah you know so i learned all that stuff and then i was actually probably a better actor earlier in college and then they started teach me all this stuff and

then you become really self-conscious you know you're thinking about your voice and how you're moving and right yeah you know uh you you think you your voice and how you're moving and, right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh, you, you think, you know, how to, to break down a text. You don't know, you don't know anything. Yeah. And then I actually, uh, in Chicago, I had a natural sense. Yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. In Chicago, you, I took, I took acting class with a really, a really terrific teacher who taught inner technique. And that's where I like started to get the bullshit out of my work. Is that when you went no no no I went to Chicago uh I went to college downstate in uh Champaign Urbana and then right after college I went right to Chicago because I knew people doing plays there I didn't know anybody did you do theater in college oh yeah oh yeah okay I mean play after play after play after play so

you were working hard yeah I mean that was that was the best thing is I was constantly on stage but still just with the the mechanics of the high school well just you know i mean just some bad habits and just like not not rooting it down in me you know i mean yeah and so then i went to chicago and this uh guy named he's no longer with us named edward k martin uh was teaching acting classes at this uh theater that my friend bob falls used to have He's now run the Goodman for like 30 years, but geez, longer than that, 35 years. But at the time he had this small theater called the Wisdom Bridge Theater

and this guy Ed was teaching sort of in conjunction with that theater. And I took classes with him and I started to feel it. I started to get into my zone. Oh, really? Yeah. How old were you then? 25, 26.

So, like, Chicago now, like, it's always been a good, like, comedy improv scene. Great theater time. Yeah, I know. Like, I know guys from there. Like, I'm friends with Letts. Oh, yeah. You know, and, you know, he's a Steppenwolf guy. Oh, yeah.

So, where did you work out there? Mostly, I did a couple plays at the Wisdom Bridge. I worked at this place called the Apollo, which was a small commercial house. I don't know that it exists anymore. I worked at the Goodman. I worked at the Drury Lane Water Tower Theater. Yes. I did a play.

I did a musical, one of the two musicals I've done called One Shining Moment, which was a musical. Basically, it was like a bunch of high school kids putting on a tribute to JFK. Interesting. Yeah. But we were pretending to be high school kids, pretending to put on a play. Oh, I get it. It was kind of like our gang.

Yeah. So it's a multi-leveled performance. Oh, yeah. Did you work at Steppenwolf? No, no, no. Or was it another round? No, I just worked around town, and then I knew those guys. The angry work at steppenwolf no no around no i just worked around town and then i uh i knew those guys the angry guys at steppenwolf they were so they were pretty funny

you know um got an intensity to that place oh yeah yeah yeah i mean i don't know how it is now really but uh who'd you know well i worked with malkovich in a production of streetcar but i played we didn't have any scenes together yeah but i played the paper boy okay and he played mitch yeah and our warm-up was we would smoke cigarettes and we would play um vegas style solitaire like i would buy the deck from him for 52 cents yeah and then for every uh uh card that i got up he'd have to give me a nickel okay you know so yeah that was the warm-up that was how we warmed up yeah and lots of cigarettes uh-. And who else were your peers in that area? I knew all the guys at Remains. So I knew Billy Peterson.

I knew Gary Cole. I knew Ted Levine. I knew Amy Morton. I knew- That was what theater? Remains? They called it Remains. It was something that Bill Peterson started.

Bill Peterson from Manhunter and procedural shows. I just watched Manhunter again. He is good. He is good, yeah. And I worked, I did a TV pilot with Dennis Farina. It might have been one of the first things he did was a pilot that Robert Conrad shot called Hard Knocks. Oh, yeah. And it didn't get picked up, but we had a really fun time that summer.

We went out to this little town on the mississippi river called mount carroll illinois and we shot at this defunct uh college yeah and it was like a military academy oh right yeah yeah farino like was he a cop oh a serious cop he was like um what do they call that bunco i think that's that's like the um the division that like busts flim flam con men and stuff like that that breaks down cons yeah uh that's what he was he was something but like billy peterson used to say how come we never read your name in a paper when all these people are getting busted so we think that he was like kind of a sub rosa kind of uh-huh like yeah yeah you know yeah undercover yeah trying to bust you guys i don't think

he gave a shit about like what we were he's gonna smoke and weed they're all flimflam men yeah well the whole thing's a con yeah it is um because i saw him i watched thief again recently the james khan movie that might have been his first thing yeah he's got like a little piece now one of the bad guys yeah prosky was that robert prosky ro Robert Prosky he and and I think Farina might have been an advisor on that Oh, yeah, Michael Mann. Okay. Yeah He cast Farina in this Crime story or whatever it was was a TV show in Vegas. Okay. Yeah, so when do you when's the break happen? How's that? How do you get out of Chicago?

So I was doing plays and like little pieces and movies because Chicago was a hot movie town. Oh, right. You know, it was a location town. It shoots well. It's a beautiful city. Yeah. I love it.

I've grown to really love it. Yeah. The weather sucks, but it's gorgeous. It's a real place. And it has personality. Exactly. That's what I mean.

Like, you know, it's a, as far as cities go, like there's only a few in America that like have its own person. Like New Orleans, Chicago,

New York. New York, for sure. Like Los Angeles, not so much, but Chicago's dug in man yeah well Los Angeles has a thing but it's not like Chicago where you like you got your neighborhoods you got like Chicago it's like the people grow out of the city there right out of it right out of the ground exactly you know you know Chicago people yeah well what happened was i i uh people came through town about 1984 uh casting uh directors um meg simon and fran cumin from new york came through town looking for young guys for neil simon show biloxi blues oh yeah i remember that show so they came through and i auditioned stevens was that he wanted he was in some iteration.

He was in the Neil Simon machine at that time. I'm working with him now. Oh yeah, he's in Yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't that wild? That's great. It's like they say, if you live long enough, you work with everybody three times. Is that true? Well, I don't know. I'm just hoping I don't run out of chances. I'm trying to remember what I saw him in. I think it was

the other one. What's the other one? Brighton Beach Memoirs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he did a lot of that. Anyway, so they came through town, and like a month or two later, they said, look, we'd like to have Alan come to New York for a callback for Neil Simon and for Manny Eisenberg and

for Gene Sacks. Yeah. And I said, I'm not going to go to my Chicago agent. She said, what are you talking about? And I said, look, it's been like three times now I've flown myself to New York for auditions. And every time they say, thanks a lot. And I say, I'm out 300 bucks.

Right. Right. I know that feeling. I used to do it from New York to LA. Yeah. Yeah. And I said, so I don't want to do that. Why don't they fly me?

You know, if they want to see me, why don't they fly me? You know, they want to see me. Why don't they fly me? Yeah, yeah. You know, and so then she called up Manny Eisenberg and she said, look, this is how Alan feels about it. Manny said, look, tell him to fly himself in. If he doesn't get the part, I'll reimburse him for his flight. And I was like, okay, you know, all right. And it was the only time I got offered a role on the spot because I auditioned for him once.

And then they said, come back after lunch. Look at this other scene. Come back again. Came back again. And so then, and I had to sing in that play. I was so nervous. I was like, do you mind if I sit down? Because literally my knees were knocking.

Oh, really? Yeah. And I said, can I sit down? They said, yeah, sure, sit down. So I sing and then, you know, Gene Sacks comes up to the, and he says, so just to tell you what, start singing every day. You're going to get more comfortable with it. Everything's going to be fine. I said, okay, okay, okay.

And I walk out to the wings, and Meg Simon says, wait for me, wait, wait, wait. And then she came out, and she said, did you know he was offering you the part? And I said, I thought he might have been, but I didn't want to make an ass out of myself if it wasn't true. He might have just been telling me to keep up the singing. Yeah, just sing, kid. Life is short. But my joke is, to this day, I don't know if they really wanted me or, man, he didn't want to pay that $300. So that was it.

So that was Biloxi Blues? That moved me to New York, and then it got me. Was that the first run of it? Yeah, I was in original cast oh wow and then i got a you know a bigger agent i was with william morris for a while and um then uh bueller happened right after that because i had met john hughes a couple of years earlier in chicago he was going to do the breakfast club is like an indie and i met and auditioned for him yeah and then during that process he met molly ringwald and then just like he'd found his muse

right he wrote 16 candles over a weekend for her in chicago yeah he met her she was chicago no i think i think maybe she came into town she was either new york or la i'm not sure but i think it was like uh there's this this movie that this guy's doing in chicago yeah it's young kids you know so and so that showed up so you in you got how was that audition what was that for oh for viewer yeah well then uh the the casting uh directors jane jenkins and janet hershenson, didn't want to see me because they said, look, we know how old he is. We know. These are high school kids. How old were you?

I was 28. Yeah. They said, we know how old he is. And my agent at the time, Myrna Jacoby, said, look, he plays opposite Broderick every night. They look like they're the same age. Broderick's going to be playing a teenager. In what? In Biloxi?

In Biloxi. Yeah. And they said oh okay all right we'll see him so I went in auditioned for them and they were like oh no that was good that was good yeah and so then they had me come to a call back where I was reading with Matthew for John yeah and it was you know I mean Matthew and I had spent that was probably late June or early July yeah so we'd been together for six months. And so we shared a sense of humor.

Yeah. We had some history together because so many times you show up like first day of work and it's like, this is your wife. And you have to, you know, or this is your best friend in the world. And you have to like create instant relationship. We didn't have to do that. We just were. We were just us. You were friends.

Yeah. So it went well. And that was it. And that's history. But that wasn't You were friends. Yeah. So it went well, and that was it. And that's history. But that wasn't your first movie. No, I did a movie called Bad Boys with Sean Penn. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotta rewatch that.

Is that good? I think it's pretty good. That was his first movie? And your first movie? No, it was my first movie, but Sean had been in at least- Ridgemont High? Yeah, he did Fast Times. Yeah.

Oh, and Taps. He did Taps. Oh, yeah, Taps with Cruz and- Tim Hutton. Tim Hutton. Yeah. And George C. Scott. Did you ever work with George C. Scott? No, I never got to meet him.

Oh. I met, during Biloxi, though, I met Rod Steiger. Oh, wow. You know, and Ginger Rogers came, too. Oh, wow. And I was just like, I was dumbstruck. She's like, hi, Ginger Rogers. And I was like, hi.

You're just stupid. But Rod Steiger came up and he said, hi, Rod Steiger. He was very quiet. He was a little bit sad. He was like, hi, Rod Steiger. And I said, hi, how are you? And he said, and then he gave me the whole thing. He's like, oh, I got a heart condition and I got to, you know. He said, they're not letting me eat anything anymore. And he said And then he gave me The whole thing He's like I got a heart condition And I gotta You know He said

They're not letting me Eat anything anymore And I said Really? And he opened up this thing And it was like oatmeal Yeah And he had the saddest

Look on his face He was like He showed me this He was like Like I'm like I'm so sorry You know He's like

Yeah, me too Oh my god Yeah, but I met him But He was carrying around His oatmeal Yeah But you know My friend Richard Kind Has this thing I met him. He was carrying around his oatmeal? Yeah. But, you know, my friend Richard Kind has this thing.

I talked to him. Yeah, I love him. He's an American original. He will go up to anybody. It doesn't matter how famous they are. It doesn't matter how powerful they are. And he'll stick out his hand and say, hi, Rich Kind. Yeah, yeah.

Big fan, you know. My joke is like if Jesus came back, he'd say, Mr. Christ, I'm rich, kind, big fan. Yeah. And so, but I really admire that because a couple times in my life, I've been around like really cool people and I've just been like a dork and been shy and haven't introduced myself. I had a chance to meet Tennessee Williams. Yeah.

And we were in a bar, that production of Streetcar. Oh, right, right. That I played the paperboy. In Chicago, yeah. And there was this bar underneath the theater called Frank's Place, a way of life. Yeah. And we're all crowded around him, you know,

and the wardrobe girl said to him, Mr. Williams, may I buy you a drink? And he said, oh, no, darling, 13 is my limit. You know, and it was like, I just should have said hi. I just, you know. Yeah, but you didn't. No, I chickened out. It's all right.

So I met Alan Rickman in London, and I told should have said hi. Yeah, but you didn't. No, I chickened out. It's all right. So I met Alan Rickman in London, and I told him that story about Tennessee Williams. And he said, well, I wouldn't put myself on the same shelf as Tennessee Williams. I said, yeah, but I would. So hello. I talked to Ron Perlman once. I think one of his biggest regrets is not spending time with Marlon Brando. Oh, come on.

Yeah, yeah. He just, like, for his whole, I think it's plagued his whole life because he did that, The Island of Dr. Moreau with him. And Brando had taken, had made a joke about him because he had that horrible goat's head. But, like, he had sent some stuff over to the trailer and Brando invited him over to, you know, hang out. And he didn't do it. And I think it just sticks with him.

Oh, yeah, he should have gone. Yeah. And you should have talked to tennessee williams i should have i and and and i missed my chance uh years ago rob lowe told me that he was like in there used to be like a market on labrea i think called mayfair yeah it was just like some because he lived up on mulholland he lived up there and he used to go to that little ice cream, Mashti Malone's. He used to go to that ice cream place. I know a place, yeah. I didn't know anyone goes there.

Yo, Brando apparently was in there all the time like eating triple scoops. No shit. Yeah. And so he was, Rob was in some, it was some grocery store. I don't know,

maybe it was Ralph's, I don't know. Yeah. But anyways, he's in a grocery store right there in Hollywood, West Hollywood. And he comes around a corner and there's Marlon Brando reading a box of rice

aroni and and this is like after he'd done um Superman and it's like I'm retired you know and um Rob's like he was like probably 17 and he's like hi Mr. Brando I I'm Rob Lowe I just want to introduce myself I'm an actor too and then I'm an actor too. And then he's like, uh-huh. And he's like reading the ingredients on the rice-a-roni. And then Rob says, so do you think you're ever going to act again? He goes, probably not. And that was it, you know? I think that ice cream place is still there.

Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah, they have weird flavors like orange blossom and rose water. Rose water. Yeah, yeah, they do have that, yeah. So with Bueller, I mean, that's one of those roles where, you know, you're that guy for life. Yeah. Yeah. And was that a problem for you?

For a while, yeah. Because, I mean, like in those years where I couldn't seem to scare up any work, I was like, oh, well, you know, I guess that was my shot. This was the 90s? Yeah. I mean mean that movie came out in 86 and then i kind of just like stumbled around new york and i did like years ago yeah like uh it's a long time ago it's like 1988 i did a pilot in thailand yeah about uh photojournalists in Vietnam, and I really wanted it to go, because in a way, it was kind of like, in a network, like NBC kind of way, it was kind of like succession. It was dark. It was a drama, but it was like really darkly funny.

I just, things weren't going great, you know? And so the Bueller thing got to be a pain in my ass when people would bring it up during that period, because I was like, well, that's it. I'm done. So how did you respond to him? If people go, Cameron. Thank you. Thank you.

Yep. That's me. Listen, I came out here in 1989. And instead of renting an apartment, I rented a little house. Yeah. Because I was doing this pilot with Mel Carter. Yeah. And I was old enough to know better, but I like listened to the, I bought the bullshit. Yeah. And like these guys at NBC were like, hey, but before we ever shot, before we rehearsed, before anything, they're like, hey, pal, what's it feel like to have a steady job?

Because she had a deal. Right. You know, like a pay or play deal. Yeah. You didn't. No. And so we made this pilot and it just like it stunk on ice it was just it was just bad yeah it was bad so it didn't get picked up and i was broke i was flat-ass broke and so i went to an employment agency because i was like i'm not

going to sit around the house i couldn't see it there was like pilot season was over it was like nothing was happening so i was like, I'll be damned. I'm going to make my car pay anyway. So I went to this place called Extra Help. Yeah. And they found me a position at Sears Warehouse in East LA. And it's like a series of like little like cars that come chugging down from the warehouse yeah into the sorting room where you put things like in bins to go on certain trucks and like number three that's portland number four that's

seattle you know and have a tag on it and sometimes it'll be like a bud vase that will weigh like an ounce yeah and sometimes it'll be a 12 foot long swing set in a box that'll weigh like 130 pounds yeah yeah and um i was skinnier then than i am now and i you know wore big glasses and um all all the black guys that worked there were uh crips yeah and for real yeah yeah and all the hispanic dudes that worked there were latin kings yeah you know and like they would walk by me and say king love and i i would i didn't know what to do so i would say king love and they're like no no holmes you can't say, you can't say that. You can't say that.

No, you're going to get hurt. They were like trying to take care of me. Yeah. And all the black guys called me Superman. Yeah. Because they had on these big glasses and they were like, Superman, take off that Clark Kent disguise and pick that shit up. You know, they had some fun with me.

Yeah. And I did that for like three, four months and then- That was was that was the day job oh yeah that was the period where you were i was i was showing up did they right but did people recognize you from the movie yeah yeah and i just i was like if i if they can't imagine no if they know if they know that like i i actually was working in movies and then i somehow let it slip i said maybe they'll just kill me for being stupid. Yeah. You know, so like this one guy was talking to this other kid, and he's like, you ever see that movie, Fair at Buford's Day Off?

Yeah. And he was like, what? He's like, he said, this motherfucker looks like the dude with the dad car. You know, and I was like, oh, no. I was just like trying to crawl. You could smoke then. I'm like sitting there smoking indoors, and I was trying to make myself invisible. The dad car.

Yeah. But anyway, then I did that. I just got humble, and I did that for three months, three and a half months or something. And then I got a call. It was like, do you want to go do a sitcom pilot? And I was like, yes. Yeah. And then so I did that pilot pilot and then i did uh young guns

too like right back to back bam bam i got two jobs like bam bam back to back yeah and then i kind of rose up again for a little while and then then nothing happened for like 18 months and really you know after that did you go back to the sears no that's how that's when i became a bartender so you're bartender after young guns too yeah and bloodhounds of broadway uh oh yeah this is well after bloodhounds of broadway i this i did a a sitcom called um going places yeah which was it was a nice job because the guys that i worked for which they couldn't have been nicer guys but um it was not a good show. And, you know, it was bad. And the critics just had a field day.

It was just like lobbing them like big, soggy meatballs that they could just smack out of the park. Because like going places, going nowhere fast. You know, I mean, just we were brutalized. And we did 19 episodes of that. Wow. So that's why did you have to bartend? Because then I couldn't get any work. Were you married with kids yet?

Yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I had to. Oh, my God. So you're working at the Sears warehouse and you got two kids? No, at that point it was just my girl, my eldest girl.

Oh, one. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that, oh, the shame. Did you feel it? Yes. Yeah. You know?

And then the thing with the, I don't drink't i don't drink i don't do dope anymore i don't smoke cigarette i don't do anything yeah but back then i was still pounding liquor and um i decided i was going to become a bartender but the bad i got a job i got a job at the red onion down in the marina you know and but the the truth was like i was drinking up all my tip money you know i was just like you park it at the bar after work? Pretty much. Yeah, I know that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so then I just stopped. I just stopped doing that. Yeah, because somebody said, I think this is a real bad idea for you. And it was actually my manager at the time. She's like, I think there's got to be a reason that you're not working. And I think this might be it. So I said, okay, I'll try it. I stopped.

And then I started working. Really? Yeah yeah that's when speed happened yeah that's exactly when speed happened because well because like i remember like seeing you in speed i'm like holy shit what's that guy been doing yeah he's been he's been sitting at the bar at the red onion pounding tequila after his shift as a bartender yeah yeah wow yeah yeah and you were great in speed i remember really liking that character yeah did you like it yeah it was fun when i went in for the audition he was supposed to be um a lawyer originally he's supposed to be like this butthole lawyer man whose bmw broke down on him and he had to get to a meeting so he had to take the bus yeah and uh you just has a whole backstory an abusive asshole yeah and then i just showed up and i guess jan

debont didn't buy me as that and so they decided to swap it around and have me be like this yokel yeah you know from chicago just like this guy you know yeah a tourist so that started the that started the ball rolling again yeah things got things got good and then that and then spin city shortly after or what or was that about a year later about a year later and you did a few more movies i did speed and then i did star trek people like star trek movie kids like a star trek fan she's he she's like oh yeah yeah i did generations i get generations in there i did uh do you like being part of that mythology yeah it's great i mean you know those conventions they're very um what's the

word egalitarian yeah because it's like there's people that are like really wealthy professionals who dress up like whomever their favorite favorite character is and there's people that are basically they're almost like street people they don't have you know a pop the piss comic comic-con any of those they're all over the place i I mean, there's basically something. And you go? I have gone. Yeah, I have gone to some of them. And what do you do there? You just hang out and you are a whore.

And you sell pictures of yourself for money. Okay. Yeah, it's great. And you can just do it on your own or you do it with a sponsor? No, there's a guy I met years ago, a guy named Bob Catalano. He's a rep for these things yeah and uh he takes a cut he gets into your booth yeah yeah you know he takes his honorarium and then you know he's he sorts through the pictures and you know him him or his wife linda or some someone friend one of

their friends slides slides the shit over they just find like you know anybody within the universe it's sort of like you want to just show up at this thing? You sign some pictures? Well, here's the split. I first met him. Do you know who Ethan Phillips is? He played Neelix in, what was the one with Kate Mulgrew? I don't know, man.

It was the Star Trek with Kate Mulgrew, I'm pretty sure. He played Neelix. He played an alien dude. He was a real popular character. He had shit coming out of his forehead yeah um but he's wonderful guy i've known him he was in bloodhounds and broadway okay so i've known him for years and so we were doing this thing called endsville a little uh uh like 1999 we were doing an indie upstate new york yeah and he said my friend bob is coming and he's wondering if you'd sign a few pictures you know

and i said yeah sure he's a friend of yours? Yeah. And so they put out this stuff, like a couple of posters and some pictures. And I signed it for him. And Bob says, what do you want for that? I said, nothing. I mean, Ethan's real name is John Ethan Phillips. So everybody calls him Johnny, but his professional name is Ethan. So I said, you're Johnny's friend.

I don't know. And they're like, wow, thanks. Wow, thanks. Yeah. And then it was the weekend before 9-11 and I'm out here working on Spin City because it moved from New York to LA excuse me when um uh Michael left and Charlie Sheen took over uh-huh and moved out here and I'm out here and uh Johnny Phillips calls and he says what are you doing this weekend you want to come to Vegas you You want to do this Star Trek convention? And I'm like, yeah, all right. Yeah. You know?

And so I went and I made cash, you know, and I came home and I made it out just in time because some people stayed till Monday, but I flew home Sunday night. And then... Because then they were there. Yeah. And then people were stuck in Vegas because there were no flights anywhere.

Yeah. Wow. But I made it back. But that became a thing you could do. And then people were stuck in Vegas because there were no flights anywhere. Wow. But I made it back. But that became a thing you could do. Yeah, I did it for a while. Yeah, yeah. I might do it again. Yeah, why not?

So Spin City, that must be just like the fucking winning ticket to get on a show that never ends. It was good. You were working with both of them, with Charlie and with Michaelael yeah it was like good and evil i love charlie i love charlie you know he's the thing about him is we all have demons but he wrestles his demons in the town square for everybody to see oh sure like i don't mean he's evil i just it's like you know michael's such a mensch in a lot of ways. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, it was all good.

Yeah? Yeah, Charlie was in a real good space then. Yeah. He was a lot of fun to hang around with. My best thing about that show was I made friends for life. I made friends for life on that deal. Like? Well, Michael Boatman and I had actually done a show together before that called Muscle. Yeah. boatman and i had actually done a show together before that called muscle yeah and it was on the

old wb and we were dead last in the ratings every single week you know so it only went 13 episodes right but uh boatman and i became pals they paired us up on that show and then when uh i auditioned for spin city i went to new york and i didn't i didn't think i looked that much like this guy but anyway i'm flying to new york to audition for michael j fox and people are snapping my photo yeah at lax yeah i'm like what's going on i don't get paparazzi what the hell is it and uh like i got big glasses on and like my toque you know my winter hat on and um this guy's like i can't wait for the movie to come out man and i'm like and i all the only thing i had in the can was twister yeah and i'm like it's mostly cgi you know it's like flying cows and whatever he's like well how about one without the glasses and i take my glasses off

he takes my picture and he looks at me funny you know so then i'm i'm in new york and i'm still smoking then so i'm down in the street smoking a cigarette because i'm a little nervous to meet michael j fuggs yeah and this guy comes up he says god damn so I'm down in the street smoking a cigarette because I'm a little nervous to meet Michael J. Fox. Yeah. And this guy comes up and he says, God damn it, I saw you in the movie.

You were great. And I'm like, what movie did you see? He said, the movie, the movie with Richard Gere. And I said, I've never been in a movie

with Richard Gere. And he goes, but you're an actor, right? I said, yeah. Well, he thought I was Edward Norton. They thought I was Edward Norton. Oh, yeah, right. And so anyway, so you're an actor, right? I said, yeah. Well, he thought I was Edward Norton. They thought I was Edward Norton. Oh, yeah, right.

So anyway, so I meet Michael J. Fox, and then, you know. I can see that. After, maybe more when I was younger. Anyway, so then after I get the part, I call home, and my manager says, they want you to do it. And she said, and I can tell you now that Boatman's already been cast. Yeah. So we got teamed up again.

That's great, right? Yeah. So that must be at least a pleasure to go to work for so long. I mean, you know, we all had, see, Michael handpicked his playmates, so we all had the same twisted sense of humor. Right. So it was just like. He's a great guy, that guy. He's a great guy.

So am I making it up in my head, or did you almost die? He's a great guy. He's a great guy. So am I making it up in my head or did you almost die? Yeah, it was actually that same year of 9-11. I was out in Los Angeles. I was out here in Los Angeles. I was still living in New York and I was commuting back and forth. I'd like work for three weeks, go home for a week.

Work for three weeks, go home. And I was out here and they still don't know how it happened, but I got blood poisoning. I got a streptococcal type G infection in my blood. And all I knew is that we were filming the last show before Christmas, and I felt like I was going to die. I just had the worst headache of my life. My whole body hurt. I didn't know what was going on. Yeah.

I fly the next morning with Bostwick to New York because he was living in New York. Yeah. And he's like my nurse mate on the plane. He's like trying to keep me warm and he's trying to keep me- You got fever? I had fever, had chills.

I was a mess. And my house was being renovated at the time. We were staying in an apartment building and my driver didn't speak English. He was a Russian And my driver didn't speak English. He was a Russian dude. He didn't speak English. And I'm like, and I became delirious. And he dropped me off one building away from my building.

And I just felt like, hell. So I just laid down in the lobby. And like people were walking over me just like, oh, you know. Almost gay. Drunk, drunk, whatever. And some, I mean, I think it's just like, you know, an angel or something, something woke me up a little bit and said, get outside, get outside. So I stumbled outside and I saw my building, made it into my building,

and my ex-wife was, she thought I like went off on a toot. She thought that like maybe I fell off the wagon and was loaded. And I just collapsed and she called 911. The next thing I know, I hear, that was like three days before Christmas. The next thing I know, people are going, five, four, three, two, one, happy new year. I was out for like nine days.

I had lost 35 pounds. My kidneys had stopped working. And I just, I got this ferocious infection in my bloodstream. And my poor ex-wife, they were asking questions like, does Alan have sex with barnyard animals? And she's like, you know, no, no. He, you know, Al's a little strange sometimes, but no. And they're like, does he keep birds? Does he hunt? Does he hunt? Yeah. Al's a little strange sometimes, but- No. And they're like, does he keep birds?

Does he hunt? Does he hunt? Yeah. All these things. And to this day, they don't know how I got it. But anyway, I got this horrible infection in my bloodstream, shut down my kidneys, shot little pieces of crap up into my brain. My liver for a minute was like, is the liver going to go? Because then it would have been curtains.

So for two days, they were like, he's not going to make it. And then after two days I was like hanging in there and they're like, okay, it looks like he's going to pull through, but he's, he's not going to be right upstairs. Yeah. And then I started to, you know, regain some clarity and I wasn't any dumber than I was before I got sick. Right.

And they're like, oh, well, okay. He seems to have his have his faculties, his wits about him, but he's going to be on dialysis for the rest of his life. And then all of a sudden my kidneys started to get better. So I'm lucky. I don't know why. This is funny, though. So I went from 170 pounds to 135 pounds.

It's like somebody let all the air out of my ass. You know what I mean? It's not a good look. Yeah. And everybody's saying it comes back. It's like last thing to go, first thing my ass. You know what I mean? It's not a good look. Yeah. And everybody's saying, it comes back. It's like last thing to go, first thing to come back. You'll be all right. But they put me on steroids to help my kidneys get healthier.

I went from 135 pounds to just over 200 pounds in about six weeks. Wow. And I had like the big fat Jerry Lewis face. I got fat like an irishman does you know i had like skinny arms skinny legs big ed mcmahon belly yeah you know i had to buy special pants it was really it was it was embarrassing and you just did it because it was helping that way that was for my kidneys but it was just like i would stand in front of the refrigerator and shovel like whole like uh uh bunches of grapes into my mouth.

I would sit down and eat a whole pizza. Yeah. The steroids, the prednisone, man. It just makes you eat. I couldn't stop. Oh, that must have been fun. Well, that was good. But then, you know, boy, it didn't look too good.

Yeah. Because I don't have a lot of bone structure. I don't have a big frame to hang a lot of meat on, you know? Yeah. So if I watched that season of Spin City, are you huge? No, I got fat after that season. I did an episode of Scrubs for Billy Lawrence because he had done Spin City and then he did Scrubs. Yeah.

Where I have the big giant face. And then I did an episode of Queen Supreme, which was an oliver platt annabella show might have gone a couple seasons i don't know i'm sure he's fine he's a a big powerful presence that guy oh yeah yeah i worked with him on this thing uh about 15 years ago called the bronx is burning and he played steinbrenner. It's just like, it's amazing that, like you're one of these actors, like even though between like Spin City and wherever you're at now, you kept working.

I've been really fortunate, you know, even, I mean, not everything I've done has been like succession i mean really truly i've been waiting for a show like this for 30 years i really have something that's like really smart that everybody just raves about and that i love the material yeah you know it's not it's not just that it's popular it's that it's excellent you know so for sure man and it's like the writing is like just the best writers i've ever worked with tremendous how many are there oh my god i don't know i mean okay jesse armstrong tony rose georgia british guys mostly mostly brits yeah yeah um uh there's got to be there's got to be like there's got to be like eight there's got to be like eight writers and then there's people

there's other people that uh uh have the the what are the designations there's like uh executive producer there's like associate producer yeah script supervisor yeah there's there's the different levels you know so i think there's guys underneath these guys that are you know like i mean i imagine that like with you know i've done some tv work and i imagine with like just every new script, you're like, oh, wow. It's,

it's just phenomenal. How's this season? It's great. We're just as nasty and self-involved as we've ever been. So I think if that's what the audience is looking for,

they will not be disappointed. And, but the, but the arc is good and like, you know, like, oh yeah,

I mean, it's just the great thing about these guys. I mean, I, I know I don't like follow it, but I hear, you hear you know that this is there's this whole subculture of like people like this is what's i think this is what's going to happen like people trying to guess like well that that turn at the end was pretty great oh yeah oh my god no one saw that coming no yeah

and that's the thing about these writers you're not you're not gonna yeah yeah you're not gonna pin them down no no it just seems like the cast is so top-notch i've talked to sarah i've talked to kieran yeah i've talked to brian yeah i talked to all those guys yeah i love them oh yeah fucking monster actors man yeah everybody brings their a game which is another reason like you show up to work and people are just like bringing it so i mean even if even if you even thought about phoning it in, even if you're just like, I'm just not, you know. Yeah, yeah.

You can't. Yeah. You can't because there's these people that are just going, they're just, they're putting it in fourth gear and going, you know. And so, you better hang on. Well, it seems like, well, Cox is like, he's just great. Yeah. You know, they're all really great.

And then Jeremy seems like he's really in the work. Everybody's got a different way of working, and he's got a very specific way of working that he attempts to keep himself in his zone. So if that means isolating himself and not mingling with the rest of the cast, he does it. If that means like doing tons of research, then he does it. He's like an old school method guy. Kind of like that. Yeah. And, you know, my wife is a really brilliant.

She's funny as hell. She's actually a banana, but she's a brilliant dramatic actor. And she's been asked to go to some really dark places. Right. But like she did this thing the killing there was real dark season of the killing and like between takes she and joel kinnaman you know it was like they're like oh yeah you know because they got themselves it's like don't stay in hell too long yeah right you know get out of it right you know so everybody's different and everybody how are you with that stuff? It depends what I need to do.

If I have some big emotional breakdown scene or something like that, then I've got to go figure some stuff out. I'll probably be by myself. Uh-huh. You know? But, I mean, with some of this stuff, I mean, I swear I'd just like I'd be in the parking lot with the Teamsters, you know, trading jokes. Sure, of course. You know, it's just what you need to- Yeah, yeah, I get it.

So, but like when you're, to make choices for this guy, the relationship between you and the prostitute. Yeah. Who is. Now my girlfriend, she doesn't do that anymore. I'm the only guy, dude. And you might be, but it doesn't mean you're not a John. Well, you know what? I'm not i'm not no spoilers no spoilers but i mean when you like when do you have to make certain decisions around how this character like i guess i'm just asking you like your original impulse when you realize

he's a bit delusional which would would play into that relationship sure but on some level you know this guy kind of believes it right well you know i think it's just one of those things it's like you're great you're great you need money i need a girlfriend i have a lot of money yeah why don't why don't we do this yeah you know this is great you know i mean it's just yeah he's he's on a little bit of a different wavelength you know and it's not that he doesn't get his feelings hurt, but, you know, I mean, at some point, probably early on, probably when he was like in his early, well, probably when he was 18 and he tried to go to business school and was just like, this is bullshit. I can't do this. But he always knew he was going to be rich for the rest of his life. Well, he's like, I don't need to need to work yeah so he just has spent his life he's spent all these years collecting

things traveling reading he's not a dummy yeah you know he i'm sure that he reads more than roman does right you know but he reads like stuff that was written 150 years ago sure you know sure he you know yeah he reads gogol right you know You know, I mean, he might read Faulkner. Yeah. But I think at this point in his life, I mean, I think one of the reasons he wants to be president is that's the one thing that would make his father sit down and say, wow, that's impressive. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

I would get my old man's attention. Right. Right. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I would get my old man's attention. Right. Right.

And also the other thing about Connor is I think this life of leisure is starting to bite him in the ass because there is no group of people that need him. He's not needed anywhere. Yeah. You know? There's nobody that's like, when Connor gets here, we can start. He doesn't have that. Right. This family kind of treats him like the-

Well, like the dingbat. Yeah. You know? know right so um the guy who got out of the game yeah he is it's like you know i mean up up until well i mean all through the first season i think into the second season i mean there would be some decision to be made uh by us kids and i'd say whatever you guys whatever you think yeah Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm excited, man. I'm excited about it. So now that, like that's been in the can

for how long? We finished the middle of July. Oh, so not that long. And now you're just kind of hanging out or what are you doing? I just,

I did a little job here in town because I was like sleeping in my own bed. A thing for Hulu called The Dropout about Elizabeth Holmes. So I played this guy who was the in-house doctor for Walgreens, the consulting physician for Walgreens, and was convinced that she was just going to like take them into like mountains, endless mountains of money. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. And so he bought her con, Hook, Line, and Sinker. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, so he bought her Khan hook, line, and sinker. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, he went for it. Oh, that must have been a good role for you. It was fun. Yeah.

It was fun. I'm just, you know, a fool. Yeah. Well, maybe you're noticing a pattern here with the way that people are casting me. Well, you went from, like, you know, sort of tightly wound. Yeah. You know, self-involved. To just stupid.

tightly wound, you know, self-involved. To just stupid. As soon as you take all the rapping away, then you're just left with dumb. Good talking to you, man. Good talking to you. Thanks for coming. My pleasure.

So that's it. That is it. Alan Ruck, folks. Succession Season 3 starts Sunday, October 17th on HBO. You can get caught up there on Seasons 1 and 2 on HBO Max. Also, I think there might be a few tickets for Largo on Tuesday, the 19th, for the Mark Maron plays music with his friends and has some comics come over. It's going to be me and the band.

Vivino and Brower and Schwartzel. And Maggie Mae is going to do comedy as is Bobby Lee. Bobby Lee at Largo, you guys. He's nervous. He's nervous. All right, let's play it out. Thank you. Thank you. boomer lives monkey laonda. Cat angels everywhere. It's winter, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats.

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