John Goodman - Sexy Boomer Show's 100th Guest

Welcome to Phil and Ted's Sexy Boomer Show. I'm Ted Bonnitt.

I'm Phil Proctor. And it's our hundredth show. And it's 100 degrees here in Glendale, so the whole city is celebrating.

You don't look a show over 90.

I know. It's because I had this new face made by my reptilian masters.

It really goes well with your St. Patty's Day Leprechaun outfit.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

That's a huge bow tie. As big as in your head?

This is what I wear at home. I guess my secret is finally out.

Does that bow tie spin? Because it's awfully hot.

No, no, I. Yeah. I'm an Amish Irish leprechaun.

Very Amish Irish.

Amish Irish, that's me.

Well, it's our hundredth show.

I can't believe it.

How time flies.

It does. Well, I don't know what the joke is there. How time flies. I think it's more like how time dies. Because once it's lived, it's over.I think time is just now.

Wow. That's pretty heavy, Phil. Let me write that down here.

Here. I've got it on my card.

It's on the card.

Yes.

Total tool.

That's a total tool.

That's me.

Well, we have a very special guest today.

That's right. That's right. It was part of the contract originally. He was our first guest ever.And he didn't see the fine print that said, you'll also then have to be our 100th guest.

Yes, that's right.

And that would be the one, the only, the dear friend, John Goodman.

Yes.

Well, actually, not the one, the only, the one, the many John Goodman. Hi. Goody.

There are many of us and we're all in different time zones.

Where are you?

Where? Amos, we are in outside Charleston, South Carolina, where it's freezing. Wow.

It's freezing.

It's freezing there.

I know. Tornadoes on the East Coast. Right. And snow.

And frozen leprechauns are driving. Driving drunk today, wherever they are. Be careful.

Is the green snow falling? That's what I want to know.

Somewhere. Yeah. Chernobyl. We're in Chernobyl lies a little lass. Chernobyl.

He's glowing.

Yes, right.

Glowing grass.

So, what's the latest professional project that you've been involved in?

Well, let's cut right to itemployed.

Since June.

Unemployed since June.

No, I do the odd voice over. Yeah, I did a film last year, Most Sick for Six Months in London.Came home and worked for my son in law in June, which we just premiered the movie at the south by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Wow.

How'd that go?

Very well received.

Nice. What's the name of the movie?

Chili Finger.

Chili Finger.

Chili Finger. I thought it was a Latin American spy movie, and I was wrong. I did it anyway, obviously the.

The plot is a secret of some sort. When will the film be released?

It's got to be bought first.

Oh, yes. Okay.

Put it in the can, they call it.

That's right. Put it in the can.

Yeah. So it stays fresh. Probably the fall. Some of those frozen leprechauns will be thawing out.

South by Southwest is really the hip event now. Isn't in some ways eclipsed Sundance because they do so many different things there.

Yeah, there's music, all kinds of stuff. It's very crowded and traffic sucks. That's all I know. I went from the hotel room to events and that was it. I have a broken arm. Oh, no.I sustained a month ago in a hideous shopping cart accident.

Oh, no.

Really?

I was sober officer, I swear. Yeah, I top loaded the little shopping cart with a lot of water, so it was really top heavy. And I hit a bump, went over with it, and it's.It's one of the. It's a crack all the way through my upper right arm. And they can't put a cast on it or anything, so it just hurts.

Oh, that's wonderful.

But listen, you didn't bring me another frozen leprechaun, honey.

You didn't break your funny bone though, right? Obviously. That's good.

A long time ago. Along with my soul.

Well, you know, ironically. Ironically, I took fall in front of my house in Benedict Canyon the other day.And luckily I only have like a bruise on my elbow and a bruise on my knee. But it's because our street is sinking after the last. Yes, there is an underground river or stream that runs under our canyon street.And after the last torrential rain, which broke another water main on our street, it really undermined it. I hit a patch of broken asphalt that had just happened and down I went. So I commiserate with you.

I was in my last couple weeks of filming in London. I fell down on the set. I was wearing stocking or just wearing socks like a fool. And I've been blocking the scene for a long time.I've been walking around in my socks for a long time.

Yeah.

And my legs went out parallel one time and it just slammed into my hip and then fractured it.

Ouch.

I had to Wait a month before I could shoot again.

Yeah, that was in the papers. I remember that.

That's right. That was a big deal. It was.

Yeah. You made the news.

You made the news. We went, boy, he's really getting desperate.

I got in the news, though, didn't I?

Yes, you did.

When we talked to you for the first show ever, it was right after the shutdown for Covid, and you were shooting gemstones, and you were in South Carolina, and you were, like, waiting for the show to restart, which wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

That's right.

You're still in South Carolina.

It stuck with us, which is good, because we bought the house, came home from England for Christmas, for a Christmas holiday, and my house in Los Angeles burned down.

And you. So you weren't there. It was a remote burning. Good.

Terrible.

Glad to hear that.

Terrible. I was thinking about you because when we last.You were talking about selling the place in New Orleans, because I don't know exactly why, but you had mentioned that insurance was a challenge there. You sold that place, then your house burned down, and it was like, my God, you really have been a lot of upheaval.

I'm under a roof, so I'm very grateful for that.

Wonderful.

Are you divorcing yourself from.

No, she's coming home.

You're not dodging frozen leprechaun comment from the Palisades. Are you gonna go back to the Palisades? Are you done?

I'm gonna go back somewhere in Los Angeles. I don't know what to do with the Palisades yet. I'm a fear of. In fear of toxic land there.

Yes.

Right. I don't know if it's gonna be clean. I don't know. You know, I'm pushing along in age.I don't know how long it's gonna take for them to have, you know, what's gonna constitute a neighborhood in a few years. I don't know. I just don't know what I'm gonna do.

Have you seen it since the fire?

No, I haven't been back. My wife went up there, and I just. I just didn't want to.

It's unreal. It's unreal. I only went up once in, like, June after it opened up. I. I haven't wanted to go back either, but it's unrecognizable.It's sort of like what Palisades must have looked like before the white man came, because it was all. No trees, nothing. Yeah, something like that. I have a friend up there who built A house not far from where you were in 1970.And they're staying and they just got their building permit and they're going to build and. And I asked him, I didn't put it this way, but are you worried about building a house? In an ashtray?There's dispute as to how much soil they had to scrape.

That's right.

We're going to get a. Yeah, I think we're going to get the soil tested yet again. I think this is the third time. Maybe it's a wise one. Yeah, we had. Had it removed. I. I just don't know right now.I mean, I love that neighborhood, though. I just. Yeah, it was wonderful.

Hi. What happened? Did you go for a walk?

No, my cocker spaniel just joined me and she's. Oh, very cold nose.

Oh, yeah, I remember I was in your house, I think only once or twice. And I remember how. How sweet it felt, how homey it was a spacious abode. And I was very shocked to hear that you lost it.

Well, Pete lived there. Hung his hat there for a while.

That's right, that's right, that's right.

Several hats.

Yep. Pete Bergman we're talking about, ladies and gentlemen.

He came home after a couple of weeks one time. He'd rearranged all the furniture.

Oh, no.

He had the Hitler Network on, as he always did.

Yeah, right. Watching the New the Past History.

I slowly rearranged the furniture back so he would be insulted.

Oh, my God. John.

John. I've rearranged the furniture. John. Looks great, doesn't it,.

Uncle Pete? Thank you.

Well, the question I have, though is what does it feel like to have lost memorabilia? Did you have a lot of memorabilia in the place?

I. Artwork.

Artwork, yeah.

A lot of the stuff was in New Orleans, which we got to save. There was a. Yeah, just a few things. Nothing.

Oh, good.

Well, birth certificates, stuff like that. That was gone.

Well, that's just as well, you know, you can live forever. Yep. Okay,.

So the gemstones is done, right?

It's done. Yeah. I miss it. Oh, it was weird. I was doing one series, the Connors. Before it was the Connors, it was like Roseanne and then she got fired.We all got fired. A couple days later, Danny called Danny McBride with the gemstones offer. So I got it.And then about a month after that, they decided to pick up the Conners without. And so I had two jobs for about seven years.

That's right.

Bitching about work. And now I'm bitching about lack of work.

Yes. Feast or famine?

The fire in the Palisades. What a devastating effect it had on the industry because there was so much displacement.The project that we last worked on, the Hindsight Audio project, which, if you haven't heard, folks, Hindsight the day before on all your podcast platforms, John plays Oliver Wendell Holmes. And, Phil, you play about 400 different.

Characters, four different roles. My darling late wife, Melinda Peterson, who got to work with you again.John, I was so happy that that was basically her last work, which was with someone she loves to work with. And that's you.

Well, what did we do? I remember going to the studio and hanging with you guys. I just. I don't remember what we did.

You did your yeoman thing, as always. You were busy as hell.You were coming out of the, I think the gemstones, and you flew into Van Nuys and we picked you up and you hadn't been home in weeks, but you came straight to the studio anyway. Remember you had that tooth missing? That was.

That's right. At that point, you had lost a tooth. John, you're falling apart. Stop it.

I've got younger, bigger chiefs now. They're huge.

Oh, really?

I didn't want to hurt the dentist's feelings.

Did you ever get a chance to hear it?

No.

Oh, I'll send you the link.

Yeah, it's a beautiful.

Yeah, we did an experimental production. We recorded it like a film on a set. Right?

That's right. That was cool.

I love that you can move around.

So then we went into the studio and we used Adobe Atmos and created a binaural. So if you put your headphones in, you really had the effect of being in the room.

Right. I remember how cool it was. The same thing with David up in Seattle.

Yes, that's right.

Treasure Island.

David Osman. Right. And Judith Walcott, Otherworld Productions. In fact, I was just listening to our scene together this morning.You play Billy Bones, a dangerous pirate with a story. And I played Black Dog, a French pirate who tried to kill you. I try to kill you, John. And anyway, it's a magnificent production.It turns out to be eight one hour segments of audio, which was filmed on location on Whidbey Island.

So it was another incredible production.

I had a grand old time doing that, I got to say. Young Orson.

Orson Osman. That's right. He directed it.

We had a grand time.

Didn't we have fun on that shoot? It was a cast of 20 and we all played, you know, various piratey characters.

And Taj Mahal did the music.

Taj Mahal did the musical score. It really sounds wonderful.

It's always a thrill for me to work with fire signers too, because you guys were my idols.

Ah, that's so sweet. And you began your, I guess, audio career on wbai, a Pacifica station in New York, didn't you?

Yeah, Citizen Kafka.

Citizen Kafka show. Which was silly but fun, like you.

Yeah, yeah,.

We're all Pacifica veterans.

Yeah, we are. There's a picture of like a 16 year old Osman in front of a WBI microphone.

When it was.

Or something.

I think it was up at the. Maybe still up at the church in Harlem. I remember going there one time.

Wow.

Yeah, they moved again. I don't know where they are.

They're in Brooklyn.

They're in Brooklyn now.

Same frequency. Yeah.

Wow.

That's.

Once in radio, always in radio. You can't get it out of your blood.

An antenna grows. An antenna grows in Brooklyn then. Right. And you had been doing off Broadway. Off Off Broadway before then.

Yeah, dinner theaters. Off, off, off. Yeah, dig. I got lucky with commercials.

Oh, yes. You know, we all did. At that particular time in entertainment history, it really kept so many actors going to be able to.

I thought I was. Yeah, I thought I was going to be locked into that for the rest of my life.I did some unnatural resentment about it, but I was very lucky because I learned a lot.

Yes, the shaving cream commercial. Yeah, you can see that on YouTube. You can see everything on YouTube. It's like the Library of Alexandria. Everything is on YouTube. It's astounding.

Can't burn it down, though.

So you say you're unemployed and I would imagine that is probably welcomed right now. Do you have anything coming up or are you getting anxious to do something?

There's a. I think a four camera comedy that I'm committed to, but it's still a development, as they say. Yeah, I want to get back on stage sometime, but I just, I don't know what I'm doing. But I never did.It's come out well so far, but I think I need to be occupied because when I don't, I turn on myself.

Yes, I know.

Yeah. And why? What's wrong with me? All that kind of good stuff, but it's just another phase.

Yeah, I always refer to it as between jobs.

Yeah, I'm at liberty.

Yeah, you're kind of catching a breath, you know, you're getting a little breather. You get a chance to heal that.

Broken arm and a broken heart forever.

Oh, you'll never heal that, John. I'm sorry, that's just something you have to use in your work.

Yeah, well, we're supposed to, I guess.

Yeah. The one thing that has always fascinated me about your career is the variety of roles you've been offered, especially in film. And that wasn't.That must be fun to go from one crazy character to another for a short period of time.

You know, it's interesting. You get to explore different people, work with different people. It's. Yeah, it has been fun so far and it's also been a great life. Being an actor.

Yes. Did you always know you wanted to be an actor?

I didn't know anything else. I just. I never thought I'd be an actor, to tell you the truth, until I graduated from college with a BFA in theater and.Well, I better use this thing because it's gonna go away. And so I. My brother gave me a thousand bucks and I went to New York from.

From Missouri.

Yeah. And. Yeah, I just was frightened to death. But it was turned out all right.

Didn't you have like professional sports ambitions?

No, I went down to try to my university, trying to play football, try to walk on the football team just for financial aid.By the time I was ineligible because of grades, I was on my way out and I did a little one act and that changed everything because it was a good theater department. I didn't think I'd be able to cut it, but it worked out.

Some famous people came out of that class.

Kathleen Turner.

Kathleen Turner.

Tessie Harper. Tess Harper. And a lot of people are working. And it was good.

Were you a girl then too?

Yeah.

Yeah. I should remember that. That's a part of your history. A lot of people don't know, but we've been friends for a long time.

It was very Loose girl.

Yeah.

Fill out a tutu.

You also call them two. Two twos.

You're not just a working actor, you're a favorite.

You're not just a non working actor. You're our favor.

The Coen brothers, for example, I mean, you're like a go to guy for them.

That was a long time ago. They've kind of moved on in their career.

Yeah.

But. Yeah, there was nothing to beat that though, because we were on the same wavelength for a little while and it was great fun. It was a great ride.

So did you watch the Oscars?

Yeah, I watched them from Austin. I usually don't or tune in sometime, but I thought I'd watch the whole go. Because I like Conan.

Yes.

But yeah, it was a typical show. It's long, it's. It is what it is.And people are always whining about it and changing it and everything, but it's just going to be that bag of surprises and boredom.

Yeah, that's right.

I went one time with Edie McClurg.

Oh, my God. Oh, God. Behave herself.

Oh, no, she didn't behave herself at all. It was 2003, the year that Lord of the Rings swept it.

Yeah.

I assume you've gone, right, John?

The last time I went, I got to sing a song for Monsters, Inc. With Randy Newman.

Oh, wow.

That was 26 years ago. Yeah.

Holy cow. And I just got out of the car, and all of a sudden, you're walking down this red carpet. I had Jude Law on one side and Will Smith on the other side.And it was this very heady moment. And then you go in this huge red carpet. And I did the Where's Waldo?Thing because the LA Times would always publish a front page photo of the red carpet with 150 people. I was smacking the center of it.

Wow.

With Edie. Hung out with Ron Perlman at the bar. We were all getting drunk as much as we could before the show started.For some reason, Lord of the Rings annoyed her.

It annoyed her.

And she got annoyed every time they won an award. And this is. Of course, they're breaking a record with 11 Oscars. It's like, oh, sh. Please, God, don't win. Go back to New Zealand.

Yeah.

You know, we've had some good times over a long period of time. When you think about it, Isn't that amazing?

Oh, man. The first time I went, I was just. I just gotten famous from Roseanne and they wanted me as a presenter, and I got boiled back when I used to drink.Folks had a couple before the show that. I've done a couple in a bar, and I got in trouble. I did my little bit, and then I got.I went upstairs to the lounge and stayed for longer than I should have.

Well, that's really a great part of your history is how you overcame alcoholism, really, isn't it true?

But you never overcome it. It's still there.

That's true.

If you don't feed it in the first place, it lies dormant.

Yeah.

And it's. It's waiting to get you. But so far, so good.

Now, did you go on a program? Are you in aa?

I did. I went to. I was bad enough where I was on. In a hotel room on a Sunday morning. I was supposed to give out an award at the Emmys.I won an award, like, the night before, the week before they gave it for Best supporting Actor. So I had to go out and present and I didn't make it out of the hotel. So.Yeah, I called for help and a friend of mine picked me up when we went to a joint in Malibu and stayed for 30 days.

God bless you.

Yeah.

Wow.

Good for you. Phil and I were talking about it. We've noticed with great admiration over the years how the last few times we've seen you, how happy you are.

It's true.

Fuckers.

Seriously. Seriously. We mean it. We just. You just had a joie de vivre.

Yeah. And you've never said acting.

Helps. It helps to. If you're not happy, fake it till you make it.

Yeah. That's true.

Because the worry is for nothing. I know. And I say that and I got a big mouth and everything. But it just. It. It's true.If you just fake it till you make it or don't dwell on your unhappiness, it does me absolutely no good. And I'm a lot less angry than I used to be because you can't control anything. You don't control anything.

Boy, do we know that.

Hop on the surfboard and lie down for a while.

They say, you know, as you get older, you get happier. I definitely have felt that. Less angst, less concern about certain things internally.

If this regime were in power when I was still drinking, I think I'd be a lot worse off and I would not be able to handle it as well as I do. There's nothing I can do except for support. Support the right people and the right struggle and the right cause and without setting myself on fire.

Yes. That's kind of where I find myself.

You know, there's nothing I can do. This I have no. The country is going to hell. Just keep doing the right thing and it'll pass. Everything passes.

How do you feel about the prospects of. Are we going to get out of this? You think.

If. When the big man moves on, there's still going to be. He uncorked. A lot of evils that are going to be there for a long time.

Yeah.

But it's a great country. It's worth sticking around to see what's going to happen. But I just. I pray for the education more than anything. Yeah. That people can. They.They won't harm that we could still get a decent open with no burned books.

Yes.

It's going to be a generational thing.

Yeah.

There's 26 books now banned in Utah. Utah schools. They rigged the system where if three school districts ban a Book, then the entire state has to ban it in all their school libraries.

What a stupid idea that is.

Yeah. Utah's kind of known for their progressive politics.

And speaking of our children, how is your lovely daughter?

She is wonderful. She. Her husband directed this film I did last summer.

Oh, great.

And so she. I got to see her in Austin last week. It was wonderful watching those two kids grow. Watch him grow.

That's wonderful. Yeah. My daughter Kristen, whom I'm sure you remember, is going to be. Yeah. I hope you're sitting down. She's going to be 48 in April.

I remember when she was a teenager.

Yeah. And the only good.

My jaw dropping.

The only reason that I can remember that is that 48 years ago, Peter and I were in the Golden Dragon massacre and we were. Oh, wow, Right. Cowering under a table in a Chinese restaurant while five people were killed and 11 wounded around us. So.

That was a swell book, by the way.

Oh, thank you. Can I mention the name of my book?

Not in Utah. Okay.

Where's My Fortune Cookie? Banned in Utah, ladies and gentlemen. Available on Amazon until Amazon becomes converted into a holding center.

They bought a huge warehouse outside of Salt Lake City.

I know. I saw a picture of it from there.

Oh, is it Detention center?

Concentration camp.

Concentration camp, yeah.

Yeah.

For people who really need to concentrate on what's happening to us, you know,.

It's good to be banned.

Yes.

The documentary I made, MAU MAU xx, banned in Saudi Arabia.

Oh, really?

I don't know. I would take that as a compliment.

Sure.

It wasn't like there was a lot of money.

Oh, there is a lot of money in Saudi Arabia for exploitation films, you know, but just for war.

Yeah, There is.

You know, Bergman used to call it Sauteed Arabia because it's so hot there. Peter Bergman. He passed away, John. The anniversary of his passing was just about four or five days ago, I think.

That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

2012.

How many years has people been gone?

2012?

Six years.

No kidding.

Is that right? Yeah. 12 Years.

It doesn't feel like that.

It doesn't?

No, it. You know, maybe he's still doing his comedy somewhere.

He just shifted dimensions, that's all.

I think so. Because every once in a while he'll make me laugh. Yeah. You know.

Yeah, that's true.

He's very present, isn't he?

He's very present. He's a strong presence. And of course, he started on kpfk.

Kpfk.

That was the genesis of Fire Sign.

That was the beginning of Fire Sign Theater.

Oz.

Yeah. Radio Free Oz.

Crazy.

So good days.

John, you were on Saturday Night live. You hosted 13 times so far.

I did.

That's crazy. Is that like the most anyone's hosted?

No, I think Steve Martin and then Baldwin.

Wow. Baldwin too. Wow.

But it's been years. I don't know if I could do it anymore.

Oh, yeah, sure you could.

Sure you could. Did you get the terry cloth robe?

I did not. I'm not in the five timers club.

Yeah, you're in a lucky 13.

Yeah. Golly, talk to some.

Another thing.

Another thing to mope about.

Have you been watching it? This?

No, I don't. I. I don't stay up that late anymore. I know I could easily flip it on Sunday morning or so. I just. I'm not in the habit of it anymore.

Yes, it is a. Kind of a habit, isn't it? Yeah.

It's always. Your favorite casts at times are going to be when you were the most amenable to it. Like when they first came on. I wouldn't miss it.

That's right.

It stopped everything on Saturday nights.

It was event television, my time.

I'd find a television series somewhere.

It was the Amos and Andy of television.

That was a heyday. That was. I was. I remember it well because I was living in a group house. We were all working at a progressive rock and roll station. It was wild. Yeah.And we all stopped everything and had a group watch of Saturday Night Live. And on the weeknights we had Mary Hartman and Fernwood tonight.

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

That was some great television those days.

Yes.

Did Harry Shearer write for them?

Did Harry write for Saturday Night Live?

No, no, not. Yeah, he did.

He did.

Unhappily. But that's right.

You know, that's a good question.

I don't know.

I don't remember.

And soap, remember soap was also. Yeah, there was, you know that.There was a thread of surrealism and parody that went through the television industry for a while and got people like us to watch it, you know.

Well, that was when the boomers came of age, Right. Because it was the. The handcuffed 50s, this idea of idealized America. Right. The early 60s were fun and funny.

Yeah.

But then that's when it got hip. That's when everything was.

Because everything fell apart.

Right through the early 60s.

That's when the film industry fell apart because of television. So the new wave of filmmakers came in like. Like Coppola and Lucas and Scorsese and everything opened. And Norman Lear, it all opened up.

All in the family.

Foreman used to write for Bob Hope, didn't he?

Yes, he probably.

Or no. Martin and Lewis.

Oh, even worse. Oh my God. Everybody's got to begin somewhere. Did you have a funny family? You mentioned your brother.

My brother. My brother was. Is 14 years older than I am. And he was. He would go down and see Lenny when, ah. Nichols in May.There was an area called Gaslight Square in St. Louis for a little while that was bringing all these great acts in and you know, he hipped me to Ernie Kovacs, oh, my idol. And Sid Caesar when I was real young. And Mad magazine when it was before it was. It was a comic book.

Yep.

Boy, and it was really funny.

How about Bob and Ray? Did you ever turn on to them?

I did when they were on monitor. Yeah. Monitor.

Okay. That was a little later in their career.

Yeah, I remember. Yeah, my brother turned me onto that in the car.

Yep. Those are all great influences on me too.

I went to the Ed Sullivan Theater to see the Garry Moore show with Derwood Kirby.

Derwood Kirby.

The answer.

Remember that? Yes, I do.

Carol Burnett still on it?

That's a good question. I was a little kid.

Carol Burnett. That's right. She was on it.

She might not have been on yet.

Interesting. I don't remember her. I just remember Derwood's hairdo. He had great hairdo.

It was classic. Looked like Duncan Hines or somebody.

Do you watch Kimmel and Colbert and Seth Meyers?

I go to bed, man.

Well, we just watch it on YouTube because we're Pacific Time, but we see everything by 8:30, 9:00'.

Clock. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, you can watch SNL at 8:30 now, huh?

We're listening too. Yeah.

Yes. We're listening to ourselves.

We're listening to ourselves on Phil and Ted's Sexy Boomer show. Hopefully someone else is out there listening too. Our guest today is the wonderfully talented and gorgeous John Goodman.

Yes. We're looking at you remotely, John.

Yeah, I'm on a screen somewhere.

We can see you.

Very generous.

On a screen somewhere near you, John Goodman. And you know, John, that's probably true. That's one thing about your prolific career, which is. And you can't control that at all. But somewhere, some.Somewhere right now in the world, someone is probably watching you perform and hopefully laughing or crying.

So as long as they're not watching me here.

No, as long as they're not watching you at home.

That's coming, folks. Yeah.

No surveillance cameras in your home unless Bergman left some. Somewhere.

Yeah, there you go.

Do you like it in South Carolina?

I do. It's quiet where I live right now. I don't have to lock my doors.

No good.

But so far, so good. It's so peaceful. I would like to get out in Los Angeles at some point and establish a beachhead there. Just not on the beach. It's so expensive.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

Well, I do hope that happens for you, and I'm sure it will. And I don't think you'll ever really stop working, John, unless you decide you want to.

I don't think I want to. Yep, it's.

Yeah, that's kind of the way I feel, John.

And I tend to close up when I'm not.

That's right, we're not. You know, I had a conversation with Moss Hart many years ago when he came to Yale to promote his book Act One.

Yeah.

And for some reason we kind of hit it off and we went for a walk outside of the theater and had a chat about show business. And he asked me, he said, well, what do you want to do, Phil? I said, well, I want to be an actor. Always had a knack for it, always enjoyed it.And he said. He said, let me tell you a story. He said, my wife, Kitty Carlisle, Kitty Carlile, my wife, she likes to paint.He said, and she can paint anywhere in the apartment. She can paint in the kitchen, she can paint in the bathroom, she can paint in the bedroom, wherever she wants.But said, if you're an actor, you have to act in front of people in a theater or on a soundstage. You have to have people around you. It's not a private business. And I went, yep, by gosh, you're right.Because part of it is wanting that feeling of being one with an audience that you are creating a world for and that you are a part of. Isn't that right, John? That's why you said.

That's exactly right. Yeah, there's. You're part of a team.

You're part of a team. When you do film and television, you're part of a company and a family. It always seems to me.And you don't want to let them down and you want to have fun with them and you want to have. Yeah, like a long, short term relationship, but with a. When you're doing theater, it's not just a company.It is that audience that comes in and becomes a part of what you create.

When I was a younger man, I would see dancers constantly going to class, rehearsing, getting better musicians, constantly practicing. But, yeah, I didn't do any of that.I finally got into the Actors Studio by the grace of Al Pacino, which is one of the things I set out to do when I moved to New York. But I would. I would never. I was almost doing something, so I didn't really have time to rehearse scenes, just my pleasure.And I. I always missed out on that because we have to keep our bodies active and our minds active and still try to learn lines as much as you can read as much as you can. Just keep active so you don't rust and. And it can go away quickly. And it takes a long time to.To break that rust off if you haven't done anything for a while and you're in a new project.

So, yeah, that's a very interesting observation. And the only class I ever went to and I had a similar kind of experience because I was doing.I was working all the time in my craft, and yet I studied with UTA Hagen. All right. The Hagen Berghoff Studios. And boy, what I got from her was some tricks, tricks of the trade. And she taught us.Basically, her approach was to get us to be relaxed and in the moment and responding, you know, honestly to what was happening. And she had all these wonderful actors, these tricks that she learned to put herself into that situation. And that was probably.That was probably enough. You know, I kind of. I kind of got it.

She came to it late as well. She was very successful actress. She was bored with it.

Yeah, that's right.

And I think she went to Herbert and. And he shook a lot of that rust off of her. And really, really, if you're going to be up there, let's commit to it, do it right.And that's what she would pass on to her students. I went to hb, first couple of weeks I was there, sat in a couple of acting classes, and whoever the teacher was, was not there.And they had a substitute in. It was. It felt at the time like taking a couple of steps backwards. So I never went back.

Oh, okay.

But the point is just to be your body up and moving and learning and doing things. It doesn't matter who's teaching you. You will learn from whoever you're with. And it was a great mistake that I made.

Well, then the other thing was, of course, you might meet somebody and. Let's not go there. Yeah, no, but it was really, you were meeting people who were in the trade and.And that made associations that helped you in your career. You'd end up working with some of them on the stage and things. What kind of off Broadway stuff did you do off Off?

God. Well, I'll tell you what kept me alive for a couple years was children's theater.

Oh, yes, I did some of that too.

You were inducted as a Disney legend.

That's what I hear.

For what. What did you do?

To several cartoons that did well for them and.

Right.

With a trophy. But yeah, the children's theater kept me alive. It was fun. It was a troupe in a van.Get there, put the scenery up, get the costumes out, get the wardrobe ready and do it, and then pack up and leave for the next gig.

Yep, I was Lenny the Lobster. And with that for a while. I'm a lobster, you can see. Of the very famous lobster family. Wouldn't you like to be a lobster just like me?Cut my teeth on it, John. And then the other thing that I did was I was teaching.I was acting in a piece about how to avoid venereal disease, which was touring, I swear to God. Touring around high schools. So I go from Lenny the Lobster to a virus.

You played a virus?

No, no. Bonnie the condom.

Oh, boy.

Wash your hands first. Yeah.

So, yeah, we do it. We did what we had to do and it was. It was fun.

We traveled around the New York area. We went to out to Ohio. We got as far as out to Ohio. One.

That's pretty good.

Wow. Yeah, and Buffalo and. Yeah, it was just long distance driving and I loved it.

Yeah.You know, some of my fondest memories of early years in acting were doing bus and truck tours, which is what they called them in the day for Goober Ford and Gross. Yeah, yeah. Remember the music circuses?

Yeah.

Did you do some of those for Gordon Crow?

I did the Robert Bridegroom for six months. Wow.

Yeah. What fun traveling.

That was my first. Like, I got paid 600 bucks a week, which was pretty unbelievable, though.

Pretty good.

Most of it home to my girlfriend, live on the per diem. It was good. And boy, yeah, it was just wonderful. City to city, it was a hoot. I could not do it now, but young person, it's a lovely way to go.

I toured in Brigadoon and Finian's Rainbow. I should mention that today on St. Patrick's Day, I played OG in Finian's Rainbow with the great Pat O'. Brien.

Oh, my goodness.

Great character.

Oh, was that the time that you had the.

Oh, yeah, when he went up. Yeah, he went up in one performance.He was playing, of course, the Finian, and he had just like roughly thrown me on the ground and he had some great speech he had to make and he couldn't remember it. And I looked up and I saw his eyes kind of go up in his head. And when I said, oh, my God, the great man has gone up.And he just started talking, John. He just started blathering, and the blarney came out of him. And he went on and on.And finally I caught his eye and I said, so you're hoping Sharon will see you soon? And I got him back on track.

Oh, God. Oh, man.

But it was such a great lesson to see a masterful actor just like he did not admit defeat.

Yeah. Wow. That's brave.

Yeah.

That's crazy. Has anything like that happened to you, John?

I was doing a show called Big river, which was a musical adaptation of Huckleberry Finn.

Oh, yes. Huh.

And we were on Broadway.And one particular night, I think we were a couple months into the run, right before my entrance, I was gonna step around a little thing and then be center stage. I couldn't. I couldn't remember the first word. And then the more I tried them, it wouldn't come. And I had to step out physically.And I was gonna open my mouth and say, ladies and gentlemen, I'm so sorry. I can't. And as soon as I opened my mouth, the line came out.

Oh, thank God.

It happened a few nights in a row. Three.

What? Three nights in a row.

It's. It was some kind of stage fright. It was the worst feeling I've ever had. It. I thought I was over it the one night, and it came back and did it again.Oh, that's horrible. My brain learned a new trick. Oh, let's try this again. And, yeah, three or four nights in a row. And then it went away.

Thank goodness, really, for all of us.

Yeah. There was nothing like it. It was horrible.

You used to perform a lot down at the theater in La Jolla. The La Jolla Playhouse?

Yeah, La Jolla Playhouse. I did their second season, which was 1984. No, 1985. Yeah. No, it was 84 because the Olympics.

I remember when we met. We didn't meet till 90 or something. But you were going down there then. I think I forget what it was.

Oh, I know what it was. That was for the old Globe Theater production of Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, which were edited together. And playing Falstaff.

Yes, I remember we saw that and loved that. That was interesting because it started in. In rehearsal format and then, you know, costume pieces were added. Right.Until it was a full blown production.

Yeah. By the second act, everybody was in full Dress.

Yeah.

Yeah. The sun would still be out when we started.

Yeah. Yeah.

When Real street closed. And then we closed in on it and. Yeah, that was a great experience. I had a lot of fun doing that.

And I think the last thing I saw you in was you were doing Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot.

Tin Roof at the Geffen Theater. That was the first production there after a remodel.

That's right. There's a great deal of really great theater suddenly here in Los Angeles.

There usually is. I did a production of Anthony and Cleopatra downtown at the LA Theater Center. Oh. And the director loaded the stage up with sand.

Yeah. Okay.

The Alexandria and the first three rows were inundated with. So they had to figure out how to dampen that.

So it wasn't just actor spray. It was also a sandstorm.

Yeah. Do you have any, like, favorite memories of. Out of all the stuff you've done so far, the things that were maybe, like, the most fun or.

Looks like you have fun on pretty much everything. You do.

I know you do. Yeah.

You have to. You have to make fun. You have to manufacture it sometimes, and then it sticks around. But if you're not enjoying yourself, it ain't gonna work.

Yeah. Well, that's what that comes off the screen or off the stage when you're out there. And it's certainly the way I've always approached it.

So lucky to be there that the gratitude.

Yes.

Over.

Yes. There is an incredible reward for doing what we do, which is that there we are.

You don't have to explain yourself to anybody.

That's right. You don't have to be yourself either.

Yeah.

Right. Oh, my gosh. We're getting down to the last couple of minutes of our 100th show.

Our hundredth guest, John Goodman, is with us, and he says he's unemployed, but his new movie, which will be coming out sometime in the near future, is.

Chili Finger and one called Digger, which will be out in October.

Oh, yes. I've heard some. Some stuff about that Tom Cruise. Oh, Tom Cruise.

That I cannot talk about under fear.

Of death, of course. And eventually, we hope that Treasure island, all eight hours of it, will be coming out.Because, you know, right now, the broadcast industry, especially Public Broadcasting System.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. It's under attack. And it's very. So. So they.

How stupid is that?

Ah, please.

Audio productions, no matter how good they can be, are so challenged. There is a lot going on in the podcasting world. Audible's trying to do it.But these exceptional productions remarkably have a hard time finding A home. And what you did with David and Judith and Orson and Phil and Keith.

David.

Keith, David. That's right.

That's right.

And hindsight the day before, look that up in your podcast platform and wear headphones because you will trip into another world.

What I like to do sometimes is on SiriusXM, they have an old radio channel, and I'll flip that on on a long drive. It's wonderful. Benny, you know all these old radio shows.

Oh, yes. It's still the best.

And audio still has the strongest impact on audiences. Much more.

I believe that because it's the best, because you create the scene in your mind.

Movies for the mind, interactive.

And it's very, very nature, which is.

Why I got hooked on Fireside because of the depth and the layering. And you could listen to it more than once and still not hear everything.

Yep, that's right. And that was. That was our intention, and it was hysterical. Thank you, John.

We are out of time. Remarkably.

Wow.

John Goodman, thank you so much for being our guest.

Thank you for joining.

And come out to Los Angeles.

Yeah, let us know when you're out here, John.

All right, Philip, we love you. Love you, too.

All right, take care. Bye, John.

Bye. Bye.

Well, folks.

Wow, that was fun.

Number next one will be 101.

This is Phil and Ted's Sexy Boomer Show. I'm Ted Bonnitt.

I'm Phil Proctor.

You can hear all our shows@SexyBoomershow.com stay tuned.