0:06

From NBI Studios,

0:09

this is Truth

0:12

and Justice, a

0:14

crowd-sourced investigation in

0:17

real time. I'm

0:19

Bob Roth. Back

0:36

to Truth and Justice. I am joined

0:38

today. I have a very special guest.

0:40

Her name is Melissa Moore. A lot

0:43

of you have probably already heard of

0:45

her. She is known for a lot

0:47

of her work in the media and her

0:49

advocacy work, but you may know her

0:51

as the daughter of Keith Jesperson, who

0:53

was known as the happy face killer. He

0:55

was convicted for murdering at least eight

0:58

women. And you were, Melissa, you were

1:00

a teenager at the time? Yeah. You

1:02

found all this out? Yeah, 1995.

1:04

So we're at the 30-year anniversary

1:06

right now of his arrest. I

1:08

was, I think, 15, yeah, 15

1:11

years old. Yes. We got to

1:13

be right about the exact same

1:15

age then. I was... I'm going to

1:18

be 47, sorry. I'm making myself

1:20

a year older. I'm 46. I'm

1:22

going on 47. Yeah. So we

1:24

would say, did you graduate in

1:26

1997? 98. 98. So you're one

1:29

year behind me. Yeah, so... I

1:31

don't want to talk about, I don't want

1:33

to spend any time talking about your

1:35

dad, but I'm more interested in your,

1:37

anybody can look up anything about him,

1:40

but like your experience living through this

1:42

because you had, from my understanding,

1:44

you had no idea what was going on. I

1:46

mean, he was living like a double life.

1:48

So can you kind of talk a little

1:50

bit about like what that experience was like

1:52

and then we're going to get into what

1:54

I really want to talk about, which is

1:56

what you've done with that trauma that trauma

1:59

that you've been. a really,

2:01

really good childhood. You know, if

2:03

I compartmentalize the animal abuse out

2:05

of it, you know, just put

2:07

that on a shelf and everything

2:09

else is pretty normal. He was

2:11

very much into please and thank

2:13

you, teaching us manners, making sure

2:15

that he wanted us to be

2:18

good people. So I mean, it's

2:20

really incredibly strange that he would

2:22

try to instill. all these great

2:24

ethics and character traits and all

2:26

of us three kids I'm the

2:28

oldest of three and then him

2:30

to learn that he had this

2:32

double life as far as when

2:35

his double life started there's still

2:37

questions looming about that especially with

2:39

the letter that he wrote to

2:41

my uncle so that's ultimately what

2:43

got him arrested by the way

2:45

so in 1995 about this time

2:47

March he wrote a confession of

2:49

some sorts of letters to my

2:52

uncle and my uncle sent it

2:54

to my grandfather to review it

2:56

as well and it said I

2:58

called the black sheep letter it

3:00

said I'm truly the black sheep

3:02

of the family I've killed eight

3:04

women assaulted more and so it's

3:06

that last sentence assaulted more that

3:09

you know what does that mean

3:11

how many more victims are there

3:13

I believe that there truly are

3:15

you know a core eight that

3:17

he's killed but he's killed but

3:19

You know, we know that one

3:21

of his first victims, Don, escaped

3:23

and was sexually assaulted by my

3:26

father. So I believe he was

3:28

practicing way before 1990 that we

3:30

know of. Yeah, so truly how

3:32

many victims he has, I don't

3:34

know. With the court eight, because

3:36

I, so I followed kind of

3:38

your life in your media over

3:40

the years. Yeah, we met and

3:43

I think it was in, we

3:45

were in Austin at CrimeCon a

3:47

few years ago. and was just

3:49

super interested in your story. I'm

3:51

not considering I host a true

3:53

crime podcast. I'm not a true

3:55

crime buff and I'm not like

3:57

into serial killer so I'd never

4:00

study like these all these serial

4:02

killers and the things they don't

4:04

have the eight victims that he

4:06

said that he murdered have they

4:08

all been identified? I believe there's

4:10

one that is still Jane Doe

4:12

but mind you like even though

4:14

I don't know how to say

4:17

this but I don't follow my

4:19

father's crimes or his media there's

4:21

a level of removal for me

4:23

in that because there's you know,

4:25

there's so much mystery around like

4:27

the truth of it. Let me

4:29

see how I can how I

4:31

can say this. He's lied so

4:34

much that it's typically what is

4:36

the truth and what is what

4:38

are lies. And so the only

4:40

thing that I know for truth

4:42

is when I see it printed

4:44

in paper from the authorities or

4:46

you know from reputable sources. Sure.

4:48

So in 1995 you're what a

4:51

freshman sophomore in high school? And

4:53

you hit this new, a freshman

4:55

in high school. So did you,

4:57

or did you go to a

4:59

big school? Was it a small

5:01

school? Like what was that like?

5:03

Because I mean, because it was

5:05

headlines everywhere. And it was like

5:08

your dad, who you thought was

5:10

this fine dad, all of a

5:12

sudden, is a serial killer? I

5:14

was living in Spokane, Washington, and

5:16

I was going to Shadle Park

5:18

High School. And the murder that

5:20

he was charged for, Julie Weningham

5:22

happened here and... the Portland, Oregon,

5:25

Camis, Washington area, because we have

5:27

the river. So for people who

5:29

aren't really familiar with this area,

5:31

the Columbia River separates Washington and

5:33

Oregon, and so he lived on

5:35

the organ side and would travel

5:37

across the bridge to the Washington

5:39

side of the river. So that's

5:42

where it probably gets confusing with

5:44

those crimes is that his first

5:46

victim we know as Tanya Bennet

5:48

would have happened on. the right

5:50

side on Portland side of the

5:52

river and then his last victim

5:54

was Julie winning him on the

5:56

other side of the river in

5:59

Kemis Washington. So he was charged

6:01

for her murder, Julie winning him,

6:03

and went to jail. And that's,

6:05

I saw him in prison, I

6:07

mean in jail, sorry, I saw

6:09

him in jail. And that's when

6:11

he said, Missy, my best advice

6:13

is to change your last name.

6:16

And that's when I knew that

6:18

he was guilty of the charges.

6:20

But then we would soon discover

6:22

through that trial that summer that

6:24

there were many, many more crimes

6:26

he was connected to, that he

6:28

was actually a serial killer. because

6:30

at the beginning he was you

6:33

know a charged man on one

6:35

count of murder and then it

6:37

was serial murder. So what was

6:39

it like for you going back

6:41

to high school? It was really

6:43

rough. It was I mean at

6:45

that time there really wasn't the

6:47

environment that we have today with

6:50

true crime like there was there

6:52

weren't podcasts there weren't I mean

6:54

People didn't really talk about true

6:56

crime other than unsolved mysteries was

6:58

a thing that I would actually

7:00

watch with my dad So everything

7:02

I know about crime was really

7:04

through the local news And so

7:07

that's how I broke the news

7:09

broke and then all of my

7:11

friends parents Found out about it

7:13

and they didn't want their kids

7:15

to be around me which right

7:17

as a I'm a parent now

7:19

and my kids are grown, but

7:21

I can understand their fears back

7:24

then just because It was such

7:26

a unique, you know, unique situation.

7:28

Yeah. Did you stay in that

7:30

high school for the rest of

7:32

your high school? No, I left.

7:34

I left. And then I went

7:36

to meet high school and really

7:38

tried to just go underground. Kept

7:41

to myself mostly, I had one

7:43

friend that hung out with the

7:45

most. And when she wasn't around,

7:47

I would go to the library

7:49

and read books. But I really

7:51

became pretty much a recluse after

7:53

that. Just trying to hide. and

7:55

you know keep out of and

7:58

I just keep out of people's

8:00

way I guess because it was

8:02

so shocking to me even I

8:04

was still trying to brought my

8:06

head around it. We didn't have

8:08

therapy. We didn't have anybody to

8:10

really talk to. So I internalized

8:12

a lot of that, you know,

8:15

myself, I guess. Yeah, I can't

8:17

imagine that. And that's one of

8:19

the things I find so fascinating

8:21

about your story is you did

8:23

what you would expect someone to

8:25

do, like try to like change

8:27

your name, try to get away

8:29

from this because you don't want

8:32

to be the daughter of the

8:34

happy face killer. But then 15

8:36

years later, you published a book.

8:38

Right. And you put it on,

8:40

and I don't know, was that

8:42

the kind of beginning of your

8:44

media career? The book is called

8:46

Shattered Silence, the untold story of

8:49

a serial killer's daughter. And when

8:51

you put, was that your first

8:53

kind of like step in the

8:55

media or had it already happened

8:57

a bit before that? What happened

8:59

privately is that I was a

9:01

mom and my daughter was, I

9:03

think it was kindergarten, she was

9:06

learning about families and doing a

9:08

family tree project. She's filling out

9:10

the family tree and realize that

9:12

there's a missing branch and that

9:14

was her maternal grandfather. And so

9:16

she came asking who this person

9:18

is and to help her with

9:20

that assignment. And that's when I

9:23

said, oh, he's, you know, he

9:25

lives in Salem, but I didn't

9:27

say, you know, in the show,

9:29

I say that he's dead, but

9:31

I said that he lives in

9:33

Seattle. It's the truth, but like,

9:35

you know, she didn't need to

9:37

know him in prison. So you

9:40

wrote the book and then in

9:42

a lot of media after that

9:44

you did you hosted a lifetime

9:46

series where you helped it was

9:48

what's called monsters in the family

9:50

my wife had watched it. Oh

9:52

really? Okay. Yeah. And did you

9:54

like help connect like victims of

9:57

of killers with the or the

9:59

families of the victims and the

10:01

families of the perpetrators on the

10:03

show? Yeah. How did you get

10:05

into that? Okay. So. That happened

10:07

in about, I think, 2014, which

10:09

is, gosh, forever ago now. Really

10:11

what happened? And after I came

10:14

forward with my book, that's what

10:16

got me, by the way, to

10:18

backtrack. My daughter asking about that

10:20

and not really having the answers

10:22

propelled me to want to find

10:24

the answers of how do I

10:26

talk to my child about this.

10:28

And so I wrote into the

10:31

Dr. Phil show, thinking he could

10:33

have me. I knew nothing about

10:35

TV. Right, yeah. Well, he knows

10:37

everything. You can help all these

10:39

people on TV, right? Yeah, he

10:41

helps all these people. So I

10:43

wrote into the show and they're

10:45

like, so a producer called me

10:48

right away and said, do you

10:50

want to go on the show

10:52

and just get help alone with

10:54

Dr. Phil or do you want

10:56

to go with other people and

10:58

go to this get real retreat?

11:00

And I was like, be with

11:02

other people because there's safety numbers.

11:05

Yeah, yeah. So I went on

11:07

the get real retreat and not

11:09

knowing what to expect at all.

11:11

Like this was the summer, I

11:13

think I left like Father's Day,

11:15

2000, I think it was 2008.

11:17

Yeah, it was my first time

11:19

ever even saying out loud the

11:22

words because before that it was

11:24

just something that I can never

11:26

even speak of. So I was

11:28

terrified of telling the world again.

11:30

you know, about my story because

11:32

I had such a negative reaction

11:34

when he was arrested, just the

11:36

guilty by association. Then I was

11:38

afraid I was going to lose

11:41

my job, I was afraid my

11:43

husband at the time was going

11:45

to lose his job, but we

11:47

handed it together, decided this was

11:49

the right thing is just to

11:51

talk about it. But that's what

11:53

when I did that. That's when

11:55

people started to reach out and

11:58

say, I'm like you. you know,

12:00

I or I have a killer

12:02

in the family or you know,

12:04

my family member is a victim

12:06

of crime and that was the

12:08

first time in my life wherever.

12:10

felt connected to other people because

12:12

for so long I felt alone

12:15

and then now I find out

12:17

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at the number one st-h-o-r-m.com/truth. So

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can you talk a little bit

15:32

about from there besides writing the

15:34

book where you you've you know

15:37

finally just kind of released to

15:39

the world your story the the

15:41

advocacy work that you've done to

15:43

help you know family members of

15:45

victims and like you said family

15:47

members of people who have a

15:49

killer in the family? Yeah so

15:51

from there I got approached about

15:53

potentially doing a series monster my

15:55

family which we were starting to

15:57

talk about and that's when all

15:59

these other families I reached out

16:01

to them and said, do you

16:03

want, do you want to meet

16:05

with the victim's family members? And

16:08

they all wanted to because that's

16:10

one thing that I also and

16:12

in common with all these other

16:14

families is that I had been

16:16

reached out to by my father's

16:18

victims families and it was a

16:20

very healing thing for me. And

16:22

so I wanted to offer that

16:24

up to other families and it

16:26

was healing for them too. So

16:28

that's how the series got made.

16:30

And then from there, I started

16:32

to realize that the media could

16:34

be a very powerful tool as

16:36

a connector to bringing people together

16:39

that have similar stories. So when

16:41

they came forward, those families on

16:43

Monster My Family, they too got

16:45

those letters saying, I'm just like,

16:47

you and that they felt connected.

16:49

And so I started to really

16:51

feel that the media could be

16:53

powerful and as a connector. And

16:55

then That's when I started to

16:57

work as a producer in the

16:59

true crime space. And that's what

17:01

I feel like my advocacy work

17:03

is in that way of helping

17:05

families tell their story in a

17:08

way that's meaningful for them. Yeah,

17:10

it seems obviously it's not something

17:12

I can personally relate to, but

17:14

the family members, when somebody, you

17:16

know, like your father committed these

17:18

crimes, like your family becomes like

17:20

another set of victims. because you

17:22

know once he's locked away now

17:24

you have this stigma on you

17:26

and in your case too this

17:28

absolute shock because you had no

17:30

idea that I assume that your

17:32

father was even capable of something

17:34

like right had no idea and

17:36

then it just really turned our

17:39

world upside down and you know

17:41

it's I think it's really hard

17:43

to say we're a victim because

17:45

if you say our family is

17:47

a victim then it puts us

17:49

on the same plane as the

17:51

women that he killed so I

17:53

never want to say I'm a

17:55

victim because I'm afraid of people

17:57

thinking that I'm putting myself in

17:59

that world. in that space, I

18:01

should say, which I don't see

18:03

myself as an equal victim, obviously,

18:05

to his women he killed, or

18:08

even to the families that he's

18:10

impacted by killing their loved ones.

18:12

So I kind of referenced myself

18:14

as like a secondary victim. Because...

18:16

Well, I mean, there's losses, but

18:18

you just, you know, I just

18:20

never want to put that comparison

18:22

out. Yeah, it's not the same,

18:24

and that's respectable, too, but there's

18:26

certainly a ripple effect of... a

18:28

pain that comes off of anything

18:30

like this, on the victim side

18:32

and on the perpetrator side. Absolutely.

18:34

And it's hard to really even

18:36

quantify or even talk about what

18:39

those losses are, because, I mean,

18:41

I would say that the fear,

18:43

the fear that it instilled in

18:45

my life was, it was life-changing

18:47

fear. They could froze me in

18:49

life. Yeah. I want to talk

18:51

a little bit about, so you,

18:53

a few years after that. you

18:55

launched your podcast. So it's been,

18:57

I was at 2018? Happy Face

18:59

came out? Yeah, 2018. Yeah. Yeah,

19:01

I know. You know, 2018 seems

19:03

like yesterday and then he started

19:05

doing them as like, God dang,

19:07

that was seven years ago. Now

19:10

like if you're like, so I

19:12

was car shopping for my daughter

19:14

and I was like, oh. a

19:16

2019 car that's just like a

19:18

year old two years old yeah

19:20

I literally just had this conversation

19:22

with my wife about my my

19:24

truck I drive as a 2017

19:26

and I was like I feel

19:28

like something's wrong with it yeah

19:30

yeah like maybe it's time to

19:32

replace it but I'm like but

19:34

it's new and she's like new

19:36

what are you it's eight years

19:39

old what are you talking about

19:41

new? I feel like the pandemic

19:43

in the middle of it just

19:45

like sped time up somehow. Or

19:47

a race time in our brain,

19:49

I don't know, like. Yeah, something

19:51

like that. Yeah, I hear you.

19:53

But happy face, the podcast is

19:55

still out there. It's really good.

19:57

I'd listen to that. when you

19:59

were putting it out there there's

20:01

two seasons right there was like

20:03

12 episodes in the first season

20:05

and 10 in the second season

20:07

correct yeah yeah do you have

20:10

any do you have any plans

20:12

to revisit that or is it

20:14

two seasons and you're done with

20:16

that two seasons done I think

20:18

when that podcast was being created

20:20

I was going through a divorce

20:22

so it was not the best

20:24

timing to do a podcast sure

20:26

yeah I've been there too yeah

20:28

yeah That was a rough time,

20:30

but I made it through it.

20:32

Right. Yeah. And so I want

20:34

to talk about, so we're recording

20:36

this ahead of time, but when

20:39

this episode airs, there'll be four

20:41

episodes into the new series that

20:43

is in to the new series

20:45

that is out in Paramount Plus

20:47

right now called Happy Face, which

20:49

is what kind of prompted me

20:51

to reach out to you. And

20:53

we had talked, I had your

20:55

number of my phone, and my

20:57

wife, and I had your number,

20:59

we should get her on the

21:01

show. But now obviously this is

21:03

a scripted show, it's not a

21:05

documentary. It's adapted off of the

21:07

book, Shattered Silence and the podcast.

21:10

So it took place really, so

21:12

after the podcast aired, I started

21:14

getting reached out to by different

21:16

studios and I met Jen Kacizizio,

21:18

who's the writer and the show

21:20

creator. She has her own history

21:22

with a father that was in

21:24

jail and so I just connected

21:26

with her and we worked together

21:28

and started, well she did the

21:30

primary writing but I worked with

21:32

her to consult on it and

21:34

that was seven, isn't that seven

21:36

years ago now? Yeah, like, it

21:38

started the production of this, this,

21:41

the creation of it and we

21:43

went through a writer strike, we

21:45

went through, oh yeah. change of

21:47

executives, CBS, like so it was,

21:49

it went through it was so

21:51

many. different landmines, I guess, that

21:53

would normally destroy a project, but

21:55

it survived. Yeah, people don't realize

21:57

what that probably, yeah, I went

21:59

through that with my docu-series with

22:01

oxygen. It's like when it aired

22:03

in 2020. Okay. But it was,

22:05

but it was three years. It

22:07

was like, the show was bought

22:10

and we're gonna do it and

22:12

then same thing, like. and executive

22:14

changes this changes and then somebody

22:16

you get halfway through it and

22:18

they want to change something else

22:20

and then it's not going to

22:22

happen then it is going to

22:24

happen then it's done and it

22:26

just sits on the shelf for

22:28

a half a year it's such

22:30

a weird such a weird business

22:32

it really is it really is

22:34

so like when when i got

22:36

approached from the studios i already

22:38

knew basically kind of what you've

22:41

experienced i experience i experience out

22:43

with monster my family and so

22:45

there was nothing like this had

22:47

to happen this is like okay

22:49

let's let's let's do this and

22:51

then year after year, you just

22:53

kind of roll with the punches.

22:55

I'm like, oh, it's surviving. It's

22:57

still moving. It's still going forward.

22:59

This is good. I didn't really,

23:01

it didn't really feel real until

23:03

they brought the director Michael Showalter

23:05

on when he signed on. And

23:07

then after him, then they looked

23:09

for the lead who would be

23:12

my character, who would be Melissa

23:14

Reed. And they looked at Anna

23:16

Lee right off the bat. And

23:18

then there was like discussions of.

23:20

Well, are we going to film

23:22

this in Vancouver, BC? Are we

23:24

going to film this in LA,

23:26

which makes a big impact on

23:28

the show and access to what

23:30

actors and actresses they get to?

23:32

And then Dennis Quaid came on

23:34

last. Okay. Well, I was always

23:36

curious, I'm like, who's going, you

23:38

know, who's ultimately going to play

23:41

my father's character? Right. That was...

23:43

It was kind of surprising when

23:45

they said Dennis Quaid. I'm like,

23:47

but that's parent trap dad. Right.

23:49

But he's so good in it.

23:51

He's so good. He's so good.

23:53

Yeah, he's incredible. I cannot say

23:55

enough good things about Dennis Quaid

23:57

as a person and as an

23:59

actor. Well. was curious like are they

24:01

going to just try to you

24:04

know portray my father as this

24:06

brute you know that six foot

24:08

six and it's going to be

24:10

about his physical dominance but because

24:13

for me it wasn't his physical

24:15

dominance that I struggled with or

24:17

was intimidated by it was

24:19

the manipulation like he manipulated

24:21

my heart my trust he

24:23

betrayed my trust over and

24:26

over again and And Dennis picked

24:28

up on it right away. Like

24:30

he read the script, he knew

24:32

instantly how to do this cat

24:34

mouse with Annaly, and watching him,

24:37

it was just, it was surreal.

24:39

Annaly, Christie in our chat

24:41

mentioned this, but I was going to

24:43

mention it to the, Annaly Ashford

24:46

looks so much like you that when

24:48

I saw like the, like the trailers

24:50

and the cover for it, I thought

24:52

it was you for. I mean, you

24:54

know, I only met you in person

24:56

the one time. I'm like, wait, is

24:58

that, that's not, that's not Melissa, she's

25:00

not an actress, but is it? Like, there's

25:03

such a good casting. Yeah. For

25:05

a lot more reasons than just that,

25:07

but one of them. Right, right. But

25:09

that's what people say to me all

25:12

the time, like we were together, Annaly

25:14

and I were together at South by

25:16

Southwest and people are like, you guys

25:18

could be sisters. Like, yeah, I guess could,

25:21

we probably could. She really, you

25:23

know, I didn't talk to her

25:25

before she started, you know, doing

25:27

her research to get into the

25:29

rule. She listened to the podcast,

25:32

but we didn't talk before. She

25:34

just leaned in on the writing

25:36

and that's how she developed her

25:38

portrayal of me, I guess. Are

25:40

you happy with the with the

25:42

betrayal of you? Yeah, I think it's really

25:45

kind. I mean, you never know when you

25:47

know how people perceive you or like

25:49

your everybody has their own quirks

25:52

and flaws. So I was curious how

25:54

she was going to portray my

25:56

flaws and my own quirks and

25:58

or you know, what what would she? What

26:00

would she pick up on about

26:02

me as a person that she

26:04

would latch on to? You know,

26:06

you never know. I mean obviously

26:08

it sounds like you've you've met

26:10

spend some time with Dennis Quaid

26:12

which is crazy. Let me back

26:14

that. What if you jump back

26:16

to say 2008 could you imagine

26:18

a situation where you're sitting talking

26:20

with Dennis Quaid about starring in

26:22

a movie about your life? No

26:24

and actually when I was sitting

26:26

with him for dinner one night

26:29

I we I don't know how

26:31

it came up but I said

26:33

something about I always saw my

26:35

dad as the National Lampoons Christmas

26:37

story, the Uncle Eddie, Uncle Eddie,

26:39

to me, was always my dad.

26:41

And I said that to Dennis

26:43

Quay, and he goes, that's my

26:45

brother. I said, that's Randy Quay.

26:47

You're pulling my leg. What? He's

26:49

like, yes, that's my brother. That's

26:51

hilarious. Yeah, I'm really not starstruck

26:53

or like any, you know, into.

26:55

into celebrities and their lives. So

26:57

I knew nothing about the fact

26:59

that he was married to Meg

27:01

Ryan or like no idea about

27:03

the incredible women that had been

27:05

in his life. I knew nothing

27:07

about his life. In fact, I

27:09

actually said something to him and

27:11

I'm embarrassed to say things. I

27:14

was like, you know, you have

27:16

a great voice. Have you ever

27:18

thought about like voiceovering, a documentary?

27:20

He's like, I just did that.

27:22

A big deal. Like, I'm like,

27:24

okay, sorry. Then I was joking,

27:26

I'm like, you should be an...

27:28

actor. I promise you my audience

27:30

when they hear this will be

27:32

laughing right now because they've heard

27:34

all of my, you and I

27:36

are kindred spirits because I'm the

27:38

same way, I have no idea.

27:40

I have no idea. I have,

27:42

I always tell the story about

27:44

the time that I big league

27:46

Idris Elba when I was doing

27:48

a speaking event in London and

27:50

some guy came out, we were

27:52

going to some pub like for

27:54

like a meet and greet afterward,

27:57

and some guy came out and

27:59

he's like, hey Idris Elba's here

28:01

and he wants to meet you,

28:03

and he wants to meet you.

28:05

who this is, by the way,

28:07

either. Me neither. This was, this

28:09

was two weeks after he was

28:11

crowned as People magazine Sexiest Man

28:13

Alive. He had a huge hit

28:15

show, Luther, he was on the

28:17

office, I can't even, I don't

28:19

know, he's been on a million

28:21

things, he's like super famous, and

28:23

I'm like, I don't do well

28:25

with crowds, and they were like,

28:27

they were like taking me into

28:29

this packed pub. full of people

28:31

and so I'm already like super

28:33

anxious and some back room they

28:35

had people waiting to go take

28:37

like pictures of me and as

28:40

I'm going back through and I

28:42

see this huge line of people

28:44

and all I want to do

28:46

is get out of there and

28:48

then they bring this guy over

28:50

to me Idris Elba and he's

28:52

like hey nice to meet you

28:54

I shake his hand and he's

28:56

like you want to get a

28:58

picture and I said yeah yeah

29:00

but I'll definitely take a picture

29:02

with you but I've already got

29:04

people waiting with you waiting in

29:06

line so I'm and I'll get

29:08

you in a minute. Guess what

29:10

never happened? The picture never happened.

29:12

Never happened. He wasn't super into

29:14

it after that for whatever reason.

29:16

Yeah, same thing. Okay, love to

29:18

hear this. I'm glad we're kindred

29:20

spirits. Oh, I have stories a

29:23

mile long doing the same stupid

29:25

shit when I was doing mine.

29:27

I almost, so John Crier produced

29:29

my docu series. I almost blew

29:31

him off because I was like

29:33

emailing. He was like, as though

29:35

he was just a fan of

29:37

my podcast about a case I

29:39

was working on. And then he's

29:41

like, hey man, here's my phone

29:43

number. Give me a call. I

29:45

want to talk to you about

29:47

a project. And I was like,

29:49

luckily, I turned to my wife

29:51

and I was like, who does

29:53

it? Like, I'm not giving. this

29:55

guy my number. She's like, who,

29:57

let me read it. And she's

29:59

like, is that the John Crier?

30:01

I'm like, who's John Crier? Like,

30:03

I had, it's like, ducky, you

30:06

know, two and a half men.

30:08

And then I was like, oh,

30:10

whoops. So I almost blew him

30:12

off too. So you're not alone

30:14

by not knowing that Randy Quaid

30:16

has voiced over documentaries on. How

30:18

I want to know, because I'm

30:20

always surprised whenever I meet somebody

30:22

that is an an actor. Everyone

30:24

I've met that I thought was

30:26

huge is tiny. How tall? Because

30:28

your dad was a big guy.

30:30

Yeah, six foot six. Yeah. Yeah,

30:32

how tall? How tall is Dennis

30:34

Quaid? I think six foot at

30:36

least. But he's not super tall.

30:38

He's not short. He's not short.

30:40

Yeah, and he's taller than me.

30:42

I'm five, nine, six foot at

30:44

least. He's pretty ripped. Is he?

30:46

Oh, he has his dog named

30:49

Peaches that follows them everywhere. And

30:51

Peaches is incredible. She's so well-mannered,

30:53

but he showed me some videos

30:55

of some behind the scenes of

30:57

where he's practicing with the inmates

30:59

in the yard for the scenes

31:01

when he's playing my father and

31:03

he gets attacked by one of

31:05

the inmates and so he's fighting

31:07

this inmate in his scene and

31:09

Peaches runs out and starts humping

31:11

the inmates late. You know who

31:13

else has a dog I found

31:15

out by accident that always is

31:17

unseen is Mark Harmon. Have you

31:19

ever seen NCIS? Do you know

31:21

who Mark Harmon is? I know,

31:23

no. You're just making me so

31:25

happy that you also don't know

31:27

who these people are. John was,

31:29

is it, summer camp or summer

31:31

school he was in from like

31:34

back in our day? But anyway,

31:36

he was the lead in NCIS

31:38

and John Crier was working as

31:40

a repeating regular on that show

31:42

and I had a meeting with

31:44

John at the set and Mark

31:46

Harmon is he has a dog.

31:48

It's a big golden retriever that

31:50

follows him. Like every day he'd

31:52

go out to his trailer when

31:54

they take a break, when they

31:56

come out to shoot, he'd come

31:58

out, his dog would lay down

32:00

on the floor. The dog is

32:02

laying there for every scene, for

32:04

all of you listening. Any scene

32:06

you've ever seen of NCIS, Mark

32:08

Harmon's dog is just above the

32:10

camera line, just laying there all

32:12

the time. But I didn't get

32:14

to see him hump him hump

32:17

anybody. Okay. Okay. That was really

32:19

funny to see Peaches. actor inmate

32:21

like and then he went off

32:23

into on the scene he went

32:25

off to the inmate bed that

32:27

was supposed to be my father's

32:29

cell you know so it's kind

32:31

of funny to see Peaches is

32:33

laying in this like metal cell

32:35

room right so that's supposed to

32:37

be a prison yeah well it

32:39

sounds like you've had a great

32:41

experience as sounds like that the

32:43

actors that you're working with have

32:45

been awesome have you been it

32:47

sounds like you were been on

32:49

set with them while they're filming

32:51

it like how how actively were

32:53

you involved in the process? Well

32:55

I flew out to Vancouver BC

32:57

to do the cameo at for

33:00

episode one where I pretty much

33:02

hand the torch to Melissa by

33:04

saying hi Melissa you know in

33:06

the hallway yeah so it's kind

33:08

of fun to say hi to

33:10

yourself you know like hi you

33:12

know passing the torch of telling

33:14

the story I guess. I don't

33:16

know if I even caught that.

33:18

You didn't? Okay. When I watch

33:20

it. So I've seen the first

33:22

two episodes. I haven't seen it.

33:24

Episode 3 just aired last night

33:26

for me right now. Episode 1.

33:28

When she's at the Dr. Greg

33:30

show and she's walking down the

33:32

hall and I say, hi Melissa,

33:34

and she says hi, back. Oh,

33:36

that's fun. That's fun. Yeah. So

33:38

it was an incredible amount of

33:40

people that worked on set. I

33:43

mean, it took over. I would

33:45

say like a fairground type of

33:47

area, you know, with all the

33:49

trailers and everything. Yeah, it was

33:51

pretty incredible. amount of crew that

33:53

worked. And they worked on it

33:55

all last summer. I mean, 13-hour

33:57

days. And they're living in a

33:59

hotel all summer. Yeah. Pretty incredible

34:01

what actors do. You know. Yeah.

34:03

It's a rough life. I had

34:05

just, not as an actor, but

34:07

I just had the little taste

34:09

of it when I did the

34:11

docu series. And it was like,

34:13

I've had other offers to do

34:15

other show, like true crime. documentary

34:17

shows or hosts them and I'm

34:19

like I don't it's not for

34:21

me this is too much like

34:23

I know the travel and the

34:26

hours and everything is terrible it's

34:28

really a lot of work and

34:30

for them they had to memorize

34:32

their lines I can never memorize

34:34

lines don't mean either yeah no

34:36

way I had a practice saying

34:38

hi Melissa my one lot how

34:40

do I say it? And you're

34:42

one line, how hard of it,

34:44

right? Well, you know, like when

34:46

you take family pictures and you're

34:48

like, what do I do with

34:50

my hands? Right, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

34:52

It's just one of those things,

34:54

it's just not a natural thing.

34:56

So you're like, you know, you

34:58

overthink it is, but I guess

35:00

I'm trying to say is that

35:02

just open. Right. That's why actors

35:04

are actors and we are not.

35:06

Yes, exactly. Well, it's awesome. I

35:08

can't wait to see more of

35:11

it. Like I've seen the first

35:13

two episodes now. Those of you

35:15

that when you're listening to this,

35:17

Happy Face on Paramount Plus, there'll

35:19

be four episodes out and it's

35:21

an eight-part series, right? There's four

35:23

more episodes coming. Yeah. And episode

35:25

four is my favorite episode. Oh,

35:27

fantastic. So that's coming out. That'll

35:29

be out the Thursday before you

35:31

guys hear this. So it airs

35:33

on Thursdays. Guys, check out Happy

35:35

Face and Melissa. Thanks so much

35:37

for joining me. It's great catching

35:39

up with you. Yeah, this is

35:41

fun. Thanks for having me on.

35:43

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