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squarespace.com/wtf. All right? Okay.

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All right, let's do this. How are you? What

0:55

the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What's

0:57

happening? How's it going? How are you? I'm

1:01

back at home. I am back at home

1:04

after months away, though coming back

1:06

in and out, kind

1:10

of a parachuting in to do the

1:12

work and then getting out. But I

1:14

really, I'll explain it to you. Not

1:16

much to explain, but I might sound a

1:18

little under the weather. Big

1:20

tease. So

1:22

Eric Roberts is on the show today. All

1:25

right. Eric Roberts is

1:27

singular. He's a singular guy.

1:30

And there were a few movies that, you know,

1:33

put him into your brain

1:35

forever. Those being the

1:38

Pope of Greenwich Village, star 80,

1:40

Runaway Train, and

1:43

maybe you're a raggedy man fan.

1:47

But he is a guy that

1:49

works. He's

1:51

also in King of the Gypsies with

1:54

Sterling Hayden. And

1:56

the book, he's got a book out. Okay.

1:59

The book, it's called. the Runaway Train or the story of

2:01

my life so far. And this is

2:03

Eric Roberts. And he's a

2:05

force to be reckoned with. But those

2:07

early movies, Star 80, that's

2:10

a movie you'll never forget. Pope of Greenwich

2:12

Village, totally different kind of movie, but again,

2:14

a movie you won't forget. The Coca-Cola Kid,

2:16

I remember that one too. Runaway Train, I

2:18

just watched for the first time, I

2:20

think, in order to talk to Eric Roberts. And

2:22

he's one of these guys that you know, but he's also

2:24

one of those guys where you're like, what happened to that

2:26

guy? Well, it's in the book. Things

2:30

happened, but I don't think, you

2:33

know, I think there's other

2:35

reasons. The more I talk to him, it's interesting as

2:39

somebody who's acting now. He's done a

2:41

lot of movies. I mean, like, probably

2:45

hundreds. And he's a

2:47

guy that works. Like, if an actor wants

2:49

to work and he's got a

2:51

little juice or even some old juice, you

2:54

know, he can work. And it's really all relative.

2:57

He did like, he did like, he

2:59

did did over 10 movies in a year, this guy, like

3:02

in 2018. And it's only because, you

3:04

know, a lot of times you're just going in there and

3:07

you're doing three days. You're doing four days. You're

3:09

doing five days, maybe a week, maybe two weeks,

3:11

but you're in the movie. So

3:13

if you line them up, I mean, you could do a lot of

3:15

movies. I'm not saying they're all gonna be good, but

3:18

you know, if you wanna work and you're an actor that

3:20

can get work, it's out there. And

3:23

he works his ass off. But

3:26

it's very interesting about Eric Roberts. Is

3:28

like, I just never

3:30

forget him in Star 80

3:32

and certainly public greatest village. And even

3:34

after I watch Runaway Train, he's

3:37

a really, you know, good looking guy and

3:40

he's got, you know, this very specific charisma,

3:42

but there's some part of you that

3:44

thinks like, could he just

3:47

been a leading man? But you watch some of these

3:49

movies, why wasn't he just, you

3:51

know, like one of those kind of handsome leading

3:53

mans? Because he's got an edge

3:55

to him, man. He's got a

3:57

very specific energy and it's a little bit of

3:59

a, intense, you know,

4:01

it's not warm and fuzzy, but it's what was

4:04

interesting about watching some of those movies certainly public

4:06

Greenwich Village and Runaway

4:08

Train is that it's about guys.

4:10

It's about guy marriages almost like

4:12

him and Mickey Wark They're

4:15

not really married and then him and John Voighten

4:17

Runaway Train where it's this emotional

4:20

dynamic that is is

4:22

very specific, but he's so specific He's

4:24

on what's that thing called the the

4:26

amazing is it the amazing gemstones? He's

4:29

been doing that too. It's kind of a great

4:31

character. He's a real southern dude the righteous gemstones

4:35

But he just works dude. He doesn't give a fuck.

4:37

He just wants to work and he does it

4:40

He's a great guy intense guy his wife's

4:43

great. They came but they came together. It

4:45

was It was one of those things

4:47

man. It was one of those things where it's like this is a person

4:49

I feel like I've known all

4:51

my life and a very curious person

4:53

very singular and we had a

4:55

good talk now look Got

4:58

some bad news So

5:00

here's what happened so I? Come

5:03

home We wrapped

5:05

the show last Friday. It's

5:07

Monday, and I swear to God

5:09

I was Friday the 13th man, and I'm not

5:11

a you know I'm not that guy But

5:14

for the first time in three months in

5:16

Vancouver one of the rainiest places in the

5:18

world We actually had weather problems the last

5:20

fucking night of shooting we had to adjust

5:23

to change locations because

5:25

of rain that

5:27

happened and It

5:29

we shot until like 11 30 12

5:32

at night, and it's very emotional in

5:34

a way very bitter sweet You know

5:36

you do get into sort of this zone with a

5:38

shoot where you're working with these people every day You

5:40

see them every day someone's touching your hair and your

5:43

face every day You're acting with

5:45

these people every day you see the gaffers

5:47

and the camera pullers and the DP And

5:49

they're you know the showrunners and the

5:51

directors and you know every day Catering and

5:53

props and everybody and you're just walked into

5:56

this thing and it begins you just lose

5:58

all sense of time. It's like casino time.

6:00

By the end of the goddamn shoot, you're

6:03

like, when did we shoot that

6:05

first episode? That felt like a

6:07

fucking year ago. So

6:09

it's a real journey. And

6:11

so, you know, I hugged everybody

6:13

and that might not have been a great

6:16

idea given what

6:18

happened. So I go

6:20

back to the condo. I already packed. I'm

6:22

not feeling great that last night, Friday

6:25

night after the shoot, I sleep, but like I'm feeling

6:27

a little kind of a, you know,

6:29

drippy in my nose, like that back of the

6:31

throat vibe. And I'm like, ah, fuck. Well, I

6:33

guess, you know, you do this whole shoot,

6:36

you're gonna, you know, you get, you might get sick

6:38

at the end that happens. So

6:41

I get up the next day, I don't feel great.

6:43

I get to the airport, I fly home, I'm not

6:45

feeling great, you know, and then I

6:47

get home on a, you know,

6:50

Saturday night and like by Saturday night,

6:52

I'm like, something's coming. Feels

6:54

like a cold. And

6:56

I have a rough night, Saturday night, I wake up

6:58

Sunday morning and I'm like, fuck, I'm

7:00

sick. And I just, all I

7:03

want to do is get back to work here. I got

7:05

comedy shows. I got interviews

7:07

all week, but you know,

7:09

you gotta, you gotta, I

7:11

went and got that fucking COVID test. You

7:14

know, I'm like, you gotta do it. And it's

7:16

so, it's such a throwback to such an awful

7:18

time. The, the whole

7:20

binax testing. And

7:22

you're just hoping, you know, you're hoping. It's not

7:24

as menacing as it once was, but there, it

7:27

is triggering. And

7:29

I waited out and I'm fucking positive. I've

7:32

got COVID, don't worry, you're not going to get it from the speaker, but

7:35

I got fucking COVID and like I had to cancel

7:37

these shows this week and I'm sorry. The

7:40

Dynasty typewriter and the Elysian, I'll reschedule

7:42

them. I'm sorry, believe me, no one's

7:44

more bummed out than you. I had interviews I had to

7:47

do this week, but you can't just be spreading COVID around,

7:49

you know? I mean, hopefully

7:51

it'll be, I'll run out of it. I guess the

7:53

protocol is five days and then you can mask up

7:55

or whatever, but I, I do plan to go to,

7:57

to Arizona Friday and

7:59

Saturday. But I

8:02

really wanted to get back into the swing, but maybe

8:04

this is just, maybe

8:06

I just have to relax. Maybe

8:08

this is the way it happens sometimes. You

8:11

know, I was all ready to fucking just start jamming again

8:13

and my brain's not great right

8:15

now, not because of COVID, just in

8:18

general. I'm a bit spun out and I'm moving in

8:20

towards this October shooting of

8:23

this movie. And you know, I'm a little

8:25

fucking, I'm a little spun

8:27

out. So maybe

8:29

I'll look at it as a reprieve,

8:33

as some sort of gift. Hopefully the symptoms won't get

8:35

too bad. I think I sound okay. And

8:38

I think that it's mostly in my head.

8:43

And maybe I'll just be tired and stuffed

8:45

up, I hope. But I

8:47

didn't get the last vaccine, so I can't, I

8:50

can blame myself for that. But I guess it's going around.

8:52

I don't know where I got it, but

8:55

I got it. So I'm

8:57

going to be sitting around isolated, just

8:59

so like people coming over to visit me and sitting on the

9:01

porch. It was

9:03

like, oh my God, it's all triggering to when Lynn

9:06

passed away and that whole fucking thing where I was

9:08

alone in the house and people would come over and

9:10

it was like some sort of, I remember just like,

9:12

you know, Brie came over,

9:14

Alison, all messed up. And she just hugged

9:17

me and it was like, it

9:19

was like courageous, just a hug.

9:23

But I don't, I've had it, this is only the second

9:25

time I've gotten it, I got it years ago. And

9:27

it feels kind of the same, but I

9:29

am sorry about those two shows. And

9:31

I'm sorry about the interviews I had to cancel, hopefully

9:33

we'll get caught up. But that's

9:35

what's happening. I guess I'll

9:37

be here. Because, and also like all it

9:40

was doing up there, so many hours just

9:42

sitting around by myself and trailers or

9:44

wandering around Vancouver by myself. And

9:47

I was like, I want to get back engaged

9:49

with the folks, the people, the comedy, and

9:51

now I come home and I got to be by myself. But

9:54

I'm going to try to look at it like

9:57

it's okay. It's okay, man.

10:00

You're just sick. It's just a

10:02

week probably. And maybe

10:04

you can focus on the script, do

10:06

some reading. You know, there's a

10:09

lot of little things that I want to get rid of in

10:11

my house. I feel like, maybe this is

10:13

an age thing. It's just like, I'm gonna be 61

10:15

on the 27th. And

10:19

I'm thinking a lot about throwing a lot

10:21

of things away. It's time

10:23

to throw it away. Get

10:25

rid of it. I

10:28

don't even know how this stuff amasses itself. I

10:30

got bathroom drawers filled with toiletries and I don't

10:32

even know where it comes from. I

10:34

got an office filled with stuff. I don't know where it

10:37

comes from. Books, pictures, I just

10:39

don't like it. Just eventually you're sitting

10:41

on a mound of stuff that

10:44

at some point if you don't do it, someone's gonna

10:46

have to go through it, take

10:48

what they want, throw it away. Is this morbid?

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Uh oh. That's. COVID

12:00

missed. I

12:03

just missed it with COVID, like

12:05

an aerosol COVID dispenser. Oh,

12:08

God, you guys. All

12:10

right, so listen, Eric Roberts,

12:13

intense, great actor. He's

12:16

got, he's got a wild energy, man. And I

12:18

sat right in front of it for

12:20

an hour. His new memoir is

12:22

runaway train or the story of my life

12:24

so far. It's available tomorrow wherever you get

12:27

books. And what I'm learning with

12:29

these memoirs is that these people grow up

12:31

in a certain time or they come up in a certain

12:33

time. I'm reading

12:36

Kathleen Hanna's book from

12:39

Bikini Kill and it's great. I'm

12:41

going to talk to her and I'm going to know too

12:43

much, but it's great because if these memoirs happen

12:45

at a time in history where other things are happening around

12:47

them, it gives you this whole, you know,

12:50

insight into the community of music, art,

12:52

and other stuff outside of their personal

12:54

struggles. Anyway, look, Eric Roberts is here.

12:57

The memoir runaway train comes

12:59

out tomorrow and this is me

13:01

talking to Eric,

13:03

the singular Eric Roberts. So

13:17

I didn't know what the hell to, you know,

13:19

I got the book, the galley of the book.

13:21

It's not out yet, right? Oh, my book. Yes.

13:24

Oh, runaway train. Exactly. The story of my life

13:26

so far. But, you know, a lot of times

13:28

when I talk to people and they have books

13:30

out, I try not,

13:32

unless they can't talk, I try

13:34

not to read the book too much because then

13:36

I'll lead you just to set you up for

13:38

stories and stuff, but I couldn't resist. So I'll

13:40

be honest with you. My dad's

13:43

a fucking narcissist too. And,

13:46

you know, these letters from your dad, they're throughout

13:48

the book. I'm like, I know that tone, that

13:52

diminishing kind of,

13:55

you know, isn't quite good

13:57

enough, competitive tone. Is

14:00

that coffee all right? Oh coffee is dynamite dude. But

14:02

like I want to ask you just out of the

14:05

gate since you've done a lot of thinking about it.

14:07

Do you feel, and I'm

14:09

just only relating to this for myself,

14:11

that because of your parents' selfishness

14:14

and insanity, do you

14:16

feel like from the get-go you were kind of, your

14:19

sense of self was kind of half,

14:21

like kind of shattered? Well, the

14:25

reason I love becoming and learning what

14:27

it is to become and be and

14:29

live like an actor was because of

14:32

the fact I had no sense of self. Right.

14:35

So I would take on these other

14:37

people and I would enjoy being completely

14:39

somebody else. Because I was completely

14:41

not me because I had no sense of self.

14:43

Right. So I would fill that

14:45

void with these wonderful performances as child.

14:48

I was a wonderful child actor. Well,

14:50

that's the amazing thing is that as

14:52

weirdly, emotionally and somewhat physically abusive as

14:54

your folks were, they were,

14:56

you know, I don't know, I wouldn't say they

14:59

were progressive, but they were artists at least. Look,

15:02

the older I get, the

15:05

more I realize my parents were

15:07

children. Me too. And

15:10

I remember me at 21. I remember we had 31. Oh

15:12

my God. What a child. They

15:17

had a kid when he was 22 and he was

15:19

23 and she was 21. And,

15:24

and, oh God. Yeah. I

15:26

had a kid at 34. Yeah.

15:30

And I wasn't ready. Yeah. And

15:32

so, you know, and yeah,

15:35

so the older I get, the

15:37

more I see my folks as

15:39

children. Well, that's forgiving in a

15:42

way. Well, yeah, it's absolute, complete,

15:44

100% empathy. Yeah.

15:46

I mean, I sometimes say that my

15:48

parents weren't really parents. I don't see them as parents.

15:50

I just see them as these people with problems I

15:52

grew up with. That's

15:55

a great term for a book. Yeah. Yeah,

15:58

I see everything like book smell. Oh, yeah. house

24:00

doing the acting thing. Oh yeah. And

24:02

it's a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week thing. And I'm

24:07

doing 8 to 12 plays a year as a

24:09

little boy. I become a

24:11

theater kid. I look back on myself. Yeah.

24:13

And I remember I had this friend of

24:15

mine, Andrew Bridges. Where are you, Andrew? Good

24:18

day, buddy. Yeah. Anyway, Andrew Bridges and I,

24:20

we worked out this routine to West

24:22

Side Story because we both loved the

24:25

album. And we're called

24:27

and his mother and my father. And we're at Andrew's

24:30

house. He's very wealthy. He had this big

24:32

house on West Paces Ferry Road, you know,

24:34

which is where the governor's mentioned it. Blah,

24:36

blah, blah. He's very wealthy. So, and

24:38

we did this big dance routine for my father

24:40

and his mother. I look back on it. We

24:42

must have come across as two gay boys

24:47

growing up to be chorus line

24:49

dancers in Cognito. It was so,

24:51

it had, both, both our parents

24:53

had to think, well, our boys are

24:56

little gay men. Yep. And it was, it

24:58

had to be so funny to them. But

25:00

you also had a grandfather that was kind

25:02

of like that, right? Oh, he was a

25:04

bad redneck. Yeah. Which one your mom's dad?

25:07

No, my dad's dad. Yeah. He trained horses

25:09

and shit. He was a badass. Yeah. And

25:12

he always thought I was a little gay boy.

25:14

Yeah. In fact, he told me once, my, my oldest

25:17

cousin is eight years younger than me,

25:20

Adam Bowles. Great guy, great cat. Yeah.

25:22

And he told me once that Adam

25:24

was his real grandson. He's all boy. Oh,

25:26

yeah. Yeah. Obviously. I mean, I don't, I

25:29

don't, I don't remember being a feat, but

25:31

obviously was. Yeah. I was a theater kid

25:33

who wore costumes and makeup. Right. But

25:36

you, but also you are not

25:38

a feat, but you're definitely like

25:41

flamboyant. Right? Yeah.

25:43

I suppose always have been. Yeah. I,

25:46

I, I never really thought about it

25:48

up until I became an older man. Yeah. And

25:51

I realized I look back at my behavior, like,

25:53

like, like my dancing to

25:56

S.A. Strad with Andrew Bridges for her parents.

25:59

It's very, it's. I

42:00

go to my trailer, I get knocked by my door. Yeah.

42:03

Mr. Hayden would like to talk to you. Oh cool,

42:05

man. So I get all dressed in my costume

42:08

and I go in and I knock on his door. Come

42:10

in. I go in, it smells

42:13

like hashish. I'm thinking what the

42:15

f is this. Have

42:17

a seat young man. I sit down. Do

42:19

you get high? I've been known

42:21

to. Wanna get high? No I do not, I can't

42:23

act when I'm high because I can't talk. Oh,

42:26

oh, oh, oh, oh. Well,

42:28

I can't, I get high. What

42:30

are you shooting tonight? I said, seen it, he said,

42:33

I know the goddamn number. What happens? Yeah.

42:36

I was scared to death right away. Yeah. But

42:38

he and I bonded and he was brilliant

42:41

and he was cool. And

42:43

then we discovered there were neighbors in

42:46

Connecticut. Yeah. So we

42:48

started grocery shopping together. Really? And

42:51

I'd pick him up, he gets stoned, we go

42:53

grocery shopping, well, we both get stoned. Yeah. And

42:56

we go grocery shopping and we did it

42:58

a few times. Yeah, you kinda talk in

43:00

the book about these father figures that you're

43:02

constantly in search of or

43:04

constantly gravitating towards. Well, I actually never called

43:06

it that or never thought of it as

43:08

that up till I met my wife. And

43:11

when I was going through my

43:13

life straight with my wife over the years, she

43:16

put those terms on it. Uh-huh. And

43:19

I agreed with her because I don't disagree with her. Right.

43:22

But you didn't really think of it that way. Especially

43:25

at the time. Because I loved

43:27

showing so much and it made me laugh so

43:29

loud. I mean, he could

43:31

just punch you in the gut with

43:33

funny stuff. Funny stuff, dude. Yeah. And

43:36

I can't quote him, but things like he

43:38

would tell his whole story, very dramatic, and

43:40

then he would say, but

43:42

she was a good ass kisser. And

43:45

you just fall down because of his

43:47

reading. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was

43:49

neat. Yeah, yeah. And

43:51

the way he would talk about his wife,

43:54

he loved Kitty. Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. Yeah, yeah,

43:56

yeah. Kitty's put over some shit. And

43:58

he was just... He was

44:00

magnificent. When did the

44:02

drug start for you? Ha

44:05

ha ha. Well I smelled

44:07

pot all through high school. Sure. But

44:14

cocaine started for me at

44:17

the rap party of my first play

44:19

for Joe Pab called Rebel One. Doug

44:22

Kenny, who invented the

44:24

National Anthem, and

44:27

wrote Animal House. Wrote

44:29

Animal House and had my wife

44:31

in it, made her famous. And all of them.

44:33

Which wife? The

44:35

only wife I ever had, Eliza. She was in

44:38

it? Yeah. Would she play in that one?

44:40

Can we dance for your dates? She, yeah. Yeah.

44:42

Yeah. Brunella. Yeah. Doug

44:45

Kenny laid

44:48

a bunch out for us. Yeah. And

44:50

yeah, and. That

44:53

was it. Yeah, I started doing coke

44:55

with Doug. And Doug would always take me

44:57

out to lunch or

45:01

in rehearsal for that play. He was dating Catherine.

45:03

Did I already say that? And he would take

45:05

me out to lunch. Catherine

45:07

who? Catherine Walker was the star of Rebel One

45:10

in my first Joe Pab play. And he would

45:12

take me out to lunch. And

45:15

I told him a great story that

45:18

actually a guy named Ron Shuey told my

45:20

father this happened to Ron. But I would

45:22

tell the story as if it happened to

45:24

me. And it's about buying a horse from

45:26

the generation plant and like getting it up

45:29

into our dorm down the hallway into the dorm, in

45:32

the dorm ward bathroom. Yeah. And we

45:34

gave it a tranq shot to calm it down and it

45:36

died from the tranq shot. It was

45:38

over a weekend. So, so

45:40

Rigor Mortis sat in. So they had to call

45:42

the generation people to come saw the horse up

45:44

to get it out. And the generation people said,

45:46

we sold the horse to

45:48

a kid here. Yeah. And they pointed me out.

45:51

And I got expelled. But actually I happened to

45:53

Ron Shuey. But I would tell the story as

45:55

if it happened to me. And I

45:57

told Doug that story. And of course,

45:59

he've all seen Animal House. else, right? Well, that

46:01

was before that was even written. Oh, okay. Yeah,

46:03

yeah, yeah. But, and I

46:05

never saw a nickel. Who

46:08

knew? Yeah, yeah. So that's

46:10

when the cocaine starts? That's when the

46:12

cocaine starts. And that's 19, I guess that is

46:14

1976. Oh

46:18

my God. So before King of the Gypsies? Oh

46:20

yeah. Oh yeah. But it was only,

46:22

it was only, it was rare.

46:24

I mean, I didn't do it all the time

46:26

at all. I didn't have any money for Christ's Day.

46:28

And the people I was

46:31

hanging with apparently didn't know about it yet.

46:33

I mean, you know, you

46:35

know, Doug was very wealthy. And

46:37

he was a co-kid. Yeah. And

46:39

when does it become like a major component

46:42

of the life? When

46:44

I'm on tour doing press for King of the Gypsies in

46:47

1978, in December of 1978. Yeah.

46:52

But I stopped for a year after that. I

46:55

never even saw it. But

46:57

then I, you

46:59

know. Sure. But like what I don't understand.

47:02

But see, at that time, it was

47:04

such a component in

47:07

our society. Cocaine. It

47:09

was status. It was money. It

47:12

was relaxation. It was, hey,

47:14

cool. Hey, who knew? It

47:16

was, yeah. I mean, it was a part of our

47:18

society. I just like, cause I, you know, I've

47:20

been sober, I don't know, 25 years. Congratulations,

47:23

dude. How are you doing? I'm

47:25

in good shape. Yeah. Yeah. And,

47:29

you know, from Coke, the

47:31

amount, like, were you working on Bloke?

47:34

No, I can't work on Bloke because I can't talk.

47:36

Oh, that's good. Because I couldn't understand with all

47:38

that down, all the downtime on a set, you're

47:40

going to have to have a pound of Coke

47:42

in the trailer just to... But

47:45

you can't act if you're sent to the nervous system,

47:47

it's all drugged out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't act.

47:49

So you're able not to do that? What do you...

47:52

acting is like being

47:55

married. It's very precious, and it's very personal, and

47:57

it's only between you and that. Right. It's

48:00

you and that. Right. And if

48:02

you fuck it up, it's you who fucks it up. Right. You

48:05

can't blame anybody for a fuckup in your performance. You

48:07

must have had some bad days where you didn't get

48:09

much sleep. Well, yeah, of course. But

48:11

the work was always very precious. Right.

48:14

And the work, I didn't snort and

48:16

work. That's impressive.

48:19

Well, it's because I can't talk. Because

48:21

I have trouble talking anyway. Yeah. So,

48:24

you know, if I do cocaine, I cannot talk,

48:26

dude. It's horrible. You used to have a stutter.

48:28

Oh, yeah. Acting

48:30

fixed it. I won't. Confidence

48:35

is what eventually fixes it. Yeah.

48:39

Because you stop loathing yourself enough to be

48:41

able to speak. Right. But,

48:43

yeah. Stuttering

48:45

is... If

48:48

you know anybody with a bad stutter, ask

48:50

them who abused them. They might lie about

48:53

it. But it's as simple as that. They've

48:55

been hurt. They've been hurt physically and

48:57

emotionally. They've been hurt bad. And you were by your

48:59

parents. Yeah. Yeah.

49:02

Those two kids. Yeah. Yeah.

49:05

I'm glad that you have some forgiveness there. Well,

49:07

they were kids. And

49:10

one of them was pompous and one of

49:12

them was scared. Yeah. Yeah.

49:15

Because it's an interesting turn because there's this

49:17

idea and you talk about it in the

49:19

book and there was moments where, you

49:22

know, like I underlined things. This

49:25

one, actors are pains in the ass. We're all

49:28

a bunch of babies who want attention. That's

49:30

what you said. Yeah. And... But

49:33

there were moments where... There's definitely a moment

49:35

where you feel that the public frames

49:38

you in a way that

49:41

you never quite recovered from after Star 80. Yeah.

49:45

You know, that role was so hard to take

49:47

on. And remember, the first time I read that

49:49

script, I didn't like it. I'm thinking, what a

49:51

bad movie. I thought, what an obvious everything. Nobody

49:55

is so caricatured. That's

49:57

how the script looked. Yeah. to

50:00

me, but it was Bob Fosse. Who

50:04

you were idolized. Oh, Bob Fosse and Hal

50:06

Aspey were the men for me. They were

50:08

the geniuses who inspired me to do and

50:10

be and understand and want to be a

50:12

part of and all of it, those

50:15

two guys. And

50:19

so, okay, I'm gonna go for this.

50:22

And the chapter

50:25

on you and Fosse, you

50:27

know, the time you spent with them and where that went,

50:29

because he was out of his mind too. On

50:32

drugs. I don't want to say that. Well,

50:34

no, I mean, not crazy, but you know,

50:36

it's clear. He was a methamphetamine addict. Jacked

50:39

up, yeah. He was. So

50:41

there's a pace to that. But what

50:43

I didn't really put together, and I wouldn't

50:45

have unless I read the book, was that

50:47

it became clear that he wanted

50:50

you to be his surrogate as

50:52

a character in this movie. Well, I

50:54

was having trouble one day. I tell the story

50:56

in the book. I was having trouble one day with

50:59

the scene. And I was

51:01

in my underwear with a guitar in my lap and I

51:04

fucked up a song. I'm supposed to play this myself

51:06

and I fucked it up. So I said, cut. You

51:08

don't say cut on a Fosse set, unless

51:11

you're Fosse. It's just not accepted. And

51:13

you kind of understand that up front.

51:16

He said, what are you doing? I said, I'm

51:18

at a booboo. God damn it, come here. And

51:20

he walks across this huge sound stage of Zoetro.

51:23

And I follow him across, I'm barefoot

51:25

in my underwear. It kind of feels weird. I'm following

51:27

him across the sound stage as

51:29

the crew stands back and watches. And

51:32

he gets me kind of alone. He says, look at me. I

51:34

said, I'm looking at you. He said, look at me. I

51:36

said, I'm looking at you, man. I said, OK. You're

51:39

playing me if I weren't successful.

51:42

Do you understand? And

51:44

I did. Yeah,

51:46

at that moment. I did, yeah. And

51:48

on the way back to set, I started

51:50

watching how he walked. And

51:53

I decided, you know what? I'll just play you. And

51:56

I kind of did. I

51:58

kind of did. But that gave the guy. I

52:00

mean, you talk about that one scene that,

52:02

you know, your concern was that it was

52:04

one-dimensional, but the scene where he goes to

52:07

the mansion and that interaction with

52:09

Hef, where he's completely out

52:12

of his league and he's almost embarrassed

52:14

and it was sort of... And

52:16

he's embarrassing. Yeah. And

52:18

that gave that guy all the depth. Was

52:21

that the key into it? That

52:23

wasn't the key into it. That

52:25

was a result from the key into it.

52:28

What was the key into it? The key

52:30

into it was fear. Right. Fear.

52:34

Yeah. You have

52:36

to understand

52:38

almost every bad behavior is all

52:41

rooted in fear. And

52:43

when you really come to terms with understanding

52:45

that about yourself, then you can apply it

52:48

to others who aren't like you. But

52:51

it takes a good leader who takes

52:53

really good care of his team.

52:57

And Fosse took good ass care of me.

53:01

And Fosse was kind to

53:03

me. Fosse

53:05

was. Yeah. He was

53:07

very specific and

53:11

gentle with me. It's

53:13

a profoundly disturbing and

53:15

amazing movie, that thing. It's

53:18

the best docudrama ever made and

53:20

I rest my case. Yeah. And

53:24

after you did that, you felt that the

53:26

role affected you on set too? You became

53:28

consumed with it? Well, I

53:30

became kind of self-righteous. I became

53:32

Paul a little bit. He thought

53:34

he shit ice cream Paul. Yeah,

53:37

the character. Yeah. And as a

53:39

man, I think he thought

53:42

of himself as very special. And

53:44

he was in a way, he was very

53:46

smart. He started Chippendales. Had he not killed

53:49

her and killed himself, he would have been

53:51

a very wealthy, successful man. But

53:53

he effed up because he let his jealousy

53:57

rule the day. Yeah. what

54:00

he did, which is unforgivable. I mean,

54:02

God, dog, what he did, man. Brutal.

54:05

What he did, dude, damn. And

54:08

you became sort of mildly obsessed with Dorothy?

54:11

Well, there

54:15

was a girl involved in Playboy who

54:19

got involved in the film, her name was Sis

54:21

Rundle. And I saw her kind of as Dorothy.

54:23

Yeah. And I kind

54:26

of hated to say goodbye to Dorothy. Because

54:29

I felt that I could

54:31

have stopped myself, so I felt I could have

54:33

stopped Paul. Yeah. This is not

54:35

the case. But I went through

54:37

that a bit after the movie. Yeah. Even

54:40

now, I'm very, very moved by

54:42

the fact that there's nothing I could have done

54:44

about any of it. Yeah. But

54:48

she gave me the false image

54:50

of hope. And I kind

54:52

of wanted to get that from

54:54

her as a friendship. I

54:57

think I just confused her, though. Yeah. And

55:00

you went to the grave site. Yeah.

55:02

Oh, man. Don't ever do that

55:04

to yourself. No. Yeah, it's not worth

55:07

it. But you needed to break

55:09

down, I guess. I guess, I don't

55:11

know. Once

55:13

again, I refer back to what it said about

55:15

actors. You know, we're a bunch of effing babies.

55:17

Yeah. And I mean,

55:20

we kind of have to be, that we have to be

55:23

able to reach into shit that's not fun to go to.

55:26

Like babies do on a moment's notice. But it's

55:28

unfortunate when you have to be an

55:31

example. I

55:37

have grandchildren now. And I was

55:40

hanging out with a five-year-old the other day. Her name is

55:42

Georgia. And she's explaining

55:44

something to me. And she's explaining

55:47

something to me as if I didn't know. And

55:51

it was glorious. And I

55:53

was being taught this thing. And

55:56

I was accepting it very much. And she was

55:58

learning it actually best. as

56:00

she taught me. So it

56:02

was a roundhouse thing. It was just glorious.

56:04

And I realized I cannot be

56:08

the selfish,

56:10

self-concerned, self-interested, self-appointed

56:14

interest of the day

56:17

that I did as a young actor. I

56:19

can't do that as an old man who's a grandfather. It's

56:21

not cool or acceptable or

56:24

valuable or helpful. And

56:26

you want to be all those things. And when

56:28

you went into Pope

56:31

right after, I mean, you started shooting

56:33

Pope at Greenwich Village right after? Yeah,

56:35

well, that was a conscious choice because

56:38

actually what happened was right after Star 80,

56:42

Tennessee Williams died on us. So

56:45

they're doing Tennessee Williams productions

56:47

all over the country instantly. And

56:50

they offer me Tom Wingfield of Glass

56:53

Menagerie in Hartford. Great stage by the

56:55

way. Three quarter round. Really nice stage.

56:58

Big house. So I say, yeah, I'll do that.

57:00

So I go up there and I'm doing that

57:02

play. And Gene

57:04

Kirkwood and Howard Koch send

57:07

me the book

57:09

and the script of the Pope Greenwich Village. They say, read the

57:12

book and the script, pick a part of your... Charlie

57:14

or Paulie. I read the

57:16

book. I read the script. I read the book again.

57:18

I then

57:21

read the monologue about him losing

57:23

his thumb. That was the final

57:25

thing. Yeah, boy, his part. They

57:27

took my thumb. But I

57:29

got to play it a certain way. I can't play

57:31

it like it's written. Which was how? So

57:33

I have to ask them. So I call him up.

57:36

I say, now this script is written. He's a tough,

57:38

stupid thug. He's a big guy

57:40

it describes. I'm not going to play that.

57:42

I'm going to drop away. I'm going to

57:45

become a child. I'm going to perm my

57:47

hair so I'm very Italian. And

57:49

I'm going to play a guy who's a mama's boy who

57:51

wants to be a tough thug. I'm not going to play

57:53

a tough thug who wants to be a successful thug. I

57:56

want to be a thug. Blah blah. They say, Eric, whatever

57:58

you want to do, we're hiring you because it's your fault.

58:00

It's you. So you're the actor

58:02

we want in this movie. So, and we

58:04

offered you whatever you wanted to play, you

58:06

pick Polly, go. I said, okay, now

58:09

this is January. February,

58:11

March, April, May, June, July, August.

58:13

So last week of August, we're

58:16

pulled in to New York for five days rehearsal.

58:18

We're gonna start the shoot in September. I

58:21

show up and the

58:23

director says to me, after the third rehearsal,

58:25

he asked me to stay after. So

58:28

I do, why are you so skinny? He

58:30

says like I'm doing something I shouldn't be. I

58:33

say, because I want to be a walking

58:35

spaz attack. He goes, hmm, why

58:37

did you perm your hair? I said,

58:39

same thing, walking spaz attack. He goes, what

58:41

the fuck is a walking spaz attack? I

58:43

say, you know, John Belushi, only skinny. He

58:46

goes, that's not this guy. This

58:48

guy's a tough thug, blah, blah, blah, blah. I said,

58:50

no, no, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Eight

58:53

months ago, I told the producers

58:55

what I was gonna do. They said, whatever

58:57

you do is fine with us. It's

58:59

you, go. So I went, this

59:02

is where I came to. This is what I'm doing. He

59:06

asked me to resign. Nah,

59:09

I was going nowhere. I

59:11

lived with this guy for eight months. I

59:13

loved this person I had created. So

59:16

I say, well, let me think about him. And I

59:19

went up to Mickey's room. Mickey,

59:21

the director asked me to quit. What? We

59:24

called the producers. And

59:28

they fired that guy. And they brought in

59:30

Stuart Rosenberg. And so Stuart

59:32

Rosenberg directed a great movie. Yeah.

59:36

That's a good story. Did that answer your

59:38

question? What's your question? Well, it was just

59:40

a transition because there's a moment in the

59:42

book where you're walking with Christopher Walken after

59:44

star 80 had been released, right?

59:47

And you're getting weird looks from women,

59:49

from everybody because of that character. Yeah,

59:51

they're crossing the street. Yeah. And

59:54

you ask Walken, like, why are they doing

59:56

that? And he said, because you're

59:58

spooky, man. Yeah,

1:00:00

walking his eyes real straight up with me, really. He was

1:00:02

just, he is a cool cat. He's

1:00:07

one of those guys that when

1:00:09

he talks to you, you know that he's

1:00:11

not wasting words. Yeah.

1:00:15

And so you were able to bounce back from that with Paulie.

1:00:19

Well, that's why I chose

1:00:21

Paulie, was because he was so different,

1:00:24

and so different physically, and

1:00:26

so different emotionally,

1:00:29

and so different ethically, and so

1:00:31

different ethnic. Yeah. He was different.

1:00:33

Yeah. And I wanted to prove

1:00:35

that I was not Paul Snyder. And

1:00:37

I watched Runaway Train last night. Good

1:00:40

Ass Movie. Yeah. But the problem

1:00:42

with Runaway Train, it's actually two movies. It's a control

1:00:44

room movie, and it's the On the Train movie. That's

1:00:46

true. And the On the Train movie is a good

1:00:48

ass movie. Yeah. Yeah. And working

1:00:50

with Voight, was that daunting? It

1:00:53

was great. You know, he only weighed like 160 pounds

1:00:55

or something, ridiculous

1:00:57

to be six, two, six

1:00:59

one or two. Yeah. And he wore

1:01:01

a full body suit. No shit. Yeah, that's all

1:01:04

fake. Oh, wow. He was a skinny ass guy,

1:01:06

and he wore this big ass body suit, and

1:01:08

he pulled that off. And he pulled that off,

1:01:10

dude. Oh, dude, it was scary, man. I know.

1:01:13

Yeah. But it's interesting that these characters that you've

1:01:16

played in certainly those three

1:01:18

big movies, you know,

1:01:20

there was always this dominant personality that

1:01:23

you were up against, you know, and that you

1:01:25

were sort of, they almost work as these

1:01:28

emotional couples in a way.

1:01:31

And it was kind of fascinating, man. Well, thank

1:01:33

you, that's what they are. Yeah. I

1:01:35

mean, they're men marriages.

1:01:38

Yeah. And yeah, and

1:01:41

yeah, Voight was so cool to

1:01:43

work with. I

1:01:45

didn't know anything about his politics. Was

1:01:47

it the same then? I

1:01:49

don't know. Yeah. I never got a

1:01:51

hint. I always felt like that was a shift he

1:01:53

made, but what do I know? I never got a

1:01:55

hint of anything. So I have no idea. I just

1:01:58

fell in love with the guy as a working. comrade.

1:02:00

He was my buddy and we

1:02:03

knocked it out together and I knew

1:02:05

we always could and always would and

1:02:07

I could depend on that. I've only had that a couple

1:02:10

times in my career, like probably half a

1:02:12

dozen. And it's been where you

1:02:14

know the other actor, I'm gonna throw this

1:02:16

ball hard because he's gonna hit it. Watch

1:02:18

this. And he thought as hard as you

1:02:20

can, bam, they hit it, I told you

1:02:22

guys. It's like that's the feeling. Yeah.

1:02:27

That's amazing. And it makes you

1:02:30

cry in reflection because you remember,

1:02:32

oh yeah. And the

1:02:34

adrenal glands cuts loose because of that

1:02:36

satisfaction feeling you have when that happens.

1:02:38

Of that moment. And that's the marriage.

1:02:41

Right. And Damorni was great too. I

1:02:43

mean, she showed up for work. Yeah,

1:02:45

and bless her heart, she had it

1:02:47

hard because she showed up the first

1:02:49

day looking good and

1:02:51

the director, Andre Konchilovsky, said,

1:02:54

you look beautiful. No, no, no. And he

1:02:56

has a big fit, made her cry. In

1:02:58

terms of looking. It's so funny because you

1:03:00

work with these guys, Dino De

1:03:03

De Wainrentis and what were the other

1:03:05

guys, Globus and Gobilis and Globus from

1:03:07

Canon Films? Yeah. Those characters don't exist

1:03:09

anymore in Hollywood, right? Well, they're gone

1:03:11

for a minute. They'll be back. Oh

1:03:13

yeah. They'll be back in some form.

1:03:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now,

1:03:18

what was the arc? I had Trejo in

1:03:20

here and he talked to

1:03:23

me. What a cat. Love that guy. Yeah.

1:03:25

I mean, you know, you changed his life.

1:03:28

Well, he deserved it, dude. Yeah. He's a cool

1:03:30

ass cat. Yeah, it was really funny. Our

1:03:33

first meeting, Eddie Bunker, who

1:03:36

took the Kurosawa script at 300 pages, I made it 92

1:03:39

pages. For Runaway Train. Right, Runaway Train.

1:03:43

Eddie Bunker says to me, hey Eric, you got

1:03:45

this boxing scene coming up. I

1:03:47

want you to pick that Mexican with a

1:03:49

tattoo. Okay. I said, okay, cool

1:03:51

dude. I'll pick the Mexican with

1:03:53

a tattoo. Yeah. They'll line them up.

1:03:55

It's like 20 or 30 and they'll line them all

1:03:58

up. They're all Mexican. They all have freaking tattoos. So

1:04:01

I say, hold the page. I go

1:04:03

find Eddie. It takes like half an hour. I track

1:04:05

Eddie now. Oh, yeah, there you are. Come here, dude.

1:04:07

I got all these guys waiting for me. I got

1:04:09

to pick a boxer for the boxing scene. And you

1:04:11

told me to pick your friend and you

1:04:13

described him, but they're all that description. Help me. Come

1:04:15

with me. Come with me now. Because I got to

1:04:18

pick this. So he comes with me and we see

1:04:21

Danny Trejo and he says, that's the

1:04:23

guy. And I pick him and he

1:04:26

starts to ball. He starts

1:04:28

to cry right then because he got

1:04:30

picked. And we

1:04:32

go talk to the director

1:04:36

then and the director, this is what I picked

1:04:38

for the boxing scene. He's my size. That's now

1:04:41

blah, blah, blah. He goes, okay. Now, Danny, we

1:04:43

may have to really hit you in the head

1:04:45

for some slow motion shots. We have to hit

1:04:48

you and watch someone and watch sweat bounce off,

1:04:50

blah, blah. Are you okay with that? And Danny

1:04:52

said, for what they pay in me, they can

1:04:54

hit me all day. And

1:04:59

so we made friends and it made me look

1:05:01

good because I was on a boxer. And he

1:05:03

made me look good. And he taught me some

1:05:05

stuff and we had a great time together and

1:05:07

we bonded and we made friends. And since then,

1:05:10

we've been in, I don't know, half dozen

1:05:12

movies together, something like that. Yeah. Yeah. He's

1:05:15

my pal. Did he help you clean up

1:05:17

a little? Danny,

1:05:21

Danny, Danny,

1:05:25

if your user will

1:05:27

tell you stories that

1:05:30

will make you want to clean up.

1:05:32

Yeah. And yes, he did that for

1:05:34

me. Yeah. Yeah. That's his, that's his

1:05:36

life of service. Yeah. That's his service.

1:05:39

He's a great guy. He's a wonderful

1:05:41

human being. Yeah. And he's a damn

1:05:43

good actor, dude. Dude, totally. I love

1:05:45

watching his work. I

1:05:47

did a show for IFC and

1:05:50

I had him on. I had him on an

1:05:52

episode. It was one of the funniest moments because

1:05:57

he had a lot of lines. I

1:05:59

was playing... a guy who was sober and he

1:06:01

was going to be my sponsor. And

1:06:03

he didn't love that, right? And

1:06:06

he's got allergies that day and we're in a

1:06:09

car and the lines aren't coming. There's a lot

1:06:11

of lines. We've got cue cards taped up in

1:06:13

the car. And at some point he

1:06:15

just breaks down. He goes, this is more lines than

1:06:17

I've had in my last four movies. And

1:06:21

then he says, they hire me for

1:06:23

my face. That

1:06:26

mug of his, yeah. This is the best.

1:06:28

You got the best mugging. Totally. I just

1:06:30

watched Heat again recently. Yeah. It's

1:06:33

great. So now, like you've done

1:06:35

a million movies and you do differentiate in the

1:06:37

book between being a star and

1:06:39

being an actor. And there was

1:06:41

a point where in the book you talk about like

1:06:43

how it was never your goal to be a star

1:06:46

and that you're an actor. Yeah, but

1:06:48

being a star is one of the most fun

1:06:50

things in the whole world to ever want to

1:06:52

be or ever become. And you were a star.

1:06:54

You are a star. It's the coolest thing in

1:06:56

the whole world. I don't knock being a star.

1:06:58

I highly recommend it. And

1:07:00

I love being one. So I have nothing

1:07:03

against stardom whatsoever. So don't get

1:07:05

me wrong. I'm not

1:07:07

a martyr in stardom. Yes.

1:07:10

But you are an actor. I'm an actor.

1:07:12

I have a great time and I

1:07:14

do what they want me to do. And

1:07:18

I have that equipment. I can

1:07:21

do many things. Okay, you want that? I'll

1:07:23

give you that. And how's it like McBride's

1:07:25

great? Oh, McBride's so cool, man.

1:07:27

He's so funny, dude. It's an overused and abused

1:07:29

word, so it hasn't a real meaning anymore. But

1:07:32

he's a genius. And he

1:07:34

stands alone. And he's just

1:07:36

out of this world. I

1:07:39

just wish they made Junior permanent and brought

1:07:41

him back, at least now and again. How

1:07:43

did that offer come to you? Did

1:07:45

you know about McBride before you got the

1:07:47

gemstones? Of course I did. That's why I

1:07:49

did what I did. I read, in

1:07:52

fact, somebody told me, read the trades as

1:07:54

a part that describes, you

1:07:56

described your family's life. Yeah. And

1:07:59

so what is a buddy of mine? And

1:08:01

so I I look in there like yeah, wow,

1:08:03

okay. I'll do it So I set up this whole

1:08:05

little scene the op wise and

1:08:07

background wise and costume wise and

1:08:10

I play my family basically but it's

1:08:12

audition and It

1:08:14

gets sent in I send it in I

1:08:16

tell my wife it is audition day once he

1:08:18

it shit. She sees it She cracks a couple

1:08:20

things. Let's do this snap for this part trip.

1:08:23

So so we did she edits it Yeah, she's

1:08:25

she's my boss, you know, yeah, she she sends

1:08:28

it in Danny sees it

1:08:30

and Danny cast me kind of right then and

1:08:32

there. Oh, that's your opportunity that thing. Oh, why

1:08:34

he's really good Okay cast him. It

1:08:36

was like that just happened. Yeah, well There's

1:08:40

five of those guys who run that whole

1:08:42

situation. Yeah, two of them are directors They're

1:08:45

the two directors and one

1:08:47

of the directors did not like my portrayal

1:08:51

and and was kind of Vocal

1:08:53

about it. Uh-huh where I even heard

1:08:56

some some negative things about it on my first

1:08:58

night of Acting for him.

1:09:00

Yeah, he was he was in

1:09:02

Video Village and I wasn't but I could kind

1:09:04

of overhear that he wasn't happy So so

1:09:07

he he never liked, you know my portrayal

1:09:09

apparently at all And like

1:09:11

Danny cast me on to whim apparently because

1:09:13

he was so shocked. I was entertaining. Yeah,

1:09:16

and and so but I

1:09:18

Had so much fun on the show. It's my

1:09:21

favorite role I've ever had really ever in my

1:09:23

career and and I got to work with John

1:09:25

Goodman Who is one of the coolest

1:09:27

cats in the whole world as a co-star because

1:09:29

he's so on it with it and kind and

1:09:31

sweet I'm prepared and he's never late. It's like

1:09:33

it's such a pleasure to know him and And

1:09:37

he's he's normal. It's such

1:09:39

a relief to have a normal person to work

1:09:41

with. Yeah, and he's not he's not

1:09:44

cute He doesn't have tricks. He's just

1:09:46

this incredible presence. Yeah actor And

1:09:48

I just had so much fun and in terms of

1:09:51

like drawing from your past. Do you think this was

1:09:54

The deepest dive you've done into

1:09:56

that. Well, I played two

1:09:58

people in this. Yeah, I play I played my

1:10:00

grandfather and my first cousin, Adam. That's

1:10:03

who is this personality, Junior. The

1:10:06

crappy part of him being my grandfather and

1:10:08

the sweet part being my cousin. And

1:10:11

I play them both completely and

1:10:13

I meld them into one guy. And

1:10:16

I've never had a chance to ever do that before

1:10:18

so I'm so proud that I did because I didn't

1:10:21

like my grandfather but

1:10:23

I admired his presence. And

1:10:26

I love my cousin and

1:10:29

I admire his whole life. He's a

1:10:31

great cat. And so the

1:10:33

fact that I could do that and the fact that

1:10:35

Danny appreciated it is

1:10:38

a dream come true. And I also had

1:10:40

so much fun. I've never had that much

1:10:42

fun acting. Were you down in Carolina or

1:10:44

wherever they are? No, it's a beautiful location.

1:10:46

It's an island. Freaking world, dude. Yeah, they're

1:10:49

all, they got a nice- Where

1:10:51

is it? Is it North Carolina? In South Carolina.

1:10:53

South Carolina, yeah. It's so beautiful, dude. Yeah,

1:10:55

I interviewed him years ago and he's

1:10:58

so great. He's such a neat person.

1:11:00

Yeah, yeah, he's great. And he's kind

1:11:02

and sweet. Yeah. And

1:11:04

it's real. Yeah. I just noticed

1:11:06

something like you talking about that. In

1:11:08

as much as actors leave part of themselves on the

1:11:10

stage, this book and even

1:11:12

this role, it really does give

1:11:15

you a chance to sort of have

1:11:17

a deeper understanding and exercise some of

1:11:19

that past and those demons always, I

1:11:21

imagine. Well, dude, thank you. But I

1:11:23

had a luxury every day. Yeah. And

1:11:27

I do. And I also

1:11:30

had the luxury that we get so

1:11:32

many offers every day that I get

1:11:34

to pick through and find parts. I

1:11:36

would never be offered. I'm

1:11:38

never gonna be offered this part again. I gotta play

1:11:40

it this week. You just love to work. Yeah, dude,

1:11:42

I'm an actor. Yeah. And it's the

1:11:45

best job on the planet and I get to

1:11:47

do it every single day. Yeah. And

1:11:49

I really do treasure that. And also

1:11:51

you are like, you're

1:11:54

an actor, but you're a known presence. There's

1:11:57

nobody like you. You're the one guy.

1:12:00

So anytime you're in something, you're going

1:12:02

to go like, holy shit, there's Eric

1:12:04

Roberts. I'll take that. I'll take

1:12:06

that. Thanks for talking to me, man. Thank

1:12:08

you. Yeah. There

1:12:11

you go. That

1:12:14

guy, man. Full

1:12:17

on. Eric Roberts,

1:12:19

his memoir, Runaway Train, comes out tomorrow. Hang

1:12:21

out for a minute. Folks,

1:12:27

this episode is brought to

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you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally

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1:13:02

savings will vary, not available in

1:13:05

all states or situations. Folks,

1:13:08

it was nine years ago this week that we aired

1:13:10

one of the highlight moments of my life. It

1:13:13

was the episode where I got to meet and interview

1:13:15

one of my heroes, Keith Richards. I

1:13:17

fanboyed, man. This is like a, I'll

1:13:19

get through the nerves in a minute, but it's a big deal

1:13:22

to meet you because you're a big idol of mine. Now,

1:13:25

when you started playing and

1:13:28

you guys started to sort of come into your

1:13:30

own, do you remember the first idol of yours

1:13:32

that you met? Oh,

1:13:35

little Richard. Really?

1:13:38

Yeah. And Bo Diddley.

1:13:41

Really? Yeah, because we suddenly, we were

1:13:43

thrown onto this tour. I mean,

1:13:45

before that, we'd been working clubs. I

1:13:48

mean, suddenly we had a record. Yeah.

1:13:51

And we were thrown on this tour with little

1:13:54

Richard Bo Diddley and the Everly Brothers.

1:13:57

Oh, yeah. And so I suddenly met.

1:14:01

half of my

1:14:03

childhood mentors. And

1:14:06

I'm working with them too, which

1:14:09

was an amazing education. I

1:14:11

mean, that's a university for me.

1:14:14

Did you talk to Beau? Did you ask him

1:14:16

questions? Yeah. We were on the road for like

1:14:19

three or four weeks. Really? Yeah.

1:14:21

I used to take care of Jerome Green, who

1:14:23

was his maracas player. And Jerome was

1:14:26

a great lush. And it was my job

1:14:29

to get him out of the pub to

1:14:31

get him on stage. It's

1:14:35

funny, I think those roles changed later in life. That

1:14:38

was episode 693 from back in 2015. And

1:14:40

you can listen to it for free right

1:14:42

now in whatever podcast app you're using. If

1:14:45

you want every episode of WTF ad

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free, sign up for WTF Plus. Just

1:14:49

go to the link in the episode

1:14:52

description or go to wtfpod.com and click

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on WTF Plus. And a reminder

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before we go, this podcast is hosted by

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Acast. And here's some

1:15:00

familiar chords played

1:15:03

with a 61 Les

1:15:05

Paul Jr. Single P90 into a, I

1:15:08

think a 61 Fender Constant.

1:15:11

Nice. It's got a nice crunch

1:15:14

to it. Boomer

1:18:04

lives, monkey

1:18:07

and La

1:18:10

Fonda, cat

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angels everywhere.

1:18:16

Alright, feverish.