Bonnie and Terry Turner
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Yes. And if you don't understand what we're talking about, you should go online. What we're saying is you have a house with a kitchen and a bathroom and it's just for you, tailored for you. You liked your Airbnb over a hotel. Yes. And I do think I've had relatives stay nearby and sometimes it's very nice for them to do an Airbnb and have a little house and they're not underfoot. The last thing you want is your house guest to say, excuse me, um,

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Find it on auto trader. See it. Find it. Auto trader. We have Bonnie and Terry Turner today on the old fly on the wall. And you know, my best memories with them there, they are two formidable writers on SNL that have contributed to a lot of SNL and a lot of movies we've both been involved with. And you'll hear about that. I remember sitting around the rewrite table, the first, I think husband and wife team there and just mixed into all the huge, huge,

strong writers we had during that run yeah they were we're so glad to have them because we've had a lot of our great writers from snl on the show and they were a big piece of the puzzle they wrote on church chat for me if this is a character that's right they were great at that maybe you've heard of it world wayne's world they were great uh they're just great writers they're they're

Down to earth people. They don't put on airs. They're very sweet and extremely bright. And they've had a massive career in films as well. They did...

Third Rock from the Sun, that 70s show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's coming back, the 90s show, right? Is that coming back? Yes, that's coming back. It's second season on Netflix. They already had 10 releases. So they're still doing it now. They're at the top of their game. And we have a very nice conversation. It's really warm and it was nice. Old friends, a lot of fun. And here they are.

Something's happening. I see him. Hey. I see him. I like the beard, Terry. Thanks. Bonnie actually helped me get on. She's back in the other room getting on herself. We're the only household in America where the wife knows how to work all this stuff. Can't wait till Bonnie sees my goofy hair flipping up. That'll be the first 10 minutes. Hi, there's Bonnie. Hi. Hi.

Hi, everybody. This is like some kind of like we're... It's the old writer's room. I'll see you guys later. And then it's decades. Hello. Hi. Hello. This is what happened. So how's the last 40 years been for you guys? I don't know. Can I ask how long you two have been married?

40 it'll be 50 years next year not that i'm counting no wow it's 49 and uh in november 40 41 here hey so you're like the snl reunion oh 50 next year yeah we were married the same year oh crazy easy to keep track 83

75. Oh, 75. Oh, you mean the show. Yeah, I meant the show on Lauren's birthday, too. Was Lauren, did he marry you? No. It's that thing of like pronouncing you. Yeah.

Jim, what do you think? Jim, do you think? Jim, should they be married? Should they be married? Jim Downey with his keys and all his scripts in his hand getting into his office. Into his office. I'll talk to you later. We're so glad. Thanks for coming on because we've had Jim Downey. We've had Al Franken. Oh, wow. Alan's wife, Belle. Working on Handy.

Oh, we love Jack Candy, of course. He's shy, which we love him. But you guys are. We let him do it. Let Jack do it from a fishing location. You can get him, I'm sure, if you just let him be outdoors and talk about trout.

You know, Trout's very interesting. He's the only one probably that isn't obsessed with showbiz. So that's the likable thing about him. He doesn't care. He's great. He just was in his own lane. On Monday, everyone's just exhausted. And he would say that he's good. In other words, whatever he was going to do, this brilliant esoteric piece of comedy. I took a bath.

And it's all done. And that was during that Monday. The rest have to go to the death March of Tuesday night. I go, Jack, why don't you stay up all night? He goes, well, I'm done. I can't. I know. So,

I don't really know where to start with you guys. It's just that just putting you in context is that you come up quite regularly when we talk about movies and sketches. But the main thing for me is this trajectory, and I want to talk about the greatness and our love for Jan Hooks and Phil, which I feel like you two...

You had different lanes on the show, but I feel like you two wrote a lot of pieces with those two starring in them. Cause they were kind of our stalwarts. I was more of a dancing monkey on the side. Yes. But, uh,

Yeah, I want to get to the church-like stuff, but just briefly, how did you get on SNL? Because people might be curious. How did you get hired as writers? You make it pretty quick, but it was through Jan, right? It was through Jan, yeah. She was hired, and she said they're looking for writers, and we said, what do we do? And she said, write a couple of sketches and send them to Evie Murray, who was Lauren's assistant at the time, which we did.

And we didn't hear it. That was in October. And we didn't hear anything until January. Of course. Right. And I, it's waiting for, it must've been great. Waiting for Godot and waiting for Lauren. Broadway shows. Did you write anything that was,

usable once you got on there or was it just sort of in general? No, I think we just, it was sort of to get the door open. That's all it was. Yeah. We wrote a thing. I, I did. All I remember is a, is a like meet the press thing that we wrote that had Jean Kirkpatrick who was flirting with, this is how long I'm going with Jean Kirkpatrick. Do you remember her? Flirting with Betsy Ross. Yeah, exactly.

They were making a flag together one day. I had a Dwight Eisenhower chunk. Did you? But anyway. Oh, hysterical. From my point of view, so I'm on the show. Rosie Schuster is assigned to me because I did the church lady in my stand-up. She helps me develop it. She called it church chat. So she was very useful and very helpful. And then at some point, you guys appeared from the plains of the South or something. And then you...

immediately started writing great stuff for that character. And the character is kind of vaudevillian. I don't know if she's aged well, but there is a combination to it. And you guys just wrote great for church chat that whole time. People love that woman. They love that woman. She is still relevant as far as I think. I think the church lady could have her own podcast, don't you, David?

I mean, she's like, she's so judgmental. Judgmental is forever. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It doesn't get old. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. And patronizing, holy and thou. The whole world are sex fiends and sinners except for me. Totally. Exactly. No shortage of sinners. Exactly.

Yeah. I, I, I think she's wonderful. Well, I, I'd say if people ask me all time sketches, you know, I think the one with Phil and Jan, it was fairly early on. You know, there was a lot of religious scandals that first year of Jimmy Swagger and stuff, which also boosted it. Yeah. But knowing what I know now, Lauren would love a character with a talk show where other cast members get to come in and, well,

be hysterical. Because they were so funny and that was like a hysterical level of laughter. Very rare in 880s. So speak to that. That was, well, I think it was Janet because we would watch Tammy Faye Baker down in Atlanta all the time. And the line that Jan said that knocked me out, I don't know who wrote it, was...

It was like, well, it came from Tammy Faye Baker. It said, it was like devils were in a Bundt pan jammed on my head and running around. And she said, and I said- They were in a Bundt cake pan. Yeah, and I said, evil Bundt cake pan devils, I rebuke you. It's what she said. And I went, I don't even know who wrote that, but I just, I fell out when Jan did that line. It was great. And I also-

The mascara running down her face was great. Yeah. And then the, you know, accidental because you can't plan it. It was never supposed to be Carol Burnett. But when they saw her putting this stuff on. Yeah, it was great. It was crazy. Yeah, I love that.

So would, do you keep in touch with anyone on the show? No, no. You guys smart. Yeah. We've seen, we've seen Al I think more than. Yeah. Come on. By the way, I called Al a half hour ago just to, just to see, you know, I know you guys wrote with him a lot and we're just friends and tried to get some scoop, but, um,

I don't really know really where to begin. I mean, when you look back on your six, seven years, 86 to 93, six and a half. Yeah. Do you look back with, with joy or, uh, Dresden? I mean, I, I think it was, I mean, yes. No, I, it's a great, it's a great, it was a great experience. It was like being on a ball team or something, you know, there was just like, everybody was got a chance at bat. It was hard.

hard struggles sometimes and sometimes it was great just joy joy is fun you know when those things would hit like that you're just being great it's it's served as our time there i think at least from i can speak for myself um it served me well in that it knocked out a lot of really bad habits

When you come in as somebody who's not worked in that situation before, that pressure before, and you work under that pressure and you work to the live broadcasts,

it makes you become a clearer version of what you meant to do in the first place, you know? And there's something really amazing about it being, you know, it's like, I feel like everybody we are with, including the two of you so much, we're like army buddies, you know? It's like, it's like, I will never, you know, call and I'll come and, you know, and, and, um,

And I, you know, people who, when working in writer's rooms later on in our career, it's, it's became really clear that the SNL experience makes you tougher, sharper, faster,

clearer, more respect for an idea and seeing it through. At SNL, you have an idea, you pitch it in the room, the host locks in and says, yeah, then it's your job to make it work. It's a fumble if you don't, when you're halfway there. Exactly. And in a lot of sitcom rooms,

I will say run by other people. We'll get to your other career. But they will have an idea. And if they can't make it work in a couple hours, they throw it out and move on. And you go, no, no, don't.

don't, don't, don't throw away the idea. That's the hard part. You know, the easy part is making it work. You know, it just, it takes some, some thought, but ideas are the hard part. Yeah. You get one good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And, and you should make it work. And SNL is, is a clear shot at learning how to do that. It's, it's really amazing to me. You know, when I was there, I just, I learned a lot from, you know, these two Dana and everyone there, I was newer and, uh,

These two are obviously always nice to me. But I was so new and I think I was learning from...

just at read-through because you you read a tight sketch that works and you go oh that's like that's how i study it you go oh there's no fat in here everything means something this gets to this what am i doing i don't need 18 pages i don't need you know it's just but every sketch you learn and then the next read-through you go okay and then you see how it's written you just learn over time i think and watch what works on on its feet i agree yeah i agree with that totally

And the sudden potential humiliation just focuses you. Oh, absolutely.

As writers sitting there and it's the air show, it's going out or read through or during the rehearsal, you don't want any fat. You want it to be like monkey bars. That's funny. That's good. That's funny. You can't be baggy at all. And this procrastination theater, which is sort of part of that whole week, but it's taking that procrastination. Okay, we got to do it now. It's got to go now. And by the way, Jim Downey was electric.

at 1110. He was great. You know what's funny, Dana? He could write five jokes when there's like, you'll have it in the cards. Just like right at that point. I would have a sketch that if it, God forbid, got to the rewrite table.

And we'd be going through it. And for the listeners, the benefit is that you get Bonnie and Terry and Smile. Everyone's funny adds to your sketch. So you get the credit. But I remember, I think this one time we turned the page to the next one and Jim kind of ran his pen from the top to the middle and goes, I don't know if you need this part.

Like this whole chunk could go and you wouldn't even miss it. I'm like, ah, really? And then when you read it, it was a dead spot and you just take fresh eyes or someone else look at it. No. And then those are tough to take as a writer. But again, like Bonnie said, it's just,

bootcamp, you gotta go, okay, I'm in with the best people. So I gotta trust. - So I'm good. - Bonnie and Terry to this question, like, do you have people ask you and they, oh, you wrote for SNL. I thought you were that seven year show. Oh, we did. Are there sketches that stand out that you shepherded or co-wrote or wrote for the host or anyone that you remember? Or would people ask you, well, if you want to check that out on YouTube, what were the ones that your image of it and then it's on the air and it's like, oh, it's even better.

I like the one where the raise your hands, raise your voice that set the chickens free. Oh my God. The song, yeah. The song, I remember that because of everybody that was in it doing impressions. And I remember the two of you, you were doing Dylan and you were doing Tom Petty. Yes. Am I right in that? Yes. You didn't say it.

thing, but you did this facial expression that was Tom Petty's. We could not understand a word that Bob Dylan was saying. Farley was part of... Was he Meatloaf or was he Wilson Phillips? No, it was Wilson Phillips. Wilson Phillips. It's Wilson Phillips.

Guaranteed laugh. Yeah, that was just great. I loved that piece. And when the chickens came over the hill, where they had the- In slow motion. In slow motion, the chickens running over the hill. I thought that was absolutely great. I loved it. That's awesome. That's a classic. And everybody scored in it. It was so great. Yeah, a cast piece where everyone's doing impressions is a score. And then was the host in it? Who was the host that week?

I don't even know. Well, Michael Bolton. Michael Bolton. We talked Michael. It was Stephen Seagal was the host and Michael Bolton was the musical guest. And we were like, can't write for Stephen Seagal. But we said, if we write this song, Michael Bolton has to do, he has to set it up because he's the setup. He's the voice. He's the real one. He's the real guy. He's genuine. Yeah. And so we went down to his dressing room and talked to him and said,

Mr. Michael Bolton, would you please do this? This is what we're doing. And it's that we're not making fun of Quincy Jones or anything like that. It's not a thing. That's not what it is. And he went, yeah.

Oh, sure. I'll do that. Oh, I love it. And now he does all kinds of comedy. I mean, maybe that was the first time he did something comedic. Who knew that he was a stand-up? You two have eyes for talent. I'll tell you that much. You've got a nose for the winner every time.

You did do a lot of musical stuff as well. Didn't I do a cowboy thing once? Was it Woody Harrelson? I was sure you did. And we were on fake horses and it was your guys' song. That's a fun part of the show. Yeah, the musical stuff is great in the show. It's a lot of fun. I like to win. Oh, God, I feel like a million dollars. I feel like a dynamite.

John Lovitz? Christopher Walken. Christopher Walken. Oh. Thinking when he would do musical stuff on the show. No, he loved it too. It was great. And he could move, he could dance. And for people who don't know, you usually have a music director. We had, it was Cheryl, right? Cheryl Hardwick. Cheryl Hardwick.

You get as a novice, you know, comedian, you're sitting with this person who's like, oh, Broadway show. Oh, you mean like that? I mean, oh, yeah. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And she played some Santana song, the chords backwards. And that was the theme to church chat. But you guys would. I didn't know that. Fun fact for the kids. Wow. But that was so great to be on a real musician like that where they just and then there and then when you get all the cast together and she tried to tell you your part.

Stuff like that. It was fun. What about the one that was dysfunctional family Christmas? Leave me alone. Please go away. Leave me alone. Please don't touch me. Please don't touch me. Was that you guys? That was us. Yeah, that was us. Great one. Yeah.

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You two were kind of ubiquitous. You were like in a lot of quadrants. You weren't like in one little lane. And so you would sometimes punch up things. So you'd come in, you'd rescue, write a line, you write your own thing, write for the host. So that's the way I see you on the show. You were just ever just floating around and, and, and,

Oh, Bonnie and Terry are here and they're going to have great ideas. It's just, that's the way I remember you guys. I don't know if I remembered it correctly, but I remember. We didn't have the great ideas. That's why we got along. We were always around, but not with the great ideas. You're right. We were utility players.

And stars. Oh, no. Did you work? Was Coneheads during SNL? It was, wasn't it? Coneheads? Coneheads movie? Coneheads movie. Oh, Coneheads. Yeah, yeah. I think it was. That was during SNL. I just want to, just for all of us, for the people at home, I'm going to read some of the cast of Coneheads the movie that you guys wrote on. Okay. Obviously, Jane Curtin, Dan Aykroyd.

Chris Farley, Lorraine Newman, John Lovitz, Michael McKeon, Parker Posey, Garrett Morris, Julia Sweeney, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Ellen DeGeneres, Michael Richards, Tim Meadows,

uh william shatner phil hartman jen hooks jason alexander joey adams kevin nealon and sinbad all crammed into one movie that didn't work exactly but it was uh it was at least a lot to look at oh drew carrie a lot of that's right he was in the back of the cab yeah yeah yeah i would david i was thinking about you the other night about uh

The last line on Remulak, the super guy. I think that was a reshoot. I think you guys wrote me an extra. It totally was a reshoot. Yes. And it always made me laugh. Oh, I love Coneheads. I had such a fun part in that. That was so fun. Coneheads was a good movie. I just saw something on it lately because people find it again. You know, some streamer picks it up and then.

People give it a shot that didn't drag out to the theater and then they go, oh, that was fault. I know it's kind of a cliche, but I seems like there's a hunger for these big kind of dumb 90s comedies. They're just dumb. Easy, easy. You see Coneheads, you're just laughing. It's so silly and fun, you know. But one thing interesting about you two, I'm just observing it casually. Sketch writers.

film writers yeah and then dominating the half hour world and doing it now with that 90s show oh yeah season two so yeah season two films are what's what's the hardest of those three or what's the easiest of those three because you've you've done all three i think films are the hardest for me yeah it's a bigger picture it's a longer shot and it seems like uh

I don't know. They seemed harder, and I don't know why. It's like 120 pages. I mean, that's a lot. To keep the balls in the air. Oh, my God. Yeah, you get two acts in, and then what happens? How do we get to the end now? Yeah, we got to get there. It's really hard. The one that you guys wrote on extensively was Wayne's World. Let's just talk about Wayne's World 1, which was sort of –

just landed so beautifully. - That was a great experience, yeah. - Did you guys, this is what I would say, like on the first one it was 35 days maybe, or 25, 35 days. - It was short. - And we're on the car doing, if Abraham Lincoln, she'd be a baby,

whatever. He probably wrote that line or, uh, babe's bunny. And then, and then the sequel, we had so much money and I, they built a set where Garth and Wayne hang out and it's like, just fantastical. It seemed like it was almost a parody of the, the theme of the first movie. It should have been, it actually should have been a parody of the first film that we do just, we do just sell out or whatever. Garth and Wayne have,

money. Yes. They're now living in a giant warehouse. Yeah. Or wherever they were. The doll factory. It was a doll factory, yeah. The old doll factory. Oh, that's right. And there's a giant statue of Lenin or

Yeah. Like there was a restaurant in there somewhere. Yeah. And one, you guys, I think dream girl was yours or are you just, we wrote, you wrote a lot of stuff for Garth and I just want to thank you. You're welcome. Fun to work together on things. It was very nice. Well, I always felt like that, uh, that the first movie, uh, was like, uh,

Wayne and Garth get $10 million to make a movie. And what do they want? Garth wants the dream girl, the dream woman. And Wayne wants an exotic singer in a rock band. And they have this cool car and they're

there was something that was in the, uh, do you have any gray Poupon that, that scene where they think everything they do is so fucking hilarious. Garth can't hold it together when they drive up to the car, got it back and forth and they just explode with laughter over. Do you have any, pardon me? Do you have any gray Poupon? I know they were laughing way too hard. We never smoked pot or drank in the movie, but they were laughing. And I,

Seems like you're a little stoned. People ask you over the years, I go, well, the two losers in town and their friends are the happiest people in the town. Like, like by text. Yeah. Yeah. It's ritualization of all those things. And of course, a tip, tip of our hat to Mike Myers. You also had a great tech. Go ahead, Terry. Oh, there was a note that Paramount gave to, uh,

to underline the fact when Farley came up to the car, we should know that this is an important moment. And, you know, about Mr. Big in the car, we should underline this moment. And then Mike put the line in, you know, for a security guard, he had an awful lot of information, don't you think? Like it's directly into the camera and Paramount was completely happy with it. It wasn't what they asked for, but they said, oh, that'll do it. That'll underline it. This is insane. It was like,

Oh, it's kind of nice. All the exposition. The funny version of that. Yeah. Just go to the camera and go, this is what's happening. This is what we're thinking. Okay. Right. And next, there was one, I think, that wasn't Garth. He was on the grass going, ow, ow.

ow, ow. He was like, you know, those kinds of moments. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was my keys. My keys, my keys. I fell on my keys. So if you're going to, yeah, I mean, so that movie, but going back to like our movies harder there, when we did the, the scene where he does Foxy Lady,

And I don't know if you guys remember, we were trying to get what's new, Pussycat. What's new, Pussycat, yeah. But Steve Martin was doing it in Father of the Bride. Just a fun fact. But that was a day where you go triple overtime just to get it.

Because I remember walking to the set and going, I think this is the most tired I've ever been in my life. Isn't it a little weird that I'm going to film this thing? But that's part of film. It gets gritty sometimes. It gets late. It gets cold. It gets got to get the shot. The other weird thing about films for us in doing them was that as we went through, you know, Hollywood,

They don't let writers on the set. The idea that writers, that Terry and I were there on the set, was like a weird thing. We didn't realize it at the time because we were just, as far as we were concerned, we were just working. You know? Following through. Yeah. And there is a thing about having...

you know, writers talk to the actors, you know, you, you have to go through the director and you have, you know, there's a filter all the time. And you go, man, if you know who you're talking to and you know what their comic buttons are and, and like what, how they're physically funny or,

How they're, you know, you should be able to talk to them. Right. Because the director could kill it because they're also, um, they don't know. It's also you two with Dane and Mike who you two are together every day and someone comes in from the outside and is the mediator. Yeah. Yeah.

It's weird. I know it is weird. It seems to come from SNL in a way. Like sometimes a writer would jump in a sketch or even if Davey Wilson came down, a writer or a cast member would have more of a clubhouse feel. Like rather than you're the writer, I'm the performer. And you know, there was no, there was no hierarchy. It was just archy. Yeah.

You direct your own sketch. You just write it. Then you go in the booth and watch. Yeah. You produce and write your own work at SNL. With people like you on the set, because if I'm in the character of Garth and I'm doing things, I can get notes from you guys because you're objectively watching the whole thing. Maybe you should go over your entrance a little quicker, just a timing thing. So, yeah, I'm glad to hear that we had that. But that's, you know, what was your next movie?

You did Wayne's World, you did Conehead's. Tommy Boy. Tommy Boy. I mean, what a great title that we missed, which was Billy the Third of Midwestern. Billy the Kid. Billy the Kid? Billy the Third. Was it Third? It was Big Bill, Little Bill, Billy the Third. Sorry. Billy the Kid would have been great too, though, Bonnie. Thank you, Dana. A Midwestern was a great title. I'm out of here. I'm out of here. No, but Terry.

That was such a great, and I think it was a Billy Madison bump, right? Yeah, that's what we heard from somebody said that the audience might confuse it because it was two people from SNL and they might go to the wrong movie or something, which I don't know. Oh my God, what line am I

Two people named Billy. I can't keep up with it. I know. Well, Tommy took a while. I mean, Tommy boy, the title took forever. It seemed because I don't think

in my recollection, which is, you know, a little dusty is, uh, I don't think it was named when we got to the set. I mean, I think it was, we have to find a new title. Yeah. Adam, I think was shooting Billy Madison, maybe in Vancouver. I don't know, but yeah, at the same time. So, but Tommy boy, of course, just like Wayne's world, another one where it landed and, uh,

I appreciate that one. Writing a movie. How did that even come about? We were talking with Farley and it turned out Farley's, we all had working dads. Of course, everybody had working dads then. But Farley's dad and my dad had a lot in common. Not only their size, not only their demeanor, not only everything about them. But there was this one thing that happened when I said my dad used to, when he drove a truck and he had to take dinner napkins and tuck them in

Only at a certain weight will you get this. He had to tuck dinner napkins into his belt and fold them over because the steering wheel would rub on his pants and shine them up right below his belt line. And Harley said, my dad had his pants would shine too when he got in the car. And I went, this is weird. So we started talking about our dads and everything. And my dad was on the road a lot. So that's how that sort of started, went that way. And I was on the other end at Paramount finishing up the cone heads and looking at the testing.

And the testing numbers for Farley were off the charts. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. And I went over to John Goldwyn's office, who was the president of production at Paramount at the time, and said, have you looked at these numbers?

This is weird. Is this weird? You know, I think this is weird. This is, this number is way high. In a good way. In a good way. Yeah, but, but is it, are you looking, has Lorne looked at these? You know, this is, this is interesting. And, and John went, yeah, I know. I know. And we went, huh.

And then Terry and Harley had this conversation, this ongoing sort of thing where they would laugh at each other's fathers. And it became a movie. Yeah. So does Lauren say, write something up about this because he's good in Coneheads. He's good on the show. Let's put something together with salesmen. I remember nothing about how that happened.

I think, do you, Terry? I don't, I don't really remember. I don't know how it. I don't remember what the gap was. The word I got was, Lorne got you two because you're great writers and you wrote well. And he said, maybe it's probably for Farley, but he's like, maybe Farley and Spade, because it can be like a buddy comedy and kind of the way they are around the office. And Spade kind of makes fun of them and goofs around and they pal around and

And the traveling salesman thing, because a pitch, we always laugh later, like a pitch of a guy selling brake pads in Ohio wouldn't go as far. But you have to back into it. It's like, what's a funny Farley movie? What's a funny idea? My dad was a salesman too. So I related to that part too of like, oh, he worked in commission. You don't get any money until you sell and all that stuff. So I related to that. And then it just turned into...

uh, reading it and going, Oh, we're going to do it this summer. What a blast. Yeah. Yeah. And it was a blast. Yeah. I enjoyed that movie tremendously. There's something kind of magic about that movie. There's a likability to it and there's a pathos there. And then of course all the funny set pieces, it was like, it just really feels good whenever you see a piece of it. It's just like, I don't know what you guys did. Chris Farley's Chris's brother, uh,

His name just left my brain. There's Kevin. There's Tom. Said that they watch it. They watch the movie once a year.

Just to visit with Chris. Just to visit with Chris. Yeah. Because it really captured Chris. Yeah. Also, they can't help it because it's on TBS five times a day. Well, this is why. It's like the Wizard of Oz. It really is. I was on the road. I saw Tommy Boy and Joe Dirt on the same day, just on the same channel. I'm like, oh, my God, what's going on? Is this why I keep getting three cents? Yeah.

I knew it was for some reason. You were great in that film, incidentally. Thank you very much. It was really wonderful. It was well written for me and just perfect falling into place. Well, the two of you together were great.

doing stuff like the fat man in a little coat thing, which I've seen done around the office. In the writer's room. I love that it's on film. Yeah. Couldn't include all the stuff in the writer's room. No. Anyway. No. What are you talking about? I don't understand. Chris would get big laughs. Some you could show, some you couldn't. Sometimes clothes would come off. Yeah. You know Rosetta Stone, the most trusted language learning program?

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I didn't put it together with like, it was a conehead type of thing. Or is that, was that not? Oh man, it was, it was, this started with just the thing with Marcy Carsey said, Oh,

"Would you like to do a show about aliens who visit the Earth to maybe do a book report on it?" Or something like that. And we went, "No." No. No, we would not. We'd take that idea and, "Get out of my office!" But the more we thought about it, and we were walking down the street in New York, and a moving van went by that said, "The Solomon Brothers" on it.

And we said, the Solomon brothers. They all come in their brothers, which we traded around and moved around. But that was just how it started and went from there. Ran forever. How'd you get John Lithgow? Was he a first choice or he just appeared? Yes. Because he's so perfect in that. It was his bonsai buckaroo, you know, that weird, weird film. John had a reputation for doing odd things. And we...

So, and we'd worked with, you know, we, it was an SNL and he was a host a couple of times. And it was, you know, we'd written a Thanksgiving sketch and he, he knew how to be really funny and very normal. And, uh,

And we... Actually, Bunny is the one who thought of him because we couldn't figure out who was going to play that role because he said it was like a cross between Errol Flynn and Bugs Bunny. He wasn't afraid to pick up the sword and stab somebody with it or put on the dress. He would do anything, whatever he needed to do. And we thought...

and thought we were thinking for a while and Bonnie said one morning she said John Lithgow I said what she said it's John Lithgow and I went of course it's John Lithgow who else would play that role you know and we had we didn't have a full script we had like three scenes written some descriptions and some and description in between and and we were this is all we have and we were having breakfast we Marcy and Tom and you know the Carsey Warner

had decided we should have breakfast with John. He didn't know that we were going to pitch a show to him. And we gave him these pages with the stuff written and said, you know, just, just, it's about an alien. And he went, and he went, Oh,

And he was not very- What did that mean? Like lukewarm? I nearly puked a muffin. You know, it's just like, oh, this is really bad. This is not good. He probably thought alien makeup every day would be- Yeah, something. Anyway, he called that night at like around 7.30 and said, I hate you both.

And we went, okay, great. Why? And he said, because I'm going to do television. I never wanted to do television. I never wanted to do serious television.

And now I'm going to do series television. Now I'm going to do series television. How fun. Well, good for us. This is good for us. It's bad for you. It's good for us. This is great. We shot it for ABC originally. And ABC was not keen on it. And it jumped networks, which very seldom happens. And then it would end up on NBC. And they got it as a mid-season replacement. And we shot it.

16 episodes or 15? 13. 13 episodes and it never aired. In the dark. We said we're in the dark because we shot it in front of an audience. They got to see the pilot and then they put it on the air after half a year or more of shooting the show and then they put it on the air and it took off. But it was very, very weird that people were coming in to watch a show that nobody had seen before.

And for some reason it worked. You know how you just get into a project and you go, well, I'm in it. So we'll just keep working. Cross fingers. Right. How many times has that happened to you in your, over the last 40 years? Yeah. You know, several times. Right. Were you at CBS Radford? Yeah. Yeah. I think I was in Just Shoot Me right on the same time. That's right. You were there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which was a very funny show.

I love to shoot me. Yeah, it was great. It was great. I always say David was the Fonz of that show. He totally was. I mean, meaning it as the, you know, the kind of the, whatever you call that character. The character, yeah. The guy with the score. The very cool idiot. Yeah, the idiot for sure. Yeah, the cocky idiot. But cool idiot. It was funny because one episode they find out I have a big wiener that's

Finch does. And then they saw me and they were all jealous at work because they saw me in the sauna. Sure. And then they George Siegel and Elliot see me hitting on a girl and I'm so bad at it that they go, you know, the clouds are parting and the sun is coming because it goes, George goes, classic, great product, bad sales department. Yeah.

it's a good line that's great and they walk away happy oh yeah that was such a fun show that was a fun show and you guys did so it was 70s no no it was third rock then 70s show and then was it 80s show the 80s show yeah yeah i think britney was on that maybe um yeah britney daniel and then um

And then there's 90s. Yeah. Can I ask you guys a question? Yeah. Sure. I remember the first time I met you, and I'm not even sure if I remembered it correctly, but you said something to the effect of, we're going to work really, really hard.

And then we're going to go move on, you know, retire or do something. I don't know. This is like when you first came in the office. I probably misremembered that, but I was just curious because all this success and I know there's other little things in between, but basically the show, the movies, the TV shows. Did you guys take kind of a hiatus before you came back? Did you spend or you've been working since then?

All the way through? Before the 90s show, you mean? Yeah, in these last 10 years. Was there a time when you were... We stopped. We just stopped completely. Yeah, we stopped. Stopped.

stopped. We, we became serial renovators at that point. We started, we renovated the apartment, we renovated the house and that was what we did. We have to do something. And then we started back up. Tom Warner wanted to reboot the show. And Marcy said, if you'll do it, I'll do it. And then we said, okay, we'll do it and recast it. The fun thing is actually the casting on it because the new kids on it are good. They're great. And

we get to work with Deborah Jo and Kirkwood again. So that's fun. Well, those two, I mean, are Kirkwood Smith. There's something about, I mean, he is just so funny. Well, he carries the baggage of the dead poet society. When, when we, when the son that commits suicide, you know, it was, it was like, well, we said when we told the first cast that the grandpa in the, you know, the show was, uh,

gonna be Kirkwood yeah everybody went oh my god you know because oh my god the guy whose son kills his son kills him oh my god he's gonna be the dad you know it was like he's gonna be he's gonna be the dad yay so people don't know you came back and you did season one it's on Netflix 10 episodes yeah the 90s shows well received I read some reviews people love it

I try to do the homework, you know, but then, then now it's back on season two. And when is it premiere? Oh, the 27th of June. Okay. June 13th. Yeah. And then basically if you like the 70 show, those parents are back there and empty nesters. And then the grand child to come back with all their friends. And so it's this conflict again. And, um,

Debra Jo Rupp and Kirk Woodsmith are back. Yes, they are. It's really, really funny. Okay, here's an Oprah type question. What was it like coming back after that hiatus, working on your house?

coming back into the maelstrom, into the, into the. We didn't want to do it, Dana. We were, we were. Okay. There's our trending. It's trending. It was, it was, we just, we just went, we, in the very beginning, Terry and I just went, why would we want to do? Why don't we, why don't we just keep nailing and make a kitchen, you know? And, and, and Lindsay, our daughter,

who, I don't know if you guys remember her. Oh, of course, Lindsay. She was the mascot who was always smiling. I remember her always smiling. On Joe Dixo's stool. Yeah. Sitting there. And she said, do this, do this. It'll be great. It'll be wonderful. And she went, you know, you got Deborah Joan Kirtwood. She started pitching what she thought the series was.

Should be. Well, I guess it's the thing. The thing about, you know, modern live streaming and all that. So you get to do 10, just 10, take a break, do 10, and then you probably can mix and match. I don't, I don't, it's just, it seems easy.

easier than 22 was, do I even remember that correctly? You're right. You're absolutely right. 22, 23, one year was 25. By the way, a little insert here. I, for a period of time, 10 years ago, I was developing a half hour show with Tom Warner and,

Oh yeah. And he constantly, uh, it was just sort of sweet. Well, well, Bonnie, well, Terry, we, we, we'll talk to them. We, you know, I'm going to reach out to them. If we could get Bonnie and Terry, but Bonnie and Terry, I mean, he loves you guys. Oh,

And I said, I know. I think that, you know. They tapped out. Did you guys, so you got a couple nickels in your pocket. You know, you're not from wealthy backgrounds. I assume you weren't. And you're independently, you're okay. You can do what you want. And so you decided after, I don't know, working your asses off for decades, I think it was a well-deserved decision.

And so you're renovating a cool house. Are you reading books? You're taking walks. How do you feel that after all that freneticism? I miss it. You miss what? I miss the crazy. I miss the work. I love the work.

I love the thought process. Figuring out the puzzle. I love it. I do. You can still be good at it. And I love, you know, one of the things that got us through the pandemic was the 90s show. We were sitting and thinking about it. We were in a house and

Couldn't go anywhere. But we were thinking our brains were in this other, we were in Point Place, Wisconsin, you know, and, and that's a wonderful place to live. Yeah. What's the general area? Are you in Point Place? Like a casual street address? Where would you be?

Rugby drive. I'm kidding. We don't give it away. 24, 15 rugby drive. Rugby drive. Sorry. That was a long way to go for that joke. So exactly. No, it's okay. But so I give it to your saying. So your brain is occupied during the pandemic with thoughts of this. And I do think from the, the,

I've seen the cast is really good and very likable, although young people. And so that's also sort of a kick right now. You're meeting people first time in a TV series. And then you guys come in like rock stars. I assume not that you would present yourself that way, but like, Hey, they did. They find out what you did. They're like, Oh my God, they've done all this stuff. Well, I mean, it's kind of nice, isn't it? Well, it makes them relax a bit and go, Oh my God, these guys know what they're doing. Yeah.

I think that the Tommy boy was one of the guys sat down, one of the tech guys. Wait a minute. I'll get his name in a minute.

Oh, Brad, Brad. Okay. There. I'm not doing names either. I, the names escaped me. I couldn't remember who Dave Grohl was yesterday. It was like, you know, the drummer from Nirvana, Dave Grohl. Yes. Of course. Early onset. Jeopardy for couples like Bonnie and I, and, and the time you have to answer the question is actually 45 seconds. Yeah.

And you get to discuss. She was on that show, the soap opera. I don't know. No, not now. It's the other one. I don't know. I once sat with George and Barbara Bush, name drop, in Houston, outside.

And they were a little long in years, but the name would come up like, well, you know, the people. And then Barbara would close her eyes, look up like this for like a minute and not moving.

and then come down with the name but it was really an interesting kind of just look and stare and then well that was jill masters you know whatever good one bar sorry i don't want to do i don't normally do voices on this bonnie and terry good stuff

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at robert half we know talent visit robert half.com today well you guys i guess we'll let you go but what a blast it's so funny to talk about all this stuff this was wonderful this was lovely so nice to see you and i wish we were going to dinner this is like a dinner basically with no food next time we'll do it um so uh

Probably don't know the answer to this. Did you guys go to the 40th? Did we run in each other there or not? We were there. It was just like 3,000 people. It was a sea of faces. Especially at that party. You couldn't even move. Yeah, it was insane.

So to that, do you plan on going to the 50th and would you wear the same stuff you wore to the 40th? I totally will. All right. I always dress like a cellist. Smart.

Smart. Yeah. Well, it's black. It's easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you carry a cello. Anything between my legs. Hey, wait. Hold it. A cello. You kept it clean until now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a family show. You ready for this? I'm sorry. I apologize. Who doesn't love Bonnie and Terry Turner? I don't know. You guys are so humble and normal, it's hard to go. Some of the greatest, you know...

archetypal, a big part of the zeitgeist the last 40 years of American comedy and film. Thanks. I can bring out icon or I could just stay with an important part of Americana. Film and comedy.

Whatever you want to label it. So the last thing I just want to ask is you're not currently in production. Are you actually, you're just in your house and relaxing? Yeah, we're relaxing until probably November. We're watching cuts of the show and doing editing notes and things, but we're doing it all on Zoom. I know. What a gift. This is my job. This is where I work. That's great. Yeah. Yeah.

And then I get Paula behind the door. But anyway, I don't even know what that means. You guys look great. Thank you. You look wonderful.

And you sound wonderful. We're doing good. This is just like read through for me. Just right by the table. Yeah. For the amount of damage I've done to my body. You know how much I like beer on an airplane. One final thing I remember. We're going to fly. And I don't like to fly. I think it was from L.A. to New York or something. And Terry was talking. And Terry's.

It's going, well, I have no fear of flying. I go, wow, that's great. He goes, but I only fly Delta. That's the only airline I'll fly. I thought that was kind of funny. I have absolutely no fear, but I'll only go. Do you remember that, Terry? I will only, Delta. To this day. I like Delta, yeah. One fatal crash, and it was not, and it was a wind shear factor, and they asked the tower to go around, and the tower would not respond, and they landed in Dallas.

and the plane went down, but most of the people walked off the plane. A lot of the people did, and there were some fatalities, but that's been the end. - That's Delta. - Delta. - You walk off our crashes. - I'm just buying some Delta stock right now. This is my double tip when I see it. Very good, 10,000. Thank you, Terry. - Thank you, guys. - Bonnie and Terry Turner were our guests, and you guys have a nice day. Lots of love. - Love you both. - Love you both. Love all of you.

This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review, all this stuff, smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcasts. Fly on the Wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weiss-Berman of Odyssey, and Heather Santoro. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman.