Brendan Fraser
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Yes, I have actually stayed at Airbnbs from time to time. And truth be told, I do really like them. I'm being totally honest right now that I've had great experiences with them. Yeah. I mean, you can have your look at you go get your own place, get your own pool, your own living room. You're not going to walk in an elevator. You're not going to see people when you're walking around in your undergarments. Yeah.

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,

Where would I find a towel? That's a toughie when it's- Because they're naked? Well, it's like the 1800th time you say, on the towel rack. Yeah. Thank you. Oh, I was going to look there. People don't even think hotels sometimes just go, hey, I'll go there, I'll get an Airbnb. So you won't regret it. Brendan Fraser.

Brendan Fraser. I met him first during Dickie Roberts, the movie, and we asked him to come in and do...

A day or two and play himself, and he did. That was nice. And he was super cool, and he's a huge star. Huge. He's always been a rep of being a cool dude. That was the height of his fame. He came over and did us a favor. We got to chat with him, and there is so much going on with Brennan. Plus, just give some of the movies. I mean, he really –

When he was 23, I believe, he starred in Encino Man. That was probably one of the- Playing a frozen caveman, basically. Broke through and- So then he was just- Huge hit. In the 90s, he was doing George's Jungle, Mummy Trilogies. He's had this incredible career. And then for different things we'll talk about, he sort of went away for a little while. And then he came back. I saw him-

on the Showtime show, The Affair, and he was great in that, and I hadn't seen him in a while. I go, damn, he's a great actor. And then recently, as everybody knows...

He's done a movie called The Whale in which he plays a 600-pound man. So there's sort of all things Brendan these days, and people are just really happy to see him back. Such a likable guy. Yeah, it's nice to see everyone pulling for someone. Yeah. And he doesn't really need pulling for. I don't think that's what he's asking for, but it's just nice to see someone that's a good dude. Every career is up and down, and to still be killing it and to know he's –

Always probably knows he's good. It's just, it's the opportunities. That's for everybody. You just don't always get opportunities. Oh yeah, totally. So he's, he's, he's back and you know, it was, I think it was Lauren or Bernie that always said, um, the talent doesn't go away.

So your career can go like this, but the talent doesn't go away. We're going to ask him about standing ovations. They go to Cannes Film Festival. You got a 12-minute standing ovation. I go, do people feel dumb after a while? Do you ever use the bathroom in the middle of standing ovation? I mean, I would be texting with one hand. I mean, how long can you go like this? And you go like a bunch of seals. But we'll get into that because there's a six-minute one he had at Palm Springs and he had an eight-minute one.

So first they stand, it's like 20 seconds. And then it's like that festival hears about it. And then two years later, it's like longer than the movie. But the French love to do that. You know the French. We'll do a deep dive into that. We won't tell you about The Whale. We'll talk to him about it. So you can wait for that. But what a movie. And here he is, Brendan Fraser.

No one hates us, but we do. So this is, you know, obviously new show business that we don't really even talk. We never had a plan. We just put the mic on and start talking to people connected to SNL in some way. Yeah. So it's weird that this is a job. SNL is the biggest blip on his whole resume. Oh, yeah. Sometimes it's the main thing. Look at our notes. Do you have any questions, first of all? You won't show me his notes. No, I won't because mine are better than Dana's. Oh, no. Oh, no.

Do you have any questions of us? Because we're an artist. I was just asking Greg who your sponsors are because I'm just interested in how podcasts work. This is new for me. A lot of HelloFresh. You know, a lot of companies that basically say we'll do the work for you digitally. Like, you know, Zip Recruiter would be one of them.

You know, like we'll help you hire people. Zodoc, we'll help you find a doctor. Yeah, that's true. We keep this. Zoc doc. Zoc doc doc. Sorry. But they're going to love this part of the podcast. DraftKings. This is free advertising. I'm already kissing ass. What's our favorite? We don't have a favorite. Masterclass. No, it's good that they do it because. Which you should teach. Oh, you should teach a masterclass. In what? Brilliant acting. Acting. Duh.

We both saw the whale. I'm still recovering. We both saw the whale. We both saw it. I didn't see it all. I got to the part where you got out to the ocean, and then I didn't see it. It clicked out? Oh, shit. No, I'm kidding. I saw it. I saw it, and it kept cutting off because they give you 18 minutes to watch it, and so it gives you little bits. Oh, I know. Mine was perfect. You know screeners work? Yeah. I pressed a button I had on a beautiful laptop, stereo speakers, and I went downtown, and

And it was amazing. Well, we're going to talk about the whale. I'm going to save it for the, for, for people listening right now, want to hear about Brendan's thoughts about the whale. It's coming up soon. Okay. We can say that. Cause I want to talk about it a lot. Teaser. I'm learning. I'm still shaken by it. Um, okay. We'll do a little SNL. Let's just ask him a couple of quick questions.

because we have to fake like that's what this whole thing is about. Well, no, no. I want to talk about SNL as a part of his whole thing because I was fascinated as I did a deep dive is how you – I hadn't seen anybody do the broad comedies

and then can do the offbeat leading man funny guy, like the mummy stuff. And back and forth, you're doing George of the Jungle, and then you're doing Gods and Monsters. It's like there's a pattern here. I had to have a theme. I have a theme for every podcast. Yours is like the seeds of you being this renowned, brilliant actor. It's almost like you're just starting now, I would say. In a way. Because you set the seed for it by constantly dipping your toes into it between these franchises. Mm-hmm.

That is so iconic. Anyway, that's all I have to say. I'll be quiet. Good night. Thanks, folks. I think his pattern is there's no pattern. How about that? Interesting. Because like, let's say someone like me who gets into comedy, you're lucky enough to just get comedies. And so if you were, let's say Encino Man was maybe one of the first things that sort of blew up for you. That was. Which is a comedy. You think that's all you would get offered or something.

And people tell me, oh, you should do more movies like Uncut Gems. I'm like, well, everyone should. I mean, that's just not how it works. Yeah, do the Academy Award winning level movies. Those are the good ones. Again? Yeah. But then you went to School Ties from Encino Man.

Yes. With Matt Damon. Correct. Correction. It was the other way around. School Ties was shot first. And then you went to Encino Man. The release dates were flip-flopped. Wait, so you did this brilliant drama and then you went with this broad comedy or whatever you want to call it, a full-blown comedy. A straight-ahead teen comedy genre that I don't know if it's really being done that way.

Any more of y'all kids go to high school, have a big discovery, throw a party. That's the movie. My sons who are basically 30, I'll just round them off, that you're so much a big part of their childhood and they miss just big funny comedies that just exist to be funny. Maybe people are scared to step in it because you got to dodge so many types of jokes, you know? That's really your domain and expertise. Yeah, and that's the hard part. They start pulling stuff and cutting stuff and...

You just lose something. Maybe those days are over forever, but it's just like anything. You're just like Madonna. You got to figure out a different way to make a comedy that's still big and funny. I think they can come back. I think there's an appetite for it. Yeah, I think there's a huge appetite. Because it just releases all the cultural stuff that's going on and you just laugh, you know? So I had a question. You did school times. We're not going to let you talk. No, I'm asking.

He warned me. I'd have to fight for my time. I warned him ahead of time. But we're slowing down because we're shot out of a cannon because we just saw the movie. Well, I was going to, yeah, I was deeply napping in a full on dream. And he said, he's here. No, I'm kidding. No, but I live close by. No, I said, get over here, prick. I said, who? He said, Brendan.

So the school ties is sort of a heavy drama, right? So you get that. Now, is it because of some sort of feedback or buzz from that that when you go for Encino Man, that helps that because you've got one in the can that people like? Sometimes that's how it works. Chronologically, I went into Made for Encino Man before I got hired to do school ties.

And I was reticent to do Encino Man because it was too kooky and I wanted to, you know, step out as a very serious actor straight out of college with my BFA in my back pocket and a lot of aspiration. And I understood that the character is basically the new guy in town, which was something that they hadn't seen anyone bring in to the readings or the auditions before that they really wanted. Because he's, you know, he's a fish out of water. He's a...

trying to fit in, all that. But it was so broad and I didn't really know anything about film or comedy. And then School Ties came down the pike and I read for that, did nothing with it because it didn't go anywhere. They were casting at DriftNet to find their David, as I learned. And then some, a number of months later, they came back to it with a new film

casting director who had me go in and read for Sherry and they did a screen test and I thought when they said, do you want to test? I was thinking exams and something. That's how green I was. Got the job and that was great. I read with Matt Damon and met a lot of the other guys who were already hired. I was off to Boston and Massachusetts to shoot School Ties and was getting messages from

And Encino Man with George Saloom and Les Mayfield were quite driven to get me to come on board. And then partway through almost finishing School Ties, I was having a conversation with a really great guy who was called Keith Wester. He's not with us anymore. He was a soundboard mixer. And he had a great voice and he was always mixing sound, but he –

He was reading, he was on his own radio show in a way as he was reading. He was really a charming guy and he was mentoring a lot of us. And I was talking about, you know, what are you doing? And, and, uh, I was conflicted and very serious and got this comedy thing they want me to do and they've offered it to me. And he said, well, hang on, you know, there's this, it's a drama and you've got a comedy. It's not a bad thing to have, you know, as he said, uh,

He joked about it. A bird in the hand is worth two in the nest. Is that the idiom? Bush was near a head. I just realized my voice is so loud compared to Brent, I'm screaming. I'll sit up. He's very quiet. Well, can I say something? I saw an electromagnetic...

visual thing around your mic. Maybe it's your charisma. I'm sorry, there's a flash feature on my phone. It went swoosh. Well, Greg Holtzman. Quite annoying. I'll turn that off. I don't want to be that guy. Why do you want anyone to get electrocuted during our podcast? It's my own lighting feature. When I say something interesting. He's got a light that lights it. This guy has charisma. It's like there's a lightning. But by the way, you had to, when you read the script,

for school ties, it was the first time you had to not have clothes on and act. I saw you had to have a fist fight with Matt Damon in a shower. Yeah. When you read that in a script, are you like, okay, or I can't wait for that day? Well, you don't look forward to it, but I understood what the scene was about was exposing one another's prejudice and all

Oh, yeah. It was incredibly. And so it kind of drives the point home. You know, 17-year-old boys fight. So they get the locket. Let's figure this out with our fists. It's interesting. I don't want to interject, but I like to interrupt David. These people throughout your life, anybody, could be a parent, brother, friend, who will say these casual things that kind of tilt you.

in one direction or another. We could all have stories about that. So this one guy said this thing to you, which made him, I'm going to go do Encino Man. Or it tilted you that way. It helped me make up my decision because his point was, if you're new to the industry, your calling card will be, I can do something dramatic. I also- I can do it all. Comedy, tragedy. Which you don't get that off, you don't get that chance a lot. So you have a chance before the one comes out. You're like, I can do the other one. And then now you can get hired for two different kinds of movies. That was the hope then. So-

And by the way, Encino Man is a good movie you can do wrong. That, reading it, he was great at it. I remember seeing it back then. I think Pauly was in it with you. Correct. And Pauly was funny and crazy. But you were charming. He's good looking. But you're making a lot out of this that could have gone the wrong way. You know what I mean? It could have been so dumb. But it was a huge hit. And that was great. And it was fun. I remember watching it back in the day. Thanks, Dan. And that kind of launched you.

I remember my first audition was for a movie called, I wrote it down.

It was one with like, oh, Dead Poets Society. Oh, yeah. Wasn't that around the same? Prior to that. I remember, yeah. It was like 89. 88, 89. I was in college then. Yeah. What did you say about it? I just remember that film was coming out and it was being promoted and I was seeing a young Ethan Hawke and the cast on Oprah, I think it was, to do press for it. So it was prior to, and you did movie anything in mind. Yeah, I did a couple auditions and didn't quite make the cut.

But so from George, I'm not George Jungle. You have so many in here. God damn. Yeah. There's so many. But I just want to interject this too, because is that you said that you're dramatic training. So you're doing some of these movies and you're just totally committed, like as a dramatic actor, essentially when you're doing even Encino Man. Yeah. You're not thinking comedy. You're just playing the truth. The scene. I don't know how to think comedy. I think I'm the least funny person I know.

And so I saw some pretty funny shit on my approach. It's a risk calling comedy anyway, but my understanding here approach is that if you think you're funny, you're not. Yeah. And if you try to be funny for sure, you're not. So play it as a straight ahead reality. Right. Yeah. And you know, on SNL when the host would come in and sit down in that first Monday meeting and say,

Good news, guys. I'm funny. We all go, oh, no. I know how to do it. I know all the rules of comedy. You say three things. You go, oh, boy. I just made a joke. It wasn't Christopher Walken. No, he said the Bears. I know how to be funny. He's great. But one gear that you did have also in these 90 comedies is that, and I find it really interesting, that you could make your face like super leading man, handsome.

And then you could go to a grin that would just go a certain way that made you kind of funny. Or, you know, you could take the handsomest way and be the goofy leading man. It was really interesting to watch that, some of your stuff, you know. Was that intentional or just you were just thinking it? I'm sure you weren't making a face, but you could actually have...

had a chameleon aspect. Is that a chameleon? Well, I think you shouldn't take yourself too seriously. Maybe it comes from that. Yeah. And just, I think if you're having fun internally, I do think with comedy, it helps. It doesn't mean you're mugging, pushing, trying to be funny, but you're feeling a sense of fun, you know. Likeable is half of the battle too. Anthony Hopkins, a Tony to me.

told me once that he thought acting at the top level is a form of self-hypnosis. He would, as you probably have heard, he only reads the script 200 times. And he has a Polaroid in those days. I know you're a huge Polaroid camera person. He had a Polaroid picture of his character and they'd yell speed. He'd put it up, look at it, put it on his face and go, what? And then put it in his pocket. And then he was the guy. Are you sure?

You're not making that up for me. No, it was Tony Hoppy. He would hop a Polaroid picture of himself and then play the character? Yeah. Wow. Whatever works, man. And he'd breathe it. And he said, oh, I think it's sort of... I always do Robin Williams when I do Anthony Hopkins. They're both incredibly shy. His charisma is like this. But...

- This, you know, we'll go to the whale in a minute, but it's hard to act. - A point I wanted to make about something else I learned, I got this from Lorne, was before I did the first monologue when I hosted SNL, that moment before, it wasn't broadcast, it would have been the rehearsal. - Dress, yeah. - Dress, thank you. He came out and he has a little chat with the host. I was told, you know, Lorne's gonna have a word with you. All he said to me was, it's all about confidence.

and he turned on his heel and we went to whatever, shoot it, went to air. Wow. That's what he told me. I mean, I didn't know if he was telling me be confident or don't try and be funny, but essentially it's just about taking ownership of what you're doing and committing to it. I think that let me know a lot about pretty much everything else about, you know,

Again, knowing you're there for a good reason, you're good at what you do, you like what you do, and if people don't laugh at what you're doing, then just move on to whatever's next. I felt when I watched the 97 monologue, you were very confident. Thanks. But then when I watched 99, there was a whole other level of relaxation because you'd already done –

Once before. Nothing defeats that. You went in and you found Tom Davis in the room. It's like Tom Davis was still living on the set. It was really, really funny. This year, Dell Technologies' back-to-school event is delivering impressive tech with an inspiring purpose.

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7-15-24 and 9-11-24. And Dell will donate $1.75 for each eligible product within your purchase to ComputerAid, capped at $1.2 million total. For details and restrictions, go to dell.com slash deals. What about, when did Airheads come along? 95? 95. So I was hearing you talk about that on some podcast.

you know, with Sandler, with Sandler. I didn't even put that together. It's like, Oh, I was jealous. He's mentioned. I try to do that just under my, he's, he's listening. So, Oh, by the way, listen to this, Dan. So it's, uh, Adam was asking you, or you guys are kind of, uh, bullshitting about airheads. And, and then Adam goes, Oh, and Farley was on it. He was on for two weeks. He did a lot of night shoots and it was probably the most fun I've had on any set. I'm sorry. Were you in grownups?

Adam. Traitor. No, it was very traitorish. And you agree. I'm glad you agree. And, uh, Grumps too. Also, he could have picked you the one. Uh, but I remember Airheads and I was jealous. I think Bob Simons did that movie. I think it came along. Yeah. And you were shooting down, uh, he was in New York. Some of it, there was some in, uh,

inside stuff and I would come maybe came to watch I don't think I knew you but I knew Adam and Farley and Buscemi I just met so that one kind of was a fun one too it didn't do great but another fun comedy one right it's come around I do a lot of fan conventions now and people show up dressed like Chaz Darby and the characters the posters to sign they scream it's too loud you're too old yeah

They're flipping you off. Double barrel flip off. You just get them right back. Oh, I love you, bro. You know what? I think it's really fun when you get a movie that lives on because sometimes movies do well and you never hear from them again and then some sort of live on and it's good to have the ones that live on. I think it resurges because it's nostalgia now for a whole new generation. I did one called PCU and then people go, oh, PCU is great. I didn't love it, but I go, oh yeah, okay, listen, if there's people that

Get into it and it's kind of timely again now because it's politically correct and all that stuff. Some of my movies were buried in Nevada in a mine. If you could have saved Clint Slate, you could have played that baby. They would test nuclear bombs and just do it because they wanted to blow that movie up. People still like Wayne's World. Come on, you guys. Yeah, Wayne's World. Come on. Let's talk about Superman. I just heard that. That can be a quick story. Oh.

Superman, what was the era of Superman? Was that an audition or was that a meeting or how does that work? That would have been in the year 2002. It was on the Warner Brothers lot. They were looking for a new Superman. And I think there were like five or six guys around town who were being juggled. Their names juggled around. There was a test deal. Same drill. Oh, a test deal. Yeah. I went in on the Warner Brothers lot.

Put on the outfit. No, first I went into an office somewhere in Wilshire Corridor and they locked me in a room with a script that was printed on crimson paper with black ink. Could hardly read it, but you know, you can also can't photocopy it either by stealing it. Oh, okay. And then I could read it and give it back to them. For a Superman movie? Yeah. I could know the story. Okay. So was it since Christopher Reeve, this is like the first Superman back?

I don't know. It'd be way later than that. I think Reeves might've done the third one in the eighties. So, uh, Brandon Ruth played the part. That's what he got. Ultimately got your part. Correct. Well, it's his, but I mean, I was an aspirant for sure. And, um, yeah, there was a screen test, uh,

How did you talk as Superman? I mean, did you kind of lower even? You have a pretty deep voice, but did you... I didn't want to put quotation marks around anything. And I didn't pretend to be Superman. I tried to, you know, get back and think of it. The script that was written was...

It was like heightened text. It was like. They seem like that. You know, head of Gabler or, you know, like big stuff that you would have done. I am a pentameter Shakespeare and all classic text. And so I gave that kind of approach of just taking everything seriously and playing big objectives and, you know, and just trying to apply.

the piece as if it was a giant opera in space. Did you have any lines like, Lex Luthor, you're an idiot. Close. Tysor was his name. I was bellowing, Tysor! I'll kill you, Tysor! I would have done it in Super Encino, man. I would have loved that. Tysor!

Change your name, bitch! Was Zod in one of those? Or am I crazy? Zion. There was a woman and a man with black hair and they came down and they're going... The three that got in the pane of glass. I love that one. That one was brilliant. The first Christopher Reeves. With the glass prism floating around. 79. It wasn't Brando. Brando was in that. He was amazing.

Maybe I read for Zod. Maybe I read for Zod. Maybe I read for Trump. Brando is Trump. Brando is Trump. He is a little bit. He's Regis. Get out of here. And he's a little bit of Brando. There we are. There's no one finer than Brendan Fraser. Anyway. I just have to tell him quickly. I'm just a little punchy right now. You're a punchy.

I'm sure you're more punchy than me. No, no. No, he's beat up. You're giddy from the whale. But we're not talking about that just yet. I want to tell him about his big break in Dickie Roberts. Now, Dickie Roberts, where everyone was saying, a Brendan Frazier.

It's like razor, Frazier, right? Razor Frazier. Do you shave with a razor or do you shave with a... Oh, Frazier. Do you shave with a razor? Razor. Or do you shave with a Frazier? The chameleon voice guy got it. Yes. I can do it. It takes direction. Tell him about it. Brendan Frazier just gave me an acting note. It was a great note. He'd be a good acting teacher. Yes. I want you to direct me.

We'll talk later. You can't afford me. No, Dana, don't quit trying to get off Dickie Roberts. Couldn't afford me. Dickie Roberts is a tsunami. Give us a quick synopsis. So what happened is, I was wondering, because I didn't know Brendan, and he was nice enough to come in and do something in it, but I think it was through Sam, the director of George's- Sam Weissman. Okay. So the backstory on that was, just to bore the fucking shit out of you, is-

Dickie Roberts was pitched. We pitched it. Me and Fred wrote it. And we said, oh, it's a child star, which is sort of to this day, a theme of child stars kind of hit the skit. You know what I mean? They have a lot of trouble and it's very real and it's sad and it's, no one's quite figured out how to fix it. But that movie was PG 13, two funny things. One, when we finished writing it,

A pretty big director, God, I can't remember who it was, said, I'd love to do it. I'll keep the first act, but we have to go very dark after that and make it R-rated and make it the way that it really is. And I said, no, it can't be super dark. I mean, Paramount's not going to do that. So we handed it in. By the way, when I handed it in, this is a classic showbiz story. So they read it at Paramount, and then I get word through back channels, they like it a lot, and they want to give it to Jim Carrey now. Ouch. Ouch.

You understand that this could happen at any time. This is a classic behind the scenes. And so people were trying to keep that away from me going, the good news is they love it, but they think Jim could take it like crazy because he was the biggest guy right then. I'll give him $20 million. And they talked to Adam Sandler. Sam Sandler was the producer of it. And so he said, I don't know, ask Spade, but I think Spade, because he co-wrote it, would rather be in it.

But then John Goldwyn, I think it was John Goldwyn who's under Sherry. You mentioned Sherry Lansing. I think you mentioned her about school ties. So he called me and said, you might've heard some rumors. It was so weird. And he said, I apologize. We're moving forward the way it is. And I said, you know, John, I get how business works.

take me out of it. If you could have Jim Carrey, I get it. It's really not personal. I'm trying not to take it that way. And, uh, he said, no, we're moving forward. Uh, and let's do it. And so that was such a wake up call. Like those things, those conversations happen every day and you just don't know it. I shouldn't have known it, but I found out he said, you still want to do it? I said, yeah. So we did it. Brendan was very nice, came in and, uh,

And Super Fun Movie. What did you do? Dickie Roberts. I was playing myself. Yeah, he's playing himself. Oh, you did a celebrity camera. I was proving that I think I know celebrities. Because I grew up and I was wearing gloves and I was crazy. But, you know, that child star thing could go. There's really dark because they're kids. And they get involved in all these crazy adults. And then there's the drinking. So we sort of did a skim job.

of making it but it was fun we brought in a lot of child stars to do it and then at the very end you know some of them aren't with us anymore but it was it was very interesting to talk to them up front just and hear some of their real stories

But we can talk about Brendan's movies again. All right. Would you, do you have any more things you want to share about Saturday Night Live before we move on? I loved it. It was a proving ground and I earned a stripe at the same time. By the way, I felt like I had, it's a milestone, absolute milestone. You feel like, I think if I was just out there doing a show or doing a movie and when it's one of those things like the cover of Rolling Stone or something where they go, you are

They want you to host it. It has to hit you. It does. It's just a big deal. Oh, it's not insubstantial at all. And when you host that show, you own New York for an hour or so in a feeling that you get. Yeah. Oh, it is so fast. Oh, it's the coolest thing to host that show. You feel like you're a part of the city in a meaningful way that I wasn't anticipating. The whole city. Everyone's trying to help you. Everyone's there to make sure you're okay that week. That and I think it's about changing clothes. Yeah.

It's mostly about changing clothes fast. Quickly, running around in bleachers, not trying to bump your head into the overhead. Basically naked. Yeah, you would be in danger of that at your height. Oh, please. Clocking stuff. Okay, there you go. They even put bumpers on it. Oh, yeah, they have bumpers. Little tennis balls. Because you're sprinting sometimes across the studio in the dark. Naked. Essentially naked.

Underneath the seats of everyone watching, so there's all these asses above you. Crew guys are walking by, they've got me stripped naked, this guy walks by with a cigarette going, Spade, I thought you were going to start working out. I go, hey, get out of here. I would just close my eyes, I was so humiliated. I just had a little underwear on. I was completely bare-chested, everything, they're combing my hair, they're picking at me, and I just closed my eyes, and this can't be happening. I wear two Speedos in case my main one breaks.

I wore a hooter clamp. Do you know the hooter clamp? It's a thing that keeps everything in place. It's called a hooter clamp. It's a dance belt. That's a joke. My brothers and I had that as a running gag when we were kids. I have three older brothers. Is that one of our sponsors? We joked about the hooter clamp. Brought to you by hooter clamps. Brought to you by...

have you got your hooter clamp on it was just a joke you know I don't know there's also you can put a trucker's buddy in there where you can pee during the show that's real we don't three older brothers oh wait

And SNL, so 97, I had gone. You probably looked for me for about a half hour. I had gone by then. And then Will Ferrell, I think, was there. Yes, he was. So what was your cast? It was sort of Will, maybe Molly? Sherry? Colin Quinn, Will Ferrell, Tim Meadows. You were in a really funny sketch with Sherry Oteri and Chris Kattan where they went,

crazy in the gym like boy you want to work out you know that aggressive sexual dude the most committed sketch players ever probably and you were right in there you know at the end come on you guys and every time you play along with them they'd start screaming at you it was really funny you're like these people are sexual perverts i'm the trainer okay i'll go with it what you want that you want that and then chris katan would go nuts on you very funny it was

It's fun to be in that insane world of like sketch. And then you, the second you're like taking a bow in your head going, we got through it. Here's the crowd is live. And they're ripping you going, you're the UPS guy in this one. You have Russian accent. Oh shit. There's another one. You're looking like, or even worse. If there's a sketch you fell in love with, that one got cut. No,

I know. That's between dress and air. It's heartbreaking. Were you on the first delicious dish? That's where the... No, not the first one. I was on it, though. But it didn't... The applause at the beginning, I felt like it was new when you were on it. Or maybe it was the second time. I wouldn't know what to compare it to. But I think Peach Whitey and Peach Whitey's balls was already... Sweaty balls. He was coming on with a little beard and glasses and playing sort of this quiet nerd, playing very small about squash.

- Or something like that. - That was me, yeah, okay, yeah. And what were there? Mm, yeah, okay. - The scary thing is giving notes to someone like a host, like if I'm with Brandon. - Good times, good times. Was that it? Good times. - Yeah, good times. - Read this a little harder. 'Cause writers get to be directors on SNL.

I had a hard time understanding that concept. I'm like, who's the director? Who's the director? And someone actually pulled me aside. Everybody is. The writers are the director. You are the. Dude, I wrote my first sketch. They go, go in the booth and watch it. I go, what does that mean? I'm the director of it? I don't know what the fuck's going on. The great thing there was, it's, you know, when William Shatner came on, he was so loose, like during the dress show or whatever. He seemed like, he goes, well, why, why would I care? You know, because we're so under rehearsed. Like it's ridiculous. Yeah.

There's cue cards. He wasn't even stressed because, yeah. Why bother? I can't believe people take it seriously. You can't rehearse. So it is just, I loved it personally because I can get up in my head. I love that it was so fast. Yeah. Okay, let's just go. Less time to think about it. No time to think. Just go, go, go.

I'm jumping ahead to The Mummy. Now, The Mummy, in England, it's called The Mommy. I'll see your mummy and raise you the whale. No, we're getting to the whale. That's the big ending. The whale is the big kahuna. Yeah. All right. But The Mummy, I liked it because- Easy, Ahab. Say it again? Easy, Ahab. Hunting for the whale. Yeah. No, we'll get to that. Sorry, I interrupted you. The Mummy is a giant franchise. Three huge movies.

that Brendan starred in, in The Knots. - Correct. - Yes. - Now, The Mummy-- - What did you make? What was your biggest pay? - No, let me see. Oh yeah, tell us about money. - You don't have to tell us. - You make a lot of money. - Biggest money. - You don't have to tell us how much money you got paid. That would be-- - I don't even honestly recall, to tell you the truth, 'cause most of it's gone now.

I know the feeling. You know, one day you're flush and the next day a birdie comes and takes it all away. Do you remember making a million dollars? My first million, I remember. Well, this is a really good conversation. Isn't that a good conversation? First million. Well, what do you net? That's the thing. Is it a million in the bank? People don't understand. What's the check shock on this one? I remember my first paycheck.

And it was for $17,000 on a pilot I did. What the net? I went and picked up my check from the agency. It said $9,000. And I went to their accounting department. This is a mistake here. And they pulled me aside and they're like, no kid, you got to pay taxes. You got to pay a commission. Oh, commission. I had no idea. You're out. I mean, if you get a million, you probably make, and this sounds crazy to people because a million is so much, but when you walk with,

$375,000. You go... You round down to 25 cents on the dollar. Yeah. Because you got agent managers. You get used to the gross figure and your friends hear the gross figure. I drove to an agency once with my wife and I think it was a $30,000 check for a pilot. And we're like, we're rich. It's over, babe. We went in and it was like $1,300, you know. I tried to give her a hug. She was like, get off me. You said you were rich. Just kidding, honey.

I got it at some point and I was so excited about it. And okay, and my question about the mummy were, it was early in CGI kind of? Yeah, well, it was the tip of the spirit ILM with John Burton running it. Oh, ILM, okay. And they had done a lot of stuff with, I want to say like Terminator. Yeah, ILM was a big one. Like the creature from...

I was close. It was, it was Jim Cameron's water movie. Oh, I remember that. The Abyss. The Abyss. Yeah. I got it. That was pretty good. That was good, dude. Cause I know a guy who was in it, Todd something. Yeah. Anyway. But it was a big gamble because the, first of all, nobody had any idea what the movie was going to look like. Is it a comedy in a way? Cause if it was comparing it to having Costello and it's a throwback, the mummy, blah, blah, blah. Was it a,

Was it a horror film? Was it Indiana Jones? Was it an adventure film? Was it a romance? Was it a... And it was all of them. It was like a genre. Exactly. It hit him on all counts, like Rachel Weisz. Like a Marvel movie today. Was Rachel Weisz the girl? That hits on all those frequencies. Correct. The girl in it was great with him. Mm-hmm.

John Hanna. Oh, yeah. See? Oh, yeah. He was your guide or something. He was her brother, my brother-in-law, my ne'er-do-well brother-in-law. They call them popcorn movies today, right? Just fun. Was it fun to do? Absolutely. A little bit scary. A little bit romantic. But it's thrill ride funny. Like, I want to do it again. Yeah. Do you get hurt ever? Not on that one. Just my feelings.

Is your feeling? Why are you feeling? I can't remember one reason or another. How were you with reading reviews throughout your career? Did you get ironed? I think. Or were you dinged by it? I'm terribly sensitive. If anything says anything slightly negative about you. Early on, it was, you want to,

slap me in my bulbous face says some writer in Portland Oregon I thought I'm just fighting words I'm gonna come find you bro but it's hard to not take stuff like that personally yeah but I would always feel like um I would root around and look for the good ones but I didn't know if they held any currency yeah I get hurt by Instagram comments

- You are on social media? Are you crazy? - Yeah. - Painful indeed is vindictive speech is a theme of the whale. - Say that again. - Painful indeed is vindictive speech. I saw that on a plaque outside of a temple in Thailand years ago in front of a giant golden recluse. - Well earlier in your career, if you get something negative, it can affect your career and you know it. And then later, when you've gone through some stuff, if you feel a little more resilient,

you know you can withstand the storm. But if early on you do something and people are negative or Rotten Tomatoes or all that shit, it's such a wispy career where it could just wind blow away from you and you're like, wait, I'm a big deal. I think it's worse when you've had some success and then you get dinged and they use that success to juxtapose how you're not successful anymore. Because I've had my trails with that. But then you kind of go back to, you know, Tom Hanks said there's no crying.

In baseball. There's no being bitter in show business because the entire thing is designed to make you bitter. I met so many. Mickey Rooney was the most bitter man I met. I was the number one star in the world. You hear me? Bang. The world. So I knew early on, okay, everything about show business is designed to make you feel bitter. So I'm going to choose either to pretend or just remember that we're privileged that we

You paid a dollar to do this? To do this. That's the rub. It was like, they're paying me to do this? That's how I felt early on because I would be doing this anyway, even if you didn't, because I didn't know what else to do. Tony Randall told me that. Did he? We get paid to do this. And he was like 85 at the time. Never lost the wonder and all of that.

That's why I like people who do regular jobs because I go, we need them. I can't do it. I can't do Jack's shit. Agreed. And I appreciate it. I was a busboy. Got fired three times. But in The Mummy, you're a fighter. First of all, The Mummy looked fun, like you said it was. Fun. But doing stunts, you must have had to summon The Mummy. I got choked out pretty good on day two or three. There was a hanging sequence. Hanging? From the neck. No, I'm out.

Well, didn't they have you in a harness? You know, they didn't. They were trying to get the shot before lunch. That's what happens. Wait, I didn't see it and you blacked out? Did they fire the stunt coordinator? No, he was too important. Plus, I could still be replaced. It was early on in the schedule. Wow. We were running around going, we still have jobs. We do. You know, we could be replaced. Hannah was like that all the time. Like, oh, no, I can't believe it. Don't tell them they'll send me back to Glasgow.

I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, I still got a job. They can't fire me now. Fuck it. Let's do this. Sorry, I just channeled. You can't. It's hard to complain on the set. You don't want to be a complainer. I got choked out because the rope was on my neck. Steven said, hey, it's a medium shot. It doesn't look like you're hanging because they already shot the wide of the stuntman in the harness. And he went, bang. It looked great. You only need a moment. And then they go in on a coverage of Rick choking, choking, did one shot, came in. You said, hey, look, it doesn't really look like you're, you know,

dying? Can you really like dial it up? Alright, I didn't like what was happening anyway so we went for another take and I remember watching

Camera was on tripod, came around. There's the guy screaming off camera. And I remember looking, I could see the matte box and I thought, okay, I'm really going to sell the hell out of this. And I made up what would really make me look like I'm choking. Like I'd been asked. So I huffed air really hard and started hyperventilating and held my breath. So I thought I'm going to get really big red veins popping out of my eyeballs and all that. That's the stupidest thing you could do. If you're like, these are being choked off.

And the guy holding the rope above me on the scaffolding was the stunt man. And he brought up the tension and I was on my own feet. On your toes. On my toes. And I had nowhere to go unless I was a ballerina. And I don't, all I remember seeing is the map box come around and then it was like. Went black. An iris closed. Like someone turned the dial down. And the next thing I knew.

There's a British voice going, Brendan, Brendan. And there was dirt in my ear and in my teeth. And it felt like my elbow was behind my head and the world was sideways. I didn't understand it. And my shin really hurt and everyone was.

quiet as a drop of pin. Forget it. They were screaming their hands off moments earlier. I thought, what just happened? And it kind of dawned on me that these guys are medics. They're trying to wake me up. Everyone's looking at me. It was, while it didn't hurt per se, it frightened me more than anything else. And I didn't like having that feeling of, you know, being the fallen team player when it happens in hockey or football or something. Everyone gets quiet. And

And I kind of had this emotional reaction, like I did something wrong or I didn't know. That's dead silent. And Simon Atherton runs over to me and he goes, all right, man. Cool. Uh, you're in the club. Same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I want to go home. Wow. Initial here. Press hard for copies. We won't sue. Oh, I passed that. He was a great, he is a great stunt guy. He went on, he did a lot of really good stuff. I've never heard of someone having that experience. That would. Well, apparently Mel Gibson did on Braveheart. Like, I want to wear. Yeah, but you said, let's do it again. There's a difference. That's my bad, Mel Gibson. That was Mel Gibson? Australian accents are difficult. That was Keith Urban.

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They're always delicious. I actually named a character in a movie I did called Master of Disguise. The lead character's name is Pistachio. That's how much I love pistachios. Yeah. Well, wonderful pistachios have literally come out of their shells. It's the same taste. It's delicious, but...

It's a lot less work. As you know, cracking them open can be a little bit of a job. Less cracking, more snacking is what I say. That's what I say. That's what you say. And I'm going to use that when my wife goes to the store. Wonderful pistachios. No shells. Flavors come in a variety of award-winning flavors, including chili roasted. Honey roasted. Mm-hmm.

Sea salt vinegar, smoky barbecue. Sea salt and pepper is one I like the most. And I'm going to try this jalapeno lime. They don't have a red, red necky flavor just yet. Yeah. Look at him there. Red, red necky loves pistachios. I like to crack things open and put them in my mouth.

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Okay, now I just want to touch on... We're making our way toward the whale. Yeah, we are. Which is great. I just want to... My wife and I were watching...

The Affair on Showtime. Oh, yeah. Which I think is a really, really great show. And then you come on for season three. Yes. And it's a precursor to your skill as a whale or whatever you've done throughout your career. Because you must have got a lot of heat for that character, Gunther. This damaged, sadistic prison guard. And all of a sudden there's...

Brendan doing his thing. So it really stood out for me, and I really – that's Brendan Fraser. I mean, he's killing it. So did you get that feeling from that part? The conceit for that was that he was a doppelganger. He was the book-ending character, and it's straight lifted straight out of –

creepy German fairy tale lore. The doppelganger is your other half. Doesn't necessarily have to be your twin other half, but looks like you and is there to teach the protagonist something about themselves and they're doing it through the use of violence. So that was Gunther. And that's evidenced in the Rashomon quality of Rashomon story quality of like what really happened from different perspectives that the affair was structured on. When Gunther

you would pick up little clues of, all right, Noah's car got bashed into by a gun through. He was trying to chase him down. He saw him in the rear view mirror. But he pulls over and he thought it was a vision, but the camera pulls back and there's no damage on the bumper. So did it really happen or not? And then by story's end, he gets out of jail and dies.

confronts him in his own home. And it turns out the guy may have just been a well-meaning social worker all along, you know, who worked in a jail and wanted to make sure that the inmates had a structured plan when they, or if they got out and he was confronted by him on his own front lawn. And you should be left wondering, did that really happen that way? And I think that was the perfection of that show because they did that in so many ways from

retelling a story from different characters' perspectives. Yeah, her point of view, his point of view. But it's interesting to me, not being any kind of sort of dramatically trained actor, is that you do all this stuff

prep work in your head and then you just stand there as Gunther and we as viewers just know a lot's going on. You're gone and this guy's got tons of shit going on. So it's just fun to watch. Thank you. It's interesting to pick different places to show up to like in The Affair which is a hit show and then he's in there. Well that's why you never went totally away. There's always these you're showing up and really kind of

high quality stuff throughout the, what do you call it? The post-naughts?

2012 to now. Around there, yeah. I did take a step back to slow down. My life had taken a different path at that point too. I had had kids. I'd moved across the country. There was some legal action in my life, personally speaking, and that, you know, for better or worse, it's something you must contend with and it takes your focus away from what your aspirations professionally are.

But he'd go mad if he didn't have a job, right? So I always had something to do, whether it was with the affair or some other project. And also –

I don't know if I could have maintained the level of expected success that I had had up until that point because you fall out of favor if your film doesn't reach, I don't know, a magical number or something like that. And you don't know what the rules are. You don't know if you've been fired or you just won't be rehired. So you got to take it in control of yourself. Yeah.

being someone who had a botched bypass and had career difficulties, you know, so I just wonder how you process that period of not needing to go into it personally, but it's sort of on record that you had troubles and various things, same with other people. How do you,

How does it affect you now? You look back at, hey, Brent, were you proud of it? You were courageous. You made the right choices. I'm glad for everything that happened the way that it did because I couldn't be the individual who I am now without having gone through the paces that way before. If this kind of acknowledgement that I'm seeing or receiving right now had happened 20 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to have – I wouldn't have had the emotional –

man tool belt of psyche to deal with it. I do now because I have a context. I know why I do this. It's because of our kids now. And that just chemically changes everything that you, every choice you make. It's, it gives it a, oh, that's the reason why the rest of it was just about,

desperation and fun and trying to stay with a... I think that's where I'm at. A trend. Desperation and fun? Yeah. Or staying with a trend? That's the title of his Showtime special. Desperation and fun. I took Brandon to find a good title for me. I go, that's it. That's it. Correct. Let me write that down. So yeah, it's sort of like your own mortality or, you know, knowing, putting your kids first in your brain all the time. And for me, when I had to... Yeah. Well, I was like,

oh, you can really check out of here at any time, you know? So I was like, oh, please, can I get to 60?

Oh, you mean you can check out, meaning you have a hard time. Yeah, because my issues were at 42. I'm perfect now. I've never had a heart attack. It's in my book. I recall, Dana, and you look fantastic. You look really healthy. You look hot. Thank you. I know. Anyway, but I was curious about that, and that makes total sense. And so you're back at the table in a way, and you're saying –

it makes sense. All this emotionality you went through in this whole trajectory, you're able to actually grasp it. Cause I got an Emmy once and Bob Hope handed it to me and I wasn't really there. Just, you had an out of body experience with it? Out of body, but I couldn't really, me and Emmy, I'm just from Carleton High School. And you're like, am I the good guy that's supposed to get an Emmy right now when I look at everyone so great? Yeah. When I was in the cover of Rolling Stone, I felt nothing. I just like, I didn't, I couldn't grasp it. I'm just saying that you- Can you talk about that a little more? Cause it kind of happened to me a little bit last night. Oh,

Oh, yeah. The critics chose. Well, you and I were, you know...

No. Yeah, well, can I say one thing about Anthony Hopkins again? Just by accident? Because he was kind of doing TV movies, you know, and then he read the script. This will take very fast. Hannibal Lecter or whatever, Science of the Lambs. And he put it down after five pages. He said, I didn't want to read any more because I might not get the part because it was so perfect. Wow. And he thought he would think to himself, what would it be like to be in a big Hollywood film?

Oh, my, that must be amazing. So he does Hannibal Lecter, wins the Oscar. He's in Times Square. He looks up, Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins lying around the block. And he says, and I felt nothing. So it's hard. You're out of body in a way. All these awards you're getting and 10 minutes of ovations. I would find it to grasp it.

You feel like you're in a fever dream or something? Sometimes, but that's just my own insecurity coming to take over me. And the best advice I'm getting from friends and family and all that is just stay in your own boots. Just take the moment in. And I know that has value because I couldn't appreciate that stuff earlier on. I can now. Yeah.

Well, I think that for all of us, because I'll cry in my car sometimes, just like for a minute, when just things overwhelm you. And David is there usually at the same time. No, but so when you're that raw with people and it's so authentic, I know that's such a cliche word now, it touches all of us. Because we're feeling the weight of it. You can't watch your acceptance speech. And I couldn't.

By the end of the whale too, it was just so overwhelming. So whatever you went through maybe informed you to bring us these gifts. - It has to have had value or gotten into your body. And the whale was shot during time of COVID also. So it was a tiny set two bedroom apartment.

We rehearsed on the sound stage of the taped out floor for one-to-one models. So we really knew our jobs pretty well going into it. - One-to-one model? So it's like exactly taped off what the set's going through. - Yeah, like you would rehearse a play, for instance. Darren wouldn't even let us cross the tape. We had to use the entrance, the taped out entrance. - Like there's a wall there. - Yeah, you would walk into the wall, don't cross the tape. - Darren Aronsky.

Aaron, him too. I'm not good. I went to state school. I'm not, we're from Montana. We don't put two and two together too easily. I'm going to go back and say, Brendan Frazier's here. I mean, it's almost like, I always thought just to touch on what you just said,

It would be harder to me, I think, if you were on Friends. It's like a show like that. The first thing out of the gate is so huge. Yeah. And you don't realize it might not be like that anymore. How do you follow that up? And how do you follow it? It must screw with your head. And when you get like one line in something and then you get this and you sort of go up and have...

everyone has career ups and downs that you do appreciate when it's going good because you go, it can go away. You didn't know before, but now you go. I still feel like someone's going to walk in the door and accuse me of

fraud, basically. And I have imposter syndrome. I should be feeling something. I guess it's normal. Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda said, well, that's it. Every movie. They haven't found me out yet. Yeah. And I won't even do the impression. I guess we're right on schedule then, guys. We're... Yeah. David. Now listen, people don't know this. The whale got a

12-week standing ovation. By the way, I will say it's funny when I hear like a three-minute standing ovation, then six, until I go, what are these people doing? Do they bring a lunch? Because they're clapping going, are you sitting down? Because I loved it, but I have to go to the ballet now. You've got to pace yourself to do this. I know. And Brandon's watching going, are you done?

I get it. You liked it. Now my feet are hurting. I was trying to leave the theater. And I thought we were almost on the doors in Venice. And Darren's like, no, get back, take a bow. I'm like, really? All right, fine. So I did. I took a bow. It wasn't. But what you don't see is I was looking at 1,200 people and they're all crying and they're Italian and stuff. And they're doing this. You can't not. So was that a moment? I was just curious about this when I see that. Like you do the movie. So everyone's starting to get you hyped up.

I gotta admit, you're awesome at this. Thank you. Right? It's starting to happen. But then when you show it to an audience and you get that kind of response, then, okay.

It's as great as people are telling me. And so that, see why that would be a Waterworks moment, maybe even more than- Because it's proof. They actually like it. It's not just some agent or somebody telling you that it's good. You're great at it. Are you having a sense memory right now? I was just, no, no. Yeah, because that- No, wait, I am now. Now, yeah. Because it feels like that would be the first, what was the first one that you showed it to where you were with the audience and they just-

Venice. Okay. 1200 seat theater. I don't have the number of seats, but there were many, many, many people in front of me. And you have no idea how it's going to go. I know that I've seen it. I know that after you finish watching this film, the credits roll and people are still rooted to the spot. And I don't say that in the same kind of like blown smoke kind of way. Agents go, well, I loved it, man. This one's legit. I was the whole time.

Just riveting. I felt like I needed to reconnect a few sockets and cables after I said, I'm in the thing. Yeah. It's not, it doesn't let up. Your daughter in it is wonderful. Sadie Sink. Sadie Sink is wonderful.

From Strangest Things. You and her together is... That energy is magic. The two of you. She came in coming in hot, and she did not let up. She was tough, too. She was tough. The estranged daughter. She's... First thing, Sadie is a genuine article. I watch this kid winning the game ball every single day at a front row seat. Her talent presages her years. I'm like, where'd you come from? And she...

is, as Darren described, she's like a jewel. You look at it one way, it's interesting and new and beautiful and all that. There's something, a new facet. And she was just consistent, a stone cold professional in her, um, approach. Just always gold star performance. I could say nice things for the rest of her time here, but Sadie, um,

is also a young woman who has a big family. Her father is a football coach. He's got a handshake on him, like gripping a handful of channel lock pliers. Like, are you a stonemason? Like, ouch. And it's just him introducing himself. So she comes from a real strong family. And she has this gift. It has to be. Her approach to playing this part was

And I saw it. She never went in for the trope of an angsty teenager. She understood that this girl is talented as a character, but doesn't know it yet. She has a lot of understandable rage that comes from her heart. Charlie did something that really, really wounded this kid.

And he didn't have to pay the bill on it until it confronts him and life doesn't match the movie. You invited the bill being paid. Exactly. So she comes back and she's demanding to get what she needs. Sadie's focus on that was never to crack, never to crack, never to crack until the moment when the spell gets broken in a way, when he finally dies.

crests his mouth Kilimanjaro of making his apology to her and come see the film. But you know, that's the moment. - Yeah, I'm welling up just thinking about that part because first of all, watching it from different eyes, my dad left when I was four and my brothers were six and eight. So, and he didn't come around and then he came back later and he wanted to, he didn't really want to make up. He just came around. And so I was the one sort of pushing

the reconciliation, you know, just because you don't have your dad. And so there was themes in that movie that hit me in different ways. And also just the fact that it is,

Just a very well-crafted, well, and the woman that takes care of you, Liz, I think is her name. Hong Chao. Hong Chao. Yeah, she was magic as well. And movies that are brilliant, that are great, and I give it up to the writer, director, and all the performers. Samuel D. Hunter. You can't imagine anyone else playing any other part. No. That's what, a great movie, that's always the sign of it. No one else could have done what you did. She, Hong, I believe that character should have its own movie.

I want to know who Liz was at work in her other life. She was such a likable character.

And there's more that Hong can say in between the lines, in the pauses and the silences than any of the dialogue she's speaking just by her face and how she drinks in who she's speaking to almost as if like she's listening with her pores or something. Well, there's parts in there and you can always tell us to cut something out if it feels like it's too much. But remember the part, Dana, where she's talking about her truck and it's such a...

Like you're getting it from all sides and it's just like, oh my God, what a fucking mess. Ah, that was tough to take all that. So listen, it got me. I kept starting and stopping it because I had to like gather myself. Brendan, I'm a comedic performer. I was doing sold out shows, other people's words in big theaters. And it was hard to regain the funny bones.

But like you, very talented. And I got through it. Dana? Yeah.

I just want to ask, because I'm fascinated how great movies get made. I remember asking Joe Pesci once, do you know when it's great? How do you do it? What did he answer? He goes, hey, you lock in. That's how you do it. You just fucking lock in. He said something once that I knew he'd done. He goes, sometimes some guys don't want to fight. You know what I say? Sure.

shiggle bowl across the nose. And you could tell he'd done that move. He's not a big guy. Doesn't matter. But he says you lock in. So for me, when you're shooting the whale, how does Darren approach that? So he's got these diamond gems. You're in your...

- Well cast, yeah. - You're this big, giant person and you're just so locked in. Does he do you a lot of takes? Do you ask for more takes? Is he-- - He likes to shoot a lot of takes. - And that's okay with you?

look, we're all there once anyway. You know, we knew, like I said, we knew our jobs from the rehearsal process. You made your discoveries and your bonding, made your mistakes before you walk up and so you're just a bunch of actors showing up going, you know, it'd be really cool and looking at the sides every morning. No, we knew how to play the music. Because it was a play. Yes, precisely. And for that, each take, because it's a tiny set, it's a two bedroom apartment, we're like a submarine crew on top of each other. And because of just the

exigencies of playing that character and i'm wearing a great deal of makeup and apparatus and costuming and harnessing and you know whether it was a man whose body is big like charlie's or if i was in an alien costume or something they're really kind of the same approach it's suit performing you know and so i think you know we're here let's just keep doing it again darren

He would just keep shooting. We were also shooting, like everyone does now, on digital. So there's no more film. There's no magazine to change. Just keep going. It's like a light switch. And you can do them on a loop. And if something's off on a take, just back up the camera and go again. And I think that would get him a lot of variety. But in Hong's case, he would just kind of go, okay, well, we already got it. You know what? Just show off. Impress me. He loved her so much.

- It was really finessing, many takes to find out what's the best way to do it. He was never shooting for variety, with me at least. - And you could almost do it different ways. There's different colors and layers in each take and you're like, he's gotta go back and pick which is the best one. 'Cause sometimes I think that was a good one, next one you go, that was good at the beginning,

Oh, we nailed that part. You know, on different movies. But this one, I'm sure he's got in his head what he wants. It's hard. It would be hard with that emotion, which is a lot of your stuff, and humor. It's very emotional. To get through take after take. You know, that would be harder for me. Because you have to get there. I say one day at a time. I think, you know, you got to eat an elephant one bite at a time. Yeah.

At least it was in one location was kind of nice. Where was it? We shot in Newburgh, New York, across the mighty, mighty Hudson. It was frozen at that time of year, so cold there, in a motorcycle museum in the lower half. And I'm sure you've said this on Press Junkets, but so it was three hours in probably and three hours out? Four. And how many did you get out? An hour.

- But that's okay. - You shoot for 12 minutes a day. - I actually, I had a guy, Kevin Yeager, he's brilliant on this, a very goofy movie, no one saw it, "Master of Disguise." - I love "Master of Disguise." - Hey! - Wait a minute, let me get a, can I record this? - "Master of Disguise." - Confetti. - "I'm the master of disguise." - It was fine. - Any one we interview that mentions it gets a little bit better. - It was very silly, but he did, yeah, like eight hours with me sometimes. - Wow, eight, honest. - Yeah. - In which character?

Do you remember? Well, it was the Turtle Man. I'd get there at 3.30 or 4 sometimes. He would spray spackle, very detailed, on my hands and stuff. Was he putting appliances on you that were already built? Appliances. When I did...

from Jaws, you know, Robert Shaw, Sharko in the Water. That was a big one, you know? Right, exactly. And I'm so, I'm encased in rubber. I don't know if you had a situation, I'll ask you in a second. And they said, Barbara Streisand's here today because James Brolin was playing the father. So I had lunch with Barbara Streisand, but I'm in full prosthetic Robert Shaw makeup the whole time. There was no time for me to get out.

So do you have goofy agents or people come by? You're completely Charlie. You're fully your guy. And then you're talking, you're in the, and you're talking as Brendan. I, it was a little, there was a, yeah, there were moments of that, but if we weren't like in the production or the family, there weren't that many visitors anyway. There's actually zero. Cause it was COVID restrictions and all that. Um,

I think David from A24 came around and just put his head into my cooling tent and say hi. My cooling tent. Yeah, I did. I had a cooling tent with a Barco lounger. Yeah.

Because you can't like get up and run to lunch. I needed to be wheeled the 70 or so steps from the chair to the set. I won't say anything more about the movie, but yeah, I could see that. We're talking about the movie The Whale, which is doing very, very well box office wise, I've read.

I mean, it's getting a big audience for an indie film. It's hard to make adult thoughtful dramas at the moment. Hopefully they'll turn around. It used to be that's all you could make if you wanted to do something small. It was a thinky piece that went to a film festival and then you hoped for distribution or something like that. But with streaming and all the different ways to consume content. After rehearsal, how long did it take? After what? After you were done with rehearsals, how long did it take to actually shoot it?

I think we had like 30 something days, not including the weekends, but you know, 30, 32 days. But we shot mostly chronologically, which was really helpful. That's fun. Yeah, that really helps. You can live it through. I wouldn't say it's a fun movie, but I'd say that helps. As a Ford owner, there are lots of choices of where you get your vehicle serviced. You can choose to go to their place, the local dealership, your place, home, apartment, condo, your workplace, even your happy place, like your cottage on the lake.

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which isn't us. eHarmony is a dating app to find someone you can be yourself with. We are not dating. I want to clarify that. But the connection is what you want in a dating partner. Just someone like, if you found someone that listened to this podcast, that's somewhat of a connection. And then you sort of build on that. You want someone with some common ground. Yeah. It's not, look, if you want to connect romantically over, you know, super fly or fly on the wall, yeah.

It just makes us happy. You don't want to be watching The Godfather and the person next to you goes, this movie sucks. You want to- So dumb. Yeah. You want to connect on all issues and harmonize in life. Similar sensibility, similar sense of humor, and similar sense of sense. I don't like when they watch The Godfather and they're like, everyone in this movie is so old. I'm like, they're 40.

Watch 2001 Space Odyssey. Too much of this movie is in outer space. I don't like it. When do they land? When do they land? Why is that stupid red light acting so silly? Who's friends with a robot? We know dating isn't easy. That's why we partnered with eHarmony because dating is different on eHarmony. They want you to find someone who gets you, someone you can be comfortable with.

Yeah. I mean, the whole idea is you're going to take a compatibility quiz, helps your personality come out in your profile, which makes all the profiles on eHarmony way more interesting and fun to read. So I think this is the goal of dating sites, and I think eHarmony does it great. It's just finding somebody you're compatible with.

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Well, good is good. I'm wondering when the first time you did the makeup test and you became the character, and when you looked in the mirror, you know, obviously the thing is you start to go, what was your reaction? Was it emotional almost? It was, actually. Funny you should ask. Yeah, because I think... Well, the first time, the first test was at the Protozoa office, and Adrian Moreau is the designer of this makeup. He's brilliant. And getting into it for the first time, you know, it was big labor to get all the parts from Montreal and all that.

And Darren looked over my shoulder and he said, for the rest of your life. What does that mean? That's what I thought. What does that mean? And then I thought, I know what you mean, actually, because you can't really divorce yourself from someone.

me creating this character for better or worse. Well, be remembered. Yes. You can be remembered for something for the rest of your life for any number of reasons. Well, there's never been a movie that explored people suffer from obesity. Not in this way. No. I thought about this long and hard. Not this way. Yeah. The closest I could think of, and this might be reaching for it, was Dom DeLuise in Fatso.

Oh, interesting. It was called Fatsome. More of a broad comedy from the 80s, right? Or 70s? It was really emotional too. Yeah. Interesting. And I drew inspiration from John Candy in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Yeah. Do you recall when they were, he was deriding him and he says, go ahead. You can, I'm a big guy. You can take a shot at me. Yeah. But I like me. My wife likes me.

I'm good enough. I mean, and he looked like he was going to crack in that moment. He probably was. And it was a beautiful piece of acting right there. I don't think we'd seen that kind of sensitivity attached to owning who you are when you live in a larger body like that. Yeah. And I love that he was a college professor, you know, and there was a heartache always underneath that.

almost the entire, it was just there. You didn't have to play it. Even when you were being light, like you're being light with everyone, you're saying, I'm sorry. And, but you know, it was all in really your face. So the suit kind of, uh, goes away for a while. Cause you're just watching you to see what's going on. Because in absence of it,

you know, being a success with our finely tuned brand seeing makeups versus CGI creations. And you can tell where the dotted lines are and you automatically go, you have to make a decision about suspension of belief. I'll let that one slide. But with this, it was a straight ahead.

Yeah. With the exception of maybe a light digital curative, if like a piece of fabric on your shirt was acting up in its own movie or whatever, that we'd fix that later. Or there was a scene when on the bib sort of shape of the collar, when Charlie goes down the hallway to go to bed, he takes his shirt off before. And, you know, anyway, that, that was the full suit was very heavy. And, um,

you know, anyway, apart from that, what you see was what you got, but if it didn't work, there was no movie. And the rule was, this is a makeup and costume that will obey the laws of physics and gravity. It, um, it will not be what we've seen so frequently, which is, uh,

A foam, light foam. A Halloween costume kind of silhouette that an athletic actor wears and you sort of defy gravity and bounce around the way. And, you know, I mean, that's a different movie. It's a different genre. I have mixed feelings about what's funny about that and what's not. No, you look like it was very belabored to do anything. That guy was ill. He was

- Not well. - I mean, when you were wheezing and I felt suffocated. I was really in, when he, the heroic moment with his daughter, I don't wanna give away the ending, but when he gets up, that was just, that put me in a puddle of tears. I'm feeling it right now. - It's having the strength to get to your feet and do what you need to do. - Just someone who loves his daughter so much and it's impossible and he's gonna do it anyway. Anyway, you should see it, folks.

If you like great drama. If you like great movies, my God. You got me again, Brendan. What do you got for Brendan? I think we should let him go on his flight. Brendan's a very nice dude. And he came over on the way to go to more stuff in London. Anyway, on just another human note, everyone, you know, there's so many awards and

In our lives growing up, you're a Canadian, you speak French, but there's the Academy Award.

I mean, you've already nominated Golden Globe. You've won Critics' Choice. I don't know how many more there'll be. But do you let your mind wander to that idea? No, I can't. I don't want to get ahead of myself. I can't read those tea leaves any better than you or me or anyone can. I laugh at the prognostication that goes on because nobody knows shit. Nobody knows anything. No, it's always a surprise. Disabuse yourself of having the inside track. You do not. I know.

Nobody knows. You do have to keep that attitude. It was Herman Melville who wrote, I know not all that may be coming, but come what may, I will go to it laughing. I lived by that from since Venice and now. A few other maxims and idioms along the way. Another one being ignorance is the parent of fear.

It's better to know, better to go towards the risky things that we're reticent to know about or learn about. So you have a fully formed opinion about it, a more well-informed opinion than just ignoring it and condemning it early on and remaining frightened. That's, again, Melville, 1851. Moby Dick. Exactly. With Gregory Peck.

Saw it as a little kid. Was always blown away by it. Did you just do Gregory Peck? Gregory Peck. I've kissed bigger lips than yours. I'm Gregory Peck. I'm Henry Fonda. I can do these guys, but no one knows what they talk like.

Yeah, I know a lot about a GAF projector. Now, you're a Polaroid camera. GAF. GAF. Anyway, I just do the voices. But, you know, those Rich Little voices, those old movie stars. I love Rich Little. The only one you could do now is Jimmy Stewart.

because of It's a Wonderful Life. Kid came out to be, hey, it's a wonderful life guy. But the rest are all gone. They don't know who they are. No, it's okay. They're our first movie stars. I still do Nixon in my act. It seems to... Can we get a taste? I don't know.

Isn't that the standard? That's it. Nixon was a good go-to. Alderman and Dean, they were the ones that led me down that path. Well, good luck to you. I think anything that happens from now on is all gravy, so it's been great. Great talking to you. I'll give you one little thing, and I'll do it as Hans and Franz.

fee-fi-fo-fum. I smell an Oscar nomination. Sorry, he's laughing. We haven't ever said to you about it. Just in memory of my late mother who loved the church lady because she was church. She was church lady. Oh, that's funny. Well, well, well. We're up there getting our awards, aren't we? We think we're a little bit superior to a little man I like to call Jesus. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

We like ourselves, don't we? We're having a good old time at the party circuit where alcohol is served and the slots are plenty.

Yeah, I don't know where she came from, but I'm flattered that your mom got some joy out of that character. And my mother-in-law is Irish Catholic, loves it as well. They would have gone along great. They loved it. No one took offense to it. Even in the Bible Belt, they just loved. But it's just fun to be superior. We like to talk on our little microphone, don't we, David? We've got a podcast. We feel superior. I don't know where it's sitting on a character.

But Brendan Fraser exudes likeability. I'm so happy that he's laughing right now because it's been – he got me. Got me. David saw a little bit. We laughed. I saw the whole thing, you jackass. The whale? Well, just everything here. When we started thinking about that last moment in the film, it still gets me. I don't want to talk about that because it's part of the movie, but –

I was gotten all across the board. I kept stopping because I was like, oh, my God, this is catching me off guard. Yeah. So what can we – how can we sum up? We just – we appreciate you. I mean the whole world is, as you know, just loves you. Everyone's happy to see you. It's not always the case. And that's really nice. And I know that you've been through everything and it just seems, oh, that's show business. And then there's life and it's hard to –

you know, kind of puff yourself up at this point and go, Hey, damn right. You know, I will never let that, it's never going to happen, but at least my, I would just hope, just enjoy it as much as you can. You got a little run going, just, you know, as much as you can. I appreciate it. Ride it out. A lot. People will say nice things to me sometimes. And I go, Oh, okay. You're blowing up, Dane. That's my sister. You're blowing up again. Really? I don't think so. So I know, but for you, uh,

Your training and what you've shared with us about your, you know,

quoting Melville and what you're doing, you know? I mean, that's the true path. Like what's, you know, what's the work, you know? And the end of the day, yeah, you did this brilliant piece of acting in this film. That's all we have. Look, I summed it up. And what I have a business manager to introduce to you. Do you have any advice? No, he's doing good so far. Yeah. So anyway, well, good luck in these next few weeks going through the circuit and,

you know we only wish you the best and we also really want to thank you for coming on our podcast it's my absolute pleasure no it's it's very very flattering you got to talk toward the end I thought that was a big deal we tried to interrupt I said to David before let's cut him off 50% of the time we don't even have we don't have to coach us on that no we hope you is there anything else you feel you want to say to the world just thank you because we have a really big following thank you very very much all right no it was a complete pleasure do enjoy Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade

Brendan Fraser, thank you. Hey, what's up, flies? What's up, fleas? What's up, people that listen? We want to hear from you and your dumb questions. Questions, ask us anything. Anything you want. You can email us at flyonthewallatcadence13.com. Okay, here's an AMA, guys. Dana, get prepped. First of all... I'm going to pick a sunglass, David. I'm going to let you pick for this segment.

I don't mind the little, no, I like those better. Okay. Twins. Love the podcast. The recent Farley tribute was great. Sent me on a YouTube deep dive of Farley's time in us now. What a legend. Question for David. You mentioned a movie you and Chris pitched. Were pitched shortly before he passed called The Tree. Do you remember specifics? Yes.

His name is Lance Witchey, pronounced like witchy woman. That's what he says. Okay. The Tree, Dana, was a movie. It was pretty typical of Spade Farley formula. I like this. I was a stiff DC political guy climbing up like an assistant, whatever.

"Low man on the totem pole. "I'm getting married. "It's a week from my wedding, "week before Christmas," or whatever. After Thanksgiving, they say they want a tree to be delivered to, you know, across the country. I order it. There's a big screw up. It's my fault. I hear from the president himself, "You go get the tree and bring it back. "Make sure it gets here." So I have to fly across country. I have to get back for my wedding. And Farley is the lumberjack that's charged the tree.

And he wants to make 18 stops on the way there. And I don't want to. So we fight along the way. And it's sort of a good device. Kind of like trains, planes and automobiles, like two misfits on a journey. Is that script still around? It might be. Because we're two misfits that go on a journey. Yeah. We wouldn't even have to act. I'm up for journeys. And Melissa McCarthy, I thought, might be funny at one time for that. But it just sort of went away. We both had read it.

We had done, you know, we'd just done two. So we thought, let's give it a breather. But at the end, we were like, you know, the tree was pretty funny. We could probably shape that or get somebody on that. So anyway, it didn't work out. But that was kind of what it was. I never asked you this, but what was the difference, you think, in terms of like Black Sheep versus Tommy Boy? Nothing. Nothing.

Oh. I mean, did you sense that maybe Black Sheep wasn't, because Wayne's World 2 didn't do as good as Wayne's World 1, but- Well, the problem there was Tommy Boy, the quick stories, which we're not good at quick stories, but it sort of fell into place. Pete Siegel's director, Fred Wolf, was on the set. We're just adding jokes. We're just all screwing around. So, yeah, it was light and easy and then the pressure in the second one. Second one, we got your director from Wayne's World. Penelope. She's good. And she didn't want me in Black Sheep. So-

And she's admitted this. She said I wasn't good and she didn't like me and Tommy boy. And she said, she just wanted to move with Chris. So she would do this movie. Oh, well when the, and that's when it's, and she took 40 pages out of the script that Fred wrote and we all chipped in on. So we were more separated the movie and it wasn't as fun back and forth. I still like black sheep, but, uh,

I'm not here to hammer her down. I'm just saying. No, I'm sure she has. That's what it turned into. I didn't mean to bring up something negative. No, I think I better go. I would just say that budgets are also, David, if I could for a moment. Yeah. Budgets are also, can be the enemy of comedy. Like, so the first movie they threw Mike and I as Wayne and Garth on the hood of the car. And we're going, do you ever be attracted to Bugs Bunny or whatever? And it was like, took 20 minutes. Yeah.

Do you ever... It wasn't overthought. She's a babe. If she were president, she'd be Babe Abraham Lincoln. So it was just one take, go away. Second movie was like a three-day shoot, multiple cameras were on that car for hours. CGI. Sucking and squeezing the life out of it. So anyway, no one's fault. And a lot more pressure, a lot more cooks in the kitchen. More pressure. We think this way could be funny. Yeah. Overthought, overtested. And so...

I still liked a lot of Block Sheep and Chris was definitely funny in it, but, and there's some funny parts. Penelope did add one thing I have to give her where we were in bunk beds and when she said, I'm going to do this thing where he falls on you and I go, we didn't shoot that. And she goes, I did it with a camera trick. And when I saw it, I was like, there's no fucking way I would even know that was a camera trick. It looks so real. And so I will give her that. That was very funny. And great additional joke, which is what you're killing for in those movies. Just get a house laugh. Yeah.

So that's it. And thank you for asking. This has been a podcast presentation of Cadence 13. Please listen, then rate, review and follow all episodes. Available now for free wherever you get your podcast. No joke, folks.

Fly on the Wall has been a presentation of Cadence 13, executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Chris Corcoran of Cadence 13, and Charlie Finan of Brillstein Entertainment. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman with production and engineering support from Serena Regan and Chris Basil of Cadence 13.