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It's me. Welcome to Literally. Thanks for being with me. Great one today. The young whippersnapper, Matt Rife, is here. The wonderful comedian who is blowing the F up. Super funny. Just the hottest thing going. And I'm a little taken aback, I have to admit, because the man has bone structure, the likes of which...
I have not seen since the last time I looked in the mirror at myself. And it's troubling. I'm not gonna lie. Let's see what he has to say for himself.
Matt, Matt, Matty. Robert. Dude, I have to say there's a chin battle to be had between you and I. This is deep. There's definitely a jawline competition. Oh, man. If I had all of the plastic surgery rumors to get the jaw that I have now, your picture is what would have shown people. You really paved the way for my entire career. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. You know, I think...
I think Michael Jackson stole my nose. Really? I actually do. Directly off the face. Same complexion. I think he... I actually think he... He actually... I think he did. Did you ever meet Michael Jackson? I did. Shut up. Many times. And he did the... And he was very obsessed with my nose. No, but it's not that outlandish. What's that? When you think about it. Taking your nose? We were friends. He knew me. And...
You know, his nose changed and it looked, ended up looking a lot like mine. How long after you met him initially did he get the new nose? Well, it was, as you know, Michael, it was a never-ending process. Yeah. It's like a house that's never been fully remodeled. Just kind of go room by room. Constantly whittled down. Whittled down. Yeah. Yeah. Michael was, but I have a great picture of me holding like a styrofoam cup of coffee backstage and Michael's in like the famous, like,
like silver bad with the, like he's in that and he's like,
staring at my nose. No eye contact, straight to nostrils. He's looking nostrils. Infatuation. Yeah, infatuation. What an amazing person to meet. I'm so mad. The entertainment industry was never even an idea by the time he had passed. It's so sad. However, I did want to make sure I brought this up because this is so cool. The person I'm most envious of you getting to meet and from what I understand had a great friendship with was Patrick Swayze. Oh, yeah. I'm a...
huge Patrick Swayze fan. Now, I thought as a young comedian, I was waiting for Chris Farley and you, and I would not have expected Patrick Swayze. Well, Farley was my first introduction to you actually when I was a kid. Tommy Boy was the first time I had ever seen you in a film. Right. And then from that point on, I'm obsessed with everything 70s, 80s. I mean, Good era. I'm, Outsiders is top three favorite movies.
Of all time. I love that film. Thank you. But I didn't even see that until after Tommy Boy. So then when I was watching Swayze's documentary on Amazon, I believe. Yes. Which I've seen, I think, six times now. I'm obsessed with it. I'm so infatuated. The stories you were telling were just beautiful, man. He was something. Patrick Swayze was a true Renaissance man. I mean, he could do anything. He was an accomplished...
He was an accomplished archer. Archery? Archery. I did not know that. Cutting horses.
Gymnast? He's actually the reason I went skydiving. When I found out he did all of his own shoots after the initial production for Point Break. Well, they went out on the weekend to shoot it because they couldn't insure him. Insane. I was terrified to do it, but I was like, you know what? Patrick Swayze did it. I have to do it. Well, before Tom Cruise was doing it, Swayze was doing it. That's incredible. I mean, those two guys sort of cooking off against each other on the Outsider set was pretty spectacular because they're both among the most competitive and ambitious guys
I've ever known. I would have loved to have been on that set. I mean, the mass talent on that set is just unworldly. Now you have to do an entire Avengers film to get that kind of talent on one set. I know. It's amazing. It was super fun. And those guys, and Buddy, as we called him. Yep, heard that. After his dad, right? Yeah, Buddy. That's so cool. Yeah.
And I think I told the story in the documentary about after we did Outsiders, we did a movie called Youngblood together. We played hockey, right? Mm-hmm.
And it's a hockey movie. It's about young hockey players. And he kept trying to get you. I wrote this song last night. He never slept. Never. He was up writing songs or working out. The man was like a vampire about never slept. And he had this song. She's like the wind. She kept trying to put us like, we're not putting this song into this hockey movie. And then a year and a half later, it's the number one hit in the world from Dirty Dancing. Who goes, who just has such a thriving acting career? They just on the side, I'll make a song for fun. And it goes.
Number one. Well, there was nothing you couldn't do. Oh, God. I'm so upset I didn't get a chance to meet him. Nothing you couldn't do. He was a good dude. So, wait a minute. You're an Ohio guy. We're Ohio boys. What part of Ohio are you from? Dude, you should do the Joe Burrow story. I'm getting big Joe Burrow vibes on you. That would be amazing. I'm a big fan. He's the best. I've never been to an NFL game. Maybe the Bengals will be my first one. Never been?
No way. Yeah. I mean, I grew up like my family was pretty poor, so I never had a chance to go. I've been throwing out the first pitches at a lot of baseball games recently, but that's it. Isn't that the best? So much fun. Okay. You obviously, I could tell, like me, you like to work out, you do your thing. Like, you have to warm up beforehand, right? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You have to. Oh, I bring gloves. I'm throwing in the... In the bullpen. Yeah. It's the most fun. Me too. Have you thrown for Dodger Stadium? I have. I've thrown in Cincinnati. Uh-huh.
I've thrown in Dodger Stadium. And then I've thrown a bunch of minor league places over the years. Never Yankee Stadium, right? Never Yankee Stadium. Oh, that's the one I got into. I'm a big Yankees fan. Where have you thrown? I did Phoenix. I just did Seattle. Great. Before that, we did the Phillies. And I think we have...
The Nationals coming up, the Cleveland Guardians, and the Milwaukee Brewers are all set up as well. I'm so excited. I love it. So when you're on tour, you just make that a part of your deal. You're like, hey, I'm in town. I want to do your thing. Well, most of the teams, they reach out to me first. They'll see I'm performing somewhere nearby and they'll invite me out to a game, which is so nice of them. I mean, I love going to sporting events. I just never really get the chance to go often. So when they reach out to you, I definitely want to make it my business to make sure I get there.
Do you have a bit you do on the mound? Because I have a whole bit. Do you really? Yeah. No, I don't. I'm like, I'm for real trying to throw. I'm up on the count right now. Oh, no, no, no. Two strikes, one ball. Me too. So here's my bit that I do. So I've warmed up for an hour, right? So like, like I've taken, I've gotten there early. I've warmed up. I mean, I've really, really, because you got to stretch that arm. You know, in my age, it's like, ah. So what's that age? I'm going to be 60. No, you're not. I'll be 60 in March.
Shut up. Yeah. Are you fucking with me? I'm sorry. Can I swear? Yeah, you can swear all you want. That was the time to have used the one. That was the one. You're 59 years old. Mm-hmm.
Rob. Yeah. What? You're not believe... My man does not believe me. I read your biography. How? Listen, do the math. I was 17 when I did Outsiders. That is incredible, man. You look fantastic, bro. Thank you. My grandfather, he just passed away last year, was 68. Isn't that insane? I don't understand. Wait, so where are you from in Ohio? Dayton. Are you serious? I'm from...
40 minutes from there. North Lewisburg, which I hadn't heard of, but it's very small. It's 1,600 people. Yeah, it's between Marysville and Urbana. Those were the towns we had to drive through if we wanted to go to the grocery store. Urbana was like Paris. What? I mean, it's the big city for you. Oh, yeah. Well, with a lot more drugs, I think. That was like the rough part of town if you wanted to go to the grocery store. Yeah. Dayton was... Ohio was... I mean, I grew up there because...
Almost 60. I grew up there in the late 60s and into as late as I moved in 1976. So it was, Ohio was such a different scene. I can't imagine it was that different, to be honest. It's so boring there, not much changes. I just went back to my hometown for the first time in eight years, a couple of weeks ago. How was that? Nothing changed.
Really? They got a Dollar General. That was like, that had been added to the outskirts of the town. So that was kind of cool. That is still one stoplight. There's one restaurant in town. It's like the pizza shop. They have subs and like chicken wings and stuff like that. That's the only restaurant in town. What would you get like as a teenager? What would you go and do for fun? We used to watch, we used to go walk to the Dairy Queen and have an ice cream and watch it close. Yeah, there's an ice cream shop, which funny enough, when we went through the town, I was telling everybody, there's only maybe 1200 people in the entire town.
we didn't see a single person out in the streets. Middle of the weekday, not a single person out about the only place anybody was... We saw any faces was the ice cream shop. It was like right next to all the baseball fields that growing up, you win your game, we'd run over there and go get ice cream. Now, was it... Did you go during one of those insufferable Ohio summers where it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity? No, this was...
three weeks ago I was at Dave Chappelle's summer camp that he was doing out in Yellow Springs so I used to grow I grew up hiking in Yellow Springs it's the only nature we really have around that area it's beautiful over there beautiful he has changed that entire town by the way I hear I'm dying to go back and look at it oh you gotta go I think he's gonna do two more weekends of the summer camp I definitely recommend going out there it's beautiful that's such a
You go there and like, you know, like the main strip of Yellow Springs? Yes. The one road stores are on? Yes. All of the windows have like signs in the window saying like, thank you, Dave, because he brings so much business to this town now. It's incredible. Wow.
I love that. It's such a great feel-good story. Yeah. Because Yellow Springs is an amazing... It was always a very... I just have such amazing memories of being a kid. It was a very hippie, like, just amazing pocket of uniqueness in the middle. It's quaint and respectful. Everyone leaves you alone. He just walks the streets there. The biggest stand-up comedian on the planet. Nobody bothers him at all. Just the nicest.
So great. He's so fucking funny. Do you go back often to Dayton? Do you have family there still? I do. My dad is still there and he's still practicing law. He's 83. He's a lawyer? Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah. He's been a lawyer for 50 plus years. Do you know what department of law? Everything. Because what's amazing about law, at least in my dad's era and certainly in that part of the country is...
you did everything. He did divorce. He did personal injury. He did corporate litigation. He did trials. He did it all. And in California, I remember when I moved out here, I had one lawyer that would negotiate the contract, one lawyer if you ever had to go to court. It's so siloed off. Did he ever help with any of that early on in your career? Yeah. Yeah. He was somebody who I definitely would run stuff by, but it was such a different world out here. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, he's a great guy. So I'm booking a flight to go back in about three weeks and I'm going to call the Chappelle people and see if they're around because- You have to. He and I have been trying to hook up. But you got to come to Dave. The world comes to Dave. Oh, absolutely. I canceled shows in Kansas City in one cornfield to go perform in another for his shows. I loved it. It was the best. He was excited I was there, which is insane because I would have
I would have canceled my mom's funeral to go to this event. Like I'm such a huge fan. And it's literally, I've seen the pictures. It's carved out of a cornfield. It's like Field of Dreams. Yeah, you're literally, you're performing on like a gazebo big deck, basically. Right. And you just play to a thousand people sitting in a cornfield and everyone's,
the best audience. Because everyone in that area is so grateful for something to do. Right. Especially something that Chappelle is putting on that level of entertainment. Everyone's so grateful. They laugh hard and outside shows aren't always the best. The laughs go straight up. It's hard to tell if you're doing well sometimes. Got a standing ovation on the first night there. It was just the coolest weekend of my life. And somebody like that that I really look up to and has had, you know, the most amount of success you can possibly have in this business is
it was just so nice of him to just unload 30 years of wisdom on me. It was, it was amazing. What was, can you share any of it? What was like the, what was your number one? Cause I, I, I have takeaway from people. Cary Grant gave me some advice. Cary Grant said, never eat a hot dog when you're sitting on a dais. Cause there'll be a picture in the paper with you, the hot dog in your mouth.
And I was like, did you eat his warning? It was a good piece of it. I've never eaten. I've been on many deuses and you know what? I've never eaten a hot dog. What prompted him to give you this? Were you contemplating it? I don't know. I don't. I wish I could remember because it might be as just out of the blue as I'm remembering it. Never eat a hot dog.
Okay, at least Marlon had context. At least yours has context and makes some sense. We were... He was so wildly impressed with the world tour that we announced a couple of months ago that sold out in less than 48 hours. Like 600,000 tickets easily. He was just so enamored by that and he was giving me so much praise on that and congratulating me. But...
He also wanted to make sure I'm taking care of myself, which, you know, I'm going to be completely honest. I definitely bit off more than I can chew with this tour. It's a lot of shows. We just had our first official leg of it this past weekend in the Northwest, and I
I'm exhausted. So how many... You do usually two shows a night, five days a week? Two shows a night, five days a week. And what's the transportation situation? As of right now, flights and cars, we're getting a tour bus in October. So that'll at least give me like a sense of home base. Okay, let me ask you this. Are you like looking at different like configurations of the tour bus? Like...
How big is the bed? Maybe is there room for an exercise bike in it? Or do I want to... Not that big. Enough for my friends and my team to sleep on there. I definitely wanted to make sure I get my own bedroom in the back and my own bathroom in the back because, I mean, my team is majority guys. And, I mean, if you have to share a space with five dudes, someone's going to clog it at some point. And I don't want it to be my issue. Right, right. So I'm looking forward to that. That's going to make some of the travel a lot easier because other than that, I mean, I'm flying back to LA for one day a week each week out of the month.
I leave tomorrow for like three weeks straight just because I'm like, I can't. I got to at least stay on the East Coast where the shows are for a little bit. And what are the venues? Theaters. Anywhere from, I'd say like 1,200 to 7,000. Anywhere. Do you have a sweet spot? Like,
Like, obviously, I'm not talking about playing massive, massive stages, but like, do you feel like there's a spot where comedy works the best for you? Or is it more like a room size or a vibe or... It's tough because there are different types of performance. I like a comedy club that I can just be chill. My energy can be low. I can feel like it's an intimate setting where I can just talk and work out stuff. That's when the best material comes to mind.
But because of how rambunctious some of my fans are sometimes, those moments get ruined because I am so accessible and it is so intimate. People want to yell out the entire times that, to be frank, can ruin shows sometimes. And I hate that for audience members who actually came to watch me do the show. So... Yeah, how do you handle it? Because it's... I...
I do a one-man show and it's basically my version of, if I had the balls to say it was stand-up, I would. I don't, so I don't. I see it. But it's me telling stories and I just was playing at the Venetian in Vegas. Shut up. Yeah. How big is that?
I was in their small room. So that's... It's probably a thousand. It's like a thousand people. That's amazing. We're doing the Cosmo in September. I'm so excited for my birthday. Vegas, let's go. So excited. High Elk Boys made it big. We're in Vegas. Let's go. But for the first time ever, I had people completely disrupting the show. Heckling, yeah. Like... How'd you handle it? How'd you handle it? In a positive way. And, you know, it's like, you know, sometimes...
You know, it's like there's certain stories which are shaggy dog stories that can... Whatever. But there's certain things that are timing things. And like, it's like landing a plane. Yes. And that happened a number of times. And it's like, it's over. There's no there, there, once. Oh, yeah. The timing issues. You got to bail on the joke or the story. Yeah, you got to bail. And I didn't know what to do because it's all... It's hard because they're yelling something super positive. Like, we love you.
Shut the fuck up. Yeah, it's like, how do you be mad? That's the worst kind of heckler is a positive heckler. Yes. Because how do you tell somebody to stop having a good time? Stop being nice to people. You're right. The positive hecklers are the worst. If somebody's negatively heckling you, you suck. It's like, all right, well, cool. Now we can have a combative moment and I can shut you down and embarrass you. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard to get mad at somebody who's just having a good time. That's so tough. A thousand is a good number. It's still a little intimate for those kind of interruptions. I've found...
through theaters, a good size is like 2,500, where it's just big enough that people feel like it's a...
that they're not directly a part of in the sense that like they're less apt to yell out and embarrass themselves in front of 2,500 people. They're further away. It seems like a bigger production. I think you just feel less accessible in a size that big. I wonder if it has something to do with lighting. It could. Because Ellen DeGeneres would talk about how she...
very specifically lit her studio, like experimented with it. And she has a whole philosophy of like, if it's too dark, that's not good. And if it's too light, that's not good either. Interesting. There's a whole thing about lighting.
which I think most people aren't aware of and don't really experiment with. And it's hard when you're on the road because the lighting is the lighting. Well, we do a sound and light check pretty much every theater show. But you also can't really screw with the house lighting system. Not too much. So you're kind of, but when you can, it's super interesting to toy with it.
I'm going to look more into that because I've always figured, I definitely always want to see the first like three or four rows because if I do want to do some crowd work, I want to see who I'm talking to. Right. So yeah, I'm interested if people are too far in the dark, do they feel too comfortable? Or if they're too far in the light, they feel like the spotlight is on them and it's open season for them to do whatever they want. That's right. This is the kind of stuff why I didn't jump to as big of venues as people wanted me to. Like the demand for this tour was insane. I mean, we without a doubt could have done stadiums.
which a lot of people still to this day, I get tweets every single day. Why don't you do bigger venues? Your venues are so small for your demand. And it's like, this time last year, I couldn't sell 70 tickets at one show at a comedy club. So was it the special that did it? What did it? TikTok. TikTok kind of blew up everything. TikTok did it. An app that I can't stand. I never wanted to get on. I was super reluctant and it changed absolutely everything. But I never got to have that
run of like just knowing what it felt like to sell out comedy clubs every single night. So we did a bit of that at the end of last year, a little bit of that at the beginning of this year. And we're still doing some throughout this year, but now it's to work on new material and stuff. I didn't get to just enjoy and learn how to perform at a sold out comedy club. So now when my agents and fans want me to do these giant stadiums, I'm like, well, can I just enjoy and learn theaters first? Because it's a totally different performance. You're
You're more than anything just saying jokes to a room rather than making full eye contact with people and having that interactive, intimate moment. So that also kind of goes with calling back to the advice that Chappelle gave. He said, pigs get slaughtered.
You don't need to do everything. Don't be greedy. He was like, these comedy shows, they're going to make you a lot of money. That's why you're doing so many of them, obviously. But he goes, if you pace yourself and dedicate yourself to the craft and you respect the craft and really give everything to it, it's going to respect you back. And that's how you're going to have longevity in this career.
And then you can do shows whenever you want, however many you want to do. You don't have to do all of them right now. Pace yourself. Don't think you have to do everything. That's great. Which is hard not to do when you haven't had anything to do for the past 12 years.
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Okay, I got to just circle back to the TikTok thing. So it's, what do you think the secret to it was? Just the accessibility or was it the content or? It's the accessibility and the content, I think. A lot of comedians do crowd work, which is predominantly what I do post on TikTok. Because, you know, comedians don't want to burn their material. Right. If I post the same show, you're going to pay to come see me do live. That's a little shitty on my end, isn't it? Right. So crowd work is like a very specific thing.
intimate one-off moment that's probably not going to be recreated at any other show. So I have no problem sharing that. And if you think that's funny, you can come see me at a live show. So that's not a super uncommon thing. Most comedians post crowd work on TikTok. So who's shooting it for you? At first, it was me. This time last year, I bought cameras with money I didn't have. I had a friend teach me Premiere Pro on a computer, something I'm wildly illiterate to.
And I just started doing it on my own and a poor quality, but at least it was something. Now I have one other person, my videographer, who we have an editing process together and he shoots my shows. He travels everywhere with me. So he shoots every show? Every show. Yeah. And sometimes we end up with a show, we just go, scrap it, didn't get anything. So,
So just technically, not to get too far in the weeds here, you've got somebody shooting you and somebody shooting them, or is it one guy swiveling back and forth? One guy. We have an A cam straight forward. We have a side cam for B cam, and then he roams for crowd work. Do you have multiple cams? Multiple cameras, but it's just him running it. Yeah, his name's Kyle Varney. He's a beast. He is a workaholic. I love him. He's the only person I know that when I'm still editing at 4 a.m. after doing two shows that night, that I can text him and be like,
hey, I have an idea for this thing. And he'll text me right back. I'm like, I'm hoping he's asleep getting some rest, but he's up working just as much as I am. That's insane. Yeah. It's been nuts. So, I mean, crowd work, it's hard to say. I mean, I don't... Now, do you have to get the release of the person you're... No, it's... No. It's public access. Yeah, that's the notice you may be photographed or whatever. Yeah, those are on every venue's doors. And it's something about social media that...
social media is fair game. I mean, how many videos do you see online of somebody being a Karen and pulling out a phone in somebody's face and posting on social media? Right. You don't have to. Right. Now, if this person... We have had some moments where the person will say something that, you know, might get them in trouble in their professional life or whatever. And,
We haven't posted it or we've blurred their face or changed their voice or something like that. So there's still ways around and people are pretty cool about it. I don't think we've ever had anybody to get angry at what they've said, but it's also like you're saying it in front of a thousand people live. So it's not that big of a deal. Now, the girls must go berserk. I can only imagine how berserk berserkers. Do they throw, do you ever get stuff thrown at you?
On stage? All the time. All the time. I've had, I've had bras thrown on stage. I've had a lot of gifts, weed. I've had so much thrown on stage. It's, it's pretty rambunctious and,
Not okay, if I'm being honest. Yeah, right. Oh, it's so ridiculous, man. Women are the best fan base you could possibly have because if they love you, they support you to the end. It's like having the best girlfriend ever, the best wife ever. But at the same time, they're also so passionate that sometimes they're a little too rowdy.
But I also have to be super empathetic because I know I'm a lot of people's first experience or introduction to stand-up comedy because of the younger generation that I am a part of. So a lot of them don't know how shows work. They don't know how that type of fandom is supposed to be navigated. It's not like a musician. It's not like Harry Styles. They might love me as much as they love him.
Treat us a little bit different. I'm so normal. I'm such a normal person. You don't need to freak out all the time. So let me ask you. So when you look out into the audience of a typical show, what's the audience look like? Demographically? Yeah, yeah. Age range? What's the vibe? Age range? This is what's crazy. Age range is kind of everybody. I'll get anyone from... Every video is at least 18, mostly 21 and up. So let's say my age range is... It's from 18 to...
Amazing. Which is super flattering. And the one thing I'm very proud of is that I've always prided myself on my material and my comedy being universal. Like, I don't want it to be just for white people. I don't want to be just for black people. I don't want to be just for old people or young people or Hispanic people. I want it to be for everybody. So that's the best part about that.
It's definitely more women, I would say, but it's gotten so much better. When TikTok first blew up, it was like 90-10 women to guys. Amazing. Which, as amazing as that is that they're buying tickets, it's not always the best thing to have is a crowd full of just women for a guy doing comedy who's... My jokes are for guys, which is what I tell dudes all the time because dudes...
don't like me more often than women. You'll outgrow it. Will I? Take it from me. Oh, I believe it. I can walk you through the phases. Please do. Please do. It's exhausting. That's why I'm digging into this because I feel your pain. I know exactly where you are at. My comedy is so for guys. So it has gotten so much more. It's evening out. Now I'd say it's probably 60-40.
women to guys, which is I'm so much more appreciative because women as much as they do support me, sometimes I'm like, well, is it my face you like? Is it the jaw line? Can I believe it's my crack? And it's about, let's face it, who knows what it is? Who's to say? You got to do a lot of that.
I don't play into it at all. As easy as it would be for me to be a multimillionaire just doing the most shallow, douchey stuff on stage, I refuse to do. I get yelled at to take my shirt off every single show I do. And now I have retorts for Ready to Go and there's banter back and forth. Take it from the 59 about to be said. You're playing it exactly right. How dare you ask me to take my shirt off? I'd say around 45.
You're taking that shirt off every fucking chance. Really? Is that my last good year? No, but that's the beginning. Oh, no. That's the beginning of you're like, this ain't gonna be like this forever. Oh, that's depressing. No, I spent 20 years of my career. How dare they?
How dare they objectify me in this way? And I'm like, literally on a TV show now. Like, should I have my shirt off in this? Yeah, great, whatever. If anybody needs it, I've been working on it. I don't give a shit. You see it with women too. You see it more than ever with, you see like the ingenues, they don't want to do it. And then like, you'll be like the Sharon Stones. And then all of a sudden they're like,
posting the bikinis like, Oh, yeah. Shows off the sizzle as she approaches 50. It's like, well, where was that when you were 30? Yeah.
The same appreciation. Yeah, no, come on, baby. It's weird being on the other side of the objectification though because women, especially younger, attractive women in this industry have to go through that kind of objectification all the time. All the time. Or creepy dudes or people, yeah, people just want them for their bodies. That kind of obsession has been slowly translating to my career and it's super weird. I had a woman bite me at a meet and greet the other night. Like,
Like she went up and like grabbed my chest, which I'm like, okay, that's funny. It's weird, but it's funny. Went in for a hug, like a hug everybody in a mean greet and then like just bit me. Yeah. Like nearly drew blood. It's still bruised. It doesn't, it's so weird. I, um, it's so inappropriate. Like if somebody bit Taylor Swift's titty, people wouldn't stop talking about it for three months. That's right. It's all people would talk about. That's right. But because we're guys, nobody really cares. I wrote,
a book, one of my memoirs, the two of them. Please read the first one because there's so much in it about objectification. This isn't your first biography, right? It's my first memoir. Yes. And I did read it. You talked about growing up with Charlie Sheen and everything, right? Yeah. And maybe it was in the second one, but it might've been in the second one where I talk about like coming to terms with objectification as an ingenue. We're ingenues. Yeah.
We got the jaw. Like, what kind of... He's not denying it. Were there specific jobs that you wanted? He's not hiding it. Were there specific roles that you wanted that you couldn't play because you were so good looking? You can't be a policeman. Ugh.
But police officers are hot in people's fantasies. Come on. It's like, and it went on and on and on and on and on. Really? But you're just like, it is what it is. It's like, okay, it's like. But people don't let you complain because they go, well, I can't play the hot guy roles. Yeah. And you can't complain, you know, so, but it doesn't make it any less true. It all happens. Everyone's experience is subjective. Yeah. And then there's, what I found was there's that, there was always that thing in my teen idol phase. Mm-hmm.
First of all, you know, you know, the theory, not a theory, it's the truth that like every, whatever it is, it's probably quicker now, but every 10 years, five years, it's quicker with social media. Now there's going to be a new it guy and starting with, you know, Elvis and you can do the lineage. Yeah. Right. You just do your tick the box. Yeah. And it's the same for movie stars, you know, and it's going to be someone. Mm-hmm.
And it doesn't, there's part of me that's like, it has nothing to do with anything other than it's a warm body standing in the middle of the road of that adolescent passion. Yeah. And anyone will do, frankly. Yeah. Really. It's the right timing at the right place. 100%. And like, so how much of it, of the adulation has anything to do with what I personally have to offer? And my,
Actually, I think it's very little. I hate to say it, but I really believe it. And, but, but, it's not just all negative and depressing. It's like you said at the show, you win them over. Yeah. Right? You win them over. But,
Well, that's where longevity in that position comes, I think. That's right. Because there's an initial spark with a lot of people that teens might find attractive or they like their voice or whatever it may, whatever that initial passion comes from. Yeah. But in order to have longevity in that, you have to have something to offer them. That's right. Because the initial attraction fails. And they have to be able to see beyond, ah!
of it all. Absolutely. Because the ah of it all has nothing to do with you, me, or anybody who's been there. No. Hormones. It's a phenomenon. Yeah. And what's fun for me to watch is the reverse angles. Like, my brother has three girls. One's
14, I think 12, and then like seven. And they, all they could think about is getting to this Taylor Swift show. And it is, she's playing six nights at SoFi. Jesus. Six. And the worst ticket in the house is $2,000. I don't want to hear that my tickets are too expensive anymore. Okay. Wherever my camera is, I don't want to hear it anymore. Okay. $2,000 for the top of a stadium seat. The top of the stadium, six nights.
And you can't get them. He can't find anybody to sell him a face value ticket for his daughters. Oh my God. But it's like, and they're like, it's like the Beatles. Yeah.
It's insanity. When I was in Seattle, I was playing Tacoma, just 30 minutes south when she was playing Seattle. The same day I threw out the Mariners pitch. And it was the fan bases couldn't have been more mixed. I had half of people being like, we're coming to your show tonight. And everybody being like, we couldn't get tickets to your show tonight. So we saw Taylor Swift instead. Those two fan bases colliding was just the funniest thing to watch people interact with. It's insane. And we both broke Ticketmaster, which is kind of cool. I love that. That's so sick. I wonder if she knows who I am.
Oh, she knows. If somebody knows if Taylor Swift has ever seen a TikTok, please let me know. I'm curious. She's a machine. I want to ask, because of the position you were in with being a teen idol and the massive success you had at a younger age, were you friends at all with the Corys? Oh, yeah. Well, Corey Hames...
First real movie was a great movie called Lucas. I haven't seen it. Oh, it's so good. Really? What's it about? It's about a young nerd dweeb kid who's in love with the pretty girl in the high school who will never give him the time of day. And he tries out for the football team to impress her.
And it's very, very, it sounds like an 80s teen movie, but it's so much more than that. It's a fantastic movie. Fantastic. And he's fantastic in it. And it's Charlie Sheen's first appearance in a movie. Wow. And Winona Ryder. Wow. So I knew him when he shot that in Chicago. So everyone was shooting in Chicago in those days.
And then he became famous. And then the other Corey showed up. But I always, when I think of Corey Haim, I always think of what a fantastic actor he was in those early movies. And then, of course, the vampire movie, right? Lost Boys. Oh, so good. Where Jason Patrick just dressed up as me. 100%. 100%. 1,000%. Did you ever get credit? The stylist didn't give congratulations or anything? Here's what's interesting. So it's the same director who directed St. Elmo's Fire. Mm-hmm.
So he clearly had like a thing for me. Yeah. And so he dresses Jason Patrick up in my fully bites my look. Yep. And then there's this weird moment in the movie. Do you know this? Where Corey Haim...
It goes back to his bedroom and he opens his closet door and it's a full poster of me. No way. Yeah. Shut up. Yeah. I didn't notice that. It's like, it's really like, it's like, oh, look, there it is. Oh, look, they've just brought it up. That is so funny.
Also, whatever my next photo shoot is, I'm doing this exact pose and exact outfit. I would love it so much if you ripped that off. If my publicist is listening right now, get the stylist on the phone. I want a Rob Lowe full wardrobe check for the next shoot of whatever we're doing.
By the way, because it's the 80s, that exact look is back pleated. Oh, absolutely. That look looks exactly like you would do it today. It doesn't even look like an 80s thing. Belly button not included. Belly button not included. Shaved chest not included. I'm going to go back and watch that tonight. That is so funny and one of my favorite movies. What is that? And I feel like Corey Haim's character wouldn't really have a...
a poster of me. Maybe Madonna or something in those days. Well, let's not shame guys for having other guys' photos in their room. I may have two Patrick Swayze photos in my bedroom. One, I have a Dirty Dancing one above my bed and then I have Ghost. I don't have the Youngblood one. I've got Ghost and Dirty Dancing. Ghost is one of the great movies ever made. I want to remake it so bad. It's great. Because you don't think somebody's going to with everybody remaking everything? Yeah. I want to do it. Putting that out there right now if anybody's listening. It's great. ♪
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Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton honors membership required for 15% discount terms and conditions apply. Are you doing any acting?
Yeah, yeah, actually. Of course you are. Despite the strike. Yeah, worst possible timing. Yeah, that's why I actually moved to LA instead of New York when I was younger because if you're going to go to New York as a stand-up, we go for stand-up. But acting, obviously, you come to LA. And over the past 10 years, I've done a bunch of indie stuff. I've done some Disney stuff, some MTV stuff, but nothing really that prominent. And it's kind of because of what we just talked about. The feedback I have gotten...
For years has been, well, he's a comedian, but he looks leading man, right? He looks leading man, but his entire background is comedy. And he doesn't look funny. So he can't play the funny best friend because he looks leading man. And he can't play leading man because all of his background and resume is comedy. So we don't know if he can carry a show or a film in that position. This is the greatest. I love hearing this. But because I love acting...
just as much, if not more than stand-up. It's something I've always continued to do. I've taken every opportunity I can to go on set for even if it's the worst indie project. I'm like, it's paid practice. I've learned more on set and in repetition actually doing things than I have in any acting class. And of course, now that my meter has risen over the past nine months, of course, now I'm having a meeting with every studio and everyone's a fan and everyone wants to do something. And then SAG and Brighter...
writers go on strike and now I'm back to just being a comedian for a minute. They must have been like, oh, you could be a Marvel this or whatever the hell it is. Dude, whatever they want to do, I'm down. But I want to do a project that makes me happy. That's my biggest concern. Because I've done TV shows that I've been not happy doing. You've done that. You've done that stuff. You've done, you're beyond that now. Now it's like, I'm not in it for money. I want to do it because I enjoy doing it. I want to make something that, you know, when I'm 59, I can have a 27-year-old sit across from me and go, thank you for doing that.
Right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Something I can be proud of. Yeah. I mean, it sounds, I mean, you got to go. It's the Midwestern, it's the Midwestern mindset, Midwestern values. It's the, I can't go back to Ohio mindset. Please, for the love of God, don't make me go back. Now, when you go back though, is it like the Beatles returning or people like breaking into your parents' house, hoping you're there? Because I used to have that a lot. No way. Yeah.
Yeah, they would break into my grandparent. My grandparents lived in Sydney, Ohio. Oh, wow. Like one of the smallest... Yeah, I've heard of Sydney. Yeah, and they would routinely... Not that bad. My mom... Distant family members get harassed on social media, but nobody's come to my mom's house. However, I am buying my mom a house in September in one of the southern states. And she has been like, do I need to get a gate? And I'm like, I don't think so, but maybe...
just in case. I haven't had anything that crazy. I'm surprised that there aren't like nightly drive-bys and ding-dongs of, are you there? Not yet. I did just have to change my number for the first time in 14 years. You've made it. You've made it. You've changed your number. I've had the new number for a month. Still don't know what it is.
I have no idea what my new number is anymore. If I go to jail, it's over. I'm just in there. Until someone figures out I'm in jail. I have a reoccurring nightmare. A new version. It used to be that my teeth fell out. You had that one? Oh, yeah. Dude, Rob, that's my number one nightmare. I have it weekly for the past 27 years. Me too. Are you serious? Yes. How did yours go? Oh, dude, they've gotten more and more intricate.
Yeah, same. So you have them where they'll crumble in your mouth, right? Yeah, so yeah. You're like swishing them around in your mouth? Yeah, 100%. So they started out like that for years and years and years. And then you wake up and the first thing you do is go, okay, thank God they're still there. Right. I've gotten to the point now where in my dream...
I'll go, this is a dream for sure. Wake up. And I'll wake up and I'll go, I'm still dreaming. I'll wake up within my dream and they're still missing. And I immediately wake up and go, I have to call my dentist immediately. And then I'll wake up just in a panic. So do you have the thing like it's that, like it's you're at a meal and you feel them getting loose in your mouth. Oh, yeah. And you're like trying to put it in with your tongue and then it kind of dissolves.
I haven't had to crawl, but I've had to push out. I've had to push out like you push on the back of your teeth forward and then like going. Yes. Yeah. And then it falls out and then you're like trying to put it back. What is it? I've asked people about it and they say it's stress. It's fear of losing your power, I've heard. I've heard stress about money before.
Interesting. It's interestingly enough, I haven't had in the past like year really. Thank goodness. I haven't had that dream in a while. So maybe it is correlated. We'll see. The stress of money. That's interesting. I've heard that one, but I don't know if I buy it. I also have veneers.
So it's like, it's a real possibility, I guess, of one falling out. Which I have. I've broken a tooth in my sleep before, which I think then and of itself, now I'm even more worried about it because I go, oh, it's a real possibility. I grind my teeth in my sleep. So my new version of this dream is something has happened and I need to call somebody. Really? And I can't call anybody because I don't know anybody's numbers. I don't know anybody's numbers. That's how you correlate that? That is so funny. I can press a button on a phone
Right? But if I don't have a phone and I'm in the middle of knowing, and it's always you have one phone call. Oh, yeah. And I don't know any numbers. Do you know any numbers? Not one. My grandpa's was the only number I knew when he passed away. I know it. 4929845, Sydney, Ohio. Still know it. Are you serious? Aircode 513. Whose number is that? My grandpa. 7408153879. Separated birth. I'm telling you. Attack of the jawlines. Wow.
Right? Can you please play my dad in something? Can we please set something up? Let's figure it out. Let's quit SAG while they're on strike. We'll come back into the union when they're ready. Scabs. Scabs. Let's do it. Let's just do it, baby.
I, my son is in the WGA and I went to the picket line. Um, first day of the, it was, it was, it was so, it was great. It was super fun. And like seeing my son carrying a picket sign was really like other world. Oh, it's amazing. I mean, people, I mean, people got to do the right thing. Yeah, for sure. They got to pay the actors. They got to pay the writers, man. Yeah. We don't want AI. God, no.
We worked so hard to look like this for real. We're going to let a computer just be made like that? So rude. Can you imagine? Listen, you know how people are fans of anime? There's definitely going to be... Look, we're never going to get replaced. But what will happen is there will be an anime, not a version of you, but an anime comedian or AI comedian that people will love as much as they love you or more. Oh.
For sure, we're going to see. I hope not. One billion percent. We're going to see. But audience members have to know that's not a real thing. It's not a real person's thoughts. You know, anime is not real. I'm not an anime fan. I'm not either, but plenty of people... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But at least it's people... But it's actors' voiceover. People are actually writing for that. If it's an anime... If it's an AI anime show, well, like, it's not even real writers. It's not real voices. It's not real...
Not even real actors voicing the characters. I have to imagine that that causes some depreciation in a fandom. It'll be, I think, and I've talked to a lot of people in this area who are on the cutting edge of it. They're like, what it'll be is there will be a premium for handmade comics.
Like there will be, there will be people that that's all they're about, but writ large mass, mass, mass, mass is it's going to, it's going to be, you really think so? I think the genie's out of the bottle. I think we're, I think we're at the beginning of what is going to make the industrial revolution look like a non-event. Really? Yeah, I really do. I hope you aren't around to see that.
Oh, they say in five. These guys who, some of the guys who, I mean, are doing it are like, in five years, less than five years, but certainly within five years, will be able to write a script that in a blind reading, no one will be able to tell the difference between it and the best writing in the world. So it's like, what's going to happen with school projects with kids? That's already a thing for college students. They're already doing it. So then what's the point of even assigning that task if kids are just going to go do that anyways? Yeah.
And you have no way of telling. All that kid has to do is memorize what that AI wrote down. They can claim it as theirs. And my thing is, let's not fight what we can't fight. Let's figure out a way to make it work for us and not against us.
Because you know what the Luddites are, right? I used to, the phrase when people hand me a phone, enter your context, I'm a Luddite, I would always say. What does that mean? I used to think that that meant, I don't know how to work technology. What it means is the Luddites were a group of people that when the industrial revolution happened and Eli Whitney created the cotton gin, they were like, no machines, no machines in this world. But it was inevitable. That's what I'm saying. They're like, no machines, no machines.
No way. You're not... A machine is not going to pick this field. Yeah. It's not going to make... A little bit of a no. We are against it and obviously they're lost to the tides of history. Yeah. So we just don't want to be the Luddites of AI. Yeah, that's the shame. It is inevitable, isn't it? Oh, it's 100%. I mean, because if you...
If you think about live performance or handwriting something, it is barbaric. But here's the thing, you're in the right business because live performance is only going to get hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter. It's going to be the only thing left. Yeah. Because an AI can't replace somebody standing in front of you working at the mic off of their brain in that exact moment. That's right. They're not going to be, AI can't be present. I think it's the one thing we do hold over it. That's right. How do you feel about de-aging?
For it or against it? If they want to DA, I'll tell you how to DA one better. Okay. Here's what I also think will happen. One of my favorite movies is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Mm-hmm.
And apparently Elvis Presley was in discussions to play Sundance Kid. Really? Yeah. And I want to be able to watch Elvis Presley as the Sundance Kid. Oh, you want to see it in replacement? So I'm down for that. Like, I want to see, I want to recast Saving Private Ryan. Who do you want in there? Name your movie. I want to see Tracy Morgan as Tom Hanks. That's right.
I'm down for that. That's the kind of shit that I'm looking forward to with A.I. Interesting. Oh, that would be so fun. I would put myself in all my favorite films. Of course you would. But you don't have the experience of it. I want to be in Heaven Can Wait. How about Ghost? You put yourself in Ghost. You'll be in Ghost. That's going to happen. But your fans will be able to do it. Your fans will be able to say, I want to see him in The Breakfast Club.
Now that's going to become a whole different thing where it's like, is that now going to be a theatrical release of see your favorite actor in your favorite film that they weren't originally in? They'll be doing that off like in their phones at home. That's so cool, scary, and crazy at the same time. It's insane.
So it's in terms of de-aging. De-age me, make me, I don't care what you do with my likeness as long as we're compensated. Just make me look like Rob Lowe. That's all I ask. As long as I still look like me. That's all I ask. Did you guys really train hop for Outsiders? We did. Would you please tell me about that? That's the coolest story I've ever heard of a cast bonding. Not only did we train hop
because they get, you know, like hoboing, they used to call it or whatever. Can you imagine the insurance company today? Like, you get your arm severed, a limb. Did you hop on while it was moving and everything? Yes.
Who had the most trouble hopping on? Matt Dillon. Really? I love Matt Dillon, but he's the least physically. He was supposed to be like the brute in that though. Oh yeah. He's the cool. Cool. Not brute. Swayze was the brute. Okay. Swayze. Listen, Swayze, but Swayze for my money looked too elegant doing everything. Understandable. Um, and that's too smooth. Too smooth. Cruz was the, he's, he is the animal.
That's a career I would love to emulate. I do want to do my own stunts. By the way, no reason at all to do them. I know. None. Zero. I know. But the fact that people talk about it like... He almost...
At this point in his career, if he, God forbid, does die doing something like that, that only adds to the legend of him. The mystique of it all. Yeah, I mean, he's created such a legend around himself and he's a phenomenal actor. I have the utmost respect for him in every field of acting. It's so cool what he's done. He's an amazing actor and the stunts. But I like the stunts where it's clearly...
Yeah, like the one where he jumps off the motorcycle and pulls the parachute? Yeah. It's on his back. It could be anybody. Totally could. But the ones where he's hanging off the plane? Yeah, face first into the camera. Come on. I didn't realize until I watched the documentary that Swayze's fight scene in Roadhouse, they were for real fighting.
Like they were really hitting each other. I believe it. He would want that. But Buddy would want that. He'd be up all night and come to the set, roll in with some crazy, I think we should all just hit each other. I used to do a good Swayze. I can't do a good one anymore. Yeah, that would be super sick. Has there been a stunt that you committed to doing that you're like, I should have had somebody else do this? Um...
I've been scared doing a stunt where I was like, this was stupid, involving a train, jumping between two moving train cars.
Like you're on top of it? All you do, going from cart to cart. From cart to cart, but with a big... Yeah, I mean, you're on it. And listen, you're still on a harness. Yeah. That they digitally removed. You're chewed up under a train. Yeah, or you hope the harness works. What was this for? It was a movie I did literally to do the stunt called... Literally. When I tell you the title, I make so much fun of this title. Atomic Train.
It was a... Straight to DVD. It was when NBC used to make event movies. Wow. It was a train with a nuclear weapon on it that had lost its brakes. And did you stop it? I sure the fuck did. Saved the day. No, ironically, I had to jump off the train before...
before it detonated and destroyed the city of Denver. And then, of course, there was a nuclear fallout that we had to deal with. Of course, the fallout, of course. How far was this jump? Six feet, 10 feet? Between the train cars? Yeah. It was, I mean, it was... Six or seven feet? Yeah. It's not... Just enough to be believable. It's probably from me to the wall. I mean, look, with carpet, it's not scary. But moving train tracks on it, yeah. Yeah.
That's tough. But I literally made it. I met with the NBC people like about what they were had in their development hopper. I'll never forget it. And they're like, well, we are doing this thing. I don't know if you'd ever be interested. I mean, we're doing a thing called Atomic Train. I was like, I'm in. What? You're on the name. Oh, Atomic Train? A train. It's atomic.
And I'm going to be involved in it? Was there a countdown detonator? Yes. Of course. And it stunts. And the 30-second countdown took 25 minutes? Yes. Of course. I mean, come on. Sometimes you just got to go. Oh, man. It was like Speed. The movie Speed, but on a train. Great movie. Great movie, different location. That was the one where Keanu first started using his acting voice, I think. Very low. Yeah, that was the first time that...
He had learned to speak from his diaphragm. Are you all caught up on the John Wicks? Oh, yeah. They're so good. So good. And again, does his own stunts. Yeah. Insane. Something I would love to do. Have you seen the behind-the-scenes footage of him training for the gun courses and everything? Are you serious? Yeah, it's a Terran tactical. Yeah. It's the shit. It's the shit.
Oh, I've been dying to go. It looks like so much fun. They're the best. Really? Can you just go? I thought it was like a private thing. No, no, no, no, no. You just call Terran Tactical. They're the best. Call them. They'd love to have you. Joe Rogan took me. He just hit me up to come on his podcast. He's the best, obviously. Huge fan of his work. Joe's the best. The best podcast. Second best podcast. Thank you. Joe and I, I did his podcast.
We were like, how have we not been friends forever? And the next day he moved to fucking Texas. Of course. But not before we went to Taron Tactical. He's the one you went with? Yeah. And I'm sure he's just bullseye every time. It's the greatest. Did he take you to jujitsu? No, we have not done that. Have you ever done it? With my son. My son's majorly into it. Really? Yeah. I try to get into it, but I'm big into boxing. I love boxing. I don't like grappling.
I tried it. I tried it in the beginning of COVID. Get away from my face. We'll see. If you hit me in the face, it's over. My career is over. If you say, I'm going to try to hit you in your face, I go, great, take my wallet. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Right. That's where we differ, dude. I'm so confrontational. It's kind of an issue. It's so bad, especially with like internet trolls and stuff like that. I'm going to get John Lennon for sure. Like it's pretty bad. Well, you've got all that young testosterone workout gym shit going through your body. But it's just, I miss the days where somebody wanted to talk shit, they had to do it to your face. Oh, I know. Nobody does that anymore. See, that's the problem with, I don't look at any of the comments anymore.
You have to. You're strong. You have to. And it's an age that you have to be interactive. By the way, it's a generational thing. It's not just you. It's my kids. It's hardwired into you.
It's how you communicate. Yeah. It just is. And for like running a fan base, you got to be interactive. Yes. Interactions are like the number one analytic for a social media breakdown. People don't care ultimately how many followers you have. It's like, how's your engagement? And sometimes you got to respond back to people. You got to like comments. You got to comment back. But in doing that, you do see the negative ones. And it's hard not to be like, fuck.
Fuck you, dude. Pull up to any show. Pull up. It's so hard not to. Yeah, it's... In the old days, we just got fan letters. I get some fan mail. A lot of wedding invitations and graduation invitations or prom invites is funny. I'm sure in your act, you have a centerpiece, your go-to greatest hits, killer moment in your act. In my one-man show, it's that I...
because I'm walking through my career when I got my first fan letter and how much it meant to me. And it was a sense that I would maybe have this thing would work out and that I still have it. I carry it with me. No way. And I pull it out. It's got like unicorns, you know, like in little stickers. Like in the old days, the girls would put little stickers on it. Perfume on it. Yeah, and all that. And it's like falling apart and I read it and it's literally like,
I love you. I love you watching on your show. You know, where I live, we all gather around together and watch you. And I sent you a picture of me. And I'd love if you'd send me a picture of yourself, preferably coming out of a swimming pool or in your underwear. Did you? And signed...
William Jackson, prisoner number eight. Shut up. Pelican Bay. Shut up. And then I put the picture up. It looks like a total caricature of a child molester. Did you send one back? Yeah. So that's the centerpiece of my... It kills. It murders. Shut up. That is so funny. Wow. I really must not be famous yet. Nobody... Not one prisoner has written me. At least that has gotten to me. It's a big part of my demo. Damn.
Trust me, it's a big part of yours. Am I not handsome? Trust me. You know what it is? They're not down on Twitter, mate. I mean, on TikTok. No, prison talk is a thing. Prison talk. Prison talk. It's its own subcategory. They're making ramen noodles and toilets. They're geniuses in there. Do you find your algorithm? Okay, so check it out. So I'm going to Ireland this week.
I haven't talked about it. Have you not been to Ireland? Never been. Beautiful. You're going to love it. It's great. Amazing. So pretty. Where are you going over there? Dublin. Is that all you're seeing while you're over there? I'm doing a project, so I just in and out. I may get introduced in traveling. Do you drink? No. Sober, right? Sober, yeah. No, I thought so. That's going to be tough because everyone, it's like an insult that you're not drinking after 2 p.m. over there. But it's beautiful. You're going to love it. I'm sorry to interrupt. No, no. But so, and I haven't talked about it much at all.
My TikTok now literally is places to go in Dublin. What do you like in Ireland? Like, I've been on TikTok now for a year. I've never heard one thing about Ireland before. Really? Never. I mean, dude, who knows what's going on with the phones? But you must have that. I'm not crazy, right? Do you ever have that? Oh, of course. Have you seen The Social Experiment? Yes. On Netflix? Yeah. Very creepy, but genius documentary. I mean, that stuff's so true, dude. Yeah.
They're for sure listening. They're listening to keywords you type in. Have you Googled anything in Ireland? Things to do maybe? Have you booked a flight on your phone? I've emailed about people about Ireland. I think it's all it takes. I think it's all it takes. I think it's all synchronized in and amongst itself. It's so creepy all the time. It'll be whatever you've talked about that week and then somehow still girls twerking. Just an abundance of girls twerking on TikTok for no reason.
You can't escape it. What a world we live in. I know. It's too good. Well, I'm going to come see you. When are you playing in LA? The Dolby Theater. Right. That's where they do the Oscars, right? Big theater, bro. I'm so excited. I've never been. That's in November. I think it's Thanksgiving weekend, I believe. Wow. Yeah, that's going to be a really fun one. Have you been inside of it yet? Never been. It's so beautiful. I think we're doing the Hollywood Bowl next year as well. I've never been to that either.
Bugs Bunny played the Hollywood Bowl. Well, he's an icon. Okay. I mean, come on. Who have you seen there play? Oh my gosh. I've seen Al Green. Wow. I've seen Chicago. I've seen Lyle Lovett. Wow. I've seen Elton John. Oh man, that would have been so cool. I've seen Liza Minnelli. What? What?
Legends, all legends. That's a pretty diverse group, right? The funniest story about Elton John was I used to be really good friends with a guy who was really good friends with him. And we just...
kind of had falling out or whatever but years ago we were really good friends and my roommate who slash best friend who's now also my tour manager used to work at the abbey straight guy super good looking would clean up as you can imagine yeah yeah and uh elton john's husband david was having a birthday party and all day my friend who was friends with elton was talking about how he was had elton's birthday or his husband's birthday party that night it was that's what he was doing i was like that's so awesome man congrats that's gonna be such a good time
And then my roommate comes home and goes, hey, the Abbey is catering Elton's husband's birthday dinner at a party at their house. So I get to go meet Elton John. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. He's rubbing it in my face. We're both huge Elton John fans.
maybe an hour before my roommate has to go clock in to go up to the house and everything, my friend who's friends with Elton calls me and goes, hey, my friend who was supposed to go with me just had to cancel. Do you want to come with me? Oh, yes. So cut to me at Elton John's house at the dinner table sitting directly across from Elton next to his husband, next to my friend, next to a bunch of other famous people and my roommate has to serve me. Had to come by and ask me, sir, do you want more water? Amazing.
Amazing. Loved it. Loved it. Elton has always been so cool. He's the best. So nice and so talented. He's one of my favorites of all time. And I've known him forever. The whole Outsiders crew...
walked across from our hotel one night to watch Elton play. Where? He met in Tulsa when we were shooting. So we, as young as me and Tom and Swayze, we're all like barely in the movies. And we're like, we go, we meet Elton. That's the first time I met him. That's so cool. And he's the most humble. He knows everything. He's totally current.
It's amazing. I feel like after a certain age, I kind of want to just stop learning shit. Yes. He doesn't. I know everything I need to know before I die. He knows every young artist, every young singer, every young actor, everything that's going on. It's insane. Yeah, we saw him having dinner. We were at Craig's maybe two weeks before he and Dua Lipa's collaboration came together. We were like...
No offense. I mean, Dua Lipa is huge, but like, how does he know or even care about what younger people are doing? I know. You've done everything you can possibly do in that business. Yeah. You have nothing to prove. You don't need to stay relevant. You're relevant forever. Forever. But he still like wants to be involved. It's amazing. Yeah. Natural curiosity. That's the thing is,
You know, curiosity is what keeps everybody young. Anybody who's young has curiosity. That's a really good quote. Yeah, you want to be constantly just experiencing things. That's the argument I get into with my mom all the time. My mom is such a shut-in. Like, doesn't really have any hobbies or anything. I'm like, you got to go do stuff. That's what life is. Life is doing stuff. Life is just doing stuff. Yeah, for sure. This is great, man. I love this. I'll come see you at the Hollywood Bowl. Oh, dude, I would love to have you. Literally, anytime you want to come would be an honor.
It's always great to have a fellow Buckeye, a fellow Ohioan. What a good dude. Just a really, really good dude. I love finding new people that I can root for. Not that I don't root for everybody. I root for everybody. But what a great young mind. I love that. That was... Hey, you know what? Anytime... He's like one of my kids' age too. That's so... You're always like, aw. You know what I mean? I sound like an old grandpa. Jesus Christ. This is the worst.
All right. Go check out Matt on tour. Don't throw your bra at him. I think we've established that. Hello. You've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep. Beep.
Hi, Rob. It's Heidi from Ohio. And I listen to the podcast while in the car and I've been traveling and I went back and listened to a bunch of podcasts that I just happened to miss from past seasons. Like I had jumped ahead or whatever in the app had been giving me more recent podcasts. So I've been listening to old ones and I kept thinking
thinking that I noticed you mentioned that you were best friends with Bill Paxton, but you hadn't really told any stories about him. And having read both your books, I couldn't really remember much detail in there either. So two things. One, I really think that we would be best friends. And two, I would just love to know more about your friendship with Bill Paxton.
So will you tell us more about that? I had such goosebumps when Bill was talking to you through Rebecca in this week's podcast. Please tell us more. Hope you're well. Thanks. And hey, call me. We're best friends. Amazing. Oh, I love that. Ohioans are always best friends together. Yeah, Bill. Oh my gosh. He was amazing. He was amazing. I mean,
My favorite Bill Paxton's, I have so many because I love people who are quotable, quotable and characters. Like if those people come into my life, I covet them.
And if I can imitate them so much, the better. And Bill was all of those things. The last time I saw Bill, we hadn't seen each other in a while. And he was doing his first network television series, right? So this is a guy who's done every big movie. He'd done Big Love on cable, which is a huge success, but he'd never done a network like CBS or
procedural. And he's starring in Training Day, the famous Denzel Washington movie that's now making a series, but they've reversed the roles. And Bill is playing the Denzel character, the corrupt cop. And he's done a year of the series. They're about to go into year two. I've seen some of it, but not a lot of it. We haven't talked at all, which is really rare. We go to dinner and I go, buddy, how's it going on the show?
He goes, oh, God, buddy, I wish the scripts were better. I guess we're kind of making widgets on this one. And I just thought, that's so true. We're just kind of making widgets. He just had such a good way about him. Last Bill story, I did a show called Brothers and Sisters. And I played a guy running for president, politician. And the network decided they didn't want to do any more political storylines.
Not a good day for my character, considering that's what I did. So overnight, I went from this like dashing Kennedy-esque American president, you know, figure to a character who baked a lot of pies in the kitchen with Sally Field. And I was sort of commiserating with Bill about it. He goes, you can't let him do that to you, buddy. God, that's, America doesn't want to see Rob Lowe with oven mitts. That's a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
He was the best. Thank you for bringing him up. It was fun to share a story. And I will see you next week on Literally with more fun to come. Again, thanks for being with us. You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Nick Liao, with help from associate producer Sarah Begar, research by Alyssa Grawl, editing by Jerron Ferguson, engineering and mixing by Rich Garcia.
Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and myself for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson for Stitcher. Booking by Deirdre Dodd, music by Devin Bryant. Special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally with Rob Lowe.
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