Rob Lowe
54:32 Share

You don't want to compromise on your vacation. In fact, you deserve more on vacation. Experience more with Norwegian Cruise Line. Find more amazing places to explore, more unique and longer itineraries, more time in port, and more entertainment and restaurant options on board NCL ships.

Enjoy perks like unlimited open bars, specialty dining, free airfare for second guests, and excursion credits too. There's more to a vacation with Norwegian. More to see, more to do, more to enjoy. Visit ncl.com, call your travel advisor, or 1-888-NCL-CRUISE. Restrictions apply. Why would Ted Danson's kids ever want to see...

the most iconic comedy in the history of television. Why would they ever want to see that? I'm going to play this clip for them. ♪

Welcome back to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrelson. Sometimes. I really enjoyed talking to my guest today who makes us all actually look bad, figuratively and literally. Not only is Rob Lowe devilishly handsome, and I did clear that with him before I said those words, devilishly handsome. I think he was kind of chuffed, to be honest.

He's also been working continuously on TV and film for decades. Think The Outsiders, St. Elmo's Fire, The West Wing, Parks and Rec, and so much more. Season two of Unstable is up and running on Netflix, which he co-created and starred in with his son. And I suppose we also have a certain kinship, besides the

devilishly handsome part. He is the host of the very popular podcast, Literally with Rob Lowe, right here on Team Coco Podcast Network. He is really a fascinating guy and I enjoyed talking to him very much. Meet Rob Lowe.

You know what I love about you as an actor? We've never said howdy, maybe in passing. No, I feel like there should have been like a Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden crisscross. Was there one of those in the 80s? Perhaps, perhaps. There had to have been. Yeah. Had to. She's become one of our best friends. She's the best. She's the best. She's astounding. She's... There's... I was...

very, very, very close to her during that, that time. And then Tom Hayden time during Tom Hayden time. And then I was, I was actually at her house because you know, called me. It's the weirdest thing. Ted Turner, you wanted to take me out and I'm like, you should go out with him. And that was the last I saw of her. That was it. Yeah. I wanted to get, we'll get into this, but, uh, you guys probably have done similar environmental stuff. Yeah. Totally. Showed up to the same. Yes.

Conference or whatever. Yeah. I remember my favorite one is that, um, you know, when you want to shut down a nuclear power plant, the two people that are best to do it for sure. Me and Meg Ryan. I mean, you know, I mean, that will make you rethink your, your energy priorities.

when we show up. I know we are so the wrong spokespeople for the environment. We're so obviously liberal lefties. I just remember it like, like it was yesterday. It was like, so, I mean, look, it was, I love doing all that stuff. The number one where I think we missed each other was in the famous clean water caravan.

That it was Craig Zayden and Neil Maron, the great producers. And there was a bus tour through California for Prop 65, which was about cleaning up our water system. And everybody on the planet was on it, but there were two different buses. It sounds like maybe you weren't on either bus. No, I wasn't. Totally missed that. What year was that? 1986. And...

We got pulled over for speeding. Well, also because Michael J. Fox and I were smoking pot out of the top of the Greyhound bus roof. And the cop pulled us over and out, it was like a clown car. Out came Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Judd Nelson, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Robert Downey Jr., Jane Fonda, Danny Glover, and

And why were you pulled over? Because of the smoke? Well, because we had the top emergency hatch off, Michael and I, and we were smoking pot. You know what I love about you? I got to say this right off the bat. You are one of my favorite kinds of actors. You are a character actor.

In a leading man's body. And that to me always kind of delights that kind of slight contradiction delights me because I never quite know where you're going to go as an actor. And that is what makes, I think an audience the happiest is when they are surprised and delighted. That's the greatest compliment you could, could give me. Thank you. I, I, I, it's the way I describe,

Try to aspire to be, I mean, I would, I, to be a character actor trapped in a leading man's body. It's, that's exactly it. Did you start off that way or were you just thrilled to be leading man and then move into character acting? Well, I always felt the same way. So I always felt like, I think I could be wrong. I don't want to speak for character actors, but I always feel like character actors don't feel like leading men.

I never felt like one. I might have looked like one, but I certainly never felt like one. But I always got leads. It was weird. I never had the four line part and then the three great scenes and then moved up. I got immediately cast.

Um, is that the outsiders or even before that I did a TV show with the great Eileen Brennan. Do you remember Eileen? Yes. Yes, I do. Um, I played her son. So I was like, I had some son of Eileen Brennan raising a family on her own, on her own. But wait, there's a twist. There's another family sharing the house.

Remember like every sitcom was that? Yeah, yeah. What year was that? What was it called? Oh, it's a scintillating title. The title just makes you sit right up in your chair and go, I want to watch this. The title was A New Kind of Family. Oh. It was new kind. Meaning sharing a house together. Sharing a house together. Yeah. Nobody had ever done that before apparently. How long did that last? We shot 13. They shut us down after six.

and replaced the other family without ever telling the audience. And, um, they, uh, so the new family became, um, Janet Jackson and Thelma Hopkins, the Janet Jackson, the Janet Jackson. And that was your first, that was 15.

You were 15. Yeah. So wait, all right, back up even more. How did you get, were you always wanting to be an actor? Always. And was that once you landed in Malibu? No, I was, I was, um, raised in Dayton, Ohio. Right. And I went and saw a local community theater production of Oliver and there were kids in it, you know? Right. And I was like, and I was like struck by,

dumbfounded. Like a, like if we were doing my life stories and movie, it would be like, Oh, and the light hits me. Yeah. And a total epiphany. And that's early for that. Really? I was like eight or nine, really, really young. And I, there was a, like a flyer, a bunch of flyers in the lobby for a children's summer theater workshop. I saw it, grabbed it, gave it to my mom, said, I want to do this. And she was like, great. And, and I never, and I,

Never looked back. I knew ignorance is bliss. I had no idea how hard it was. I had no idea that Dayton, Ohio isn't exactly a fertile ground for actors, although there was a lot of opportunity, a lot of community theater, a lot of summer stock.

repertory theater. There was the great Kenley players that went through there. I'm surprised they didn't come after you. And like, cause what they, what they did, the Kenley players in those days would take the hottest person on a TV show and they would say, Hey, on your hiatus, how would you like to be Henry Hill and the music man? And you'll do Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Flint, Michigan, and we'll pay you 30 K a week.

And you will, excuse me, suck and fuck your way through the heartland on your hiatus. And I saw everybody come through, Kelly players. Go back to the suck and fuck. I'm not quite sure what that particularly meant. Oh, come now, Ted. Well, I know what suck and fuck means. Sorry, but how did that come with the $30,000 deal?

a week salary or whatever it was. I think you just learned everything you need to know about me, by the way, that when you said suck and fuck, I went, I'm sorry, what do you mean? Yeah. Yeah. I was a real late developer. I know. I was like, come on now, Ted. Um, I came very late to suck and fuck. They, they, um, you know, and you, and it was the Midwest and you were Fonzie. Yeah. Rolling through Indianapolis on those summer nights.

Yeah. Two matinee shows. Come on, get out of here. I know what was going on. Um, did you ever do that? I, I auditioned for John Kenley. I want to do a movie about John Kenley. His life was insane. He brought traveling musicals. It was his idea to do traveling musicals. Now they do them all the time. Right. And he was a great entrepreneur and, um, super interesting guy drove a bicycle around the stage all the time. It was nuts. But anyway, I digress. Um,

There was that kind of weird opportunity in Ohio. And then I moved to Malibu and nobody did theater. There's no theater in California. So what happened to you? So I got an agent, didn't know what an agent was. Um, and they told me I needed one and I got a couple of commercials and then I got a new kind of family at 15 and had a TV show on the air and then had a development deal at ABC. Wow. Well, development, a holding deal. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I did a pilot presentation, not even a pilot, with Ron Howard directing. And it was a starring vehicle for his brother, Clint Howard. Yes. And Peter Breck from The Big Valley. And in those days, like I said, it wasn't good enough just to have a family living in a house. This was a show about a family of stunt performers who traveled the world with another family who were circus people. So you had like

people bringing elephants and tigers to cities while I was a young evil Knievel in spandex. Well, clearly this was not a half hour. This was an hour single camera, hour, single camera. Um, nobody ever asked me if I could ride a motorcycle. I couldn't. Did you know they had a grip below the frame? Roll me. Uh,

I never worked for Ron since. Ron only went in 5,000 movies. I'm like, Ron, really? You can throw a brother a fucking bone. Then I did a bunch of after, remember after school specials? Yes. Remember they were a big deal. Yeah. Big deal. Not as big as there's something about Amelia big. But the same thing. But the same vibe. You could do it in a month and a half on your hiatus. Yes. You could go off and do a movie like that.

I did one and I did a Hallmark Hall of Fame. Right. That I think got me a Golden Globe. No, I think it got me a Golden. It did when I was 15 and a half. Wow. No, no, no, no. The Golden Globe was, I was late because it was right after Outsider. So it was 17, 18. I'm getting into that era and then Outsiders. And then, then I just did movies pretty much two a year. Before Outsider, right before. How was your ego? Was this all heady? No, no, but dude, I was a nerd. Listen, I,

First of all, you understand I was so pretty that I look like Brooke Shields. So,

Legitimately. Yeah. Like Terry Shields literally tried to get us to get married. She, Terry Shields tried to do an arranged marriage. That's her mom. Yes. Right. She literally, she really did. Um, so, you know, the guys weren't having it. Guys were like, get, get out of here, Barbie. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? They weren't having any of what I was offering. And the girls didn't want anything to do with me because I was scary. Yeah. I was like, I wasn't like a, a jock. I liked sports, but I wasn't on the,

I was a theater kid. So I really was a true in the quad of high school, where it's like the jocks over here, the popular people. I was in the sort of misfit. And so I always felt that way. That's funny. Because of your looks and all of that, my thing was I was just totally unconscious. I was like...

I went away to school from living in Arizona with my Hopi and Navajo friends. And then when I went to a prep school in Connecticut and immediately was, that was the beginning of me faking belonging someplace. I faked my way through the entire thing. And I, I always felt like a bit of an imposter, but so mine, my outsider thing came from,

Having my head in the clouds. I still have my head in the clouds. Yeah. Yeah. But you have, you're talking creative clouds and dreams and imagination. Yes. Yes. 100%. Yeah. Yeah.

Not me. I was just totally out to lunch. Well, you didn't know what sucking and fucking was. We've established that. No, I didn't. One of my Hopi friends when I was 12 said to me, or 11 said, hey, you know, we're getting to know each other. Hey, do you like to fuck? And I went, oh, yeah. Had no idea what he was talking about. And it took me a long time to figure it out. That's really amazing. That's amazing. Yeah.

One other quick little, my friend, my Hopi friend Raymond and I are hitchhiking from town out to where we live in the country and we get picked up by this, back then you'd call him a hood or something. He had a relay. - A greaser, an outsider, yeah. - A hot rod and very cool and he picked us up and he started talking about his date the night before

and offered us this tip about women. Oh, this is good. What you do is you cup your hand, and you give them just a little smack in the butt, right there in the center of their butt. Just give them a little smack, and it sends a seismographic quiver to their clitoris, and they love it. And we were just nodding our head going, oh, yeah.

Wow. Thanks. I can, I can promise you, you didn't know what a clitoris was. No, I don't think I knew seismographic quiver either. But this guy, what was he from NASA? I love that you, but you remember that phraseology to this day. Yes. Well, who's going to forget it? Who? Yeah. And I'm not. Plus it took me another six months to research and figure out what that was.

Okay, some of the things in life are worth bragging about. Like when you finally cut ties with big wireless and switch to consumer cellular. When you switch, you can brag about having the same fast, reliable, nationwide coverage as big wireless, but for up to half the cost. You can brag about getting top-tier customer service. And you can brag about being free.

It's a lot of bragging. It's a lot of bragging. And Consumer Cellular has some bragging to do, rightfully so, because they've won awards from J.D. Power, Shopper Approved, PCMag, and Forbes. Those are the real deal, those magazines. From their rates to their coverage to their real human customer service team, it's time for you all to see what the hype is about. And I have, by the way. It is costing less. You do get the same...

quality service reception and all of that, you know, signals here and there, whatever. And you get to talk to real, you know, human beings when you call the customer service. And what's nice is I don't feel like you're bragging. I feel like you're just being confident. You're just sharing. Well, it is pretty smart of me to have, you know, Okay, now you're bragging. Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.

For a limited time, you can sign up with Consumer Cellular and save $50 with promo code TED50. Visit ConsumerCellular.com slash TED50 or call 1-888-FREEDOM and mention promo code TED50. That's ConsumerCellular.com slash TED50. Promo code TED50.

Terms and conditions apply. Savings based on consumer cellular single-line 1, 5, and 10 gigabyte data plans with unlimited talk and text compared to T-Mobile and Verizon's lowest-cost single-line post-paid unlimited talk, text, and data plans, January 2024. If you're like me, you're probably tired of paying for so many TV channels you don't even like and certainly don't watch. Make money.

the switch to Sling. You're in charge of live TV with Sling. You get to choose and customize your channel lineup, getting the channels you like. Sling has the live sports, news, and entertainment channels you love.

and less of the ones you don't. So you save hundreds of dollars. And Sling knows that stuff happens. So you can pause your live TV subscription at any time. Sling's Cloud DVR lets you record your shows to watch on your schedule with no complex technology, no long-term contracts, and no hidden rigmarole. We all hate rigmarole.

I feel like I'd be more in control with Sling and that I'd spend less time sorting through content I don't like.

and more time on shows I love. So it's worth checking out, folks. Watch TV anywhere at any time with Sling. Sign up for free today at sling.com slash choose. That's sling.com slash choose. sling.com slash choose. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app.

And it's a great way to truly immerse yourself in the language you want to learn. Rosetta Stone immerses you for fast language acquisition. Designed for long-term attention, their intuitive process allows you to pick up a language naturally. Learn on the go with the mobile app or at your desktop on your schedule. The lifetime membership has access to all 25 language courses. An amazing value for 50% off.

It's a steal. It's funny, when I did a film in Mexico, the first thing the crew taught me how to say was, yo soy un gran pinche actor, which means I'm basically the lowest of the lowest of actors. Anyway, if I had had Rosetta Stone at my disposal, I would have, that wouldn't have happened to me. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started.

Where everybody knows your name, listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com slash Ted and Woody. That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash Ted and Woody today.

We're bouncing around and I'm sorry. This is what we do. Oh, good. Good. No, no. This is what we do. Let's talk about your 30-year marriage because that's impressive. That's impressive. I know everyone says this, but it's impressive in this town and this business and what we do for a living. Yeah. And also to be, how old were you when you got married? You were? I was 26.

27, 28, 27, 28, by the way, married five blocks from where we sit talking. But that's rare because people change people, you know, grow up and mature at different speeds and levels. And a lot of times that doesn't work out. We, we change and grew at different levels, but I think one of the secrets and I've never, it's funny. People ask me a lot. Do I have any tips? And it's never occurred to me until you framed the,

the intro to the question, the way you just did is even though we would grow at different speeds, the other was willing to catch up. Yeah. Boy willing, I think is one of the key words in a relationship. Willing. Yeah. And, and it's sometimes it's been my job to catch up with her. Other times it's been her job to catch up with me. And, and, and I can go back and look at two or three seminal moments and

where either one of us had to go, okay, I'm all right. I'm going to figure that I'm going to show up and figure this out and do the work. Usually it's me, by the way. Um, I mean, I never want that. Mary's never had to catch up with me. Let's face it. It's always us. I tried to make it equal, but even I couldn't keep that lie going any longer than that. Um, and then the other thing is, you know, I think, um,

like, first of all, you may, and I see, I know this just from a 50,000 feet with you and Mary, like you guys are really good friends and same with Cheryl and I. And also we like whatever problem you think you have and maybe you do have them, you go, I'm likely to have the same problem with the next person. So I might as well fix it here with this one. Right. So a lot of people, a lot of people just the grass is greener thing just gets them.

You met, if I may bring up, because I know you've talked about sobriety. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you met. During the height of my craziness. Of your craziness. But when you got married, you were sober. That's right. I got sober a year before. And as they say, when you really are getting sober, don't do anything major in the first year. So I didn't.

We were together, but we didn't, you know. Right. And then I had a year of sobriety under my belt and I proposed to her and we got married. And was that shift to sobriety, was that, oh, I need to do that if I want to be with her? 100%. Yeah. It was like at least 70% of why I got sober was realizing if I couldn't make it work with her and I wanted to.

I wasn't going to be able to make it work with anybody. If you're blessed, then you find somebody who feels the same, same way. Because if you go, Oh, I see my part in this and I'll share it with you. But the other person goes, yeah, you're right. And doesn't look at their part of whatever the issue is. You need a partner. You don't trust. You can't, you don't, you don't grow. Yeah. I mean, we've been, you know, Cheryl and our big believers in therapy and, you know, um,

marriage counseling. And we've certainly done that. We've done it when we needed it and we've done it when we didn't need it. Yeah.

It's like taking your car in and making sure the engine's running great. I had never done couples therapy before the last couple years, and it's great. Isn't it? It's better than, I think, single therapy in a way. For sure. Because you know what it is, is you get to go, in theory, let's hope it's a dispassionate observer, and you have to go, hey, am I crazy? Yes. And they go,

yes, Ted, you're crazy. Or they go, no, you're not. But I love it. And I think it's, for whatever reason, it's kind of fraught with, oh, we're in trouble. We're in marriage counts. It's like, that's not what it should be. It should be like going to the trainer. It should literally be like, I went to the chiropractor. That's what it should be like in terms of stigma. And I think what you find out you can start sharing is stuff that you just don't want to share because it doesn't make sense.

it makes you feel bad about who you are or something. So you, I'm not going to share this, uh, because it's just, and you find yourself sharing that and realizing, Oh,

You know, it's not the end of the world. Yeah. And I just blew the lid off of something that I've been keep any secret in my life just totally fucks me up. You can't have them. I mean, well, it's one of the core, core, core tenants of sobriety. So luckily that's something I got baked into me 33 years ago. You just maybe normal people can have them, but.

It's hard to stay sober with secrets. I keep bouncing backwards in time. No, it's good. This is like a quantum physics talk. It's like we're in the unified field, Ted. Everything is happening all at once. Mary follows me around in life going, yeah.

What he's, he just made a leap, everybody. So what he didn't say is that, you know, she has to like, she translated asterisk, everything I say, she translated, but all of the stuff we're talking about, all the, let's call it wisdom or life experience. Can you look back at your mom and dad and go, Oh yeah, they gave me that or this or whatever, or, or not, or you can look back and go, they didn't give me this boy. My glad I got it. I mean, yeah,

And so my mom passed away really young, breast cancer. She was 64. Wow. And my dad is still alive and like looks. One of my earliest memories of my dad is going to, can you imagine that they used to have these at county fairs? The guess your weight and age booth. Was he good at it? We would murder. Murder. Murder.

Because he looks 25 years younger than he is still. He's 80, almost 85. He looks like he's 65, 67. You have a good relationship? Yeah, we do. Great. I mean, you know, it's complicated as all, you know, what I realized having my own kids now who are, one's about to turn 30, Jesus Christ, is no matter how

There's we fuck them up somehow. We just did. We did in some way. They have an ax to grind. They're always going to have an ax to grind. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like the ax may be teeny, teeny, tiny or maybe ginormous. But it is so every father, every father son has their thing. And I certainly have it with with my dad. But he taught me he still works, still practices law.

So that's the number one thing I think of anything is like work ethic, the value of work, the love of work, which is a, which is a rule of law rule of law. That's a biggie. Yeah. How to think. Yeah. How to, how to be our, be, um,

to communicate. How not to be a victim. How not to be a victim. Yeah. He's definitely not a victim. There's right or wrong, but you're not a victim. That's right. Yeah. So yeah, he taught me a lot about that. And, um, and my mom was, um, someone who wrote every day of her life, never, never professionally, but wrote, I still have all of her writings. So, um, you know, when, when I wrote

My, I wrote two memoirs and they, when, when I, I would never have written them without my mother's influence. Never. Did you write those after sobriety? Yeah. That helps. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think you want the, uh, I would, it would have been like the shining. Yeah. How do you like my work? And it's all work. No play makes Jack a tall boy page after. How do you like it? Uh,

Here's my chapter about the Brat Pack. Brat Pack? Brat Pack?

See how I led you there? Do you like that? You're welcome. So wait, that landed on all of you right after. That's professional podcasting, which just happened. I am, by the way, I am, you can't see me, but underneath the table, I'm taking notes. I understand. Because, and I was hoping you'd go first so I could just mimic whatever you said. So when did that, uh, title land on you from the press? I remember it vividly. And, and, um,

I'll give you the Reader's Digest version of the story. So at the time, my best friend was Emilio Estevez. He was 24 years old. We'd done St. Elmo's Fire and all the John Hughes movies, and that was all a big thing happening at the time. And Emilio was writing, directing, and starring in a movie. And apparently, the last 24-year-old to do that was Orson Welles, apparently. Wow. So New York Magazine is going to do a profile on that.

It's my best friend. Writer spends all the time with him, editing room, talking, talking, talking weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. And at the very end, Emilio comes to me and he says, so the writer feels like he just has one sort of view of me and it's very work centric. And he wanted to see, you know, what my friends are like and what, what I, what I'm like away from work.

So I'm throwing a dinner for him at the, this is makes me laugh at the hard rock cafe. Oh, wow. Yeah. When that was cool. It's like, so I'm throwing dinner at, at, at, at TGIFs, at Fuddruckers. We're all going to get together. But that's what it was. And that was the cool place. So we go and I have, I remember being there and,

I don't remember much. It was a normal night, nothing to write home about, literally write home about. And two weeks later, the article comes out. I'm on the cover with Emilio and I think Judd, and it's a still from St. Elmo's fire of us at a bar, like acting craze. It's still from the movie. So it looks like we posed for it. And, and the title is Hollywood's Brat Pack.

Wow. And the article is, has nothing to do with Orson Welles or Emilio's work as a director. It's all to do with this phenomenon of young actors sort of taking over Hollywood. But really, all we really like to do is drink. Wow.

not necessarily untrue, but it's like super bitchy in that way that journalism used to be. The one good thing I'll say about journalism today is the gotcha celebrity bitch-a-thon. There's not really a market for that anymore. Well, it got taken over by the internet. By the internet, that's right. So they don't have to be bitchy. Very good point. But they devastated all of us. But the public, interestingly, regular folks...

never got, it was lost on them. Right. They just thought the Brat Pack was cool. But for a lot of the actors in it, a lot of them to this day are super bitter and angry about it. I don't, I don't care. Because it had an impact on their career? Yeah, they feel like it had. And it probably did. Yeah. It probably, it probably made people go, oh, they're not as, and they're not as serious and jaded, whatever. But I, with, you know, with 30 years of

History. I look back on it and I'm, I'm, I think it's, the term is great. It's like the fact that there are people still refer to it, I think is, is cool. But at the time, a lot of people were really bent out of shape about it. And it was a really gnarly gotcha piece.

I thought of it as just a comparison to the Rat Pack, which was fucking cool. Yes. So this was a bunch of younger people who were like the Rat Pack. Oh, it'll be funny or clever to say Brat Pack. That's where I took it. And if you hadn't read the article, that's, and obviously, I don't know, not a lot of people read New York Magazine. So most people just thought of it as that. And that's cool. I'm down with that. I'd merchant, I'd do Brat Pack merch if the opportunity arose.

Yeah. I tried. I tried going to some convention and signing autographs. How was that? Should I do one of those? No. No. Well, you maybe, you should, but I should never do it again. No, why? Why? I think we're very similar. I mean, it,

Possibly it was a bad day of the week. Possibly it was Father's Day and there was a reason why no one showed up. But there I am with my little pile of headshots feeling a bit slimy, just a little bit. So where was it? It wasn't Cincinnati, but let's call it Cincinnati. But it was like that. Understood.

And they paid me a chunk to show up and boy, did they not get their money's worth. Amazing. And who, here's the part that gets dicey. I mean, you're probably not going to name names. Who's at the, cause my thing is all about who's at the table next to you. Ah, cause it isn't going to be Daniel Day Lewis. No, I think it was a wrestler. There you go. Yeah. And doing very well. And it wasn't John Cena. No. Or the rock. No.

Autumn is here, which means it's time for cool weather essentials. Sweaters, jackets, all that good stuff.

Quince offers affordable, high-quality essentials for any wardrobe. That includes seasonal must-haves like Mongolian cashmere sweaters from $60 and comfortable pants for any occasion. Just a little side note, I just received a Mongolian cashmere sweater that I ordered just a week ago, and I'm so excited to try it out. It looks fantastic.

Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices, along with premium fabrics and finishes. And they partner with them directly, cutting out the cost of the middleman and passing the savings on to you. That means Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. So you can update your look

without breaking the bank. I mean, it's truly incredible. I recently ordered the Mongolian cashmere full zip sweater from Quince. It is crafted from 100% premium Mongolian cashmere, which keeps you warm without adding bulk. And the savings compared to the traditional retail stores are truly amazing. It's a beautiful sweater. I have it right now, and it only costs $60. That's

That's almost unbelievable, but I'm looking at it, so it isn't. It's real. Upgrade your wardrobe with pieces made to last with Quince. Go to quince.com slash tedandwoody for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's q-u-i-n-c-e dot com slash tedandwoody to get free shipping and 365-day returns.

quince.com slash Ted and Woody. When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just a job board. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere.

anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching. 70% of users don't visit other leading job sites. If you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. LinkedIn knows that small businesses might not have the time or resources, so they're constantly finding ways to make the process easier. 86% of small businesses got a qualified candidate within 24 hours.

They even just launched a feature that helps you write job descriptions, making the process even easier and quicker. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash tedandwoody. That's linkedin.com slash tedandwoody to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

Okay, so you're a brat pack now. What was the first thing that you can remember where it was like, no, I'm not. Suck on this. Look at this performance. I know you didn't choose it that way, but looking back, what broke you away from that, do you think? I think it was...

it was the about last night, even though Demi was in it with me and she is fantastic in it, that, that movie, it's a based on David Mamet's play sexual perversity in Chicago. So it was a great piece of writing. Um, Ed Zwick's first movie. Yeah. Um, and it was the first sort of adult ish thing that I got to do. Did you ever in this have moments of, Oh, I don't know. I'm out. I've, I've,

Shot by whatever. Yeah, for sure. You think it's over? It's only taken me within the past five years of realizing like you, it's like you're a made man, as they would say in the mafia. You made your bones back in it. I was that phrase. You made your bones makes me laugh. But like you made your bones back at back at Paramount stage and stage 23. You and Woody, you made your bones together.

In the latter half of the, uh, you made your bones when I was kicked. So I, I, I realize I'm probably not going anywhere at this point, but it took me a long time, a long time, right? Yeah. I can remember times where I thought my career was for sure over for sure. I had a moment after chairs and Becker and I tried something else that lasted like nine episodes and,

And it was like, oh, okay, I'm boring myself. I'm not funny. There are other people who are doing this and are really funny. And I'm out. No more TV. And I went to Jeffrey Katzenberg, who I'd known from Three Men and a Baby. And I said, I just...

you don't have to pay me, but put me in any kind of movie. I'm not going to do TV anymore. It's a bit part, whatever. I don't care. I just want to start doing movies. And I don't know if he was responsible, but I got to be in Saving Private Ryan. Oh, I remember it vividly. I've always wanted to ask you about that. Yeah. Well, on your own time, pal. Believe me, that's when we reunite on my show. I have it underlined.

Yeah. I thought I was out. And then Curb Your Enthusiasm kind of reinvigorated my desire to be funny. That'll do it. Yeah. That'll do it. I mean, legendary, legendary arc character for you, even though it's you, but not you. Yeah. And one of the great comedies of all time. All right. Thank you. Moving on. Sorry. We'll save that.

So you have children. That's a big deal to be an actor, famous actor, and have kids and raise them in some way that allows them not to be in your shadow. Yeah. Was that a big juggle for you? It's the reason we moved out of LA. And Matthew was six months old, and I remember vividly

The light bulb going on and going, I got to get out of here was he was literally six months old. And they're like, you know, you better be thinking about preschool.

And I was like, I was like, I'm sorry, what, what? I can barely figure out how to put a diaper on this kid. Like, no, in LA, the preschools, you know, there's a list and you should really think about this one. And I tell you, you should talk to, you know, you should talk to about the pre he's got preschools while, you know, you need to talk to Mike Ovitz. And I was like, I'm like, I'm out, I'm out, I'm out of the city. I am gone.

Wow. That's mature though. Cause you can get sucked into the what's hot and what's not here in LA. Every once in a while, I have a really good vision. Really, truly every once in a while, like wanted to be an actor, knew I should get sober, knew who I should marry, knew I had to move out of LA. Doesn't it? It feels like, and looking back, it looks like I'm good for a good idea every 10 years. That was a good idea. Mary did that. Mary moved out of town and, um,

Moved to Ojai and raised her kids there in one of the great schools. Yeah. Oak Grove, just a brilliant school. Oh, yeah. I spent a lot of time. My sons went to Kate, so Thatcher was the big rival. Yes. So I spent a lot of time. Did they surf? They were on the surf team at Kate. Yeah. The surf team. Yeah. Charlie McDowell, Mary's son, is a big surfer. Amazing. Yeah. Loves it. Yeah. That's so amazing. Yeah. No, I...

Yeah. So they, they, um, and, and, you know, the thing about living up in Santa Barbara Montecito was that, you know, it's not a company town. No. As a matter of fact, you're a bit of an outsider. If you're an actor. 100%. There, there were, there always actors had a footprint up there. Robert Mitchum had been there forever. Robert Mitchum. How cool is that? No, come on. Um, and you know, but it was regular people and working class people and a couple, and then,

You know, they're always old school Eastern families with lots of money as well. But it was kind of a mishmash of different things. And I got to coach Little League.

Without having to worry about pulling out the president of Paramount's kid from third base because he's a fucking spastic. Do you know what I mean? It's like like that's what that honestly that was part of it, too, is like I knew I wanted to coach kids for. Oh, really? Yeah, really. I'm not kidding. And I was like, I can I don't want to sit there with my agents, kids, my.

publicist kids with this movie stars. I just didn't want, I know that sounds weird, but I didn't want that.

Is that insane? No, it's smart. And I think, I don't know if that comes from, uh, I, I made it, I made it big. I'm, you know, I, I'm part of a title, the brat pack, you know, I wasn't there yet. I was still ready. I was, I had many years of worrying about whether I was going to done before. Oh really? Yeah. Oh yeah. All right. I'll give it to you. That was a really brave, mature choice. Well, it made all the difference. And my kids knock on wood or

Doing great. Johnny, my youngest. Um, so he goes, he went to Stanford. Yeah. Like you. Two years. I went, he went for, you did. He made it. Um, smart lad. But then he decided he wanted to be an actor. And I'm like, well, you could have told me that before I wrote the check.

Cause I mean, all you had to do was four years ago into Jamba juice. Yeah, that was me. You know, going to yoga and that it would have been exactly the same, but, um, anyway, Johnny, he doesn't mean that. No, he's so he, but he's,

co-created a show on Netflix that he and I do together. Unstable? Unstable. I looked at a clip. I'm so, that's pretty cool. It's really fun. Well done. Well done him. It's really fun. And, and he's, he's super, he's a really, really talented writer and a really, really good actor as well. And so, you know, sometimes you can't fight city hall. You know what I mean? You can't fight genetics.

Um, and then Matthew, my oldest was the one who went, I want nothing to do with this business.

And so he went to Duke and then went to Loyola and got his law degree and now is in finance and has like a real job. Living. Living in LA. Oh, wow. Which is great. Yeah. He didn't go New York. That's cool. No. No, he loves, he loves the outdoors. He's a big time, intense outdoorsman. So he has to be, you know, the ocean and all of that. Oh, Southern California has a lot to love. Yeah, it really does. Yes. Yes, it does.

But a lot of that then, I'm assuming, because you were out of town a lot. I took them with... Fell on your wife's shoulder. Well, here's what happened. So I was doing movies. And in those days, there were all those independent movies. There was lots of that. And I was kind of living in that world. And they would come with me. They were young enough that we always traveled like the Von Trapp family. We traveled together.

They were young enough that they weren't really in school, whatever. And then when they, when they got into elementary school, I just fortuitously got the West wing script. And then I was here.

and doing television. Did you commute? And I commuted. Yeah. The first I did the first for the four years I was on West wing, I commuted. That means up at three 34. It was brutal, but, but I, I didn't, I didn't know any better. And you know, like you don't know what you're missing until you've been driven somewhere. You don't know what you're missing. So I just like, this is what you do. And I was up and then sun wasn't up with my coffee and driving in and, and I loved it. It was great. Um,

But I think it made a difference because I was home every night and they knew I was home. The kids knew I was home. That made a big difference. But it enabled my television work coincided almost perfectly with them being in school where we wouldn't be able to pull them out and travel. Yeah. Good for you. No, it was, it was, it was a lot of, it was luck. I mean, a lot of, a lot of it was, yeah. Yeah.

They must have, even in Santa Barbara, bumped into, oh, your dad's famous, huh? But they never tell you. That's true. They never tell you. Ever. Ever.

Ever. I bet you kids have never seen cheers. No, of course they haven't. They never come to work unless, you know, Oh, I'm interviewing a Rob Lowe today. Oh, we'll come. All right. Otherwise they can give a rat's ass. No, they don't care at all. No, no, it's, it's unbelievable. I just know, I just know without asking, I promise you, your kids have never seen cheers. Of course they haven't. Why would they, why would they, why would Ted Danson's kids ever want to see the most iconic, uh,

comedy in the history of television why would they ever want to see that i'm gonna play this clip for them yes because they you know they they will embarrassingly admit to that every once in a while oh for sure you think my kids have seen the west wing yeah maybe johnny particularly not all right all right oh dad that shows like science fiction

Wait. Well, it is now. It is now. No, he's right. He's not wrong. Yeah. He's not wrong. Watching that show now, it plays like a comedy. Can I move away for a minute and talk about your big old heart and what drives you nowadays? If you had a, I know this is off purpose for me because I need to do something in the world besides acting and all this stuff. Yeah.

What is that like for you now? Where is your heart? Where is that, that center of you and what's it aiming at? Well, I mean, it's funny. I, I spent a lot of time mentoring, um, young men because my kids are, they still need mentoring, but it's a different thing. You know, they're on their own and kind of doing their own thing. And the best way I can mentor them in many ways is to stay out of their lives, honestly, in a weird way. You know what I mean? Yes.

Um, but I missed that and I was good at it. And so, um, you know, if there's a young person maybe struggling with drugs or alcohol, I, I know I'm going to get that call, which is great. And I love helping and to the extent that I'm able to do that. So I, I, I devote a lot of time in the recovery world with that. And, um, I, I also, um,

Um, unofficially just people finding you or reaching out to you or hearing about you. Yeah. They're, they're like, you know, you know how things are. There's like a network. Right. And, and people who know, know, you know what I mean? And there are other people doing what I do. It's, it's not, you know, Bradley Cooper does a lot of work in that area. He's, he's a great friend to people who are trying to get it together. Um, and there are others. So I, I do a lot of, of that. I do a lot of work in the, um,

cancer fundraising in honor of my mom and her mother and my grandmother, three generations of breast cancer. Uh, and then the other thing I, I do is I work, um, with a group called the Horatio Alger society. They're out of Washington DC and it's, it's self-made people like Horatio Alger. Um, I'm so sorry. Say that again. What is the Horatio Alger association? So it's, it's,

the Society of Distinguished Americans that I was honored to be invited to. And it's the who's who of people. And what we do is every year we pick two students who have to apply from each state.

are at the top of their class academically but whose families make less than twenty five thousand dollars a year and who have the horror stories of where they come from or like you don't even want to repeat them out loud they're so bad what these kids are dealing with at home the kind of abuse and we pay for their college education and uh

And we have a dinner every year in Washington and we get to meet these kids. And I'll tell you what, you will know our country is in great hands when you see these young students and.

In spite of everything they're going through, getting great grades and wanting to change the world while they go home and have a crap beaten out of them and everything else you could possibly imagine. And they still show up and to be able to be a part of that is super, super cool. So those are really the three areas where I kind of am spending my time when I want to give back. Tell me about the kids. Is there a follow-up?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like I show and I sponsor and then, so the, the members will all sponsor kids as well. And so you don't just get paid for the education and go, good luck because they, you know, a lot of them don't know how to live. Right. Um, so we've, uh, we, Cheryl and I have sponsored a student from going to college. He's now in the workforce, uh,

And, you know, it's, you know, whatever he may need, a little money here and there, checking in advice, you know, it's like, it's like a, like, like big brother program used to be or whatever. Um, and, uh, and it's, it's, it's very, very inspiring. It's a, it's a, it's a great group. I think you've answered my next question, which is how do you cope with, it's a lot going on in the world to make you scared, sad, you know, hopeless. Yeah. If you're not,

vigilant. But it's, I guess what you do in life, the giving back as you called it, is what probably keeps your heart in good shape. Yeah, because it's easy to get jaded. And, and, and

And sometimes my brand, my comedy comes from a place of that because like, you know, there's nothing better than the archetype of the sort of Paul Newman archetype of the world weary Butch Cassidy or or Slapshot Coach. And I kind of like that sort of vibe a lot. But if you if you live in that, it's a cop out. Yeah. Right. So working with.

People who are, you know, wanting to change their life, wanting to better themselves and change their lives. That's the key. Yeah. Working with people who are actively wanting to change their lives for the better when whatever that whatever that looks like.

Enter Jane Fonda. Jane. Oh, man. Isn't she just an inspiration? I met her when I was just turning 70, and I thought at 70 I was going, well, I better find a nice soft place to land and kind of gear down and make sure everything is in order. And then I met her, and she was 80, and she had her foot on the gas pedal. She still does at 85. She is relentless. She'll do a 12-day shooting.

you know, turn around, get on a plane, fly to so-and-so to campaign for somebody who's going to, you know, not take oil money. Yeah. She's just, just truly inspirational. She's never, she's had so many chapters. Her, her documentary speaking chapters is brilliant. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's,

There's nobody like her. Nobody. She also will say anything, tell any truth and share anything. There's nothing hidden about her life. When we first met her, Mary and I both drove home going, Oh, I don't think, I don't think she should say all, you know, I thought she needs to be more guarded. And then it was like, Oh,

Maybe we're too guarded. That ship sailed a long time ago for Jane. Yes, that's true. That's true. Right? Yeah.

We are so blessed to be around our children. We have four kids and they are willing for some bizarre reason to share their friends with us. It's the best. And it's the best. It really is. And now we get grandchildren, which you're going to love because then you get to watch it like an anthropologist and go, wow, look at that brain develop. But here's my question. Cheryl and I talked about this the other day.

I don't know. Do you root for grandkids? Once you're married, you root for grandkids. I guess I don't want to root for grandkids. Both my kids are single, so let's not have any grandkids at the moment. No, no, no, no. All in the fullness of time. In the fullness of time. I think it happened to me at a perfect time. I was just starting to get a smidge grumpy about being old. Yeah. And along came a granddaughter, and it was like, oh, I'm in. Yeah. Or I look in the mirror and go, oh, shit, look at this.

hanging from my chin, this flap of skin. And then one of them is sitting in my lap playing with it with their finger, just kind of smacking it back and forth. And I'm going, ah, yes, thank God I have a waddle because this is fun. Waddle is my favorite word of the day. Yeah. The password is. Waddle. Waddle. Not to be confused with waddle. No, not at all. Ah, ah.

Thank you so much for sitting down with me. What I'm beginning to learn about podcasts, not that I'm good at it, but the opportunity to sit next to somebody you really don't know, or even you know, but you've never sat down for an hour and got to talk about anything. Isn't it amazing? Yes, it is. It's a privilege. It really is. It is such a privilege. I love it. And when I, and I, I, I,

Go back and vacillate between which is more fun, sitting down with somebody you do not know. Yes. Or someone you know really well because they're both different gears. Yes. But you will find out. I mean, I've sat with Woody here on this podcast and found out stuff I had no idea. My sense is you could do a podcast with Woody for the next

century and find out things you didn't know about yeah yes that's true because he is such a bundle of contradictions i mean right yes yes i will only eat the purest of air but i will smoke and drink this oh i please you know i admire you so much rob oh and vice versa really really grateful for this thanks thanks this is great

Special thanks to Rob Lowe for being here today. Be sure and check out Literally with Rob Lowe wherever you get your podcasts. You can even start with my episode because I visited him last year. And watch Unstable Season 2, created, produced, and starring Rob Lowe and his son John Owen.

Out now on Netflix. That's it for this episode. Hello to Woody. I miss you, buddy. And special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to someone you love. Subscribe, rate, and review. You know the drill. If you like watching your podcast, just a reminder that full episodes are available on Team Coco's YouTube channel. We'll have more for you next week, where everybody knows your name.

You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Liao. Executive producers are Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovich is our supervising producer. Our senior producer is Matt Apodaca. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Graal.

Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Gann, Mary Steenburgen, and John Osborne. Special thanks to Willie Navarie. We'll have more for you next time, where everybody knows your name. Consumer Cellular offers the same fast, reliable nationwide coverage without the big wireless cost. Freedom Calls.

Sign up with Consumer Cellular at ConsumerCellular.com slash TED50 and use promo code TED50 to save $50. Terms and conditions apply. We all have plans in life, maybe to take a cross-country road trip or simply get through this workout without any back pain. Whether our plans are big, small, spontaneous, or years in the making, good health helps us accomplish them.

At Banner Health, we're here to provide more than health care. Whatever you're planning, wherever you're going, we're here to help you get there. Banner Health. Exhale.