1 00:00:15,110 --> 00:00:17,830 Hello everyone and welcome back to People Do want to know. 2 00:00:17,830 --> 00:00:20,150 Podcast, our first episode of our. 3 00:00:20,350 --> 00:00:23,630 Go you will enjoy season. Today's guest needs no 4 00:00:23,630 --> 00:00:26,030 introduction. You've seen him in the iconic 5 00:00:26,030 --> 00:00:28,470 role of David Wallace in The Office. 6 00:00:28,590 --> 00:00:31,750 Andy Buckley. Andy is an actor, comedian and 7 00:00:31,750 --> 00:00:35,190 former stockbroker known for his signature deadpan delivery and 8 00:00:35,190 --> 00:00:37,950 sharp corporate satire. While many recognize him from 9 00:00:37,950 --> 00:00:40,680 the office, of course, he's also appeared in acclaimed series 10 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,120 like Veep, Silicon Valley and Odd Mom Out, where he played the 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,360 hilariously polished and status obsessed husband of Jill 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,280 Kargman's character. If you recall, we had Jill on a 13 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,480 couple of weeks ago. Her episode was absolutely 14 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:53,880 fantastic. Before. 15 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,520 Acting full time, Andy spent nearly two decades on Wall 16 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,600 Street, a background that gives his comedy it's uniquely 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,440 authentic executive energy. Andy is married to Nancy Banks. 18 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,400 She's an actor, coach and casting professional who has 19 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,400 worked extensively in film and television, helping actors 20 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,840 develop performances and prepare for auditions. 21 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,480 She's one of the most respected people in the industry and they 22 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,560 have two children together. It's really an honor to have 23 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,880 Andy on for many reasons. But especially because of just. 24 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,480 How much he's done for the Jewish community since October 25 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,760 7th. To Andy, this is a matter of 26 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,200 moral clarity and he makes for an absolutely incredible ally 27 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,560 for us in this. Episode we talk about his. 28 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,880 Career, his reflections on the many years of acting, and his 29 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,920 take gun life post October 7th. I do mention this in the 30 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:42,840 episode, but I want to say it here too. 31 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,440 The straight man is the most underrated dark horse role of 32 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,560 the industry and no truly good piece of comedy exists without a 33 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,640 straight man. Andy is one of the best straight 34 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,520 man of all time in my opinion and it was an honor to be in the 35 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,240 midst of greatness. And now to call Andy a pal. 36 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,840 I really hope to meet him in person in LA one day. 37 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:06,600 You'll love this light, easy conversation. 38 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,000 Please enjoy this episode. Hello Andy, welcome to People Do 39 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,160 want to Know podcast. Thanks so much for being with me 40 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,560 here. Thank you, Margarita, delighted 41 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:19,240 to be with you. Thank you for putting your best 42 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,360 suit on for me today, Andy. I thought I'd try and look 43 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,000 presentable, you know, I mean, I'll even throw at one point. 44 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:27,120 I'll throw. There we go. 45 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,040 Throw on the Wallace glasses to try and, you know, match the 46 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,000 character. So please, Andy, tell us about 47 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,840 yourself. What do you do and how? 48 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,680 Did you get there? I, I'm trying to think of a 49 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:39,760 joke, right? I'm trying to come up with 50 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:42,040 jokes. I'm the straight man, so I don't 51 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,120 have the jokes. I act, I guess, is what I do. 52 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:51,600 Got very exceptionally lucky to, you know, 20 years ago actually, 53 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,160 thanks to Allison Jones. I call her my patron St. the 54 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,360 casting woman for the office. But how did I get there? 55 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,240 So I act that was my lucky break playing David Wallace on the 56 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,640 office. And from that I was able I've 57 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:06,600 been able to sort of cobble together halfway decent acting 58 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,680 career for the last 20 years. And hopefully it hopefully it 59 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,720 keeps going as they say. And how did I get here? 60 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,400 Well, you know, I'm I'm an Irish Catholic from Boston, from 61 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,320 outside of Boston and, you know, was sort of a typical, typical 62 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,080 guy played sports growing up and, you know, football fan. 63 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,520 I was a golfer. We spent some, which is not some 64 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:31,000 people don't consider that a sport. 65 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:33,800 I do. That became my sport. 66 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:35,880 My dad played basketball at Penn. 67 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,840 My older brother was a quarterback at Stanford many, 68 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,520 many years ago, which is where I ultimately went to school. 69 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,880 I think they would certainly laugh at my application today. 70 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,120 I know they it's become a little tougher to get into these places 71 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,800 rather than, you know, 40 years ago or so. 72 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,800 And but now we're spent some time in the Midwest growing up 73 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,480 South Florida, I mean, I never really paid too, too much 74 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,640 attention to, you know, really the world of politics. 75 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,920 I mean, I was I was reasonably informed and whatnot, but I knew 76 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,080 I wanted to act sometime in high school. 77 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,880 I wanted to be an actor. I said James Dean movie East of 78 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,720 Eden, one of his one of the only he only made a few movies and 79 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,959 that, you know, sort of touched me and inspired me and started 80 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:23,920 doing plays in high school, did plays in college, but went to 81 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:28,560 school, graduated, studied poli sci, which is not the the most 82 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:33,440 difficult major at Stanford. And then to my folks chagrin, I 83 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,680 said, hey, I'm going to go to New York and act like, huh? 84 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,880 But I think the, I joke, but I think they, they knew that was 85 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:43,320 coming. But I was on the golf team the 86 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,600 first year and a half or so there. 87 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,960 I gotten pretty good in high school and got recruited by some 88 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,920 places. But after, after a year or so 89 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,640 said, I think I'm going to shift into acting. 90 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,960 That may pay off in 20 years. Moved to New York, studied 91 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:03,760 acting, moved out to LA, tried to do it with very, very, very 92 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,840 little success for the 1st 789 years. 93 00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:10,600 Ended up sort of having to pack it in and ended up at Merrill 94 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:12,240 Lynch where I was an advisor there. 95 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:17,680 Wealth manager for almost 11 years, really from O1, the end 96 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,680 of O1 to the beginning of 2013. So I guess almost 12, yeah, 97 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:29,240 pushing 12 years and 4 1/2 years into those 1211 eleven years or 98 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:33,800 so I got my call, my lucky phone call to come audition for the 99 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,120 office from the from the casting director, Allison Jones. 100 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:40,160 I don't know if I mentioned if I referenced her earlier, my 101 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,800 patron St. yeah. And luckily they hired me and 102 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:47,240 then over time, they just started using me more and more. 103 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,320 And I mean, it's easy to coattail it off of Steve Carell. 104 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,280 You know, he's he's an easy guy to just sit there and react to. 105 00:05:54,280 --> 00:05:56,040 And you know, you're going to be laughing all day. 106 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,880 And then that's just that led to to many other things, including 107 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:02,120 odd mom out. I think you said you're you 108 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,440 might be having Jill Kartman on on the show at some point. 109 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,960 Hopefully. So she's magnificent and 110 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,400 supremely funny and and super sharp, obviously. 111 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:12,800 But yeah, but you know, many other many other things. 112 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,320 I'm actually getting to do the morning show right now, 3 or 4 113 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:20,840 episodes of the upcoming season, which is kind of cool. 114 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:22,640 And there you go. I'm married. 115 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,640 My magnificent wife Nancy is she's Jewish. 116 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,720 That's the tie in. And actually that's not the tie 117 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:31,880 in. That's not the, that's, that's 118 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:34,960 the latest tie in. But you know, yeah, that's, 119 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:37,080 that's actually not, I mean, that's not the tie in. 120 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,640 That's the strongest tie in. Certainly my older brother's 121 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,400 married to a Jewish, like I always say Jewish gal, even 122 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,680 though like we're, we're a lot older than we were when we got 123 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:52,840 married, you know, And so it's, it's been around, you know, my 124 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:57,520 world for 3540 years. And, and then as a kid, you 125 00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:59,880 know, you, you go to bar mitzvahs and things like that. 126 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,760 But I, I wouldn't say that I necessarily took a deep interest 127 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,480 in what was going on with, you know, when, when guys would do 128 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,400 their portion or, or, or the, the girls would do their 129 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:13,360 portion, etcetera. You know, so often you're just 130 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:15,240 kind of going to go, Hey, when's the party? 131 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,040 You know, when, when you're that young. 132 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:22,120 But dad, we have two sons and my oldest guy had a bar mitzvah and 133 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,960 that was the blast. And I hope to go to Israel. 134 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:30,080 I almost went a year and a half ago, but things, things are 135 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,160 heating up briefly when during the time I was going to go. 136 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,120 So I pushed it off. But I've gotten to know many, 137 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,880 many folks in the Jewish community that I certainly 138 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,520 wouldn't have. But then also many folks over in 139 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,000 Israel that, that I wouldn't have the, the beauty of, you 140 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:50,320 know, social media, I guess, and, and online things and met a 141 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,560 number of them when they visited LA or I, I got to go to a great 142 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,440 judeo-christian conference in Nashville a couple of months ago 143 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,160 and some of them came in there. We met there. 144 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,560 It was, it was, it was terrific. So there you go. 145 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,600 There's the long answer. I love it. 146 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:11,120 I want to double click on something you said, which is the 147 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:16,240 concept of straight man. I think that straight men get a 148 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:20,080 bad Rep because like especially in the acting world, everyone 149 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,360 wants to be a personality. Everyone wants to really shine 150 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:26,360 and. Show a lot of character. 151 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,920 But it's really the straight man that becomes the glue for a show 152 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,360 where there are quite a few different characters and 153 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,720 concurring plot lines. I am a straight man and what I 154 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:42,120 like to say is that, you know, this personality carries me 155 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,960 through my whole life. I don't have to act. 156 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,880 You do. That's The funny thing. 157 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,600 And I want to know as you reflect on your career, like, 158 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,800 what are kind of the the pieces of wisdom that you want to share 159 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,000 about acting in creative pursuits? 160 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,840 Oh that's so funny. My wife is the best one for that 161 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,160 just because she she's touched on her touch a little bit. 162 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:07,920 She's she's a very sought after has become over the years, a 163 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:13,920 very sought after acting coach, Margot Robbie, Jennifer Aniston, 164 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,160 Rachel McAdams, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum. 165 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,280 I don't know if any of the ladies know Channing. 166 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:25,800 I always like to make that joke. Who's every one of those folks? 167 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,800 I I know a little bit some some more than all, all lovely and 168 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:32,560 magnificent people. So she she's been doing that a 169 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:34,400 while. And so she, she would have more, 170 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,080 but me, you know, it's a so I don't know. 171 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,640 I don't think that I tend to have any pearls of wisdom. 172 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,600 However, you, you got to, you got to trust your instincts. 173 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,760 That's just a, a thing. And I've, I guess I've learned 174 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,520 in life, you know, listen to your inner voice and, and trust 175 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,200 your inner voice and develop your inner voice. 176 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,680 And then I don't know if there's any actors or artists or writers 177 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:57,760 or just people there. What one of the other things is 178 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:01,840 in the how Nancy and I met. We were, we were students in the 179 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,200 class of a, a, a really great acting teacher fellow named 180 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:08,840 Larry Moss, who is now back in New York. 181 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,880 He was out in Los Angeles for many, many years. 182 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,960 He used to use the, the old Popeye expression. 183 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:17,160 I am what I am. And that's, I forget exactly 184 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,720 what Popeye used to say, if any, you know, older folks would know 185 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:22,640 Popeye. But it's, it's all about I'm, 186 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:25,520 I'm here to be me. And, and that's what I'm, that's 187 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,880 what I'm going to be. I'm completely butchering the 188 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,800 actual expression. But the point is whether you're 189 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:32,800 a singer, whether you're an actor, whether you're a writer, 190 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:37,480 whether you're a sculptor, painter, then as well, you know, 191 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:42,440 human being, you have to listen to your your voice and then give 192 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,200 your interpretation. If it's, if we're talking about 193 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:50,160 acting of whatever the piece is. Same with, you know, singers 194 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,520 with with a song because they, you know, they don't want me to 195 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,480 go in and try and imitate Christian Bale or, you know, 196 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,440 Ryan Gosling or, you know, Robert De Niro or Al Pacino or 197 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,840 whomever. They want you to give the best, 198 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:08,000 your best interpretation of the piece as you and I always love 199 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,440 this. This is one of Nancy's exercises 200 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,200 that she has in class teaches, you know, one-on-one quite a 201 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,600 lot. But then in class she'll play 202 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:23,160 and just as an example to to the people in class, she'll play 8 203 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:26,560 different versions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. 204 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,160 And it's, you know, Judy Garland's obviously Tony 205 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,720 Bennett, Patti LaBelle, Israel Horowitz, the the lovely 206 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,920 Hawaiian guy on the ukulele, Willie Nelson has a, has a great 207 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:40,800 1. Livingston Taylor, James 208 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,120 Taylor's brother, has a, has a lovely 1. 209 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,960 Keith Richards has a great one. It's like a bootleg 1 you can 210 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,640 find on YouTube him on the just on the piano. 211 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,480 And obviously they're all completely different types of 212 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:52,800 artists. And there's, I'm sure there's 213 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,400 other examples, but they all sound great, you know, and it 214 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:02,120 all stems from them as artists. So I guess that's something that 215 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,920 I've learned is you have to, you have to give your interpretation 216 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:10,720 of the material and they're, you know, going to respond or not. 217 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,320 And every part is not meant for you. 218 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:18,040 It's like there are those, I mean, obviously office fans. 219 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,480 You go online, you just type in office auditions, you know, 220 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,480 original office auditions and you go in and you see, you know, 221 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,800 actors that didn't get the part. But ultimately you know them 222 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,360 from Parks and Rec or Modern Family or different or Better 223 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,000 Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk. He was going to be he was going 224 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,080 to be Michael Scott. If if Steve wasn't able to do it 225 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,120 because he was, he was technically on another show at 226 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:44,280 the time. But and you just see these guys 227 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:46,400 are funny or they're you get their essence. 228 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,120 You get so much of it, but you also see why they didn't, you 229 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:52,440 know, why the part wasn't, you know, couldn't have been them. 230 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:54,960 There's things like that for the Godfather. 231 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,840 Also, you see Martin Sheen's audition for this or you know, 232 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,960 Jimmy Khan auditioning for the Michael Corleone part. 233 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,320 And so, and you just see, ah, it's great. 234 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,840 However, it's not, it's not the right thing in the Martin 235 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,120 Sheen's case, obviously Francis Coppola. 236 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,200 All my references are so old. I'm sorry. 237 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:18,280 Martin Francis Coppola obviously saw ah, I'm going to put that 238 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,760 guy in Apocalypse Now or whenever that came up. 239 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,680 It's like he's the right guy for that, not the right guy for 240 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:29,520 Michael Corleone, but so trust your own voice, which is hard to 241 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:31,320 do. You know, it takes a lot of 242 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:35,880 developing and, and the, the more times you get hired, the 243 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:38,720 more confidence you get and the harder you work at it. 244 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,200 That's also the other thing. Everybody I know who's had great 245 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:46,560 success is whether it's in the the brokerage business, whether 246 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:50,360 they're lawyers, doctors, actors, writers, they're all 247 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:54,440 incredibly hard working people. Yeah, it really makes a 248 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,480 difference. Like what you put your time 249 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,240 into, what you water will grow, right? 250 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:00,840 That's the old phrase. There you go. 251 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,040 Yeah. That does good play Well, yeah, 252 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,080 instead. Of my 35 minute answer. 253 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,840 Do you think that there's like a roll out there that you'd want 254 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,200 to play that people would find is unconventional for you, but 255 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,120 you secretly want to do it? Oh, it's funny. 256 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,640 I got to play a really super fun part. 257 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,920 The last kind of two bigger parts that I ever like got to 258 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,800 play were were were kind of like that one was on this great HBO 259 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:34,000 comedy called Avenue 5 that really only lasted a couple of 260 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,080 years. COVID kind of got in the way. 261 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:40,200 And but I I was a sort of like a wacky husband. 262 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,080 It's the fellow that did Veep, Armando Iannucci, and there was 263 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,920 one of his his, one of his next shows, and Hugh Laurie's the 264 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,240 star and Josh Gad is on it and a bunch of great British actors. 265 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:57,120 And as you know, from start to finish, I just sort of slowly 266 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:03,000 lost my head and, and became a little nuts over the course of 267 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,080 two seasons, which was really a blast. 268 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:10,720 Just as kind of the antithesis of the typical normal nice guy, 269 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,280 husband, nice guy, boss, nice guy, you know, straight man to 270 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,520 the wacky comedy around me. I got to be a part of the wacky 271 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,680 comedy, which was fun. And then I got to do a show last 272 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,240 couple years that that was an HBO one for on Netflix called 273 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,080 Foobar with Arnold Schwarzenegger was the was the 274 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:30,320 the big dog, if you will. And it was the same sort of 275 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,120 thing. First season I was just a nice 276 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:34,760 straight guy. And then the second season I I 277 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,480 got to sort of lose my mind a little bit, which is really a 278 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,800 ton of fun. All those are a lot of fun. 279 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:41,640 I don't one of these days, hopefully I'll get to play a bad 280 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,600 guy, you know, just a guy who's of questionable ethics or 281 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,560 something like that. You know, not not too crazy, but 282 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,480 semi crazy. That would be fun. 283 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,960 I want to pivot us to talk about, you know, your advocacy 284 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,760 in the Jewish community. Obviously, this is like the meat 285 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:03,880 of the conversation. Take me back to like leading up 286 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:08,680 to October 7th. It obviously takes, I wish it 287 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:11,400 weren't the case, but it does take some courage to speak out 288 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,160 on an issue like, you know, what's happening with Jewish 289 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,200 people in Israel. And it it's a bummer to see 290 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,720 Hollywood kind of splinter at the political line. 291 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:25,400 And I, I want to know like, you're on the inside of this. 292 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,400 How do you feel? What were those first moments 293 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:31,160 like? Can you help me understand your 294 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,400 world a little bit better? So as I said, just jumping back, 295 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,400 you know, growing up, I, I went to, you know, friends of mine 296 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:40,800 growing up, bar mitzvahs and things like that. 297 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,160 And, you know, some Jewish weddings when I was in my 20s, I 298 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:47,280 guess of friends of mine. And when my brother, my older 299 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,520 brother married his wife, She's so wild. 300 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,000 I mean, it's coming up. It's like it's coming up on, 301 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,280 it's coming up on almost 40 years, like 37 years. 302 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:02,200 I realized, man, I, I got to learn a little bit about, you 303 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:03,880 know, the, the Jewish world to touch. 304 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,280 So I just, I just try to familiarize myself to touch. 305 00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:08,240 I actually went over to, to Poland. 306 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:10,560 I, I mean, I had, I had miles to use. 307 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,040 I was like, well, I'm not going to, I got to go to Europe one 308 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,160 time. I'm going to go to a different 309 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,800 part of Europe And, and I, I visited Auschwitz, you know, 310 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,839 because I, which is sort of a, it was a, it was kind of crazy. 311 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:25,040 It was during, during the Christmas holidays. 312 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,880 It was not particularly packed with tourists at that time. 313 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:33,600 But I, you know, that was, that was obviously an incredibly eye 314 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,240 opening place to visit and see and to walk around and let all 315 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,720 of that sink in and not, you know, not that that's what the, 316 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:46,360 the entirety of what the Jewish world is, is about and being 317 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:49,720 Jewish is about obviously, but it's, it was quite a moment in 318 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,880 history. So did that. 319 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:57,800 And then honestly, like beyond that, it's not like I did a, a, 320 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:00,560 a a ton. It's not like I suddenly started 321 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,720 studying it. But then I'm, you know, luckily 322 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,800 enough met my wife and she's from, she's from Toronto and the 323 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,240 big Jewish family up there, big Jewish community up there. 324 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,280 So for many, many, many years, we're going up to nieces, 325 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,840 nephews, bar mitzvahs, bar mitzvahs, weddings, you know, 326 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:25,560 Brisas, the, the, the whole bit. So I learned a little bit during 327 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:30,320 that time, but you know, and our son Benny had his, had his bar 328 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:34,120 mitzvah and our other son, it just wasn't, didn't seem like it 329 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:36,160 was going to be the thing for him. 330 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:40,880 And then I was so jumping, jumping ahead to and you know, 331 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,120 we like the candles. She's AI guess she's a reformed 332 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:47,680 Jew, I guess. So then October 7th happened and 333 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:51,680 I think like countless people around the globe probably like, 334 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:56,480 well, you know, it's it's just a horrifically stunning episode. 335 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,440 And and I'm just like this. I mean, I'm not I'm not crazy. 336 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:04,040 I mean, this is, this is, this is, and prior to that, and it 337 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,400 started during COVID, like all I did was I would just post goofy 338 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,680 office videos, like clips from the office on Instagram. 339 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:15,840 It wasn't like I was involved in anything controversial or 340 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:17,720 political or, or anything like that. 341 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,480 Just, you know, goofy, goofy clips from the office or golf 342 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:26,600 videos or charities I might have been involved when involved with 343 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,400 or in. And so after about a week or so, 344 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,560 sitting with it, thinking about it, actually the guy that and I 345 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:39,000 don't know him, but the guy that sort of allowed me to speak, 346 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:43,240 which is one of the reasons why in in my mind I'm like, hey, by 347 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:45,880 me speaking up a little bit, maybe it get it allows somebody 348 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,160 else to speak up a little bit. Was the basketball player Amari 349 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:53,600 Stoudemire, who's now over in Israel NBA, you know, many, many 350 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:55,560 times All Star. I assume he's in the Hall of 351 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,000 Fame or will be when he's eligible. 352 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,240 Like he's probably in there anyway. 353 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,360 He's over in Israel and he converted to Judaism. 354 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,200 He had played over there and then stayed. 355 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:11,320 And anyway, he he spoke up about it and I saw that and that is 356 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:16,360 what I was like, yeah, this is exactly, you know, this is 357 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:21,640 basically what I'm thinking. So I started and then I guess 358 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,960 over time the and then I started, you know, studying a 359 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,400 little bit more of the history and and and. 360 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,720 Went, you know, went read Douglas Murray books and, you 361 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,760 know, went to see him speak and we had Eitan Shetayat. 362 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:41,160 I'm that Jew, Eitan come, he came to LA and he spoke at our 363 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,520 house. And then I started messaging 364 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,160 people on Instagram. The more I was learning and the 365 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,760 more I was, you know, I guess, speaking out for the Jewish 366 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,080 people for Israel, etcetera. Johnny Daniels and, and, and a 367 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:59,760 number of other folks. And then Shabbos Kestenbaum, 368 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:06,800 who's so fantastic and I, I kind of have a like a little, you 369 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,760 know, I'm lucky because younger, the, the younger folks and, and 370 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,440 some of the older folks too, but especially like Shabbos, you 371 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,320 know, he's a, he's a huge office fan. 372 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:19,320 So I send him a message. I tend to do it on Instagram as 373 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,920 opposed to Twitter. Hey, really enjoy your stuff. 374 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:23,440 Thanks. You know, keep up your great 375 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:26,880 work. And often people will Click to 376 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:28,200 say, oh, that's nice. Who's this? 377 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,760 Who's this goofball sending me this message? 378 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:34,760 And, and then like, oh, if they're an office fan, I'll say, 379 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:36,320 hey, you're the guy in the office. 380 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,560 I'll say, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, like, that's awesome, 381 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,640 blah, blah, blah. And so then, you know, with some 382 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:45,160 of the folks, the, the ones I mentioned, I've become pretty 383 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:46,560 good, pretty good pals with them. 384 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:48,720 And I've gotten to see them a number of times when they've 385 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,960 been in the States. So that's, that's kind of how it 386 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,240 started. I mean, it was, it was literally 387 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,760 I, I honestly don't know if or how, how long it would have 388 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:03,280 taken had I not seen the Amari Stoudemire clip. 389 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:07,680 But that was the thing that allowed me to, you know, speak 390 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,440 up and, and, and, but I'll let you jump in. 391 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,680 But to get to the Hollywood stuff, I guess, you know, I 392 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,320 don't, I, I mean, obviously there's, I mean, so there you 393 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,520 go. I'm, and it's not like I go to 394 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,040 church all that much. I feel like myself getting a 395 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:22,600 touch more religious as I get older. 396 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,880 But you know, I'm an, I an Irish Catholic and there certainly 397 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,280 aren't a ton of, you know, that I've noticed, you know, Patricia 398 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,680 Heaton, certainly, you know, speaking out and, and I've 399 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,720 gotten to know her a little bit, which is great. 400 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:40,920 And I went to this event that she helped put together the, the 401 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,480 Judeo-christian Zionist Conference in, in Nashville a 402 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,240 few months back, which was, which was tremendous, just 403 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:49,280 meeting some of the folks and, and that was when some of the 404 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,200 folks from Israel came in. But, you know, I don't know, 405 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,400 it's an interesting thing. Like I, I don't, I don't know, 406 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:58,600 or some people not speak. I mean, you certainly have 407 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,880 people who are honestly, I, I think they're just not as 408 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:08,640 informed who are, or I, I say on the side that doesn't really 409 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:10,640 make sense. And they have a limited, they 410 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,080 have a couple of talking points they might have picked up at 411 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,280 some point, but they, they have, they don't understand the 412 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:17,600 history and they don't, you know, honestly, truly 413 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,120 understand. And it's just astounding. 414 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:22,000 The whole social media online thing. 415 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,360 You have, you know, 50 posts, if you will, you know, on one side 416 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:30,800 versus the pro Israel side is, you know, one post, you know, 50 417 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,320 to 1 or whatever the numbers are in these interviews. 418 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,520 And they, you know, these great guys like Nate Friedman who are 419 00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,760 out there talking to, you know, people. 420 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,320 And you see that so many people are just paid protesters and, 421 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,560 and so many of them don't know anything about anything at all. 422 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,800 And I'm certainly not saying that I know everything about 423 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,360 everything. You know, I I also just sort of 424 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:56,280 trust that this is the right, I'm on the right side, if you 425 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,440 will, the the correct side of humanity. 426 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,560 But yeah, this is maybe a disappointing is I don't really 427 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,160 have an answer as to why more people aren't speaking up and 428 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:07,800 speaking out. You have, you know, you're Debra 429 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:09,640 Messings. And I mean, there's a number of 430 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:14,880 people like that there. You know, is it, I mean, if they 431 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:19,520 have families, do they worry about being a public person and, 432 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,520 you know, something happening? I don't know, do they, you know, 433 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,640 and I certainly respect this, the idea of like, hey, I'm an 434 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:29,520 entertainer. I'm not I'm not going to get 435 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,120 involved in this. It's not necessarily my thing. 436 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:35,040 And maybe behind the scenes they're they're doing something, 437 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,880 you know, I understand that. And and and I'm just a I'm just 438 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:44,680 another human being out there. And luckily I couple people know 439 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:46,680 who I am. So I get to, you know, have a 440 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:52,720 small little audience of folks and and if I speak up for what I 441 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:57,800 think is the the correct way or the correct thing, maybe 442 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,680 somebody takes that football and carries on with it, you know, 443 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:04,560 something like that. I was wondering if there's a way 444 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,640 you would hope to see Hollywood change for example. 445 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:13,680 Well, yeah, I mean, the thing that's crazy is you have like 446 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:20,480 some, you have some, you have some loud voices who just I 447 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,520 mean, a they're spewing things that just aren't true at all, 448 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,480 which is lousy. And they have they have, you 449 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,880 know, big followings. You know, it's funny. 450 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,000 And I've been thinking about this, just the idea of like 451 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,720 people having conversations on whether it's podcasts. 452 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:39,640 I mean, you get something and it's and it's opposing views. 453 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,320 And, you know, you're, you, you don't want to get a guy like 454 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,560 Shabbos on there with some, some actor who is barely going to 455 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,520 have the facts, but just two or three people in in a room 456 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,960 speaking about, about something. And it's like, OK, and, and just 457 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,760 to just to, you know, you just a topic comes out. 458 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,480 Well, let's talk about this, you know, well, OK, well, did you 459 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,720 know, like actually here's what happened in Medina back, 460 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,680 etcetera, you know, thousands of years ago and this is what 461 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,240 started you. Are you aware of that? 462 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:16,600 And, and a lot, and that's a lot of times it, it feels an innate 463 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,040 Friedman is a, is a great guy exposing some of the stuff. 464 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,280 And there's, there's certainly other guys and gals who do it 465 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,600 who are great at it. The citizen journalists are 466 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:26,680 fantastic. And we're very obviously very 467 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,680 lucky to have them. And, you know, they don't really 468 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,720 know anything about anything. And then when they're hit with a 469 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,280 they're, you know, asked a question, they just react and 470 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:40,480 say, look, I, I'm done with this. 471 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,960 And then they, they walk away or they'll, you know, say some 472 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,520 terrible thing or I mean, it's horrible. 473 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,760 What happened to that? I don't know when people will 474 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,880 see if anyone was want us to watch this, but I don't know 475 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,600 when they'll see this. But the poor girl, Savannah, you 476 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:58,720 know, who got like pounded by, you know, that that mob, but 477 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,680 really like, you know, two or three people of the family 478 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,880 basically. And I mean you, you have things 479 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:08,560 like that that just the conversational element is 480 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:12,320 missing. And it's when people are sort of 481 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,240 given facts about something that they don't want to hear because 482 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,400 it doesn't fit the whole narrative that they have in 483 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,160 their mind. Or then you have people who 484 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,360 they're just there and they're, they are getting paid and they 485 00:27:25,360 --> 00:27:28,920 have their two or three talking points and and that's it. 486 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,080 But to the point of like what to change, you know, you're 487 00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:36,080 probably not going to get any Hollywood people or too many on, 488 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,440 you know, in some conversational podcast. 489 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,280 And it's probably a lot more interesting to have people like, 490 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,360 you know, not that Thomas Sowell is is doing something like that, 491 00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:49,200 but guys like Shabbos or Douglas Murray and listening to people 492 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,120 that truly understand it or or Danny Burwam. 493 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:54,640 He's a great guy for that. And there's, you know, as many 494 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,440 as many others. But you know, I I don't know, I, 495 00:27:58,440 --> 00:27:59,680 I don't. There you go. 496 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:01,320 There's a long winded non answer. 497 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,360 Well, the answer is not simple, right? 498 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:06,240 Because a part of what I'm hearing is let's. 499 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:07,880 Leave. Those discussions to the 500 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,720 experts, because these conversations have permeated 501 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,720 into spaces where they don't make a lot of sense. 502 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:18,120 No one is looking to actors to advise on like foreign policy or 503 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,280 ethical dilemmas or moral dilemmas. 504 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,640 That's not their strength. And, you know, there's something 505 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,680 that I feel living in New York is there's also this, like, 506 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,480 prominence of cult mentality. So you were talking about paid 507 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,360 protesters, right? I went to a coffee shop last 508 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:38,040 weekend that had just opened, and it was owned by this Russian 509 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:39,720 guy. And I love supporting my fellow 510 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,840 Russian speakers, especially immigrants that came as a result 511 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:44,680 of the Russian and Ukrainian war. 512 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,000 And so I looked up this place we went, I had great coffee. 513 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:49,920 I was happy. I'm chatting up the guy. 514 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,080 And I was like, how are things going? 515 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,280 You know, how are you going to get people through the door? 516 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,440 Because in New York is a very intense business. 517 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,040 You need like, high turnover in a coffee shop to make money and 518 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,280 to pay back the rent. And he was saying how there's 519 00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:06,720 this new company that you can pay and people will stand in 520 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,320 line outside of your. Establishment to create the. 521 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,840 Perception that there is a line for the place and that could be 522 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:16,000 a. Store, coffee shop, whatever. 523 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,040 Because in New York, everything has become a line culture. 524 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:20,800 And it's like lines, bigot lines. 525 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:23,800 People see like a. Restaurant with a line outside. 526 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,520 They assume it must be good because what New Yorker would 527 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:28,440 wait in line for a shitty restaurant? 528 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,680 But the reality is it's always the shitty restaurants that have 529 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,680 lines and the good ones that have locals. 530 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,800 And there's no wait because and New Yorkers have now flipped and 531 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:39,560 said, if there's a line, I'm not going. 532 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,360 So the dynamic has changed, but it's really a shift in society. 533 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,240 And it puts the burden. It puts the burden on the 534 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,840 average person to use their kind of thinking cap to be like, do I 535 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,760 want to wait in line with this mob? 536 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,560 Is this the best use of my time? And that's really what we're 537 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,240 seeing around the mob mentality on the Internet and everywhere 538 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,840 else. I'm wondering, you know, what I 539 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,800 hear from you is it's different for you because it's personal. 540 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,840 Like when it's your wife that's Jewish, when it's your kids that 541 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,240 are Jewish, obviously. You will speak up. 542 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,560 You will have no choice but to speak up. 543 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,080 It is a moral imperative. I understand that very. 544 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,600 Well, is there any? Advice that you have for. 545 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,640 Jewish people to build bridges. With non Jews. 546 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,880 Well, you know, what's interesting is just any any 547 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,200 chance you have to have a conversation with someone or to 548 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:30,560 meet someone or to speak to them. 549 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,200 And this is this is kind of funny. 550 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,600 So as I referenced, just to become buddies with Shalbas and 551 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:45,120 and he he specifically on Piers Morgan, a lot goes head to head 552 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:49,400 with Ana Kasparian. So I was on a plane and this 553 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,800 speaks in this goes to the humanity of, of, of things 554 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:54,640 still. I mean, they're still polar 555 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,720 opposites in their in their beliefs or whatever. 556 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,720 I was on a plane and I end up sitting next to her husband on 557 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,880 he was in the aisle and then she was opposite on the other aisle 558 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,280 and I'm talking to him and, and I wasn't quite sure it was it 559 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,400 was her. And I'm talking to her husband a 560 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,600 lot about sports. We're both sports guys. 561 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,520 And. And then at some point he 562 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,080 references that he's the baseball coach at one of the 563 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:20,680 local high schools, which I was like, oh, OK, so that's 564 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,000 definitely him because that's who her husband is. 565 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,720 And I said, oh, so that's your wife? 566 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,680 And then he said yeah, yeah. And I said I said that's funny. 567 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,080 I said I'm actually, and I said I'm actually become good friends 568 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,400 with the, the main guy that she goes head to head with on Piers 569 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:38,880 Morgan all the time. And we kind of laughed about 570 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:40,960 that. And then we agreed to not talk 571 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,040 about politics because they're, they were both, they're both 572 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,600 pretty big office fans. Like he was we, you know, that 573 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,120 was the initial start of our conversation. 574 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:54,440 And so then, you know, we, we, I talked to her a fair amount on 575 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,840 the flight and you know, we were just like Jabba said, let's you 576 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,200 guys should get coffee, you guys, you know, so that you can 577 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,200 actually meet and have, you know, a human, a human 578 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,400 connection. And it's not just that. 579 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,680 And, and, and, and, you know, the same with the the same with 580 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,920 me. Like when you, even though 581 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,280 completely polar opposites in in beliefs certainly. 582 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:18,880 And I don't see her all, you know, like I've, I've only seen 583 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,760 her three or four times on TV, you know, when Chavez is on and, 584 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:27,360 you know, but just there adds an element of humanity there that I 585 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,560 mean, hopefully she felt as well, you know, So I think the 586 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:35,080 more that you know, the more that you're able to converse 587 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:40,840 with people and share ideas that isn't just an attack, but an 588 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,680 actual listening, you know, conversation full of full of, 589 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,600 you know, respectful listening and and sharing of ideas. 590 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,880 I think that's a great thing specifically when you talk 591 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:55,960 about, you know, Jewish people and Christians or, you know, 592 00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:00,120 really any, anybody in the world, I think that's, I mean, 593 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,840 you know, that's, that's probably a good way to go. 594 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,600 Any events. I mean, it was great being at 595 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:08,840 this conference that I, I was lucky to attend, that I've been 596 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:12,720 invited to a couple other ones that I'm hoping to go to just to 597 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:17,600 continue to, you know, learn because as I said, I'm not the 598 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:21,000 most well versed in all of this, but I'm, you know, getting 599 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,320 better. But I think, yeah, the, the more 600 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,040 group interactions you can, you can have and the more people 601 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:31,400 you, you know, you can expand your horizons by having 602 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,600 conversations with people and you know what their experience 603 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:35,840 is. It's like, you know, you hear 604 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,160 like in, in Iran, I don't know a great deal about it, but then 605 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:45,000 you, you listen to the people who their families escaped or 606 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:47,800 the people whose families escaped from, you know, Cuba and 607 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,240 all of that. Like the people that have the 608 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,440 lived experience of what it was and what it is. 609 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,360 I, you know, I tend to listen to those people because they 610 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,640 certainly have a, a, you know, a lot more knowledge than just 611 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,800 someone who read some sound or, you know, saw some sound bites 612 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:10,280 or read a couple of things somewhere and just want to, you 613 00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:13,639 know, if it suits their agenda, I guess. 614 00:34:14,159 --> 00:34:18,080 Our shared humanity is undeniable, that is for certain. 615 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:21,600 I'm curious to know what are you working on now? 616 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:25,159 Like what are you excited about? People conversing, I guess 617 00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:27,639 that's one thing. No, but me, I mean, it's it's 618 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:29,520 fun. It's actually did a bunch of 619 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:32,000 these fun things for this company ramp, which is this. 620 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,159 It's a big, they're becoming a very big accounting software 621 00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:39,679 company that Brian Baumgartner was Kevin on the office. 622 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,639 He's like the face of it. And so there was like a whole 623 00:34:42,639 --> 00:34:46,000 social media campaign that he was the main guy and I was this 624 00:34:46,159 --> 00:34:48,280 like the second tier guy, which was really fun. 625 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,320 But no, I mean, it's fun doing the morning shows coming. 626 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:51,520 It's a cool show. It's great. 627 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,080 It's a terrific show. And I've done a couple of couple 628 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,760 of little movies recently. One's actually playing at the 629 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:00,240 Dallas Film Festival this weekend. 630 00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:03,520 It's a it's a lovely medical miracle story. 631 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:08,240 I'm one of the doctors with the Elizabeth Tabish is that she's 632 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:12,560 on the show the Chosen, which is a, is a big show around the 633 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,640 world. I don't want to say a Christian 634 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,760 show, but it's, I guess you could call it that. 635 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:21,720 She plays Mary Magdalene in it. And but yeah, Lou Diamond 636 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:26,240 Phillips and and Ashley Green and yeah, a lot of people don't 637 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:30,640 know Russell Quinn is great. And and so anyway, that's 638 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:33,520 terrific. I there's a movie called Prima 639 00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,920 that'll be coming. I got a couple of scenes in 640 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,880 that. That's AI bet it's going to be a 641 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:43,640 lovely movie about ballet with the Nicola Peltz is in it and 642 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:47,960 Faye Dunaway's in it and or Nicola Peltz Beckham to to her, 643 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,400 her full official married name now and Faye Dunaway, Mira 644 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,760 Sorvino, Jack Houston, like some great, really great folks in it. 645 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,640 It's fun to and again I'm I'm in it like one or two scenes. 646 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,600 I hope you're dancing ballet in both of those. 647 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:05,720 Yes, that's they needed me for that. 648 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,160 It's what a what AI don't really go to the ballet. 649 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:09,960 What a, what a beautiful thing to watch. 650 00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:14,240 I mean, I got to sit and and watch one day. 651 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,520 It's like, Oh my goodness, they're just incredible, you 652 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:19,520 know? Well, thank you for doing this. 653 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,760 As part of the segment, you get to Ask Me a Jew. 654 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,320 Any question you have about being Jewish, you have a major 655 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:28,960 leg up, but I am wondering if there's anything you've been 656 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:30,840 curious about regarding the Jews. 657 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:35,080 Well, here's a great one for you since since I didn't really have 658 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,680 an answer, what would you like to see out of Hollywood aside 659 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,840 from just more people speaking up, you know? 660 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,600 You want the opposite? I don't want them speaking up. 661 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,560 I'm not interested what Billie Eilish has to say about 662 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,880 politics. Or how about, you know, anybody 663 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,480 else? I I want good. 664 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:54,800 Art. Art that makes you feel 665 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,080 something. And you might argue that art is 666 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:01,120 inherently political, but I wish there was less, less of that. 667 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,920 The Office is not political, right? 668 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,760 And it's a masterpiece. And there's something great 669 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:12,160 about that era of film and TV that was not political and it 670 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,760 was shared. And we are lacking that shared 671 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:21,680 camaraderie in Hollywood because our politics have may become 672 00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,080 more of a priority than the spirit of making good art. 673 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,680 How about that? That's exactly true, yes. 674 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,440 Is there though, and the the whole world seems to be quite 675 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,880 polarized, which I guess speaks to that conversation thing that 676 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:38,960 I was saying, but well, that's not the answer I expecting. 677 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,120 So thank you for surprising. I'm glad. 678 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,120 OK, Tell me, how can people connect with you and keep up 679 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,160 with your work? I mean, I think I'm on Twitter. 680 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:53,240 I don't know, I'm on Instagram, you know, and I generally, I 681 00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:58,880 mean, I mean, 90% of my things are just, you know, pro, pro the 682 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:02,000 Jewish community. Let's support the Jewish 683 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,360 community. And it's really wild like that, 684 00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:07,680 you know, it's so, it's so crazy. 685 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,120 I just put up a thing yesterday where, you know, happy birthday 686 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,560 to Israel and, you know, happy birthday to my, to my friends 687 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:20,280 over in Israel, you know, and the amount compared to most of 688 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,920 the things that I put up. And, and that comes in waves. 689 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:28,920 Sometimes I'll speak out a little bit more over a two or 690 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:30,880 three-week period and then I'll they'll be a lull. 691 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:35,120 But boy, oh boy, the amount of folks that came out of the 692 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:40,400 woodwork with the quite negative comments was, was pretty 693 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:42,680 surprising and pretty instant too. 694 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,680 And, you know, but I don't know who knows if the people are real 695 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,200 or who knows what their motivations are, whatever. 696 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,880 But it's, it was sort of sort of crazy. 697 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,600 But say la vie, that's them. I always, I always let people 698 00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,160 say what they want to say, you know? 699 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:03,680 Andy, we are so grateful for you. 700 00:39:04,240 --> 00:39:08,360 You bring a smile to everyone's face that meets you. 701 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:12,800 Your energy is lighthearted, contagious, fun, delightful, and 702 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:17,280 it truly is a privilege to know that you're somebody that's in 703 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:21,680 our corner and you're raising a Jewish family and it's amazing. 704 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,000 Thank you so much for doing this. 705 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,680 Thank you, Margarita. This is This has been a lot of 706 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:29,880 fun. If you've enjoyed this podcast, 707 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:31,920 please go ahead and rate US five stars. 708 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:34,520 Be the first to hear our episodes by subscribing to 709 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,360 People You Want to Know wherever you get your podcasts. 710 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:40,800 And for exclusive content, follow us on Instagram at People 711 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:41,480 You Want to Know.