The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Reunion: Josh Robert Thompson & Joseph Bolter

When I do live gigs around the country, I'll be honest with you. I sell T shirts and swag to the folks who are there, and then people always say, can we get this swag without sitting through a whole evening of you.

Well, it's happened. It's finally here.

You can buy Craig Ferguson merch on the Craig Ferguson Merch website and you can buy it for yourself or someone you hate or someone you love. For more information and link to the web store, please go to the Craig Fergusonshow dot com. That's all lowercase, the Craig Ferguson show dot com. My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is Joy. I talk to interesting people about what brings them happiness. Today a Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Reunion. Craig Ferguson will be here. Me

The Sassy Horse. Well, first, the you know front end of the you fight that.

Warm enough, stretching a little bit, it's the joy.

Shadow came in and did an episode and he told us about when he lived in a shed and he had he was just doing cocaine all the time, and he had guns.

Wow.

And he was living in a shed in Topanga with guns, and but he still had that voice.

I was in to Panga. I had a Winchester.

I think he had had like Magnums and not Magnum the ice cream, ihand you know Magnum the gun the gun.

Yeah, yeah, all.

Right, So this is my pitch. So we do a podcast together three because this is the reunion. This is it Robot Horse right right, Okay, So for those of you who don't know, during the late night era of when we were doing it, I was the guy and you were the robot and you were the horse, correct, all right? And and I feel to this day still the best late night show ever made, maybe or certainly ever made by us.

I would say so ever certainly ever made by yeah ever made. I think it's ever made.

I think I think greatest late night talk show on at that at twelve thirty five AM of all time, of all time at twelve thirty five, twelve thirty seven.

Well, twelve thirty seven, but what about early Dave. Early David is twelve thirty.

Yeah, now we're where there were bare we had who had a robot and a horse?

I mean, no one knows what you were doing on that show was insane. Well, I wasn't doing it. You were doing it. We did whatever we want. I was supposed to Dave because David in the Times Law.

We've talked about this, I mean Dave in the Times Law. And so CBS paid no attention to us. That's that was the key.

And that was the thing though, because they.

Didn't pay any attention to this, they never get any We never get any publicity or right. But I think that's kind of good because people now don't associate us with CBS, which is good because then we'd have to be on Blue Bloods and stuff with Tom Selleck.

Yeah. I like Tom.

Tom sala Oh my god, you can Tom Salak on Family Guy. Recently a commercial for reverse mortgages.

A reverse mortgage is when you give money to the bank.

Yeah, I think you you take out you take the loan against your own mortgage, or you take out money and then you owe more money.

That great.

I'm tom seller, but I saw an interview or a piece of something with Tom Sealex. Blue Bloods is finishing and Tom Selick's worried about losing this avocado farm. Yes, because avocados they grow in their hair, the heads of avocados.

Yeah, we wander across the oh yeah, Mexico.

Sure.

Yeah, the planes, the flames somewhere.

Yeah.

I think the cartels have the Avocado Cartel. Oh they got that locked up. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a Netflix show. Is that right, the Avocado Cartel? Yeah, cartel? What Netflix is different? No, like because Netflix used to be good. Yeah, and now it's like it feels like.

It's like Lifetime a little bit. Oh yeah, all right, So here's my pitch to you. Yeah, pitch it all right, man, Robot Horse. It's a it's a podcast, right, it's the three of us, and we never have a guest.

I like it so far. Yeah, because you're doing yeah.

So yeah, it's a nightmare. We've got multiple shows. Booking guests is impossible. But if you have a guy who can do every voice known to man. You're in good hand.

Oh that's true.

Hey, everybody great to be here on man robot horse.

Right, So that's we go. That's's that. That's I thought it was Bay.

How are you doing?

I love He's a genius.

Yeah.

No, he's a great director. He's a great director. He's a great film dude. Jimmy Kimmel's show for a long time he directed. Yeah, yes, but he's made some great films and uh he lives in the woods now. He lives in a shed with cocaine. That makes sense, and with a Winchester rifleing up forty five.

Avocados.

I work on a ranch. That's what happens on your have you go? You still get your cats? Yeah, yeah, well many of them.

Like there's three yeah, three yeah, and you get three cats and their names are fizz gig right hemnis named after Ikea furniture and it's a line of fancy the hems and uh and then.

Teddy okay, which is and you've now got a baby baby.

Yeah, congratulates a baby cat human baby human baby.

Wow did you uh buy this?

No?

I made him?

Yeah, yeah, I made the baby baby with using sex power, using sex power with Jack. Here's a fun fact. Only took me one one attempt to make a baby strong.

Wow, yeah shooting. Look how much hair is on Joe though, And it's like playing the horse all that time. Yeah, you know that gives you vergulan power.

Which, by the way, unbelievable performance as the horse. I mean you were doing yes and improv saying nothing, not able to speak, and only able to move this head back and forth. My favorite bit of all time for me personally on the show is the which salsa do you like? Yes?

Yes?

That was a by or a mile Yes, And.

It would go on and on and on.

You would die laugh.

Well because it didn't make any sense at all. I'm looking at it now, I kind of like that show would be impossible. Now you couldn't do that, So it was actually impossible then. It was only because nobody really knew it was there, right, because like the ones who knew about it knew about it, but there was no publicity. There was no kind of you know, billboards or commercials or like. Occasionally they would make us go to a super Bowl.

Yeah, oh yeah, remember we went to the super Bowl in New Orleans, and there was a power cut.

Oh yeah, there was a power cut in New Orleans when there was a I don't know if I.

Can survive in that corporate environment because of the Super Bowls. Like the last time we were at the Super Bowl, and I look, I get nothing against football.

It seems like it's a very popular sport.

It's just no to me. I like hockey. I like, you know, Crouchet, sure you swimming? Yeah, every swimming is great because it's only every four years, right, Like you know the Olympics coming. People are you're going to watch the swimming tonight?

Yeah? I watch it every week.

What does swimmers do for the four I guess they practice to the Olympics, right, Yeah, you got to swim all the time.

A lot of practice swimming. Yeah.

People say to me, oh, you you missed doing late Night. I'm like, no, Well you had a different perspective.

I mean you were.

I didn't grow up with it, you know. That's that's right. You didn't have that was it that I didn't have anything to reference?

It was right, right because like Sally, I would go chat with Sally now and again about the Johnny Carson days.

Right, because Peter le Sally who was the producer Johnny Carton Carson for Johnny Carton Car that was and they used to sell milk and Johnny Carton. It was an animated show. It's true Johnny cart I think it's on Netflix now Johnny Carton.

Here comes Johnny car Here's Johnny. Everybody, Now, this is interesting two percent milk. There was also skim milk which I and Joy which is this is interesting avocados.

Did you know.

I don't know how you guys feel about this, but I stay away. There was no real social media stuff when we were doing Now. There wasn't really the pick up that there was now this fucking headless borg that takes every piece of content and.

Just rose out there all the time and always looking for a problem. And then you get the the uh.

The tabloid websites which take tweets or comments on YouTube and use it as like people are saying in the article, yeah, you go, are people saying or maybe right right, yeah, maybe five people said it, and they are maybe one person said it.

And then oh, by the way, I downloaded chat GPT. I've got the AI now in my phone. Oh it's awesome. Yeah, I had I asked it today, write me a short Craig Ferguson routine about your raft.

Did it?

They did? And I was like, this is about as good as the material.

So now you have a real Jeff. Now Jeff is fully real. Yeah no, I but Jeff see my pets for monroot horses. There is that Jeff is back. But that now reconstruction is so good that you can just like wear those pants. It's just me jeah, yeah, yeah, which is what we were going to do. Anyway, we did it once, right, We had a whole idea.

I don't know if you remember.

This was in the first studio, the smaller studio, original studio. I think we were going to do flashbacks to the different eras of the Late Late Show.

That's right.

It was the nineteen seventies one and you you were saying your Jeff feels going, I'm going skyde yeah die.

Oh. We were gonna come up with different ways, different ways that Jeff died. That's right, right.

My favorite line in that one was so we turning Steve Gutenberg and I said, Steve Gutenberg, Oh, he's the biggest star in the world.

His star will never never fade. Very mean I'm sorry. Steve Goudenberg. You know, have you met Steve? Yeah, one time. He's really lovely, pleasant guy.

He's very nice. He did he told me that thing about It might even have been on Late Night when he was on he said, the stages of your career or who's Steve Guttenberg. Get me Steve Guttenberg, Get me a Steve Guttenberg type. Wow, that is it?

Yeah?

I know, boy, isn't it true? Fucking Hollywood? It's like terrifying.

I didn't know how to handle that. That was well after the show, Yeah, I did not. Yeah, it's weird. It's weird when you were in a big thing. I felt that way. After the Drew Carrey show, I was like I don't know, yeah, right, yeah, and then Late Night turned up and I was like, okay, yeah.

And then after late Night I was like, I'm so tired. But you've been doing stand up and we toured for a while. I mean you, I opened for you for a while.

You did you?

Yeah? I did a little bit after as well. How was that? I've always wanted to know.

It was terrifying because I listened when you guys did this before your first gig was or one of your first kids was like Radio City and Venetian.

Yeah, I lied and said you know what, am I gonna say no? Yeah, because I said to you if you don't stand up before, you were like, yeah.

No problem.

Yeah you got it man a one time at Miyagi's Japanese restaurant Sunset. Yeah, I mean straight to radios. So it was Miyagi's right too. I think the Venetian was the first. That's so funny and it went well and then but yeah, when did you.

Craig is a very.

Practical guy, so his was like we we had to do we had to record some shows during that time and had to than bring on extra people.

He was like, you just do it.

And then I said, okay, we'll see how it goes. So I made the mistake. I practiced just in my bedroom for like a week or so. Yeah, and then uh, he.

Didn't do it. Didn't do it for anyone.

It's good.

It's good, Yeah, because I thought, why, you know, ruined the material. I don't want to waste them. Yeah, so I was peak skill. Maybe it was some upstate New York looked over you know, a thousand, two thousand people there and then that was the first time I said it in front of anyone, And to Craig's credit, I bombed so hard that but he didn't give up on me.

It took about four shows, three or four. I didn't notice. Yeah, he.

Show.

Yeah, I said to us one night, what direction is the audience? When I woke out with directions it left or right? They pushed him out stage. I didn't know. You bombed.

I bombed the first one or so like bombed and then immediately was like, I got to probably change all this material. Yeah, right, I got a little bit better the second night.

I think.

The third night, I want to say, was New Jersey. I mean these are all like the smallest audience was fifteen hundred years theaters. Yeah, and then by like the fourth night it started working. But what I did was really I made like Craig making fun of me the punchline to every joke, and that killed and like kind of brought.

It back to the show. Wait, you did you do my voice? Did you?

Like?

No?

But I did hear on the last time you when you were on you did Craig's voice to him? Yeah, And what did you think of it?

I see I don't hear my voice like you hear my right, So when you do my voice, yeah, I'm like no, no, my voice is much deeper than that.

And I and I've go, you know, and I'm sex here. It's missus doubtfire.

Yeah, but but you you hear listen, man, if you if you're earlier on time, if you're on time, you're late, Hey, find another way. That's my favorite one, my favorite, My favorite phrase is find another way.

Find another way. When I was mad at ja yeah the other yeah, yeah, Jeff Barber was snorting. You had like some and so Craig's trying to take a quick nap before the show. Jeff's in the other room going, and then you just.

Hear find another way, man.

And it really is applicable to all of life. Find another way, in another way. I say all the time. It Yeah, I use it as well. It's great, so funny, another way, so funny. It's just perfect passive aggressive.

Oh I don't know.

If it's passive. I think it's straight up an instruction, a very clear instruction. Find another latch.

When we were ruling, like you know, we had a one plane, oh my god, and we were we had the plane and the bus and the all the hotel rooms on the side. It was it was probably costing me about half a million dollars a year to be in the road.

Fuel, just hotel rooms and snacks. Motherfuckers.

I mean a certain point, were you guys touring when Bradley was out with us as well? This is these were in the before times. But you wouldn't I don't think it would be cool now.

But Bradley, who was a little pear of Bradley's Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, and Bradley was he was a little person, and he was dressed as a leprechaun, yeah, with gold pain. Yeah, and he he'd go out and that's a little bit yeah, yeah, yeah, that's probably not cool.

That video we have that video of us doing the thing in Vegas. Yeah, there's Bradley dressed up leprechaun.

You know what I mean.

I didn't feel like it was I don't know I feel that way. No, No, I didn't feel like I was being disrespect Bradley. You know, he loved it.

He love.

He's a working actor. He loved it.

Nothing he respects. Part of the thing was totally a part of the show. The early days of that show.

There were a lot of different characters that were part of that.

I was thinking about. I don't know if you guys remember us. This was really early on the character of Fiona the Scottish Stalker. No, no, yeah, it's funny because you know that that thing on Netflix now Baby Reindeer, Baby Raindeer. Right, So I was watching, I went, wait a minute, I remember something like this, and there's no video of it. But there used to be a thing and it was an actress, and forgive me, I can't

She will not be ignored. I will not be ignored. Crazy.

And then and then she came on and she would do this thing of like she was following me and stuff, and it kind of you know, it was before you took over and took over all of that stuff, you know, I mean, but early on there was like different actors would come on and do little bits and pieces and then you know, you put them all out of work.

You did them all. This was first year. This is maybe the first two years.

First two years, I think if you know the Scottish Stalker and it was a Scottish Stalker and she was really.

Like heavy and she I mean it was very baby India. That's very fun.

I know.

I just think I was before my time. Yeah, you did a lot of sketches, very sketch heavy that first year.

Yeah, it was almost like the the Benny Hill I was like, we actually did up Benny Hill racing. I remember we went out and there was like there was a little person and girls and bikinis and stuff, and everybody chased everybody around, right, speedy up music.

But at some point you went okay, like I kind of want to do these remote sketches things.

Well because you have to turn off barely and you know, or in the last three four years of the show, I mean like five minutes before the show, you would put the horse on.

Maybe not yeah, yeah, it got so rediculous, Like I would the intro music or the real beforehand would be playing and I'd be like, all right, time to get started.

Yeah yeah, and you'd be the same.

I blow in about you know, twenty minutes before showtime, right, what are we talking about today.

I we'll figure something out.

And that's what happens. You just end up talking about it. And that's what I think we should do with Manrouebot Horse. Yeah, the new podcast. That doesn't it seem when I burped that? See that was unplanned.

Yeah, the moments like this, you're gonna get more of more burb yet more burpic. Well, it's it's you don't want to burp in front of people. You don't know.

I think it's okay. I think it says welcome, makes you feel comfortable.

I don't know.

I think I think it's rude. Well what about gas? What about passing? That's a must? Do you know what makes me mess? Larry King? Oh yeah, I loved Larry.

Yeah he was you say the night he took it when you were you had some big paying job doing a commercial.

Let I'll tell you what.

We never talked about that, But the way I found out that celebrities were going to be doing Jeff's voice, Yeah, for two weeks I had to go to I was I was going to South Africa to shoot these insurance commercials. More than Insurance was a company in the UK, I was more than Freeman. So that was the final part of my contract. I had to go and that it So, as I'm walking out of CBS Television City, I'm walking out the door, Michael Natus, producer Michael Natus in his way as I'm walking.

Out the door and says, oh, Josh, it's real quick. Uh just to you know, have a great trip.

We're going to have celebrities filling in every night doing Jeff for the next couple of weeks take care.

And I was like, I.

Was.

I was mortified.

Why because we had built this thing, we had this character and then I was up my own ass. But I but I was like, oh shit, they're going to know who the person is doing the voice each night, because you're gonna say it's Larry King or whoever. And they were all really I mean, Larry King was great. He was very funny, but he wasn't doing what you were doing.

He was doing you. You were doing the whole thing. Of course, I think what I think I was thinking about it. I think, Larry were you there when? Yeah? Yeah, did you see how they were doing it? Like the setup? Someone who I forget who it was, but someone was doing it was Bob Oshak, right, Bob. I think he operates. Bill Maher.

Very good at it. It's the same remote.

Yeah, could you do, Bill Maher? I could probably figure it out.

Yeah.

It's very whining. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like that kind of thing.

Yea, but but I think so.

I think you're right.

Bob was puppeteering with this remote, watching Larry talk into a mic and then trying the time.

It's such a disaster.

It was funny.

Well, that's why disaster was kind of what we need game because and that I think began. Do you guys remember the first Magic Week? Oh yeah, the first Magic Week when we had a bunch of magicians, like really.

Off the strip magicians in Vegas, like like some of them not even in Vegas. It was like, you know Scottsdale Magic Club or the Reno incredible. Yeah yeah yeah, I mean that's too good already, it's too good. But the thing was I love it, And it was early on and everybody, like the executives and Peter was like these magicians are terrible, and.

I was like, I know, it's fucking brilliant. I really love it. This is the this is what we're looking for.

That's the show magicians, this is the show, and it kind of took it took a while, I think for them to understand that disaster was the name of the game.

Like, you know, the robot doesn't really work. You know, the horses crap, but it's not really crap. It's just cheap. That's it's cheap. It's cheap.

It's under the guise of being cheap, which which it was. I mean, they didn't you know, we were ignored. The show was completely ignored, which was good.

Yeah, good and bad. I think when we went to the bigger the bigger studio was too much. I thought it was. I don't know.

I think the bigger studio was the last two years of the show. It was, yeah, and the biggest studio for me. Although we lost something that element of the said, we did gain the fireplace that throw the log end and I think Jeff really too cool there for hiding that big studio. There was no more puppets, there was no more things.

There was a stable for Secretaria, the entire stable and a stable that they built.

You were just see when you were standing there, like in the stable, door was in front. Was was the back end of Secretaria involved or did you just stand with it hanging.

Loose like that. Yeah, it's just just me.

And then he had a little chair and if we felt like it was go time, he would jump underneath and grab my hips.

It'd be quick ause he'd say who's that at the door and you go? And then that was like so it was just hanging like a scroll to behind an empty horse.

So there are two There were two guys. So first it was Matt Kugler, Matt Cougler, yes, right, and then who who was? And then Ryan McGowan or Ryan McGowan was the second, so only two. Ryan ha has like fourteen kids. Now he does have a kid, he really does one, at least one that I know, okay. And then before that there was a guy Alex Burnett who did it briefly was that one of the one of the original original guys.

It was like the Pete bast of secretaries, right, yeah, yeah.

He did it and then he got he left, he got another job, and then that's when Kugler took over. But you were always the front, always the front. Did you start in the show, you were like an urn or a pa. He started as a pa. I was just like a fill in for one week and then they would bring me back whenever there was an opening, and then once someone left, they they just hired.

Was like, that joke is true then, so you would say they're not They're just a couple of interns. And that was a running joke that was so that was true in the beginning.

Yeah, it kind of was.

Yeah.

What happened was I think they it was the Kentucky Derby or something, and somebody said there's a horse suit and I was like, oh, fine.

Mister Ferguson, there's a horse suit back there.

Let's use it. Okay, find any shite magicians.

Yeah, we get Ronnie the Great from me.

The one I remember that really I remember was it was a quick change artist.

It was an old Korean lady.

She was a quick change artist and they would put a screen up and then she would do a quick change and then the screen would come down and she'd.

Be wearing a differently. Wow.

But the thing was like, because of the way it was positioned, I could see her changing, so you could see it.

I was like, it's it's like, okay, look I changed my clothes. But that was you know, that was entertainment back then. That's when that's.

Before like you run Netflix, not quite running, but yeah, wow, you run like Netflix is a joke that you run that whole thing.

I run that their serious XM channel. So do all the audio stuff shows and stuff.

Yeah, by the way, folks, you know, at one point there was a serious x M show that Craig did thanks for you know, subscribing.

We didn't get a lot of people that.

Yeah.

Remember remember that the show Truck Radio. That's right, we did all of that.

I still here from the people. Yeah, what was your character name? I was Malibo.

People still Joeys from.

It, is true, but yeah, people still call in. They love that show. Yeah, some people that people ask for the archives. I don't think even serious Stevens probably has got them.

Right next to the Winchester the Avocados.

I remember on that show we were trying to get sponsorship from Ghant Oh my god, the company. So we just started advertising for them for free to see if they will because I was doing some Megan and I did some big advertising campaign.

Yeah, for exact show.

Right.

It was just like a YouTube, man, see yea like commercial, right, And.

And I thought that I was like at home with the Ferguson's just going on, well, you know, I don't know if you've heard of this thing called money.

So they turned up and they said, hey, we'll do this thing. I was like, okay, sure. I first I said no, and then they said money and I was like.

Oh okay, oh yeah yeah right, and then the CBA, the serious show that was we did that in my garden shed.

So I just kicked Shadow out because see we had been living there. Shadow was the sort of the Cato Kaelin of.

Living there. It's the same hair Kaitlyn Jesus.

I heard a noise outside. I don't know what it was was. There was a slight bump and some kind of noise.

Whoever happened to Kato Kaln Is he still alive?

He is?

Yeah? He in fact he uh does he have a YouTube? He has a podcast? Probably?

Well, he had a radio show in the nineties on like ninety seven point one FM here in Los Angeles, right, And I was like I just moved here, and I'm like, wow, Kato Klen's got a show. This place is great. Yeah. But Kato gave a video message to address the death of oj and of course, and very wisely did not address OJ at all and just gave his condolences to the children and of course to you know, Nichole's family.

And it was really great. It was really really wise. He looked great.

I don't know what he's doing other than giving Condultanci you still have the he's got some of the hair.

Frusted Tip. Yeah, it made me. Yeah, it was trusted tip, trusted tips.

I'm thinking of the show thinking frusted Tips is where I'm going to go now, I need to see that. Yeah, I'd quite like to have that kind of Mark McGrath, you know, Yeah, I think I think it worked for me.

Yeah, and like an intense tan. Yeah, when you come back and do man, robot and horse. No, it's just man robot horse, Man robot horse and we can work.

It in the bill. Could it could be roulebot horse man if you know what I'm saying. We don't need to just mix it up. Remember the Japanese version version We could never do that.

No, Yeah, it was just with the it was called super Happy Fun Time Our with Robot old Man.

That's right. I don't think it was.

It was just like a title sequence, right, I don't know if that's okay, anymore.

Oh, I think it was funny. But the sensibilities have changed a little.

Bit, and they have.

But nothing that we did ever came from me. We were never mean, No, we were just playing. We were always having a good time. But you could do a German accent. Oh, I think you can still do a German accent. This is fine, very true because Germans was so so naughty. Yeah it was since the last hundred years, so.

It is all right. Still they're still being punished a little bit. Actually, I say, Sam joyed. And the one that I like to do is moreve like this type of accent. I think someone I like to do a German accent right from nineteen fifties movies about the Second World. Oh it's great, and you do more sort of fruity upper West Side from Oh that's right, they had chance stakes. I'm going to tearror and retake a bit.

Thanks, Jess, if you remember that, it was great, It.

Was such a great essay. The one of my best memories from the show was when we went to Scotland. We had a bus, right or a big yeah been a bus yeah yeah, and you were out filming a ton and we would just sit on the bus and he would do these characters, some of which were like the catering guy from the meals we'd have.

He could turn him around and he would just do this bit. We'd narrate the whole trip.

I mean, I think at that point in your life, though, you were like you were like Stephen King of Characters, Like, yeah, it was you were just I mean, you must have been crazy because all of this stuff was coming all of the time. You were always doing something and that must be uncomfortable, and to be that.

Clever because he's so quick with him to doing it. I was unhappy. Yeah, I was an unhappy guy. I remember one one meal.

I don't even know if Craig was there for it, but when we met, I was like, you're doing all right, and You're like, I just do my laptop across the room.

And then I was like, oh, I was going through it. But two minutes later we were like, hey, yeah, you were doing bits and they were hilarious. I mean, that's that was the darkness.

Man.

I don't know, I don't know what.

I was so unhappy about relationship at the time. Who knows, who knows?

You did talk of this though the unhappiness is where it's kind of born, you know. I mean like when I started Late Night, i'd just gone through a very unpleasant divorce.

Yeah, kept me going for a good couple of years. But there is that, There is that, It's that double edged sword, you know. But I just wish I was more present, I guess, to really enjoy. We were in Scotland, we were in New Orleans, like, hey, dummy, look what you're doing. Yeah, you know, so sometimes it's hard to see that when you're in it.

And what I mean, I remember that as well. Yeah, I mean, like, I mean I look back on some of the stuff now, I'm like, I wish I'd kind of taken it in a little more, yes, you know, because I was just it was just like one thing next.

But we were so busy the fact that you you know, like, yeah we went to Paris, and yeah we went to Scotland. But we got there, we got off the plane. You go jet like and you work fourteen hours and then you know, yeah, just like collapse and do it all for five days and then and then leave, you know, and it's great, but it's it's not really a vacation.

We weren't really there to go do things. No, what you threw on the horse suit everywhere we went. Yeah, I did the horse and an open field close now, but we did it under the Eiffel Tower. Now you can't even get underneath and all thing it's like it's all blocked off.

I remember having an argument with the producers.

They were like, they were saying, well, we can just hire local people for the inside of the horse and I'm like, you fucking crazy, Like we'll put French guys inside an American horse, fucking nuts, what the hell is that? And they were like they were freaking out. I mean, but because it's expensive to move a whole show over them, Like no. And then I said, and we got to have, you know, hair and makeup and they're like, we can

We have to take every wed.

It was a team and that's the thing that I don't think people understand about it because it was it was written, but it wasn't written in the same way as other things were written, and it was kind of all happened at once, you know, I mean, like the writers would write stuff.

There were writers and they were great. It was a great team of writers. But the monologue was pretty much a placeholder. It was kind of there as a suggestion, right.

If if if it's a kind of flat night, then I'll just do the monologue as opposed to like I remember coming out that joke I had to tell about a cat, yes, and I thought it was so funny.

I couldn't get through it, and you were and I were talking about so brilliant.

Yeah, And it's like, not being able to do the monologue is funnier than doing the monologue, I think, you know, and that actually I think that's actually Carson because remember when you because Carson's the architect of these shows, and when he did a joke and it bombed, that was better than we did a joke in it.

Yeah.

Carson would sometimes take the boom mic after bombing and bring it down.

And tap it.

And I just want to make sure that she was working. Its working, all right, We'll try another one. Here's another one. Yeah, they're rough tonight there, bring their knives, all right, all right, here's another one. Here's another on and they're just bomb and bomb. But he could make it work. Because we were all on his side and we all love when you you know, when you would go off script, you know, it was just there was what I'm saying, you know,

But there would sometimes be one or two pages that you would never get to at the end that they would just keep copy, copy and paste.

That's right, never get nuts, and Monday through fright Thursday would come the pages change different colors.

For those that don't know, every time there's a rewrite, it starts as white. By the time it's like golden rod, like green, then you're really in trouble. But you know, that was the beauty.

But I thought the best shows too, were like when there was a leak in the Cela, like all of that stuff that was out of everyone's control but would happen right beforehand. Then you had that you'd come out with a mop with a bucket and you can just go off on that. None of that was scripted, and those were like real memorable monologue.

Yeah, you know, it's a funny thing. I just don't know if it's available now. I don't know. I mean maybe it is. Maybe people are doing stuff like that to.

Nervous It feels like everyone's so rigid and it's like, well, we have to really make sure and everything's micromanaged and everything's poured over to the point where it's no fun.

By the time you get to shooting the thing. Yeah, all the fund's gone on it.

It's like us having a full conversation before we do the podcast, right. We always say like, let's not talk anymore, right, because that's what happens. You over massage it well.

And also I think that the outrage and kind of fans it's kind of a currency, know a little bit as well.

It's like something to talk about.

And I get it because if you if you, if you're a fan to then that's good that that gives you something to talk about it. And basically that's how you start stand up back.

It doesn't you go I'm.

Really mad at you know, a giraffe, right, and then you like it gives you a place to kind of work from.

So if you if you have to fill you know your your TikTok account every fucking day for no money. I don't know. Like they say these influencers are making money. I'm like, are they Yeah?

But not no?

Yeah, I don't. I don't get it. It's like, so I make TV for free every fucking day. I don't know, got an hour to fill man?

Yeah, but the I mean it's like it's short, I guess the social media stuff, but it's but it's relentless.

Yeah.

And those shows, just those late night shows now are just making stuff to put online, which we did. None of our stuff went online.

I doesn't. It does now, it does now. But towards the end of our run was when I think Fallon started to Jimmy.

I think Jenny the first one that actually he started doing hashtag things and stuff with Twitter.

And I remember I paid no attention to Twitter.

And then Eddie is I was on the show and Eddie, Eddie and I have friends from way back, and Eddie's still Eddie but now she's Eddie right and not, but she's still Eddie, so I'm still cool to call her Eddie.

Yeah, but I've known Eddie for a long time.

And Eddie said, have you've done this Twitter thing and I'm like, no, it was actually when it was Eddie and the Barbecue Guy.

Do you remember that it was a sketch we did really, Yeah, it was Eddie and the bark So Eddie.

Was the guy Myron Nixon. It was a barbecue chef, right, and he was on the show. And I went into the writer's room one day and I saw that the names of the two guests on the on the wall, and it was Eddie and the barbecue Guy.

I said, well, that sounds like a sick of so we did. So we did an opening.

It was like Eddie and the Barbecue Guy and there was a song Eddie and this is Eddie. He's something and he's right, but he lost all his money and he had to move in with the barbecue guy.

The barbecue guy is Myron. And then we had brad because Myron wasn't there to do the little thing, but Eddie was. We had Bradley. The little person play celebrity chef who didn't was Jeff Yeah, and he just danced around and it was, god, what a fucking mess.

Brilliant.

It was fine, but I think what's lost from that? And I think what's happening.

Is that what goes viral and what it seems like people like now has that thing Like whenever I do it in social media, like I get people that put it upsot today on the podcast that it's not doing me it goes up or they'll say to me, is this okay?

And I say, yeah, that's fine, put it up. But I don't do it.

But if I ever do anything, like I was in the car a month ago or something and I said to Megan, the seat here makes me feel like I've shipped myself. And she said, all right, well let's film that and I'll put it on TikTok and and that was like a billion views for me saying that's it. You know, Oh, I see, it makes me feel like I've shipped myself. Yes, because I think that stuff still resonates with people and there's still a hunger for it, but it's harder to get right, you know, because because

Yeah. Yeah.

And then if you're pitching an idea there there's like fourteen people or something on and they're all like m hmm, yeah, I don't know. Well what if we yeah, know that it's great, it's great, it's it's great.

But no, but now what if they don't do that? Yeah? What is something completely different? It's similar, you know. It's very odd to me.

And I've talked to some heavy hitters from some bit like I was talking to Phil Rosenthal, who does that food shoe on your network. Everybody feed everybody feed pill or somebody feed pill or you know, and I and I was talking to you and Phil. I said, Phil, do another sitcom And he said, believe me, it's not from a lack of trying.

Yes, I know.

It's like I just can't get it over the line. It's like there are these gatekeepers. People think there's not gatekeepers.

Now, but there's mother more so yet there's more.

I think it's not and it's not. We're not talking about trying to be offensive. We're not talking about like, oh I can't say this, this and this. Oh no, it's just it feels like a lot of people are pulling their punches, even even in film, Even in movies that I see, it feels like they're holding back. And and it's because there's so many different people at the top that have a committee of this pulling everything back for the only reason really is to appeal to a larger market and not to.

That's the problem.

I think if you're trying to appeal everybody and I can't fucking know exactly, you know what I mean, And it's it is that strange thing that you know, I'm offended by that. It was like people are always offended by fucking George Carlin was always getting hold over the coast, Red Fox, fucking you know, everybody is always getting I mean Richard Pryor, I mean.

Prior, you know.

But it's the idea that you could then you could be offended, but then they take it a step further where then they can stop you from doing the thing. Yeah, you could be offended by the thing, but you don't get to stop me from doing it.

Yeah, I just I don't look bothered. Yeah, but is that still a thing?

I mean, now I think if people get like, now there's a you know Netflix is particularly guilty of this. That you get guys going on Netflix making millions for saying things that they say they can't say, but saying them right. It's like, yeah, what the fuck is that? You know, Like someone's got their hand in my bucket here.

I feel it's like you're not allowed to say the things that I'm saying for a lot of money. Yeah, and like I feel like you are. Yeah, it's I think it's fake. The outrage and the fear and all that stuff both. Yeah, Yeah, it's kind of it's a hard thing to judge. It's a real wild West thing. There are many instances where it is real and legitimate and people should be called out for things that they've done, really truly bad things, But telling a joke. I don't

That was amazing.

It was a real anomaly and stuff, and I was It's why I still to this day with because really the reason we had it is because of David Larman, because David owned the time slot, and so CBS.

Could be angry at us, no angry us, But the truth of my ris, they couldn't fucking do.

Anything because it was Dave, and Dave didn't give a fuck. He was doing his own thing and didn't really notice us. So to this day, when I see Dave, I'm still a little frightened of him because he was the only one that could actually cause us any trouble, and he never did right, he never paid any attention. But he was the only one that actually had power over us. The rest of them were kind of like, you know, they had to get in line behind Dave.

And so that was.

Worldwide Pants, that was his company. But then the next iteration of the show was CBS the next version of the Late Late Show with.

Carton one one Jimmy Carton took over. Then yeah, and then it was that was CBS. The Worldwide Pants weren't involved. And now it's gone, Is it gone completely? Taylor Williamson, that's a show now, yeah, but.

At midnight or now it's called After min after midnight, So it's like a panel show, fake game show.

It's the old panel show that Chris used to a couple of times Retooled and on CBS, which at the time I thought was a weird play.

But Taylor Tomlinson is very good.

She's very good at it. It's not my kind of show, but I'm really impressed. And it's a it's a strange move for CBS, but maybe it's working.

I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I think in broadcast television, the numbers, I mean I.

Looked at late night numbers maybe about every couple of months I look at them.

Maybe no, maybe not as much as that. I looked at them fairly recently.

I'm like Jesus Christ, we would get canceled like twenty times over for these numbers.

Like I mean, there's like three hundred thousand people. Oh wow, I mean three thousand people watching a show wow on the podcast television. I mean, how is that? You can't make that work? What were we at? We were we were neck and neck with I think we were about two bucks or he you know, we were like two million.

I think it went down at like one point two ish. With attrition they would go up to one point five if you know, Tom Hanks was on or something.

But really it's amazing.

Yeah, but we were still a secret, we were still this incredible yeah, which was the power of that show.

I think.

I think the thing about it is as well, though, that I'm glad that we stopped when we did.

Oh yeah, you know, I mean I was crazy. I mean I had to get it.

When I look back on it now, how uncomfortable I didn't even realize how comfortable I was. And we've talked about how uncomfortable you were, Yeah, but I was too. And I think looking back on it, it's the thing is is the real warning of these things. You walk into a building.

Every day and your picture is everywhere, and your your.

Name is on all the stationery and all the you know, kind of literature everywhere your name and your picture, and and everybody in the building is just making sure that you're fucking okay.

You gotta be okay. That's the thing.

Don't upset you know, you know, And that's not good man, that's that's I mean, it starts to fuck with your head. Man, does you get paranoid? And I think by the end

We were doing our own we were doing we had our own world, you know, and nobody else was in it.

You, you love. The thing that I figured out early on that made you laugh the most is when I would give you ship as Jeff for things that you were already aware of, like oh, the late night talk show hosts another tough night.

Sitting behind the desk, and you go, ah, fuck you.

It was this way of you almost talking to yourself in a way, but also blowing off steam and being like, thank god, somebody can call.

I think you were in the same thing.

I mean, because I would go over and you know, you were in the rowboats' well why don't you have a drink?

And why don't you hold that? And you'd be like, man, but.

How dare you?

But I knew it was fuck you lean into that. You'd lean into that.

We talked about that last time, where if someone if I was having a bad week, or someone was having a tough time, you go, this is perfect. They're going to be on fire tonight. Let's lean into that. I mean not in a mean way, No, it was just it's part of the gig.

Well, it's also you're working with with the only people you trust. Yeah, you know, I mean that's where I mean. I trusted my family of course, yeah, but everyone else. And it's Hollywood, yeah, and it's a it's a weird place.

Even for a late night talk show. That's the thing.

Man.

It was just a fun show. But there were some some people there. Man, the business end of it. It was like, yeah, man, relaxed. Yeah, it just having fun.

But I think everyone but this is I remember when I started doing the show, the question that I asked more than anything else at the beginning was do you want to take over from Dave?

I'm like, I just started in this job.

I don't even know how to do this one, and you're talking about the guy who's the best at it ever, and I want to take over from him and I don't even know how to do it at all.

They're already sharpening their knives. I mean, it was fucking crazy, probably patting him on the back. Yeah, you ever thought about.

Taking over for day?

Yeah?

Man, yeah, yeah. They got that Christmas sweater.

I mean it's, by the way, every Christmas Dave, not really Dave, but you'd get a Christmas sweater or the jacket jacket and it was from Worldwide Pants, and enclosed in the box was a little card, very fancy font I would just say, you know, best wish is Dave, but it was it was from Worldwide Pants. But the shirt would just say like pants. She'd be walking around like an asshole said pants would go to.

Do you remember Towards the end, things were getting a little nutty and Rob Burnette was running Worldwide Pants and this I think it was I was reopened for the last two years or something, and Rob said, what do you want?

I said, I want ten thousand dollars in a shoe box and used bills and he sent it to me. Really really funny.

I was involved in that too, because he also, for some reason, wanted the sandwich in the box.

I wanted sandwich panic and there it came to me. They were like, we need we need the perstami sandwich.

I said why, They're like, we're putting it in a box with ten thousand dollars in cash.

I said, that makes no sense and it wasn't even fresh.

I was like, used bad money. So I remember that that was your task? Yeah yeah, I think we got it from Canter's. But it was the pandic because everyone had everything lined up except for the sandwich.

Did you get a sandwich?

Right?

We did it before the show's over.

I can't see it.

It's gonna be hell to pay. Oh my god, it's so weird. You got it.

I got it, and I think for the next two years, whenever I instead of going to the ATM, I would just go to the shoe box.

So the shoe box is in my office and I was like money that smells of pastramah. It was smelly money, but it was all right.

Nothing makes you feel I mean, I don't carry cash now like I much do you ever? I mean I feel bad for Valley Parking guys and people because nobody's ever get any cash.

I to be able to tap.

I was first fear when I got here was I was like, how am I gonna tip that? How you gonna I was gonna ask you guys, But now it turns out.

To me it's included in the fee. Yeah wait, yeah, great, just tap on your way.

Yeah straight, you know.

Somebody that's right. I don't know how to venmo. Oh yeah, sorry, well you're sorry.

Before we go, though, and we do have to go, I want to talk a little bit about the fight that you're a dad now. Yeah, amazing, dude. Yeah, So your son is now what forty forty forty six months? Yeah, it's been a long time.

He's he's fifteen months, right when you stopped doing months? Is it two years? I think? So?

All right, I know, I just do whatever my wife does. Yes, a right, she says fifteen She said it yesterday, so I'm glad she did so.

Now I know fifteen months. So it's over a year. Yeah, he's over here, say every year. And his name is Zephyr.

His name is is.

Yes, but charus, that's careful, carefully you go mad because somebody in a tweet or let's just get out of the way real quick.

There was a guy that tweeted careful Chorus because I used Jeff's Twitter one time to promote myself because I was like, I've had enough. Nobody knows who I am careful Lichorus, and I got all bent out of shape. I want to thank that guy whoever. You are one of the great catchphrases of all time. And without that tweet, we would never have that. Ben never done it, and I never saw that that merch related to that unnamed robot skeleton. Yeah, but Yannick, yes, Wow, what does that

We both really liked it and you said it so much. We said it so much, liked it and that's a late night thing.

That's what happened to do. We did things so much right at the beginning. He was like, oh god, this is We did that with Angela Lansbury and Paul McCartney.

I remember, did I tell you about Paul McCartney at the Grammys? Oh god, it was fucking terrible.

Oh.

I was presenting something at the Grammys and I walked out. It was to Katy Perry or something that I walked out and I just you know, they write you a joke, some lame joke you have to read off that's gone through a committee so that no one's going to get upset. So it's written on some giant telepropot for stupid fucking joke. Go out there, look at that monkey boy and read that and go get the fuck out of here and be glad you're part of this show. Bys extravagant. Then yeah,

And I can tell you, oh, because he could, you think, because he knew, Oh he knew.

Yeah, and he looked at me. Oh my god, a beatle hates me a dick, And and I blame him. I mean, we did show that picture of Angel. You know why I did it. It's because we got a bad review in the La Times and the show was starting.

Now this' the La Times gave it the show this, I really tore it down and this when it when when review that show, I mean, but it was right at the beginning, okay, I mean because you've taken over, you were the name taken over and like the New York Post, I mean, I get some terrible The New York Post said, it's so awful.

He looks like he's wearing a wig. I'm like, I did not make it back. Wow, that kind of makes it better.

I've been going, yeah, yeah, it's so bad, he looks like he's wearing a wig. That's all right, Like, okay, Times tore it apart and they said that I did the same joke over and over again without any apparent irony. I said, I showed it, said do we have a picture of Paul McCartney, And we showed the picture of Angela Lansbury and they got angry at it, and I thought, right, motherfuckers,

There start as a few.

Yeah, it became this hilarious, became a thing the people still quote and still.

Post to this day.

And it made me unpopular with Paul McCartney, which I'm still that's upsetting, Yeah, a little bit. You know, it's the price you pay.

I guess but that.

But there was other times when, like I remember we did a thing about Kevin Costner and I was like, I can't take this, dances with Wolves things, I'm a dick.

I can't do it.

And I had to apologize, and I apologized and apologized, and eventually Kevin Costner came on the show and I apologized to him.

Things about me, Yeah, yea for it, dances with Wolves, I can't. I can't have dance.

Yeah.

I think that's a big one. That's too much.

Well, you would take things at you. You you know, many times you would refuse to say things maybe that we're written in the monologue and yeah, because that's the thing. You write stuff, you throw stuff out there. You decide what you're going to say a lot of times and you say, I don't think.

We're gonna do that. It takes time to get that confidence because at the beginning, and that's like all the ship that I fucked up on that show, I think was all in the first couple of years, because you know, you they hand you stuff. It's like going to the Grammys.

They hand you a joke and say do this joke and you and you do it because you think you're mad, you know, and then do it all and then you realize, no, I'm not doing.

Your stupid fucking that. It's true, and they go, okay, well, what do you want to do it? They're like, ah, all right, I learned that from you. I did when we were doing Radio City. You had a big dance number at the beginning, all these you know, wonderful performers, and we were choreographing this number and there was a video screen with Jeff on there. He and but the song that was picked was we did not use it.

Yeah, and I was like what And I you know, because I'm like, okay, who cares.

It's fun. We're having a good time.

And then that was the first time I kind of went, oh yeah, and I didn't think about that, probably shouldn't do that. Became kind of more aware of that stuff because when you're younger as a performer, like you.

Said, you just do everything. Yeah, you just want to have the target.

Okay, I just want to be funny and desperate, and you're you know, you're in you're in the crosshairs man, everyone's watching you.

Well see that's you know, that's what I think is tricky for people who are coming up now, Like, so you're putting stuff out there that's digitized and now is there forever. Yeah, and so jokes that you fuck up on they're there, right, you know, And and you're going people are going to if you if it works out for you, people are going to come and find that joke and try and tear you down with it.

And it's part of the that's just part of the process important learn is making mistakes out over and over again, right, you know, you meet people like yourself that kind of show you a different way find another way, and you go, oh that's interesting.

I never thought of that before.

So we'll finished this episode, yeah, like now and then, but here's here's the pitch for like, in about I don't know, maybe less than a year from that we started, we'll have to discuss your contract with Netflix, and I don't know what exclusives you've got going on right now, We'll we'll talk, right So here's but here's my pitch to you guys. In about less than a year, we do a podcast and it's just the three of us man robot, horse, robot horseman horse, robot.

Man, whatever the whatever.

The buildings up every week every week and we'll take a subject every week, like, for example.

Episode one, Roman Empire, Episode two Ottoman we did got Me into It, Steve Crazy punched in New York.

Crazy.

You can do Steve Jesus got Man gees.

There's Empire, Empire Strikes Back, Empire Strikes Empire Biscuits, Empire Biscuits, and then Empire's Late Late.

Show brought to you by Empire Business, I think.

By Empire Biscuits.

Ason Shadow would roll in and just do that anyway.

So we're gonna so we're gonna we're gonna meet here in a year about a year's time.

Yeah, and we'll just do what We'll do an episode once.

A week only Empires. It doesn't have to be Empires. It can be like we can put a little hat. Oh that's a great idea, put a hat in the middle of the and then these are the subjects that we're going to talk about today. We shud pick one out and I'll pick out Roman Empire because that's the one I want to talk about. And you can pick out Morgan's freaking's career, and you can pick out tennis players from the nineteen seventies.

Sure, I just happened to get that, and then and then we'll do that.

Oh it's perfect. Yeah, so horse rollboat man. We picked a subject out of the one each put in by Thomas. Thomas will put it because he'll produce it, and then that would just be the forest. By the way, do you know what to I was going to tell you this right at the beginning.

Zacho pile? Do you know what it means? And check? Undertaker?

Really so under Thomas undertake Thomas the Undertaker, Yeah he's about right, Yeah, very friendly undertaker though.

Yeah, I do you know I had an Undertaker on this podcast? Yeah, William Villanova, I sure did.

Yeah, listen. Yes he was funny unless he wasn't funny.

No, he was good.

You guys are assholes. You I don't even know why we're friends. Get wait, not

A paper for total per