Bryan Cranston on Retirement + That Time he was Wanted for Murder

Now really, really.

Now really hello, and welcome to really know really with Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden, who want you to know that subscribing to our show is easier than cooking crystal method of trailer in the desert. Plus it's totally illegal, Which brings me to today's episode with actor, producer, director, and star of Breaking Bad Brian Kranston. What's the truth about his imminent retirement? Why has he written his memoir and Jason has it? What's the secret to crying on cue?

I don't like to start off cranky. Excuse me, all right, but this whole thing I am so off. First of all, the set is different. We're not wearing the shirts, and you're on the wrong side, and we're doing this.

You know why we're doing this? Do you know why we've changed it all? Up? I do?

Why tell the people. Camera angles, camera angles for social media. Social media. Apparently, if I look straight at you, ladies and gentlemen, you'll watch me on social media if I do this.

Uh no, good lost you.

I make an observation from a good place.

You're going with change. I'm not good with change. You're absolutely You're absolutely right. You got to let it go and move on. And I will tell you something.

It is it is appropriate that I say I gotta get out, because today's episode is about getting the hell out.

Because this was the really that started us off. It was what I heard. Go ahead.

Michael Caine Venerated film actor Michael Caine announced he's retiring, and I went, really, really, but he's so if they offer him twenty million dollars to be que in the next Bond movie, He's gone.

No, I'm retired. I'm retired. I can't do it Anymore's calm down, you can't remember the lines.

I think you need to be drug tested if there's something going wrong with you that I'm not aware of. Also, Brian Cranston announces his retirement and then I see he's got stippy. I'm retiring, but not totally. I may show up for day how much are you off?

Yes, so went again. I know Brian Krantzon and I'm telling you.

You know Brian krant Yeah, Brian, Brian is here because we have to get to the because my understanding is there's nothing about you where the word retiring comes in. So, ladies and one second, sixth time Emmy Award winner, two Tony's an Olivia Award, a Golden Globe winner, at Oscar nominee, actor, producer, director, activist, skyl.

Master, Mister Brian Cranston is. She was great till he has to bring up your Emmy. Yeah, well yeah, I could bring one for you. I have Brian, let it go, No, and Emmy, you know what f all of you? I have an Emmy.

Uh.

It is the weirdest.

It's a daytime yea, yeah, it's it's a balance, you know, two wings, two wings, and it holds the ball that.

Time. But it's you know, it's important. Yes, it's good to see you. By the way, the retirement was it this I'm retiring? Was it a wink? No?

So it said here's where wait this comes it said in a profile the brother of Breaking Bed actor published in British GQ magazine, says he plans to take a break from acting in two in twenty twenty six. Among his plans going to France to spend more time with his wife, who's not in France, by the way, live in a small village and dabble in gardening. And I went, now we're talking about Michael Kaine.

But I love I love also that, honey. I want to spend more time with you, but it has to be geographic different advantageous to me and one growing well. I wanted to spend more time with the wife. I just didn't stipulate that was my wife that way we wanted to know. I'm doing this interview some for British GQ. She said, Wow, for the past twenty four or five years, you've been working NonStop and how does that.

I go, Well, it's been wonderful. I mean, great opportunities. I'm living a great life and it's terrific. Although I will admit that at times it feels like I could be derivative of my own work because I think I'm kind of running out. I'm being depleted of life experience. So for the last years, you guys know this, if you go from show to show to movie, to theater to doing that's not real life, that's living in a

But does that mean sell?

It also said selling the Mescal company admits selling the production companies.

Yeah.

I think what's going to happen is is that we were talking before the show started about the simplicity of life, and Peter, you were saying I could live in a one bedroom.

I don't.

And there is something to that about when we age, we sense that we need less than we really have, and we want to lighten the load because it does feel like an anchor.

Sometimes you want to get rid of the ballast.

And I would rather have more experiences than more things, and so that's what I'm looking for.

And did you but did did you say twenty twenty they quote you is twenty twenty six?

Did you put like a I think at this moment, I'll know, I.

Said, I'm going to be seventy and twenty twenty six, and as a marker, sometime after that, I said sometime after that.

And so they.

Truncate everything and put it out there and in the headline it said Brian Cranson's retiring. I never use you know, Jason, I never use the word retiring. We're so lucky to do what we do.

I am, oh man.

But I will tell you my daughter Taylor said, Dad, you're never going to retire. And I said, there are circumstances that would would make me retire. And that is if acting becomes arduous, if it becomes a task that I no longer love, then I'll retire. If I get stressed out and worried and not able to retain and I'm not having fun, I'm done.

Yeah, I'll walk away. Will ask you something about that? I've never asked you because I know Robin. I mean, we've had many lovely occasions of being together. Robin was a you know, just like you, a good solid journey journey woman, working actor. And then I guess when when Taylor was born did she start to pull back on that?

Yeah? What do you have any take on how she has felt about sort of.

I don't mean to suggest that she's relinquished her career, but she's working less than she probably thought she might have thirty years ago.

What was that.

Experience for her, because that's a kind of a retirement as well.

It was, No, it was definitely a retirement She did relinquish. Yeah, she was thirty nine when she had our daughter, and the roles that were coming to her in her twenties. She started working when she was still going to UCLA and working like crazy. If you're if you have some talent, and in those days, if you were attractive, you're working.

The age.

In nineteen hunders global average lifespan probably and.

I fifteen thirty one, thirty one, and now it's seventy seventy six today it's seventy six. And what they're doing they found out the communities that have trees and grass and stuff. When you're a patient in hospital, if you can see trees and grass, you're out two times quicker then you see trees and smokes fast.

In my head.

You said it, I was here twice as quick. But you don't want to get up. This is what today?

Why does he have his career and I have mine. We're the same person because he's just look because look at it, because us you know, wait, wait, wait what you look at what? Why start looking at no?

No?

I mean what is that all about? He's as a personal plaid shirt. Plaid shirt by the way, may I bring this up bit of a beard. Do you have clothes that you wear still from any of your shows? Oh, godcast? True or false?

Because when you do tru or Fox later Cranson or No Cranson, is this a George Costanzer shirt?

It should very well be. How far did your clothing go? But what show? Malcolm further back?

I had? I actually I did as soap opera forty years ago in New York. I first moved to New York forty years ago, and up until just recently, I actually still had a coat from this show. And it was like, and my wife's going, what are you doing? And I said, what do you mean? She goes, you still have this? It's got shoulder pads.

I gotta tell you, I.

Have so much George clothing that I think it was either US or People Magazine did a side by side of me and as George and me as me on the street in the same outfit, and then did Warred.

Well, he has baby feet in.

Baby hands, so he has George show Underworld. Do you have undercars they didn't supply.

There's a there's a documentary out now called Blue Zones. Have you heard of the Blue Zones? And it's talking about living well past one hundred into one hundred and this guy traveled the world to find out, well, what's the common denominator here? And basically it's keep moving it, do not do not, do not sit down on that couch, Get up and get out and keep moving, keep challenging yourself. Stairs hills. So they were going to Okinawa and in parts of Italy and things and and there's hills there.

We do it the opposite in America.

We look at meat and potatoes as the main Do you want to They even diminish it a side dish?

Do you want to?

You wanta side dish of a little curage of ad, a little side of corn or something. No, it's so it's it's keep moving, eat a well balanced meal. And can I just say something though, that's not a life moving in vegetables. You know, I have to check out at ninety five.

With a burger. You're being you're progressive there.

My father passed away at the age of ninety one, my mother at ninety eight. Wow, so genetically and they were worse than me. They smoked, they did all kinds. They never exercised the day, and I should I should make a hundred right the differences.

They don't just feel like it.

Also, L Palmerance, a writer on a lot of the show works that used to say, the doctor told me I've got to start doing ten treadmill you live ten extra years.

You said, it's ten years of treadmill. Yeah, or so I know, yeah, so you so you said, look, I'll act until it's not funny. So thinking along the lines of what lies ahead. If I said, okay, acting is now off the table, Now, what do you do?

I would be an adventurer. I'd go travel the world. I'd go see things that I've never seen before. Would you do you in your mind, would you cease to live a life in which you express your artistry? I don't think I could. I think I could take a break from that, yeah, so that I can replenish. But then at some point you have to then let the But.

If I value cannot be as an actor, how would you what would you do how would you do it?

I'd start writing in the start, I continue writing.

Yeah.

Actually he's a good by the way, he wrote an autobiography that was one of the best ones.

Why are you whispering that? Because I don't want to want some of my information about I'm aware, I'm aware. Did you read and I read Warren Peace? I think it's about Russia. I didn't have a time. It's just coming in as soon as we booked started reading. Yeah, no, I understand. It was fun. It was fun to do and very cathartic. Really, when's your book coming out? Not why you and I have talked about this? I know we have, but I'm going to keep pestering you until you write the damn I have.

I have some interesting stories, uh that I do tell. I have life lessons stories that I tell in a show that I do.

It comes from a number of things. One is.

I'm not saying this in a way that it should be demeaning to anybody. My personal ego is not up to saying I merit this. I don't feel like my life is that unique or special or important that it should be chronicled in a book and people should read this That's one of the things. Another thing is is that I think I'm different from most people in the public eye in that I find myself as I get older. Maybe we can talk about this. Wanting not to engage with the world less, but I don't want to stand out.

Get me the opposite effect of that. So that's kind of why I don't do it. Are you saying that my ego was so huge? I'm not saying.

No.

One of the things like I seriously, your book, Marty Schort's book, Kevin Pollock's book was really good.

I haven't read Kevin's, Oh it's really good.

But what I loved about your book was it, and you even sort of set it up this way, was about the kind of different life roles that you've played and how you navigated each of them. And some of them were very difficult, and some of them were very joyous, and some of them were rather extraordinary. I thought that was wonderful because I thought it it is inspiring people to a look for those journeys and dare those journeys, but also to navigate the ones that are harder.

I thought Marty's book was.

Spectacular because he's had a fair amount of tragedy in his life and yet he always finds a way to happiness. And I thought that was an important story to tell. I don't personally feel I necessarily have that stuff. Maybe I do, maybe if someone was looking at my life and said, no, you've got this in this, But I don't feel that. You know you and I've talked about this. I always feel and I'm working on this in my own therapy. When I walk into a room of known people,

Bryan, when I walk into a room of known people like I shouldn't be here, they don't want me here, and I shouldn't Do you ever feel that, Brian, No, he doesn't.

I can tell you.

You know.

It's very funny. There's a certainty about you.

You have kind of that presence where you come in and you command attention even before you've said it, and you got a big presence when you walk in.

I don't, well, thank you. I don't feel that I do it in a boastful way. I want to.

When i'm fan facing, when I'm out, and I feel like the more assertive I am, the more I can control that a little bit and handle it and then move on. Because, like you, Jason, I want a quieter life too in my personal life when I'm not working, when I'm not promoting, I really want to sit back and not have anything going on. I like that solitude

And I go what book?

They go, whatever book you want to write? And I went, really, wow, could I write a book? I don't know if I can. And that was the It was like, man, that would really I'd really find out if I could do this or not. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed that solitude of writing and just retelling stories and then putting it in an order that had some connectivity to it what I like, but you like challenge I do, but I try to learn from them. For example, I did a

And I go, hey, yeah, which which ones? You? Well? We had this, this, we have The Things They Carried? Let me do that? One say perfect. So I read the book and then I recorded. And two things.

I read the book because it was connected to a job, and that triggered a little something in me like, oh so I don't do anything for my own personal pleasure, but it's okay to do if it's connected to work.

What does that say about me?

And I really have a lot of reflection on that. The second thing was, I'm not very good at doing those narrations. I took much longer than anyone else apparently, and I discovered that I have a little bit of dyslexia. And I would do a line or two or three or four a paragraph, and the engineer would say, Okay, let's go back and let's do this. You said this, and you said that, and you said this, and I had no idea that I was inverting words and things

I've done a few of them, and I have enjoyed it, but for me, it's I'm just trying to emulate Jim Dale reading all the Harry Bottabys.

It was so miraculous.

But going back to what you asked him about, what I've always noticed and admired about you, Brian, even before Malcolm when we first met you, you you show up fully for things, whatever that may mean at the time. It always felt to me like you were quite comfortable in your skin, and that because of that, you could say, well, here I am, I'm here, I'm available, uh, and I'm present,

But I think I think that came with taking on that character of I took on if ever I was in a place where I was not comfortable, I took on the character of a guy who is comfortable. I got a call from James Corden a few years ago, whose wife was pregnant and going to deliver in a few weeks and he was going to take the time off and called and said and said, oh my god, my wife is delivering now and I have to be with her. Could you come in and guest host my show?

Do you know what I mean? So sometimes I do. It's just putting that forward, the fact that you said, yes, there's no question about what I'm doing and I know I'm there. Is that accurate? You like to control that situation?

Well? Yeah, it's just like when we go on talk shows to do something. The worst thing you can do is not prepare if you go on and you're just completely blank. So all these talk shows have you know, producers who were producing that particular segment, and they talked to you ahead of time, and I'm thinking, what story, what just happened, where's it going?

What can I do?

And so I have these things in my back pocket, and then when you're teed up and outcomes the story and everybody has a good time and you've done your job. I don't want to go out there blank, but you never get through everything you discussed when you're talking about going on a talk show, and so I just want to be prepared to do that. So you do.

Ferguson when he was on there, Yeah, that was the most fascinating experience because nothing we discussed in the pre interviews, that's right, happened.

On the air.

In fact, it got to the point where early on where Craig Ferguson would take his cards and rip them up and throw them out because he didn't he would just and I.

Just loved doing a show because he'd people to do that. Most people think a talk show is a talk show.

It's not. It's an entertainment show.

But Craig managed to get both by having a real conversation and still somehow managing to draw out some stuff that was really entertaining.

Yeah, it really was. But you said something to me the other night, Jason, and I'm hoping I can share and if not, we can edit. We were back stage at the charity event and you said to me and I and I embraced this because I think it's a wonderful discovery and everyone's felt this. You said five years ago. Five years ago, I would have been backstage going crazy, just clawing, trying to figure out, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I'm about to perform. Oh my god, oh my god, how am I going to

You know.

What I was also mentioning in that conversation is all of us, everybody, but certainly performers have avatars that we become. And I remember in college, my college girlfriend, after being with me for a month or so, said, do you know everybody at this school thinks you are the cockiest son of a bitch in the world, and I went, are you kidding me? I'm scared to death. I don't think I should be here. I think anybody's going to know that anymore. I keep thinking they're going to ask

And I went, I am not aware of that.

And so early on, even in my late teens early twenties, I was aware that there were personality trades happening in me that I couldn't account for. I'm sure they were a part of my insecurities. And when I went back into therapy about seven years ago, and my therapist said, okay, you know because we had been through it, Dana and I went to therapy.

I stayed in therapy for years. She said, what do you want to do?

I said, I would I'm starting my third act talking about retirement. Yeah, I'm not sure I know who I authentically am, and I sure would like to before I get out of here.

Wow.

And that's what we've been working on, and that has pushed me closer to what I feel you in body, which is being able to walk into a space and go I'm good. I'm here because I should be here, I want to be here, or somebody else needs me to be here. I can fill this space. I don't have to blow it away. I don't have to blow the walls out. I don't have to be something I'm not. I am allowed to be here and appreciate the moment and the people around me. That is a relatively new thing for me.

Well, this is something that I learned about twenty five thirty years ago. Is to present yourself to go in prepared, excited and and giving the person or if you're an audition's sequence, you you give it everything you've got without an attachment to an outcome. If you go in there wanting something in return, you're dead. But if you go in there going here's the idea, how about this, this, this, and this, no expectation and no expectation, then walk away.

Sure, it's like the wait wait wait wait wait.

Everything changed once I took that attitude that from an actor's standpoint, I need to go into that room to do my job, not to get a job.

To get the job.

I remember saying that we can we can we because we're running out of time. Can we do find out how well you guys are pretty close kind for a long time, but not as well a Jason does Cranson or not Cranson? I can ask these questions and see if he's right or not. And it's some interesting You.

See these, You see these three hundred pages. This is what the man does.

I want to saying, also gets to know you. It sends them to me and says, read these. Don't read these, But he says, don't read them, and you don't read anything, dude, I do. I actually have to do, because otherwise this slow will go on about stuff. I have to keep pulling him back to the thing.

I will the podcast I did if it makes me millions, if I've wasted my time, spent two years traveling us my motorcycle with his brother, I know that's a fact. I read this book. Okay, was suspected in a murder case? Yes or no? Strangely familiar I think so.

Yes, I was, by the way, it's true, Yeah, I was for I was for five minutes five minutes. I discovered a dead body on route to the subway one day and I called it in and it was a very strange situation. The person was in a locked car, no signs of struggle, no signs of anything.

It looks like a healthy young person. Set sat in the car and died.

And the police started going, why'd you walk this route while I live there in the subway?

Say you come this way every time? And I went, yeah, am I excuse me right now? But there was a there was a tinge of kind of titillation at that moment. I kind of know, this is kind of cool. I'm kind of badass, so in your case. In my case, it was a.

Chinese cook at at a restaurant in Daytona Beach, Florida, when I was twenty one years old, and he was a miserable human being. So I and many other people talked about how we'd kill him. I would chop him up and I would stir him up. He was just a horrible human being. Well, that horrible human being met

But I had no idea. Yeah I did, you knowing alone all right? Was once covered in ten thousand real bees? Oh on, Malcolm, I believe I think you had a b beer? Is that real? Was it? C?

G I? Or you look at his face? Here's Brian's angry face. I got stung twice. Yeah, I got stung twice, one on the shoulder and one on the next.

Yeah. Here's the thing.

When you're covered with bees from your head to your waist and completely covered and the only thing that's visible is your little circle around your face, the idea of being stung should not come as a surprise to you.

And it did not.

And it was like, so I got stung and I had to kind of move a little bit, and I go, oh, I think I was stung. And the keeper goes where and he's ready to prepare. I go in my scrot him and he goes, you're on.

Your did they have a brock? Why do you say? This is a man who says yes to everything obvious.

Yeah, I liked I liked taking I like taking chances and and trying things that I'm unfamiliar with. In fact, there's a you know, the Alexander Technique. Sure, this is the Jason Alexander Technique. Now there's there's another organization called the Alexander Technique. And the one one of the phrases that the founder uses in that is is this is that if you only do what you know, you will never do what you don't know. And that that just really stuck with me. And it's like it's it helps

I'm laughing because it takes me back to the picture of you the beast. It's the funniest visual I've ever seen.

How I went. He's out of his spreaking mind.

I mean, I can't believe they got just by comparison, Renee Russo and I, well, Rocky and Bullwinkle had to run through a field of tall grass out in the.

Ranch up in northern California that could be very dangerous.

Essentially before thank you, before we did it, they sent the snake ranger through several rattlesnakes out of our path. Forty minutes later, they go, okay, we're good to go. I go, you don't want to send the snake the snake guy through it. Well, he cleared the path and the memo went out to the other snakes that this path is no good. So it's They wanted to film it in fast motion show would look like we really ran and went you won't need.

To just run.

You won't believe how fast these fat little legs can go.

All right, let's do new thing. How about this. You once spent six weeks learning to roller skate, Well it wasn't six weeks. Oh you're supposed to guess he did. For a reason. It led me on it. It wasn't next week we had.

I had about two and a half three weeks maybe two before that episode on Malcolm was happening, so I had to quickly get on I.

Had to learn in a week.

We went to an audition for a musical I eventually did, called The Rink. Yeah, And in the first audition they go you roller scale right, and I go, absolutely, never been on them in my life. So I rented skates at a store where we had to give them your shoes.

Yeah. So now I'm in a pair of skates and I don't know what to do.

And the only place I could think of where they're skating at the time, because this was nineteen eighty.

Four, was Central Park, Central Park.

So I crawled up to get to Central Park to where the guys with the boombox you were and I saw two guys and I went, Guys, I have to learn how to do this in a week.

Can you help me?

They said, well, the first thing you're going to do is get those stoppers off your skates. Those are the thanks keeping me a lot. They pulled, they pushed me on my ass, took the stoppers now. Oh, and then legitimately tried to teach me to skate, and I it was good enough that I could get the job. And then then we went into skate school for several months. But but yeah, in a week, I hit the school. Yeah, they put the six of us in the show. We went to the Roxy roller rink in New York. And

But I know. That's also the character on the teenage newtont Ninja Turtles.

But April was a champion roller skater, beautiful young woman and she got us in two in six weeks prior to rehearsal, she got six guys who had never been on skates, skating line champs.

We were playing soccer un rollers.

Wow.

Yeah.

My guy was Fred Tallikson, who was a choreographer for that that show on Broadway that you oh, Starlight Starlight Express. And he was terrific and he got me going. And I guess you shoot the doctor.

Remember shooting? Now I feel left out? He is who is not a military code break? A military car breaker? You can break the military cards. Oh see, here's the thing with your question. Why would you even put that on the table? Yes or no? Yes? No horse craft? You know what was cash?

This?

This is Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash was a military code breaker. In fact, it's reported he was the first American here news of the death of Joseph Stalin.

Johnny ca right, like whoa can cry on cue? Can cry on Q? Yes or no? Brian Christ who else he's sitting here? Who else? What I do? I would imagine you can Yeah? If you're carrying it right now, you know he's thinking about driving here. We used to on the soap operas. Uh, the look at that.

Yeah?

The women do it physically or do you do it by memory? Both? It's a both physical thing man and the physical part of it. The women on the soap opera who you know, they would call it a cry day.

I have a cry day on Thursday, and so they would start hydrating, hydrating, and you just get really hydrated, and then you put your mind to it, focus and then bang, bang it starts coming.

Margarabi, I saw an interview where they said can you cry on cue?

And she went sure, and they said can you do it now? She said, which I did he? Did he or did he not? Meet Charles Manson?

Yeah, I did read that that you were on the spawn ranch taking a horse riding Lesson.

Yeah, it was exactly right, Charley, And you found out afterwards he was Charles Manson.

It was creepy enough. It was creepy enough at the moment.

At that moment, it was very creepy because he was high as a kite on horseback and he was being his reins of his horse were being held by someone else. And he was just undulating on this horse but he had no control and he was just flopping around. It was the weirdest thing.

And he had the blackest, blackest eyes.

Yeah, everything was black about it, and his hair down below his shoulders and he was just Wow.

Kids, let's go for writing lessons to spawn. Okay, as we said, a lot of written about you, it's not accurate. Does does this man actually have a project assessment scale where he has a numerical system for deciding on roles he takes things he's going to do well.

That brings us back to Michael Kin with which we began this thing. The Michael Caine once said, how does he decide on a roll? He said, if only.

Opened a script and he sets the tandra a frozen waistland, I'll put that script down, says niece, a gorgeous sun filled beach, bikini clad women splashing through the waves.

I'll make that you have a whatever.

The equivalent would be the Ben Franklin Ledger sheet, where you have the pluses and minuses and it's certain, callie, you go do it.

It's it's it's called the capsist because the crants and assessment projects.

Yeah, and I do.

I had to during the great good fortune of things happening for me. The energy that an actor puts out in trying to find work is matched with the energy if you get lucky of the energy coming at you for work. And it's the better place to be, of course, but you're still trying to figure out what you should do. And I had to come up with a system that valued these things and not be taken in. So the amount of money that was being offered is never on

What is the story? Did it move me?

Did it resonate? Is it important? And those it went? If I react to it strongly, I'm in I did Little Miss Sunshine, I had one day on Little Miss Sunshine because I reacted so strongly to reading the script, and I went to the directors and I said, I would love to be in your movie. And they said, we already have Greg Canear, we already have Steve Carell.

But you use it like I used it to decide on what apartment to rent as far as distance, and not that you use it for other things. Well, I do, take yeah, there you go, Yeah I do.

I didn't realize that until recently that I have a numerical kind of system for things and.

You still came here, which is really amazing. I guess we Well it was. It was on the low end, but I had nothing else going on. And that's the other thing that was the last one on this that was Robinson. Get out of that. I just maintained a lion tame a lion? Does he ever tame the lion? All right? Let me think he was not in born free? He's not.

He hasn't done the gunther Gable Williams story. Tamed the lion is not the same as being in a thing with a lion tamed it trained, it took it from wild beast to domesticated.

Expanding this one. No, he did not. It was Christopher Walker. That makes sense that the Christopher Walker there was a lion. See, you can do it too. Trying to teach me how to do a lion.

You know what, when you're doing walking, what you have to do is listen to Kevin Pollack, do it right, that's.

The way, and then just mimic him.

He said that the secret to doing uh Christopher walkan was to take one syllable and make it too.

No.

No, have you reacted with him? No, I would like a trip. Would you not be a trip? Yeah?

I really would, Because you have to be on your toes because toes, because you don't know what he's.

Going to stop a sentence. Yeah, that's a terrible Christopher walking, thank you.

Very much, worse than mine. I feel better about my and that's why I do it. I'm here to make people feel better about themselves. Screw you, Brian Krant a nice guy or so resting mean face. Don't forget so before you go, I realized something about the two iconic characters. Even though George Constanza was in a comedy and you was Walter White were in a drama, your characters had a lots of things in common.

Would you like to hear comment?

Okay, so, first of all, both steal Walter White stall evolvo avolvo to get home, right, George stall a hat from somebody's apartment and a clock so he could get back into the apartment.

Have no memory, no memory. You're both poisoned people. I did slip a guy at Mickey.

No, you're also son of Jesse Pinkman, and your wife died on the show with the with the envelope.

She was poisoned. His susan your wife to be right, but his wife didn't die. Walter was no.

I mean he's poisoned someone. I said, you poisoned someone, poisoned someone. You both have aliases? Yes, right, Heisenberg art Vandale right right, you both faked being disabled.

You you fake fu state. Yes, George had.

A cane and realized he could access to the private bathrooms, et cetera if he used it, so he played this disabled. Yes, all right, you're both impatient. You lashed out at Skylar. You said, right right now, what I need is for you to climb down out of my ass?

Can you do that? Will you do that for me? Honey?

And George said to Gwen, who's trying to break up with him, you're giving me this, not me, it's you. I invented the not you with me. I mean it's very similar. And both of you were robbed. You were robbed and managed to keep nine million. He was robbed of eight million dollars in a wallet by a woman who tied him to a bed because that's all he had on Pretty amazing, right.

I wonder if there's sometimes the same character the same character.

So what I'd like to do is an exercise. This would be really interesting, you know, in a way. I should have had six seas. And by the way, is it true, is it true that they were looking at possibly Matthew Broderick for Walter White.

They were looking at everyone. Steve's on Matthew Broderick. There were several different people that they were looking at. And it was only because Vince Gilligan was my champion to get this, because I happened to do an episode of The X Files where he wrote that episode, and the character he wrote that I played was a despicable human being, but despite that, you still had some sympathy for him

Just as a great tribute if I may to how I really know how the business works and what things are going to go and what or not. I don't think I've ever told you this. Brian and I were doing a play together around the time he was doing the pilot for Breaking Bad, and he very casually said to me, yeah, I've done this pilot. If it goes, it shoots in New Mexico, and you know I'm probably be spending a lot of time in New Mexico.

I said, what it's about.

He said, well, I play a chemistry teacher who's dying of cancer. So to provide for his family, I start cooking crystal meth. And I said, yeah, hey, don't buy any property.

Yeah you don't. You don't want to. He's not the guide.

I would not be the guy to or to oversee your your cap system. I would not be that guy. But if you read that script, I would have been away by it. Of course I would.

And that's the thing. I got two iconic character here. I just want to say, because you can cry on on cue, how quickly you can both get into that car, how quickly you can get into Walter White and Jason can get into George three to one go? Well, I just had my name.

I just have to put on glasses. He has to shave his head. That's not Walter White, that's not Heisenberg. And first of all, why Heisenberg? Why and what and what's what the hat?

Yeah? What was what the hat? You talk a lot, little man. I'm scared. I'm supposed to be scared now right. I don't live in his world. Blue myth?

Was the blue mistake or did you plan that? Did it come out blue and you went, let's leave it came out blue?

Why not? Probably? I would watch the George Constanzo Walter White interview show. Can you imagine those if Jesse had been George Constanzi.

And by the way, the other thing you that going for you increased hair loss. Anyway, thank you for coming with. God's amazing about you. I look at your hair and even.

That's what you want out on. That's what you decided was the little filigree you needed to put on.

The interview the hair ill agree, Yeah, it has to do with retirement. Yeah, thank you for coming in. The amazing thing about you is I always see you as a nice, warm guy, loving guy, and it's nice. You'll never link to you. It's it's so hard even when I when I saw you with the head shape, it's so hard. And then you watch that character. It's such a disengagement. You did such a job with that character. It was so truthful and so thank honestly, that guy.

It leads you. And sometimes you look at a script like that, and you go, don't mess it up.

Just coming back again because Malcolm's coming back again, right, You're doing a Malcolm reunion.

We're talking about the possibility of doing some something twenty years later to see what this family is up to, because the boys now and Malcolm are all grown and so they have their own lives and things like that.

So it's kind of curious, very cool.

I'm going to end it with one other thing too. I hope in my own way that you find the time that you want for you and I pray to God that you never stop being a storyteller, because you are one of the best I've ever seen.

There is nothing you can't do, and you are one of the guys. And I'm lucky to know a few of them.

We're lucky enough to know a few of them who reach a level of extraordinary success and everyone around them goes, yeah, yeah, good.

I appreciate that, man.

Thank you.

You're a great pal man. Thank you man. We brought them in because Michael Kank's retiring. We want to talk about how artists retire. An artist he's not retiring. Yeah, it was a bit of a BS thing. I'm retiring. And then he said. However, I'm not Brook, he did say, which is big.

He's selling the liquor company, selling the production stuff, the American company.

He's gonna I see where he's going. I totally get it.

Now.

First of all, let me ask you a question. Would you I know you can't because you need to work constantly.

Yes, I could retire. I could retire us so far financially underwater. I could retire, But then you would be fitting many many people. But would you ever retire?

I'll tell you honestly, And you know this. I could have cut back and done a lot less and been fine. This is did this a you know? I create always a vehicle that we can see each other, because if not, you'd be off doing whatever you're doing.

I'd be off. We'd best friends who don't see each other because we're busy. So this was true, by the way. The downside of that is okay, you know, maybe the comedy, but then when adlerkly to the comment, comedy, but but why would I do that?

We get to meet Cranston, and we get to meet scientists, we get to meet the top people. This is this is as good as I'm always saying. I was always been for let me yet is there? Could you ever imagine a scenario?

Right?

So, now you get to be anywhere, have anything, and and participate in anything where you would go, I no longer if I can have all that, so I no longer need to What would that look like if you if you could devise the place where you go?

I am content here just being I don't need to do anything. What would it look?

What's funny is I could you know? I honestly if I hit the lottery today, yeah, I would retire to a beach, like on the beach somewhere. But I know what I'd be doing by the end of the first week. I'd be looking to open a bag go shop. I'd be looking to do something I couldn't see just being in reading and sitting by myself.

I understand.

I I often think about five or six years ago, during COVID particularly, and about a year before that, I felt like things were slowing down significantly, and the calls weren't coming, the interesting stuff wasn't coming. And I looked in the mirror and I went, you know what, I really enjoy making my pottery, and I really enjoy almost more than anything else. I enjoy teaching, and I thought, you know what, I had a great run. Thank you for a wonderful career. I don't need to work anymore.

So I understand a scenario in I couldn't do nothing, but that gives you purpose.

But I would get up every day to go let me talk to some students who want to try and understand crash and so a different kind of purpose. But I think the only people I've ever met who are miserable in retirement are the ones that go I play golf every day, and they do and they enjoy that, but it it isn't quite the next channel.

Because they have schedules, but they don't have stuff. But all these new communities are cross generational and they give you things to do, to be communities that are developed because it used to be we locked older people and you just waited for them to die. Now they want to be out, they want to do more, and they're creating communities with that in mind.

Let's go before we wrap to Google Hunt. We see what he has to say about our See.

Yeah, he's not retiring.

He's taken a pause, right, But listen, you never know what's going to happen when you do those things.

You might have some sort of epiphany.

And and I think what you guys have actually been talking about is what the modern definition of retirement is.

It's not just being in a room and watching television anymore.

And so I put together a list of a few things that people do do and basically go into retirement with intention versus stopping whatever the work was, Yeah, adopting a pet, something to care for, establishing a routine, working part time, teaching as as Jason said.

One of the things that.

Actually and this is service strange one, especially when you're talking about older people who are retiring, becoming an online gamer has been shown in research that that can improve brain function and memory.

And older adults. So you know, maybe you want to do a little twitch thing.

But I almost my friend's grandmother her on grand Theft Auto. She can blow people away, kill, kill them, kill them. If Froger is still the thing, mys was a master Frogger, we should do you still have that box?

Do you still have the arcade thing in the house?

If you saw the episode A truck took it out as I was willing across the right.

Well, well as long as the batteries exactly. But here are some some hobbies I know, uh Jason, I know you have the pottery and and Peter, I I know you.

Have well you.

So here here's the few.

I'm just gonna throw out some ones that maybe hadn't thought about. You could learn to play chess, geocachhing. Geo cashing is a thing for a lot of hell Na. Geocashing. It's like a worldwide treasure hunt. You like go into the woods and you find something that's buried.

Like, how am I? It's not? Then it's not a mad is there? Is it virtual? Or is there real stuff?

It's real.

It's like you use virtual technology, but it leads to an actual thing.

Everybody knows there's a thing buried in the woods, they go and get By the time I get onto the jail side, it's gone.

You know what I discover it's gone. You should have been here yesterday, miss, that's our game yesterday if we watched it.

I was, So.

It's the cheapest have to do because we don't actually have to do it. Shuldar. It just comes up should have been here yesterday.

Letter writing, podcasting, podcasting.

You know it's global warming. The ice cups are melt because there's so many podcasts. The iceberg went, you know what, another podcast and.

The last one, and this would actually help us puppeteering.

Love that. I'm sure you know what.

And if you're retiring today, if your single puppeteering is gonna make it's going to change your lives.

Jim Henson do when he retires, and Brian had died, his son, Brian Henson runs this company.

They took over the Frank Oz. What is he gonna do?

Thank you, Thank you, Brian wo Yeah, he's my buddy and I he's one of the great people, great actor, great director. And when he goes into the resting scary face, the face, I know that's why he can't retire.

We don't want him at rest. Thank you, Thank you, Thanks everybody. Announcer, Noah, now really now, really, there's.

Another episode of really, no really comes to a close. I know you're wondering, does every celebrity own an alcohol brand? Well, yeah, pretty much, and I'll tell you who owns what in a moment. But first let's thank our guests. Brian Cranston. You can follow Brian on Instagram at Exit Brian Cranston

And that's just a sampling.

By the way, everyone, I just named ozus an advertising fee which can be paid to the Alexander Untilden alcohol rehab Center, which will be opening in about thirty.

Minutes from now.

Cheers, Everybody. Really No, Really is a production of iHeartRadio and Blase Entertainment.