I'm one of those guys that if I see somebody that I was with for a long time, I'm the happiest. I go, Oh, my God. Hey. They're trying to hide behind a thing and their face and their hand is in front of their face. I'm like, Oh, my God. How's your life? Are you enjoying a kid? It's me, Josh. It's my new baby.

Isn't this crazy?

Welcome back to Where Everybody Knows Your Name. It's me, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson, Sometimes. Today is a Woody day, and our guest is one of our favorite actors working today, Josh Brolin. His films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. That's just irritating. No, sorry. I don't know why I said that. I'm not the jealous type. He's worked with many of our greatest living directors, the Cohn brothers, Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, Paul Thomas Anderson. He was the voice of the most famous villain since Dorth Bader, Vannels. Recently, he was in Dune 2, and he stars in the fantastic sci-fi series on Amazon Prime called Outer Range. Outer Range is now in its second season. Please check it out. Mary and I were glued to the first season. It's an amazing, amazing show. Anyway, I can't wait to share with you this conversation with Josh Brolin. You work with my wife, Mary Steenberg, who we all know is a very honest person. So these stories will be true. Yeah. My understanding is you guys were making a film in Austin, and you, who are really good at impressions and doing other people's voices, called up as the second AD and told her that her call had been changed and sent her in the exact opposite direction of where the set was.

As far as possible. Yeah.

So she then called the office and said, Really? I thought this was my day off. And they went, It is. And then things fell into place for her. And your comeuppance. Can I tell the story? Do you remember your comeuppance? Probably not. That's such a good one.

No, I do.

You do.

Here's Mary's comeuppance.

I can't believe. Which was, by the way, a genius.

A genius, yeah. Everyone was enjoying all the food in Austin, but going, Oh, my God, we're going to gain weight and all of this stuff.

I was supposed to be in shape.

Yeah. Which I was. Yeah, and you were in shape and all of that. Mary goes to the wardrobe Department and says, Here I would love you to do. Once every two or three days, take his pants, his Levi's or whatever, the same pair that you wore all the time as a character. Take it in about a half inch every two or three days.

But make sure to leave the same number on there. Yeah. Don't I'd walk it up and get a different pair of pants and have a different number.

So you would come out- This is a two and a half week long process.

She knew somehow that I was like, leaking fried chip in Austin during that time. Oh, really? During that time. Oh, that's great.

So you were concerned about your work?

I was concerned because I started asking people. I go, Do I look bigger to you? No. No, you look good. You look good. I said, Really? I don't look big. And then I was doing this. Stretching this? Yeah, I was doing this. I'd walk around. Doing squats.

Yeah.

I'm like this. I'm trying to stretch it out. Maybe they washed it too much. Don't wash my pants anymore.

And everybody's really good about keeping the secret. We were dying laughing. Then finally, towards the end of that two and a half weeks, it getting worse and worse for you. She said, Okay, go the full Monte. Just really take it in. They could hear screams inside.

Yeah, dude, because it only went up to my knees at that point. I literally... It was a night shoot. I'll never forget it. I went from a 32, and I think it was down to a 27 or something, and I got it to my knees, and I literally felt red rage. At myself. You fat, you undisciplined. And I was jumping, trying to pull it up and pull it up. And finally, the door slams open and I scream, Wardrobe. I have to take it out on somebody else because I'm an actor. There was Mary and like 30 people right outside the door. What's wrong? What's wrong, Josh? No, they weren't even saying what's wrong. They were cracking up. But she did say- Pointing.

She did tell you to check your front pocket. There was a note inside the pocket. Was that? I don't remember that part. It said, got you.

Oh, baby. Maybe you're right. The got you was all I was in.

I was very proud of her.

That's very good. It's really good, actually. When you're a young actor who's looking up to other actors, and Woody was one of those actors, and Sean was one of those actors. Nick was one of those actors. That you literally look at you go, God, if I could do work that's that dangerous, that's that visceral and emotional and dangerous.

You did work with Sean, and I believe nominated in your work with Sean. Oh, Milk?

Yeah. I worked with him Milk. Part of that role came out of you and me and your wife and Eddie Vetter and Sean seeing into the wild, or maybe no country, in Toronto. And then we all had a night together. And then Matt Damon was supposed to play my role in milk, and Matt had a conflict. And then Sean said, What about Josh? And I think that came out of that night, which was quite a night, by the way.

You're so compelling and interesting to watch. Everything you've done, I just love watching. And you playing W, I got to admit it first. I'm like, How's Josh Brolin playing Bush?

That's good.

It just couldn't seem more different. But what a performance that was. Thanks, man. What a fucking performance.

And Oliver, too, who you've worked with in a big way. That was at that point. It was You trust somebody. You just trust that they're going to... I remember he wanted to do something much more like hammering. And I was like, why? Isn't it more interesting to look at this guy and have that see the humanity in him and be even more confused about this guy who ended up, who was the forever misfit who ended up as President? And then look at what we're dealing with, the ultimate misfit. It's like there's It was a parallel for sure. But it was fun to get into that. It was fun. I didn't leave my house. I literally left my house once. I went from my house to work to my house to work because I was so scared about not getting it right and just staying in it, staying in it. I never understood that thing about staying character and staying until that. You're like, you don't want to talk to anybody. You don't want to just want to stay in that zone.

You are really good, from my point of view, impersonator, mimic, whatever, dialects. Did you work on Bush a lot? Forever. Or was it forever?

Forever. I mean, that's the- You're just listening to his speeches. Just listening to his speeches and trying. What's it? There's that thing on the computer, Garage Band. I would tape myself and then listen to myself. I did the same thing when I did Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black 3. It's an impossible accent. It's literally the the most insane, schizophrenic Lee created and structured accent because you have this guy who's like, yeah, he's a cowboy, but then he also went to Harvard. And there's a confusion in there that is so personal to him, in contrast. So he has this lilt, this cadence that I couldn't figure out. And I literally, for days, maybe even weeks, trying to get one sentence. And it's the same thing with It wasn't as tortured because when you got it, I remember, I used to walk around and I'd go, there was a word, America, America. And I would do it all the time on the set. And Elizabeth Banks would follow me around and go, America, America.

I remember when Bush said his explanation for why they flew go into the towers. They hate freedom.

They hate freedom. I look forward to a day where women and fish can coexist. You're like, what the fuck did he just say? What?

As an ocean advocate, I appreciate it and women's rights. There you go.

Then Sam Rockwell also, he did it later in the movie that he did with Christian Bale. What was it called? Vice. And he was great. He was fantastic. Very different, but fantastic. It's funny. That's the one thing about being a director that I got off because being an actor, I'm not a very competitive guy. I think I am innately. But when you're with somebody, so you're with actors, it's different. Old-school people, it's different. Then you got your new actors, and there's always this weird vibe. There's It's like a thick viscous air. You know what I mean?

Of competition?

Of competition or something. Anyway, my point is that I never really enjoyed working with actors. A few, but not a lot. And when I was directing, it was so much fun to work with actors because I think I love celebrating people. And yet with actors like now, They're waiting to be celebrated. They're waiting to be caressed. Do you know what I mean? And then when you're directing actors, they look like they're just shitting their pants. You know what I mean? There's insecurities and all this that you're seeing, and they don't even They're not even conscious of it. And you're coming up and hopefully being able to facilitate them being more comfortable with being naked and exposed. And that was really, really fun.

That's so cool. I'm so happy for you, man.

Can't do that as an actor. Hey, man, you know what you should do?

You look a little like you're being insecure.

Can I help in any way? You seem really secure in this scene that you're doing with me. It must be demeaning for you.

You've worked with a lot of great directors, but what about working with Oliver? I just specifically got to know what... I don't think I've talked with you about it. Maybe I have.

No, I don't think we have.

Yeah, that's a very unique person. Brilliant person.

Brilliant person.

Break down unique. You're laughing.

What is unique to you? One time when I was doing Natural Born Killers, and we had this scene where it's inside a pharmacy and the cops come and they shoot out all this glass. And I'm running as they're shooting out all this glass. These giant windows, huge. Three huge fucking windows as big as this whole wall here. And I'm supposed to be running and then I jump behind something. And Oliver says, because of the glass and everything, he goes, This is an hour and a half reset. Don't fuck it up. Rolling. I'm like, Motherfucker. That's my pep talk.

That's That's the opposite of what I'm talking about, literally. There's no support.

I can't imagine you being that direct. But what was it like to be directed by... Did you guys ever butt heads? You must have butted heads.

We did in the In the beginning, there's something about, and I'm saying this objectively, there's no ego in this. I don't think. I think that there's something about me that I've learned through the years that scares people. Do you know what I mean? There's like, oh, he's really fun and funny. But if he wasn't, it would probably not be good. I think Oliver picked up on that. He's like, yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Woody is that way, too. Definitely.

Woody is definitely that way.

Definitely Woody has that.

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I want to work with him and see if he'll say no.

Can I take you back here? You've talked about drinking or sobriety. What was there a, Oh, my gosh, what will my creative process be like now that I'm sober? Was there ever maybe some of this great stuff I'm doing is because I'm drinking?

No, no. Socially, yeah. I think I got a lot of jobs because of what, or at least that's what I think, it's probably not true, because of how I was socially when I drank. It was fun until it wasn't fun. So no, it was more socially. I mean, even Men in Black 3, and I know you run tapes in your head to try and justify the continuing of your whatever you're doing that's quote, unquote working. But I remember Barry Sonnenfeld saying, I heard you do a Tommy Lee impression when me and him and the Coens were out. I didn't even remember doing it, which turned into me doing that movie, which the studio didn't want me. They wanted Wallberg. And then I auditioned for it after I had gotten it. I I saw this little setup and I didn't really understand what was happening. They said, We would love to hear some of the words. We're rewriting. And I realized it was like a second, not even a second, our first audition, even though I had already signed the contract. So there was this mistrust or distrust or whatever it is. But I think, yeah, it was socially.

It was never... No, I knew that I was on perpetual LSD anyway, just in life. And that it It was socially that I didn't know how to... I'm like, okay, so when you're sober... I've heard my dad say it. He's like, if you get... What do you talk about? I heard Will Patty say that. He was working with Kevin Costner, and they asked him if he wanted to go out, and Jean Hackman, and he goes, But what would we talk about? You see the fear in his eyes. Like, real fear. Do you get through a minute of like, and then we did that, and now what? There's the rest of the dinner. Yeah. And I think I've gotten beyond that. I think.

Yeah.

Yeah. They talk about hitting bottom. And I was doing shit at 15 that was far worse than what. That last night that I drank, there was a hit and run at Del Taco. There was that. I woke up on the sidewalk. I didn't know where my car was. And it wasn't that that was rare. That was just the It was the 400th time that had happened. It was so normal when I woke up. But my grandmother was on her deathbed. I was supposed to have picked up my brother and taken them because I was the one in the family that put everything together and structured everything and controlled everything. Anyway, I woke up on the sidewalk, went inside. My brother called me, Where are you? Picked him up, walked into that hospital eventually, and my grandmother, who was 99 at the time, picked her head up. Everybody knew when I walked into the room, picked her head up and looked at me and smiled, and that was it. I was done. I said, If this woman could get through 99 years on her on life's terms, how dare me?

That's a great phrase on life's terms.

On life's terms. I said, How dare me? I'd gotten away. I was 45 years old, and I had gotten away with a lot. Been in jail nine times, done a little bit of whatever. So I thought, I wonder if I could do that half of life like that and then do this half of life like this. Then I get to live two lives and not just one.

Well done, bud. That's cool.

And do you ever, when you go out and you're hanging with people and they're having some wine or whatever, do you ever say to yourself? Never. Not that you're going to drink it, but do you ever- No, no, no.

You don't ever feel like- You don't ever feel like- Like I got to leave right now?

No, no. But do you ever feel like- Or I start convulsing.

Or I start convulsing?

I don't know. Can I smell it? Can I smell your glass? Yeah.

Can I smell your mouth?

Can I smell your mouth? Stick your nose in there.

Different story.

The bouquet. But do you ever feel like, Jesus Christ, man, I am dying to have a drink?

No. You don't? No.

Because the decision's made and it's just- No, it's not even the decision.

I feel like something's been cultivated in me that I helped cultivate that my life now is better than my greatest romance of any drink I could have. I actually like my life. Not that I didn't before because I loved it before, except when I would write indecypherable texts. I didn't like that.

In sobriety, everything is possible without it.

It's that, and I remember about four years, and I wasn't looking for it, and I wasn't trying to cultivate it. Four years into sobriety, I remember when my older kids, my kids who are 35 and 30 now, trusted me, and I saw it in their eyes. So before that, it was always like, You You know dad. You know dad. He's crazy. Everybody talks about Josh being crazy. Josh is on edge. Josh is this. Josh is that. And I lived off that. I loved that stuff because otherwise, if the people aren't talking about you, you're invisible. You don't exist. You have no character. You don't exist.

I've gotten used to it. That's awful. Don't say that.

But then you get to a point where you're like, fuck it. I'm interested in walking this labyrinth. I want to see what I can create out of this this cauldron.

Can I go back to... Because I wanted these Ceto rats. Is that what they call it? Yeah, sito rats. I never wanted sito rats. What is that? You guys did your research? Oh, Monocina Monacido. Monacido. Is that Yacido, right?

It was Monacido. Monacido, which is perceived, which I think it was then, too, like some rich, but it wasn't like that then. But there was a group of guys. So I don't know if you ever heard of the Bra Boys in Maruba. It's a It's not a club, but it's a group of guys, and it was a time around the same time, and they all had tattoos My Brother's Keeper. And you can see a documentary on them, and it's an amazing... And I know all those guys. I know all those guys from those different surf cultures. So there's Dehuy in the North Shore, which Eddie Rothman, I know really well. I know Kalab really well. I know all those guys. So there was Dehuy, there was Wolfpack, and then there was Ceto Rats, which was our guys in Santa Barbara.

But you were saying there was an amazing mix, like rich, poor, famous parents. Yeah.

Yeah, there's only a couple of those. But then there were other. There was Jason Sears, who was the singer of Rich Kids on LSD. That was a punk band, a hard core band that ended up doing really well. And that was our group. I think that was from the Ceto Rats. And then there was a dad who owned a restaurant in the area. And it was just different economically. They were all over the place. A mechanic. There was the O'Donnells. The dad was the mechanic in the area. And it was just, I think because it was the '80s, there was a lot of, and I don't say this from a victim point of view, but there were a lot of parents that were just doing their own thing. There was a lot of partying going on. So kids were just left to their own demise, at least in our in our... How old were you? We banded together. Probably 11. When I met those guys, they wasn't the Ceto Rats yet, but it was me and Jason and Mike Herbert and a few other guys and Will Mohler. And then that around 13 or 14, turned into a thing, and that went on until it didn't exist anymore.

And you guys would all go surf together.

We would hang out at Butterfly Beach all day, every day. We would get up. When we had school, at least in the beginning, we'd get up probably 4:30 in the morning, ride our bikes down to the beach with our boards, surf, whether there were waves or not, end up in school, sleep in school, get out of school, go right back to the ocean, surf. It was every day and then all weekends.

But yeah, most- It sounds idyllic.

It's amazing if you think about it. And now it's some. And there's always this tragic ending, which is horrible. But a lot of this, 36 of those guys probably had a 50 guys died during the heroin epidemic and during some other things, car wrecks and drinking and all that. But amazing human beings, man. I mean, literally a family that you would hope for. True loyalty. And I think that's something that's bled into my life. And I get off on that, rallying people up. And I mean, we were like that on no country. Javier was sitting in his haircut and his whatever in his one bedroom apartment with the shades drawn and dark. And you're just like, bro, got to get out of your fucking head. I'm never going to get late again. And you're like, Come on, it's going to be fun. And me and him and Woody would go out and we'd have a blast. I like that whole community Immunal thing. I've always liked that.

It's one of the great things about this business. When you do a project and you come together and it's so tight, but then the worst part of it is- It ends. You're like, I'm going to see you and we're all going to get together. And then suddenly Where is everybody?

It's the weirdest. And I think my daughter, going back to my daughter becoming an actress, would call me after a movie or something and saying, What is this feeling? I was like, That's that thing. Because you get so close to people. It's so intimate. Especially if you're doing projects that are good, then you're more exposed than I think you would be if it was some... Not to put, like some series or some cosmetic whatever that you were doing, and it didn't have any creative possibilities or outlet. You get super close. I got super close with him, super close with Javier, super close with Kelly McDonald. When I did Dune recently, I mean, this is like some of my closest friends. It's wild, though. I think it's really wild with Javier. When was no country? 18 years ago or something. And then you get older, and then you do another movie together. The idea of a director saying, what if we got Josh and Javier in the same movie again? You're like, that's really cool. And then these old guys show up. And it's not as, I think the mentality toward the work is different. I think back then it was like, not that it's not now, but all in.

And now it's like, this is what we do. This is what we've done for 39 years. And This is what we do. Then we go home.

Was it an odd thing for you? I'm sorry. No. No. But having James Brolin as a father, being this incredible actor, and as a kid, you were like... I know you grew up a little away from the Hollywood vibe, but what was it like?

Definitely like a shadow, shadow where you wanted... And I think it was a good thing for me because our traject are very different. But I think in the beginning, it was always like, Oh, you're Jim's son. I remember there was one time or two times, it was a casting director that said, Oh, you want to... I walked in and I had a couple of monologs that I had learned. And she said, I don't remember who it was, but she said, So you want to be an actor, huh? And I go, Yeah. And she goes, Aren't you Jim's son? I go, Yeah, it's my dad. Said, and she said, Oh, okay, well, act. I go, What? She goes, Act. And I said, Well, I have a couple of monologs and all that. And she goes, That's what I thought. Thanks for coming in. And I was like, what? And that's the flip side of like, I'm not going to help you because of this nepotistic thing that we know happens, which is impossible. We all know it can get you in the door in the beginning. And then if you don't prove yourself, you're boom, that's it.

And nobody knows that. Nobody cares. So I think that that idea, because of things like that happening, you have this blanket that you think exists, and there's a couple of different proofs that it does exist. So you're like, okay, I'm going to go do theater. And I met this guy, Anthony Zerby, which was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, who's my best friend who I just saw. He's 87 now. I just saw him.

I love him.

We just had breakfast together, and he was somebody who We did this series called Young Writers, which was a Western. And every kid on that series, after you do 22 episodes, what is it called? The Hiatus. Everybody, you want to do a movie. Got to get a movie. This is all This is all building this thing. You have to build this structure. And Zerby came up to me and he said, Come with me to Rochester, New York, and do a play. And I was like, No, man, I got to do a movie. I'm like, I'm going to fall way behind in the race. And I did. And I ended up doing... He had this thing of three plays in rotating rep, three new plays in rotating rep. I did two of the three, and I did that for five years.

Every summer?

Every summer. And then I started doing other theater beyond that.

He was a mentor, wasn't he?

I never looked at it as... I think now it's like, of course, he was a mentor, but he was just one of those guys that I'd get up to go to and I'd open my front door and there'd be 17 plays or books. And you'd go check this, and I'd read every one. Then you'd go, There's William Blake, and Here's this, and Read these poets, and then Read these plays, read Mammet, read this, read this. So I got this great education in my early 20s that I don't think would have happened had it not been for him.

That's fantastic.

Great person. Amazing human being. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. Did you talk about your mom?

Yeah, all the time.

Wasn't she an animal activist? Mary is prodding this story about somebody who... Was it a reporter or somebody came? She had big cats. Tell me. Talk to me. All right.

So I just sold this book. I just wrote this book. I just sold it to Harper Collins. And it's not published yet. It'll be published in a year. And I wrote a bunch of stories, and some of it's prose poems, some of it's a new I remember reading You poetry back in the day. And then they're just stories. But as we got to Kimberly Witherspoon, who's an inkwell management, who's my lit agent. And she said, You know, there's a lot of stories in here about your mom. And I go, Yeah, she's a big personality. Had a big impact. And then she goes, Well, do you want... Maybe we need to focus on other people. And I would try. Anyway, I totally... The whole point before I get into my mom was people have an impact on your life, and people have an impact on your life when they're bold enough to say what is on their mind. Other people won't. People will say, No, I don't want to create a thing. I don't want to make it feel insecure. My mother was the opposite. My mother had zero filter. So as crazy as she was, and she was absolutely fucking nuts, she was She gave something to me that allows me to open the pores of whatever filters exist.

And I'm really grateful to her for that. So She was animal obsessed, and she ended up working with Fish and Game, and she was a way station for all animals that had been illegally taken out of the wild. And they I had to domesticate them. She'd find those people, have them jailed, nurse them back to health, and either rerelease them or find the most habitable zoo. So we had a lot of animals growing up.

Big cats.

Big cats, wolves, bears, all kinds of stuff. I mean, there's one, there was a guy who was working on our ranch up in Passa Robles, California, Bud Applehance. And my mother was 5'2 from Texas, from Corpus Christi, Texas. And had a voice as deep and severe as any man's voice you've ever heard in your life. And so Bud Applehand, she got this tiger in. Was it a tiger? Yeah, was it lion? It was a lion with a big mane. And it was only for a week or something. And she told him, she said, Look, he's not eating. You have to go in there and show him how to eat. You have to sit next to him and show him, put your face in the bowl and show him how to... He needs help. And And my dad was like, My dad just walked away. And Bud goes, You just want me to get in the thing and just sit down? I mean, he didn't know any better, poor guy. So he goes in there and she goes, We'll sit next to him. And he's like, like this. And the thing's just sitting there with a face on the paws.

And she goes, Now put the bowl up to your face and then just lower your head like you're eating. So he's like, this is a tough, tough dude, country guy. Like that. And then he gets up and the lion goes, you know how they look up like a dog and they just go one eye, the other eye, the other eye. And then he moves forward and she goes, oh, good. He's moving. He's moving. And he moves toward his thigh and the lion opens his mouth. These fucking four, five-inch long fangs. And slowly closes the mouth around the guy's thigh. Around what? The guy's thigh. And you hear the rip of the jeans. And you hear... And Bud's going, His teeth are going into my leg. His teeth are going into my leg. My mom, when she would get nervous, she had this thing, it's like a condition where she would laugh hysterically.

So you hear, The teeth are going into my leg.

The teeth are going into my leg. And she's trying to talk, but she can't because there's just wheezing with this laugh. And she's got a cool king in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other hand, which is always what she had. And she's trying to say, Don't move, don't move. But she can't because she's laughing so hard. And the lion just kept its teeth in there for a while, looked up a couple of other times. He didn't move, and the lion slowly lifted his mouth or opened his mouth and then moved back to where he was. He said, Get me the fuck out of here. And that was in a nutshell. And I haven't told that story a lot, but that was- That's Mary's favorite story. My brother got 60 stitches in his leg. From animals. Felt in with the animal because we had to do it. It was one of those when you give your kids, you want them to... Like a normal, like you as a parent, you get out in there and you're like, Pick up the hay or go feed the dog. We had to feed the wolf. It was a different deal, man.

Go clean lefty's cage, but I'm eight. You're raking and you're looking and you go, If I look too directly in the eye, it's a challenge. But if I look away too much and if I don't make any eye contact, then I'm like that cartoon with the steaming chicken. Yeah, man. And then you go out into life and you become an actor, and it's all good.

It's all good.

All those skills. All those skills. So, yeah, she was really She was something else. She was something else. She went out with a truck driver for six or seven years, looked very much like my dad. He used to truck for Union 76. Spent a lot of time with him. I spent a lot of time in truck stops. And my mother didn't fly. She only drove. And she wanted to go constantly. She was constantly moving. So it was like 50, 60,000 miles a year. But she'd wake us at 2:00 in the morning, which was not uncommon because she was from Texas. And she'd wake us up at 2:00 in the morning, my brother and I, my poor brother. I could deal with it. I was easy at the war thing. And he was like, why? Tears welling up in his eyes. And she'd go, let's go to Water burger. It's like fucking two o'clock in the morning. We have school. She'd go, I need a Water burger now. Let's go. And I'd hear my dad upstairs like, Oh, like trying to hide the I'm trying to dress her or something. And we'd go. And that's not bullshit.

We spent four or five days on the road and we'd go get a water burger, and we'd come home. Then I'd get a note, and Josh was sick or whatever. I miss her, man. I miss her because it was crazy while it was going on. But there's still people who come up to me and they go, God, your mom. I miss your mom. I miss that in life. There's not many people, especially in this day and age, of extreme fear and uncertainty of how to act. It was nice to have somebody who just It's not that she didn't care. She just couldn't help it. How about that? She couldn't help it.

I love you, buddy. I've missed you. I missed you. It's really nice, It's really nice to catch up a little bit and see your face. Are you still writing poetry?

I'm just writing all the time.

Do you sing? Does it go to song ever?

No. My daughter writes really well, and it goes to song, really. She has a beautiful voice. I had a band when I was 24, but it was more like a scratchy voice blues band. But no, it never trans... I don't need it to translate. Somebody said something about, I've always taken pictures, and do you want to do a photography exhibit? I was like, no. Writing is what I do. Writing is my thing. Writing is the number one love. Always has been. Scripps?

No.

Yes, I have, but that's never the point. No.

Just probably- But it's more prose or what?

Prose, stories.

Poems.

It used to be more poems, not so much anymore. More prose, poems, and stories. Yeah. I think the writing is getting better. I think doing this book was the best thing that ever happened to me Because you're not just writing for yourself, but you're writing for somebody else, which has a totally different... And I've become a better writer because of it. I've become a better technician because of it. And it's fun to write in the way that I do and actually understand the grammar around it and how I can best utilize. You know what I mean? So it's been a fun road learning how to be a better writer. But yeah. Well, Pretty cool. Will you tell me something really quick? Because my first instinct when you reached out to me was that you guys have always been really close.

Well, we'd make each other laugh for whatever it was, eight years together on cheers. Nine months out of that year, you're showing up every day and playing and having fun. Woody, for me, because I didn't have that older brother, younger brother thing. Woody was my older brother, younger brother thing. It was all the brothers. Where that... If you don't have a younger brother, older brother thing, you don't know how to compete. He taught me how to compete and yet know that he probably wouldn't kill me, but he might because of the brotherly thing. But it's worth it. It's worth the growth. I got to taste that with Woody, which I love. But then we would each other in a smoky haze once or twice a year. And it was lovely. It was wonderful, but never really got to hang like this. And I hear stories from you, Woody, now that I had no idea. And it's just a joy to hang around.

So this is a bleed over from working together in that thing that we talked about, about how you get so close with people. The intimacy level is so high. And then afterwards, you go, what happened? And that's not something you always felt like it was a major, major loss, not staying that connected with him. Not that you could have, but not having that day after day after day.

Yeah, I think so. And also, I mean, loving somebody or or whatever, needs to be fed.

Totally.

Yeah, I love Woody. Well, not as much as I love you now, having spent whatever it is talking in this setup.

Yeah, it's been a real gift for me. I will Teddy.

Me, good.

Now we get to hang with Josh. I hardly ever see him. I know. We got to spend more time together, dude.

I know, man.

It really makes me so happy just hearing your stories and talking. I got to miss that.

I know. Last time we saw each other was at the Academy Awards. That was the last time. Me, you, and Javier. Yeah, which was a nice moment. That's that moment where you go, yeah, 18 years ago or 17 years ago, this thing that was inseparable.

It wasn't because of that. It was 18 years later, you were all at the Oscar.

We just all were there. We saw each other and it was like, you know.

It's an amazing thing for those who aren't actors to be in this tribe and acting and doing a job together. It is so intensely Honestly, intimate. It is. Even if it's fleeting, sometimes, it is. If you're doing your job, you're opening yourself up as honestly as you can to the other person to let them in.

I love the idea, I think now, especially, and as a 55-year-old guy, especially, and as somebody who has older kids and a four-year-old and a two-year-old. I love this idea. I don't know where this comes from, but of why does it have to only be on a set? So I'm the guy when we're riding, when I'm with a group of guys or a group of new guys riding our choppers or whatever in this old vintage, which looks like an affectation, but it's quite not. And then it's usually the biggest guy who looks like he's spent half of his life in prison. That's the first guy I'll go and give a big hug to and maybe a kiss on the cheek. Where are we going to take it from there? I think that's the part of my mom that came through because I'm like, why does it always... Because I work less because of the kids, I've cut my workload probably in half. But that feeling to me is everything.

I'm nodding my head when you say choppers. You got to tell me what you're talking about.

Choppers. Motorcycle. Motorcycles, but real choppers. Old vintage.

I had you hanging out of a Bell helicopter.

No, no, no. Choppers.

I was so much happier.Choppers..

So much happier.Choppers. 37, knucklehead, 1968, shovelhead, 1956. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. Like old, old and amazing. They break down always. We're going to go to Virginia City at the end of the month. It's like a thousand-mile ride. We'll break down 17 times before we get there, but it doesn't matter.

The one time I had a motorcycle was a 1947 Canadian army bike with a side car.

How great is that?

Yeah, it is cool. It is. Except I I was never allowed to ride a bike ever. The only time I did, because of my parents, was in this movie, Cousins, where my character rides that thing around. Little did I know that it was a Harley, too. You need to be an ace, ace mechanic to have that older bike. It became a flower pot in our backyard. No, it didn't really.

Just a bunch of parts everywhere.

And Our car is growing out of the sidecar.

Yeah. Hey, can I ask you a question? I just wondered about this. You married two actresses. I did. Why would you marry two actresses? God, that's such a good question. When you think after the first time, I'm not going to marry another actress.

But then it happens again.

I love Diane. No, I know. I'm just saying it's wild. That's a good question. You married an actress. This is not a popular question. Can I withdraw it?

No. No, I like it because we talk about this. Not often, but we talk about it because not only that, I was on top of that. I was engaged to an actress, and then I had a couple of actress girlfriends before that. I'm one of those guys that if I see somebody that I was with for a long time, I'm like the happiest. I go, Oh, my God. Hey. And they're trying to hide behind a thing and their face and their hand is in front of their face. And I'm like, Oh, my God. How's your life? Are you joining a kid? It's me, Josh. My new baby. Isn't this crazy? Remember you and me and the sex? That was crazy. Was that? I'm doing that with her now. Life is so much fucking fun, isn't it? That's really how I see it. I realized that not other people, most people don't see it that way. And they're like, Please go away. Please, about face.

That's great.

But fuck it, man. It is a crazy fun life. And that's what was super interesting to me when you called or when you texted me. And I said, there's no reason to do this. And I listed all the ways. And at the end of it, I said, I'm in. Because it sounds to me like you guys together, I'm all in this bubble at the beach right now. We're not doing anything. It It sounds perfect. It sounds perfect.

On my end, what happened was I felt awkward asking you.

I know you said.

You called me out on it in this great, wonderful, poetic, late at night voice message, memo. At one point you said, and sure, I think was the word or something. Kids, we were surrounded by grandkids and would come screaming through right at that point. So I went back and listened to it two or three times. And every time, I couldn't tell if you said sure or not. And then the fucking thing disappears. I didn't know voice memos disappear.

That's what's great about the voice memo is you leave it. And if you don't save it, if it goes to the end, and if you don't save it, it just disappears and it fucks everybody up. It's so much fun.

So I asked these guys, maybe ask them, but I don't know. I don't know if he said yes or no, but ask them.

Of course, I would say yes.

Of course, I would say yes.

Why not? Well, thank you for doing this. Thank you, guys. But you really mean so much. No, I'm glad. It fills me with joy to see you, man.

Me too. I'm the same. It's nice to see you both again. Thanks for this. Yeah, you too, Josh.

Thank you. Thank you for many things.

Of course.

Well, there you are. Josh Broland. Thank you so much for being with us today. Be sure to check him out in Outer Range on Amazon Prime. It is amazing. I've seen the first season and was riveted. He gives a brilliant performance. That's it for this week's show. Special thanks to Woody and to our friends at Team Coco. Tell a friend if you like the show and give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts, if you feel up to it. We will see you next time on Where Everybody knows your name. Take care.

You've been listening listening to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Sometimes. The show is produced by me, nick Leo. Executive producers are Adam Sacks, Colin Anderson, Jeff Ross, and myself. Sarah Federovitch is our Supervising Producer. Our Senior Producer is Matt Apodaka. Engineering and Mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Graal. Talent Booking by Paula Davis and Gina Batista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Anthony Genn, Mary Steembergen, and John Ozebra. Special thanks Special thanks to Willy Navaray. We'll have more for you next time where everybody knows your name.

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