March 5, 2024 • 37 mins
Single-handedly redefining the term “character actor,” the accomplished Richard Kind is surely one of the hardest working people in show business. His resume is unfathomably wide and deep, with over 270 film and television credits, spanning roles that exploit his killer comedic timing, like sitcoms “Spin City” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and those that exercise his dramatic chops, like HBO’s “Luck” and the CBS procedural “East New York.” He’s an actor just as likely to appear in an Oscar-winning feature film as an animated one, to scene-steal a sketch comedy series as to star in an indie short. Kind is also a Tony-nominated stage actor, having appeared on Broadway in “The Producers,” “Funny Girl” and “The Big Knife,” among many others. Richard Kind speaks with host Alec Baldwin about the type of comedians that raised him, how he found his way to the profession after almost attending law school – and why he believes he is the “Costco of acting,”
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Hear's the
Thing from iHeart Radio. If you turn on your device
or television or go to the movies, you're likely to
have the good fortune of enjoying the work of my
guest today. Who else has such a prolific output a
starring role in a Coen Brothers movie, one Moment, and
(00:24):
a cameo in a network sitcom. Only one of the
hardest working people in show business, Richard Kind Kind single
handedly redefine the term character actor. Memorable roles on Spin
City and Curb Your Enthusiasm exploit his killer comedic timing,
while HBO's Luck and the Oscar winning Argo exercise his
(00:47):
dramatic chops. He lends his voice to animated films like
Cars and Inside Out, and then graces the stage as
a Tony nominated Drama Desk winning theater actor, and his
stage resume is deep, dirty, rotten Scoundrels, The Tale of
the Allagist's Wife, Candide, and kiss Me Kate. He even
(01:09):
starred as Max bi Ali Stock in the iconic mel
Brooks musical The Producers, kiss Me, Squeeze Me, Touch Me,
Love Me? What Are They? And the producers hulled me,
touch me, hold me. You played that part I did
Where did you do that part? Broadway and the Hollywood
Bowl and Mel wants me to do it in London
now Broadway mean after they when they left, you came
(01:31):
on or.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I did it? I did it? I call it. I
did it for Asians and Iowans because they got all
of the New Yorkers. Then Stephen Weber and it was
Henry Goodman, and then Brad Oscar did it for a while,
and they got some of the New Yorkers who couldn't
afford the expensive seats, and got smart people from all
over the country, you know, from cities. And then when
(01:54):
there's nobody left, that's when I came in the show.
I swaart of did I didn't? But I did it
with about eight different leos. Whenever there was a leo
that was gonna go out on the road, they would
put him in for three days to see what he
was like with me, and I would test him. And
there was one guy. One he's a lovely, lovely guy,
Patrick and I can't remember his last name. He has
(02:16):
a Broadway stalwart and so he's but he's built like
a bricks. No, no, no, no, no, he's playing Leo.
Nobody you would know.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He's built like a brick shootout and he's playing Leo.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And he's playing Leo. And at the end of the act,
I put my arm around him, you know, and go,
we're gonna do it. We'll do it like that. And
I go, oh my god, this guy could pommel me.
But he's been in twenty Broadway shows. He's a real stallwarty.
But he's a he's a guy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
There's a lot of people on Broadway who are more
known as understudies because they can do every sort of role.
They're in the cast, the swings, they can do everything,
and you have great talents, and they will not raise
them up to the role of performer.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And they should be.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
They mistakenly keep themselves in constant employ employment as swings
and they don't have the ambition to rise above. And
I think that's an interesting person I.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Found, and I'm sure you found over these low these
many years that for some of them, certainly not all
of them, it's about geography. They don't want to leave town.
There's things they could go do that could maybe help
their career whatever. Maybe TV films or shows. But they
want to stay in New York. They don't want to
leave wife, kids. Yeah, I remember them doing soaps. We
used to call Upper Montclair, New Jersey, the soap opera Riviera.
(03:29):
They all lived out there, and yeah, and that was
not fair.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I believe that. But no, I don't totally agree with you.
I'm sorry, And right off, we don't content us. No,
they want to stay in a position. Maybe they do
have families, and that is why they are complacent about
their ambition.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So complacency is to blame for their career.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I think it is. They work all the time. Yes,
it's complacency, but it's not fear of travel, because a
lot of them go on the road. There's a lot
more money to be made on the road. You get
per diem and you get.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
The moment you walked in, I knew you were not
going to have the kind of conversation I called the
log rolling conversation. But none of us is going in
the water. I guess which one's going to go in
the water. Which one was gonna get tossed in the
water now?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Right, But I'm right about this to you on everything
now we're still dry.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
We also concluded my producers and I who work on
the show with me, we also concluded that this podcast
is the only thing in show business you haven't done yet.
This is this one show You've done everything.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But it's crazy. I know I should be much wealthier.
I do everything. I have said this before. I am
the costco of acting. I come in quantity and I
come cheap.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
And that's right.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
The toilet paper like toilet paper. Yes, instead of buying
twelve rolls at the CBS, you got twenty six for
the same price. Yes, that's me.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
When you were a child, New Jersey, Buck, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, my dad was head of store in Princeton, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
She was in Princeton, Western New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
There, but I'm on the way to Yeah, we were
right across the river.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Right. The point is that you're there. What was because
I'll preface this by saying, when I was a kid
and there was only network TV, no streaming, no HBO,
there was network TV.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, yeah, I watched the little album. You call it
network TV. I called it Channel two, Channel four and
channel seven and O R P I x exactly exactly.
And we would watch the Million Dollar Movie five times
a week. Monday through Friday was the same one every week.
What was the theme song for a million dollar movie?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
From Gone with the Wind?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Thank you very much? Okay, please let's go out and
coming both on the log right now?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Saw falls to be here. Now wait a second. I'm
going to get you with that in a minute. But
when I was a kid, it was all like I would.
There were some dramas and whatever, But I watched f
Troop and Gilligan's Island and all this crap all the time,
and I dream of Genie. I watched Network Comedy.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I knew that was my roots, and I knew the
TV guide and at that time I had my finger
on the pulse of America and what they liked. And
it was a big slap in the face when I
thought that I knew about things and I absolutely didn't.
How So, okay, who wants to be a millionaire? Who's
gonna watch Who wants to be a millionaire? It's Jeopardy
(06:05):
with seven questions. I said, nobody's gonna watch this biggest
hit in the world. That's what it was to me,
And I go, it can't be that you did. Okay,
I'm going to tell you something I was the first
person to ever win a million dollars? And who wants
to be a millionaire? Oh my god, I'll tell you how,
wes No, I'll tell you how. It was an ABC
(06:26):
show and my character from Spin City goes on who
wants to be a Millionaire? And I win a million dollars?
And nobody who would win a million dollars had been
broadcast yet? Hey? Hey really no? No? Yeah, okay, okay, no, no, no, no,
see d D.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You're sure?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yes, d me? He is your final les Hey, d D.
Saya So I was the first person. I wasn't. Paul
Lassiter from Spen City was the first person, and that
they you know, and it had already hardly been on,
and there were some people.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Who do you have a lot of confusion between yourself
and your character.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
This is how good I am won, this is who
how good I am? But really was past I immersed myself.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I kissed Elizabeth Taylor. It really was, Uh, it was it.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Was flat Okay, But I'll tell you something else. Do
you remember when Farah Fawcett had her poster oute right
of course? Okay, Arnold Schwarzenegger said, I will be bigger
than Farah Fawcett at the time. We all snorted and
I said, who the hell does this idiot I think
(07:40):
that he is. I was wrong. I thought I had
my finger on the pope. I don't know what There
was a day that happened, but when it continues today.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I'm at a party the other day and Greta Gerberg
is there with bomb back, and I said to them,
if I could go back and I could have one wish,
my wish would be I go back in time while
you were filming. I'd say, Barbie is going to earn
a billion dollars worldwide and take all comers, take all
back exactly, cover everything. Yeah, And they looked at me like, wow,
that's a weird thing, exactly. Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I was at a poker game with a guy friend.
So he's at the poker game and says, my wife
has been asked to write a pitch for the Lego movie,
at which point seven guys start making fun of the
Lego movie. Oh oh, I don't know which piece to
punt here. Do I put a long, long rectangle or
(08:29):
do I put a square here?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
All of a sudden, Yes, all of a sudden three
or four or five years later, the Lego movie comes
out and it's it's huge. But can you imagine coming
to a table and saying we're going to make a
movie about legos and we just laughed.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We just left my career. I make a movie with
my ex wife. We decide we want to work together.
We weren't really very fussy about what we were doing,
not fussy enough, but we get our hands on on
this original script that Walter Hill wrote for The Getaway
with Steve McQueen, and we decided we're going to do
a remake of The Getabay.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I want.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I want to do an action film. I hadn't done
one in a while, and I'm we're gonna go to
Arizona and do the Ghetabay. And Walter Hill leaves because
they wouldn't give him enough money to make the movie.
And then we go do it with Roger Donaldson. And
the point is is that we come out and I
don't have high hopes. Means it's we're doing a remake,
which is always dicey, and the movie comes out, but
we're up against the movie. I looked at my ex
(09:21):
wife and I said, we're in. We scored, We're up
against this movie. We're opening weekend against this movie. Ace
Ventura pet Detective, right, I mean, what the fuck is
Ace fan? And then there's his history history yep, who knows?
Who knows?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I do not have my polls, but your childhood, my childhood.
I knew everything pas TV, I knew everything well. Dick
Van Dyke, by the way, who did I have breakfast
with this morning? Bill Persky? Oh god, who created? Well,
he didn't create, but he wrote the lion's share of
Dick Van Dykes shows, and he quoted, he quoted an
(09:55):
episode that Howie Morris did. And I go yes, And
I started filling in the blanks with because I remember
Dick Van Dyke, sho gets smart, get smart? Was it
was manna to me? That's what I was raised at,
Soupy Sales. Was manna to me? I was, I was
raised on Soupy sales.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That's yeah, he was.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I got a funny story about it, but I'll tell
you later. But super, I went to his funeral over
at the Campbell now, but I had never met him
before it. Since I read the bit and it says
it's at the Campbell Hall, I'm going on Campbell Frank
Frank Campbell. Yeah, over on seventy seventh or whatever. The
funeral part, it is the funeral. It is the funeral
parlor to the story. Yeah, but you went to super be'
(10:35):
S thing. I mean to me, it's like, who's the
other one?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I remember? Super say? I mean I would sit home.
I mean I would lie to my mother. And I
didn't do this like all the time, but I did
it at enough times to believe me. I almost got
in trouble for this. And I would sit to my mother,
I'm sick. And I realized my mother was lonely. My
mother put all of her kids in school and her
husband was gone all day and she was lonely. So
she let me stay home from school to have a companion.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And what did you do? Did you to watch?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I watched Hollywood Squares and I watched Paul Lynd. I
learned half of my acting from Boland. Paul Land taught
me how to act.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Have you done Hollywood Squares?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I did Hollywood Squares? I did a Millionaire. I did
Hollywood Squares with Whoopee and it was for charity. The
guy that was his name King, that owned the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
so King kind to me and knew that my charity
my mother's foundation for breast cancer. My mom passed away
last year, but she had a breast cancer foundation housed
at sunny Stonybrook, and then we got a chapter rep
(11:30):
State where she moved to, and so a lot of beneficiary.
Danny Wegman from Wegman Supermarkets very kind to my family,
and King gives me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
to do the show. So I go, on, dude, you
give me two undred fifty thousand bucks to do one
week of the show with Whoopee. I go, I have
a bawl, I do millionaire, I have a bowl, I mean,
and then I host match Game. For those three years
we did match Game, and someone would say to me, oh,
(11:52):
of course in this way that my career is like
a very blurry polaroid. Here I do this, I do this,
I do this. They're like, well, another coffin and Alec
Baldwin's career casket. And I think to myself, well, I
did it for the money. I did it for the
charity thing, to give the money away. But then I
couldn't hold my hold back with the truth, which was
I had more fun doing that than a lot of others.
(12:13):
I loved them. I love it. I loved doing that. Yeah,
we had a ball.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Now, I'm gonna tell you something. When I was on
Spin City, I was approached to do special episodes of
America's Funniest Home Videos. So I did a Christmas show.
It was an hour show, and I said, I will
do it, but I don't want to do it like
Bob Sagett. I don't want the fireplace and I want
the audience. I don't want me talking, talking and making
(12:39):
these stupid jokes. I'll narrate the films, but I'll host
set by introducing the clips, but I don't want to
be funny. They did plasma TVs were first invented. I said,
let's have them on poles. I wore a black turtleneck.
I hosted it for an hour, highest rated America's Funniest
Home Video special they ever.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Had, Richard Kind. If you enjoy conversations with inspiring comedic actors,
check out my episode with one of Richard Kine's earliest
co stars, the legendary Carol Burnett.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
In that era, the only one who really would speak
up was Lucy.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
She was very strong.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
But it's not in my nature to take over confront
or anything. You know, if a sketch wasn't working or something,
instead of like glees and or Sid would say, look, guys.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
This stinks.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Now, come on, you got to fix it.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
But bu you know they would do that, I would say,
I'd call the writers down into the rehearsal hall and
I'd say, you know, guys, I'm not doing this too well.
Do you think maybe you could help me out with
a different line here or there, because you know, otherwise
I would have been a.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Bit to hear more of my conversation with Carol Burnett
go to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break,
Richard Kind shares his experience landing a job with the
one and only Carol Burnett. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're
(14:23):
listening to Here's the Thing. If you feel there is
no dramatic or comedic role Richard Kind can't inhabit, you
might be right. With over two hundred and seventy film
and television credits to his name, it seems like the
profession was built for him. I wanted to know if
Kind always knew that the field of acting was his destiny.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
No, no, no, no, no, now, so business was made
for other people exactly, yeah, yeah, no, no, but I'm
an actor, are you kidding me? And my yeah, my fad.
My father said he wanted me to go to law school,
business school to take over his story.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
And then you went to Northwestern great law school for
one year.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
No, no, no, I went to Northwestern undergrad. I was
accepted to U of P Law school, and I deferred it.
My dad's best friend he said, try acting, because you'll
be resentful of your children and your wife.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
You'll never be young again. Did you do try it
young enough so you didn't go to law school for
a year. I didn't go to law school at all.
I deferred, no, no, no, never went to law school.
My first year, I took acting classes with a guy
named Bud Buyer. Bud Buyer.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
During one class he knew my parents, he and met
them and liked them, and that I was supposed to
go into law school. He put me on stage in
a chair and for forty five to fifty minutes he
berated me for not having the courage to become an actor,
that that's what he coward, everything like that, And I said,
it's just what I was made to do. I was
(15:50):
supposed to go into my dad's store. It's all there
for me, have two and a half kids, belonged to
the country club. And then it was just it was
in February. We were watching a football game with Steve
Holsman in our living room January February, and during the
commercial night, he said, you should defer law school and
try it. And like I said, one year turns into two.
(16:10):
And then I just never went.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
How did you try? You went to school for it?
You went to Second City? No, no, no, where was
Galotti a professor of yours?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Ah?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Gallotti was a Galotti was great.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Did you know him? You love him? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Oh? Galotti was great. Galotti at Northwestern. I went to
him my probably my junior senior year, and I said,
I want to be an actor, but you know, I
think that I should be going to law school and
business school. So I go to my dad's story. He said, well,
why don't you become a producer, so then you get
the business that I go. No, no, no, I become
an actor or I become rich at my dad's store.
(16:41):
It's one or the other. It wasn't. I just want
to be in sobiz. I want to be an actor,
and I said, I told him that. He goes, well,
you're not going to work until you're thirty two because
you don't have the face for what Hollywood wants. So
go out there get good. And then at Agelati Galotti
said that to me, and I did. I came to
(17:02):
New York, I went, I had HB Studios. I worked
at You'll remember the saloon. I opened the saloon. Okay,
it's now a bed bathroom or was a bed bathroom behind? No,
you didn't, No, I was, no, but I did. I
was a waiter. I was a waiter at a saloon
with Jennifer Gray, who I later became my wife in
(17:22):
a TV series. So we all worked there, and I
took classes at HB Studios. I did off Broadway plays.
I did a play called Take Death to Lunch with
Lonnie Price. I did a great play that sounds like
it shouldn't be The day the horse came out to
play tennis by Arthur Coopitt, who later became a friend
(17:43):
of mine, the Arthur copeit. In fact, Arthur he wrote,
oh Dad, poor dad, about a little you know, five
foot four stutterer. Okay, So one day Arthur.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Was in the closet and she's feeling so bad.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That is correct. So one day I'm doing a play
at Bay Street. He comes backstage to say hello. I'd
never met him, and he's six or four handsome, was
all got out, looked like a baseball player. And he
comes up and he shakes it, shakes my hand. He goes,
I'm Arthur copeit and I go, no, you're not. I
couldn't buy Hit a stud And he wrote about a
little stutterer. So I just did all of those things.
(18:16):
I went on the road with did you Know part
Performing Arts Repertory Theater Children's Theater now known as Theatre Works,
playing Blackfish the Indian with Daniel Boone thirty six States
and five and a half months, and I was I
had these braids and the makeup and everything. And one
day we played this elementary school and all the kids
are going, I want to see the Indian. I want
(18:36):
to see the Indian. And I had my makeup off
and everything and they come out and all their o
their faces were just ah, they were crestfalling. I go, sorry,
I'm the I'm the Shapiro tribe, you know. And then
I just did you know Practical Theater Company?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Ever?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Hear of that? No? In Chicago, Second City, next door
to Second City was a little space called the Etc.
Which had people from Second City who were you know,
on the in the touring companies and on the Upper Way,
and they started a company called Practical Theater Company. I
went from New York to Chicago to do a show
at their place. Second City saw me in that. I
went on Second City and then and then I went
(19:14):
to Hollywood after four years, four and a year eighty
eight eighty nine.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yes, and when you get there.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
At your age?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I'm one of the I'm stupidly I like auditioning, right,
I love auditioning. An artist can work alone, a writer
can work alone. But an actor, you go in front
of a mirror. You can't do it alone. You got
to You gotta act in front of people. So I
loved pilot season. I loved it. You go into these rooms,
there's old friends. You know, it's not in New York.
(19:44):
You pass old friends in LA you see them in
the audition room. I used to have pilot season after
pilot season. I didn't really because I usually got the job.
I don't mean to be like that. But during the
pilot season I got a pilot. They wanted the funny
went to series.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I was just lucky, untalented, but but my thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
But my first show was a drama because when I
came out of Second City, I said, I don't want
people to think of me as just funny. I want
them to know I can act. So I did a
Stephen Cannell show called Unsub. I call it unsubwhat unsub?
Because I say unsub? What unsub? So it was that
mean short for unknown subject. That was the name of
the show, unsubbed unsub. It was like, why don't they
(20:24):
just drive the fucking camera truck into the lake. You're right,
but the word unsub. They were chasing unknown subjects. Whenever
I see Peter Roth, you remember Peter Roth for brother.
Whenever I see Peter Roth, he asks me, he goes,
we were the first. We were the first procedural. And
I'm not kidding unsub unsub because usually police shows went
(20:45):
into their private lives. This was only about what they
were doing, the crime, the crime, the work. Now here
was the first episode? Are you ready?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Paul Gilfoyle Wonderful Acts love Gilfoyle. Okay. Gilfoyle plays a cobbler,
a shoemaker who puts razor blades in the heels of
women's shoes. When they try them on, they bend over
in pain and he stabs them in the back of
the neck with an all Okay, so this is in
the eighties. Okay. So he comes running home to his mother,
(21:15):
Grace Zabriski, the Great Gray Sabriskie, who's lying in a
bathtub with her legs spread, and he comes in. He goes, mother, Mother, Mother,
Mother had done something bad. Okay. This was the first episode.
Brandon Tartakoff had gone to lunch with Stephen Cannell. He
had two writers, Steve Cronish and I can't remember the
other guy's name, and they had created a show called
(21:37):
Wise Guy. So Cannell goes to Tartakoff and says, I
got a show for you about the guys who chase
serial killers. He thought he was getting eight team, He
thought he was going to get another eight teams. He
sees the first episode with the killer. It happens to
see it the night after Harado Rivera had a show
(21:59):
on about which craft. It was on NBC, and the
reviewers said, this is the bottom of network TV. It
can never go lower, and Tartakoff is getting attacked. He
sees this episode the next day in the screening room.
Midway through, he stands up and he goes, what the
fuck are you trying to do? Bring down this network
(22:19):
single handedly? So Canell knew the show was off, but
we did eleven episodes. How were the Carol Burnett experience?
Oh that was the greatest great, Well, let me tell
you about Carol Burnett. I worship her. So I go
in for the audition. I had done a show called
an episode of Anything But Love with Jamie Lee Curtis
and Richard Lewis, and the producer of that says, you know,
(22:42):
he's great, instead of the casting director coming out to
get me, and I'm just I'm the only one there
out in this hallway, said the casting actor Colling. Richard,
come on in. Carol Burnett comes out to the hallway
and says, Richard, come on in, let's play. And I said,
well that how you'll run Hollywood. We hear your good.
(23:04):
Let's see your best. Not come on in and show us,
show us what you can do. It's come on in
and let's play, let's see if we can have you
at your best, and I went in. I read with her,
and she, of course is Grace's. Of course has showed
her kindness. And I said, all right, I will.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Actor Richard Kind. If you're enjoying this conversation, tell a
friend and be sure to follow Here's the thing on
the iHeartRadio app, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
When we come back, Richard Kind shares one of the
best pieces of acting advice he's ever been given. I'm
(23:55):
Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. We
all know and love. Richard Kine's long running characters Paul
Lassiter from Spin City and cousin Andy from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Another role Kind is famous for is that of doctor
Mark Devino on Paul Riser's Man About You, but surprisingly
(24:16):
only for its first season.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well I got fired, You're fired. Without knowing it. I
started off as a recurring character. We were on every
episode and we said, well, you got to make us
a regular. There's a big difference in pay see. After
about six episode, they made us regulars, and then we
asked them in April, am I going to be coming back. Yes,
of course, I go do the music Man out in
(24:40):
North Carolina in summers because I always do theater during
the summer, so I'm guaranteed I don't have to go
make a lot of money because I got a show
on the air. I get a call from Paul's manager
that I'm not coming back, and I start to cry.
It's on a payphone where I'm living out in North Carolina,
that you know we're sharing the And I get a
(25:01):
phone call and I go, why do They go, well,
we just don't think that you're working on it. I
was the only person who was let go and I said,
I don't understand, and they go, well, we just don't
think that you're right right now for the show. And
I just and I didn't call Paul. But and then Danny,
who was a great guy, but he did not stand
(25:23):
up for me. He thinks some funny, he thinks some
great but he did not stand up for me. And
they this is who the guy created the show.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
And Paul and I.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Have made up with both of them, yeah, in ways
that we didn't even properly make up. But I should
I should be mad at both of them.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, listen, we all I was the biggest movie star
in the world at that time. Wanted me to do
a movie with him. And there's another guy they wanted.
They had cast this sky and then he couldn't. There
was a conflict in his schedule. He couldn't do the movie.
The TV show he's doing wouldn't let him out. So
they call me and they go, it's you. It's you,
blah blah blah. The director, the writer, the producer, the star.
(26:07):
They call me. Oh, they're on a comfortable they're all
on a comfort Oh through the phone. Oh my god.
And I'm sitting in my car and like West Hollywood,
I'm going to go buy like T shirts and some
fucking store there and on Melrose and they call me
and go, it's you. And my agent goes, it's you.
They're gonna do the movie with you. Within a week,
nobody calls me. Nobody says they say, you're out. They
blow my deal. They completely dynamical because the guy they
(26:29):
make him available, the other guy comes back again, which
was their desire. And you never want a director looking
down the lens wishing somebody else was there. I've been
there before.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I don't like it. I mean, in a series. You
can't quit, but they can fire.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
You now when you go. This is always intriguing to
me because when I did thirty Rock with Tina. You know,
Tina was the one who, in whatever language she used,
she impressed upon me. The network's harder. It's harder to
make it funny. I know, you can't say fuck the
girl can't come out of the cake from the top
of Cable and streaming are different fish, and to make
(27:03):
it really funny and edergy on network is harder. Your
career transitions Carol Burnette and Mad About You and spend
Citty for years and then you go into curb. Describe
that arc for me. Do you miss the old ways
or do you like being able to say whatever you
want to say on streaming TV.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Gee, that's an interesting question that I don't know whether
I can answer. Like I just did an episode of
Night Court. I don't think you need to say whatever
you're referring to in order to be funny, but I
will tell you where I did miss it is right now.
I like doing single camera better than four camera. So
having just done Night Court, which I enjoyed and the
(27:41):
cast is phenomenal, and the show's funny, everything like that.
But I did a show called East New York last
year which was well regarded, highly rated, the Jimmy Smith's
Amanda Warren. If you know Amanda, it's a great, great cast.
I missed cursing there did, Yes, I did. But but
(28:02):
for network it was as gritty as a show could
be a lah NYPD Blue because it's was written and
created by an NYPD Blue alum guy named Bill Finkelstein.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So using it warranted them.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
It should, but it's Network TV and they there are
certain FCC rules.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
That's a dramatic show. But it was, oh yeah, because
you like, I'm not just saying this to be kind.
There are people who are arthic, are very funny, who
you'd see that they had a and I see what
I see. This is a very subjective process. But I
mean where you take Mathow and Mathou is comic genius
and he plays it straight. I put you in that category.
You can do it. You can do anything. Very you
(28:40):
can because you're because you have your commanding, your your
you're articulate, you're beyond funny. But I mean you drive.
We used to stay on thirty Rock all the time.
You give the scene the stick to the end, you
give this you you don't pause. People just keep you
got to keep. Yeah, And you have that velocity in
that pace of a very smart person. And I put
you in that category where you can do the drama
(29:02):
as well.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well. I recently you do more drama. Who the fuck
is going to hire me?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Somebody smart?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Well, that's right, but you don't always get that in Hollywood.
Now here's something that I did do and it's we're
trying to shop it now I should send it to you.
It's called hit Man. Do you know who Lawrence Block is? Yes,
Lawrence Block wrote a series of books, three books called
hit Man. Each chapter is a hit. But it's a
guy who looks like me, maybe lives on thirty eighth
between second and third Murray Hill, exactly, a guy who
(29:32):
you would and is a killer the way some guys
are plumbers and some guys repair cars. He knows that
the HiT's going to be done. It's not that he's
a moral he just does his job. And that's the
kind of character it is. There is not a funny
moment in it.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I'm you're gonna do it?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
You think we did a twenty minute pilot and it's
pretty good friends of yours. Peter Regert, Karen Allen. They're
both in a worship parent. Oh, it's the best, the best,
that great, beautiful funny.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And the Bill Sadler, you know Bill Sadler. You know there,
they're in it. And I am very quiet and not
loud and serious and it's straight up for good.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Let's talk about Big Knife. Who invited you to the
party there? You weren't involved with Joanne when they did it,
And yes, I did.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It with Joanne and Joanne Joanne wanted you.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Who the part?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Scott Cohen played the lidro? Yeah, yeah, I was wonderful.
And Chris Reeves's wife, Dana, Dana, and she was magnificent.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
She was great.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I thank god, she had no idea. You talk about
taking a gamble, She had no idea. Who I was,
no idea in the world. So I go to the
Paul in her apartment and and I got up there
and that's where I read, and I read the thing.
And thank god she didn't know me from Mad About
You or or Spin City or any of that stuff,
so that I could be this character. And I came
(30:55):
in as a blank slate, and she gave me the job.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
I was.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You know, when I'm I'm doing thirty Rock and we
get toward the end and I this was, how did
Tina ask you to do it? Why? I think that
she jokingly said something to Lauren about me, or he
said something. It was always between the two of them.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, law Lauren.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Wanted me to come. He said, would you come and
do the show? And I did not want to do
a series because I was getting divorced and my daughter
was in LA and she was very young. And Lauren said,
I'll make the schedule suit you. You'll be able to
go to LA every weekend or every other weekend. So
they made the schedule very convenient for me. It was
almost a joke, and I went and did the show.
I remember toward the end. I mean, there were many
(31:36):
moments that was just very affecting to me throughout. I
mean many that I thought to myself, these guys are
just the funniest writers. But toward the end, I'm sitting
there and they go, we want to ask your ex wife.
They're going to have Kenneth the page. I jack Donneghey
makes him the president of NBC Universal. I'm going to
make him the president, and his father has died, and
(31:57):
his stepmother's going to fly up to New York from
Georgia to visit him. And it's my ex wife, Kim
Basinger is going to play the part, and they're going
to have me fall in love with his stepmother and
marry my ex wife on the show Jesus, and Kenneth
becomes the president and he becomes my step son in law,
and the waves all came together. I was in tears,
(32:20):
laughing how amazing this was. But then Kim didn't want
to do the play.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
She said, now, she just said, all right, I'm going
to tell you something. I once got the great honor
of introducing you at some benefit of some sort, and
I remember saying, I can't say to your face because
we're peers, we're friends, and you don't do that. But
you are phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Oh you're very good.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, you're a you're great. And this was years ago,
and you're only greater. This is before you did thirty Rocket. Right,
you are precise, you are great. You you are just
dead on. It'sid enough that you're handsome, it's enough you're charismatic.
You're so good in the roles that you still go
but but that you are so good at podcasts. The
(33:03):
episode you did on the Garbage, I've ever listened to
it three four times. I tell everybody to listen to it.
It is so fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
What's been more difficult for you the lifestyle and what
it's done and how it's played out in your life.
Never that family, kids, all that's being away, traveling or
the work itself.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Neither is hard. I mean, you have Daniel day Lewis
who submerges himself into the character, which I don't believe
at all, But he sits alone and he does that.
Michael Stolberg, I've seen do stuff like that. I show
up and I go today, I'm this guy. Let's play
pretend and I play pretend saying anybody else you the
(33:44):
same thing?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah? But I but will I do?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I try to try. I do turn off my phone
on the set. First of all. I like talking to people,
and the people on the set are more interesting.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
I want to stay connected to the set in the
world i'm in.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yes, there was a great acting teacher who I was
lucky to have, Harry mastro Joy have him.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I heard the name.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
He was great Raleiota took from him a lot and
anyway's pretty great. And he just said, just go play.
Pretend when you see kids out on a playground doing
Cowboys and Indians, there they go what tribe was I from?
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Where?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
What?
Speaker 1 (34:14):
What state?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Where's what state I went? Now they go play Cowboys
and Indians and that's.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
That's when we play asters, which Apollo mission is this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Right, But but in my head, in my head, I
imagine in my head, I've made decisions. I haven't done research,
but I have made decisions in my head.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
This is where I know. Michael Dorsey, you Dustin's carater
right right, exactly exactly I am. I was a beefsteak
tomat all.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
But but but he said, you have to go over
the script. All the answers are in the script. That's
what Harry said. Every answer you want is in the script,
and that's what they do. You pour over the script.
Anthony Hopkins used to do that, read the script thirty times,
he would read a third prey forty times. By the way,
you want a great story, my favorite showish story. I
(35:05):
know where we're going out about tomast go out on Tom.
If we'll go out on Tom McGowan, a great character actor,
great guy. There's a show called La Bette Friend of Yours.
Ron Silver is the lead. Okay, Ron Silver, a week
before they open, decides to quit. He doesn't want to
open the show. Tom McGowan is the understudy. They go
(35:29):
to Tom McGowan, They go, do you know the show?
He says, of course I do, and it's a forty
minute monologue. You know La Bette? Do you know the show?
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (35:37):
You can go on.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
They go, we are going to ask Kevin Kleine if
he wants to take over for Ron Silver. If he does,
we're going to close the show, rehearse for four weeks
and open with Kevin Klein. If Kevin Clein says no,
We're going to open on schedule in a week on
Broadway with you can you do it? Says of course.
(36:01):
He goes home to call his mother. He says, Mom,
they're gonna ask Kevin Klein if he wants to do it.
If he says no, I'm opening next week as the
lead in this Broadway show. His mother goes, oh, I hope.
Kevin Klein says, yes, I love him. It's my favorite show.
(36:23):
This story.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
You're somebody who has that thing. You come on screen
and everybody's happy.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
That's nice.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
They're happy to see you. They know they're gonna laugh,
they know they're gonna think. They know that. You're an
intelligent comic actor mostly, but you do drama as well.
But you're somebody who the minu You come on screen,
everybody's happy. They're happy to be with you. They want
to be with you, and that's why you need to
do this until you're ninety five.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Fucker not what I will, but it's true. I love it.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I think you're amazing. You're so talented. Everybody in this
business loves you. Everybody in the business loves you. That's
a big thing. Respect you. They think you can do
any they think you can do it. Well, don't cry anyway.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
I love you, Thank you, I love you very very much.
I love you.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
My thanks to Richard Kind. This episode was produced by
Kathleen Russo, Zach MacNeice, and Maureen Hobin. Our engineer is
Frank Imperial. Our social media manager is Danielle Gingrich. Here's
the Thing is recorded at CDM Studios. I'm Alec Baldwin.
Here's the Thing is brought to you by iHeart Radio,
This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Hear's the
Thing from iHeart Radio. If you turn on your device
or television or go to the movies, you're likely to
have the good fortune of enjoying the work of my
guest today. Who else has such a prolific output a
starring role in a Coen Brothers movie, one Moment, and
(00:24):
a cameo in a network sitcom. Only one of the
hardest working people in show business, Richard Kind Kind single
handedly redefine the term character actor. Memorable roles on Spin
City and Curb Your Enthusiasm exploit his killer comedic timing,
while HBO's Luck and the Oscar winning Argo exercise his
(00:47):
dramatic chops. He lends his voice to animated films like
Cars and Inside Out, and then graces the stage as
a Tony nominated Drama Desk winning theater actor, and his
stage resume is deep, dirty, rotten Scoundrels, The Tale of
the Allagist's Wife, Candide, and kiss Me Kate. He even
(01:09):
starred as Max bi Ali Stock in the iconic mel
Brooks musical The Producers, kiss Me, Squeeze Me, Touch Me,
Love Me? What Are They? And the producers hulled me,
touch me, hold me. You played that part I did
Where did you do that part? Broadway and the Hollywood
Bowl and Mel wants me to do it in London
now Broadway mean after they when they left, you came
(01:31):
on or.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I did it? I did it? I call it. I
did it for Asians and Iowans because they got all
of the New Yorkers. Then Stephen Weber and it was
Henry Goodman, and then Brad Oscar did it for a while,
and they got some of the New Yorkers who couldn't
afford the expensive seats, and got smart people from all
over the country, you know, from cities. And then when
(01:54):
there's nobody left, that's when I came in the show.
I swaart of did I didn't? But I did it
with about eight different leos. Whenever there was a leo
that was gonna go out on the road, they would
put him in for three days to see what he
was like with me, and I would test him. And
there was one guy. One he's a lovely, lovely guy,
Patrick and I can't remember his last name. He has
(02:16):
a Broadway stalwart and so he's but he's built like
a bricks. No, no, no, no, no, he's playing Leo.
Nobody you would know.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
He's built like a brick shootout and he's playing Leo.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And he's playing Leo. And at the end of the act,
I put my arm around him, you know, and go,
we're gonna do it. We'll do it like that. And
I go, oh my god, this guy could pommel me.
But he's been in twenty Broadway shows. He's a real stallwarty.
But he's a he's a guy.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
There's a lot of people on Broadway who are more
known as understudies because they can do every sort of role.
They're in the cast, the swings, they can do everything,
and you have great talents, and they will not raise
them up to the role of performer.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And they should be.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
They mistakenly keep themselves in constant employ employment as swings
and they don't have the ambition to rise above. And
I think that's an interesting person I.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Found, and I'm sure you found over these low these
many years that for some of them, certainly not all
of them, it's about geography. They don't want to leave town.
There's things they could go do that could maybe help
their career whatever. Maybe TV films or shows. But they
want to stay in New York. They don't want to
leave wife, kids. Yeah, I remember them doing soaps. We
used to call Upper Montclair, New Jersey, the soap opera Riviera.
(03:29):
They all lived out there, and yeah, and that was
not fair.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I believe that. But no, I don't totally agree with you.
I'm sorry, And right off, we don't content us. No,
they want to stay in a position. Maybe they do
have families, and that is why they are complacent about
their ambition.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So complacency is to blame for their career.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I think it is. They work all the time. Yes,
it's complacency, but it's not fear of travel, because a
lot of them go on the road. There's a lot
more money to be made on the road. You get
per diem and you get.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
The moment you walked in, I knew you were not
going to have the kind of conversation I called the
log rolling conversation. But none of us is going in
the water. I guess which one's going to go in
the water. Which one was gonna get tossed in the
water now?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Right, But I'm right about this to you on everything
now we're still dry.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
We also concluded my producers and I who work on
the show with me, we also concluded that this podcast
is the only thing in show business you haven't done yet.
This is this one show You've done everything.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But it's crazy. I know I should be much wealthier.
I do everything. I have said this before. I am
the costco of acting. I come in quantity and I
come cheap.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
And that's right.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
The toilet paper like toilet paper. Yes, instead of buying
twelve rolls at the CBS, you got twenty six for
the same price. Yes, that's me.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
When you were a child, New Jersey, Buck, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, my dad was head of store in Princeton, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
She was in Princeton, Western New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
There, but I'm on the way to Yeah, we were
right across the river.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Right. The point is that you're there. What was because
I'll preface this by saying, when I was a kid
and there was only network TV, no streaming, no HBO,
there was network TV.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, yeah, I watched the little album. You call it
network TV. I called it Channel two, Channel four and
channel seven and O R P I x exactly exactly.
And we would watch the Million Dollar Movie five times
a week. Monday through Friday was the same one every week.
What was the theme song for a million dollar movie?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
From Gone with the Wind?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Thank you very much? Okay, please let's go out and
coming both on the log right now?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Saw falls to be here. Now wait a second. I'm
going to get you with that in a minute. But
when I was a kid, it was all like I would.
There were some dramas and whatever, But I watched f
Troop and Gilligan's Island and all this crap all the time,
and I dream of Genie. I watched Network Comedy.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I knew that was my roots, and I knew the
TV guide and at that time I had my finger
on the pulse of America and what they liked. And
it was a big slap in the face when I
thought that I knew about things and I absolutely didn't.
How So, okay, who wants to be a millionaire? Who's
gonna watch Who wants to be a millionaire? It's Jeopardy
(06:05):
with seven questions. I said, nobody's gonna watch this biggest
hit in the world. That's what it was to me,
And I go, it can't be that you did. Okay,
I'm going to tell you something I was the first
person to ever win a million dollars? And who wants
to be a millionaire? Oh my god, I'll tell you how,
wes No, I'll tell you how. It was an ABC
(06:26):
show and my character from Spin City goes on who
wants to be a Millionaire? And I win a million dollars?
And nobody who would win a million dollars had been
broadcast yet? Hey? Hey really no? No? Yeah, okay, okay, no, no, no, no,
see d D.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You're sure?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yes, d me? He is your final les Hey, d D.
Saya So I was the first person. I wasn't. Paul
Lassiter from Spen City was the first person, and that
they you know, and it had already hardly been on,
and there were some people.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Who do you have a lot of confusion between yourself
and your character.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
This is how good I am won, this is who
how good I am? But really was past I immersed myself.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I kissed Elizabeth Taylor. It really was, Uh, it was it.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Was flat Okay, But I'll tell you something else. Do
you remember when Farah Fawcett had her poster oute right
of course? Okay, Arnold Schwarzenegger said, I will be bigger
than Farah Fawcett at the time. We all snorted and
I said, who the hell does this idiot I think
(07:40):
that he is. I was wrong. I thought I had
my finger on the pope. I don't know what There
was a day that happened, but when it continues today.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I'm at a party the other day and Greta Gerberg
is there with bomb back, and I said to them,
if I could go back and I could have one wish,
my wish would be I go back in time while
you were filming. I'd say, Barbie is going to earn
a billion dollars worldwide and take all comers, take all
back exactly, cover everything. Yeah, And they looked at me like, wow,
that's a weird thing, exactly. Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
I was at a poker game with a guy friend.
So he's at the poker game and says, my wife
has been asked to write a pitch for the Lego movie,
at which point seven guys start making fun of the
Lego movie. Oh oh, I don't know which piece to
punt here. Do I put a long, long rectangle or
(08:29):
do I put a square here?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
What do I do?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
All of a sudden, Yes, all of a sudden three
or four or five years later, the Lego movie comes
out and it's it's huge. But can you imagine coming
to a table and saying we're going to make a
movie about legos and we just laughed.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We just left my career. I make a movie with
my ex wife. We decide we want to work together.
We weren't really very fussy about what we were doing,
not fussy enough, but we get our hands on on
this original script that Walter Hill wrote for The Getaway
with Steve McQueen, and we decided we're going to do
a remake of The Getabay.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I want.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I want to do an action film. I hadn't done
one in a while, and I'm we're gonna go to
Arizona and do the Ghetabay. And Walter Hill leaves because
they wouldn't give him enough money to make the movie.
And then we go do it with Roger Donaldson. And
the point is is that we come out and I
don't have high hopes. Means it's we're doing a remake,
which is always dicey, and the movie comes out, but
we're up against the movie. I looked at my ex
(09:21):
wife and I said, we're in. We scored, We're up
against this movie. We're opening weekend against this movie. Ace
Ventura pet Detective, right, I mean, what the fuck is
Ace fan? And then there's his history history yep, who knows?
Who knows?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I do not have my polls, but your childhood, my childhood.
I knew everything pas TV, I knew everything well. Dick
Van Dyke, by the way, who did I have breakfast
with this morning? Bill Persky? Oh god, who created? Well,
he didn't create, but he wrote the lion's share of
Dick Van Dykes shows, and he quoted, he quoted an
(09:55):
episode that Howie Morris did. And I go yes, And
I started filling in the blanks with because I remember
Dick Van Dyke, sho gets smart, get smart? Was it
was manna to me? That's what I was raised at,
Soupy Sales. Was manna to me? I was, I was
raised on Soupy sales.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That's yeah, he was.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I got a funny story about it, but I'll tell
you later. But super, I went to his funeral over
at the Campbell now, but I had never met him
before it. Since I read the bit and it says
it's at the Campbell Hall, I'm going on Campbell Frank
Frank Campbell. Yeah, over on seventy seventh or whatever. The
funeral part, it is the funeral. It is the funeral
parlor to the story. Yeah, but you went to super be'
(10:35):
S thing. I mean to me, it's like, who's the
other one?
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I remember? Super say? I mean I would sit home.
I mean I would lie to my mother. And I
didn't do this like all the time, but I did
it at enough times to believe me. I almost got
in trouble for this. And I would sit to my mother,
I'm sick. And I realized my mother was lonely. My
mother put all of her kids in school and her
husband was gone all day and she was lonely. So
she let me stay home from school to have a companion.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
And what did you do? Did you to watch?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I watched Hollywood Squares and I watched Paul Lynd. I
learned half of my acting from Boland. Paul Land taught
me how to act.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Have you done Hollywood Squares?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
I did Hollywood Squares? I did a Millionaire. I did
Hollywood Squares with Whoopee and it was for charity. The
guy that was his name King, that owned the show. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
so King kind to me and knew that my charity
my mother's foundation for breast cancer. My mom passed away
last year, but she had a breast cancer foundation housed
at sunny Stonybrook, and then we got a chapter rep
(11:30):
State where she moved to, and so a lot of beneficiary.
Danny Wegman from Wegman Supermarkets very kind to my family,
and King gives me two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
to do the show. So I go, on, dude, you
give me two undred fifty thousand bucks to do one
week of the show with Whoopee. I go, I have
a bawl, I do millionaire, I have a bowl, I mean,
and then I host match Game. For those three years
we did match Game, and someone would say to me, oh,
(11:52):
of course in this way that my career is like
a very blurry polaroid. Here I do this, I do this,
I do this. They're like, well, another coffin and Alec
Baldwin's career casket. And I think to myself, well, I
did it for the money. I did it for the
charity thing, to give the money away. But then I
couldn't hold my hold back with the truth, which was
I had more fun doing that than a lot of others.
(12:13):
I loved them. I love it. I loved doing that. Yeah,
we had a ball.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Now, I'm gonna tell you something. When I was on
Spin City, I was approached to do special episodes of
America's Funniest Home Videos. So I did a Christmas show.
It was an hour show, and I said, I will
do it, but I don't want to do it like
Bob Sagett. I don't want the fireplace and I want
the audience. I don't want me talking, talking and making
(12:39):
these stupid jokes. I'll narrate the films, but I'll host
set by introducing the clips, but I don't want to
be funny. They did plasma TVs were first invented. I said,
let's have them on poles. I wore a black turtleneck.
I hosted it for an hour, highest rated America's Funniest
Home Video special they ever.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Had, Richard Kind. If you enjoy conversations with inspiring comedic actors,
check out my episode with one of Richard Kine's earliest
co stars, the legendary Carol Burnett.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
In that era, the only one who really would speak
up was Lucy.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
She was very strong.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
But it's not in my nature to take over confront
or anything. You know, if a sketch wasn't working or something,
instead of like glees and or Sid would say, look, guys.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
This stinks.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Now, come on, you got to fix it.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
But bu you know they would do that, I would say,
I'd call the writers down into the rehearsal hall and
I'd say, you know, guys, I'm not doing this too well.
Do you think maybe you could help me out with
a different line here or there, because you know, otherwise
I would have been a.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Bit to hear more of my conversation with Carol Burnett
go to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break,
Richard Kind shares his experience landing a job with the
one and only Carol Burnett. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're
(14:23):
listening to Here's the Thing. If you feel there is
no dramatic or comedic role Richard Kind can't inhabit, you
might be right. With over two hundred and seventy film
and television credits to his name, it seems like the
profession was built for him. I wanted to know if
Kind always knew that the field of acting was his destiny.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
No, no, no, no, no, now, so business was made
for other people exactly, yeah, yeah, no, no, but I'm
an actor, are you kidding me? And my yeah, my fad.
My father said he wanted me to go to law school,
business school to take over his story.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
And then you went to Northwestern great law school for
one year.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
No, no, no, I went to Northwestern undergrad. I was
accepted to U of P Law school, and I deferred it.
My dad's best friend he said, try acting, because you'll
be resentful of your children and your wife.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
You'll never be young again. Did you do try it
young enough so you didn't go to law school for
a year. I didn't go to law school at all.
I deferred, no, no, no, never went to law school.
My first year, I took acting classes with a guy
named Bud Buyer. Bud Buyer.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
During one class he knew my parents, he and met
them and liked them, and that I was supposed to
go into law school. He put me on stage in
a chair and for forty five to fifty minutes he
berated me for not having the courage to become an actor,
that that's what he coward, everything like that, And I said,
it's just what I was made to do. I was
(15:50):
supposed to go into my dad's store. It's all there
for me, have two and a half kids, belonged to
the country club. And then it was just it was
in February. We were watching a football game with Steve
Holsman in our living room January February, and during the
commercial night, he said, you should defer law school and
try it. And like I said, one year turns into two.
(16:10):
And then I just never went.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
How did you try? You went to school for it?
You went to Second City? No, no, no, where was
Galotti a professor of yours?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Ah?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Gallotti was a Galotti was great.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Did you know him? You love him? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Oh? Galotti was great. Galotti at Northwestern. I went to
him my probably my junior senior year, and I said,
I want to be an actor, but you know, I
think that I should be going to law school and
business school. So I go to my dad's story. He said, well,
why don't you become a producer, so then you get
the business that I go. No, no, no, I become
an actor or I become rich at my dad's store.
(16:41):
It's one or the other. It wasn't. I just want
to be in sobiz. I want to be an actor,
and I said, I told him that. He goes, well,
you're not going to work until you're thirty two because
you don't have the face for what Hollywood wants. So
go out there get good. And then at Agelati Galotti
said that to me, and I did. I came to
(17:02):
New York, I went, I had HB Studios. I worked
at You'll remember the saloon. I opened the saloon. Okay,
it's now a bed bathroom or was a bed bathroom behind? No,
you didn't, No, I was, no, but I did. I
was a waiter. I was a waiter at a saloon
with Jennifer Gray, who I later became my wife in
(17:22):
a TV series. So we all worked there, and I
took classes at HB Studios. I did off Broadway plays.
I did a play called Take Death to Lunch with
Lonnie Price. I did a great play that sounds like
it shouldn't be The day the horse came out to
play tennis by Arthur Coopitt, who later became a friend
(17:43):
of mine, the Arthur copeit. In fact, Arthur he wrote,
oh Dad, poor dad, about a little you know, five
foot four stutterer. Okay, So one day Arthur.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Was in the closet and she's feeling so bad.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
That is correct. So one day I'm doing a play
at Bay Street. He comes backstage to say hello. I'd
never met him, and he's six or four handsome, was
all got out, looked like a baseball player. And he
comes up and he shakes it, shakes my hand. He goes,
I'm Arthur copeit and I go, no, you're not. I
couldn't buy Hit a stud And he wrote about a
little stutterer. So I just did all of those things.
(18:16):
I went on the road with did you Know part
Performing Arts Repertory Theater Children's Theater now known as Theatre Works,
playing Blackfish the Indian with Daniel Boone thirty six States
and five and a half months, and I was I
had these braids and the makeup and everything. And one
day we played this elementary school and all the kids
are going, I want to see the Indian. I want
(18:36):
to see the Indian. And I had my makeup off
and everything and they come out and all their o
their faces were just ah, they were crestfalling. I go, sorry,
I'm the I'm the Shapiro tribe, you know. And then
I just did you know Practical Theater Company?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Ever?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Hear of that? No? In Chicago, Second City, next door
to Second City was a little space called the Etc.
Which had people from Second City who were you know,
on the in the touring companies and on the Upper Way,
and they started a company called Practical Theater Company. I
went from New York to Chicago to do a show
at their place. Second City saw me in that. I
went on Second City and then and then I went
(19:14):
to Hollywood after four years, four and a year eighty
eight eighty nine.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yes, and when you get there.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
What was that like for you?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
At your age?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I'm one of the I'm stupidly I like auditioning, right,
I love auditioning. An artist can work alone, a writer
can work alone. But an actor, you go in front
of a mirror. You can't do it alone. You got
to You gotta act in front of people. So I
loved pilot season. I loved it. You go into these rooms,
there's old friends. You know, it's not in New York.
(19:44):
You pass old friends in LA you see them in
the audition room. I used to have pilot season after
pilot season. I didn't really because I usually got the job.
I don't mean to be like that. But during the
pilot season I got a pilot. They wanted the funny
went to series.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I was just lucky, untalented, but but my thank you.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
But my first show was a drama because when I
came out of Second City, I said, I don't want
people to think of me as just funny. I want
them to know I can act. So I did a
Stephen Cannell show called Unsub. I call it unsubwhat unsub?
Because I say unsub? What unsub? So it was that
mean short for unknown subject. That was the name of
the show, unsubbed unsub. It was like, why don't they
(20:24):
just drive the fucking camera truck into the lake. You're right,
but the word unsub. They were chasing unknown subjects. Whenever
I see Peter Roth, you remember Peter Roth for brother.
Whenever I see Peter Roth, he asks me, he goes,
we were the first. We were the first procedural. And
I'm not kidding unsub unsub because usually police shows went
(20:45):
into their private lives. This was only about what they
were doing, the crime, the crime, the work. Now here
was the first episode? Are you ready?
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Paul Gilfoyle Wonderful Acts love Gilfoyle. Okay. Gilfoyle plays a cobbler,
a shoemaker who puts razor blades in the heels of
women's shoes. When they try them on, they bend over
in pain and he stabs them in the back of
the neck with an all Okay, so this is in
the eighties. Okay. So he comes running home to his mother,
(21:15):
Grace Zabriski, the Great Gray Sabriskie, who's lying in a
bathtub with her legs spread, and he comes in. He goes, mother, Mother, Mother,
Mother had done something bad. Okay. This was the first episode.
Brandon Tartakoff had gone to lunch with Stephen Cannell. He
had two writers, Steve Cronish and I can't remember the
other guy's name, and they had created a show called
(21:37):
Wise Guy. So Cannell goes to Tartakoff and says, I
got a show for you about the guys who chase
serial killers. He thought he was getting eight team, He
thought he was going to get another eight teams. He
sees the first episode with the killer. It happens to
see it the night after Harado Rivera had a show
(21:59):
on about which craft. It was on NBC, and the
reviewers said, this is the bottom of network TV. It
can never go lower, and Tartakoff is getting attacked. He
sees this episode the next day in the screening room.
Midway through, he stands up and he goes, what the
fuck are you trying to do? Bring down this network
(22:19):
single handedly? So Canell knew the show was off, but
we did eleven episodes. How were the Carol Burnett experience?
Oh that was the greatest great, Well, let me tell
you about Carol Burnett. I worship her. So I go
in for the audition. I had done a show called
an episode of Anything But Love with Jamie Lee Curtis
and Richard Lewis, and the producer of that says, you know,
(22:42):
he's great, instead of the casting director coming out to
get me, and I'm just I'm the only one there
out in this hallway, said the casting actor Colling. Richard,
come on in. Carol Burnett comes out to the hallway
and says, Richard, come on in, let's play. And I said,
well that how you'll run Hollywood. We hear your good.
(23:04):
Let's see your best. Not come on in and show us,
show us what you can do. It's come on in
and let's play, let's see if we can have you
at your best, and I went in. I read with her,
and she, of course is Grace's. Of course has showed
her kindness. And I said, all right, I will.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Actor Richard Kind. If you're enjoying this conversation, tell a
friend and be sure to follow Here's the thing on
the iHeartRadio app, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
When we come back, Richard Kind shares one of the
best pieces of acting advice he's ever been given. I'm
(23:55):
Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. We
all know and love. Richard Kine's long running characters Paul
Lassiter from Spin City and cousin Andy from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Another role Kind is famous for is that of doctor
Mark Devino on Paul Riser's Man About You, but surprisingly
(24:16):
only for its first season.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well I got fired, You're fired. Without knowing it. I
started off as a recurring character. We were on every
episode and we said, well, you got to make us
a regular. There's a big difference in pay see. After
about six episode, they made us regulars, and then we
asked them in April, am I going to be coming back. Yes,
of course, I go do the music Man out in
(24:40):
North Carolina in summers because I always do theater during
the summer, so I'm guaranteed I don't have to go
make a lot of money because I got a show
on the air. I get a call from Paul's manager
that I'm not coming back, and I start to cry.
It's on a payphone where I'm living out in North Carolina,
that you know we're sharing the And I get a
(25:01):
phone call and I go, why do They go, well,
we just don't think that you're working on it. I
was the only person who was let go and I said,
I don't understand, and they go, well, we just don't
think that you're right right now for the show. And
I just and I didn't call Paul. But and then Danny,
who was a great guy, but he did not stand
(25:23):
up for me. He thinks some funny, he thinks some
great but he did not stand up for me. And
they this is who the guy created the show.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
And Paul and I.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Have made up with both of them, yeah, in ways
that we didn't even properly make up. But I should
I should be mad at both of them.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, listen, we all I was the biggest movie star
in the world at that time. Wanted me to do
a movie with him. And there's another guy they wanted.
They had cast this sky and then he couldn't. There
was a conflict in his schedule. He couldn't do the movie.
The TV show he's doing wouldn't let him out. So
they call me and they go, it's you. It's you,
blah blah blah. The director, the writer, the producer, the star.
(26:07):
They call me. Oh, they're on a comfortable they're all
on a comfort Oh through the phone. Oh my god.
And I'm sitting in my car and like West Hollywood,
I'm going to go buy like T shirts and some
fucking store there and on Melrose and they call me
and go, it's you. And my agent goes, it's you.
They're gonna do the movie with you. Within a week,
nobody calls me. Nobody says they say, you're out. They
blow my deal. They completely dynamical because the guy they
(26:29):
make him available, the other guy comes back again, which
was their desire. And you never want a director looking
down the lens wishing somebody else was there. I've been
there before.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I don't like it. I mean, in a series. You
can't quit, but they can fire.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
You now when you go. This is always intriguing to
me because when I did thirty Rock with Tina. You know,
Tina was the one who, in whatever language she used,
she impressed upon me. The network's harder. It's harder to
make it funny. I know, you can't say fuck the
girl can't come out of the cake from the top
of Cable and streaming are different fish, and to make
(27:03):
it really funny and edergy on network is harder. Your
career transitions Carol Burnette and Mad About You and spend
Citty for years and then you go into curb. Describe
that arc for me. Do you miss the old ways
or do you like being able to say whatever you
want to say on streaming TV.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Gee, that's an interesting question that I don't know whether
I can answer. Like I just did an episode of
Night Court. I don't think you need to say whatever
you're referring to in order to be funny, but I
will tell you where I did miss it is right now.
I like doing single camera better than four camera. So
having just done Night Court, which I enjoyed and the
(27:41):
cast is phenomenal, and the show's funny, everything like that.
But I did a show called East New York last
year which was well regarded, highly rated, the Jimmy Smith's
Amanda Warren. If you know Amanda, it's a great, great cast.
I missed cursing there did, Yes, I did. But but
(28:02):
for network it was as gritty as a show could
be a lah NYPD Blue because it's was written and
created by an NYPD Blue alum guy named Bill Finkelstein.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So using it warranted them.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
It should, but it's Network TV and they there are
certain FCC rules.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
That's a dramatic show. But it was, oh yeah, because
you like, I'm not just saying this to be kind.
There are people who are arthic, are very funny, who
you'd see that they had a and I see what
I see. This is a very subjective process. But I
mean where you take Mathow and Mathou is comic genius
and he plays it straight. I put you in that category.
You can do it. You can do anything. Very you
(28:40):
can because you're because you have your commanding, your your
you're articulate, you're beyond funny. But I mean you drive.
We used to stay on thirty Rock all the time.
You give the scene the stick to the end, you
give this you you don't pause. People just keep you
got to keep. Yeah, And you have that velocity in
that pace of a very smart person. And I put
you in that category where you can do the drama
(29:02):
as well.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well. I recently you do more drama. Who the fuck
is going to hire me?
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Somebody smart?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Well, that's right, but you don't always get that in Hollywood.
Now here's something that I did do and it's we're
trying to shop it now I should send it to you.
It's called hit Man. Do you know who Lawrence Block is? Yes,
Lawrence Block wrote a series of books, three books called
hit Man. Each chapter is a hit. But it's a
guy who looks like me, maybe lives on thirty eighth
between second and third Murray Hill, exactly, a guy who
(29:32):
you would and is a killer the way some guys
are plumbers and some guys repair cars. He knows that
the HiT's going to be done. It's not that he's
a moral he just does his job. And that's the
kind of character it is. There is not a funny
moment in it.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
I'm you're gonna do it?
Speaker 2 (29:48):
You think we did a twenty minute pilot and it's
pretty good friends of yours. Peter Regert, Karen Allen. They're
both in a worship parent. Oh, it's the best, the best,
that great, beautiful funny.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And the Bill Sadler, you know Bill Sadler. You know there,
they're in it. And I am very quiet and not
loud and serious and it's straight up for good.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Let's talk about Big Knife. Who invited you to the
party there? You weren't involved with Joanne when they did it,
And yes, I did.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
It with Joanne and Joanne Joanne wanted you.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Who the part?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Scott Cohen played the lidro? Yeah, yeah, I was wonderful.
And Chris Reeves's wife, Dana, Dana, and she was magnificent.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
She was great.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
I thank god, she had no idea. You talk about
taking a gamble, She had no idea. Who I was,
no idea in the world. So I go to the
Paul in her apartment and and I got up there
and that's where I read, and I read the thing.
And thank god she didn't know me from Mad About
You or or Spin City or any of that stuff,
so that I could be this character. And I came
(30:55):
in as a blank slate, and she gave me the job.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
I was.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You know, when I'm I'm doing thirty Rock and we
get toward the end and I this was, how did
Tina ask you to do it? Why? I think that
she jokingly said something to Lauren about me, or he
said something. It was always between the two of them.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, law Lauren.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Wanted me to come. He said, would you come and
do the show? And I did not want to do
a series because I was getting divorced and my daughter
was in LA and she was very young. And Lauren said,
I'll make the schedule suit you. You'll be able to
go to LA every weekend or every other weekend. So
they made the schedule very convenient for me. It was
almost a joke, and I went and did the show.
I remember toward the end. I mean, there were many
(31:36):
moments that was just very affecting to me throughout. I
mean many that I thought to myself, these guys are
just the funniest writers. But toward the end, I'm sitting
there and they go, we want to ask your ex wife.
They're going to have Kenneth the page. I jack Donneghey
makes him the president of NBC Universal. I'm going to
make him the president, and his father has died, and
(31:57):
his stepmother's going to fly up to New York from
Georgia to visit him. And it's my ex wife, Kim
Basinger is going to play the part, and they're going
to have me fall in love with his stepmother and
marry my ex wife on the show Jesus, and Kenneth
becomes the president and he becomes my step son in law,
and the waves all came together. I was in tears,
(32:20):
laughing how amazing this was. But then Kim didn't want
to do the play.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
She said, now, she just said, all right, I'm going
to tell you something. I once got the great honor
of introducing you at some benefit of some sort, and
I remember saying, I can't say to your face because
we're peers, we're friends, and you don't do that. But
you are phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Oh you're very good.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
No, you're a you're great. And this was years ago,
and you're only greater. This is before you did thirty Rocket. Right,
you are precise, you are great. You you are just
dead on. It'sid enough that you're handsome, it's enough you're charismatic.
You're so good in the roles that you still go
but but that you are so good at podcasts. The
(33:03):
episode you did on the Garbage, I've ever listened to
it three four times. I tell everybody to listen to it.
It is so fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
What's been more difficult for you the lifestyle and what
it's done and how it's played out in your life.
Never that family, kids, all that's being away, traveling or
the work itself.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Neither is hard. I mean, you have Daniel day Lewis
who submerges himself into the character, which I don't believe
at all, But he sits alone and he does that.
Michael Stolberg, I've seen do stuff like that. I show
up and I go today, I'm this guy. Let's play
pretend and I play pretend saying anybody else you the
(33:44):
same thing?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah? But I but will I do?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I try to try. I do turn off my phone
on the set. First of all. I like talking to people,
and the people on the set are more interesting.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
I want to stay connected to the set in the
world i'm in.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Yes, there was a great acting teacher who I was
lucky to have, Harry mastro Joy have him.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I heard the name.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
He was great Raleiota took from him a lot and
anyway's pretty great. And he just said, just go play.
Pretend when you see kids out on a playground doing
Cowboys and Indians, there they go what tribe was I from?
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Where?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
What?
Speaker 1 (34:14):
What state?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Where's what state I went? Now they go play Cowboys
and Indians and that's.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
That's when we play asters, which Apollo mission is this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Right, But but in my head, in my head, I
imagine in my head, I've made decisions. I haven't done research,
but I have made decisions in my head.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
This is where I know. Michael Dorsey, you Dustin's carater
right right, exactly exactly I am. I was a beefsteak
tomat all.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
But but but he said, you have to go over
the script. All the answers are in the script. That's
what Harry said. Every answer you want is in the script,
and that's what they do. You pour over the script.
Anthony Hopkins used to do that, read the script thirty times,
he would read a third prey forty times. By the way,
you want a great story, my favorite showish story. I
(35:05):
know where we're going out about tomast go out on Tom.
If we'll go out on Tom McGowan, a great character actor,
great guy. There's a show called La Bette Friend of Yours.
Ron Silver is the lead. Okay, Ron Silver, a week
before they open, decides to quit. He doesn't want to
open the show. Tom McGowan is the understudy. They go
(35:29):
to Tom McGowan, They go, do you know the show?
He says, of course I do, and it's a forty
minute monologue. You know La Bette? Do you know the show?
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (35:37):
You can go on.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
They go, we are going to ask Kevin Kleine if
he wants to take over for Ron Silver. If he does,
we're going to close the show, rehearse for four weeks
and open with Kevin Klein. If Kevin Clein says no,
We're going to open on schedule in a week on
Broadway with you can you do it? Says of course.
(36:01):
He goes home to call his mother. He says, Mom,
they're gonna ask Kevin Klein if he wants to do it.
If he says no, I'm opening next week as the
lead in this Broadway show. His mother goes, oh, I hope.
Kevin Klein says, yes, I love him. It's my favorite show.
(36:23):
This story.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
You're somebody who has that thing. You come on screen
and everybody's happy.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
That's nice.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
They're happy to see you. They know they're gonna laugh,
they know they're gonna think. They know that. You're an
intelligent comic actor mostly, but you do drama as well.
But you're somebody who the minu You come on screen,
everybody's happy. They're happy to be with you. They want
to be with you, and that's why you need to
do this until you're ninety five.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Fucker not what I will, but it's true. I love it.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I think you're amazing. You're so talented. Everybody in this
business loves you. Everybody in the business loves you. That's
a big thing. Respect you. They think you can do
any they think you can do it. Well, don't cry anyway.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
I love you, Thank you, I love you very very much.
I love you.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
My thanks to Richard Kind. This episode was produced by
Kathleen Russo, Zach MacNeice, and Maureen Hobin. Our engineer is
Frank Imperial. Our social media manager is Danielle Gingrich. Here's
the Thing is recorded at CDM Studios. I'm Alec Baldwin.
Here's the Thing is brought to you by iHeart Radio,
Host
Alec Baldwin
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