July 11, 2025 • 27 mins
He created the iconic TV series “Everybody Loves Raymond,” but Phil Rosenthal knows good food too with his show “Somebody Feed Phil”.
Would Phil open a real life Luke’s Diner with Scott?
Plus, Phil shares his simple yet perfect way he discovers amazing restaurants on the road.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am all in again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Let's do.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Luke's Diner with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast. Hey Everybody,
Scott Patterson, I'm all in podcast, one of one productions
iHeartRadio Media. iHeart Podcast Luke's Diner. One on one interview
with the one and only and it's a special treat today.
A mister Phil Rosenthal who made the world laugh with
(00:42):
Everybody Loves Raymond. He created it and now makes us
all hungry with his hit show Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix.
Phil travels the globe using food as a bridge to culture,
connection and joy. He's a James Beard Award winner, a
champion of restaurants, and someone who turns strangers into family
one bite at a time. Phil and I are going
(01:05):
to be discussing season two, episode ten, the brace Bridge Dinner.
We saw foods of the nineteenth century like rolls, roast chicken, rice,
and green beans, but today we're taking it back to
the twenty first century and straight you Phil, welcome, Thank you,
love you, and van very accomplished. So you created the
(01:28):
show and you were you were the.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Showrunner absolutely and I stayed all nine years and then
when we decided it was enough, already we had two
hundred and ten episodes. We'd said everything we wanted to say,
and you know, there's this old show biz actium you
should get off the stage before somebody says, hey, you
should get off the stage. And I'm a student of TV,
(01:51):
and you know, there were shows that I was trying
to emulate, like Mary Tyllamore, which I think is the
high water mark of camera sitcoms.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Absolutely, and they.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Did seven years, I believe, and said we're leaving now,
and we did nine years, and they were going to
back up the truck. But you know what, right, it
doesn't pay. It doesn't pay to take that money, because
that's people always our short term goal. You know, they
(02:28):
think you got to grab this nap. But I truly
believe that by leaving before we became lousy, that the
show had a more lasting value. And so next year
we're on TV thirty years.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And all those syndication deals and it's still on the
air and people can can watch it.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I believe it's on Peacock and Paramount Plus and IFC
and TV Land and local stations and around the world.
So we couldn't be luckier. But we really feel right
there were two factors to the longevity of the show.
(03:10):
One was pre planned, actually both were pre planned. The
first was, don't make so many topical jokes. Don't have
jokes that will date the show. The only thing that
dates the show maybe is the the you know, clothing
and hairstyle, maybe right. But other than that, it's a
you want to be timeless, not timely. Yes, and that
(03:34):
I learned from shows like Mary and Taxi. You know,
to me, the thing that makes all the family, which
is another one of the shows I tried to emulate. Certainly,
they were topical because they were dealing with the politics
of the dead right, But what makes the show endure
are the personal family relationships that are evergreen and completely universe.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
M Yeah, beautiful stuff. Yeah. I think you and I
grew up in the same era.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think you're born nineteen sixty. I'm a little bit
older than you are.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You don't look it.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I know, I'm sixty six.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And listen, you got one year on that's not.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
But you know, one of my favorite shows from that
time period was and I ended up in an acting
class with her at Carnegie Hall and it just was
It was as surreal an experience to be with her
in that acting class and Louise Lasser. Oh, Mary Hartman,
(04:39):
Mary Hartman, that's unbelievable and just and I mean just
the fact that that show even got a chance, you know,
normally just brilliant Norman, right is he?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Is he?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Your guy? Is Norman Lear is the guy.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I say that TV, all of TV history can be
divided in.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
To B N and A N before Norman after you.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Got it, because all the Family really changed everything. Before
all the Family shows were kind of silly, yeah, and
kind of you know, fantastical by dream of Genie. Did
you know that big, high concept things, very entertaining show
and it took him three tries to get it on
(05:25):
the air?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Film three pilots and uh here it is that changed
not just TV but America. And you couldn't do that
show now, mm hmmm, right, Certain certain presidents might have
a problem with this type of show criticizing. By the way,
(05:46):
at the time Nixon, he was on Nixon's enemies list
for that really, Yeah, for criticizing daring to criticize the
president of the United States for exicizing free speech familiar
Oh boy, Yeah, Well, let's not go there.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now, well, we can add Phil Rosenthal to the list
of greats who have brought something quite unique to the
American culture TV culture, and you had, you know, this
gift of Ray Romano. When you first saw him? Did
(06:28):
you first see him in a stand up situation?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I first saw him. He had been a stand up
for twelve years. I never saw him until he got
a break. He got to do six minutes on David Letterman,
and that very appearance. After six minutes, Letterman said there
should be a sitcom for that guy.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Letterman had to deal with CBS. They set about looking
for writers to create a show for Ray, and that's
how we met. He was going blind dates with different
writers in Hollywood. I don't think I was his first choice.
In fact, I'm sure I wasn't. I think he wanted
somebody from Friends, which was the hot show at the time, right,
(07:10):
And I was coming off of writing for a Coach,
which I think is admittedly not as hip or cool
as Friends. But turns out the Friends guy couldn't make it,
and I got the gig so nice.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And Letterman was he was tough in the beginning, right,
I mean his I mean that was that was a
gauntlet that you had to go through to get through
that interview with him, because he was merciless if you
weren't sharp and on it and making him laugh. I mean,
he was tough on people.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It was the strangest interview I've ever had. I went,
and so I go to New York. They say, got
to meet now that you know Ray likes, you got
to meet Letterman. Okay, through it to meet Letterman the
show and I go up to the sixth floor I
believe it was, and they go in his office and
his office is facing the wrong way. In other words,
(08:11):
when you open the door to someone's office, the desks
is facing you right right. How about you enter the
office and now you're behind his desk. He's facing the
wrong way. Very odd. You know mafia people, they don't
have their back to the door. No, no, no, he did.
Maybe he wanted to be taken out.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I don't know us, that's certainly, But how.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
About this for weird. He says, have a seat and
gestures for me to sit behind his desk. I said,
not behind the desk. He said, absolutely behind the desk,
and I sit there. No one offers to take my coat.
I had come from outside in the winter. I'm sitting
here with my coat in my arm and he and
(08:55):
two of his producers from Worldwide Pants are sitting to
sit me. And I said, the first thing I'd like
to do is throw you all the hell out of
my office. And this is a laugh. You just laughed
ten times more than they left. The comedy people who
(09:16):
are as cool as these guys are, they laugh.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Like this when you say something, right, that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Letterman was leaning a chair up against one wall where
the stereo was and I mentioned this because the entire meeting,
heavy metal music was not just playing lasting oh gosh,
and they did not turn it down.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I didn't know if this was you know, between sitting
me behind the desk and having this music playing. Was
it a test of wills? Was it a test of
whether I had the fortitude to endure hardship or or
awkward circumstances, because it certainly was awkward, and I just,
you know, put my head down. And they asked, so,
(10:08):
what's the what's the show going to be? And I said,
I think I want to base it on Ray's actual
life and what I don't know about the personalities from
his family. I'm going to fill in with the characters
from my family, so I know what I'm writing about, right,
And they kind of nodded like this, and then he
gave me these words of advice, just don't embarrass us.
I said, that's nice. Said, that's what I tell my
(10:31):
kids when I drop them off at school. So I left.
They had greeted me as if I had the job already.
They just wanted to like make sure. But after I
got a call from my agent saying, congratulations, you passed
the audition. That was the That was a meeting, and
(10:52):
I guess maybe all that stuff was a test. I
don't know, right. In the nine years that followed, I
spoke to David Letterman a grand total of five minutes. Really, yeah,
but he did call to congratulate us, you know, when
we got picked up the second season. He even did
(11:12):
a top ten list for our rat party, which was great, right,
you know about Raymond. And then and then at the end,
he was very sweet and very generous in his praise
for the show. I think he was very proud of
the show actually. And then I got a chance to
call him when he was going off the air, and
(11:33):
you know what, I called him maybe two days before
he went off the air, I left a message. That's
all I wanted to do, was leave a message to
thank him for my great opportunity, right and how how
much I loved him and the sh He called me
right back and we talked for twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh nice.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
He couldn't have been nicer. And I've seen him since
and he's so kind and nice. I think having a
kid actually softened him. I'll do it right, And now
he literally looks like Santa Claus and he's just you know,
he's a freaking.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Icon, one of the great stand up comedians.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, and also change TV.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, he did, He really did.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So it was an honor to, you know, be under
that ages and just be associated with him in any way.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Would you ever get back into the business in a
real way with a new show or are you done?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yes? I would, but if the business doesn't seem to be.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
There anymore, it doesn't or doesn't.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
After Raymond, after graduating from that experience nine years, I
wrote another sitcom. I thought, that's what I'm been put
on earth to do. Everybody wanted me to and then
nobody bought it. And then I wrote another one and
nobody wanted it, and I'm like, what's going on? And
they said, well, you know your style of sitcom, it's
(13:14):
not really what they want. I said, what do they want?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, what do they want?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
They want friends? Everybody wanted friends. They wanted the young,
hip edgy show. I said, well you got the right
guy and mister hip and Edgy. So I just knocked
around for years, frustrated trying to write sitcoms.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
So they don't want family, no generational, they don't want that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
And it's stupid because the building blocks of television has
always been the well made family sitcoms. There wouldn't be
another family sitcom after Raymond until Modern Family.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Five years later, right right?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And it had to be modern right right, It had
to tick all the boxes right for Actually, I guess
they would call it hip and edgy because they had
a gay couple, they had a Latina mixed marriage, they
had you know, multi generation was it was very cleverly
(14:14):
done and fantastic. But that's what it took to get
another family sitcom. Name the last great one after that.
That's twenty five years ago, right, God?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Is that long ago? Modern Family started?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
They just don't value them. And I believe I know why.
I think it's because executives themselves personally want to be
associated with young, hip and edgy, yeah, and not the family.
So what did I do? I had this dream of
doing a travel from and so I switched lanes, which
(14:53):
you know, the business. They don't really understand or want
that because that's a tougher sell. We know, he's the
sitcom guy. Okay, now you're going to be in a
travel show. You have no business doing that. And it
took me ten years to get really yeah. And I
(15:14):
first started on PBS. The show was called I'll Haboohil's having.
I did six episodes on PBS. We did very well,
but then they couldn't afford to do the show anymore.
And then thank god, this new company called Netflix was
coming along and they liked it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Ah, okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And then we changed it to Somebody Phil.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
That's such a great title.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
See, it's so great. I love the title too, because
it cannotes someone who needs to be taken care of.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yes, somebody feed Phil. I mean right there, it's vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
It's you get to get you understand my character. You know.
I sold the show with one line. This is the
long I'm exactly like Anthony Bourdain if he was afraid
of everything.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
That's great. I mean, you can't lose. You just can't lose.
That's so good. All right, So let's get into this
a little bit. This show you've eaten in all these
incredible places all over the world. Yes, you know, you're
talking a little bit about why the why you did this,
But really, I mean it was this. It was this
(16:29):
frustration with the business uh and and and not being
able to get something made after winning so many Emmy
Awards that you just decided like, Hey, I'm just going
to do my thing, and I want to travel. I
want to combine everything I love or a lot of
things I love, and do my own show and control
(16:50):
my destiny pretty much and be my my own sort
of boss. And you know that kind of thing. Is that?
Is that how it came about.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I was having such a hard time that I thought,
if I'm going to knock my head against this show
business wall, why not pick a spot in the wall
that I would really like? So my ideal show is
this what you're seeing now. We're the longest running show,
by the way, original series on Netflix. Eight. This is
(17:25):
the eighth season that coming in, and I think it's
because I followed a dream that ten years it took
to get it. And I'm not exaggerating ten years. Was
it worth it? Yes, because look at me now, I'm on,
Luke Stunner.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
You really made it.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I've made it. That's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Well. You don't just bring anybody on.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I'm not kidding. I think you know the fact that
anyone would want to talk to me about my career.
I feel incredibly lucky, incredibly lucky. That's what drives everything
when you wake up and the baseline is gratitude. You're
in a good place. Right, So look what I get
to do.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
How do you think I feel twenty five years in
and this like phenomenon of a show? Just keep growing
and growing. And that's right. I wake up every day
on how did this happen? This is so great?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah? But what I tell listeners or any any audience
that I run into, or any person who asks how
do you do it? If you make something a priority
in your life, you don't rest until it happens.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
That's not to say there's anything wrong with finding another
priority and saying I'm dumping that first idea, right right.
You know, for example, having a family, Okay, but I
didn't care about my family.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
No, I.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Had a priority. One was family and one was the show.
And now guess what I get to combine both. The
family comes along with me. Right, that's beautiful, right, So
that that's really nice. They can't come on every episode,
although I wish they could, because they have something called
their own lives. Right, But I love doing it with
(19:21):
my wife whenever she can. The audience loves her, and
the kids are cute too.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I have to stay right, let me ask you this, Yeah,
how do you pick the restaurant? Yeah, or food stops
for the show?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah? I google best place to eat Amsterdam? Right, And
I'm not kidding. And then I just don't go by
one review. I start pruss referencing. You know, when you
google anything, not to plug Google, but any engine, a
lot of stuff comes up, not just their recommendation, but
(20:05):
all the links to all the let's say, local magazine influencers,
Instagram things, reviews of all kinds. And when a restaurant
starts popping up several times, maybe there's something there. Now,
I do have something that maybe you don't have, which
is a production company in New York and they used
(20:26):
to be Bourdain's production company, and so they have fixers
literally all over the world because he was on for
eighteen years. And so I'll send them my little list
that I'm thinking of and they'll say, oh, that's not
the best pancakes in Amsterdam, this is the best, right.
(20:46):
And then we do something that I love, which is
we leave room in the schedule. When we're shooting. We
shoot for a week in each place. We leave room
in the schedule for serendipity, for the fine stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Usually we'll be doing a scene with a chef and
they'll recommend another place and we'll check that out right
if it sounds fantastic, and you know what, those are
my favorite things. That's most spontaneous. That's a lesson for
life too. If you're going on vacation, don't over plan.
Be in the moment. How many times does this happen
(21:24):
where you know you had a reservation somewhere in Europe
and you didn't get there, you got there late, where
it's raining you can't get there, or other places closed
suddenly for no reason. Right now, what, let's just go
in here. It's not we're tired, We've been traveled for
eighteen hours. Let's just I'm just hungry. Let's just eat.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
You go in meally your life, right, that happens right, sure,
so I love that.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
That's how we do it.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's how you do it, man. Yeah, and you're in
production right now on No, see, you're not right now.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I'm on this publicity tour for season eight, which comes
out the eighteenth, June eighteenth.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, June eighteenth, Netflix the Tops on Netflix June eighteenth,
that's coming up. Yeah, everybody should check it out.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I got a clarterdam Hamstersterdam Tablisi, which is the former
Soviet Georgia where they invent did wine seven thousand years ago.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Wow, Wild Australia. We do Sydney and Adelaide. In this
episode we go to Manila and the Philippines. We did
two shows in America, Boston and Las Vegas, and Guatemala
and San Sebastian and the Basque Country in Spain.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
You're all over the place, all over the world. That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
It is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's fantastic. If you were to come into a Luke's diner. Okay, yes, yes,
they don't exist yet, but we're working on it.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Good. I'm working on a diner myself, you know, are
you really? Yeah? I'm going to open a diner this song.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Oh that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Good for you. I love diners. I was inspired by
a diner in Biddeford Main when we shot the main
episode called the Pales Diner. And it's a very simple diner,
the one in Biddeford. It was just elevated by great
chefs coming in and using fantastic ingredients, but nothing fancy.
It's still bacon and eggs, waffles, bacons, burger, but the
(23:28):
best of those things I ever had. I said, oh
my god, I want to do something like this in
my neighborhood where I live. And I got a great
chef to go in with me. And her name is
Nancy Silverton. Have you heard of her?
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I know, I'm sorry I have not.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Oh. Oh, she's invented Lebray a bakery, oh gosh, and
Moza in La. She's a spectacular chef.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's fantastic. And so that's an.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I'm naming after my parents, Max and Helens.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Thank you. But tell me about Lukes di Well.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I want to ask you if you were to come
into the diner. Yes, what would you order?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I would order breakfast. I love a diner breakfast. I
love eggs or punts. I love a soft scramble like
my father. My father lived for very soft scrambled eggs.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I'm a soft scramble guy. I just had, Yes, I
just had myself. I have it every morning. I love it.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
It's great and good for you. And and he he
would ask my mother, my eggs, lovey? Are they fluffy?
I've been making you eggs for sixty years. You think
I'm just checking.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
They gotta be fluffy?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Man on his tombstone and I am not kidding. On
his tombstone, it says, are my eggs fluffy?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Come on? That's beautiful. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And next his tombstone is hers, and it says, I'm
listening the opera, which was her preod occupation.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Oh man, I wish we had more time. Will you
please come back?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
What have you want? But wait, you were gonna You're
gonna tell me something, or you were saying, if I
come into Luke's Diner, what my order is?
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
You just said you love breakfast. You just said pancakes
and all that.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yes, yes, I thought we were going to talk more
about that diner. But that's okay. Uh I. I can't
wait for your diner. I'm a student of diners.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Now, I know me too, right, do you.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Have a go to in LA? Where are you? Well?
Speaker 1 (25:35):
No, I'm outside of La now. Yeah, we got out
and you know, the middle of COVID so you know
we wait, we're out. We're out more towards the beach. Okay, yeah,
we we We got out in the wide open spaces.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Is there a diner, Not that I have found as yet,
but there will be.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
You know, they're disappearing from America, Yeah, not for long.
With that is you lose a sense of community.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yes, I agree, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And with the loss of community, maybe you lose the country.
So I'm going to solve everything diner.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yes, Hey, we do what we can, right, And that's
an important piece of it, right there.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You think globally and act locally.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's right, brilliant. Please come back, Phil, please, please please.
I think we're just scratching the surface of the conversation here,
scratch and and we'll we'll a lot more time next time.
So everybody watch. Somebody feed Phil out now on Netflix
season eight. What a guy, what a talent. Thank you,
(26:45):
and to the best fans on the planet, remember we
appreciate the downloads, keep the cards and letters coming, and
remember where you lead, we will follow.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Stay safe, everyone, dot.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Hey, everybody to forget. Follow us on Instagram at I
Am all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at
iHeartRadio dot com.
I am all in again.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Let's do.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Luke's Diner with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast. Hey Everybody,
Scott Patterson, I'm all in podcast, one of one productions
iHeartRadio Media. iHeart Podcast Luke's Diner. One on one interview
with the one and only and it's a special treat today.
A mister Phil Rosenthal who made the world laugh with
(00:42):
Everybody Loves Raymond. He created it and now makes us
all hungry with his hit show Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix.
Phil travels the globe using food as a bridge to culture,
connection and joy. He's a James Beard Award winner, a
champion of restaurants, and someone who turns strangers into family
one bite at a time. Phil and I are going
(01:05):
to be discussing season two, episode ten, the brace Bridge Dinner.
We saw foods of the nineteenth century like rolls, roast chicken, rice,
and green beans, but today we're taking it back to
the twenty first century and straight you Phil, welcome, Thank you,
love you, and van very accomplished. So you created the
(01:28):
show and you were you were the.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Showrunner absolutely and I stayed all nine years and then
when we decided it was enough, already we had two
hundred and ten episodes. We'd said everything we wanted to say,
and you know, there's this old show biz actium you
should get off the stage before somebody says, hey, you
should get off the stage. And I'm a student of TV,
(01:51):
and you know, there were shows that I was trying
to emulate, like Mary Tyllamore, which I think is the
high water mark of camera sitcoms.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Absolutely, and they.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Did seven years, I believe, and said we're leaving now,
and we did nine years, and they were going to
back up the truck. But you know what, right, it
doesn't pay. It doesn't pay to take that money, because
that's people always our short term goal. You know, they
(02:28):
think you got to grab this nap. But I truly
believe that by leaving before we became lousy, that the
show had a more lasting value. And so next year
we're on TV thirty years.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And all those syndication deals and it's still on the
air and people can can watch it.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I believe it's on Peacock and Paramount Plus and IFC
and TV Land and local stations and around the world.
So we couldn't be luckier. But we really feel right
there were two factors to the longevity of the show.
(03:10):
One was pre planned, actually both were pre planned. The
first was, don't make so many topical jokes. Don't have
jokes that will date the show. The only thing that
dates the show maybe is the the you know, clothing
and hairstyle, maybe right. But other than that, it's a
you want to be timeless, not timely. Yes, and that
(03:34):
I learned from shows like Mary and Taxi. You know,
to me, the thing that makes all the family, which
is another one of the shows I tried to emulate. Certainly,
they were topical because they were dealing with the politics
of the dead right, But what makes the show endure
are the personal family relationships that are evergreen and completely universe.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
M Yeah, beautiful stuff. Yeah. I think you and I
grew up in the same era.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I think so.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I think you're born nineteen sixty. I'm a little bit
older than you are.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You don't look it.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, I know, I'm sixty six.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And listen, you got one year on that's not.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
But you know, one of my favorite shows from that
time period was and I ended up in an acting
class with her at Carnegie Hall and it just was
It was as surreal an experience to be with her
in that acting class and Louise Lasser. Oh, Mary Hartman,
(04:39):
Mary Hartman, that's unbelievable and just and I mean just
the fact that that show even got a chance, you know,
normally just brilliant Norman, right is he?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Is he?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Your guy? Is Norman Lear is the guy.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I say that TV, all of TV history can be
divided in.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
To B N and A N before Norman after you.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Got it, because all the Family really changed everything. Before
all the Family shows were kind of silly, yeah, and
kind of you know, fantastical by dream of Genie. Did
you know that big, high concept things, very entertaining show
and it took him three tries to get it on
(05:25):
the air?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Film three pilots and uh here it is that changed
not just TV but America. And you couldn't do that
show now, mm hmmm, right, Certain certain presidents might have
a problem with this type of show criticizing. By the way,
(05:46):
at the time Nixon, he was on Nixon's enemies list
for that really, Yeah, for criticizing daring to criticize the
president of the United States for exicizing free speech familiar
Oh boy, Yeah, Well, let's not go there.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Now, well, we can add Phil Rosenthal to the list
of greats who have brought something quite unique to the
American culture TV culture, and you had, you know, this
gift of Ray Romano. When you first saw him? Did
(06:28):
you first see him in a stand up situation?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I first saw him. He had been a stand up
for twelve years. I never saw him until he got
a break. He got to do six minutes on David Letterman,
and that very appearance. After six minutes, Letterman said there
should be a sitcom for that guy.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Letterman had to deal with CBS. They set about looking
for writers to create a show for Ray, and that's
how we met. He was going blind dates with different
writers in Hollywood. I don't think I was his first choice.
In fact, I'm sure I wasn't. I think he wanted
somebody from Friends, which was the hot show at the time, right,
(07:10):
And I was coming off of writing for a Coach,
which I think is admittedly not as hip or cool
as Friends. But turns out the Friends guy couldn't make it,
and I got the gig so nice.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And Letterman was he was tough in the beginning, right,
I mean his I mean that was that was a
gauntlet that you had to go through to get through
that interview with him, because he was merciless if you
weren't sharp and on it and making him laugh. I mean,
he was tough on people.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It was the strangest interview I've ever had. I went,
and so I go to New York. They say, got
to meet now that you know Ray likes, you got
to meet Letterman. Okay, through it to meet Letterman the
show and I go up to the sixth floor I
believe it was, and they go in his office and
his office is facing the wrong way. In other words,
(08:11):
when you open the door to someone's office, the desks
is facing you right right. How about you enter the
office and now you're behind his desk. He's facing the
wrong way. Very odd. You know mafia people, they don't
have their back to the door. No, no, no, he did.
Maybe he wanted to be taken out.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
I don't know us, that's certainly, But how.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
About this for weird. He says, have a seat and
gestures for me to sit behind his desk. I said,
not behind the desk. He said, absolutely behind the desk,
and I sit there. No one offers to take my coat.
I had come from outside in the winter. I'm sitting
here with my coat in my arm and he and
(08:55):
two of his producers from Worldwide Pants are sitting to
sit me. And I said, the first thing I'd like
to do is throw you all the hell out of
my office. And this is a laugh. You just laughed
ten times more than they left. The comedy people who
(09:16):
are as cool as these guys are, they laugh.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Like this when you say something, right, that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Letterman was leaning a chair up against one wall where
the stereo was and I mentioned this because the entire meeting,
heavy metal music was not just playing lasting oh gosh,
and they did not turn it down.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I didn't know if this was you know, between sitting
me behind the desk and having this music playing. Was
it a test of wills? Was it a test of
whether I had the fortitude to endure hardship or or
awkward circumstances, because it certainly was awkward, and I just,
you know, put my head down. And they asked, so,
(10:08):
what's the what's the show going to be? And I said,
I think I want to base it on Ray's actual
life and what I don't know about the personalities from
his family. I'm going to fill in with the characters
from my family, so I know what I'm writing about, right,
And they kind of nodded like this, and then he
gave me these words of advice, just don't embarrass us.
I said, that's nice. Said, that's what I tell my
(10:31):
kids when I drop them off at school. So I left.
They had greeted me as if I had the job already.
They just wanted to like make sure. But after I
got a call from my agent saying, congratulations, you passed
the audition. That was the That was a meeting, and
(10:52):
I guess maybe all that stuff was a test. I
don't know, right. In the nine years that followed, I
spoke to David Letterman a grand total of five minutes. Really, yeah,
but he did call to congratulate us, you know, when
we got picked up the second season. He even did
(11:12):
a top ten list for our rat party, which was great, right,
you know about Raymond. And then and then at the end,
he was very sweet and very generous in his praise
for the show. I think he was very proud of
the show actually. And then I got a chance to
call him when he was going off the air, and
(11:33):
you know what, I called him maybe two days before
he went off the air, I left a message. That's
all I wanted to do, was leave a message to
thank him for my great opportunity, right and how how
much I loved him and the sh He called me
right back and we talked for twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh nice.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
He couldn't have been nicer. And I've seen him since
and he's so kind and nice. I think having a
kid actually softened him. I'll do it right, And now
he literally looks like Santa Claus and he's just you know,
he's a freaking.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Icon, one of the great stand up comedians.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, and also change TV.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah, he did, He really did.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
So it was an honor to, you know, be under
that ages and just be associated with him in any way.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Would you ever get back into the business in a
real way with a new show or are you done?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yes? I would, but if the business doesn't seem to be.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
There anymore, it doesn't or doesn't.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
After Raymond, after graduating from that experience nine years, I
wrote another sitcom. I thought, that's what I'm been put
on earth to do. Everybody wanted me to and then
nobody bought it. And then I wrote another one and
nobody wanted it, and I'm like, what's going on? And
they said, well, you know your style of sitcom, it's
(13:14):
not really what they want. I said, what do they want?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, what do they want?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
They want friends? Everybody wanted friends. They wanted the young,
hip edgy show. I said, well you got the right
guy and mister hip and Edgy. So I just knocked
around for years, frustrated trying to write sitcoms.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
So they don't want family, no generational, they don't want that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
And it's stupid because the building blocks of television has
always been the well made family sitcoms. There wouldn't be
another family sitcom after Raymond until Modern Family.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Five years later, right right?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And it had to be modern right right, It had
to tick all the boxes right for Actually, I guess
they would call it hip and edgy because they had
a gay couple, they had a Latina mixed marriage, they
had you know, multi generation was it was very cleverly
(14:14):
done and fantastic. But that's what it took to get
another family sitcom. Name the last great one after that.
That's twenty five years ago, right, God?
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Is that long ago? Modern Family started?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
They just don't value them. And I believe I know why.
I think it's because executives themselves personally want to be
associated with young, hip and edgy, yeah, and not the family.
So what did I do? I had this dream of
doing a travel from and so I switched lanes, which
(14:53):
you know, the business. They don't really understand or want
that because that's a tougher sell. We know, he's the
sitcom guy. Okay, now you're going to be in a
travel show. You have no business doing that. And it
took me ten years to get really yeah. And I
(15:14):
first started on PBS. The show was called I'll Haboohil's having.
I did six episodes on PBS. We did very well,
but then they couldn't afford to do the show anymore.
And then thank god, this new company called Netflix was
coming along and they liked it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Ah, okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
And then we changed it to Somebody Phil.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
That's such a great title.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
See, it's so great. I love the title too, because
it cannotes someone who needs to be taken care of.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yes, somebody feed Phil. I mean right there, it's vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
It's you get to get you understand my character. You know.
I sold the show with one line. This is the
long I'm exactly like Anthony Bourdain if he was afraid
of everything.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
That's great. I mean, you can't lose. You just can't lose.
That's so good. All right, So let's get into this
a little bit. This show you've eaten in all these
incredible places all over the world. Yes, you know, you're
talking a little bit about why the why you did this,
But really, I mean it was this. It was this
(16:29):
frustration with the business uh and and and not being
able to get something made after winning so many Emmy
Awards that you just decided like, Hey, I'm just going
to do my thing, and I want to travel. I
want to combine everything I love or a lot of
things I love, and do my own show and control
(16:50):
my destiny pretty much and be my my own sort
of boss. And you know that kind of thing. Is that?
Is that how it came about.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I was having such a hard time that I thought,
if I'm going to knock my head against this show
business wall, why not pick a spot in the wall
that I would really like? So my ideal show is
this what you're seeing now. We're the longest running show,
by the way, original series on Netflix. Eight. This is
(17:25):
the eighth season that coming in, and I think it's
because I followed a dream that ten years it took
to get it. And I'm not exaggerating ten years. Was
it worth it? Yes, because look at me now, I'm on,
Luke Stunner.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
You really made it.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I've made it. That's how I feel.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Well. You don't just bring anybody on.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I'm not kidding. I think you know the fact that
anyone would want to talk to me about my career.
I feel incredibly lucky, incredibly lucky. That's what drives everything
when you wake up and the baseline is gratitude. You're
in a good place. Right, So look what I get
to do.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
How do you think I feel twenty five years in
and this like phenomenon of a show? Just keep growing
and growing. And that's right. I wake up every day
on how did this happen? This is so great?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah? But what I tell listeners or any any audience
that I run into, or any person who asks how
do you do it? If you make something a priority
in your life, you don't rest until it happens.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
That's not to say there's anything wrong with finding another
priority and saying I'm dumping that first idea, right right.
You know, for example, having a family, Okay, but I
didn't care about my family.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
No, I.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Had a priority. One was family and one was the show.
And now guess what I get to combine both. The
family comes along with me. Right, that's beautiful, right, So
that that's really nice. They can't come on every episode,
although I wish they could, because they have something called
their own lives. Right, But I love doing it with
(19:21):
my wife whenever she can. The audience loves her, and
the kids are cute too.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I have to stay right, let me ask you this, Yeah,
how do you pick the restaurant? Yeah, or food stops
for the show?
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yeah? I google best place to eat Amsterdam? Right, And
I'm not kidding. And then I just don't go by
one review. I start pruss referencing. You know, when you
google anything, not to plug Google, but any engine, a
lot of stuff comes up, not just their recommendation, but
(20:05):
all the links to all the let's say, local magazine influencers,
Instagram things, reviews of all kinds. And when a restaurant
starts popping up several times, maybe there's something there. Now,
I do have something that maybe you don't have, which
is a production company in New York and they used
(20:26):
to be Bourdain's production company, and so they have fixers
literally all over the world because he was on for
eighteen years. And so I'll send them my little list
that I'm thinking of and they'll say, oh, that's not
the best pancakes in Amsterdam, this is the best, right.
(20:46):
And then we do something that I love, which is
we leave room in the schedule. When we're shooting. We
shoot for a week in each place. We leave room
in the schedule for serendipity, for the fine stuff.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Usually we'll be doing a scene with a chef and
they'll recommend another place and we'll check that out right
if it sounds fantastic, and you know what, those are
my favorite things. That's most spontaneous. That's a lesson for
life too. If you're going on vacation, don't over plan.
Be in the moment. How many times does this happen
(21:24):
where you know you had a reservation somewhere in Europe
and you didn't get there, you got there late, where
it's raining you can't get there, or other places closed
suddenly for no reason. Right now, what, let's just go
in here. It's not we're tired, We've been traveled for
eighteen hours. Let's just I'm just hungry. Let's just eat.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
You go in meally your life, right, that happens right, sure,
so I love that.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
That's how we do it.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's how you do it, man. Yeah, and you're in
production right now on No, see, you're not right now.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I'm on this publicity tour for season eight, which comes
out the eighteenth, June eighteenth.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, June eighteenth, Netflix the Tops on Netflix June eighteenth,
that's coming up. Yeah, everybody should check it out.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I got a clarterdam Hamstersterdam Tablisi, which is the former
Soviet Georgia where they invent did wine seven thousand years ago.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Wow, Wild Australia. We do Sydney and Adelaide. In this
episode we go to Manila and the Philippines. We did
two shows in America, Boston and Las Vegas, and Guatemala
and San Sebastian and the Basque Country in Spain.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
You're all over the place, all over the world. That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
It is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It's fantastic. If you were to come into a Luke's diner. Okay, yes, yes,
they don't exist yet, but we're working on it.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Good. I'm working on a diner myself, you know, are
you really? Yeah? I'm going to open a diner this song.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Oh that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Good for you. I love diners. I was inspired by
a diner in Biddeford Main when we shot the main
episode called the Pales Diner. And it's a very simple diner,
the one in Biddeford. It was just elevated by great
chefs coming in and using fantastic ingredients, but nothing fancy.
It's still bacon and eggs, waffles, bacons, burger, but the
(23:28):
best of those things I ever had. I said, oh
my god, I want to do something like this in
my neighborhood where I live. And I got a great
chef to go in with me. And her name is
Nancy Silverton. Have you heard of her?
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I know, I'm sorry I have not.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Oh. Oh, she's invented Lebray a bakery, oh gosh, and
Moza in La. She's a spectacular chef.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's fantastic. And so that's an.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I'm naming after my parents, Max and Helens.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Thank you. But tell me about Lukes di Well.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I want to ask you if you were to come
into the diner. Yes, what would you order?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I would order breakfast. I love a diner breakfast. I
love eggs or punts. I love a soft scramble like
my father. My father lived for very soft scrambled eggs.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I'm a soft scramble guy. I just had, Yes, I
just had myself. I have it every morning. I love it.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
It's great and good for you. And and he he
would ask my mother, my eggs, lovey? Are they fluffy?
I've been making you eggs for sixty years. You think
I'm just checking.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
They gotta be fluffy?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Man on his tombstone and I am not kidding. On
his tombstone, it says, are my eggs fluffy?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Come on? That's beautiful. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
And next his tombstone is hers, and it says, I'm
listening the opera, which was her preod occupation.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Oh man, I wish we had more time. Will you
please come back?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
What have you want? But wait, you were gonna You're
gonna tell me something, or you were saying, if I
come into Luke's Diner, what my order is?
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
You just said you love breakfast. You just said pancakes
and all that.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yes, yes, I thought we were going to talk more
about that diner. But that's okay. Uh I. I can't
wait for your diner. I'm a student of diners.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Now, I know me too, right, do you.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Have a go to in LA? Where are you? Well?
Speaker 1 (25:35):
No, I'm outside of La now. Yeah, we got out
and you know, the middle of COVID so you know
we wait, we're out. We're out more towards the beach. Okay, yeah,
we we We got out in the wide open spaces.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Is there a diner, Not that I have found as yet,
but there will be.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
You know, they're disappearing from America, Yeah, not for long.
With that is you lose a sense of community.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yes, I agree, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And with the loss of community, maybe you lose the country.
So I'm going to solve everything diner.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yes, Hey, we do what we can, right, And that's
an important piece of it, right there.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You think globally and act locally.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's right, brilliant. Please come back, Phil, please, please please.
I think we're just scratching the surface of the conversation here,
scratch and and we'll we'll a lot more time next time.
So everybody watch. Somebody feed Phil out now on Netflix
season eight. What a guy, what a talent. Thank you,
(26:45):
and to the best fans on the planet, remember we
appreciate the downloads, keep the cards and letters coming, and
remember where you lead, we will follow.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Stay safe, everyone, dot.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Hey, everybody to forget. Follow us on Instagram at I
Am all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at
iHeartRadio dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Sugarman
Danielle Romo
Scott Patterson
Tara Soudbaksh
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