Starring Jason Earles as Merv Kilbo in “Dadnapped”

Jason Earles joins Will and Sabrina to talk about his start in Hollywood, “Hannah Montana” and “Dadnapped”!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hey, everybody, thank you so much, and welcome back to
this par copper episode of Magical Rewind where I say
every week we got the greatest guest in the world.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
This is the greatest thing in the world. And this
week we got the greatest guest in the world. It's
gonna be the greatest thing in the world. Very excited.
I'm gonna say world.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Until it sounds strange in your ears, which I think
I'm there at this point.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
There are we there?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
I think we can move forward, mister we can.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Can we move off this world? Can we do that?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
We're very excited because we have I mean about any
hyperbolee kind of Disney Channel royalty with us today.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Right is once again we have the best producers of
this show right to book the best freaking interviews. I
cannot I'm so stoked. He wants to be here to
chat about well, his giant career on the channel.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah. Well, let me give you a few of them.
You know, Dad napped Fill of the Future. But the
one I guess people have heard of the most is
something called Hannah Mantona. Am I pronouncing that wrong? What is?

Speaker 4 (01:14):
It's Hannah Montana, That's what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Hannah Montana. I couldn't tell because she was wearing a wig.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, totally three.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
It threw me.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
But we are so excited to get all the tea
on everything happening on some of the best sets and
Disney Channel movies we saw, and other movies and television shows.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
We're gonna get into it. We don't want to wait
any longer. Please help us. Welcome Jason Earls. Hey, he
did it. How are you good?

Speaker 5 (01:46):
How are you guys doing?

Speaker 2 (01:47):
I'm good, Thank you so much for joining us, And
I'm so sorry Sabrina made you wait.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah, it's so true.

Speaker 6 (01:56):
You can.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
I'm gonna blame the row and we're just gonna put
it on my daughter for you know, she's not here.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
She's not here to say anything different, So that's what
it is.

Speaker 5 (02:04):
I don't buy it.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, we are so excited that you're here because I
don't know if you've heard of our little podcast, but
we are all Disney Channel all the time, and to
have you on is such a huge get for us.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
We're so excited because, I mean, just one banger after
another and we're going to get into those, yes, but
first I want to get to how you your entire
life story, how you got to that seat you are
right now where you know, Where did you decide you
wanted to be an actor, and how did you get
into the industry.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
I was.

Speaker 5 (02:36):
I was the middle of five kids growing up in
like a suburb outside of Portland, Oregon.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
My dad was a truck driver where he was gone
a lot.

Speaker 5 (02:44):
My mom was a stay at home mom, and so
it was it was like it was like it was
just a dogfight to try to get attention in that house,
and if my dad was around, it was like the
most entertaining one wins, So you were constantly just buying
for attention. And the thing I discovered in elementary school,
every time I did a school play, it was the
one time where all four of my siblings and my

(03:05):
mom and dad had to just sit there and watch
me yes, So it was like guaranteed attention. So I
started doing like plays and all that stuff when I
was like very early in elementary school. And then I
actually randomly followed my high school girlfriend the college in Montana,
of all places. So that's a very weird place to

(03:27):
get like your your acting training. But it didn't work out, obviously,
because that never works out. But I loved the school
that I went to, and it was such a small
department that I got a chance to do a little
of everything. It was acting and set building and lighting
design and you know.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Just the whole thing.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
And it wasn't like a big program where you have
to wait until you're a junior or senior to get
like a lead in the show. It was like, if
you were good and you were funny, you could just
be in shows. And so I did that, and I
was split on whether I wanted to be an actor
or go to veterinary school.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Geez, I know, way less killing animals as an actor, yeah,
way less.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
Yeah. So I was set up to go to vet
school and then ultimately.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Just decided to roll the dice on it and moved
to LA.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
And did you just move on your own? Just just you.

Speaker 5 (04:17):
Well, at the at the time, I was engaged to
my college girlfriend, who was just high school girlfriend.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
I followed, and what a romance like you are a romance?

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Geez, I don't know, man, Uh it's good.

Speaker 5 (04:32):
But so so I moved moved to LA with her
and the first couple. I mean, I don't know anybody
in LA. I have no family, no contacts. I didn't
know where to start, so I registered at Central Casting
and did like hundreds and hundreds of jobs as an
extra and as a stand in just and which was
actually really good because I have no film school training

(04:53):
at all. Everything about being on TV or commercials or
in features is all just learning on set from the
you know, time as an extra, and I actually think
that was really good. I got to work on sort
of the basic acting stuff in college, and then this
was all the technical on the fly training. And then
after about three years I got an agent finally and
booked a couple of small things and Hannah was the first,

(05:15):
like major role that was sort of the breakthrough thing
that that had it off and running.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well, we know Hannah was one. It was your major
breakthrough role.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
But before that, don't don't sell yourself short on playing
man in the seats.

Speaker 5 (05:31):
What's funny is like that is one of those deals
where these eagle eyed fans of shows will like pick
me out from my hundreds of jobs as an extra. Sure,
if you watch Gilmore Girls, I'm probably in a dozen episodes.
Is one of the students at Chilton or one of
the students there, or I'm at a.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Funeral or whatever.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
If you watch a NCIS, I'm like, a it's my
wife's favorite show. And one day she was watching it
and like I was an altar boy and it was
just and she was like, what do you do in
the show?

Speaker 4 (06:01):
Oh my gosh, that you're taking me out of the
world when my husband is there.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
As an Yeah, she man.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
I also did extra work when I was younger, and
I swear if anyone ever comes to me and asks me,
you know, my kid.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Really loves my kids really funny. You know what should
I do?

Speaker 4 (06:21):
I always say, put them in extra work because they
think it's a great job. It's so fun and set.
Life can be very boring for kids, and so putting
them as an extra gets them in the zone. It
doesn't have a lot of you know, for the kids,
it's not a lot of responsibility.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
It's it's you'd get directed, but not too crazy.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
And my favorite thing about what the stuff that I
was in is like, there I am, did you see me?

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I just walked by.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
That was my shoe.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
That was my shoe right there.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
One percent.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
The very first job that I ever booked as an extra,
what I was an extra on er Uh huh, It's
like insanity because the very first shot I was ever
in was a giant long walk and talk through the
hospital and they were like, at this point, you're supposed
to run between the camera and Anthony or Anthony Edwards.
I'm really tall, yeah, so and there's like this much

(07:11):
space and you're supposed to like I was like a
bicycle messenger kid or something, and and I like ran
through the very first take. I just ran, smacked right
into his chest.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Almost knocked myself down, and then I was like, ran off.

Speaker 5 (07:22):
It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
I had no idea what I was doing. Brad Pitt
was an extra. It's a great way.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
We just had cal Pen on podmet th World, and
cal Pen was an extra on Boy Me Thrill. Then
we didn't even know at the time, and he's like, yeah,
eagle eye fans will spot it.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
From a Disney perspective. One of the I did a
bunch of extra work for Disney before I ever booked anything.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
And if you watch that so Raven, I'm in a ton.

Speaker 5 (07:45):
Of that So Raven, including my favorite behind the scenes
thing of there was I think it was an episode
where she was like running for student office or something
and they were supposed to be an auditorium full of students,
but like on a Disney budget, sometimes there's nine. It
was literally like twenty of us, right, and we wore
our stuff and we sat in a section, and then
we went and we changed our clothes and they sat

(08:06):
in another section. And then so when you look at
the scene, like there's a shot where I'm in like
fourth places.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
And it's in court of an outfits and it's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
There are so many qua quatuplets in this school. I mean,
it's amazing.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
I will say too though, I mean, and it's like
goes to Cassie, you have such an unforgettable face, like
for to be an extra and just do that to someone,
like someone's gonna see that.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah it was.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
It was very forgettable face.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
Then it's always memorable now because of Hannah Banana, but
the rest of.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
It, Okay, So before Hannah Banana, because I wanted to,
I got a lot to talk about with that.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, you just gave him something he's never gonna give up.
The Hannah Banana is gonna stick.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
I know it absolutely.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
But before that, and it's funny, I just watched it
like a week ago, and it is a phenomenal film
that still holds up national treasure.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah yeah, where how does this come about?

Speaker 5 (08:58):
Literally just a random audition? And I actually think the
thing that I did. I never dress up for auditions
like in costume, sure, but since that was like a
period thing about like this sort of like like a
stable boy sort of a vibe, I actually went like
probably eight tenths of the way to like an actual outfit,
like I had like a vest, and I like had

(09:20):
I don't know it, just as it was very viby
for like what that was. And then the other thing
that I had going for me is I actually had
experience riding horses, like around horses, and our role was
driving that coach in the beginning with with Carol dying
in the back. So the fact that I had that experience,
I think it was sort of both of them. It

(09:40):
just worked out and that was actually a really fun job.
I went out to Washington, d C. And Philadelphia for
a couple of weeks to shoot my parts of it,
and I spent maybe three or four days with the
stunt crew just learning how to drive a coach. I'd
ridden horses, but I had never been a stage coach before.
So it was just like I'm just running around with
these stage boards.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
That's pretty You know what's funny is as an actor,
every young especially man, I don't know about woman, but
every young man coming up has can ride horses on
their special they.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Did, They say, prove it. Yeah, you're the only one
that actually could.

Speaker 5 (10:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
I think I had a horseback riding on my of
course everybody does as well.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Horse that I was on once or twice.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yeah, it's like I can ride a horse. I can
also fall off a horse.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Right exactly, but does so at the end of the day,
you're Nick Cage's great grandfather.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
That's pretty awesome. Yeah, it might even be one more removed.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
It's so far back.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Thomas Gates, by the way, sorry, a big fan of
the film, So I get the whole thing.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
I love that movie. I was there. Is an interesting
sort of side note for that is I actually had
a bunch of stuff, not a bunch of stuff, but
several scenes that were like cut out of that where
like I actually we get to the White House and
I actually have a conversation with the President Andrew jah.
They cast in Andrew Jackson, they did, they did, and
we had that scene and i'd heard. The rumor that

(10:59):
I heard was that the director and that actor did
not get along particularly well, and so he cut all
of Andrew Jackson's stuff, which, by extension, cut like.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Half of your stuff.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
Oh yeah, I think it took a little scrapnel for
that one.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
But I still love I love the movie. I think
the movie is so fun. I do too.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
I think it would be really funny if you found
out that the director just had a problem with Andrew Jackson,
just like he's my least favorite president of cutting every
scene from this.

Speaker 4 (11:26):
Oh man, So, as you're on the channel and doing
your extra work, was that something as you were on
the set, going this is like a goal of mine,
Like I want to be one of the leads in
one of these shows because you saw how it worked
and you saw how great the set. I'm sure the
set life on Raven was great. Like, was that something
that kind of then became a goal from your experience?

Speaker 5 (11:49):
Yeah, I mean I think I was always like, I mean,
I knew I wanted to be an actor. I've always
gravitated towards comedies and like multi camera sitcom comedies like
are the closest thing to theater you can do on
camera and all of my acting experience before LA was
on the stage. It was the place that just made
total sense to me, and I was really really excited

(12:11):
to like see if I could weasel my way into
that specifically, and the fact that I looked so young
and I was playing eighteen to look younger like Disney
was a very logical place to try to like figure
out how to you know, worm my way in there.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
That was gold. By the way, I'm sorry, but that
was gold. If you were a young actor, that was
you looked young but were still legal, Oh my god,
you would want to work.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Longer than the other kids. And absolutely so.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Did you audition for anything else on the channel or
was Anna Montana your first?

Speaker 5 (12:40):
Yeah? I had auditioned for a bunch of stuff. Actually,
I think I had auditioned for like different like guest
stars on on on Raven and I actually actually auditioned
to be Do you remember the show Phil of the
Future of course, yes, So that was actually the first
thing that I ended up booking. But like I, there

(13:01):
was this in between places where earlier before I booked
the role that I played in a couple of episodes,
I auditioned for his best friend that they were going
to bring on and I didn't get it. But then
like two days later I got a call from Central
Casting to see if I would be background on the show.
So like I showed up on set and they're like, hey,
good to see you. You didn't get the role. Oh no,

(13:24):
I'm background, but maybe, like maybe, like two months later,
I ended up auditioning for this other Grady Spaggot was
his name. He was into close up magic and he
was like a total nerd.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
It was super fun.

Speaker 5 (13:37):
But that was actually that was the first I think
Disney Channel role that I that I ended up booking.
It actually did play a part in me getting Hannah
as well.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Okay, well that makes yeah, that makes it. Well we're
not gonna talk about Hannah on ten at all. That's
not important. Yeah, right, yeah, right now. I'm curious.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
So you're working for the Channel, but you're slightly older
than everybody else there. Did you watch Disney Channel at
all growing up? Were you familiar with kind of the
shows or not?

Speaker 5 (14:04):
Really?

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, Disney and Nickelodeon both. I loved all that stuff.

Speaker 5 (14:07):
But I I mean again, because a lot of that
stuff is just so broad and so silly. And so
funny that, like, you know, like even Stevens is super funny,
and and Raven is Raven. I've been a fan of
Raven all the way back to Osby Show around forever. Yes,
and so yeah, so I I knew what the general
vibe was, and I knew that it would be it

(14:30):
would really match my sensibilities.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
Good, well, you were right, I mean, you did it
becoming like the one of the faces of the channeling
brothers there ever ever has the show's good.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Oh sorry, you're talking to too television older brothers, I.

Speaker 6 (14:46):
Said, one of that, okay, one of them.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Okay, So is it just then a regular audi dition
that comes across Is it called Hannah Montana at the time?

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Is there a different name for it? How do you
how do you hear about that project?

Speaker 5 (15:06):
I remember it still being Hannah Montana and I was like,
that's that name is never gonna stick.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Placeholder, placeholder, It got to be a placeholder.

Speaker 5 (15:16):
What's funny is like the I okay, so I almost
did an audition for it at all because it was
they were casting close to age, you know what I mean?
And I was a pretty decent margin older too. But
the thing that was sort of crazy about it was.
I had auditioned for a movie for the casting director,

(15:38):
Lisa London, like.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
A couple of months before, and she did the pilot.

Speaker 5 (15:43):
For this and she loved me in the audition for
the movie, but I wasn't right for it, and so
she brought me straight into like a producer session for Hannah.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
Yeah, the thing that was really this is like so bad.
When I auditioned for her for the movie, she asked
me how I was, which you're not really legally allowed
to ask, right, So I felt like I was within
my rights to lie to her, and I told her
that I was nineteen years old, which I was, so
then that's what she thought, and she brought me in
for the Hannah audition, and before we go into the room,

(16:14):
she goes, hey, so they're trying to cast this as
close as sixteen as possible.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Would you mind lying to them and telling them that
you're eighteen?

Speaker 5 (16:24):
And I was like I think I could do that.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Yeah, no problem.

Speaker 5 (16:28):
So they thought that I was eighteen when I auditioned
for the sixteen year old brother. And again, so the
way the Phil the Future thing plays in it, I
walk in the room and like there's several people from
Disney there, and they're like, oh, Jason from phil we
love you. Have fun. So it like immediately took all
the pressure off trying to prove who I was and
all that stuff. But I was originally not going to

(16:50):
audition for it because I knew that they were trying
to cast close to age and I felt like I
was too old. And then also it was like really dumb,
Like it was so like the original Jackson was the worst.
He was like he was so introverted and he didn't
know how to like handle his sister's success, and so

(17:12):
like his way of coping with the world was talking
with an orangutang hand puppet. It was awful and so
literally like through the.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Entire I am so glad for you that went away.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
I want to see the original pilot though, well wait,
I want to know.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
I wanted that one to be shot. I want to
see that because you you you know, you would have
made that funny.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
You actually would have killed it.

Speaker 5 (17:34):
You would have killed that it was funny. It was
just really stupid.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
It was really really stupid. It was so stupid.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
Oh but I worked very hard, like I worked with
a puppeteer and the puppet itself was awesome. It was
like a thousand dollars wait.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
They went so far as to make the puppet.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
After I booked the thing. During rehearsals, I worked with
the puppeteer with the orangutang hand puppet, and you did it.
We were three days away from shooting the pilot. We'd
done rehearsals for.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
Like five days with this puppet.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
It was such a hard thing to do and then
to change, like we're asking the puppet.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
So if you watch the pilot, there's a scene where Miley,
myself and Billy Ray are sitting around the table in
the kitchen and we're sort of like bantering and it's
one of the first times you really see Miley and
I sort of talk junk to each other. Yeah, it's
totally that big brother little sister dynamic that you see
for the whole series. And we did that in one
of the early run throughs, and the writers were like, well,

(18:33):
that's what it is. He's the one guy that's not
like impressed with the fact that it is. He's going
to use it to the max. He doesn't need to
like this is totally wrong. So they actually ended up
rewriting everything around that aspect of it and punted the
puppet like three days before we shot the pilot.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
I'm sorry you're doing run throughs and stuff like that
with the actual puppet.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, do you have a picture.

Speaker 5 (18:58):
That's a good question.

Speaker 4 (19:00):
Could please deep dive into your phone and get me
a picture of this puppet.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
I will love you for ever.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
I was gonna say there's no phones at the time.
It's not.

Speaker 5 (19:07):
Yeah, yeah, I'll try to find one, and if I do,
I email it.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
I will email it over all, right, start.

Speaker 5 (19:15):
Two thousand and six.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Okay, Yeah, there wasn't.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Really people weren't taking pictures with their phone into where
they were brand new.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yes they were. It was like the first iPhone was
out for sure.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, the iPhone was out in two thousand and six.
That's a whole different thing. I can't get off the puppet.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
You can't get off the puppet.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
I know.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
I love the puppet.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
This it This is probably one of my favorite interviews
learning about this puppet, just because so we we did
watch the pilot. Okay, even though I was around during
Handah Montana, the cheaterh Grit, we were doing stuff like
I was no longer watching the channel like anymore. So
of course I knew all of you guys. I had
met all of you guys, and well.

Speaker 5 (19:54):
We did the Dignity Channel games.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yes, I wanted to get into that.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
We will get into it, becau because it is my
favorite thing to talk about.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Because Team Yellow forever, I'll get.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
Out of here with that.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
So you were not you were not on Team Yellow.
You were on one of the good teams.

Speaker 5 (20:09):
Well, it depends on the year it was. It depends
on the year, And yes, I actually was. I think
I might be the winningest competitor if we did four seasons.
I think my team won three of the four seasons.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Oh, Sabrina was in the games twice and somehow lost
three times.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
So that's yeah, that's that's that's that tracks for her
Disney Channel game.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
It's not a lie. It's funny because it's true.

Speaker 5 (20:33):
Do you remember any of the events you were in?

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Like what was the what's what event that you did?

Speaker 4 (20:37):
Like I remember tug a War because when it aired,
I was so embarrassed of like my face.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
Has anyone ever looked cool playing War War?

Speaker 4 (20:48):
It was like why I did the dance? I did
a dance off and Keeley won that one, and so that.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
I was you lost a dance off she had.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
In Blue Will.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
Okay, that's fair. Yeah, that's fair. Okay, that's fair.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, it was me and Kyle Massy.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
What do you think a joke?

Speaker 3 (21:11):
I made a joke?

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Everything's a joke with Kyle. Yes, have
driven driven you know he's taking it as a joke.
Oh god, I'll take my first pick too.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Hell yeah, Corbyn would be. I mean, there's no one else.
It's like a people and Corbyn.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Okay, so wait, wait a second, you do the pilot. Yes,
the pilot is now puppet free. Thank god? Yes? Did
you so?

Speaker 1 (21:43):
I had never seen obviously, I'm I'm older, so I
had never seen Hannah Montana before. We just did the
movie with the Hannah Montana movie, but we watched them.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
We watched the pilot first and then my daughter got hooked.
So I watched the first like five episodes of the
first season.

Speaker 5 (21:59):
The only thing that's tough about the first season is one,
especially the first episode, like again that we're not as
skilled like as actors, and like.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
Your character comes out and it hits hits it out
of the Park right from the start.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
I am very good from the beginning. I think you are.

Speaker 5 (22:14):
But the thing is, don't you think it's really hard
to watch it because it's in the four by.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Three Going four three is strange.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
It's four three and it's it's before h D. So
the first season just looks like the oldest television it does, okay,
like Hellney, Hell yeah, it's.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
I didn't want to be rude, but it did. And
I couldn't figure out why it looks so dated, just.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Old and grainy.

Speaker 5 (22:37):
It's it's standard definition and four by three. It's what
used to and it used to look like. If you
watch the later the later seasons look good, like look
like TV.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
The first season.

Speaker 5 (22:46):
Is is definitely the roughest.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
But did you so you're you read the script, you
almost don't go in because it's a little silly, but
you know, hey, that's it's okay, it's just Disney Channel.
You're gonna make what you can of it. Then they're like, hey,
we see what you're what this is. We're cutting the puppet.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
But was there ever a point where you were like,
wait a second, she just puts on a wig and
then nobody.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Reckoned my god, I can't believe in doing this.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Never.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
Okay, I'll tell you why we have a We have
a totally valid argument.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Please please.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
The totally valid argument is you're gonna tell me you
don't recognize Superman because he puts on a pair of glasses.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
But that's why I can't Superman.

Speaker 5 (23:26):
You're gonna tell me that you don't you you won't
recognize the bottom half of Bruce Wayne's face under the cowl.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay, now you're talking Batman, when you're talking my world,
that's a little bit different.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
That's that's a little different than the cowl. At least
most of his face is covered, and he's and he's
changing his voice.

Speaker 5 (23:42):
You still see his eyeballs, and you still see him
from here down. I'm telling you, if you buy Batman,
you have to buy I buy Superman.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
That see Batman, You're supposed to be the idea was
your see I played Batman for years. So the idea
is you're supposed to be so scared of Batman in
front of you that you don't you don't see anything
where where Clark Kennon and Superman is like he's in
bright blue and whereas this shadowy figure in a dark
black cape is standing in front of you.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
You're not looking at his drawline. I'm a nerd, by
the way.

Speaker 5 (24:13):
So just so you know, I would just I would
say that, like if you if you buy any aspect
of any of those, you have to buy.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
All of it. Yeah, I guess that's no. I guess
that's true.

Speaker 4 (24:23):
It's also Disney Channel, like it is about the sparkles
and the glitter and.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
The closet, and I get I'm getting.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
It like that.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
I know, I know, but it is kind I mean
when you watch the movie, right, and it really was
like this girl grew up with you guys, and you've
known her forever. That's when it got a little bit
more with the movie. The show She's handa Montana. She
came from out like she she didn't grow up there.
So it kind of to me worked more than it

(24:58):
did for me in the movie.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
The movie that was harder for me to go, Wait,
you grew up with this girl. You know her voice?
You know her voice? Like you what? Okay. That's the
only time when I.

Speaker 5 (25:08):
Went there's things about the movie that I love. I
don't know if we're at the movie yet, are we
doing the movie now?

Speaker 2 (25:12):
We can we could jump around.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
It's fine because wait, there's part most of the movie,
by the way, we love too.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
It was great. Yeah, the movie is beautiful.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
And some gorgeous acting moments, and there's some very funny
things that happened in it.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
I think in the in the.

Speaker 5 (25:25):
Isolation, it is a really good movie with a few
logic flaws.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Agreed, it makes no sense, Like that makes no sense
at all.

Speaker 5 (25:34):
And the thing that's like doubly frustrating about it is
I don't know if a lot of people know this,
but the people that did the movie were not the
people that did the series, right, we heard about that, Yeah,
And so as happens, the people that are making the movie,
they want to make their movie. They don't necessarily care
about the ramifications for the show. Right. So, like we

(25:55):
shot the movie between season two and season three. The
movie was gonna come out like in the middle when
season three was airing, So we had to figure out
storytelling in the show how to fix whatever they did
in the movie.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Geez.

Speaker 5 (26:10):
So, for example, my character I think was I think
he was a junior when we finished season two, and
then because of the movie, they basically take my character
and they send me to Tennessee to go to college.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yeah, you're going to college.

Speaker 5 (26:23):
So they basically robbed me of my senior year on
the show without asking the show. The other thing that's
really crazy is the whole reason they did that is
for a storyline that they ultimately cut from the movie, because,
like what was supposed to happen is Jackson goes to Tennessee.
He missed the deadline for application. He didn't actually get
in for the fall semester, so he's gonna go work

(26:46):
at the petting Zoo with his cousin and make some
money and tread water and goof off for a semester
and then reapply go in the spring, and Dad will
never be the wiser. So they all go to Tennessee.
And the entire my entire thing in the movie is
I'm trying to hide the fact that I'm not actually
in college, and I'm constantly playing this game of dodgeum
with my dad, and there's stuff with like him being

(27:08):
on campus trying to visit me in class, and I'm
walking into classes I'm not actually in and.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
These are all things that were shot or all that
stuff no way.

Speaker 5 (27:18):
And they cut it out of the movie because I
think they wanted more of the British reporter or something.
I don't know what the reasoning was, but so so
so now so now they've taken my character, they've sent
me to college. No context, don't pay off that story.
And now at the end of the movie, supposedly I'm

(27:39):
still at Tennessee, and then I got to go back
and be in Malibu for the rest of the series.
So the only fix for that was, oh, you know
you you you've dropped out of or you failed out
of you were too homesick.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
That on Disney storyline. I've ever heard it was dropped out.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
Yeah, so it was, it was, it was just it
was a It was a really interesting watching how we
tried to like marry those two things together. And then
also our whole series series was like sort of driving
up to when she reveals her secret, right, like what
that looks like maybe for a couple of episodes afterwards,
and that's what we did, but the movie, like she

(28:19):
did in the movie. Yeah, and then and then bought
it back and it's like, none of those people are
going to say anything.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
No one of them. It's a great that's a great storyline.
Though the comedy that comes from you pretending to be
in college. Yes, seems to be you could really mind
the comedy from that way more than the reporter, who
was great. It was fine, but I mean there's way
more comedy with the brother.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
And I also think that if you were a fan
of the show, like you want to know what's happening
with our people?

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Yeah, yes, you have your diehards that are like, you know,
going and so did when when it came out? Speaking
of the fans, did anyone was there, like, you know,
at that point there's like online you know, chats and
things like that. Did you ever hear of any of
the fans being like what the hell happened? Like is
anyone going to bring up the fact that, like this

(29:07):
is crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Jackson's not in scood. We just gave him, We took
him out of his senior year. We don't get to
see that anymore.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
We didn't get any we didn't get a prom, we
didn't get anything, Like, no.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
They don't, they don't ultimately, like it's myrie shirt, you know.
I mean, like if you missed Maise problem, that's a problem.
And Jackson is some dude that has stuff blow up
in his face. You know what I mean, he's the
one that like with the girls, so you can if
you can skip some of that stuff. And actually, and
I agree with that, like I don't think that I'm
not like precious with like missing those moments. It was
just more like, if you're going to do that to

(29:37):
the story, like at least let people see that, like, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
You know, I agree. Can I make sure I see
this shirt that I think I'm seeing?

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Yeah, shop and this is actually the the thing from
the movie.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Did they give you guys, Like did they give all
the cast like sweatshirts from it?

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Was the crew right right?

Speaker 3 (30:05):
The crew?

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Okay, so you shoot the I'm going back to the show. Sorry,
I jump round.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
You shoot the pilot the show airs. How how long
after the show aired did you realize you had something
there where it's like, okay, something's going on.

Speaker 5 (30:22):
Like almost the next day, so fast. It was like
I think that someday down the road, some sociologists will
look back and like and study the phenomenon of how
we basically took a girl and we told the world
that she was a pop star, and then we aired

(30:42):
the show and the next day she was a pop star.
They immediately bought into the premise that that's like what
she was and what she did. So from the very rip,
she was like selling out stadiums to do com because
we told them that she sells out stadiums Hannah Montana.
It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
She is very true.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
I was telling Will when we watched the movie.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
I remember being at the upfronts before Hannah Montana came out.
That was when we were like the upfronts was including
our second Cheetah Girl movie, and I'm like it felt
like there was like a like a rumble in the
room and it was all about this new show, Hannah Montana.
And I just remember like like everyone was so stoked.

(31:29):
And I remember walking away that day going this show
that they've got coming, it's gonna blow Lizzie McGuire out
of the water, Like it is going to be a
huge Lizzie McGuire fan. By the way, nobody come for me.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
I love the.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
Show, but like you could just tell like Disney was
ready for this mega monster that they knew they were
releasing to the world, and it was just incredible and.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
It did and it worked.

Speaker 4 (31:53):
And the kid and I'm telling you, my daughter was
watching the pilot and I told you. I ended up
watching five episode. She was instantly hooked. She bought all
of it, bought it all from the star.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
Yeah, there's definitely some like, there's some there's some magic
sauce in there. I think, I think the aspirational quality
of like wanting to be a pop star and what
that life looks like. But then also she was so
relatable because the whole premise was she wanted to be
a regular girl with all the bad stuff that comes
with that. So she was kind of bullied and picked

(32:26):
on at school, and she make mistakes and have those
come to, you know, come to Jesus, talks with her
dad about what lesson did we learn? And I always
felt like by the end of the episode, you feel
like somebody was a slightly better person at the end
of the episode than when they started, yes being like
super heavy handed or preaching any of that stuff. And

(32:46):
then it was of all, I've been on some wonderful casts,
But the chemistry of that past and how quickly I
think we understood what we were good at and how
we could play off of and with each other, I
think it really it really came through in the show,

(33:07):
even when we weren't technically that great of actors or
knew technically what we were doing that first half a
dozen episodes. Like Miley's so charming, even when she's like
a little rough as an actress, do you know what
I mean? There's just something about her where you go, Ah,
I love her, I want.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
To hang out just so roofy Yep.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
The writing was so good and so so thought out
and just really hits home on so many levels of everything.
All the messaging is there and it's girls want that.
It was incredible.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
She had an older brother who was goofy but picked
on her, and.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
You know, but like not that is the super but
that is the superman thing. That's exactly what we were
just talking about is every kid wants to be able
to take off the glasses and be supermany so every
I guess every girl at the time wanted to be
able to put on a wig and be the pop
star because during the days she's dealing with the same
problems that everybody has at school. Oh yeah, and at night,
I put on this wig and I take the stage
and everybody staring at me. So yeah, I mean, I

(34:03):
fully get it. And I also think that the other
thing that sort of really worked about.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
Our show was like kind of like what you said,
like Miley and Emily were obviously going to like bring
in every tween girl on the planet, but like my
character and Billy Ray, we met like the brothers and
the dads that had to watch Hannah Montana with their
daughters and sisters, like there was something for them to
watch and be entertained by. So it really felt I
always felt like it was more of the old school

(34:27):
TGI Friday like family sitcoms. It was literally great like
Disney like kids sitcom And as the writing you mentioned
the Steve Peterman was the executive producer and the showrunner
for the show. He won like four Emmys for Murphy
Brown doing primetime television, Like he's nominated for like twelve Emmys.
He's it was the caliber of rioter we had in

(34:50):
the room was like we were so lucky for it
all to just sort of like come together like that.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, So did your life kind of change overnight then?

Speaker 5 (35:02):
In some ways? Yeah, I mean definitely, like going out
in public, there was suddenly there was an awareness and
at first I think it was slower for me than
Miley because it was a lot of like you're a
Hannah Montana's brother, and it wasn't until like maybe season
two or season three that it was like, oh, you're
Jason Earls. You played the like where they know you
a little bit more lagged behind Miley in that way,
which was fine, which was good better maybe, but but yeah,

(35:28):
I mean, I think the thing it's always interesting and Sabrina,
you know this, like the perception of like what your
life is when you're on a Disney show, like how
much money you make and what that like looks like
for you doesn't necessarily line up with the reality. So
like you have you have this attention in this notoriety,
but you don't have like the money to insulate yourself

(35:48):
from the more difficult parts of that. If that makes I.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Don't know that I get it, it does astely and.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
So like, yeah, so it was like it was weird,
like your life changed and in a lot of ways
a very positive way, but in one of the ways
you were really hoping it would change.

Speaker 4 (36:06):
And the thing about the d coms too, and we
obviously want to get into the dcom.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
That we just watched. That was different for me.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
I think then then for the casts on the show
because the casts on the show, we're working longer periods
of time, and the money that you could have per episode,
like Disney had a cap like you couldn't you couldn't
go over a certain thing.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
You know, I don't know what the cap is.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I just until you could. That was the thing about Disney,
you know, not the genuinely like that's the thing that's.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Cly couldn't couldn't do it. So the d like, what
are you.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Telling me that you're telling me that Miley cyrus last
season of the show. There there, it goes in and
says I want two thousand dollars an episode. They say,
we're not going to give you any more money?

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Really wow?

Speaker 3 (36:59):
Oh uh no, Yeah, it's union budgets.

Speaker 5 (37:02):
Oh okay, it was keeping costs under certain amounts of
that way you can keep the crew rates. I mean,
but no.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
But it's interesting because you're right, people think she's a superstar,
she's rich, she stars in the show, and that's.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Not She was making money on tours and album sales.
She was not making money on the show.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
So that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
And honestly, for me with the d com, it's different
because it's like an offset thing. So like our amounts
of money were definitely different, Like I know that than
what what the shows were so and but I only
worked once and it was it, you know what I mean,
Like I did three move I was lucky enough to
do three. Most people on d coms only do one,
and the number gets bigger as the brand gets bigger.

(37:43):
But with the show, it was like, yeah, you might,
you might get more money, but at the end of
the day, there.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Was only so much the union.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Would allow you to go, which is was terrible for
the actors. That's you know, and that's not Disney, that's
the Union.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
It's relative. I mean, like sure I would have loved
to have made Big Bang Theory money and we all
but it was still better than when I was substitute
teaching before I before I got inrested, right, Like I
feel blessed in some ways. It could have been better ways,
but like you know, it's just.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
And it opened so many doors for you to continue
to do certain other things and things like that, like
you mean, as we all know and everyone we talked to,
getting a job on.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Disney was like awesome, life changing, greatest.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Gift, you know, it really was. It was and to
work around great people. Like you said, you're writers, your producers,
I mean, you're working. Disney has the ability to pull
in the absolute best and it was as especially when
you're younger, it was.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
It's amazing, it absolutely amazing.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
And you could fold it into like a giant family.

Speaker 5 (38:47):
Like I know that it's a business and and there's
all that stuff, and Disney will treat it like a
business when it comes time. But that being said, I
have some of my closest friends are people that worked
at Disney when I first started on Hannah, And you know,
here we are twenty years later, and I still feel
like I could call them with any problem, whether it

(39:08):
was professional or life, and I would get a heartfelt
response and they would like, you know what I mean. Like, so,
it is an interesting, giant thing that you get folded.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
It is. And I've always said they Disney was.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Known for being cheap, that's kind of their thing. But
at the same time they treated you very well.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yes, so they might not pay you.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
What you're making if you're working for Warner Brothers or NBC,
but at the same time they're flying you on jets
to do fun Disney things and you're at the Disney World,
and they gave you hotels, room the Disney games. You
get to do things there that you can't do anywhere
else exactly, which is.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
Very just on a personal level, like what you said,
Like you walk that top building floor that everyone works
on and you're walking around and like literally they're on
like big business calls and they just just give me
one second. Hey, Hey, I'm gonna call you right back. Brady,
Brian just caught here. I'm like what what? Oh God,
why would you know?

Speaker 2 (40:06):
What's you know?

Speaker 4 (40:07):
They treat you like, like you said, family, and you
just you can't replace that with anything.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
Speaking of a fun time, you had a two month
run a two month period where Hannah Montana and Dad
Napped both came out. So did you shoot these back
to back or did they hold one?

Speaker 2 (40:34):
How did that work?

Speaker 5 (40:35):
No, I'm pretty sure if I remember right, and it's
been a minute, we shot Dad Napped between season one
and season two of Hannah Montana, and then we shot
the movie of Hannah Montana between season two and season three,
So I think I'm not sure what the what the
lag was as far as Dad Napped coming out, But
since it was like Walt Disney pictures and then like

(40:57):
the Disney Channel original movie.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, doing their own things.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
I don't think there's a coordination about like when things
were gonna come out or any of that.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Yeah, because that's fun. That's a fun two month period.
Whether you just got films dropping left and right and
your show is still on the network, that's pretty damn good.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
And it was cool too for you guys to have
like a mesh of different shows. I mean, you've got
Waverley Plays, you know, like there's all the cast members
who I'm sure did you guys like already know each
other from shooting on the same lot.

Speaker 5 (41:26):
Yeah, like Phil Lewis from Sweet Life, David Henry from Wizards.
There was three of us from Hannah Montana We and
all sort of just because they do so much of
that cross promotion stuff, whether it's Disney Channel games or
Friends for Change or any of their like sort of
charitable initiatives that they have us all take part in,
or the New Year's you know, countdowns, countdowns whatever, like

(41:48):
so many of those things that like everybody on the
different shows I think knew each other and was always
really excited to do anything together. But like when I
saw the cast for Dad nat that was like what
is this?

Speaker 2 (42:01):
This is like, yeah, how did that? How did this happen?

Speaker 5 (42:03):
Well, this was just one where literally after season one
of Hannah, Judy Taylor, who was the head of casting
at the.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
Time, I love Judy. We you have to get her
on this show an interview. She's amazing.

Speaker 5 (42:14):
She's amazing, and she's seen everything, I mean even all
the way back to like she cast back to the future. Yeah,
and all of the stories about the recasting of Michael, like,
it's amazing. So she reached out to me after the
first season of Hannah and like basically just asked if
I was interested in doing Dad Nap. So it wasn't

(42:34):
even like an auditioned thing. It was just sort of like,
let's do what would you like to stay busy for
six weeks between seasons?

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Sure? I was like absolutely so. So for me, that's
what my process was.

Speaker 5 (42:46):
I'm not sure how the rest of them came about,
but the fact that it was so many people from
so many shows at the same time, and then on
top of it, like, so you watched it, it's the
weirdest movie that's ever been there, right, it is?

Speaker 2 (42:58):
It is a b I thought I was on acid.
It's really weird. It's certifiably insane.

Speaker 4 (43:08):
It is, yet it is all The hard part is
the cast is stacked, right, It's a stacked cast, talked
a bottom. Everyone has these giant characters, like these giant
over the top characters.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
So it's it's.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
Definitely you know, you're you're. I mean, I don't know,
I mean, I just I can't even imagine, like what
it was like on set with all there were so
many of you, yes, a room filled with people.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
It was exactly what you would think you would be.
It was just chaos.

Speaker 5 (43:40):
Yeah, just endless shenanigans.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
And I can't even imagine.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
And you shot in Utah, right, We shot in Utah.

Speaker 5 (43:48):
Is the my very first time shooting in Utah.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
It was the coldest I've ever been in my life.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
If you go back and watch it, like the amount
of times I'm outside covered either in yogurt or or
going through a car wash in tattered clothes and like,
and we were shooting it in I think probably like
October or November. It was like thirty seven degrees outside. Yes,
just I'm freezing to death in like seventy percent of

(44:14):
that movie. But like, but in its own weird, psychotic way.
It was so fun.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Now, was the film always to be directed by Paul
Hoan or was there someone else there who then left
and Paul Hoan came in.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
That's an excellent question. And I don't know definitively for sure.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
But Paul Holan was on the set with you the
whole time, it didn't stop.

Speaker 5 (44:38):
Was the director of the whole time? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (44:39):
For me?

Speaker 5 (44:41):
Yeah, And also, like I I there's I love Paul.
I've actually worked with him again, like on High School
Musical the series. He came and he directed some episodes
and we got a chance to reconnect a little bit
all those years later. But I have this nagging impression
that like Paul didn't particularly like me at first, or
or was like no, maybe not didn't like me, but

(45:02):
I didn't audition for the movie, and so I think
there was a certain amount of like, oh, you just
get to be in the movie. Huh okay, Well let's
see how fun we can make this for you. And
that's why like the messy stuff was so messy.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
No, and.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Not like that at all.

Speaker 5 (45:19):
Beginning.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
I feel like Paul I was gonna say.

Speaker 5 (45:24):
How messy I got? Like you? You can see that
side of Paul.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
He might have enjoyed it a little bit.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
He enjoyed it at but I don't think it was
because of any weird thing. But he is like a
jokester himself for sure.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
For sure, he was actually great.

Speaker 5 (45:40):
He he he acknowledged about halfway there, He's like, man,
we we really are abusing you on this movie. And
he was so sweet at the end, he was like,
he was like, look, when we wrap, I'm gonna let
you throw one of those yogurt bombs at me and
you can cover me and the stuff.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
So he was very like.

Speaker 5 (45:58):
And by the end, like I think he was really
happy with all of the you know stuff that I did.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
And so there was no like, there was no like
weirdness there. It's a strange film, though it's.

Speaker 5 (46:07):
It's weird, like okay, like, let's just look at it
for a second. Emily Ausmant is literally having a psychotic
break and talking to a cardboard cutout of Trip Zoom
like the entire movie. Phil Lewis is playing this evil
dude who like wants to kidnap some first of his
brother who inexplicably skunk as I don't know what's going

(46:29):
on there ever, explain it, and then my plan is
to get him to rewrite this book and then murder
and then kill him.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Like what on earth is this movie about?

Speaker 4 (46:43):
It is?

Speaker 2 (46:44):
It was a very very strangely written film. But the
cast again was so good. Everybody was great. Good talk
about Superman, George Newbern. Ye.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Here's my thing though, with your character specifically, So you're
saying this.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Was film between one and two.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
So they have you as this younger, you know, sixteen
seventeen year old in this show, and then you're like
basically like a casino owner.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Man versus this.

Speaker 4 (47:16):
Movie, and then you go back to being a seventeen
year old child. Like That's where I was, like, I
could believe they gave you that that I thought you
would have been in the van with the other kids
like that they would keep you on that same age,
right like they they bumped you up to being like
an owner like a like a hotel like like that

(47:40):
was crazy to me thinking just knowing that Disney, like you.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Said, was they're very specific and cautious.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
Of the age and them making you know what what's
suitable for like younger audiences, and then they just and
then took it back, like I to me, I'm like
that it was. I was really surprised to find out
this was filmed between one and two. I thought this
was something that came later, like you know, later after
the show was done.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
No, it was like it was early.

Speaker 5 (48:08):
I think maybe what it is is they figured, like
between the hair and the clothes and whatever, like they
could age me up where you would buy me as
being an adult, which I was. But no, I bought
that but at the end. But I think the thing
about it is is you're sticking back in the Rigo's
T shirt and you give me and I have the moppy.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Hair, that's your wig.

Speaker 5 (48:28):
Well my face is my face, and like if I
look like I'm seventeen, it look like I'm seventeen. And
even if you start to like not buy into the
real the reality of like, oh that dude's actually like
in his late twenties, you watch the show and you
get so caught up in it that I yeah, like
they didn't care.

Speaker 4 (48:44):
No, I'd sayen, I totally buy it. I fully loved
that whole aspect and loved it for you and everything.
So weird that when they booked you on this that
they didn't give you a different character than what they did.
I love the character they gave you. You did it great.
You kill it in anamont.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
I'm telling you, you were one of my favorite characters.
I freaking loved it.

Speaker 4 (49:04):
It's just interesting to see that Disney did that, you know,
and then and then brought you right back. Like I said,
I thought this was something that happened after the show
was done.

Speaker 5 (49:13):
No, literally, nothing about that movie, from the casting to
the shooting to the it makes sense.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
It makes any sense. It feels like it's an alternate reality.
It's it's a fever, straight up fever dream.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Yes, that's perfect. Well, oh my gosh. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
So a couple things then before we let you go. First,
do you want the Disney Channel games brought back?

Speaker 2 (49:38):
And would you be involved within them? Again?

Speaker 5 (49:40):
Yes, I'm probably too in them.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
You could host I.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
Could pull the Phil Lewis and host it at Brian'stapanic.
They did a great job.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
Like they did a great job. They did a great job.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (49:51):
I talk about the Disney Channel games all the time,
and I'm actually surprised at how often like fans when
they come up, you know, they'll talk about Hannah, they'll
talk about kicking it. But the a number of people
that like bring up the Disney Channel games has been
shocking to me, and.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
I can't believe they haven't done it again, like because
it is such a big thing for the fans, like
them seeing all their favorite characters duking it out on
these like Redunculus. I mean there's one I remember.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
I wasn't in it, but I remember the big ball,
the like bull ball, the answer.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
I did that, Yeah you did that, okay, obstacle course.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Yeah, Like aren't those called zorbs or something like that,
blorbes or zorbs the big balls you get in and
you plate.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Yeah, I think they're called like zorbs or that's the.

Speaker 4 (50:34):
Kind of stuff we were doing well, Like it was
just like super everything just it.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
Was just super comical, so fun.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
We had a blast doing them. We all got competitive.
It was just like such a fun time and we
were at Disney World, like once we wrapped, we were
like hitting like Mount Everest, like we were like it
was a scene.

Speaker 5 (50:54):
And one I do have to say I won. Simon says,
I beat like forty people, And Simon says.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Was Jason Dollian.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
Jason Dolly still holds this against you. He believes he
want didn't.

Speaker 5 (51:08):
I'm sorry, Jason Dolly, You're the second best Jason, second best,
Jason Brother. I shot fired now I love Jason Jason Dolly.
Every time Jason Dolly and I end up with the
same audition, we're just like, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Bron Well, we united him. He was one of the
first people that we united. He's sir Jason dolly On.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
He's in the network, and you're you're in Now that
you I know that you legitimately think you won.

Speaker 5 (51:34):
Simon says, I legitimately won. Simon says, I did.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
You might have to take a knee. You might also
be knighted. My other question for you is, I know
with your career, you know, goes off in one direction,
Miley's career goes off and whenever, everybody's going kind of
their own way now, but do you think there's ever
a chance anything will ever touch the hand of Montana
World ever?

Speaker 5 (51:54):
Again, that's a really good question. I don't know, it's
a it's a I think there's a million moving parts there. Sure, yeah,
things from like rights issues behind the scenes to Miley's
just so I think comfortable in her skin and her
life that I don't know if like going back like

(52:14):
does much for her like like emotionally, I don't. I'm
not sure what what itch would need to be scratched
by doing that. Now if maybe if she likes started
having kids of her.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Own, I.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
Think when she ends up having kids, that that might
be something that comes back around. But I agree with you,
I think, I mean, it's wonderful to see her how
she's blossomed, especially recently.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
But I do know her.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
Love for her fans, and she does hannahmon Tana stuff
when she has like I can't remember what award show,
but like she will pay homage to it.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
She doesn't.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
It's not like she's one of those people who looks
back at her past and is like disregards it, like
of that Handah Montana life, like I'm Miley's that was
like not a big deal.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
She definitely does not.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
She she glorifies it, She uplifts it. She she shows
the respect of what where she came from in the channel,
And that is one of my favorite things about being
a fan of her is how much she does love
her Disney Channel days. So I think there's a chance
everyone hold your seats, like I think it's gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (53:22):
Yeah. I think maybe the first couple of years after
the show finished, she was a little more resistant to
like being so closely tied to it. But like that
didn't really last forever.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
No, And that comes with age. That's like she was
what how old was she the first season?

Speaker 5 (53:37):
I mean like thirteen years old?

Speaker 2 (53:38):
She was away?

Speaker 4 (53:38):
Yeah, it comes with age, you know, you that that's
a total teenager thing.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
I think of what she went through after.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
Yeah, but I agree, I think she she does show
a lot of love and respect for the show and
those fans. I think she's such an amazing role model
for like just like listening to yourself and figuring out
who you are and kind of unapologetically loving yourself and

(54:07):
even being willing to change. Like she's gone through several
iterations of herself as an adult, and every one of
them has felt authentic because she's exploring who she is
in the moment. And I just think there's something so
incredibly empowering about her that, like whatever she does, whether
it's music or circled back around to Hannah stuff, I
genuinely wish she did more acting work. I feel because

(54:31):
I think she's so interesting and charismatic. And I mean,
if you watch the Hannah movie, she I literally like
Pride like twice.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
She's great.

Speaker 5 (54:39):
I rewatched it this week as well. It's been a
minute and like he's in the stairwell listening to her
dad say that he doesn't have room in his heart
for a relationship because he's got families, and she's just bawling,
and I'm like, I was like so emotional watching her
be so present. She's good.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
The song that they do together is like my favorite
song of the one that they I cried my eyes
out during that time, like it was such a.

Speaker 5 (55:06):
How because it's based off of something he used to
say to.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
That I know, but he knew the melody in the US,
just like, hey, I know the.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
Song don't get will break out into song.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
Speaking of which, So, first of all, are you still
in touch with the cast?

Speaker 5 (55:24):
Yeah, to varying degrees. It's been a long time since
I've seen her sleep, but every time I've ever run
into anyone from the show, it's been like the most
glorious little mini reunion. I think I see Moist is
the most Who's my godfather or my godson? In real life.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Oh cool, him and.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
His brother Matteo. I. I would see Emily occasionally. Mitch
Mussa lives in Texas, but we've like we will call
and message each other occasionally check in. I don't see
any of them nearly as often as I would like,
because I really do. It was such a special time,
and I really do even though I was an adult

(56:04):
at the time, I feel like I grew up with
them on that show, Like it was such a huge
turning point for me, and it launched so much of
like what my adult life ended up becoming. That in
a lot of ways, I feel like my experience paralleled theirs,
and they really are just like they hold such a
special place in my heart. So I would love to
see it more. But gosh, they're so busy and successful

(56:25):
and Emily doing her shows and like it's just it's
very very cool to see what everybody's up to.

Speaker 4 (56:31):
Yes, I do have a question. What's the first question
fans always want to ask you.

Speaker 5 (56:36):
It's totally it's so random because sometimes it's like now
it's so spread out enough that like, like kicking it
is a is a pretty big one too. I have
an idea for a kicking it like d Coom that
I think it's like a road trip movie that, like,
I think could be very funny. So like, I'm gonna kick.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
That around a little bit, and okay if I can
make something happen with that.

Speaker 5 (56:57):
Because I've talked to Leo's one of my best friends
in real life still, the kid who played Jack on
the show, and we talk all the time. He's like,
what can we do? There's got to be something we
can do that would be really fun with kicking it. Okay,
so so we may we may see what happens there.
But people ask me if I really know karate.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
Know as you did, though, did you lie on your resume?

Speaker 5 (57:22):
Brazilian jiu jitsu is what's actually on my resume?

Speaker 2 (57:24):
Okay, yeah, did you know Brazilian jiu jitsu?

Speaker 5 (57:27):
I trained for like four years?

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Okay, so yeah, so that's plenty.

Speaker 5 (57:30):
Okay, yeah, okay, yeah enough, I could I could choke
you out.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
If yeah, that's great. I'm tapping. I'm tapping right now.
I'm tapping right now.

Speaker 5 (57:38):
I think you actually the question for Hannon now is
like do you still do you guys still see each other?

Speaker 2 (57:43):
I think Okay, what you mentioned high School Musical, the
musical and you've been working on that. What what's that set?

Speaker 5 (57:50):
Like, I've never seen a collection of people that were
that across the board talented, singing, dancing, acting, emotional availability.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
They're all beautiful people.

Speaker 5 (57:59):
Like it's kind of eerie almost, It's like, right, yeah,
it's all me real like, but no. We finished season four,
which was the last season maybe a year and a
half ago now, and it was like, just like you said,
it's the most absurd collection of talent I've ever been around.
The idea that I saw Miley turn into Miley and

(58:23):
then on High School Musical, I watched Olivia Rodrigo turn
into Olivia Rodrigo. Wow, like that close to a meteoric
rise twice feels very like, very surreal, but like they
both deserve it. They both work as hard as anybody
I've ever seen. They're both naturally very gifted. Yeah, just

(58:45):
that was a very cool experience. Also in Utah, So
I spent like three of the seasons in Utah and
got a chance to really like grow to appreciate Salt
Lake City and the crews out there are amazing. They
work very hard, they're very loving, very family oriented.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 5 (59:04):
That was a that was a really cool thing. I
also felt like since so many of the kids it
was their first time working out of town and it
was their first like big show that they were a
huge part of, it was really fun to be sort
of the onset mentor for them where you could sort
of help guide them through the the trials and tribulations
of figuring out what that is.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
Sure, and I'm basing they were all Hannah Montana fans too,
so they all knew who you were.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Yeah, a lot of them.

Speaker 5 (59:27):
Were Hannah fans or kicking and fans. Actually, the age
range of the cast was wide enough that it sort
of like spanned the gap between the two. But yeah,
it was. It was. And then they threw me a
bone at the end, and I got to do a
little reoccurring role as the camp director on the show
like the last couple of seasons. So as a whole,
it was a really gratifying experience. And and Tim Federlely,

(59:50):
who was the creator of it, exceptionally talented dude. I
think he's going to be like the in house like
Disney guy for like the next twenty years. Whether it's
oh wow, you Walt Disney pictures or shows, or he's
just like he's brilliant, so it'll be fun to see
what he does well.

Speaker 4 (01:00:07):
Would you would do you have any advice that you
would give to a young actor that's like right in
the middle of like like you like when you were
in the thick of the Hannah Montana days, Like, was
there anything that you would give, whether it was from
your experience or watching maybe a little bit younger actors
go through that that kind of a journey.

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
I think it's just don't don't try to go it alone,
do you know what I mean? Like like whether it's
your family or whether it's you know, whoever your advocate
is on the show, if you happen to be on
a show. But like when you're feeling discouraged, like lean
on the people that are close to you and let

(01:00:48):
them sort of like lift you up. There's so much
about what we do that just feels bad. You know,
you go you do with so many auditions and you
never get a callback, or you get really really close
and you don't get it, or you know, God forbid
you actually get something and then you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Get fired, or you you know, happen.

Speaker 5 (01:01:03):
There's so many things that can happen that and you,
and it's really easy to take that stuff personally. Just
realize that it's not personal, you know what I mean,
and listen to the love and support that people give you.
I think it's really easy to tune it down and
just be like, you're just trying to make me feel better.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Don't do that.

Speaker 5 (01:01:19):
Give yourself the grace of like accepting the compliments. You
work very hard.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
People recognize your talent.

Speaker 5 (01:01:24):
Hear that, absorb it, and let it fuel you to
get through like the tough times, and then you can
pay them back with your wonderful performance when you finally
get the chance to like do the job nice.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
That's a wonderful place to end. That's a wonderful place
to end. So much for joining us.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
And I also think eventually we might just have to
do Assignmon says, throw down just between you and and
Jason again.

Speaker 5 (01:01:47):
Because why would I do that? I won not?

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
According to him, he was like angry.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
He brings it up. He brings it up every time.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
That was like we weren't even talking about Disney Channel
games and he's like, did you know that one time
I Sason Jason Earl did not win.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Jason Dolly Simon says, you lost. That's all I got
to say.

Speaker 5 (01:02:13):
All I know is I I was the one that
ended up in the in the cooler full of like
disgusting goop that says I won.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
So so they do just love to cover you and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Huh, well, thank you so much for joining us, and
yes we are you have unfortunately now will be getting
calls from us because we want you to come back
and play again.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Absolutely, yeah, I'll come back anytime.

Speaker 5 (01:02:34):
I'm big fans you guys are you guys are awesome,
You're super fun and this is a very just like easy, friendly, funny,
goofy thing. I would have that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
Oh god, thank you, thank you so much. Bye. Yeah
you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:02:50):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
He's right, he's he was responsible, not responsible, but there
while all these meteoric stars are being birthed and.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
He's helping, I mean, he's helping all that stuff perspective.
Until he said that, it was like, oh my gosh, wow,
and they're both killing it too.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
Still like no, I know, but I mean it's a
I know he would never be like and I take
credit for it. And I'm sure you know. Their talent
is their talent and of course he would never take
credit for it. But you see people that you respect
and that are good at what they do, and you
work up to it. And he was, you know, already
more seasoned than when he was on Hannah Montana. And
he's an older person hitting comedy beats. I'm sure she
looked up to that. It's like, you know, you look

(01:03:30):
to the people and then you try.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
To emulate that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
So I'm sure he had something to do with with
their success.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
They ri Absolutely, I'm sure she learned a ton from
him and that you know that both her and Olivia did.
Like you know, you're looking at somebody who I mean,
he is like fearless within acting and that when someone
like that is around, all you want to make all
you want to a sponge.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Well from going to college in Montana to Hannah Montana.
Thank you so much, mister ARLs for joining us. I
Bana Hanna Banana. But you know the I'm sorry to
say this out loud to my favorite Sir Jason Dolly,
but we just met the goat.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
When it comes to silence, Hey, somebody.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Wody going to hear you?

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
Well, he's gonna hear it. Will then we might need
a showdown because he's right, you know, right, there is
there exactly, there is one big tub of goo that
says I won, and there was only one Jason in
there and it wasn't Dolly at the end of the day.
So oh man, I'm just saying tough, tough.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Well, thank you everybody so much for joining us in
this park Hopper episode. We had a ton of fun,
and join us next time over on our other feed
where our next movie is Spin.

Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
What the heck is that going to be about?

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
You don't know about Spin? Spin is the one that's
just a big cycling class. No, I have no idea,
no idea what Spin is about.

Speaker 1 (01:04:56):
But join us as we watch Spin next time. And
thank you Jason Earls for joining us, and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
We will see you next time. Bye everybody, Bye,