Be Kind, Rewind: “Back 2 School” with Ethan Suplee

Before we continue our journey through season 6, we’re rewinding and heading back to the halls of John Adams High! And one of our favorite poetically inclined bullies is coming along for the trip. Ethan Suplee is back to recap the season 2 premiere episode, and his first acting job EVER, “Back 2 School”.
 
Ethan opens up about the nerves of joining an already established cast and the ever present fear he’d be fired at any moment.
 
He reveals why his relationship with the other bullies felt like being in a “jail cell” (in the best way), and we get real about how much of Ethan is in Frankie Stecchino.
 
Plus, Shiloh Strong joins us to talk about his newest charitable venture, all on this week’s Pod Meets World!

Follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram and TikTok!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Thank you so much for joining us. Writer who's here today?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Today we're joined by none other than my brother Shilah Strong.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeahs so good to see you.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
You always every time I see you, I go. Yeah,
he lives by the beach. You've got the perfect amount
of like you get a little bit of vitamin D
every day.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, I have behind him.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
Yeah exactly, yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
Aside from the wave, but just his skin has a
nice like I've spent the perfect amount of time in
the sun's.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Right amount of pre cancerous.

Speaker 5 (00:55):
I was gonna say, it's a healthy glow till you're
about sixty.

Speaker 6 (00:58):
It's a problem.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
I feel.

Speaker 7 (01:02):
I'm super grateful because I have a little backyard I
can go and tinker around under the beach.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
It's yeah, it's great, love it nice.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I wanted to bring Shiloh on because, well, for
our listeners that'll actually know that. You know, the first
time we had Shiloh on, I think we mentioned the
fact that Shiloh lost his house gosh, twelve years ago. Shiloh,
it was fifteen years ago in a fire, one of
them really California fires. I mean, now it seems like
it's kind of a regular thing. But yeah, so we

(01:33):
talked about that, and then we did an episode the
week of the fires, if I remember, and we were
talking about how it was affecting the city and our
lives and everybody we knew, and of course, like one
of the biggest areas that it affected is the entertainment industry.
And you know, I just have was having so many
conversations with so many people, like a friend who is

(01:56):
a production designer and she was working the week or
she was working the day of the fires that canceled
the shoot and then took the shoot to Atlanta. Yeah,
because it was like things have to get shot things,
you know, And it wasn't really anybody's fault, but it's
just the fact of the matter is we lost a
lot of jobs. We lost a lot of.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
The industry, and so that was just piling on after
losing a ton of jobs and everything else your school.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
So anyway, I just kept having these conversations and Chilo
kept having these conversations, and like everybody we knew was
affected or had lost or you know, I did the jobs,
and Chilo actually did something about it, as opposed to
everybody else that I know and myself included. So Hilo
tell us. What you what you've started?

Speaker 4 (02:41):
Please you did help?

Speaker 7 (02:44):
Like this has been Yeah, it's it's been a wild
experience because I, you know, when when the fires were
happening in La, like we all were trying to figure
out how to help and running around and it was
just so traumatic for everybody who was so very and terrifying,
you know. And I was running around and donating and
doing all the immediate needs stuff and that's when I

(03:05):
was looking back to my experience when I had lost
my home and the fire, and you know, there's that
period where you're dealing with all that immediate need of
getting a house, dealing with the insurance, like it's just
so overwhelming, you know. But then there's the period after
that where you almost miss that because that's when you
start really questioning what you want to do with your life,

(03:26):
because it takes three months or so and that's where
you're completely lost and you have I keep using the
word opportunity, but it's not the right word, but you
have the option to get up on your life because
it's a before and after moment, especially for people in
the creative arts or in the entertainment industry. Like you
were saying, well, it's like it's been so difficult with

(03:47):
COVID and back to back strikes and now yeah, house
burns down. You know, yes, of course you're going to
move to Atlanta or New Mexico.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
You know what's keeping you here?

Speaker 7 (03:58):
And why fight for dream of trying to live this
creative life which everybody feels like the world's telling you,
you know, get a real job, right. Yeah, So I said, okay, wow,
I remember looking back at my period fifteen years ago,
and I was lucky enough to have Rider and you
know you guys too, I mean, will I remember I

(04:20):
stayed with you a month, I think when I was
homeless and having that support of people in the entertainment
industry and filmmaking world was really helpful. And that's when
Ryder and I started making our short films and we
started really going out.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
And I was able to really.

Speaker 7 (04:37):
Trace back to that moment when it really helped me,
you know, to pursue a creative life. And I wouldn't
have done that if I didn't have you guys in
that supportive community. And I said, okay, well, that's something
I know is going to happen to a lot of
people that are going to be in that same situation
at this moment we're in right now, right a few
months after the fires, and I said, okay, well, I

(04:59):
know I could be there for those people. So I
had some money set aside because I was going to
do a short film that I was going to write
and direct in January. And I was like, I'm going
to hire people who've been affected by the fires to
work on my short film. And I was like, Yeah,
that's going to feel good. And then I said, Okay,
that's a better idea than my short film. So I
took that money and I've built out a nonprofit because

(05:21):
I didn't know how to do that, but I hired
nonprofit consultants and they came on and gave me the
whole path of how to do this. And been getting
volunteers and people jumping on board and donations and building
out the website and learning so much and it's just
been so rewarding and exciting. But the goal is to

(05:41):
raise money to fund We're going for ten short film
projects and these would be by filmmakers or people who
want to make films who were affected by the fires,
and we'll be able to give them grants and the
support and then ultimately have a festival showcase in January
of next year where we could all scream them. And
so it's all about, you know, reviving the creative spirit

(06:03):
and coming together as a community and trying to help
creative people and saying you know that, you know, the
arts really are important for you know, recovery, just as
much as getting a roof over your head, you know, especially,
you know, it's so much about Los Angeles and the world. Yeah,
so that's been my life since then. It's been super

(06:24):
rewarding and amazing and yeah, and it's just a lot,
but it's super super fun.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
We hear a lot on the internet the word triggered,
and it's always it's most of the time said in
a real negative sense.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Oh were you triggered? Or I'm really feeling triggered.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
This is such a perfect example, like, there's no way
those fires or every major fire we have in Los
Angeles or in California isn't triggering for you who lost
everything fifteen years ago. And to take that triggering and
go ooh, it's bringing me right back to my experience.

(07:01):
How can I use this experience that you know, only
a certain number of people know what it feels like
to make a difference for every person in our community
moving forward, and what you've done with it is just
so incredible, Like it's so inspiring.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
How can how can everybody help? What?

Speaker 4 (07:22):
What?

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Where's? Where can people go? What can people? What can
people do?

Speaker 4 (07:26):
That's great? Thanks? Yes?

Speaker 7 (07:28):
Uh yeah, I mean we have a website ashestefilms dot org.

Speaker 8 (07:33):
And the interest of that name now, thanks, Yeah, that's
the that's the name of the festival and the whole
grant program. Yeah, if you go to the website and
so sign up to our our email list. But I mean,
really we're just trying to get followers and trying to
get people out there to know about it. That's why
you guys having me on to to be able to
talk about it, because you know, we're just I feel
like this could be something really amazing for you know,

(07:58):
not just the entertainment community, but for our in general
and recognizing how important you know, I know, art is
such a major part of my life and I'm so
grateful that I've been able to live a life of
being an artist, and I want to support people to
keep pursuing that dream, you know, because I feel like
that is the first thing that gets lost when we
talk about recovery or you know, needs or immediate necessities,

(08:22):
and you know, that is the core what it means
to be a human being, you know, is to explore
artistic endeavors and embrace that.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
And so yeah, so yeah, the Instagram.

Speaker 7 (08:32):
If anybody can follow us on our Instagram, that would
just be amazing and spread the word.

Speaker 4 (08:36):
And I'm trying to find and finding filmmakers.

Speaker 8 (08:39):
That's what's been so amazing about this is, you know,
hearing from people that have applied online.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
So if there's a filmmaker who wants to make.

Speaker 7 (08:47):
A film or is affected by these fires, or knows
somebody who wants to make a film, like you know,
just grab somebody who lost their house and say like,
let's go make.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
A movie like there.

Speaker 7 (08:56):
Like it's all about building the community of people together
so that they can come together, because that's part of
the healing process.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
You know, if I remember correctly, one of your inspirations
is Tribeca too, right, the Tribeca Film Festival, which.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah, I mean that's how Tribeca started, right.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Response to nine to eleven. Right, it was a good
way to revive the city of New York and the
filmmaker community in New York, and it was de Niro
started it, and it's turned into one of the mainstay festivals.
You know, it's like, it's an amazing festival. It launched
Shiloh and Me with our first short film, and it
was the greatest festival, so much fun.

Speaker 7 (09:29):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be the.

Speaker 5 (09:32):
I mean, the fires we were awful, obviously, and it
was just kind of the cherry on top of the
sandwich that has become the entertainment industry out in Los Angeles.
I mean, it's people don't realize because you know, you
sit down and you stream your stuff, you watch your stuff,
and that's great.

Speaker 9 (09:48):
But what people don't realize.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
Is that none of that, like almost literally none of
that is done in Los Angeles anymore. It's all done
around the country or around the world, which again is
great for those states. But you see, you don't realize
the number of people that are out of work here,
from makeup artists to caterers to set decorators, to artists
to directors.

Speaker 9 (10:08):
It's not just like, wow, the actors aren't working.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
There's thousands of people out of work, and then the
fires hit and people are just going why are we
even here anymore trying to create in this city. And
then there's people like you Shadow WHI You're amazing, which
is like, nope, we can come back, let's go, let's
start again. And it's really really as amazing and just
the perfect name good its.

Speaker 9 (10:30):
Right, just the perfect name for or it. So yeah,
this is this is really incredible.

Speaker 6 (10:35):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
So the Instagram is also ashes to films, Yes, exactly, Okay, great,
and so you can join the Instagram and I love that.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Like you said, there's really.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
No one that's excluded from this because you don't have
to be a filmmaker, you don't have to be an
artist to still follow along. You're going to eventually want
to see the projects that come out of this. You're
going to want to know about the film festival.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
And then of.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Course, if you've ever had a dream of making a
movie but have never done it, but have been impacted
by the fire, it what a fun idea for people
to go, well, yeah, I'd love to make a movie,
but I would have zero idea where to start. But
I'm in this community and I have a lot of
friends and we all have the same dream do something new.
Like you said, it's a before and an after moment
in your life.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
Totally.

Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (11:16):
The most yeah, the most exciting thing, which we just
literally found out two days ago.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
We're teaming up with the New York Film.

Speaker 8 (11:22):
Academy, which I haven't had a chance, yes about this writer,
but through the Young Storytellers, which is an amazing program
where they do mentorships for young kids and then teach
them how to like do screenwriting and writers. Been a
mentor and yes, it's a fantastic program. But we're doing
a similar thing for young filmmakers. So these are kids
that are under eighteen who've been affected by the fires,

(11:45):
and we're going to be able to give them micro
grants and they'll have an entire intensive course where they're
going to get mentors with cameras, with locations. Like my
goal is going to build up like a roster of actors.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Like so if you guys want to be.

Speaker 7 (11:59):
In a short film, donate a day because like I
would love to be able to see some young filmmakers
get to direct some actors and put there and then
we get a moment where they get to screen their films.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
You know that's cool.

Speaker 7 (12:13):
Yeah, So that and that's super exciting, like because that's
just pure you know, wonderful, wonderfulness happening so amazing.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Well, Shiloh, I didn't think there'd be a day where
I'd say, Shiloh Strong the next Robert de Niro, But
here it is. Here's the moment, and I love that you,
like you just said to the fostering the next generation
of filmmakers, and yeah, so really wonderful ashes of films.
Check out the website, join the Instagram, we at pond

(12:44):
Meats World are friends of ashes to films. I'm happy
to donate a day to one of those short films.
I don't even act anymore. I'm terrible, but you know,
how how good do I need to be?

Speaker 6 (12:55):
Really?

Speaker 5 (12:56):
You know I used to say that every day on myself,
like how good I actually have enough?

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Actor? I think, right exactly. You guys are wonderful.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Thank you for being here.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Is there anything else before we let you go? Is
there anything else you want everyone to know? Or anywhere else?
Any other way people can support?

Speaker 7 (13:18):
No, I mean, honestly, just follow us if you can
and spread it. I mean we're really just trying to
get get it out there because I feel like if
we can just get the momentum going.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
If we can get past that tipping.

Speaker 7 (13:27):
Point, I think there's something really beautiful and meaningful and
something that I think the world needs.

Speaker 6 (13:33):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
We're pushing that. We're pushing that heavy ball up the
hill right now. We need to get it to the
top and roll it on to the other side.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Exactly. Thank you guys, so much, so good.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Thank you Albert De Niro Junior. Thank you Shiloh, It's
always good to see you. By Wow, that's so cool.
I mean, you writer, you and your brother.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
Have a real community driven like spirit and ship in you.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Which is a little funny considering my parents like took
us off into the woods to directly I know.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
They're like, live in this, live on this property, and
don't leave.

Speaker 9 (14:12):
You said it nicer than I did, Danielle.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
I was going to say, you and your brother, Shiloh
can really make the rest of us look like Yeah,
I mean that is.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
Where I'm going with this.

Speaker 6 (14:20):
It's like.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
There you really you guys think really outside the box
in ways that just I would. I might have the idea,
like I might go, you know what I'd love to do,
and I say it, but the actual figuring it out
how to start a nonprofit? How like all of that
and the fact that your brother had money set aside

(14:43):
to make a short film like his own dream like,
this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to
make a short film. And then was like, you know, actually,
I think this idea is better than that idea and
can help more people.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
I'm going to take that money and I'm going to
do this instead. It's just so great.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
So it's amazing, it really is really so are you
Are we all going to be in a short film
of some young student short film?

Speaker 6 (15:03):
I think that'd be fair man.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I think that'd be fine.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
We'll get writer back on camera as ashes to films.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Please check it out, join the Instagram. Please welcome to
Pod Meets World. I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm.

Speaker 9 (15:17):
Right strong, and I'm Wilfredell.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
As we roll through our small mid season six break,
we are excited to bring back some of our favorite
past interviewees to pick a specific episode and talk about
both their memories of filming it and their perspective on it.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Decades later, we're still calling it.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Be kind rewind, just accept it, and to be honest,
some of it is a self serving undertaking and know
not to stretch out the podcast because we're almost done
with recaps, but thanks for reminding us about that. But
in actuality, it's an opportunity to reunite with people we
love because until the podcast, maybe we were fine only
seeing these people thirty years ago and calling it a day.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
But now we're selfish.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
We want to see our old pals more, and so
this week we'll be rejoined by a superstar Pod Meets
worlder to revisit season two, Episode one, back to School,
the invention of shock Drop, and his first ever job
in Hollywood. He was our beloved bully with a Heart,
Frankie Stacchino, but has gone on to appear on shows
like My Name Is Earl, Raising Hope and The Ranch,

(16:31):
and movies like Maul Rats, American History, X, Remember the Titans,
and Wolf of Wall Street. He's also become an inspiration
for thousands of people looking to create a more healthy lifestyle,
encouraging weight loss and fitness, a journey he's been on
since childhood. Welcome back to Pod Meets World. The One
the Only Ethan Sipple.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
Hello, Hello, Hello guys. Sorry I'm just exing out of
my mail because it just made a ding, which is
super embarrassing, especially since they came on and recording and
it's like, what a.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Nightmare?

Speaker 6 (17:08):
Guys. Yeah, the thing is, the thing is bad now.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (17:12):
It's not as bad as the battery on a fire alarm.

Speaker 6 (17:17):
Yeah, I can't guarantee that won't happen. I don't know.
I see the Sorry, you can curse, you can curse.
What do you just bleep?

Speaker 4 (17:26):
It?

Speaker 1 (17:27):
We silent and believe I feel like.

Speaker 6 (17:31):
Where it could go off, that's a landmine. Guys, who knows.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
I always know they're not going to go off during
recording because mine have never gone off unless it was
two o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 6 (17:44):
Danielle, you just said, wow, there's no traffic on the freeway.
You know what you've done to yourself?

Speaker 3 (17:51):
You know it's you believe then maybe I'm jinx myself,
but I don't really believe.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
In to all the batteries, you actually haven't had smoke
detectors in years.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
That's the thing, right, perfect, Ethan, thank you so much
for doing this.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
We are thrilled to see you again.

Speaker 6 (18:14):
Thanks for having me back. Guys. It means I didn't
blow it the last time.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
You definitely did not. You definitely did not.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
So you chose season two, episode one, back to School,
an episode that during our it's so funny that I
was going to call it our original rewatch, as if
we've started.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
The podcast over again.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
But in our first rewatch was very startling to the
three of us. We had the young, super naive childlike
quality of Season one had really been stripped away at
the beginning of this.

Speaker 6 (18:51):
Yeah, it was high school. It was hardcore. There were
bullies with switchblades. It was like a lot.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
There was making out, there was talks of body changes.
It was it was like we.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Went from the warm blanket of childhood to like a
cold plunge, and so it really felt very shocking to us.
But I think now I'm gonna maybe it's just me,
but it's really grown on me.

Speaker 5 (19:15):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
I love it late episode.

Speaker 6 (19:18):
It's a great episode. I loved it so much.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, there's so much going on, and the fact that
it all kind of works is crazy. It's like a
great episode and it's the I mean, it's what the
show was for the next like three years.

Speaker 6 (19:30):
It was this show.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
It's amazing. Yeah, it did so much.

Speaker 6 (19:33):
We let me ask you a question, why do you
think they kind of changed Lane so much because it
was a big departure from season one.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Big departure.

Speaker 9 (19:43):
Well, we heard, We've heard different things.

Speaker 5 (19:45):
I mean, one of the things we heard was just
a straight up network note, we want to age the
show up. We've also heard they brought in different you know,
this is when they brought in Bututman and bus Gang
and so they brought in different producers who also wanted
to age the show up.

Speaker 9 (19:57):
So yeah, we've heard a bunch of different versions. That's
what Lee Norris wasn't brought back.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
But then we watched the episode in the first thing
you see essentially when they walk into the hallway as
two other nerds who look just like Lee. So where
we got kind of conflicting stories sometimes as to why
they they did what they did.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
But we think it was smart, I mean funny because
I love the first season. But this is more sustainable,
right because we are going to grow, We are going
to be changing what seemed, you know, faster than they
kind of want us to. And as characters. Once we're
in this high school, you've got us there for five years.
You've got more, You've got way more, they say, they

(20:34):
say six or seven in.

Speaker 6 (20:35):
The thing.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
In elementary school or grades or middle school even which
is you know what kind of makes more sense as
far as like what's common in the rest of America, right,
like you go through middle school and then you enter
high school ninth grade. They threw us in there in
sixth grade and made it a big deal, like we're
in high school now, kept calling it high school. But
it's smart because then you have more time to like

(20:58):
develop these characters, let them live. It's it's a big move,
but it worked out.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Ethan, What are your overall thoughts on the episode?

Speaker 6 (21:06):
You know, I remember that was my first job.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
It's job, so you look so comfortable.

Speaker 6 (21:18):
Which, by the way, guys, you know, like okay, like
that's my first job and all, like you know, it's
thirty years ago. Is thirty years ago? I think initially
now thirty years right, we thought you.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Were so experienced because you were older than us. You
were like, oh, the guy who knows everything.

Speaker 6 (21:35):
I mean and and and I felt like, don't mess
up because you have no idea really what you're doing.
You were in one high school play and you're kind
of attracted to this idea of acting and you went
to an acting class for a minute, but I don't
know what the hell right television, Like, I don't know
how to do anything, and I think, so I'm looking

(21:57):
at it entirely through that lens of like, look at
this guy who has no idea what's going on. I remember,
you know, hearing about tape night and how we're gonna
get maybe two shots at doing something, so really know
your stuff, hit your marks, and then trainer reshot me saying, well,

(22:19):
what do you call me? Gay? Like seventeen times we
did that over and over and over again, and I
thought like, I thought, like I'm ruining this because I
was getting notes every time, and I was like the
I could feel the audience's energy dissipating.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Really wow, in front of the audience, you did it
that many times over and it.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
Was just your section.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
They just wanted to keep doing that or.

Speaker 6 (22:48):
I don't know if it. I mean, listen, this.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
Is a big scene. We could have done the scene
a million times because yes.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
But through the narcissistic glasses that it exists on my head.

Speaker 5 (22:58):
It was all me everything, which all the other lights
it was just one.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
We could go take a nap, get out.

Speaker 6 (23:06):
Yes, and in fact, you nobody was in the scene.
It was just me and trainer and trainers the nicest
guy but in the nicest way. He was like saying,
like stop up.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
He wasn't at all.

Speaker 6 (23:18):
He was such a sweetheart, but like, yeah, I thought so, no,
no he did not know.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
He knows that I know, but I don't remember having
to do this. But like, all I remember is you
being a completely professional and everybody knowing it and everybody being.

Speaker 6 (23:32):
Like wow ethan actor, Like yeah, I really. I remember
going like we're gonna do this twice at the most,
like so don't mess up, and then on like this
fifteenth time, I was like I'm finished.

Speaker 4 (23:47):
Like I don't coming back.

Speaker 6 (23:49):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 (23:51):
Act, you're just so insecure to hear just how insecure
we all are all the time.

Speaker 6 (23:56):
Oh yeah, it's the worst, dude, it's the worst. Every
job ob is my last job. That was my first
and last job, and I can't believe I survived it.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Actually, have you been fired before? Like, have you lost
a job?

Speaker 6 (24:08):
Like I've never been fired. There was one pretty good
There was a pilot that I came in to replace
somebody on Okay, and they shot the pilot screened the
test of the pilot and were like, we need to
replace this guy.

Speaker 9 (24:27):
And then they replaced you.

Speaker 6 (24:31):
Well, they didn't. They offered, they offered to replace me,
They offered my role. They were like, let's reshoot it
again for the third time, and let's get Rob Riggle
to play Ethan's role. And then he ultimately turned it
down and then the whole show went away. Oh geez,
So I mean like kind of almost fired.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
I mean, I feel like most actors, especially ones at
work for thirty years, you know, get fired at some
point because it's like it's so often not about you,
you know, and listen to sometimes.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
I had Blake, who was the seasoned pro veteran that
that I like felt comfortable talking to because we were
like kind of on the same level and we had
seen so many scenes together, and he was like, oh,
people get fired all the time. He told me. He
was like, you know, I don't want to say names,
but so and so this kid who's around our age,

(25:24):
who you know, was like well thought of, was like
walked after a after a network run through one day,
he walked into his trailer, had a stack of thirteen
checks and was gone, yeah, and I was like, that
doesn't sound so bad. It's not the worst, but yeh,
being tired sucks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
I I've now as a director, I've had to be
on the other side of it.

Speaker 9 (25:52):
She had to fire somebody.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
I have never fired anybody, because it's not as a
director of TV.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
It's the producer's job.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
But I have had to be involved in the conversations
where they're like, wasn't a great table read?

Speaker 1 (26:05):
What are we going to do? And it's like, let
me have a day, let me take you know, let
me have this day, let me see.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Tell me what you're looking for, you know, show me
what you liked about the audition tape. Show tell me
what it is that you're looking because you know, when
as the director, when I sit down at a table
read and somebody's like really big and broad and super
over the top, I think, oh, that's why they cast them.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
They must have loved that. And then afterward they're like,
what was that? And I'm like, oh, wait, well.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
How is this different? So I need you to tell
me then what are you looking for? If that wasn't it,
what are you looking for? And then still, sometimes you know,
you get you get a day of rehearsal and the
producer see it and they go, Nope, it's not what
I want or was.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
So interesting because like the example that you just gave,
like you know, is one of those things that I
feel like if an inexperienced producer might just see a
bad performance be like, oh my god, it's over, it's over.
We can't. But a director, a good producer, a good
director can see a performance and like an the example
you gave, if somebody's too big, that's actually a good problem,
that's get it back. If somebody is too small, that's

(27:04):
a scarier problem because then you're like they might not commit,
they might not have it in them to even show,
you know, go for it. And that's what like, so
it's like different problems that you have to gauge and
be like this person's never going to get there, maybe
whereas this person we can probably get them there, you know,
and like you have to figure out what that what that.

Speaker 5 (27:20):
We were also conditioned after season one that nobody's job
was safe.

Speaker 9 (27:24):
I mean we just saw people fired every week.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
I was there having replaced somebody to replace somebody fired.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
Yeah, yeah, we were just we we there was a
third best friend for five episodes in a row. They
kept trying it and trying, and the kid would make
it as far as like, wow, they almost made it
to the second run.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Through, and then the fact that Lee didn't come back,
and then starting the season with somebody who we considered
part of our cohort, and it was like, oh, it's
just as easily happened to anyone of them.

Speaker 6 (27:52):
Yeah, it's what a business to get into.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
Yeah, right, in all fairness, if you can't handle being
fired by eleven, what good are you?

Speaker 6 (28:03):
Right, that's the lesson we all know.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Yeah, that's what we're taking away from this. Ethan.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
You have since, of course, gone on to have a
very successful career.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
You've worked with some of the best directors.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
You are as you mentioned, the greenest green you could
possibly be in this episode, did you like what do
you remember any specific notes you were given, either by
David Trainer or by Michael, Like, was there any specific
performance thing you felt like they were trying to get
out of you?

Speaker 6 (28:35):
Well, I remember at the first run through, and I'm
trying to think back on how it worked that first episode,
but because at some point there was like a table
read and then no run through and then everybody went home.
Rights later the.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
First day of the week, Friday, we got there, do
a table read, have a light little rehearsal during the day,
and then go home and on Monday come back in
for another full rehearsal and then a producer run through.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
But actually, I think what you've been saying is that
by like season three, we didn't even do Friday rehearsal.

Speaker 6 (29:05):
It was later.

Speaker 9 (29:08):
We went as a team and Friday, yet.

Speaker 6 (29:11):
There was rehearsal after the table reader. Correct, yes, okay,
So I remember the line that I had that got
the biggest laugh was what are you saying I'm gay?
It's so non sequitur, it's so ridiculous, and it's so
spoke to what I thought Frankie was dealing with internally

(29:32):
that he then is like, that's his jab, like you know,
because this is before we know about poetry or anything
like that, which became very interesting. But like I got
to play with all of this internal stuff because of
that line. And in the very first rehearsal, David Traynor
was like, that'll be gone. That line's going to be gone,

(29:53):
and I was like, wait why, and he was like,
somebody will take offense to that line, that line is
going to be gone, and I was like, I was
like kind of devastated because that line I felt communicated
the most pathos about this character. Yeah, and and then
I just kept waiting, you know, I didn't know again,
I didn't know how anything worked. So, uh, Friday night

(30:18):
or Saturday, when I woke up to a Manila envelope
with rewrites, I was like, Oh, stuff is gonna change.
And I looked through it and that was the line
and that line hadn't been gone. But I kept kind
of waiting, like somebody's gonna be bummed out about this
and take this line out, and I then have to
figure out how to communicate what I thought that line

(30:40):
was communicating without those words. So I was really stressed.
And then even during the uh, the the taping, they
were changing stuff and I was like, Oh, these guys
are not quitting. Like what we've we've done. This is
like the eighth iteration of tweaks and changes and whole

(31:01):
new speeches and monologues, and like jokes are gone and
stuff isn't and that line is still there. And I
felt unsafe. And then on the seventeenth time of doing
that scene, I was like, just okay, kill the line.
Is it that line that's ruining it? Is that bringing
everybody down, Like I just was so antsy about everything.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
So amazing that because it's actually that line and your
delivery that is your job security. Because it's a joke.
The way it's written is like I think they meant
it as like just a big joke turn like the
big scary guy is actually worried that he's gay. Aha,
But because you played it with such cathos and such
confusion and such commitment, it was like, oh, there's something

(31:42):
actually going on with that was the most meaningful. Yeah,
it's so it's you see like such honest fragility and
like openness in your character that you're like, there's more
going on there and I want to know everything. So
the joke became why Frankie stuck around because of your delivery.
I mean, there's no way they could cut that line.
It's amazing that you had any any insecurity about.

Speaker 6 (32:04):
It, because it's like, well, I just again I didn't
know how anything. So when line started coming and going,
I was like, nothing is safe. My job is not safe.
I can be fired, they can take wasn't wrong?

Speaker 2 (32:16):
That line could have been cut just just using the
word gay was on a kids show, like you know
at that time was like WHOA, well you don't want
to go there, so.

Speaker 6 (32:23):
Yeah, I don't think you can do it today, Like
now you can't. You can't sell that line, not as
a joke. No on on My name is Earl. We
had a line that that uh one of the UH
producers like fought with the network about and then ultimately
it got to stay. Also couldn't stay, but it it

(32:43):
went to like again my character's naivete and sweetness, where
We're going to a carnival and Earle says like, like
that carnival, it's a bunch of like criminals and I'm like,
I don't know. They've got the world's tallest midget at
that carnival. And Earl says like, Earl's like that's just
the short guy. And I'm like, I don't know, Earl,

(33:04):
he's pretty tall, you know. Like I'm not doing the
joke justice, but it's not demeaning to that just the
concept says more about what I'm thinking about myself than
trying to demean somebody. And I felt that way about
the what do you what do you call me Galen Like.
It's not putting a negative flare on anybody else, it's

(33:28):
literally my own insecurity of like, I've got a lot
going on inside and are you are you seeing it? Yeah?
Did you?

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Did you spot it?

Speaker 2 (33:37):
I exposed something?

Speaker 9 (33:38):
Yeah, that just reminds me of that.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
That's the same with the Simpsons line where he calls
most Tavaris his most tavern home of the world's smallest
large screen TV.

Speaker 9 (33:45):
Yeah, it's that same kind of joke.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Yeah, speaking of notes, we never I don't think we've
ever directly asked somebody this, But do you remember your
first post run through note session with Michael?

Speaker 6 (34:02):
I mean, I feel like they're a little bit of
a blur, but I do remember Michael talking to me
and and I remember just, you know, like whoa, the
attention is on me, and he's such like a funny, nice,
yet severe kind of guy all at the same time,
like amiable and yet like would hit you with something,

(34:25):
not in a mean way, but like powerful, you know.
So I don't remember. That's one of the.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
Best, the best descriptions of Michael I've ever heard.

Speaker 6 (34:35):
Yeah, well, he was, I mean, he was, he was.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
He certainly commanded respect and so there was that moment
we talked about the actor. All the other lights being
shut off on the stage and the spotlights on you.

Speaker 6 (34:48):
That's what it was like.

Speaker 5 (34:49):
In a note session, you'd hear your name or you'd
see The thing I remember was you would come to
a scene you were in and you'd look down at
the page during a note session and be like, all right,
I have a line seven lines from now. I wonder
if Michael's going to say my name and call out
whatever the line was, and you'd start to feel that anxiety.
It would kid, it would and then if he went
past it and it's like oh okay, like he didn't

(35:11):
say my name, he didn't you have him.

Speaker 6 (35:12):
You'd have a pause and you'd know like, well, three
pages from now, it's going to happen again, exactly.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (35:18):
It was, man, you were on your toes the entire time.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
And I was always amazed at the number of guest stars,
you know, one shot actors that would come up to
us after the note session.

Speaker 9 (35:28):
And go is it like that? After every run through?

Speaker 5 (35:32):
It was something they had never experienced before on any
other show, Like wait, do you really sit there for
an hour?

Speaker 9 (35:36):
An hour and a half and he goes through every line.
It's like yep, every day And.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
It was like he was my first job too.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Other than you know, I had done some guest spots
on Full House, but it was certainly my and I.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
So I just thought, Wow, this is how they do
this is how every show does it. I didn't know.
I didn't know any different.

Speaker 6 (35:50):
Yeah, you know, it's it amazes me because the imagine
the amount of like care that everybody had. Who was
the stage manager it was at gal Lynn McCracken was
so awesome, yeah, and so maternal and like caring and
loving and like so I never there was never a
point where I felt like I didn't know where to

(36:12):
go because she'd always give me the heads up and
I was like, thank God for her. And I really
felt like she's doing this because she knows I don't.
I have no idea what's going on. And then cut
to you know, thirty years later, where they're still treating
me the exact same way as though, you know, like
here's where the is and.

Speaker 9 (36:34):
Yes, exactly, this is your dressing actors.

Speaker 6 (36:39):
Right, And I really thought it was her recognizing looking
out for you and so and and you know, it
definitely waned once i'd been there for a while, it
wasn't as hardcore. But then on my very next job,
I was like, oh, wait, are you guys gonna always
treat me like a child, Like you don't really need

(37:00):
this anymore? You know?

Speaker 3 (37:04):
My gosh, it's so true. You debut here as Frankie Stacchino,
the muscle of the John Adams High School system of bullies,
and you're paired with your mouthpiece, Blake Senate as Joey

(37:27):
the Rat. Do you remember feeling chemistry with Blake right away?

Speaker 6 (37:32):
Yes, we kind of bonded, but it was like you know,
two guys who are in prison and assigned to the
same cell, you know what I mean. Like it was
just kind of like, well, you and I are in
scenes together, Huh, I'm brand new. You've got like I'm
just going to leach on to you and follow your

(37:55):
lead and whatever you do. And you know, it got
a little dangerous because I've feel like his sense of
humor was was riskier than mine, and so I kind
of fell into like, Okay, that's the tone, that's what
you do, and you know, which is fine for a
guy who knows what he's doing and has been doing
it for years, but for a guy who was brand new.

(38:16):
I was also a little bit scared and trepidaceous, like
are we allowed to make that joke? Is that too crass?
There's kids, weird kids, like what are we doing here?
You know? But yeah, that he was really my kind
of touch point. Yeah, most of my experience first.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Week so funny.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
And when we talked to him about it, you know,
finding out that so much of his stuff was literally
just like I need I'm gonna do anything I can
to book this job.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
I don't care.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
I don't care about the job, I don't care about
any I'm just and I'm gonna so I'm just gonna
try something.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
I'm gonna throw something out there.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
And and it was sticking often enough that he was
working regularly early and I think, yeah, he just got
to a point where like, the more risks I take,
the better things turn out. So yeah, his sense of
humor really cracks me up. Was the dry, sarcastic delivery
something that reflected you in real life or is that
just something that came up for this character and has

(39:18):
kind of stuck around with you ever since?

Speaker 6 (39:20):
No, No, that felt very natural to me. Okay, I
like that, you know. Like talking earlier, Rider was saying,
like the big you can turn it down, but the
small it's hard to turn up. And I think that
I relate to that so much because a lot of
my life is spent in fear, and I am so
unwilling sometimes to like go bold, So I will play

(39:43):
to subtlety more because it feels safer, which is not
a great thing to admit, you know what I mean. Like,
I recognize this is a flaw of mine that I
work on, but but I think that that's a big
part of it is that, like I, you know, I
have a bunch of stuff I'm working through mentally, and

(40:03):
so if I can find a way to do it small,
I would much rather do it small.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
Okay, looking at this episode now, with all the experience
that you have thirty years, thirty plus years of experience,
did you have any notes for young Ethan?

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (40:23):
Wow, I mean no, I watched it with grace. I'm
trying very hard to give myself grace, you know, I do.

Speaker 9 (40:29):
Danielle have several Danielle has several notes.

Speaker 6 (40:31):
I would love I would love you, you know, I went.
I don't tend to watch stuff that I'm in and
you know, like even like now, the whole routine is
like if there's like a really good movie you want
to do that, they're not calling you to say, like
be be in our movie. You have to send them

(40:53):
a tape like yeah, that's kind of the landscape of
acting right now. I can't even bring myself to watch those,
so I wind up sending in ten versions of something,
which is which is not great for my agents who
have to then they pass on. Yeah, right, But so
like watching it, I kind of wanted to go like,

(41:16):
this is from a long time ago. There there is
no saving the car wreck. If I watch it and
perceive this to be a trained derailment and decapitations of
human beings, like they're dead, there is no saving them.
I just have to be I have to bear witness

(41:37):
and I have to give grace to the to what
I'm watching because, you know, beyond everything, it means something
to people, Like so many people love this show. It
astonishes me to this day how many people watch this
show how and it and it meant something profound to them?

(41:58):
You know what I mean? This is not like this
is not lightlifting, This is like, this is an impact
on many people's lives, so I have to give grace
to those people too because it's meaningful for them. So
I'm not watching it critically, right.

Speaker 5 (42:13):
That's one of the things we, you know, struggle with
week by week is because we do the same thing
where it's kind of like, Okay, we have to balance
this idea that it was important to people, it mattered,
it was thirty years ago. Some of the jokes, some
of the stuff is going to be outdated. It's just
the way it is. But it's also as actors, we
look back and we're critical of ourselves and that's what
we do, and that tends to then be you know,

(42:35):
we take what we do in our regular lives and
we then apply it to the past as if it's
going to help. So, you know, Danielle's a director, She's
going to watch the show now maybe through the eyes
of a director. Writer's a writer, he's going to say,
why did they do this with the story and that.

Speaker 9 (42:49):
So we're constantly going.

Speaker 5 (42:51):
Well, we have to watch it as the people we are,
but at the same time, we also have to remember
what it was, what the time was, and that could
be a struggle. I mean, there's times where I will
listen back to a podcast we've done that even the show.

Speaker 9 (43:00):
I'll listen back to a podcast we've done and be like, damn,
we tore that apart and maybe we shouldn't.

Speaker 5 (43:06):
And the episode you picked is kind of a perfect
example because straight from the end of season one right
into season two, we didn't take a break. We called
it dropshock. It was just watching two different shows. But
now going back and looking at this episode again, this
was a great episode of Boy Meets World. I mean,
I mean, no, I was terrible, but but again I

(43:29):
go back, though you're god.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Like, by season three, you were just a completely different actor. Wells,
here's one of the reasons why young will like trying
to figuring it out, figuring it out, and it's like
you're trying so many different things, but it's like you're
just not comfortable in a way, like well by season
I guess maybe it was halfway through this season through
season two somewhere starting.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
But it's also exactly what Ethan said before, where he's
like this one line in the script was the pathos
for the.

Speaker 9 (43:59):
Care None of that never came into my head.

Speaker 5 (44:02):
I was sitting there going like, oh, if I go
if I say, Cory this loud, maybe someone will laugh
and my hair look good.

Speaker 9 (44:08):
Like That's as far as I took it.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
It was also a literal.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
You know, we've learned a lot about young Will over
the years of knowing him and certainly of doing this podcast.
This was Will's every day was Will's dream coming true. Yeah,
and we all had that underlying fear that at any
second this could get taken away for any number of reasons.
We get replaced, we get fired, the show gets canceled,

(44:34):
and an episode doesn't go well, Michael doesn't like us,
the director has a hard time, whatever the reason is.
And every day Will was just like, how do I
how do I make sure that my every day I
get to come back tomorrow?

Speaker 5 (44:46):
Well?

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Can I get Yes?

Speaker 6 (44:46):
I have to do to make sure.

Speaker 5 (44:47):
I mean, my brother's the joke my brothers would say
to me when I would go home first season was
they're gonna be Chucky Cunningham. You.

Speaker 9 (44:52):
They're going to Chucky Cunningham.

Speaker 5 (44:54):
You.

Speaker 9 (44:54):
And it's like again for people that you don't know
what that is.

Speaker 5 (44:57):
Richie Cunningham on Happy Days had an older brother who
one day he grabbed a basketball, walked upstairs and you
never saw him again, so that was their joke for me,
and in my head.

Speaker 9 (45:05):
It was like this is there, this could go, this
could go, and I had already replaced another Eric.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
And then it was the you guys come in, and
the three of you were so good and so just
natural and it worked. And the dynamic between Corey and
then the bullies because also when they cast Danny, who's
still to this day, you turn it on, you go,
that guy's thirty five, so he might not have been,
but the idea that you put him next to Corey

(45:31):
and they're both in the same school is so dynamic.
And then you put you and Joey next to the
and you kind of can start going like, yeah, you
could phase Eric out, it wouldn't might not.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Be that big if you didn't have ye Honestly, I
think so you guys became the bet story because you
and Bill had such chemistry as characters. If you didn't
find that gone to dude. Yep, no, I agree, because
it's yeah, but.

Speaker 6 (45:58):
You have kind of thing seems utterly insane to me
to put children through, right, doesn't it not.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
It's like a show Russian Roulette sort of like yeah,
I know.

Speaker 6 (46:11):
Yes, I was saying to somebody today, like, I just
thank god every day none of my kids are interested
in the otay because it's just it's just insane. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
I think about when we were in contract negotiations for Topanga,
when I was like, Okay, the big excuse for why
they could never pay me the same as any of
the other characters on the show was well, we weren't
intending on Topega being a regular character, And by the
time we got to season four, it was like, well
you should know by now, right, she's been involved since
episode four. It's now season four, and I still remember

(46:44):
my dad and Judy Savage doing my contract negotiations and
me just looking at my dad and Judy and saying,
I don't.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Care what they pay me.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
If you lose this job for me, I will never
forgive you. And yet of course they need to do
right by me, like they can't have me be taken
advantage of. I just can't imagine. I truly like having
kids now of my own. I cannot imagine.

Speaker 5 (47:06):
Well, I told you my dad, my dad turning down
saved by the bell without telling me what the new
class when I was fifteen, had he not done that,
I never would have.

Speaker 9 (47:15):
Gotten boy Me's world. I'm still pissed my dad turning
down Save without Unforgivable, Still like, are you kidding me?

Speaker 6 (47:21):
What are you doing?

Speaker 5 (47:22):
So it's a crazy Lord of the Flies world that
you love when you're in, but when you do step
back and you kind of look at it, you get
out of the bubble and you look at it, it's insane.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
I mean it's crazy.

Speaker 6 (47:35):
It's a real crazy life to live.

Speaker 9 (47:37):
Yeah, it is, man, wow.

Speaker 6 (47:40):
But the highs are very high, oh yeah, when it's
working the lows.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
I'm also just I'm looking at my son, who's he's
just such an actor.

Speaker 9 (47:50):
Yeah, he's ten.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
Years old and he sings like crazy. He's so talented
and he loves it. It's like what am I supposed to?

Speaker 5 (47:57):
You know?

Speaker 2 (47:57):
And I'm like, you're not going to go on camera, dude?
But he's like why not? And I'm like, you know,
I don't know how long I can hold him if
he's doing theater, you know he's doing.

Speaker 6 (48:05):
Have you even have you watched what Ethan Hawk talks
about his kids wanting to It's it's incredible. He sat
them down and he said, if if this is what
you want to do, and you can't visualize yourself happily
teaching theater at a high school in when you're thirty five.

(48:28):
Don't do it. It's the only act. If you can't
not act, not exactly and in any context, in any context. God,
And he's so right. It's such a great thing.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Yeah, but it is weird. I mean, like because I
think that's like what my parents saw in me and
my brother. You know, it's just like we had We
just loved it. We just had this passion and it
was so natural to us. And I'm seeing it in
my son. And it's like, I don't want to crush that, right,
So I can't be too negative, but I also want
to be realistic. It's very difficult, it is well, so Ethan,
I have a question then, going back to what we

(48:59):
were talking about, when when you start as a young actor,
can you remember some of the best advice you ever
got when you were first really starting out in the industry, Show.

Speaker 6 (49:09):
Up on time, know your lines. Those are the two
like you know, and Tom Hanks said something that I
really appreciated, where it was that plus have an idea
which I really like, and I think it's so much
bolder than what but for forever. Somebody just said to me,
you can't go wrong if you show up on time

(49:29):
and know your lines. And like I will say, when
I think of the rockiest moments in my career, and
I don't mean rocky as in, like Mike, there's a
precariousness about my career, but like about my behavior. I
was letting those things slip. I was like, you know,
running lines with a script supervisor right before shooting something,

(49:53):
right which I think, like, that's not who I want
to be as a person.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
You know, why was that happening at that time?

Speaker 6 (50:03):
Just through sheer laziness, you know, and interrationalization, Like I
got to learn eight pages a day and then I'm shooting,
and then I go home and I'm learning eight more pages,
and like at some point it's like, well, I can
learn this in five minutes with the script supervisor while
they're setting up after we rehearsed, and I'm rehearsing with sides,
and I just you know, later through some recovery stuff,

(50:26):
I was like, oh, I spotted that that was just
I should That's not healthy for me to do, you know,
because I suddenly other stuff is slipping in my life.
That otherwise I would be more responsible for and like
tighten it up. But I like Tom Hanks's advice where
it's like do those things and then have some idea
look at the scene and bring something to it. You know, Yeah,

(50:49):
I know.

Speaker 3 (50:50):
I love when you said if that line got cut,
you were going to have to figure out another way
to show internal struggle, and like as well mentioned, uh,
I didn't know any of that.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
No.

Speaker 6 (51:03):
Well, I literally was looking at beats because one of
the things I noticed, Look, this might that week might
have been the most attention I ever paid to the
process of how something worked. And so something I noticed
was lines were changing, but broadly beats were not changing.

(51:23):
There was the rhythm and a pace, and the the
arcs of scenes were not transforming all that much. And
so I was literally like, Okay, I have no idea
if this goes what will come in its place? So
I can't depend on the words to bring this emotion
that I'm feeling is necessary for me that completes the

(51:45):
character in the way I see him. So it was
very important to me, and I was trying to find
where in here, minus the words, I can put that
just so that I get it out. You know it
was a tricky it was a tricky first one.

Speaker 5 (52:00):
But the idea that you're doing that on your first
job ever, I think I figured that out.

Speaker 9 (52:04):
Like a month ago, and so it's just to me,
but it just it does.

Speaker 5 (52:08):
It shows I mean not to sound like I'm kissing
your ass, but it just shows people are working on
different levels, you know, when it comes to this industry,
and you know, this was my fortieth job. I've been
working since I was ten, and I was nowhere near
that cognizant of the craft as you were in your
first week.

Speaker 6 (52:27):
And it's just it's just shows some.

Speaker 9 (52:29):
People are just working on a different level. It's really amazing.

Speaker 6 (52:32):
Well, I mean I.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
Look back and you know, because you know, my wife
is an actor and when we started dating, like I
was twenty six or twenty seven, and it was so
it was such a revelation for me to engage with
her about acting because I was like, oh, you take
this seriously in a way that I've always rejected. And
what I realized is like I had this young actor

(52:55):
sort of thing of like, well, I just show up
and do It's so easy. I don't even think about it.
I don't have to I don't have to work on this,
And it was like such a defense mechanism, you know.
And I feel like there was a culture, you know,
back then, like on the set of Boy Meets World especially,
there was a culture of like, don't take acting too seriously,
don't take yourself too seriously, which is healthy in its
own way, right, Like there are actors who get obsessive

(53:16):
and to you know, but I think for me, like
I totally just threw my arms up and was like, well,
I just show up and do this thing so I
don't have to think about it, and like, no, I
actually you know. And when I dove into it, I
started doing the work of like taking acting classes again,
and like thinking about it, I was like, wow, this
is a lot of work. I don't I'm not you know,
I'm I'm not built for this lifestyle. I could not
act and be happy, you know. So it was like, great,

(53:37):
then I have to go do it, you know. I
want to be around actors. But man, yeah, Like but
it's so interesting that that back then, I feel like
we had a culture like if we had taken ourselves
too seriously, we would have teased one another, don't you think,
will Like there was a level of.

Speaker 6 (53:51):
Like, yes, so listen this stuff I was thinking about
and the notes I was keeping in the script that
I never took out of my trailer by the way,
Like you know, I would never I would never have
talked to Blake about this for the reasons you're talking about,
and not that I'm sure he would have made fun
of me, but I felt very much that the amount

(54:13):
of thought I was putting into it was embarrassing, so
I would not. I would never have said interesting to somebody.
I think that I think you're spot on. I don't
think it was just the set of Boy Meets World,
you know, because I think there's also like you know,
like you think about Brando, or you think about even
like Daniel day Lewis, or like a method actor, and

(54:33):
it's like, okay, yeah, for my left foot, you gotta
do X, Y and Z. But for Boy meets World,
doing X, Y and Z is embarrassing, Like you just
hit the joke. That job was my left foot. It
was as important to me as any anything else. But
I think that I wouldn't have openly said that, right.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
That's why when you talk about people like Daniel d
Lewis or things you you see to give to give
some flowers to sitcom and how difficult it can be.
You see shows like Friends or Seinfeld or any of
these big shows that will bring big movie stars on
that can't.

Speaker 9 (55:11):
Do the three camera.

Speaker 5 (55:13):
It's just it's a different rhythm and and so you'll
get huge actors where it's like, Okay, yeah, man, you're
you're gonna win five Academy Awards, But in front of
an audience sitcom, it's a totally different beast and you
just you didn't figure it out.

Speaker 6 (55:26):
So there's a lyricism to it, there is. It's a music.
If you cannot find that harmony, it's gonna suck.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Yeah, I agree, speaking of not wanting to share things
out of embarrassment, you had much cooler friends than any
of us had in the nineties, and we.

Speaker 9 (55:55):
Only have each other. You're already winning.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Do you remember did any of your friends at the
time think Boy Meets World was corny or like that?

Speaker 1 (56:03):
The fact that you were even doing that job was corny.

Speaker 6 (56:07):
No, just having a job was cool. Okay, just having
just being gamefully employed was cool. On every single level.
There was no you know, there's still no like you know,
you got a friend who's going to get nominated for
an Academy Award and I have a show on Amazon,
you know what I mean. Like, they're only like, that's

(56:29):
great that you're working, you know, right.

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Yeah, right, exactly. It's crazy that even I mean now
more so than ever. Oh you have a job.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (56:38):
Yeah, thank god you have a job. You have a
story about you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
Oh good, you're working. That's great. I know, no matter what,
it is so great. Wanted to get your opinion on
the line. We talked about it a lot when we
watched the episode the first time around. Wanted to get
when Sean says to Tapanga, summer was very good to you.

Speaker 6 (56:59):
Yeah, awkward. That's another one that they could have lost.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Yes, just checking you out as you walk ahead of us.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
It's like, uh so it was cringey for you too.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
I thought maybe it was just because we were too inside,
but even for you, it was a little They kind
of saved.

Speaker 5 (57:15):
It a little bit this time when I saw it
with with you grabbing his mutton chops and saying, well,
at least what I grew was real.

Speaker 9 (57:21):
Yeah, so they kind of give it back to.

Speaker 5 (57:23):
You a little bit, but it's still is a little
ae yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 (57:27):
I don't know, if you know, my just particular tastes
are that uh you know, and I don't like, I
don't dislike lude comedy, but I don't need to see
kids interacting that way. It's just not Yeah, you know,
there is something And I don't know that I ever

(57:49):
considered it at the time the only but I was
also stuck in my own world. If I could have
been just an observer, maybe I would have gone like,
that's odd, you know. But like as a parent to
girls today, I'm I'm like, you know, come on, guys,

(58:09):
that's yeah, Like you know, I see, especially with development,
just commenting on it can be so introverting to a
totally or a girl. And and like, you know, I
don't know, I'm not like mad that they did that joke,
but I certainly it was a record a little record

(58:30):
scratch in my mind.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Yeah yeah, I mean, when you're a kid, you're so
the same way we talked about that. For you, it
felt like there was all the other lights were often
there was a spotlight.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
On you when we did that eighteen times.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
That's what you think people are, that's in your mind,
what's happening about everything? So you're like, everyone's gonna notice,
everyone's thinking about it, everyone's talking about it, and then
when they actually do it just confirms.

Speaker 6 (58:53):
And then at twelve, what does that even mean to you?
Like those words? What do those words even mean to you?
Because I highly doubt that, But that's your intention, walking
like you're not getting dressed, going like I gotta look
sexy today, you know.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
What I mean?

Speaker 3 (59:07):
No, definitely not. Do you remember working with Lily Nixy
at all? But she played Morgan, the little sister.

Speaker 6 (59:15):
I don't know that I ever had scenes with her.
Was she okay in the house?

Speaker 4 (59:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (59:19):
Mostly?

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Yeah, she was never in the school, so I didn't
know if you remembered any experience.

Speaker 9 (59:24):
That's a good question. Was Lily ever not in the
house ever?

Speaker 2 (59:29):
No?

Speaker 5 (59:29):
No?

Speaker 6 (59:30):
No?

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Wowyard backyard.

Speaker 6 (59:33):
And I also think, like, you know, you guys had
parents there, but you were at an age where your
parents could be like sitting up in the bleachers or
at craft services. Sure parents were standing five feet away,
you know what I mean, Like there was no and
what am I going to say to a little little
kid like that? You know what I mean? There's no

(59:54):
joking around to be done. I don't think I had
any interaction with her. I don't think I ever had
any interaction with her parents or anyone.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Yeah, yeah, okay, So final question for you looking back
now on this episode, is there anything when you watch
this episode your first job ever, that you think to yourself? Yep,
I can pinpoint this week right here is where I
learned blank, and I've carried it with me for the
rest of my career.

Speaker 6 (01:00:20):
I learned how to be a professional actor that way.
That was you know, for me prior to that, acting
was spending as much time as I wanted with some material,
making as many changes as I felt were necessary, trying it,
feeling if that iteration felt best to me. It was

(01:00:45):
really a solo pursuit or you know, in acting class
where you then get critiqued by an acting teacher. But
it was it was the first time that I got
to experience the collaborative name nature of what it is
to be a professional actor on any level. And and really,
if we think about it, our jobs are always collaborative,

(01:01:08):
unless we're writing our own one man show and then
wearing all the hats and putting it up, or just
performing it for ourselves in the mirror, which is interesting
but like the in what we do, there are writers, directors.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
There's you know, it's a social art form.

Speaker 6 (01:01:26):
It's a social art form. It is the most collaborative
art form there is because it isn't just one thing.
It is everybody has a point of view on a scene,
and you have to come together to make this cohesive
thing that's going to communicate to people. And it was
like such a powerful and transformative week where it proved

(01:01:49):
that like not only could I do it, but like
I could enjoy it and I could be a part
of that collaboration.

Speaker 5 (01:01:56):
That's amazing because you even said before that you felt
the audience's energy draining. Yeah, And that's one of the
things where even the audience is part of the collaboration.

Speaker 9 (01:02:05):
They're they're part of your team.

Speaker 5 (01:02:07):
So it's you you at one point when you get
this thing on its feet, You've got hundreds of people
involved in making it happen, and it really is unique
in that aspect.

Speaker 6 (01:02:15):
This maybe I mean you rely on their laugh. Yeah,
If you're not getting that from them, you're not doing
it right because you know, I know, there's a lot
to say, there's applause signs and all of that which
can bolster them a little bit and the warm up
guy who gets them ready for it. But if they
start to fade on you, there's no getting them back,

(01:02:37):
and you know you got to like to make a
broad left turn to try to recapture them.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
This might be too broad of a hypothetical, But what
do you think would have happened if you hadn't come
back after this week?

Speaker 6 (01:02:49):
Jesus, I don't know, you know, I if that was,
if that was one and done, I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Do you think you'd feel as good about the experience
like or would you feel Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:03:00):
Yeah, there was no expectation that I was coming back
when I didn't. I didn't. There was no like you
know now, when people talk to me about a TV show,
that's not like you're being offered a season regular job.
It's like, there's five episodes we want you to do,
you know what I mean. I'm not really talking to

(01:03:22):
people about one episode of a television show and so like.
But that back then was all I thought. It was,
this is going to be five days of work, and
this is my first job, and what am I going
to do to prepare? And like it's all new and
fascinating and I would have come away from it going like,

(01:03:43):
I hope I did a good job, but coming back
was icing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
Ethan, where can people find you? Where can we listen
to you? How can we best support you?

Speaker 6 (01:03:54):
And now I write a sub stack, which I'm having
so much fun writing. You know, for a long time
I did. I've been on Instagram, which limits you to
like two thousand or twenty five hundred words or twenty
some some. Yeah it's not twenty five hundred words. I'd
be a lot. I think it's two thousand characters, okay.

(01:04:15):
And I found myself writing for Instagram and always having
to edit it down. So I've started just putting up
essays on substack, which.

Speaker 5 (01:04:22):
I'm sorry as somebody who doesn't know anything about computers
or or what that is.

Speaker 9 (01:04:26):
What is what is a substack?

Speaker 6 (01:04:27):
What is that? Substack is literally like social media for writing?

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Oh okay, cool, It's like basically where journalists go. Now
where you can you can publish your own like your
own articles and your own soft and share it.

Speaker 9 (01:04:43):
Is it substack dot com? Is that how you find that?

Speaker 6 (01:04:46):
If you wanted to find me, it would be ethansplea
dot substack dot cool. But you could go to substack
and search for my name, and uh, I'm having so
much fun writing essays. I write an essay every week
and it's all you know about my terrible mental health
and my struggles with weight and addiction. And it's such

(01:05:08):
a cathartic place to put ideas out into the world.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
Jesus so wonderful. Are you still doing your podcast?

Speaker 6 (01:05:16):
Yeah? Yeah, and American Glutton, Yeah that continues. That's like
my version of a recovery meeting for obesity.

Speaker 4 (01:05:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:05:24):
Everything that was I was on and it was awesome.
It was a great experience, really cool. Thank you will Yeah,
it was amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Yeah, Ethan, thank you so much for spending some more
time with us. It's always such a joy to see you.
I hope to get to see you in person again
soon too. Thank you for being here with us.

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
You later.

Speaker 5 (01:05:44):
I could talk to him for hours. I seriously could
talk to him for hours. But it also just shows
when he again, when he's talking about getting that first
script in the past, he was just on a different.

Speaker 9 (01:05:54):
Level and I'll just speak myself, on a different level.

Speaker 5 (01:05:56):
Than me, and it showed, I mean, you could tell
he was just a deeper actor who appreciated the craft
right from the jump, which is something that I didn't
find for twenty years in my career.

Speaker 9 (01:06:08):
It's really incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Yeah, I got to join a substack. I gotta I.

Speaker 9 (01:06:12):
Gotta know what that was to me.

Speaker 5 (01:06:13):
That's just the small pancakes.

Speaker 9 (01:06:16):
So yeah, that's a short stack.

Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
That's the show. Short stack.

Speaker 9 (01:06:19):
That's what it is, right damn it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Podmeets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram
pod Meets World Show. You can send us your emails
podmeets World Show at gmail dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
And we've got merch.

Speaker 5 (01:06:34):
Wait, so you're saying I need to buy some merch.
I gotta think.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Pod Meets Worldshow dot com writer send us out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
an iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and
Ryder Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive
in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and edit, Tititar
Subach producer, Maddie Moore engineer and Boy meets World Superman
Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton.

Speaker 6 (01:07:07):
Of Typhoon.

Speaker 2 (01:07:07):
Follow us on Instagram at Podmets World Show, or email
us at Podmeats Worldshow at gmail dot com.