Marcus Toji Meets World

Marcus Toji is one of the rare actors to play two totally unrelated characters in the same season, and now he’s stopping by Pod Meets World to talk about both “Einstein Kid” and “Kid #1.”

 

Marcus, an established actor by the time he visited BMW, began his career at just 3 years old, experiencing all the good (and bad) of being a rare Asian child actor in the ‘90s. 

 

He also shares stories from the set of “Little Giants,” where he had to learn how to be “bad” at football and goof off in front of Steven Spielberg. So hit the gridiron and get ready for an all-new, touchdown episode of Pod Meets World!

 

Follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram and TikTok!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I want to talk about the charity event. I missed
the charity event due to looking like I had a
flesh eating virus. You did, please tell me about it.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
What was it like?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
First of all, we raised eighty thousand.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Dollars, oh my gosh for charity.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Which is great.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
And one of the trapper keepers, Matt's trapper keeper, went
for nine grand.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Just because he.

Speaker 5 (00:39):
Included all his notes like on the game, like his
whole story notes and everything people, so I kind of
wanted to keep it nine grand.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
But yeah, yeah, So we had so much fun and
it was funny because one of the things we talked
about during the so we all, you know, we're playing
dagger Heart, which is critical roles like the game they
invented that they've been working on for years years, their
role playing game system, and Matt gmmed for us, Matt Mercer,
and we had so much fun. But one of the

(01:09):
things you get you're allowed to pick your different like
the things you have in your pockets, all the equipment
that you have with you.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
And one of the things that I think was it Stacey.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Did Stacy have a Youth in Film Award? Who had
the youth that was Ashley Johnson. Ashley had a Youth
in Film Award.

Speaker 5 (01:27):
No, it was that that wasn't her object, that was
her background experience.

Speaker 6 (01:30):
We were trying to think, like because we were trying
to think what skills do we have?

Speaker 5 (01:33):
And it was like, well it should be linked to
something you've done, and your character is done in their life.
So if you were come from a sailing family, you
would know how to tie knots and.

Speaker 6 (01:41):
You know that would be your experience.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
So like I picked up my guy.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
It was like good with card tricks and could do
like poker, and she's just like, I have a Youth
in Film Award and we're all like, what is that? Well,
actually that's okay, and we kept playing with it, and
how did she use it? She used it in the
game I think.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Because she remember she turned into the guy. She she
was actually able to morph into another character. And her
experience as an actor when she won a Youth and
Film Award allowed her advantage on her role to today.

Speaker 5 (02:13):
Worked and she got like a critical role so that
he was like, okay, I guess you just convinced you know,
you as this fifteen year old girl just convinced the
security guards that you're the head of the studio.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
And it made me go through my stuff and find awards.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
You were nominated.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
My nomination for my Youth and Film Award, Yes for
outstanding contribution to the Entertainment industry recognition of acknowledging. My
nomination is outstanding Hope for a youth magazine, news or
Game show for totally Kids Sports in nineteen ninety two.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Look at that. Thank you very much, SOE for philm Freedom.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
So you missed, you missed a fun night.

Speaker 6 (02:54):
One of the funnest times I've had in a long time.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
It was really.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Everybody got into it.

Speaker 5 (02:58):
It was surprising how much joy it brought me. It
was like I came home and I was like buzzing.
I couldn't go to sleep, and I just wanted to
play again the next day. And then Christine Laken, who
had never played before, and Jodie Sweeten, who had never play.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I started getting texts the next day like can you
do this again? Yeah, we should get a home we
have to.

Speaker 6 (03:19):
Now I'm so into it.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
I realized it.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
Like I was trying to explain it to Alex because
she's never done role playing, and you know, she's always
kind of been like what D and D.

Speaker 6 (03:27):
I don't quite get this.

Speaker 5 (03:27):
And you know, I think a lot of actors think
of it as like kind of a waste of time
or like a waste of their creative energy, you know,
because it's like, oh, I'm an actor. I pretend to
be people all the time. So the idea of like
doing that for fun, but this it specifically tapped into
playing on the playground with friends when you're a kid

(03:47):
and you're like just telling a story together and you're like.

Speaker 6 (03:50):
Now you're a pirate and now we're running over here.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
It brings that feeling back, which is a very specific
type of play, and I just couldn't get over. I
was like, I just want to do this again and again.
It was really fun and really funny.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
Oh my god.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
I mean there was one like we're the best, the best,
my favorite moment. At one point, Christine Laken as her
objects in her backpack or whatever she decided, and she
hadn't told us this, but in the middle of the game,
we needed to like sneak across an area and she
was like, guys, I have ten backwards baseball hats and
we could, and Jody Sweeten.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Just goes wouldn't those just be hats lost it and
we all just lost it for like.

Speaker 5 (04:33):
Two minutes of not of not being able to tre laughing.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
So I were like, yes, you would just have hats
and you put them on back. No, no, no, there's
there's no bills. You can't say this.

Speaker 7 (04:50):
It was.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
It was really really fun. And their system, their dagger
Heart system, it's very fast. You don't for anybody who
knows D and D. There's a lot more to D
and D meaning there's like you have to roll for initiative,
you have to do it, and they kind of cut
through all that with dagger Heart, so you're just kind
of playing. It's a great system. It's really fun. Yeah,
we had and Matt Mercer is just clearly the best. Yes,
he's the best game master I've ever seen anybody like

(05:13):
sEH because he's.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
So committed, he's so responsive, he never hesitates, he just goes,
and he's so giving but also harsh. Like it was
hard at times. Yeah, I mean we didn't make our Yeah,
Will didn't. I didn't make it his character sacrifice to
save us. I sacrificed myself or three of us also
got unconscious and new death at times.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
It was I went out in a blazing glory, Joey
Squawk Powers went out in a blazing glory and blaze
of glory.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
He really did.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, it also sounds like a blaze of gory.

Speaker 8 (05:42):
It was.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
It was glory glory.

Speaker 6 (05:45):
Yeah, we were battling aliens.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Uh yeah, studio executives.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
I was sad to miss it.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I did see one person comment in the live stream
I think Danielle tore her him string just to avoid.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
This, You're just trying to do first split.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
I'm like, no, I'm actually I'm really sad I missed it.
It looked really fun and it was probably less painful
than the thing I was.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
I would say, it's going there, Welcome to vad meets World.
I'm Danielle Offishal, I'm right or Strong, and I'm wil Fredell.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
The side quest of looking to talk to everyone who
appeared on a Boy Meets World episode has been an
arduous one. It's a difficult task, but we committed to
it years ago and were sticking to it. So this
week we are talking to a busy child actor who
made not one but two stops on our set that
without this podcast we would have never seen again, and
we'd be so bummed because he has quite a story

(06:51):
to tell. He was the definition of a character actor
even before he hit his teen years. When people think
of our industry, it often gets lost that actors can
make a living and pursue their art without ever needing
to be a leading man. And today we have an
example of someone who's been perfecting the drive by for
over thirty years and he has never had a pause

(07:12):
on his resume. He's been on TV shows like Family Matters,
Party of Five, The West Wing, Zoe, One oh One,
thunder Alley, Patriot, and Workaholics.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
That's it, Yeah, I know right.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
And he's been in movies like Jingle All the Way,
Karna Corinna, Dear God, and Max Keeble's Big Move. But
you'll know him best from Little Giants, a Bad News
Bears inspired Pop Warner football movie from nineteen ninety one
where he was coached by Rick Moranis and surrounded by
other adorable young actors spending a few months putting on
the pads and making a movie together. And we were

(07:45):
lucky enough to have him in two season four episodes
Janitor Dad and Quiz Show, and Yes, in.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Perfect Boy, Meets World fashion He played.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Kid Number one and Einstein Kid two, completely different yet
unnamed character. Now we are thrilled to welcome to the
podcast to mark off another guest star. It's Marcus Toji.

Speaker 9 (08:09):
Hello, how are you.

Speaker 8 (08:11):
I'm good, Good to see you all.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Nice to see you.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Thank you so much for being here with us. You
are a two timer on Boy Meets World. Two episodes,
two different characters, which Boy Meets World did often with
actors we loved, but yours is especially rare because you
did them in the same season. So I want to

(08:36):
talk to you about that. Where did What is your
origin story to Hollywood, because by the time you made
it to us on Boy Meets World, you were already
a seasoned VET.

Speaker 8 (08:44):
Yeah. I mean I started acting. I'm born and raised
in La. I'm sure a lot of people are, but
I started acting when I was like three, doing like commercials,
oh wow. And and then you know, just doing you know,
guest spot co star stuff on lots of kids TV shows.

(09:05):
Uh And then I mean I think was it the
the year before, I like, I just recently listened to
your podcast with Maddie and uh so he did the
Sandlot And then the year later they started casting for
Little Giants, which is a football movie, and but that

(09:28):
was what everyone was. You know, everyone's eyes were on
the sandlot because it was so good. Yeah, and so
we you know, auditioned for that, got it, and then
you know that's over, and then you go back to
the grind, you know, just auditioning, and then and then
I you know, I get onto Boy Meant's World, which
was like, I mean, there was season four. You guys
all knew what you were doing. You were you were

(09:50):
in the thick of it, and so you know, I'm
just coming on and I'm I'm a younger kid that
that that Sean is is picking on and uh yeah,
I mean it was. It was. It was a great
experience because we all knew the show.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
You know, so you started at three? What was it
about you? I'm assuming your parents.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Who was it who said this kid has what it takes? Who?
And what was it about you they saw?

Speaker 8 (10:19):
So the story is like a little a little fuzzy
on the details because I just hear it.

Speaker 6 (10:25):
From my mom.

Speaker 8 (10:26):
So my oldest brother. I think it was one of
those like mall things like some person, yeah pictures.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
And my mom was like a cigar of course.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Pictures kid, Hey, exactly do you mind if I take
your picture?

Speaker 5 (10:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (10:45):
Now, yeah, you can't do that now.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
It used to happen to me at the park, real.

Speaker 8 (10:52):
Crazy your kids and you thing. Yeah so we uh
so he he didn't do anything. I have two older brothers.
He he like, I think they took head shots and
he was like, this is dumb. I don't want to
do this. And then my middle brother, he actually went
on some auditions, did some commercials, but my mom always

(11:12):
had to like drag me along, uh to take him
to auditions anyways, and I always wanted to go in
the room because for commercials, like they take all the
kids in the room and they always come out.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Laughing yeah you know, oh yeah, and so you know,
I mean yeah.

Speaker 8 (11:26):
Yeah, yeah, depending on how depends on there, how how
much pressure your parents put on it and uh. And
so eventually they're like, yeah, bring him, you know, bring
him in. And then I had a great time, and
and then they were like okay, you know, my mom's
like sure, let's let's sign them up. And my agent,
you know that agent, uh, sign me up. And and

(11:48):
then I've been doing it ever since.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
So you don't ever remember not acting exactly.

Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, I mean did you ever take classes or like
get into acting as a craft or did it just
keep coming naturally?

Speaker 8 (12:02):
No? No, I uh, I mean, you know, like being
a kid actor. I mean I feel like everyone you
all experience this is that your skill, your your like
natural talent as a kid only takes you to a
certain point. Yeah, exactly, and then you have to like go, oh,
I can't be the precocious, you know, six year old anymore.
I need to be a little I need to deliver

(12:24):
the line a little bit better. Or now it's I
can't just do one line, I've got to do five
lines and then wait, you know, and then do the
next one. So yeah, so like constantly kind of taking
class throughout my life. And then I think it was
in like you take little classes here that you're as
a kid there you can't be in like.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
A four hour you know, uh workshop script works.

Speaker 6 (12:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (12:48):
So uh yeah, so I took classes. I mean I
like school, like even just like elementary school or like
middle school, high school. I got more. That was the
time for me, whereas like, well do I want to
keep doing this or do I not? Because that's the
perfect time to go I'm out, and I wanted to
keep doing it, so I got more into you know,
like theater in high school and then and then from

(13:11):
there I took classes like the well known classes in
LA and you know, I learned a lot from them.
I'm actually like, I should probably go back because because
acting changes, like you know, just like what's funny right now,
in five years is gonna be like well, you kind
of have to follow the trends of what's on TV

(13:33):
or you know, or film. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
Well, growing up in Los Angeles at your school, were
you the only actor because we're we're you know, we're
not from around here where it's like born and raised
in Los Angeles. So did you have other child actors
that you were actually going to school with. I mean,
your school must have been kind of used to the
idea of, oh, they have to leave for auditions.

Speaker 8 (13:51):
I think no one's like used to it, like like
like you know, teachers and stuff. But in California, like
Los Angeles, it is a legit reason to leave school.
Like it's the same as like sick or breathement. And
so there was always like, oh, he's gonna be just
gone for a week for like for something Okay, let's

(14:16):
see elementary school. I mean, I'm sure there were people
that were, like there might have been kids who were actors,
like as like a hobby like where they did it
for maybe like a year and then quit. And then
like middle school, I don't think anyone. Uh, but at
that point, like I had done a few things. I'd argued.
By the time I was in middle school, I already

(14:37):
done Boy Meets World and I had done some other things,
so people kind of like recognize me, so they're like, oh, okay,
he's that he's that kid. But then that was the
first place I had like any kind of like theater stuff.
So like the teacher she was also my English teacher,
but she was also also the drama teacher, and uh,
I think she kind of was like seriously, like you're

(14:59):
going on, like you get to work right by uh.
And then high school, I think there was quite a
few people who was like parents were like producers, right,
and so none of the kids haired like I had
friends that did homeschool because they would get like bullied
in in their school, like, oh, kids would just give
them a hard time and stuff. And I mean I

(15:20):
was very lucky that it didn't happen because I wasn't special.
You know, it wasn't like, oh he thinks he's hot,
but you know, it was like, yeah, well my dad,
you know, produced blah blah blah. Or I think I
think a girl I knew his father directed a Break

(15:40):
into Electric Boogaloo.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
So great movie.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
God, that's when they danced to save the Youth Center.
So great movie. Great movie.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
One of your first jobs was a guest spot on
a show called Drexel's Class Right. It was starring a
big name that Will worked with too.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Dad Coleman. Yes, what do you remember from that job?

Speaker 8 (16:03):
So that one. I think that was one of my
first jobs where I was there like the whole week.
I was like, I was like looking at it, I
was like, I didn't need to be there the whole week.
It's the Dabney Coleman is like he's a teacher at
this like inner city school, and for some reason he
has to go around being Santa Claus at like malls,

(16:27):
and so I'm like a kid that you know, like
comes to the mall like we take a picture, and
I'm like asking for all these things and he's like, yeah, yeah, whatever,
just write it down and you know, and then he
moves on to the to the next kid. But I
remember it was it was kind of amazing. It was
that like it was the to be on a multiicam set,
like you know, you guys, you guys lived it. But

(16:48):
it's like it's very strange for everybody else to be like, oh,
that's the school, and right on the other side of
this wall it's his apartment, you know, and right on
the other side of that wall is a restaurant, you know,
and and so it is kind of you know, you know,
mind boggling to be like I'm gonna walk through one
door and just end up in a completely different space.

(17:10):
And then I think one kid had like he it
was it wasn't a musical, but like he does a
rap in the middle of this thing. So just watching
a kid who's not much older than me do something
like that in front of all these people was was
pretty cool. Wow.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah, but that was pretty inspiring. You were like, look
what he can do.

Speaker 8 (17:28):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
And then in nineteen ninety four you end up in
two huge movies. First is Karina Krina with Whoopi Goldberg
and Rayleiota. That is a big first movie were you.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Nervous to try something outside of TV.

Speaker 8 (17:45):
Not nervous to get out of TV. It's like it
was an audition like any other. Yeah, you know, you
go into a office and you know this person, They're like, hi, okay,
let's do it.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 8 (17:57):
It was it was a one liner, you know, and
and uh, it was supposed to be like my mom. Oh,
the woman who plays my mom is supposed to be
interviewing for the job that will be Goldberg gets okay,
and so but she's like I think she yeah, she's
she is Japanese because in the sixties, like there's plenty

(18:17):
of like Japanese school, but she only spoke Japanese and
so she's so Rayleiota is like interviewing her, and she's
I'm the translator and uh uh as as I as
I learned a lot of kids were for their you know, uh,
non English speaking parents.

Speaker 9 (18:32):
Uh uh.

Speaker 8 (18:34):
And you know, she says like, you know, I don't
do windows, and so I'm like, and no windows, and
I had to do like an accent and I do
not speak Japanese. Uh, and I don't have an accent,
and so it was kind of like, oh, okay, and
like it didn't have to be good, you know, it's
like one of those things like his kids like didn't
have to be good, just had to be good enough.
But I did get to meet Rayleiota and he was

(18:55):
very nice, you know, like it's I guess might be
you would think that big celebrities like don't have time
for kids, but but in my experience, they were just
very nice. They're just cordial. They they they realize like
you aren't unless they learn very quickly that you're a
piece of boot where they're gonna be nice to.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Yeah, yeah, that's good.

Speaker 4 (19:19):
I think big actors actually take more time to be
nice to kids sometimes than other big actors like the
you know, they're they're nice to the kids, and the
adults on the side did.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Not always have really yeah, I never had a bad
I never had a problem with the adults.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
I've talked about my Bert Reynolds time, and I hear
Burt Reynolds had a problem with basically everyone in the world.

Speaker 3 (19:41):
It starts exactly yeah.

Speaker 6 (19:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Well, coincidentally, we have talked to a lot of Asian
actors from the eighties and nineties on this podcast. Stephen
park Ernie, ray Is Junior Keon Young and everyone has
such unique journeys with such little representation back during that time.
Who did you look up to on TV or in movies?

Speaker 8 (20:05):
Well, you know, let's see coming up. I mean Ernie
Race Junior. I'm like, I'm glad you mentioned him because
like he was teenage. He was Keynoteles and that was
one of those things like I didn't do martial arts,
but just seeing him, you're just like, oh cool, like
it was. It was funny just growing up in that
time for us, it was like you saw one kid,

(20:27):
one Asian kid, You're like, oh, hey, it's an Asian
kid or your my mom would be like, oh there's
an Asian guy, right, and like uh l A newscasters
that were like celebrities. You know. It was like it
was like Rob Fuguzaki or or was it Susan here Asuna.

(20:48):
You know those are the names. You're just like, oh wow,
they they're on They're they're on TV. I mean I
knew some of them, you know, like it all. Although
he probably doesn't. He doesn't get a lot of uh
good press because of what he did, but it was
Getty Watanabe was in he was long duck Dong.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, in sixteen Candles.

Speaker 8 (21:10):
Yes, you know, great guy. He played my dad uh
in like a PBS thing and you know, great guy
and you know you I look and it's even to judge,
but you're like, he wanted to be an actor.

Speaker 7 (21:24):
That was the part that came along, and he was
in the whole movie. Yeah, you know Volunteers too. I
don't know if you ever saw Tom him in Volunteers
with Tom Hanks. Oh, no, great movie, Tom Hanks, John
Candy Getty, wata nab amazing well and then.

Speaker 8 (21:39):
Well, and then you know that that wasn't that was
like his first big one. But like, yeah, he said
Volunteers and then he did that. Uh oh it was
Michael Keaton and it was the Japanese Gun. He's great
in that.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (21:52):
Uh and then uhf with weird Al Yankovic. Like Okay,
here's what I can name all.

Speaker 4 (21:57):
The movies, and and most of them are that's the thing.
Most of them have hit that icon status. So yes, yeah,
problematic when you look back at them, some of them
through the lens of now.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
But you can't do that.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
You're right, he's an actor who's getting an audition and
you go in and you you do your best to nail.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
That role, and he did. He nailed every role he played.

Speaker 4 (22:19):
So you know, you have to look at it like that,
like an actor where you just go in and you're like,
this is the material I'm given and I'm going to
take the material off the page and make it even better.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
And he was great at.

Speaker 8 (22:28):
That, and you know it's he the fact that you know,
the past allows me to be who I like want
to authentically be. And so like I've turned down an
audition here there because I'm like, I don't feel like
this is right. Don't first I don't think it's good.

(22:48):
And if it was good and not right, then you're like, okay,
then that it it. You can make it something. Yeah,
this is like bad and it's not right. What's even
the point?

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (22:59):
And there was some there was some movie that I
had an audition for that I turned down the audition, Uh,
and then I saw the movie. They just cut the
whole part out. And I wouldn't be surprised if it
was they either A had enough actors that said I'm
gonna pass, and then maybe it's like, well why are
all these actors passing all this part? But probably because

(23:20):
it's not you know good.

Speaker 6 (23:23):
Yeah, yeah, interesting.

Speaker 8 (23:25):
But then who else, well, Dante Bosco, Yeah who uh?
He and my my older brother, they were about they're
about the same agent, so they would audition against each other.
Dante would always get the part. Yeah exactly. Uh. But
I ran into him. I think it was auditioning for

(23:50):
the Jake Long like Dragon Hunter. It was an animated show,
and so I interviewed. I said probably Dante like I'm
I'm Kirk's younger brother, and he goes, oh, yeah. So
we talked a little bit and then maybe like at
Comic Con years ago, he's just walking the floor like
no one saw him, and they walked and was like, hey, Dante,

(24:10):
good to see you. I'm cursals. He's like, yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Know, it's good to see you.

Speaker 8 (24:17):
Like my brother's friend knows who I am.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
That was one of those movies, Rufio, that was one
of those movies.

Speaker 4 (24:25):
There was not a kid actor who did not see
that movie and just was like salivating, Yeah, one of
the Lost Boys.

Speaker 8 (24:33):
I was, And I think I was just just too
young to audition for it, like just like just a
little bit, you know, like and they had they had
the Little Last Boy and I think it was like, no, no,
we got a we gotta everyone's older.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, oh man.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Was your family always super supportive of you following this path?

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Were they just thrilled that you were successful from such
a young age.

Speaker 8 (24:55):
I yes, you know, I think it's one of those
like getting work helps, you know, helps them feel a way.
Neither of them are my my my mom is not
in the industry and my dad wasn't in the industry
at all, and so, you know, I think they obviously
they were like cautious, you know, starting, but I think, uh,

(25:18):
you know, they they might. They would take me to
the auditions, they would be on set, you know, as
they're required to. And I think by seeing me work,
and you know, I think earning money, you know, helped,
And so they were like, well, we don't you know,
they're dealing with three kids. They're like, well, the third
one doesn't need to pay for college, you know, like
we don't have to pay for him, so let's just

(25:42):
let's let him keep doing it as long as he
wants to. And I think that was always I think
what made them feel better was that they were like
school requirements, like you had to get good enough grades
and I was in public school, so you know, like
they were like the teachers weren't going to go easy
on you know, mor so there they were gonna So

(26:04):
they were like, Okay, he has to get good enough
grades to keep his work permit. If he doesn't do well,
then he can't audition. And so I had this like
I had this bar I had to meet, and so, yeah,
they were always supportive, and but there was always the
idea that look, if this isn't what you want to do,
you just get out, you know, if you find something

(26:24):
else interesting, quit because this is not something you do
because oh man, the money and the fame.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
You know. Yes, I'm constantly amazed at the number of
people that not only are the youngest in their families
that become actors because I'm the same. I'm the youngest
of three boys and I'm the same. And it was
that same kind of thing where it's like the youngest.
I think for some reason, I don't know if we
we feel the need to perform more to be noticed
in our family or whatever it is, but it's amazing.

Speaker 8 (26:56):
Well, I've heard two things. One that the young guest,
you know, because they have the two older siblings and
the parents. They're better at like reading people. So it's
like whether they're you know, making jokes to keep the
peace or just like, oh I better, you know, my
brother's got to had a bad day. Either stay at
us away or poke the bear, you know, like you

(27:17):
can do one or the other. I heard this other
I don't know if it's true, but I heard that
all of all the NASA astronauts they've all been first
or only children.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
Oh's like, fuse to me.

Speaker 8 (27:34):
I want to achieve this amazing well you act well.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
I want to get into the movie.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
Most of our listeners will recognize you from Little Giants,
an absolute classic.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Do you remember the audition?

Speaker 8 (28:04):
So it was with Janet Herschinson, who did I think
quite a few of the Spielberg movies at that time
legend and uh so she I don't remember the like
audition and callback. I do remember the the like big call. Yeah, yeah,
I mean it was It wasn't even a screen test.

(28:25):
It was like they got all the kids they liked
from across the country because it was a it was
a nationwide search for the kids. And we went to
Amblin at Universal Studios and first they they like walk
us through the office and then you see, I mean,
they didn't set it up for us, but he's not
poster for Schindler's List winning all these Academy Awards list.

(28:51):
And then they they put us in the theater to wait,
and they're just playing hook just kind of on on
because they're like, it's gonna be a while. And then they,
you know, they they take us like you know, row
by row out and we wait along this this like wall,
and at the end of the line is Steven Spielberg

(29:11):
with I think one of the other executive producers. But
now all the kids are just waiting, and so me
and the kid who played Zoltec Michael's winer, we're just
screwing around because we're just bored, you know, waiting on line.
We know who Steven Spielberg is, it's not it's not like,
you know, who's this old guy we have to talk to.
We know who he is, but we're still kids, and

(29:34):
so I think we were doing like the crane kick
from Karate Kid then and and then we eventually gets
to me and Michael, and Stephen goes, what were you
guys doing over there? You know, what were you guys doing?
And we just tell you know, like, oh, we were
just messing around. We're doing the crane kick from Karate Kid.
And he goes, oh, huh right, And I think you

(29:55):
know that he said that they said this about other
kids movies. They just wanted to see kids being kids.
Ye and if they you know, if it's like everyone's
like polite and sitting there and being comm it's like cool.
And then when they get there they like turn it on,
you know. And I think they just wanted to see
kids who were just gonna mess around. And maybe, you know,
the script was not done. The script went through so
many revisions. I think maybe they also were like, well,

(30:19):
maybe the kids will inspire us to you know, a
little bit we can can put in there and then
get the part actually I just get. I just get
that I have been cast. And then we go to
football camp.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Were you athletic?

Speaker 8 (30:37):
No? So I think that they made a mistake is
that they put us in football camp so that we
learned like how to line up and how to play football.
But I think they forgot that we're supposed to be
bad at football, and so they trained us and so
and so I think they like the said when we
first started filming the too organized. They look like they

(31:02):
know what they're they're doing. They can't. They're supposed to
be a bad team, and so they had to kind
of like just be like, guys, forget whether what we
taught you. Yeah, yeah, uh yeah, And I think so
that yeah, I didn't know what part I got. And
then we're just we're we're at the football camp and
every day, you know, we do we do school and

(31:23):
then we do football camp, and then we read through
the latest revision of the script and they're giving us
each part like one day I'm Zoltech and one day
I'm Timmy, and then you know, they just know they
like these kids. And then at some point it all
kind of settles in to like, okay, here's here are
the people who are going to be what I mean.

(31:43):
They they knew that Seana was going to be ice
Box and uh, Devin Sawah wasn't originally casts as junior,
but he came Uh, he came in after football camp,
so we didn't do football camp with him at all.
We just had heard the original kid. I don't know
the story behind it. I was on the younger side. Joshana,

(32:06):
she knows everything. But they so he wasn't there, and
then Devin came in like after we started filming, so
we had no idea who he was.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Right, she got grown in a little after the Factor.

Speaker 5 (32:17):
Yeah, but it's so smart, Like the way that Spielberg
casts is because I mean his movies always have the
best kid actors, you know, Yeah, if he's involved with
the project, yep. And it's like it's such a skill
because there are so many great directors who cannot cast
good kid actors, Like they might be able to cast
great adults, but they don't do that thing where they're like,
just be a kid, Like it's okay, I just want

(32:39):
to watch you be you.

Speaker 6 (32:40):
And it's so cool to hear that he did that.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yeah, was shooting this movie like being a part of
an amazing summer camp. I mean there are tons of
kids your age. You're hanging out with Rick Moranis and
Ed O'Neill. I'm sure you've talked about this experience ad nauseum,
but we want to hear it all.

Speaker 8 (32:57):
No, It amazing summer camp is kind of the exact
explanation for that, you know, like it was I mean
it was oversummer. Yeah, and uh, but you're all doing
you're all part of this like shared experience. And you know,
the the first part of the film in the town

(33:17):
we filmed in San Luis Obispo in taco A Royal Grande,
and uh, so we're we're all out of towners, you know,
stay in a hotel. Some some kids, you know, like
they're I think somewhere like from Ohio and you know
other other places. Actually they might have been from Ohio
and they're pretending to be in Ohio, but they're in California, yeah,

(33:38):
and and like North Carolina. And so we're all we're
all out of towners now. And so we're all sharing
this hotel. So we're going to the pool and they're
the productions taking us on field trips and uh and
then we know the rest of the time we're filming
and uh and uh, you know it, it's long days.

(34:00):
And the director great guy. I think this might have
been his second film. The first one he did was
Homeward Bound Dwayne Dunham, and he wanted to do lots
of cover. He was originally an editor for Star Wars.
He wanted lots of coverage, oh, lots of takes, lots
of setups and it was just it was. It was dragging.

(34:23):
And it's funny because I was listening to you guys
talked to Maddie about Maddie. Someone was mouthing the lines,
and we would do so many takes that if there
was the shot of the actor, you would see all
the kids back there, all of us the line, and
like every day they would have to come just some
and be like, guys, stop, just keep your mouth shut.

(34:47):
You're all saying the words.

Speaker 4 (34:50):
So if you're shooting during the summer, like the prep,
I can see you had to do school, but by
the time you were shooting, you didn't have to do
school during the summer, right, Yeah, during the summer.

Speaker 8 (34:58):
Yeah, so it was like it overlapped with the end
of school and the and it went long, so it
went over the beginning of the next school year. So like, yeah,
at both ends, yeah, both ends we had to do
some school. But yeah, in the middle, you know, it
was a school less And then sometimes you're just like
I think they would always take us two set, whether

(35:20):
we're working or not, just to kind of like you know,
otherwise you're just staying in your hotel room, right, and
then you know the kids are just gonna go crazy.
So yeah, they would always you know, like bring the set,
you guys, go you can go hang out in the
big trailer, the school room trailer and just hang out.
But they always kind of had something going on.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
That's great.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, what did you do in your downtime? Did you guys?

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Did all of you kids still hang out together and
go eat?

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Like what did you get to do in the downtime?

Speaker 8 (35:48):
You know, it's like the downtime I don't remember. I
remember the date, I remember the working and I remember
being on set, and it was it was the routine,
I think, you know, that's what it was like. You
get the set, you put on your like you had
like two outfits in the whole movie. There's like the
game at the end, so you got the football pads
or the the practicing in which case you have football

(36:09):
pads on, right, So it was like that was the day.
So you get you'd get to set, you'd get in
the van, you'd get to set. You know, you'd go
to your trailer. They're like, okay, get dressed. You'd get
your outfit on and then you know, you joke around
with the kids and then you'd sit in the school
room and wait and then you know, I think the
parents would all hang out. Yeah, parent all hang out

(36:29):
and talk and chat and have a great time with
the kids. You know, we had a great time too,
But but we did, like I said, we went on
field trips. So okay, now the memories are flooding in.
We went to Hurst Castle and took a tour up there,
so the whole all the kids went up there. Yeah,
we took a tour of Hurst Castle and then the

(36:51):
nearby was one of the It was like a go
kart video game, mini.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Golf like golf and stuff like golf and stuff. Kid,
thank you very much.

Speaker 8 (37:01):
We'd go there. We'd go there a lot until I
guess we got kicked out and then got kicked out.

Speaker 6 (37:09):
The kids are too.

Speaker 8 (37:10):
I had heard was that I think some some crew
member might have done something like like like on the
go karts or something. But I'm worried it was us.
Me specifically, me and my late great friend J. P. Stowyer.
We were I was too short to drive it, so
I was in the car with him he could drive it,

(37:32):
and his hat flew off and we both turned We're like, oh,
your hat went away, and then he crashed into like
a Bush like went up onto the like embankment where
everyone was fine, but we're like, oh no, And then
it wasn't that long after that then we weren't stuff.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, oh my god, that's hysterical.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Well, and then you had been on a lot of
TV shows by the time you got to us. You
had been on Our Neighbors, on the Disney Lot, thunder Alley,
Family Matters, Er, and then you stepped foot on our
set first as kid Number one in season four's Janitor Dad.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
Had you watched Boy Meets World at all when you
before you got cast?

Speaker 8 (38:15):
Yes, I mean because you guys were on the TGIF
block or yeah, yeah, so I did watch it. I
I am. I think I'm like anti kid sports because
because we always had practice on Friday nights and I
would have to, like, I would have to VHS record,

(38:37):
but you know, Boy Meets World and Family Matters really,
you know, and then I had to like and then
I get home and I can finally watch it unless
my brother like stopped it because he wanted to watch
something else and you know, be a whole blow up man.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
There were some we had such struggles in the nineties.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
If you weren't home to watch something live, the effort
you had to put into it, and the amount of
things that could go wrong.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
Somebody take this over your VHS.

Speaker 4 (39:01):
That channel, but you're halfway through, like you've recorded something
and you're halfway through, and then it switches to something
else or just fuzzes out and you're like what John, Yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Then there's no way to see it again, like it's gone.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
It's gone forever, It's gone forever. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (39:18):
Couldn't they just have aired like, hey, here's a repeat
on Saturdays.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
Maybe they did, But I even feel like it was
hard to know when the re There wasn't a way
to know when when.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Yep, TV guide there you were.

Speaker 8 (39:31):
Yeah, and then later that scrolling channel, Yes, that was helpful. Yeah,
and then you'd be like, I missed it. I gotta
wait ten minutes.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
So you watched Boy Meets World before you audition? Do
you remember your Boy Meets World audition?

Speaker 3 (39:47):
I don't.

Speaker 9 (39:48):
I you know, you you you know what I was
doing so many auditions that I think as superpower is
like being able to just let it go.

Speaker 8 (40:00):
You know, and you go on enough like you know,
co star parts and guest spots that you never get
and you know, like I just kind of like, all right, yeah,
I'll just you gotta let it go and if you
dwell on it, you know, and then your mom and
then like the debrief after the audition, your mom's like,
what did you do? What? You know? I remember, Yeah,

(40:23):
how did it go?

Speaker 2 (40:23):
What did they say? What did you say?

Speaker 8 (40:25):
What did they say? And ask any question? Did they
ask any questions? Did you ask any questions? And I'm like, what, No,
what am I supposed to ask questions? I had no
questions with a question? Yeah, alert, I have to remember
my lines and a question and so yeah, So I
don't remember it. I remember being I remember remember being

(40:47):
on set. I remember being in the green room because
I I I I rewatched it, and I vividly remember
watching the scene in the trailer where Sean and Corey
and the parents are all there and they're arguing, and
I just remember cracking up so much in the green room,

(41:08):
and I remember the audience loving it and I and
I remember the cast laughing. I think that was one
of those like first times that I remember it being electric,
where like everyone was on and you can't stop enjoying it,
you know that that was one of those gifts where

(41:29):
it's like, oh, this is this is live television. You know,
this is what it's like, Oh this is this is
the theater, you know, where your audience was right there
and they let you know whether they like it or not.
And then was it. I do remember. I think it
was like later being like oh yeah, Sean, like in TV,

(41:52):
in television, Shawn's the first time I remember someone like,
oh they are of a different economic status. You know,
he's he he's got his problems and he's got his
family issues. That doesn't make him, but he's he's the core.
He's not just the one episode the very special of

(42:15):
some show. You know. He was like, oh no that
he his family is not the same as Corey's family, right, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (42:22):
That was a pretty big episode for that actually, Janitor Dad,
that was the one where I think it was Chet's
only chests second or third episode.

Speaker 6 (42:29):
Oh no, I guess season four would have been.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
Yeah, he'd have been there on the show. But yeah,
somebody would.

Speaker 4 (42:35):
Show adults that were in a different economic status, but
never kids.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
You're right.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
I was just trying to think and it doesn't if anything,
it was they would do this the savior model, where
if the kid was poor, then somebody rich would come
in and you know, different strokes or something. But the
idea that he was a poor kid. You're right, Sean
might have been one of the first for a while
that was ever ever really seen him. Trevor really put

(43:00):
that together.

Speaker 8 (43:01):
Like, yeah, the lesson for the main kid for Beaver, like, hey,
don't don't make fun of your friend who doesn't have
the same thing, right, and then we never see that
friend ever.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Again, right exactly.

Speaker 8 (43:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Yeah, Well, so much of kids TV was just entirely
centered around wish fulfillment. How do we how do we
just make kids want to watch this because they want
to envision what it would be like.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
To have this life?

Speaker 1 (43:21):
And so yeah, for Sean, yeah, for Sean to be
a star of the show and for us to see
regularly how his life differed.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Yeah, was really Yeah, I mean it is. I think
he was one of the first.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
It's really special, and you know, we have felt that
impact when people come to life.

Speaker 5 (43:40):
People come up to me and Oftener like I was
the Shawn in my group and they start crying immediately.
You know, it's like it's very much a like I
needed you on TV to understand that there was space
for people like, you know, my family or me.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
It's really touching.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
And then well, just a handful of episodes later, you return.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Now is I'm Stein Kid competing against us in the
quiz show episode which had a lot going on with.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
Blon craz episode.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
We would love.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
To hear your memories from this week since, to be honest,
we did not have a ton of memories.

Speaker 8 (44:14):
So I every time I think about it, like I
was looking, I was looking for the episodes and I
was like, okay, yeah, see I think I I briefly
watched my episode on season four of the first episode,
and I was like okay, and then I must be
on like the next season or something, because I know,
I yeah, I felt like a different kid, like I

(44:37):
was like no one I was obviously I was smaller,
you know, I was smaller, I was littler. And then
I was like yeah, and then when I'm Einstein Kid,
I'm still a kid, but I have to be like older.
And then I look at it was like it's the
same season.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Yeah, just a few episodes later, right, So my.

Speaker 8 (44:58):
In my internally, I'm like, oh okay, I uh I
got bullied so bad. John Adams left so I went
to Einstein and then I get there and I'm once
again foiled, uh by those John Adams guys. No, it
was it was cool. Uh. I feel like I spent

(45:20):
uh in that one. I'm not like sitting next to you,
like I'm not I'm not like you know, I'm not
with you guys. I'm like sitting on a couch, separate
in a different area so like we can I can
see you guys across the way, and uh, I'm with
two uh, the two other people at Einstein Academy. To

(45:41):
me at the time, I was like, this, so we're adults.
Like they didn't they didn't have lines. I was one
of the lines that these two are adults. They were probably
like seventeen eighteen briners.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
The grown ups.

Speaker 8 (45:52):
Yeah. And so I'm hanging out with them, you know,
in between takes or you know, in the green room
while you guys because there's multiple setups on this one
set and you guys are in all of them, and
we just came up for one. I think the it
was like yeah, coming out, you know, we're just so
it was just kind of like a weird shock because
you know, I was like, oh, I'm supposed to be

(46:13):
on a quiz show. I'm like, oh, this is not
how I Oh I imagined it, which I'm sure worked
for the character. But yeah, I mean, you know, they
come out and I'm also like I was like pre
pre pewbascent. So then like the host, I'm like, oh,
she's very pretty, and I'm like, no lines. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
We always wonder when this happens.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
When actors came back, did like anybody say to you, Hey,
so good to see you again. You were just here
a couple of weeks ago. Did you have to audition again?
Did they just offer this one to you?

Speaker 8 (46:50):
Do you remember? I'm sure I had to audition again? Yeah,
I I you remember the I remember the offers. Okay,
but I think you know, and I felt this way
other times, is that your agent doesn't say anything, you know,
like they submit you, and if casting said, yeah, send
them in and they don't remember you, that's fine. Yeah

(47:13):
if they do remember you. If they do remember you
and they still want you, but it's like, don't let them.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
Know that you Yeah.

Speaker 8 (47:21):
Yeah, and so I didn't say anything. Uh uh. You
guys weren't right next to me to be like you
look familiar, but also like I said, I felt like
I was maybe I had a tiny growth spurt, lost
a little bit of weight, you know, to where it
was just different enough. But yeah, and then you know,

(47:45):
I'm done. I think that that might have been that
might have been pre taped. I don't even know if
that was like on the night of That.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
Makes Show, because we couldn't have the audience there because
we were shooting Will your character in the audience like
you and the family were at Wow.

Speaker 6 (48:00):
Yeah, so we use the audience space.

Speaker 8 (48:04):
And then that set went through so many changes. I
think it just wasn't so so I may not. I
may have been there at taping, uh, just to like watch,
but I was not like performing, you know, in front
of people.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Do you remember any interactions with any of us?

Speaker 8 (48:23):
I do, you know. I was younger than you guys,
you know, and so and I was used to being
like post our guest, you know, coming. I was a
day player, so like you guys would hang out with
each other and you know, you said hello and all that,
but it wasn't we weren't yeah, yeah, yeah. And I
don't even think I ever I met Will on uh

(48:46):
any game because.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Yeah, no, because we would never have been working together,
so probably, yeah, we we didn't even cross paths at
that time.

Speaker 3 (48:52):
How old?

Speaker 8 (48:53):
Yeah I am forty I will be forty one in
a month.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Okay, yeah, so you're you're four years younger than me,
and I would the youngest person on set. So season four,
you were like twelve and I was sixteen, so we were.

Speaker 8 (49:05):
Really close, exactly, Like I don't imagine a sixteen year
old being like, hey, let's get this twelve year old
to come, you know, hang out with us. You know, right,
we're gonna say, we're gonna tell dirty jokes, and you know,
around a twelve year old kid, that's funny.

Speaker 2 (49:22):
People get in trouble for that, Yeah, exactly as we should.

Speaker 8 (49:37):
Do.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
People ever come up and recognize you from Boy Meets
World with all.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
The things you've done, does anybody specifically mention Boy Meets
World to you?

Speaker 8 (49:43):
Well? Occasionally someone will be like, I'm on a rewatch
you know that watched it, And then the reason I
heard about that you guys were asking for, you know, like, hey,
you've been on the show coming is my my friends
Ron and Aaron are are avid listeners.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
They're they're they're they're r.

Speaker 8 (50:05):
And they were like they were like, hey, we heard
you should you should email them, and they like gave
me the email address. Yes, yes, you were on an episode, right,
And I said I was on too, and they're like,
definitely for this. Uh but yeah, I mean it's it

(50:29):
feels like such a lifetime ago.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
But you have literally never stopped working. I mean truly.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
We went over some of your credits and your intro
and I know that you joke that you're a former
child actor, current adult actor. How do you think you've
never managed to have like burnout?

Speaker 8 (50:48):
I think I think it's hitting me now almost got kids,
I've got okay, you know, it's well also the industry,
you know, we just had the strikes and COVID and everything,
and uh, you know I never had burnout.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
You know why.

Speaker 8 (51:10):
I never was the series regular, you know, and so
there was lots of time to be a kid in between,
and a lot of time to be, you know, just
a person. You were always auditioning, which has its own
set of stress, like, oh, now I have an audition.
I'm a stress about that. Why haven't I had an audition?

(51:31):
I'm gonna stress about that, But you know it's uh,
I didn't. I didn't have the luxury really of being
a series regular. So I didn't. It wasn't like every day,
come to set, work, here's a new script. You know,
do this, you have these you know, these things you
have to take care of. You know. It was just

(51:51):
me and then I can be a twenty year old
and go drinking and carry Yeah. No, twenty one year
old karaoke every night, and uh so you know that
that has that benefit. But you know, like I think
right now, yeah, like I said, the burnout might be
hitting me now. The February of twenty twenty, I booked

(52:16):
my first series regular for ABC. Yeah, for ABC, did
a did a network test. I cost you you know,
I was cast. They're like, you're gonna be in. You know,
if it goes, you'll be like six out of thirteen episodes.
They built a it was gonna be a Western comedy.
So who it had gone a series? Who knows? But

(52:37):
and you know I got to visit the set and stuff,
and then you know we're gonna fill April.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
And then you know what happened in March of twenty twenty.

Speaker 8 (52:46):
Happens and they just never picked it up. And it's
like and I was my wife was pregnant with our
first I'm like, wow, I got a series regular, You're
gonna have a kid. It's gonna be great. And then
it's like, oh, the world, the world. Yeah, and you know,
and it like that really hits. That hits pretty hard

(53:09):
and uh and then you know, like since then, I've worked,
you know, I commercials have always been my thing, So
I work commercially. I you know, I've done voiceover and
dubbing and so I keep you know, I'm I'm busy. Uh.
But it all it's like you always like, oh that
was I owmote, I saw, I saw the brass ring

(53:31):
right there, and I almost had it. And and I
feel like that's you know, the way that I was
saying that the kid kid actors. As you grow, you
kind of always constantly have to be you have to
be training on the next level because what you had
before will not serve you on the next level. And
I always kind of feel like I would hit these

(53:52):
I would hit these pieces and I'd be like almost there,
like I get a really great you know, you'd get
a great you know, a couple arc episode, an episodic
and you're like, okay, cool, like this maybe this will
lead to something else, and then it it doesn't lead
to something else, and then you're back to the grind.
You're like, cool that this is you know, ye I wasn't.
I'm not delusional, right, So keep going and then you

(54:13):
get something else. You're like, oh, I got a you know,
a mini series and I'm gonna do this. And they're like, oh,
maybe I'll be on next season and you're like, oh, no,
you're not gonna be on next season. And then they're like, ah,
you know, it gets it gets uh frustrating.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Yeah, sure, absolutely, well you did.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
You did ten episodes of one of my favorite shows, Patriot. Yeah,
and I don't think Will and Danielle know this show.

Speaker 6 (54:38):
It is genius.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
It was I think it only lasted two seasons, right, Yeah, yeah,
you guys have to find this. It was like one
of those gems my wife and I stumbled upon for
whatever reason. It was in twenty sixteen, twenty eighteen, Yeah,
and just could not stop laughing.

Speaker 6 (54:55):
And it's brilliant.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
It's like it's an action comedy show about a spy,
like an international spy who's also a folk singer because
he's so traumatized by all.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
The people he's killed. Yes, it's you have to watch it,
will you will love? Who's the patriot? Who plays the patriot?

Speaker 6 (55:11):
I'm blanking on his name. Who was the main guy?

Speaker 8 (55:13):
Michael Dorman Mike, Yeah, but Marks the guy he has
to go under cover. Uh.

Speaker 5 (55:21):
His dad has like trained him since he and his
brother since they were kids, to be killers basically, and
it's just about how that's messed him up. And he
has to go undercover at this company, and so.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
He kills Marcus.

Speaker 5 (55:35):
To be a piping engineer so he can get contracts
in Iran or whatever. But he tries to kill Marcus
to get them and doesn't do the job. So you
play the character. You're still alive and he's working with you,
and you don't remember that he tried to bring you.

Speaker 8 (55:50):
I am a piping engineer And no, no spoilers because
this is literally the first scene of the show. Is
he pushes me in front of a truck. Yes, after
his interview doesn't go great. It doesn't go bad, but
it doesn't go great. But I'm the other guy, and
I'm like, it went great.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
Amazon, It's on Amazon Prime. So I.

Speaker 6 (56:12):
Was working on that show for you.

Speaker 8 (56:14):
That was one of the honestly the one of the
biggest highlights of my entire career. It was such a
great cast, such a great crew, Like it felt like
a family, you know. It was it seemed like everyone
was happy to be there. Whether they were, I don't know,
but it was, you know, I was in. I was
back and forth from Chicago that that year. All I

(56:36):
knew was I was gonna be in three episodes that
I ended up being in nine, and so back and
forth from Chicago in the summer, which everyone's like, oh,
so great, you're here during the summer, and I was like,
what do you talk about I've never been to Chicago,
And they're like, winters are terrible, and then I just
hear about it now. But no, it was it was
so great, the town is great cast. And then I

(56:58):
was I was always excited to read the next script. Yeah,
you know, and and that's you know, it's not like
the show always ends on a cliffhanger, but there it's
the story just has to continue, and so I'm like,
I need to know what happens next. And there's one
episode like in the middle that I wasn't in, and

(57:18):
I was like, you know, emailing all the rest of
the cast, like, can you send me the script? I
want to read the script. But yeah, it was. And
then you know, it's when you filming that like a
second episode, because we did it. Amazon did a thing
where like you did the pilot. I mean it's very
much like networked out. You did the pilot and then
they would kind of like test it and see and

(57:39):
then you do the the rest of the series. And
the first scene I'm doing is after I've been hit
by a truck, but I'm like back at work and
and I have like a I have brain damage, but
I have a nurse with me and Charlotte Arnold and
she was on the Grassy. I didn't I did. I

(58:00):
didn't watch The Grassy. But for those Canadians out there, uh,
she has this. She she was in the first episode.
I don't think she She got a call like a
week before filming the second episode and she got the
screwed the day before. She had like a page and
a half monologue whoa, and she just killed it. Everyone

(58:24):
on set was like that was amazing. And I'm just
sitting there likes to be kind of like nothing's happening,
and I'm just like listening to her and then I
have kurtwood Smith, so so great, so wonderful guy and
so intimidating in his like silence yep. And he just

(58:46):
walks up to me, quietly, towering over me, and and
just was like, so, you know, he just he just
has that look of like he doesn't know how to
read me. And it was just I couldn't help but laugh,
just because it's so it's so surreal that all this

(59:06):
is happening and great time, great so now I have
nothing but great things.

Speaker 6 (59:13):
Good to hear. The show is really wonderful, you guys.

Speaker 5 (59:17):
It's one of those shames that it just to me
it should have won everything and just gone for ten years.

Speaker 6 (59:22):
I thought it was brilliant.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Yes, check it out well Marcus.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
My final question for you is you have been doing
this for thirty eight years, when or can you? Did
you ever when did you imagine you would be still
doing the same thing, still having a career this long lasting,
that you picked your lifelong career at three years old.
If you were ever going to do something else, what

(59:47):
would you do?

Speaker 8 (59:48):
Oh? God, well, I mean I have a fan, my
family has a restaurant.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
There tell us more.

Speaker 8 (59:57):
Well I do I? I do remote work. I do
back office. I used to be, you know, like there
every day through COVID, you know, just trying to keep
everyone alive and you know, going and uh, I mean
there's that option.

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
The rest.

Speaker 8 (01:00:19):
It's called Feast from the East and it's in West
Los Angeles kind of like a mile and a half,
like south of U c l A, like Westwood. We've
been there, they've been there since eighty one. So you know,
we love our customers because they kept us alive through
a recession and a pandemic, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
You know, we it looks really good.

Speaker 8 (01:00:44):
Yeah. The Chinese chicken salad is the main main thing.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
Chicken chicken wings look really Goodeah. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:00:54):
We have had some celebrities come through.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
You're about.

Speaker 8 (01:01:00):
A couple of times. Yeah. Louise Fletcher was a regular.
I didn't realize still later I was like, oh, was
their names? Louise and then I like, you know, I
was swiping her crumbs like Fletcher and I was like,
oh my god. Kind of.

Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
Yeah, Danielle's right, you're about to have another celebrity and
Rider and I come through as well.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
So that's gonna be awesome.

Speaker 8 (01:01:21):
I love it. Our customers will be very happy.

Speaker 6 (01:01:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:01:26):
And then Jack Black has been going there since he
was in like high school. That's cool, and so yeah,
we we we've I'm not like forends with him, but yeah, we've.
Like my mom's like that, isn't that the guy from
High Fidelity? And like at that point that was his
big big thing. I was like, yeah, it's him. Awesome,
you know, Oh that's cool. Cool.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Yeah, well, Marcus, you have had such an incredible career.
Thank you for coming and joining us and spending your
time with us today. It was so nice to catch
up with you and to hear your experiences, and we're
just so appreciative that you came and spent your time
with us.

Speaker 8 (01:02:00):
Yeah, thank you guys so much. It was it was great,
great remembering all these things with you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Yes, and thanks to Ron and Aaron for making an
appen Thank you, Mark, it's.

Speaker 8 (01:02:10):
Great to see you. Bye bye.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
He has I mean, he's never stopped working and like
he said, he's never had a series regular role.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
Which is unbelievable. I know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
I mean talk about like that journeyman actor thing we've
talked about Will where you said that just like it's
so hard for that to exist anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
Yeah, it almost doesn't.

Speaker 4 (01:02:30):
I mean, so the idea that he's still doing it
is he's one of the few because it doesn't exist
anymore that kind of you can make a good living
just being on every show.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
I mean, we've we all saw those people growing up.

Speaker 4 (01:02:43):
We knew those people where it's like, oh, they've been
on everything, but they've never starred in anything, and that
just kind of doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker 6 (01:02:50):
So those movie stars are now doing.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
TV smercials and hosting shows.

Speaker 5 (01:02:55):
Doing the secondary hosting Gabe shows. It's like yeah, it's yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode
of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us
on Instagram pod meets World Show. You can send us
your emails at pod meets World Show at gmail dot com.
And we've got merch.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
I really want to thank uh, my family, my friends
for my youth and fillmore nomination.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
I couldn't have done it without you. It's really amazing.

Speaker 6 (01:03:21):
You give a thank you speech for a nomination.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
That's the This is the best I got right, I'm
playing it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:26):
It actually wins, So this is what I've got.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Mike, Podmetsworldshow dot com writer send us out.

Speaker 6 (01:03:41):
We love You All pod dismissed.

Speaker 5 (01:03:45):
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 editor, TaRaSu Bosch producer, Maddie Moore engineer and
Boy meets World, Superman East and Out.

Speaker 6 (01:04:00):
Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon.

Speaker 5 (01:04:03):
Follow us on Instagram at Podmets World Show or email
us at podmetsworldshowat gmail dot com