Matthew Lawrence Meets World

When you collect enough tickets from playing skeeball at Chuck E. Cheese you can pick any prize you want…and today we got the return of Jack Hunter!
Matthew explains the nerves he had entering an already established and close-knit cast. But how did it affect Will and Rider’s dynamic?
And, OMG…juicy details alert! Danielle and Matthew discuss the secret/not-so secret relationship they had during production!
This episode is the reunion we 100% knew we needed!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I think it's well known by this point that, Um,
I'm not hugely a fan of children. They're wonderful little
little things that can follow you around and a loud
and carry disease, but not at your house. The other
day and I was I came back and I told
Sue the story about ad They're coming out and transforming
into the Hulk. Yeah, but halfway through transforming into the Hulk,

(00:43):
trying to pull up the bottom of his pants and
pull up his sleeves so that it looked like he
was ripping out of his Hulk clothes. But he couldn't
get it, so he broke character in the middle and
You're like, do you need help? He's like, yeah, I
need helps and over paused. He paused the performance. You
wocked over. You tucked up both his little little shorts,
little pants, and then the little sleeves, and he instantly

(01:05):
jumped back in ter and he came back in and
it was one of the cutest things I've seen in
a very long time. I was immediately one of the transition.
And then he was like trying to pull the pants
back down to normal, and he was getting frustrated with that.
You know, I love so funny got his commitment, like
I love. He kept looking at his hands like yeah,
it was like the realization of the transformation is happening,

(01:29):
but the breaking character in the middle to be like
help mommy, and he was perfect. It really was pretty awesome.
So yeah, he's pretty great. He's he's really performative. Whenever
writer talks about Indie and his performative nature, I'm like, yeah,
we have one of those two. Like he's definitely he really,
I mean, and you guys saw him at his worst too.

(01:51):
He woke up from his nap. It wasn't a very
good nap. He's not feeling well. He like hid for
basically what forty five minutes from you guys didn't want
to cry if I left the couch and then went
into the other room, got into a better mood, and
then came out. And you guys just saw him at
one of his best. It's like, it's just so literally
just described an actor. I cried on a couch forty

(02:13):
five minutes. Dad, person, who's going to help me fix
these clothes? I walked away, I got centered, I found myself.
I came back out and I performed just what we're saying. Oh,
my gosh, this is this is hitting very close to home.

(02:37):
Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for sharing that, Will,
because I did. I did worry that at some point
you were going to be like, I don't know, burning
from the inside. Many children anything, it's being around them,
and they're very funny and I get to see moments
like that. It makes me love when I come home
and they're nothing exactly not. I don't mind being around
kids at all. I love kids. I love do we do? Joe,

(02:59):
you are so good with kids too. You sat right
down with Ada and played the drums with them, and heck, yeah,
I love kids. And y'all, we have been quite busy
on some new hurt yes, releasing two new shirts, but
both are only available for a short time at pod
Meats world show dot com. First up, yes, you all
learned recently because of course I've always known this that

(03:20):
I am, in fact, the best grandpa ever. And with
my new T shirt you can now spread the word. Yes,
that is right. We have a shirt that looks exactly
like mine. However, this one reads Will is the best
Grandpa ever and it is available now. You know you
want to go out there and give me some praise
because even though I have no children, thankfully we all
know I am, in fact the best grandpa ever. Uh.

(03:41):
And lastly, Danielle's morbid moment from last week, where she
basically admitted she fantasizes about the sweet, sweet sleep of
death now has a shirt, yes, a vintage to Panga,
aera photo of Danielle on a blue shirt, and it's
innocently accompanied by her exact quote, imagine with the deep
sleep of death feel like wow, so to Panga, and

(04:02):
of course our logos on the back. They are available
now only through Black Friday, So don't wait, go help
me actually win the award for best grandpa ever. And
of course let people know that Danielle is having some
serious issues but that can all probably be solved with
just a decent night's sleep. So go out and pick
up these if you know you know shirts at pod

(04:22):
Meats World Show dot com. But until then, get off
my lawn. Yeah, still trying to work on the grandpa thing. Writer.
Speaking of that, do you like somewhat play the drums? Yeah?
Don't you remember he used to play back in the day.
I remember you had a drum while Yeah you didn't
know that, do you remember don't you remember the shoot

(04:44):
we did that one time where we all had to
be a band. Now do you don't remember? Oh? Yes,
so there's there's got it's got to be out there
somewhere because it was either an ABC promo or T
G I F promo or something. But they brought us
to a place and we were all a band and
I started on the drums. Danielle, you were playing guitar

(05:05):
or singing? Writer? You were on guitar. Ben was doing
just lip syncing. What was the deal? I just remember
if there was vaguely familiar. I mean I feel like
I had been in a situation multiple times where it
was like, yeah, just be a rock band and do that,
and you were doing video? Yeah what was that? And
then in the meantime and like in between one of

(05:25):
the takes, you jumped on the drums and actually played
something and everyone was like, oh, like you can actually
play the drums. I have a vague memory of you
having a drum set. Now that we say that, did
it have like silencers on it, like pads on pads,
pants on it? Yeah? Remember my house and Encino when
you stick there, there was like a play room like that.
It was like off. The garage was like just a
room for the couches to hang out, and I had

(05:47):
my drum kid in there, and I took lessons from
a really great teacher. Um. Yeah, there was a there
was a lighting designer on our show called named Darryl Pelagius.
Remember remember dar Daryl was right, and I became really
good friends with him. And Darrow was really big in
the music scene because he did he lit um a
lot of musicians. He had done Frank Zappa's shows, and

(06:08):
he had been Tom Waite's lighting designer, and so he
introduced me Tom Waits, which like changed my life when
I came up. Yeah, and Darryl like he was the
first person to like talk to me about music and
like when he found out that I was interested in
music and the drums, he like immediately did research found
like three amazing drummers who like usually didn't teach classes,
and was like, all three of these guys are good,
and like cooked me up with this amazing drum teacher.
I just didn't stick with it. It's such such a bummer.

(06:30):
It's like I once took guitar lessons and it hurt
my fingers. I did that with the bass. I wasn't
good the first day, so I quit the same Yeah,
I wasn't very good and it hurt, and I was
like not going to commit to this, I know. So
what I remember what what what's crazy to me to
think about, is that I started taking drum lessons while
we were on Boy meat The World that what fourteen

(06:52):
fifteen or whatever, and I remember thinking it's too late.
I'm never gonna like, I'm never going to be a musician,
Like in retrospect, like that's when you really learn how
to be a musician. Is like your you're a teenager,
and like even you have some musical background or even
starting fresh at that point, you can still become a
great musician. But because of our success at Boy Meat's World,

(07:14):
I think I was already in the mindset like I'm
too old to like start a new career or like
do something new, which is the career already, it's already
a career. Ties I finally realized like, oh I can
start something to do and do it. But it's I
think it's something that happens when you're a child actor.
Is like you kind of think like, oh, well, I
have to be great at it. Right out of the gate,

(07:35):
and it has to happen really early, and if I
don't reach, you know, incredibly high success, then I must
be bad fail. And it's like, no, you could be
good at something, wait until your thirties to finally succeeded it.
But in that like, no one you could have explained
that to me at the time. I was like, so
that's why I probably gave up the drums, because I
was just like, well, I could see other people being
better at my age, and I was like, it's too

(07:56):
late for me to learn this now. Did I have
regular mut music growing up? In school? Like, we all
had to pick an instrument, So I played the trumpet
in the fourth and fifth grade and then I moved
to like the drum. Did you have regular music classes
like we did. No, I took piano. My mom signed
me up for piano, but then I got into acting,
and once I took over acting, I just didn't have time.
But not in school. You didn't do band or choir,

(08:17):
any of that kind of stuff in school. Excited I
was out of regular school by fourth grade, fifth grade,
which is like when you start really doing I guess
Indians already started a little music stuff at his school.
But I think that's unique. Usually sixth grade you had
to pick, you know, you had to pick an instrument,
and then you got into the band and then its
first chair, second chairs. Smart to get to open kids
up to like all the different instruments and be like,

(08:39):
which one do you want to try? And you know
you don't have to commit forever, but see if any
of these speak to you. I have shout out to Connecticut,
California kids. Yeah, that's play Connecticut instruments exactly. You carved
them out of one piece of the cello. I'm watching
alone right now, and it's basically just like watching my

(09:00):
col in Cannadica. Welcome to Pond meets World. I'm Daniel Fishal,
I'm Rider Strong, and I'm Wilfred Doe. Our guest today
is a very beloved member of Boy Meets World. Uh.

(09:24):
His name is Matthew Lawrence. He played Jack Hunter for
sixty nine episodes of Boy Meets World. He was Shawn's
half brother and Eric's college roommate, and his first appearance
was in season five, episode one called Brothers. Let's welcome
Matthew Lawrence to the pod. Matt are you there? I'm here.

(09:46):
Can you hear me? We can, we can hear you. Wow,
look at how beautiful the trees are behind you. Oh thanks, Yeah,
I've been doing a lot of gardening lately. Wow, it's pretty.
I'd love to take you around. I don't know if
i'd lose internet, but I got like bananas and papaya's
and all sorts of stub growing out there this year.
Where do you live? Are you in Brazil? You all oaks? Okay,

(10:10):
the Brazil of the valley, Priscilla, the valley. It looks
like you're on a set. I'm waiting for pick up.
Pick up the back and just move it, move it
around like it's gonna walk out. All the all the
green behind you is just gonna leave instantly. Wait, I
have another question for you. Looking at the at the

(10:33):
bananas and all of this gardening you've been doing, how
much of this is because you have? How many iguanas? Oh? Yeah,
it's true, Um I have. Well, the twelve babies have
now become huge sow. I got twelve huge green iguanas.
I got two Cuban iguanas, and uh a bunch of

(10:53):
other things too. Guys, I got a little zood here
right now do they get along or do you have
to keep them separate? Separate, separate males. You can keep
males together. Okay, So how out of the twelve, how
many of them are males? Well, there's there's uh four,
four males, and so those four have like their own habitats, cages, terrariums, greenhouses,

(11:19):
the whole greenhouse. Do you have four greenhouses? Yeah? Yeah,
buil Bill, four or four of them. Again, I'd love
to take you, show you around. You have way more
lizards than me. I think I wear more lizards than
a lot of people. Like, do you sell them or
are they so a lot of them are? I'm working

(11:41):
with a lot of endangered species, so I don't really
sell them. I keep them as a part of a
genetic cool uh in case wild populations go down. We
share animals and share genetics and things like that. She wow,
that's so cool. I remember now, you haven't always been
into Iguana's right, Like, No, it wasn't like a childhood love.
It's something you kind of grew into later in life,

(12:02):
right like a teenager. No, it started actually I was
trying to I was telling the story to somebody the
other day. Um, it started I was in Um. I
was on the east coast, east southeast coast, and uh,
I saw some little green and nolies those a little
green little lizards you run anyway. Um And I remember

(12:23):
we took a family trip there when I was like
abound six or seven, and uh, I put them in
I caught a male and a female and I put
them in my pocket, took him on the airplane, brought
him back some years loss cross. So my parents didn't know,
nobody knew. Security didn't know they were gonna check. Like

(12:45):
a six year old back in you know, eighties, you
were muling. You were musling eighties. A great, a six
year old iguana mule. That's that's the the news of
the day. Great, yeah, man, Yeah, I'd like to go
home shopping with you. So where okay, great, there's one bedroom,

(13:07):
that's fine. Where am I going to put nine greenhouses?
Can you show me that that property? Please? Yeah? Yeah,
it's it's always been an issue. It's always been an issue.
But yeah, you know, I'll say it, guys. If I
didn't have them, I don't know. I uh, they pretty
much saved my life a couple of times, many times,
you know, going out there It's like the best decompression

(13:30):
I've ever It makes me happy. I get that, like
it's weird. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to
force this on anybody else, but I get that, Like
you know that like feeling you get when you see
like puppies or babies or kids. That's the feeling I
get when I see reptiles amphibians. I can't explain. No, Hey,
if it works for you. When you said they've saved
your life a couple of times, you're talking spiritually, right,
because in my head, an army of iguana is coming

(13:52):
to save you from something. It's pretty like the coolest
he was joking. And the iguanas. You know, you're you're
in the middle of a bank, somebody comes in and
rob as. All of a sudden, all these iguanas coming,
Like that's where my head goes, Yes, Matt, iguana army.
So cool. Okay, So Matt, we want to start our

(14:14):
our interview with you the same way we ask a
lot of the same question we ask a lot of
child actors. We know you come from a family of actors,
but when exactly did you start acting? How old were
you did you happen to be ten. No, it wasna.
He's been working by that point, you know how. You know,

(14:35):
it was a different situation for me a little bit
because my older brother started Joe, yeah, like and he started,
so we It's weird how we got into acting because
we actually started out as a musical family. We were singing,
dancing and tapping piano lessons. That's what we're doing. We're
going into Manhattan, you know, doing all that kind of stuff.
And then we were at this place called the will

(14:56):
Grove mall uh and Joe was like maybe five or
six and I was probably two or three. And this
photographer came out of the little store. Why don't even remember,
guys when your kids there was like a little photography
miss yeah, there you go. Okay, so this this lady
comes out on there. I have vague memories of it,

(15:17):
and grabbed my mom's please take a picture of Joe
my older brother. Her name was Cathy Ireland. Yea, yes,
Well that picture got Joe a commercial, which got him
on the Tonight Show. And then from there it just
went and every time Joe did something, if they needed

(15:37):
a flashback or if they needed a baby, it was
me because I looked just enough like them, so and
then and then I got my own I started my
own career at three with Dynasty Baby on Dynasty. Gosh,
I forgot you were the baby on Dynasty Baby on
Dynasty jeez. So yeah, yeah, it just it just started

(15:58):
that way, you know. So yeah, it's it's a it's
weird as you know, guys, it's a weird it's a
weird upbringing. It's an interesting road. You know. You have
to kind of get every you don't get your your childhood,
so you've got to kind of get it in at
all different times in your life. So it's all strange
and all over the place. But I don't know how
you guys feel. I feel like I got it in.
I just got it in a very different way. You know.
You're also in a different category than the rest of us, though.

(16:20):
It's like by the time you knew you were a person,
for lack of a better term, I mean, what you're
seven eight years old when you kind of wake up
and go like, oh, I'm a human, You've already been
in the business for five years. I mean it's uh now,
I mean, is that something that when you look back
on your career in the way you started. Is that
something that you were happy with or something that if

(16:41):
you if you kind of look back, and you know,
I'm not sure if I could do that over again,
or I was able to take myself out of the industry,
I would have. You know, that's a that's a tough question. Uh.
You know, I try not to have regrets. I try
not to look back because every time I do, it's like,
you got some problems? Yeah, what's the point? Yeah? And
I feel like I I've been so blessed and given
so many experiences from it. I mean, who knows, I

(17:04):
who knows who every would have gotten out of Philly.
You know, I don't know the world experiences and things
that I've been open to. Uh, and I've learned I
would have gotten a chance to experience. So you know, yes,
there's there's there's something, there's bad, and there's a lot
of good, you know, with everything. So it's just a
very unique I don't know, I just looked at it
as a very unique, unique upbringing basically. I mean, I'll

(17:26):
tell you what though. The one great positive was that
it really me and my two brothers. You know, we
had that kind of bubble and that installation. So without them,
I don't know. I don't know, man, I I really
don't know. I don't know what I would have gotten
caught up into. I don't know where I'd be. I
probably wouldn't still have been in the business, you know,
because at different times in our lives we've taken up

(17:48):
the slack with like, you know, let's let's stay strong,
let's keep going forward. You know. Um. I did take
myself out for the last, um the first couple of
years when I got here, because I just want to
go to school. I just I was in kind of
the new school, and I came here as a whole
new experience with the kids and everything, coming from like
a Quaker school and like rural Pennsylvania. The kids here

(18:10):
were so different. You know that. That was eleven or
twelve after actually went after I did uh this one film,
I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna do a couple
of years of school because these kids, like I just
couldn't make any friends, you know. Um. And so you
know that also kind of reinstilled the animal thing too,
you know, the animals became you know, my friends. So

(18:32):
you know, it's strange, guys, you know, kids look at you.
It's kind of like when you go to school, your
Mickey Mouse, it's hard to make real connections. When kids
go home and they see on TV maybe their parents
are talking about you. It's like, yeah, we had we
had Christine Lincoln on and she was talking a lot
about how Christine and Stacy Keenan both talked about it
that like being famous at school was like a liability,

(18:54):
Like it was huge. You didn't want to be. You
didn't want to be at all, and you and you
wanted to talk with people and engage with people all
so that they knew that you thought and knew that
you were normal, and yet they wanted to ask questions,
so you wanted to answer those questions so you didn't
seem like you were avoiding anything. But then the other
side of that is, oh my god, all she does
is talk about, you know, her acting career. And so

(19:14):
it is a very fine line to walk between wanting
to answer your questions and wanting to be your friend
and not wanting to seem standoffish. And there is it's
it's a lot of it's a lot of pressure, and
especially at eleven or twelve and having just moved from
Philly where you literally don't know anybody. That's a really
hard adjustment. Well, as much as everybody wants to be popular,

(19:34):
no eleven or twelve year old wants everybody staring at
them in school. No, you don't want that. It's so Yeah,
anything that makes you different is bad. I've always said
when you're a kid, which is even if it's a
great thing, I know it is, you know. You know
what's funny is that you you see that too. Like
the kids that are different, they tend to get bullied
in school, but then later on in life they tend

(19:55):
to go and change the world kind of thing. You know.
It's like, it's like because I think had that solitude
where they had to like really go inside themselves at
a young age and figure things out. It's a lot,
you know, it's it's not it's it's a lot to
go through. But before we jump into your time on
Boy Meets World, what was your favorite project or character

(20:15):
a role you did before Boy Meets World? What were
you most proud of before you got to Boy Meets World.
That one would have to be missing outfire. Yeah, let's
talk about it. Such a monumental um experience, not because
the film was necessarily a hit or anything like that.
It's just the people involved, I mean, and the timing

(20:36):
in my life too, because I love Iguana's basically, you know,
I I love dinosaurs, like dinosaur sheets and all this stuff.
And the cinematographer and the crew had just come off
a Jurassic Park and I have known, yeah, I'd known
about this, and of course because we had such an amazing,
amazing cast and crew, you know, Steven Spielberg would come

(20:58):
down and he talked to me about your asked Park
and they that I got to go to the premiere
with them, and like that Actually was really stuck in
my head because I didn't even know what I was
getting into, and I just I think I was on
my feet for most of the time in the theater
when I'm moving planned. I couldn't even stay in my seat.
It was the greatest experience. And then of course Sally Field,

(21:20):
Robin Williams, a Peris Bros. And I mean they were
all looking back, they were all so incredible. I mean,
Robin never he never treated me like the little kid
I was. I was an equal, I was another human being,
you know. Um. Yeah, he stayed in my life for
you know after that film man, they all did Sally.

(21:44):
It's one of those once once in a lifetime I
think experiences. Um, yeah, that one would be the one
that's incredible. Man, That's exactly what I wanted to hear too.
You know, sometimes you ask people about their favorite experience
and it's and and then you're worried, like, oh gosh,
what if there's a bad story. I don't want to here.
And then you hear something like that and you're like,
that's exactly what you want to hear. From being on
the set of Mrs Dowfire, you know, that one was

(22:06):
a dream. Guys, that was a real dream. So how
did you hear about the role of Jack Hunter on
Boy Meets World? And did you have to audition? Okay? So, um,

(22:29):
this is how it came down. I was doing a
show with my brothers called Brotherly Love. We got caught up.
We were doing reasonably well, but we got caught up
in a weird uh sale between We got grouped into
a sale of like three or four shows from one
network to another, and we didn't really like that, And

(22:49):
then we didn't like where we were placed. So the
relationship between our show and the New Network did not
go very well, and so it we kind of pulled
the plaw U. And right after that, I think Michael Jacobs,
the uh, you know, the creator of Boy Mean Squirrel,
I think he realized that our show was being pulled

(23:10):
and that I was kind of a you know, yeah,
so I think he I think he called my mom,
like directly, because I remember this was in that period
to where I was like, you know, I might take
another break. I might just go I might want to
finished the last couple of years of high school. You know,
I really wanted to play basketball really bad, and I

(23:32):
was like, I might just do that. Uh. And then
my mom was like, look, you gotta go and sit
down with me and Michael for lunch. And I was like,
I don't know, I don't know, I really want to
play basketball, and she was like, please give it. You can?
I also can? I ask and explained everybody, your mom
is actually also your manager, right, yes, okay, at the
time he was my my my manager. Yes, So him

(23:54):
calling your mom wasn't just like you're gonna call and
then your mom telling you to go have lunch wasn't
just like a mom thing. She was working. That's true.
That is true. She was working, she was working as
my manager. Yes, so so he called her. So we
went to lunch and uh man, he wouldn't let me
say no. He just he just like he just worked

(24:15):
you until you said yes. I kept I kept playing
Devil's advocate, throwing things down, and he just he was Matt.
You know, he talks like made no, not Maddie I
walked out or going, I guess I'm doing that. I
guess I got railroaded into a TV show. Say what
you want about Michael Jacobs, but he certainly does not
take no for an answer, So you know what, I'm

(24:39):
glad that he did that, though, guys, because again, you know,
second up there probably behind you know, miss Steffires working
with you all, and that experience that was that was
that was pretty awesome. So I'm really glad. I want
to know two things. One, it was part of his
negotiation with you that you could play basketball with the
Home Improvement Boys. Never came up. Real missed opportunity, real

(25:07):
real missed opportunity. I have a question, So, Danielle writer,
I have a question for you, because I know my answer.
Did you did any of you know that Matt was
coming on the show before we kind of started, because
I didn't know anything about it and we just got
there and it's like and Matt Lawrences on the show.
It's like, oh, yeah, no, I don't think I knew either, wow,

(25:27):
And they yeah, And it was it was like like
I think table read day, like literally it was season
and it was like, oh, you have a brother, And
I was like, didn't I already have because We've already
done an episode with like Eddie or whatever, right, And
so I was like, oh, I've got another half brother. Okay, cool. Yeah.
I think it was a total I think it was

(25:48):
a total last minute decision, because you know, because I
think they really Yeah. I mean, I don't know what
was going on with your other show, Matt, but I
bet you it was probably within like weeks, you know
what I mean, Like you, I bet you, Michael found
out you were free, grabbed you, and then like completely
wrote you into the show, like yeah, because we'll think
about it, man, Because think about it. You and I

(26:09):
barely ever worked together even though we were brothers, do
you know what I mean? Like they very quickly, they
very quickly realized that the better dynamic was you and Will,
like because you and me would be we were two
straight men, you know, we were like neither one of
us were going to be like the goofy, funny guy.
We needed somebody to be bounced, and so it just
didn't work. Even though so they had established a whole
storyline with us as brothers. It was like besides Chet dying,

(26:32):
where we got to work together and be dramatic like
like that was it? Like we never saw it. It
was the odd couple if both of them were Felix
and it's like that doesn't that doesn't work. I think
I think they just I think Michael was just like, oh,
let's plug him Will, make him Shawn's brother. That kind
of makes sense. And then they quickly realized like, no,
this dynamic isn't as good as like you and Will.
You know obviously it just I just Devil's advocate. I

(26:56):
wouldn't be surprised if the pairing with Will was always intended, like, man,
we really had a missed opportunity of having two older
brothers that could then live together, because then once it
got to a place where Will was living on his own,
it was like what if writer has an older brother
that's in Will's age? And then they can be partners
the same way Corey and Shaun are partners. That makes sense,

(27:16):
that's maybe, But I just feel like it never, like
literally never even got referenced that we were brothers after
a certain yeah you yes, it's like occasionally yeah, like
but when the chat episodes like that was basically it
and like, but then otherwise, like when we're in college
and we're talking about moving to New York, we're talking
all the things that like come up, it's never like

(27:36):
reference that we're brothers. It's so far it's such a
just a forgotten thing. Um, okay, so we didn't know
you were coming on the show, That's what it came down. Yeah,
you came in in season five, and similarly to the
way we talked about having moved from Pennsylvania at eleven
or twelve, starting a new school, not knowing anybody, how
intimidating that can be. What did you were you feeling

(27:59):
very similarly coming into a well established show in season five?
Where were you nervous? What were your thoughts? What were
your first impressions of us? Tell us your your first experiences? Um, well,
a lot of it makes sense now knowing that you
guys had no prep on me being there, which is crazy,
but I mean I felt a bit awkward. Uh, definitely. Um,

(28:20):
I was definitely nervous. Yeah, coming in. I mean, you know,
you know, when you guys get into a flow of things,
it's like it's like you're in a chief state. And
then I'm coming in. You know, it was ross. It
was really ross. You know. I remember the first run through.
I mean, you know, I think there was like hundred
and thirty notes and hundred twenty seven of them on mine.

(28:44):
I know that feeling I'll never forget, like walking out
of there feeling just I was humilan. I was. I
felt humiliated. I felt like, wow, I really I came
on here and I really blew it, Like I I
didn't maybe enough homework, I didn't watch episode I was,
I was. I was really upset with my performance. Um.

(29:05):
But then I started to realize that, you know, look,
there's no way it's gonna take me at least to
at least a month to even get close to where
you guys were. So I was like, all right, let's
just give it, you know, give it a few more,
give it a few more, and then somewhere around like
the fourth or fifth episode, I feel like I started
to finally find my feet with you guys. But no,

(29:25):
I mean, you guys were great, now that I understand, Like,
of course this would have been a little awkward for
you guys as well, Like I'm sure they're all like,
what is this new dynamic? So I but there was
no there was no ill will at all. I mean,
you guys were all, you know, very welcoming and you know,
all very nice. There was never anything like that. It
was just a little bit awkward. I feel like I

(29:46):
was like, yeah, like the new kid at school, you know,
same thing. You and I got really well right off
the bat because we were like thrown together. So true. Well,
I also think will like you really wanted to be there,
Like I feel like this was this was the error
when I was sort of like I want to get
off the stupid TV show making movies and you know,
like because that would have been fifth season, right, It's

(30:08):
like I feel like that would have been like right
when I was turning sixteen, I was definitely like I'm
better than this or I'm cooler than this show, or
I want to do I just wanted to be somewhere different.
I just felt stuck. You know, I felt trapped, which
is you know, I think just the plight of being
a teenager in a situation that's felt out of my control,
you know, like I couldn't. I couldn't. I felt like
I wanted to I couldn't live my real life. And

(30:29):
I don't even know what that would have been, sure,
you know, like definitely that was the error when I
was like I feel I felt trapped um and wanted
to be off the show. Well, you also met you again,
if memory serves you, you all met and worked with
Matt before I did because I had to go to
Disney put me on another movie. So I was shooting

(30:50):
my date with the President's daughter, and I missed the
first two episodes of the show, and then I came
back and reshot the stuff with me. At had worked
with him already for two weeks, and then I came
in and it was like, he's going to be your roommate.
Here you go your friends again. And then we were
just shooting random scenes out of order for episodes that

(31:11):
had already been shot. So it was even doubly kind
of weird. No wonder you didn't feel like you were
in a good flow it was. It was it was
a brand new director that season. For whatever reason, that
was the season that Alan Meyers, and we had never
had him before, so it was like it was like
it was it was for whatever reason. Fifth season was
a complete shake up of our show. And I think

(31:32):
like whenever when we started, we were all kind of off,
like it didn't feel it did not feel like the
comfortable same environment it had been up until that point. Yeah,
which is which are strange. But then they you know,
they threw us together and that dynamic obviously worked because
after that first year. Was it after that first season
that we did h double Hockey Sticks? Yeah? Yeah, So
I mean they were instantly like, oh, you're now you're

(31:53):
a comedy team. You're going to go do a movie together.
It was okay, And the next thing, you know, where
you and I are looking at each other like, oh,
we're in vanco Her now okay. So it was weird
that that's what Disney like, did you do more than
one movie? Did you do two movies? We just did
the one? Okay, yeah, we just did. But but it
was that thing where that's what Disney did is they
always tried to pair people up or see this is

(32:16):
this dynamic is gonna work? Or they did it with
musical acts, or it's like Nobody's Angels a perfect example
where that was obviously some band that was trying to
Disney was trying to launch, so it was like, we're
gonna put you on a show, um, and then you
find them at a truck stuff. So yeah, very strange
all the way around. I for one, just remember thinking
it was very exciting to have a new really cute

(32:38):
guy on set. Daniel was with the rest of us.
Someone else have a crush on. Yeah, it's finally crush on. Right.
That wasn't gonna you know, Eric was too old, but fine,
let's open up the teen magazine and yes, open up

(32:59):
a bop and throw a dart. One of them goes
to be on our show. Yes, And then my mom
and your mom became really good friends. And then I'm
not trying to embarrass you, but I mentioned it on
a previous episode that you and I then did end
up dating while we were on Boy Meat's World and
I went to your prom with you. That was amazing.

(33:21):
Thank you. It wasn't a charity, thank you, Yeah, it was.
It was make a wish. It was make a wish
from a wish Lawrence Man. So I don't want to

(33:45):
delve too much into it, but you both kept it
kind of a known secret. I mean, it was a secret.
We kind of figured something was going on, but it
was pretty much you You kept it under wrapped. When
exactly did you guys kind of start dating. Was it
that first year? Was it the second year? That's a
good question. It was the second year, I think, yeah,

(34:06):
I think it was season six, but maybe it was
season five. I have a terrible memory, infamously terrible memory.
If Matt, if I think, I had no clue, I
think it was the second It had to have been
the second season. Yeah, I think it had to have
been season six, because because I know that there was

(34:26):
a period of time before here. This is here's how
I'm rationalizing it. There was a period of time before
we started dating where we were just friends and our
moms were friends and we hung out, but there was
always like a little bit of like do we do
we like each other? But also this is work, it
feels weird, like maybe it's inappropriate. And then season six,
so I think between season five and season six, that
summer we started spending more time together, and then that's

(34:49):
when we started dating. So when season six started, we
were dating already, which is probably why you never really
officially knew writer and it was it was a conscious decision. No,
I don't think so we were really good at hiding
it now. But I think I was also at that
point going to call it. Like I started going to
sixth season, I would have started going to college, so

(35:11):
I was. I was never on set before noon. Remember
they worked out my schedule, so I was only there
from like twelve, so I was kind of checked out.
I mean, like, we had a good time with you guys,
but I did not, like I was not as enmeshed
in the atmosphere of the show for this last two years.
Matt slipped and told me one day, really, yeah, one day,
like you were just you said something were It's like no,

(35:32):
and then we're just but you know, with hanging out
with Danielle, and I was like, wait, what like nothing, nothing, no,
one don't look over here. We weren't trying, like Will said,
it was a known secret. We weren't trying to hide
it from anybody. But we also didn't want to be unprofessional.
It was very important to both of us that we
were professional. And we also recognized that just because we're

(35:52):
dating now doesn't mean we're dating forever. And we have
to work together, and we don't know how long this
is going to go on, either the show or the relationship,
and so let's just to at least make a promise
to each other that no matter what happens when with
our relationship, we will always be able to work professionally
with each other and remain friends. And so it was
it was a conscious decision. But I spent a lot
of time with your family over the course of the season.
I got to know your family so well. They always

(36:14):
have such a special spot in my heart. And then,
like you know, Andrew is now a grown man, a director,
he's like and yet he was little Andy like when
I you know, back then he was a little boy's Yeah,
it's it's it's yeah. It's very touching. Actually I remember
that the wild stuff is coming back talking to you guys. Wow,

(36:38):
period in my life and in our lives. Yeah, all right,
So I have to ask, did you because you alluded
to it a little bit, but did you watch Boy
before you were on it? Good question. I always get this,
you know, I was not really, I wasn't a television
watch I the stuff I like the PBS, all the
nature dogs, you know, um, Wild America, stuff like that.

(37:02):
But I was like, I don't know, I wasn't a
TV watcher. Yeah, but you knew of it. You knew
of the show. Of course I knew of it. I
mean I knew of you guys. I'd seen pictures, I've
heard about you. It was I mean, we were in
the same you know. It was like the same circle
in a way. Yeah, we must have met before that, right, Matt.
I mean we must have met at something. I'm sure something.
I definitely met Joey. It's something. But yeah, I feel

(37:24):
like we all did. You guys have been to the
set before. In my mind with Will dating JENNAVANOI we
must have that there, right, Yeah, you know the first
place I met your older brother randomly bumping into him.
He was an actor, I was, I had not yet
made it. I randomly bumped into him in the bathroom
at ed Bevis when we were when we were thirteen

(37:49):
years old. Now, for everyone listening, Ed Bevis is arguably
the greatest restaurant in the history of the world. Talked
about on the show and actually people emailed us that
there's still vis in like Chicago or something, you know anymore.
But yeah, some some people let us know that in
some city I think it is Chicago, there still isn't
please invite us to your races. Please, we have to

(38:10):
do a Chubbies pop up at so edibevics if we
if we did talk about it was like a fifties
diner where the the waiters and waitresses were obviously actors
and they would get into their characters and you you'd like,
look what they'd serve you, and then you'd look away
and you look back and they'd be sitting at your
table eating your fries. They jump up on the table
and start dancing. It was the coolest and so l

(38:33):
A and a kid from Connecticut just gott I'll take
care of it myself, just getting off the sleigh and
putting the horse away. Um. Going to EDIBVS was the
coolest thing. And the second time I was there and
when I mean literally bumped into I literally and I
was like, oh, that was Joey Lawrence and he was like, hey,
how are you doing? And he was very nice, was
like hey, how are you? And then he walked out
and I was like, oh, that's Joy Lawrence. He's like

(38:54):
one of the first famous people that I met. I
was probably twelve or thirteen. And to think that then
we were all in each other there's lives not too
many years later, it was so strange. When was the
last time or have you ever watched any episodes of
Boy Meat's World since it rapped? The last time I
think was with you guys. We did a sort of

(39:14):
preview thing once. Um times. Yeah, that was you know,
and I mean and and rightfully so, I mean, man,
that one was so much fun with you guys. I mean,
I'm surprised that was only a week. It feels like
that like the whole season, the whole season of our lives,

(39:35):
just that one episode that was a huge bonding episode.
I thought that that one for all of us. Definitely, Yeah,
for sure. And so did you watch them when they
were on, like while you were on Boy Meat's World?
Were you watching them on Friday nights? Or or did
you just not see it at all? No? No? So okay,
So here's what happened. There was one phase in my

(39:58):
life where I decided to experience the party life, and uh,
it was this is how I became close with Ben.
Ben and I on Friday nights would always go to
this same place and hang out, so we would miss
the show everybody. But that's how we got close. It's

(40:21):
like you go out and you know, it was like
seventh season. This is at the end of the end
of the Yeah, we were going out and like on
Friday nights every that was like the night that we
chose to go out. I don't know why. So I
missed a lot of them, the earlier ones. Yeah, I
was definitely watching them because I guess I was trying
to get better. I was really trying to improve a lot.

(40:42):
So but that was a really interesting phase though, because
I had to stop doing that. I started to get
really in my head way way too much. I was
watching it too, I was trying to I was trying
to do too much. And then I think there was
an episode where I had like a really really bad parents.
I think I finally got it on shown Knight, but

(41:02):
I don't remember why. I'm early on and it was
like episode three or four maybe, but it was really
really rough for me, and it was because I was
watching and watching and I stopped them stop. I've never
really been. It always ruins it. When I'm in it
the scenes with you guys, great, I can watch them.

(41:23):
As soon as I come into frame, I was like,
oh I can't, I can't. That's how a writer is too. Yeah. Yeah,
earlier episodes doesn't bother me that much. But I know
as we get into the later episodes, when I started
looking more like I do now, I'm going to be
way more insecure and like, oh god, oh god, so awkward. Yeah. Yeah,

(41:43):
I think we're all kind of similar that we it's
not the most pleasant experience to watch ourselves. But you're right,
watching these younger episodes where we're little kids and you're
a little kid, it's just like, so cute little kids.
But then you get to be like an older teenager
and you're like, oh gosh, I can bring myself back
there right now. The reason I don't like watching it, though,

(42:04):
I bet you, is a completely different reason than you
don't like watching it. Yeah, well, you probably are reminded
of anxiety when no, no, no no. For me, it's
that I'm such a television fan and fanatic that the
second I come on screen, it takes me out of
the fantasy because it's like, oh, Yeah, so that's I'm
not I'm no longer immersed in this play because that's me.

(42:25):
It's never like I'm uncomfortable with it. I mean, I
know my work, I know what I've done. It's more just, oh,
now it's just a real thing, that's work. So it
kind of takes me out of the fantasy more than
anything else. Yeah, for me, it's more like, oh, I
don't like my face when I do when I do that, Oh,
so don't do that next time, or like, oh, that's
not a good angle for me, don't stand like that,
or you know, like what what was I doing with

(42:47):
my hands? Why are my hands doing that? And so
then the next time you're on stage, you start thinking
about the things you had seen the last time you
watched it, and now you're like, my hands were that
weird thing. Let's do something new with the hands. And
then you're you're no longer thinking about what you're saying,
You're not listening to the person you're in the scene
with it just like being present. Yeah, being present became
impossible for me after watching the show. That's why I

(43:07):
stopped watching in second seance for the first season even Yeah,
so your family is still all in the business, and
you guys have all had multiple different you know, music careers,
film careers, TV careers, and the industry has changed a
lot over the last several years, and you guys have
actually recently we talked about this a little bit at

(43:28):
nineties Con and the last time we saw you, you
guys have really created your own production company and are
now completely producing and creating content on your own. Tell
us a little bit about that. Yeah, you know, you've
got to be able to adapt if you really want
to continue to do this type of stuff. I think,
and yeah, the business changed so much, and I'm not

(43:51):
a social media person. I respect it and I use
it for different things, like I um follow on anature
a lot of architecture, so I like it as that's
my entertainment, but it's I can't personally be involved in it,
I think. Uh, I have some issues with it, so
I don't really get into the social media thing. But

(44:13):
so that if I'm not gonna do that, because it's
become such a huge part. Uh. You know. I was
talking with my younger brother Andy in particular, and we
were just like, well, then we were gonna have to
generate content on our own because you know, there was
a period there where if you didn't have X amount
of followers, you know, you didn't really get an opportunity.
You weren't getting the opportunities that X amount of followers

(44:34):
were getting. Um So, And by the way, that's the
you just I just that's the reason why I don't
like social media is followers. I think it's very strange.
It feels very very foreign to me. I deleted all Yeah,
well I I The only thing I kept was Instagram
only because I have a lot of like mentors I
follow through there. Um So, I yeah, I'm not I'm

(44:56):
just just not a social media guy. So we had
to create this company and start to make stuff. And
we've always been talking about it, and I think the
pandemic really just it forced us to do it. We're
just okay, we've been talking about this for over a
decade now. We we love working together, but the work
has already sort of we've put it together and other
people have made it and stuff. You know, the only

(45:18):
way you know, we're gonna we're gonna fail, We're gonna
mess up. I think we once we got over that
because we were worried that because we have a brand
or whatever we and if we do with something really bad,
then on once you get past the fear and you
just go, you know what, the only way you learn
is if you fall flow in your face. You're never
gonna learn. You just got In fact, the best time
to jump into something is when you're scared. You just

(45:40):
got to jump into it and do it. So the
pandemic happened and we were like, you know what, we're
finally going to actually just we're just gonna do it,
whatever the consequences. And we we self funded one, which
was really tough. I mean, we made a film on
a I didn't think it was possible to do it.
We got a lot of favors, all of our friends,
we I mean, it was incredible. But the help that

(46:02):
sort of rallied around us, and that's how we kicked
it off, because we got we got it far enough
along with that first one that we could do the
second one. Right. The first one, it's not like we're like,
this is some quality, but you're you're learning as you go. Yeah,
and you're making movies. Yeah, you're living the dream man. Man,

(46:23):
it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool, and there's no one
I'd rather do it with my my family, and so
you know that's really it's the people you surround yourself
within my opinion, you know that you take that journey
with It's not the end result, it's what happens along
the way. So tell us some of the names and
where we can see them, where we can watch them,
or what you have coming up that you want us
to know about. Tell us where we can find you. Okay, Well, um,

(46:45):
there's a couple of things on Amazon Prime right now.
There was last year's Christmas movie, which we're actually about
to go film. It's called Mistletone Mix Up. We're about
to go film the sequel to that fun it's cool
yet intended to do all right for Amazon. So they
this time around, we're not funding somebody else's somebody else's money.

(47:07):
That's a good one because you know, they go so
far under water really become a problem. So yeah, So
so we're we're finally getting financed. And you know, I say,
and he's really leading the and he's got like a
roll deck of things that that he's creating right now,
and I'm just happy to every time I walk in
the kitchen, he's like right and away and I'm like

(47:29):
just it's just I step in, I'm looking over his
shoulder and we're chatting scenes and stuff, and it's that's
like that right there. That's the best part of it
right there. You know. Uh, do you and Andrew lived together?
Oh that's so great. Yeah, so we did live together,
and then I moved out and then I moved back in.
So now it's like, you know, but this is the

(47:50):
same place that. Okay, so this this house, I mean,
this is Boy meets World right here. This this is
why I have this house. This is that show got
me this place at it since I was twenty years old. Well,
so it's the same house, I know, you know the house. Yeah,
it's just I've done remodels. You know, it's grown quite
a lot since then. But because of the lizards, you

(48:13):
gotta keep making all the room for the lizards. The
whole house has just become a giant terraneum or terrarium
or whatever. You have no idea how far I want
to go with this. If I could, I would put
a giant bubble greenhouse over my entire property and yet
live inside. Your neighbors would love that. I'm gonna go,

(48:37):
where can we find you? On TikTok, it's your handle.
Now do people still come up to you and recognize
you from Boy's World or do they do? They mentioned
brotherly love. Yeah, it's it's it's a mix. But you
always get you know, people are just so die hard
for Boeme's World. But yeah, you always get that, always

(48:57):
always get a you know, I love when you came
on and they they asked me questions about you guys,
as if you know we are still literally living together
or in I know, I know. It is so weird
and also funny how people think that because we worked together,

(49:21):
whether it was for seven years like writer and Will
and I, or it was three years like the four
of us here, no matter the length of time and
no matter how much time passes, it is an expectation
that we are all incredibly close and that we talk
all the time, and that we love each other, and
that no matter what the other one does, were there

(49:43):
to support. It is so weird. I like, I've turned
it around a couple of times and been like, do
you still also talk to everyone you have ever worked
with when you were from Yeah? It's but you know,
I think it's it's it's it's because the show had
such that when we celebrated the ensemble, right, I mean
that was like what those Civil War episodes were all about,

(50:04):
was like how this group of friends needs each other
and like, you know, I think a lot of TV
shows create that's like, that's what TV shows do, is
they create a sense of community. You know, like on
the show, it's like you're inside this group, you know,
whether it's the office or the bar, and cheers like
you're a part of this sort of pseudo family. Our
show did that, but then also like really talked about

(50:25):
it a lot, Like we did a whole episodes about it.
We we sort of like really dug deep into the
idea that like this group of all of us are
where forever friends. Um So I think you know, if
you're a fan of the show, it makes sense that
you would kind of assume have well, yeah, you would
have a sort of halo effect that they would have,
you know, go into us as as actors too, like

(50:46):
they must all also be best friends and hang out
all there. Otherwise it was all a lie. Right, Well,
I would like to say, yeah, seriously, I would like
to say to you, Matt, I am so glad that
you came on the show for a number of reasons.
One because you I got along very very well. Um
we did. We also were good foils for each other.
We we played very well off of each other. But

(51:07):
Eric could easily have been that character that just kind
of started to fall by the wayside because they really
had the Corey Shawn Tapanga thing going on, and it
easily could have been We're just gonna scoot this out.
Will is gonna come into a scene here there. So
bringing you on the show, our characters were able to
get I mean we all we were often on the
show talk about the two boy meets worlds where you

(51:28):
and I at times might as well have been on
a completely different television show, and it was it was
you and I together as kind of that odd couple thing,
and it just worked. And so I'm very glad that
you were brought on the show because it it took
took my dynamic and selfishly took my dynamic in a
whole different way. And like the Fraser Niles thing, the

(51:48):
more straight man you played, the more crazy I got
to go. And you got to really see the dynamic
of how because you grounded the scenes we were in,
Eric could become a living cartoon character. So it worked
because you were there. So yeah, I just wanted I
thought it was awesome when you brought on. So thank
you because it certainly made my life a hell of

(52:11):
a lot easier with you be in there. Well, and
i'd like to thank you for coming up with the
idea for this podcast. Yeah, that was awesome when you
came up with the idea for us to do this podcast,
we were so happy. Changed changed everything. You know, you
can tell my Matt's face that he does not listen
to pod me Tworld is what I just took away
from exactly Matt's face, like, what the hell I'm about?

(52:34):
I don't have anything to say to that. It's so funny. Well,
well i'll tell you. I think we should have We
should have gone on to do another you know, we
so we easily could have easily could have wanted to
go another thing, got into a hole, caught up into
a whole thing. Man. Well, there were talks from what
I hear, there were talks about us spinning off into

(52:56):
a show. Let us do it somewhere else, and that
was the problem. The problem. Yeah, it's never too late,
sometimes it is, Matt, Will we see you next? Year
for some cons. I think so first that was my
first con. Guys, like the nineties, Yeah, that was a

(53:18):
great start. The first one I went and I couldn't
handle it and I left that day. I was like,
this is too much for me. Was that the one
in South Texas? Yeah, I couldn't. You bailed from that one.
High didn't know that one. Man. I I was like,
I was thrown off by it. I don't know, um,
but the nineties con totally different experience. Absolutely loved it.

(53:42):
Was great. Okay, yeah, yeah, join us next year. It's
gonna be really fun. Yeah, we'll go. We'll go have
great dinners. After. You'll get to hear writer and Will
argue politics. You'll hear me play, you'll hear me play
mediator where I'm like, well, I think what writer is saying,
I think what Will is saying. And it'll it'll be great.
We'll have a great time. I miss you guys, miss

(54:04):
you too, Miss you too. There is a restaurant we
want to take you to. It serves the best iguana
you've you know what they you know, Well, that's not
going to be a surprise to me because you know,
from South America all the way down there. It's it's
called if things really hit the fan. You know, you

(54:25):
have twelve babies, got twelve twelve meals just that window
you're in front of just becomes a big drive through window.
I like that. Oh my gosh, thank you so much
for being here. This has been so much fun. Yeah,
we will see you again soon. Yeah, alright, let's do it.

(54:48):
I'll hit you up. We're having lunch next week. We
talked already. Alright, alright, cool man, all right, bye bye, Matt.
Oh my gosh, so fun. I can't stand that. Guys

(55:10):
just the worst. He's caustic, snarky. He has stayed exactly
the same, the same, always the most h Yeah, it's
just like the happiest, Like I mean, I was happiest.
But he's very positive. He never says a negative thing,

(55:31):
like no, I've never heard a bad thing about anybody.
It's just like he just it's like it's if it's
worth saying, it's positive always, you know, and it's like
that's so awesome. You can you can usually read between
the lines when there's something because it will usually start
with well, you know, and then there's like a bit
of a head nod and then it goes, but the
positive is like ends up with him finding the silver

(55:53):
lining and finding the positive and his his whole family
is very much there the same way for people that
were read that. And again we we've talked about the
difference between growing up in the industry and being raised
in the industry, and those are two very different things.
Their whole family could easily be pretty terrible people. Yeah,
and they're not. They're not at So yeah, it's great. Well,

(56:15):
that was really fun. I'm so glad that he he
came on and went over all those fun memories with us.
This has been a great episode of pod Meats World
if I do say so myself. You can follow us
on Instagram at pod Meats World Show. You can email
us at pod Meats World Show at gmail dot com.
And we have got march as a as a much

(56:36):
Beat the World Show dot com. So yeah, join us
next for episode one nineteen. We will be recapping that episode.
And yeah, it was great talking to you guys. As always,
I always am amazed. I don't know why I'm amazed.
It's been so many years of us together, but I'm
always amazed that no matter what kind of mood I'm
in before I see you, seeing you and talking with you,

(57:00):
I'm always like, yeah, this is fun. I feel better now.
Yeah it's the worst, isn't it? Isn't it awful? All Right?
We got together this weekend and it was it was
supposed to be like a two and a half hour rehearsal,
ended up being like five hours of just hanging up
and like we I didn't want to leave, like I
had to go pick up my son. It was like

(57:20):
we talked about the show for twenty minutes. But we're
doing this all week We're talking to each other, and
then on our weekends we're still choosing to just sit
around and talk. I know, I don't know how we
have not run out of things to talk about, but
we like each other too much. I agree. All right, Well,
thank you everybody. Will you want to sign us off? Sure?
We love you all. Pod dismissed. Pod Meats World is

(57:45):
an I heeart podcast produced and hosted by Daniel Fishel Wilford,
l and Righter Strong. Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman,
Executive in charge of production, Daniel Romo, producer and editor
Tara sup Buch, Producer Jackie Rodriguez engineer and Boy Meats
World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by
Kyle Morton of Typhoon and you can follow us on
Instagram at Pod Meets World Show or email us at

(58:06):
Pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com