July 21, 2025 • 7 mins
SPOILERS
Smoke is an American crime drama television miniseries created by Dennis Lehane, inspired by Firebug, a podcast about the crimes of arsonist John Leonard Orr. It premiered on Apple TV+ on June 27, 2025.
Smoke is an American crime drama television miniseries created by Dennis Lehane, inspired by Firebug, a podcast about the crimes of arsonist John Leonard Orr. It premiered on Apple TV+ on June 27, 2025.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, Brad Gilmour here, want to give a big
shout out to our title sponsor, Walker Texas Lawyer. If
you are a love would have been injured in an accident,
whether that be a car, truck, motorcycle accident, or some
kind of other issue, hit up Walker Texas Lawyer at
seven one three five five to two one one one
seven or Walker Texas Lawyer dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh Broadcasting live from Houston, Texas and around the world
and are around the world.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
TV host, best selling author and radio personality, Brad Gilmour
brings you a collection of conversations with stars from movies.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Matthew McConaughey, Brad Gilmore, Mark wohlburg By, how are you
the legendary mister Christopher Lloyd Christopher, how.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Are we doing?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Says Jessica Alba and Lizzie Matthis ladies, thank you so
much for joining me.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Kevin Coster joins us, Thank you so much, Thank you Television.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Jimmy Fallon joins us this morning. Jimmy, how you doing,
my friend? Good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Thank you so much Brad for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I appreciate this.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Bud, Kelly Ripperd, thank you, for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Comedy.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Jay Leno joins us, Jay, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Hey, Brad? What's going on?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Chris Tucker is in the bill and Chris Tucker, good
morning to you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hey you.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
George Lopez joins us right now, George, how are you doing? Sorry?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Good morning music.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Lola Manro, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
The legendary front man of A C d C. Brian
Johnson joins us right now, Brian, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Good morning?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Brock what looking talking me?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Funny Megan Trainer.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Chloe Bailey joins us, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Appreciate you and more and more.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
This is the collection now your host of the boat.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Bre You know what Tail wanted to obviously everything that
has to do with the show.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
First off, this pilot, the fourth.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Episode of the series, is so fantastic and I cannot
remember a pilot in recent memory, and I believe this,
and I mean this just capturing me and doing such
a great job of world building, but not feeling like
it was overbloated, because I feel like sometimes in a
pilot you feel like you have to get a lot
into that first episode to hook people. This one did
a great job of getting a lot in but also
(02:29):
bringing me into the character, not overwhelming me.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
That's great to hear. I'm glad you had that experience
because you always worry with a pilot. A pilot's you know.
I watched recently The que Something when it's on Netflix. Q.
I want to say division, but it's not the vision.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Anyway.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
I watched this it's a Scottish TV show, and I
watched the opening and I was blown away about a
pilot and that's and I was just like, wow, that's
so rare because pilots are so tough. So for you
to say that to me, thank you, it means a lot.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, because you're juggling so many things, right, I.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Mean, you got to get the exposition, you got to
build the world, you got to establish the characters.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
You got to give people something that you on there
and do it.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But in a you know, our time, maybe that's a
lot to ask for you.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I'll do such a great job at it.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I wanted to really ask obviously. I know it's it's
based on the Firebug podcast series.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
In the real life things happened, and in real characters
and and and what have you.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
But what was the point of I guess, lack of
better term, what was.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
The point of origin for you for this exact story
that made you want to tell this in this way?
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Carryon.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Tholis, who did the podcast, brought it to me. He
had worked with me on Blackbird. He brought it to
me while we were working on Blackbird. I listened to
it and I was like, I'm not sure I'm the
guy for this job unless i can tell the story
of this one person, which is I'm fascinated by this
arson investigator who was also arsenist, who was writing a
(04:02):
book about an arsen investigator chasing an arsonist, and a
lot of the Arsons in the books mirrored the actual
real arsens I thought the madness of that was fascinating.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
The rest of it. I was like, I.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Would rather throw out the rest of the real John
orr story and tell my story, which is about now.
It's not about nineteen eighty eight, which is when those
events went down. I wanted to write about now. I
wanted to write about a little something about chaos, about obsession,
about narcissism, about denial, about lying to yourself, about being
(04:37):
attracted to the things that can kill you. I thought
that was really fun. And I thought, fire itself, what
is fire emotionally?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Psychologically? What is it do to you?
Speaker 5 (04:46):
We all know burn stuff, but what is duty? What
does it represent? So all those things went into the
creation of the show.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And to not want to go too much based off
you know what actually happened into kind of create your
own thing. I know I was talking to Atare and
he said, like throw all that out. I think you
said to him, like, don't worry about the real stuff,
like let's focus on this character and the page and
to give them that ability to see, you know, their character.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
He said he got the full season of scripts so.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
He could really kind of mark out what he was
going to do for this series. I mean that really
has to be great for an actors and for the
writing team to kind of know the beginning and then
whereas you're not kind of trying to change things in
the middle of the season.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
No, no, and Antari is a great example because we
knew things about the character who inspired him, and I
just said, I don't want to do that guy. I
want to take one thing that that guy showed me
about the indignity of having to work you know, these terrible,
terrible places like this fast food restaurant. You know, he's
treated with no dignity whatsoever. And the real guy who
(05:50):
inspired him mentioned that in an interview and I thought, okay,
that's something I can play with. But Intari, yeah, he said.
You know, he and I collaborated. I didn't want to
getting lost in the facts because this is not a
factual story. This is loosely inspired by one factual guy.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
So well, I will tell you it was phenomenal. I
love the show. Everybody goes down and thank because it
was really really great. And I appreciate you taking the
time today. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a
good one.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
You too,
Hey guys, Brad Gilmour here, want to give a big
shout out to our title sponsor, Walker Texas Lawyer. If
you are a love would have been injured in an accident,
whether that be a car, truck, motorcycle accident, or some
kind of other issue, hit up Walker Texas Lawyer at
seven one three five five to two one one one
seven or Walker Texas Lawyer dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oh Broadcasting live from Houston, Texas and around the world
and are around the world.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
TV host, best selling author and radio personality, Brad Gilmour
brings you a collection of conversations with stars from movies.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Matthew McConaughey, Brad Gilmore, Mark wohlburg By, how are you
the legendary mister Christopher Lloyd Christopher, how.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Are we doing?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Says Jessica Alba and Lizzie Matthis ladies, thank you so
much for joining me.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Kevin Coster joins us, Thank you so much, Thank you Television.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Jimmy Fallon joins us this morning. Jimmy, how you doing,
my friend? Good morning.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Thank you so much Brad for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I appreciate this.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Bud, Kelly Ripperd, thank you, for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Comedy.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Jay Leno joins us, Jay, how you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Hey, Brad? What's going on?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Chris Tucker is in the bill and Chris Tucker, good
morning to you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Hey you.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
George Lopez joins us right now, George, how are you doing? Sorry?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Good morning music.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Lola Manro, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
The legendary front man of A C d C. Brian
Johnson joins us right now, Brian, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Good morning?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Brock what looking talking me?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Funny Megan Trainer.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Chloe Bailey joins us, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Appreciate you and more and more.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
This is the collection now your host of the boat.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Oh, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Bre You know what Tail wanted to obviously everything that
has to do with the show.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
First off, this pilot, the fourth.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Episode of the series, is so fantastic and I cannot
remember a pilot in recent memory, and I believe this,
and I mean this just capturing me and doing such
a great job of world building, but not feeling like
it was overbloated, because I feel like sometimes in a
pilot you feel like you have to get a lot
into that first episode to hook people. This one did
a great job of getting a lot in but also
(02:29):
bringing me into the character, not overwhelming me.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
That's great to hear. I'm glad you had that experience
because you always worry with a pilot. A pilot's you know.
I watched recently The que Something when it's on Netflix. Q.
I want to say division, but it's not the vision.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Anyway.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
I watched this it's a Scottish TV show, and I
watched the opening and I was blown away about a
pilot and that's and I was just like, wow, that's
so rare because pilots are so tough. So for you
to say that to me, thank you, it means a lot.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, because you're juggling so many things, right, I.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Mean, you got to get the exposition, you got to
build the world, you got to establish the characters.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
You got to give people something that you on there
and do it.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But in a you know, our time, maybe that's a
lot to ask for you.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I'll do such a great job at it.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I wanted to really ask obviously. I know it's it's
based on the Firebug podcast series.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
In the real life things happened, and in real characters
and and and what have you.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
But what was the point of I guess, lack of
better term, what was.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
The point of origin for you for this exact story
that made you want to tell this in this way?
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Carryon.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Tholis, who did the podcast, brought it to me. He
had worked with me on Blackbird. He brought it to
me while we were working on Blackbird. I listened to
it and I was like, I'm not sure I'm the
guy for this job unless i can tell the story
of this one person, which is I'm fascinated by this
arson investigator who was also arsenist, who was writing a
(04:02):
book about an arsen investigator chasing an arsonist, and a
lot of the Arsons in the books mirrored the actual
real arsens I thought the madness of that was fascinating.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
The rest of it. I was like, I.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Would rather throw out the rest of the real John
orr story and tell my story, which is about now.
It's not about nineteen eighty eight, which is when those
events went down. I wanted to write about now. I
wanted to write about a little something about chaos, about obsession,
about narcissism, about denial, about lying to yourself, about being
(04:37):
attracted to the things that can kill you. I thought
that was really fun. And I thought, fire itself, what
is fire emotionally?
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Psychologically? What is it do to you?
Speaker 5 (04:46):
We all know burn stuff, but what is duty? What
does it represent? So all those things went into the
creation of the show.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And to not want to go too much based off
you know what actually happened into kind of create your
own thing. I know I was talking to Atare and
he said, like throw all that out. I think you
said to him, like, don't worry about the real stuff,
like let's focus on this character and the page and
to give them that ability to see, you know, their character.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
He said he got the full season of scripts so.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
He could really kind of mark out what he was
going to do for this series. I mean that really
has to be great for an actors and for the
writing team to kind of know the beginning and then
whereas you're not kind of trying to change things in
the middle of the season.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
No, no, and Antari is a great example because we
knew things about the character who inspired him, and I
just said, I don't want to do that guy. I
want to take one thing that that guy showed me
about the indignity of having to work you know, these terrible,
terrible places like this fast food restaurant. You know, he's
treated with no dignity whatsoever. And the real guy who
(05:50):
inspired him mentioned that in an interview and I thought, okay,
that's something I can play with. But Intari, yeah, he said.
You know, he and I collaborated. I didn't want to
getting lost in the facts because this is not a
factual story. This is loosely inspired by one factual guy.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
So well, I will tell you it was phenomenal. I
love the show. Everybody goes down and thank because it
was really really great. And I appreciate you taking the
time today. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a
good one.
Speaker 5 (06:21):
You too,
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