July 5, 2024 • 55 mins
Enjoy our chat with John Kapelos who played Schanke on the series!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rachewl (00:00):
Hi. I'm Rachel.
Matt (00:01):
And I'm Matt.
John Kapelos (00:02):
Hi. I'm John.
Rachewl (00:04):
And this is Come in 81 kilo.
Matt (00:07):
A forever night podcast.
Rachewl (01:01):
Sorry. We we wrapped up coming 81 kilo in, like,
February, so we haven't we'reout of practice.
John Kapelos (01:08):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rachewl (01:09):
Yeah. We did every single episode. We ran out,
unfortunately. They stoppedmaking them. I don't know if you
knew that.
John Kapelos (01:16):
They stopped making what?
Rachewl (01:18):
Forever forever night episodes. We got to 70
something, and they just
John Kapelos (01:25):
they just stop making them. I never
Rachewl (01:27):
even knew that. Alright. So, I pulled our
Discord and got some questionsfor you, and then we have some
questions, and then just feelfree to talk about whatever you
want to too. But, how did youget your start in acting? Like,
where did you start?
John Kapelos (01:44):
I started in, my hometown of London, Ontario. I
did a play when I was a kid. Imean, a little boy when I was in
public school, and I loved doingthat. And then when I got into
high school, I auditioned forthe school play and got Guys and
Dolls. And it was it's socliched, but I look back on it.
(02:09):
I got bitten by the showbiz bug,and I really after that, it's
like, wow. I really enjoyedacting. I got out of class. I
got a lot of attention. Theschool show went well.
We did Guys and Dolls. I was thelead. And then then I went into
university, and I pretended tobe an English major for a couple
(02:31):
of years. I have a journalismmajor, then an English major.
Then I went into film andtheater, and they went, oh, man.
I would
Matt (02:39):
turn it back.
John Kapelos (02:40):
And and then, I left university and took sort of
a little bit of time off, likeabout 7, 8 months, and sort of
had a a little bit of, sort of athing with my father and my
parents, sort of didn't talk tothem for a few months. And then
we had a. And I went to Torontoand got, involved with Second
(03:04):
City in the workshops. And, Igot my tie caught on the Second
City, wagon, and I auditionedfor Second City in Chicago, and
I got a job. And I kept thatjob, and I never looked back.
That's kind of the I mean, but Istarted I started in London,
(03:24):
Ontario and, in in drama classin in in, high school and public
school.
Rachewl (03:31):
Yeah. So I
John Kapelos (03:32):
answer. Right? Too probably too long.
Rachewl (03:34):
No. No. That was good. No. We like long x answers.
But you answered my nextquestion, which was, did you
always wanna be an actor?
John Kapelos (03:40):
But Well, my my parents said I wanted to be an
actor. And, my family sort of rereinforced the notion that I was
a bit of a clown and performer.But, I was the youngest child.
And in a lot of ways, there's asort of a classic thing about
youngest children. I mean,apparently, Robin Williams and
Billy Crystal, a lot of peoplewere youngest children.
(04:03):
I don't know whether Garrett,Wendy's. I don't think Garrett
is I think, you know, he's a sonof a preacher, so that's a whole
different category.
Rachewl (04:11):
Yeah. You know what's funny? I actually don't know if
he has siblings or not. I havean entire podcast about him, and
I have no idea.
John Kapelos (04:19):
You don't know whether he has siblings, and I
worked with him. And I don'tthink he does have siblings.
Rachewl (04:25):
I I know his parents are still alive, but
John Kapelos (04:29):
To this day?
Rachewl (04:30):
Yes. Yeah. Wow. I know. Meg, my cohost for the podcast
specifically about Gare, wastelling me, and I was like, for
real?
Like, still alive? That's crazy.I think they're in
John Kapelos (04:42):
the nineties. Say really, really lovely, lovely
parents. My goodness. I mean,salt of the earth, his father. I
I remember his fatherparticularly.
His mother is lovely, but Iremember his father because his
father, I'm I talked to him at abit more than his his mom.
Rachewl (04:59):
Did they come visit the set when you would film me? Oh,
neat.
John Kapelos (05:04):
His dad came by and, just a lovely man and and,
with a very beautiful Welsh sortof brogue. Yeah. That's
Rachewl (05:13):
it. We, anyway, we have a we have another podcast called
Gare Can Get It, and it's just afunny, like, exploration of his
filmography because it's so wideand varied. And we talk about
his accent quite a bit, and,that's why we laughed right
there because he doesn't have aspecific Welsh accent, but he
has a very, like, Gare way ofspeaking, like clues. We love
(05:34):
clues. Everything is a clue.
John Kapelos (05:36):
Clues.
Rachewl (05:37):
Clue.
John Kapelos (05:38):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we we we we had a different
cadence on, forever night. Imean, I sort of employed my
Chicago accent as skanky, butthat's I mean, III didn't want
to sound Canadian Yeah. In anyway, shape, or form, which I am
by birth.
But I sort of not as Canadianaccent sounding as I once was
(06:04):
when I was before I left Canada.
Rachewl (06:07):
So do you have a favorite type of character to
play?
John Kapelos (06:11):
It's a really good question. I like playing glib
characters. You know? I likeplaying playing characters that
have a sort of verbal dexterityand that enjoy that are, smart.
I mean, I I think most of thecharacters I play have a level
of intelligence.
I don't really play dumb or,uninformed guys that much. I
(06:33):
don't find them thatinteresting. You know, I mean,
classic answer would be, youknow, what what's my favorite
character play? Is it the next1?
Rachewl (06:42):
Yeah. But,
John Kapelos (06:45):
that's a really good question. I like playing
people with a good verbaldexterity and that don't suffer
fools lightly. That's probably
Matt (06:53):
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that comes across in your roles.
John Kapelos (06:59):
You probably will. In reality, so we can certain
ways.
Rachewl (07:04):
So how did you become involved with Nick Knight, the
pilot movie?
John Kapelos (07:10):
That was a really circuitous story. I had a deal,
as a writer, producer, and actorat what was then known as New
World Entertainment. Not anoffice over there on Sepulveda
here in LA. And I was developinga show there that went to NBC
(07:31):
productions, called MontereyJack. And, New World actually
claimed ownership to it, andthen New World became Columbia
Pictures Television.
And there was a lot of sort ofback and forth. My show,
Monterey Jack, went to pilot atNBC, and then it fell apart. And
(07:53):
then New World, which was nowColumbia Pictures Television,
had this show called ForeverNight or, actually, excuse me,
Nick Knight. And they had adirector attached named a man
named Farhad Mann, and they had,Rick Springfield. Yeah.
And, they asked me to comeaboard with that. And that was
(08:16):
that came through myassociation, as I said, with
Columbia Pictures Television,formerly New World. And, there's
a lot more to the story in termsof my relationship with Columbia
Pictures Television and and thethe powers that be there. And
they weren't, because of we hada little bit of a difficulty
(08:39):
with my project over at NBC.They claimed ownership, and we
had a little bit of a tug ofwar, and they lost.
So when I went over to Colombiato do, Forever Night or at least
Knick Knick, I wasn't exactlygreeted with open arms, but they
wanted me to do the show. We didthe pilot in LA with Rick here
(09:03):
and Farhad. And and then werepeated the whole script.
Rachewl (09:07):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (09:07):
The whole thing we shot again in in Toronto.
Rachewl (09:11):
Yeah. But as a 2 part.
John Kapelos (09:13):
But that's how I got involved. I mean, it was
circuitous and long, and, theywanted me through for it. And
then I was disappointed when itdidn't go didn't go here. And
then when it got picked up inToronto, I naturally, they
expressed interest. And becauseI'm a dual citizen, I think they
were interested.
Rachewl (09:31):
Nice.
Matt (09:31):
Did you have to reaudition for the No. Toronto?
John Kapelos (09:35):
No. I I physically I physically looked different
when I went up to Canada becauseI'd put on a few poundages from
the the original pilot, and Ikept them on throughout most of
forever night. But, and then,you know, then I grew the
sideburns, and I did all thatstuff.
Rachewl (09:55):
That's actually a question for later. What was it
like working with RickSpringfield?
John Kapelos (10:01):
I mean, Rick's a good guy. You know, I wouldn't
say he's a ground shaking actor.It was more more fun and
challenging working with Garebecause Gare is a real thespian.
Mhmm. Rick had a sort of a very,you know, laid back approach to
to it.
And, I really enjoyed workingwith him. Although, you know, I
don't think it was long enough,and and, I don't know whether he
(10:25):
was entirely into it. But, youknow, it's it's it's tough to
gauge with certain people peoplethat are I would say that come
out of the the the the musicworld because they're not really
playing anything else other thansort of them of sort of a large
group of themselves.
Matt (10:42):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (10:42):
So I wouldn't say he was putting on a character.
And that's no flies. That's noflies on him. But he wasn't, I
would say I mean, you know, hewas acting, but I wouldn't say
he was, you know, a great actor.
Rachewl (10:55):
Yeah. But
John Kapelos (10:56):
he's, you know, serviceable in the part. But I
think that us that also hadsomething to do with why it
didn't go.
Rachewl (11:06):
I mean, I think the Rick Springfield star effect
sort of overshadowed. I'vealways felt like it overshadows
Nick Knight a little bit. Like,oh, it's Rick Springfield in
this movie instead of like, oh,it's this movie. Oh, look. It
has Rick Springfield in it.
John Kapelos (11:18):
Listen. I there's a term for what they what that's
called in in in Hollywood, andit's called stunt casting. It's
when you when you put in, like,you know I don't know whether
you guys remember JoeyButtafuoco, but, you know, the
the Long Island Lolita, youknow, he ended up shooting, you
know, and he became this guy.And then all of a sudden, 1 day,
I'm reading for a sitcom, andthey you know, this is many
(11:38):
years ago. And it's like it'slike between you and Adolf
Hitler.
It's like, really? You know? Orit's between you and Joey
Buttafuto because these people,it's stunt casting. They bring
them in. The Adolf Hitler thingis a joke and probably not that
funny.
But the the whole notion is thatthey they bring in people from
the real world. And, you know,sometimes it's because of
(12:01):
infamous reasons. Right? So I'llnever forget reading for the
sitcom. They go, oh, it'sbetween you and Joey Buttafuoco.
And I'm like, really? And Ididn't get it.
Rachewl (12:15):
So the character of Skanky is quite a bit different
between the movie and theCanadian plot pilot. Was that
intentional, or did that justdifferent director, different
You're talking about to playwith?
John Kapelos (12:26):
From from Rick Springfield to Forever Knight?
Rachewl (12:30):
Yeah. Because in Nick Knight, Skanky is a much more,
like, a harder, more sarcasticcharacter. And then when we get
to the dark knight part 1 and 2,we get more of the, like, skanky
skanky. So I wasn't sure if thatwas just you had different
actors to play with, and so itcame off a little bit different,
or was that intentional?
John Kapelos (12:48):
It's interesting. I think, it wasn't I wouldn't
say I mean, it was it was therewas a deliberateness to it. I
knew that it was happening. Iplayed it differently. But, the
way I work is not entirely itwasn't like, oh, okay.
This is what I'm gonna do. It'sintentional. It it also had to
do with the dynamic and the waythat the the guys wrote the show
(13:09):
in in Toronto and the wayGarratt was and the way the the
backstory was. I it came to passwhen I started doing more of it,
the episodes. And and I've saidthis in the past, but it it it
it bears repeating that theskanky represented the audience
in a lot of ways.
Mhmm. And it it it also therewas a such a seriousness to the
(13:34):
backstory and the sort of theway they played it. And that the
John Kapalas, the actor thoughtthat it would be best if Skanky
was a little bit of funnierbecause it would provide a
counterpoint to that sort ofseriousness. Yeah. And and also
(13:54):
provide something for theaudience to go, like, WTF, why
aren't you drinking or eatinganything?
I mean, all I see you have iswine and stuff like that. And
and and I think that that was animportant touchstone for the the
show. And and also the dynamicof Gerhardt and the sort of,
ornate Shakespearean aspect tohis his acting and the sort of
(14:16):
backstory, you know, the hischaracter. You know? Yeah.
The fact that he was this guythat lived for centuries. I have
this sort of noble, you know,you know, way of being, you
know, carriage. So I thoughtthat the best way to me for me
to anchor Skanky was to put himtotally in the 20th century
(14:37):
then. And in in the here and nowand sort of midwestern American
sort of skank sort of reallywith a wife and, you know,
family and the sort of the wholeearthbound catastrophe. And and
and have him you know?
And and that that and and andand the and I think it became a
(14:58):
little bit more, I would lay onthat a little bit more, the more
comfortable I got with thecharacter. And also the more I
could play off of Gare because Ialways found the whole Nigel
Gare, you know, all that stuffreally kind of worthy of poking
(15:19):
fun at.
Rachewl (15:20):
Yeah. Yeah.
John Kapelos (15:22):
You know, but in my own but in my own way, you
know?
Matt (15:26):
Yeah. Yeah. Forever Knight Skanky is a lot more, I guess,
wholesome family man being funnyversus the more cynical, like,
career oriented skanky from NickKnight.
John Kapelos (15:40):
Yeah. Well Yeah. And, you know, I mean, it's
funny that you should mentionthat because we never really,
really as you know, we didn't goon the road with Nick Knight. We
went on the road with ForeverKnight. And, I have no idea of
knowing how that skanky wouldhave changed.
But I do know that the the the,there was there was a different,
(16:01):
sort of orientation. And when wewent to, you know, also the
networks affect things,obviously. Yeah. You know, we'll
jump ahead to the 3rd seasonthat I wasn't in because, they
had a network change and thenetwork had a different mandate.
They wanted to go with a afemale captain, etcetera.
I mean, a female partner.
Rachewl (16:19):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's a later question. Did
they let you Adlib?
John Kapelos (16:25):
Oh, yeah.
Rachewl (16:26):
Or did you yeah.
John Kapelos (16:27):
Well, I mean, I don't know whether they let me.
I did it, and I think I did.Yeah. You know? You know, I I
think as an older actor, I I'vecome to look at guys like myself
younger and sort of go, oh,gosh.
You know? When are they gonnajust do the script? But, I kind
of I think that it was importantfor me to do what I did and to
(16:50):
change things because it alsowas my way of, marking my
territory.
Rachewl (16:59):
Yeah. I mean, that's yeah.
John Kapelos (17:02):
You know? And and also, I I had, I had a I had a
sort of a, tug of war going onwith the people in LA, the
executives.
Rachewl (17:11):
During the whole thing?
John Kapelos (17:12):
Pretty much. There was, you know, I I had to
negotiate to write and direct anepisode, and, you know, I ran up
against a couple of walls for,you know, there's a lot of
prejudice against actors whowanna do other things. Mhmm. And
the Directors Guild of Canadasaid, to me, you know, we don't
(17:35):
like actors becoming directors.And I I couldn't believe the
temerity of that statement.
And I said, well, if not us,who? And shouldn't we be on the
top 10? And, they were reallyyou know? And I said, if you
wanna call the director's clubof Canada, you should. But in
the United States, if I got youknow?
So they were not gonna allow meto direct. I basically, Columbia
(18:00):
and CBS and everybody went badfor me on that. But, you know,
it's just like, it it was justit was always a a little bit of
a grudge match, you know, to getme to do things. And, to being a
returning Canadian coming backto to Canada, there was a lot of
weirdness on that 1 too. But,you know
Rachewl (18:22):
Was Columbia involved the entire time? Because I know
Paragon was. Was Columbia the US
John Kapelos (18:28):
Columbia is the US entity. Yeah.
Rachewl (18:30):
Oh, okay.
John Kapelos (18:30):
And and, yeah, Columbia, Sony, they had a lot
to do with it. And then therewas a German entity. I mean, I
don't know whether you've heardthis from other actors, but they
wanted to do the the the Germanshows were a little bit longer.
Do you are you not Yeah.
Rachewl (18:43):
Knowledgeable about this?
Matt (18:44):
The Euro minutes?
John Kapelos (18:45):
Yeah.
Rachewl (18:45):
They Yeah.
John Kapelos (18:46):
And they also like to have topless ladies in it.
Right? Yeah. So we do we do ascene in a bar. Right?
And or just in some gratuitouslocation, and they say, okay.
We're gonna do the Germanversion. And all of a sudden,
the women around us would takeoff their tops. I'm like, well,
wait a minute. We'd we'd be in arestaurant.
(19:08):
We'd be in a restaurant scene,and all of a sudden there'd be
topless women in it. It's like,wait a minute. Is this a topless
restaurant? I mean, it would beit would be I mean, it was
distracting.
Rachewl (19:18):
Yeah. I'm sure. Imagine.
John Kapelos (19:22):
And, you know, you had to be on your you know, mind
your p's and q's, which I do anddid, and of course, and, you
know, just like, wow. But, youknow, that's another story.
Rachewl (19:33):
Yeah. Oh, the German version just came out on DVD, in
fact. So you can now purchasethe German versions, on DVD in
Germany, but you can't purchaseforever night on DVD easily in
the US, which I think isinteresting. So now I can buy
the German version and see thedifference in the restaurant
scenes, I guess.
John Kapelos (19:52):
But the thing is if you buy the German version,
is it gonna be a a European DVDthat you can't play on a North
America?
Rachewl (20:00):
You can you can buy jailbroken DVD players where
people have, made it possible.It's what it's called where you
take off the,
Matt (20:09):
The copyright
Rachewl (20:09):
the copyright protection.
Matt (20:11):
I'm a tech guy. I have ways.
John Kapelos (20:14):
Steel broken. I've never heard that, fear of some
Rachewl (20:17):
Technically, all region all region DVD players, if you
wanna be real PC. So my nextquestion was, were those your
real sideburns? And since youhave sideburns right now, I'm
guessing yes.
John Kapelos (20:29):
God, yes. They're my real sideburn.
Rachewl (20:31):
Did you
John Kapelos (20:32):
choose the Fabrics? You missed it. I had I
had flaming long ones. I lookedsort of like, you know, 1 of,
some old rock star, but now
Rachewl (20:40):
that Yeah.
John Kapelos (20:41):
Nothing comes out. Yeah. They were mine. And they
they get they I think theyticked off Gary a lot. Because
he's not doesn't mean he kept ongoing, why are you growing
these?
And the more and the more Elvisy they grew, the more I dug it.
And, you know, I just did it.
Rachewl (20:59):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (21:00):
And it it was, I think it was a kind of a cool
thing to do.
Rachewl (21:06):
Yep. In fact, in the podcast, we have the skanky
sideburn index because some ofthe episodes are aired out of
order, so your sideburns willchange, length. And so I'm like
I'm like, oh, okay. So this isan an older episode, and they
aired it out because we can tellby the skanky sideburn index
that it's slightly newer.
John Kapelos (21:25):
Well, you know, I just I love I love that. I
really, really love that.
Rachewl (21:29):
So, we noticed they were appreciated. Because I
think it's, like, 196 6, whichis you don't have to remember
the titles. I will. It's the 1that's mostly flashback, and
it's, like, kind of in theelevator episode where Skanky's
just hiding under a desk theentire episode. And you have
John Kapelos (21:47):
was fun. That was an easy 1 to shoot.
Rachewl (21:48):
You have quite large sideburns in that 1. And then I
think in the next 1, they'realmost gone. And so, our our our
postulation was that 1 wasfilmed earlier and aired later
because you definitely have adifferent style.
John Kapelos (22:01):
Sideburn, continuity sometimes was off.
Rachewl (22:06):
That's okay. Also, Gare's hair length because we
guess he gets a haircut at thebeginning of the season and then
didn't until, like, thebeginning of the next season
because it would always getlonger. So here's a question.
Did they always intend to neverhave a Myra or Jenny cast, or
was that because you have a wifeand child in the show, but we
(22:27):
never ever see them.
John Kapelos (22:28):
I think they were always intended to be off screen
characters.
Rachewl (22:32):
Yeah. I mean, it's such an interesting choice because
there are moments where you aretheoretically going to interact
with them, and it'd be like, oh,here's Jenny's entire class, but
Jenny's out with measles. And sothey had to really rearrange
lots of stuff to keep them out,which I was that was
interesting.
John Kapelos (22:48):
I think there's a there are a variety of reasons
that there weren't at Myra andJenny. 1 of them was probably
budgetary. Yeah.
Rachewl (22:57):
I'll go figure. Did Skanky know? Did Skanky know? I
know you don't have to answerthat. Do you think Skanky knew?
John Kapelos (23:06):
That he was a vampire?
Rachewl (23:08):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (23:08):
No.
Rachewl (23:09):
No? I mean I mean,
John Kapelos (23:13):
that's a 4th wall for Skanky. You know the 4th
wall. Right?
Rachewl (23:16):
Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.
John Kapelos (23:17):
I mean, I'm I'm not not that I'm condescending,
but I mean, the notion of the Imean, for Skanky, because of
just using that as a metaphor,like, for him not to believe
that. To frame to to to to thinkthat that Nick was a vampire
would blow his effing mind.
Rachewl (23:34):
Yeah. It's okay. We curse on this show.
Matt (23:37):
We had a lot of speculation about whether Skanky
knew his side his partner wassome kind of supernatural
creature Yeah. And depended onthat. But
John Kapelos (23:46):
I mean, you know, no. I mean, if if we had more if
if I had more episodes and we,you know, we'd stretched into it
I mean, the the the the theepisode I did with Nigel where
he, you know, that, you know, inhis radio in
Rachewl (24:04):
his Yeah. The close call.
John Kapelos (24:05):
That's the 1 reason. That episode. And I love
the whole, you know, who thefuck are these guys sort of
thing.
Rachewl (24:13):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (24:14):
You know? I think walking up to the line, but for
me to skate over it and to seeit, unless they take my memory
away and then bring me back.Right? You know?
Rachewl (24:23):
Yeah. Yeah. Which I think happens in that episode.
John Kapelos (24:26):
That's right.
Rachewl (24:27):
Yeah. Because we chat about it quite a bit on the show
in that maybe Skanky doesn'tknow he's a vampire, but he's
aware something is going onbecause it feels like it makes
the Skanky character moreinteresting. If he's if he,
like, knows something is weird,but he's like, but I don't care.
Like, I just like Nick.
John Kapelos (24:48):
Well, I I think there's a lot of that. I mean, I
think there's a lot of, like,you know, is he, you know,
what's his deal, you know, withwomen, with his nightlife, with
his diet, you know, all thatstuff. But I don't think that
he's, you know, yeah, I'll justlet it rely at that. Let you
guys enjoy the tough stuff. Ican
Rachewl (25:09):
I mean
John Kapelos (25:10):
I can I can project mystification?
Rachewl (25:13):
Oh, okay. Good. Good. You're like, I don't know. It's
a mystery.
That's fine. It can stay amystery. Do you have any funny
stories from the set?
John Kapelos (25:22):
There was 1 time when my mother came on the set,
and, in the middle of a take,she interrupted the scene with
Gary and myself. And I thoughtthat she'd lost it. I mean, not
that my mother was but I shewent she went, John, what's
(25:42):
going on here? What are youdoing? Why and and III really,
for a moment, thought, you know,mom, I'm I'm yeah.
I'm working. I'm working.
Rachewl (25:53):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (25:54):
And everybody laughed. I've got the video of
it. And, I've got it somewherein my files. I mean, I and and I
can I'll definitely share itwith you at some point if you
wish.
Rachewl (26:03):
Oh, I will. We will take it. We will borrow and
return it.
John Kapelos (26:07):
I beg your pardon?
Rachewl (26:08):
I said we will borrow and return it.
John Kapelos (26:10):
Well, I said I can send you the file. It's it's
it's and I gotta say that was areally wonderful moment. I mean,
we worked so many deep nights.You know, we'd shoot from 4 or 5
in the afternoon till 6, 7, 8, 9in the morning. And, like, you
know, I wish they I I I've oftensaid this.
I wish they burnished the timein the corner, like, what time
(26:30):
in the morning we shot this.Because sometimes I have to do
these, like, incredibly longsort of speeches or whatever.
We'd have to do these actionthings. And it's 4:30 in the
morning, 4:45. I mean, you know,in the middle in the middle of a
cold, cold Toronto, you knowYeah.
Yeah. But, there were I mean, Idid 48 episodes. I directed, 1
(26:54):
episode with with Geraint andand Nigel, and I had so much fun
directing that episode. I mean,I think, initially, when I first
was a lot of fun because and andalso John Kassar Mhmm. Who was
our camera guy, you know, wenton to do great things.
(27:18):
Any great stories? That's aboutit. I mean, I, you know, I could
probably dig up 1 or 2, but letme think for a second. More
questions.
Rachewl (27:24):
Okay. Okay. So my next one's actually you keep
answering my next question,which was you mentioned your mom
came to the set, so we alreadyanswered that 1. And then you
actually wrote the code anddirected A More Permanent Hell.
So what was that like?
Like, writing and then youdidn't direct the episode that
you wrote, but you directed anepisode you didn't
John Kapelos (27:44):
write. What's his name? Clay Borris directed the 1
I wrote. Right? I think hedirected the code.
Michael Levine, what did hedirect? I mean, partners of the
month. That was written byShelley Goldstein, and she was
my girlfriend at the time. Okay.The the, more permanent hell was
(28:09):
the 1 I directed.
Rachewl (28:10):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (28:11):
And it's like, you know, come on. They said, you've
got the destruction of Pompeiiand you've got, like, 10 setups
to do it. Now 10 I don't knowwhether you know what setups
are, but setups are basicallycamera setups. You put the
camera over here, and the actionhappens. Then you put the camera
over here and over here.
So I can do that 10 times tocover the destruction of
(28:34):
Pompeii. Are you kidding?
Rachewl (28:36):
That's fine.
John Kapelos (28:37):
I'm gonna need a few more setups in that. In
addition to that, it's like theythey were kind of, daring me to
direct the episode. And I'vebeen preparing to direct
something like this for a longtime. And, you know, the whole
notion of having a, statue ofNigel in that episode Yeah. That
(29:00):
gets destroyed.
That was my idea. That wasn't inthe script because I said, I
wanna see a physical destructionof this guy that never really
happens in reality. But inRight.
Matt (29:11):
Right.
John Kapelos (29:12):
In physical reality, when when the earth
comes plundering down on himand, you
Matt (29:16):
know Symblism.
John Kapelos (29:17):
You know, I want I want to see him destroyed that
way so he can see sort of mymortality mortal. I'd still like
to be mortal. You know, all thatsort of stuff. And the girl that
played, Divinia, was itcharacter's name?
Rachewl (29:32):
Divya. Yeah.
John Kapelos (29:32):
Divya. Divya. Divya. Divya. Divya.
Rachewl (29:34):
Right? Yes.
John Kapelos (29:35):
Yeah. What an extraordinarily weird, little.
She's grown up now. I'm suremuch older, much older. But, an
odd I mean, really, she wasperfect.
She was perfect. Casting wasgreat. Now we had a very funny
thing happen when we shot thedestruction of Pompeii. We had
(29:56):
to had to jigger the whole set,and this whole thing had to
shake and all this smoke
Rachewl (30:00):
and all
John Kapelos (30:00):
the and we had the camera back here, and we had the
whole set destroyed and fellapart. Boom. That was the last
last thing we did with that setwas to destroy it. Mhmm. And,
I'm I'm directing no.
I think I'm acting in anotherepisode, an episode later. And
(30:22):
they're editing the episode thatI directed, you know, putting it
together. And I get a tap on myshoulder and I think, John, you
gotta come to the editing room.We got a problem. I said, oh,
no.
So I go to the editing room, andwe'd I I think we just shot the
episode or when whenever it is.It may be working the next
episode. And they show me thethe footage of the set being
(30:48):
destroyed and all the smoke andeverything falling apart and
Nigel statue falling and allthat stuff. And the guy I said,
it looks great. It looks great.
It looks great. He goes, yeah.Yeah. Take a look over here. I
said, okay.
Takes a look over here. And inthe dust and everything, you see
a crew guy sitting there sittingthere and all of a sudden
(31:11):
looking up and realizing thecamera's on him, and he crawls
off. Now it's all done with dustand everything. So you can
barely see it, but it'shappening right there or there
or wherever. And I went, holyshit.
No. And he went, yeah. Yeah.Yeah. Can you believe it?
(31:33):
And I said, well, we can't youknow, he said, what can we do?
Well, they went in and theydigitally removed it. Now this
is, you know, not today, andwe're not working with a present
camera I mean, computers andstuff. But they managed to do
that. They managed to digi, youknow, fudge it.
(31:53):
That was a funny experience ofdirecting that episode. There
was also another thing thathappened. Nigel and Gary
wouldn't love to hear this, butthere was 1 day when I was
directing an episode that theguys wouldn't come out of their
trailers after lunch. Becausethey were a little bit ticked
off as to the way I directed thescene before lunch. I said,
(32:17):
really?
I said, yeah. They're they'reand I said, come on. They're
acting like actors, and they'refucking the directors. You know,
I have to you have to shoot acertain certain number of pages
during the day. And and and andI that was the 1 time the whole
48 episodes that I was on theother side of the thing, and I
(32:37):
said, get them out of theirtrailers and tell them to get
working.
You know, I'm not gonna toleratethis. Yeah. And they they were
serious. They both of them wereplaying a little hissy fit on
me. And, like, you know, youknow, it was it was uncalled
for.
But it happened. Mean, it
Rachewl (32:55):
it was an episode about a meteor that was gonna hit the
earth, so it's fine. It wasn'tShakespeare. Yeah. I mean, it
was a good
John Kapelos (33:01):
They were both stretching their they were both
stretching their acting egos alittle bit.
Rachewl (33:07):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (33:08):
There was a scene that we had shot that morning
that under the stairs were,like, Nigel appears here and
there.
Rachewl (33:14):
Yeah. Mhmm.
John Kapelos (33:15):
They didn't like the way I shot it, but it
really, really worked out.
Rachewl (33:18):
It did. Oh, that's a good scene.
Matt (33:19):
Oh, yeah.
Rachewl (33:20):
Yeah. That's the okay. Sorry. I won't and I remember
the episodes better than you.That's fine.
But, you
John Kapelos (33:24):
know, boys will be boys.
Rachewl (33:27):
Yeah. They just had a And
John Kapelos (33:29):
and I was the man that day. So
Matt (33:32):
The man.
Rachewl (33:33):
The man. So you wrote The Code. Is that the only
episode you've ever written, orhad you have other writing
credits?
John Kapelos (33:40):
That's the only episode of, that TV show I've
written. Yeah. There are otherepisodes of TV, but nothing has
been produced. I've written acouple of short short films, and
I've got a feature film. But,nope.
I'm, unproduced writer in thatregard.
Rachewl (33:55):
Well, you're a successful actor, so it balances
out. Do you have any props fromthe show? Did you keep anything?
Matt (34:04):
We won't snitch on you.
John Kapelos (34:05):
No. No. I'd
Rachewl (34:07):
It's been too long. It's fine. No 1 cares.
John Kapelos (34:10):
No. I don't.
Rachewl (34:11):
No? No.
John Kapelos (34:13):
I have I have props from a few other films. I
have something from TheBreakfast Club. I mean, I have a
piece of wardrobe from TheBreakfast Club, and I have
something from Roxanne, but no.Not from Forever Night.
Rachewl (34:26):
Not even a
John Kapelos (34:27):
doctor. I mean, I'm thinking out loud. I mean, I
have recordings. I did somemusic on the set with a couple
of the people, and I have, as Isaid, I have that outtake. And,
I have pictures that I took andsome stuff in my own
(34:50):
memorabilia.
But, you know
Rachewl (34:52):
Not even the duck lamp.
John Kapelos (34:53):
Reaching that point in my life, you know,
where people around me are, notme, but people around me are are
you know, their lives areending, and I'm thinking maybe I
should sort through some of thisstuff. So that's been 1 of my
plans for 2024 is to go throughsome of my my stuff. I mean, I
have extensive, stuff. I didn'tI I, you know, I I kept some
(35:16):
scripts. I kept a few things.
Rachewl (35:17):
That's yeah. We actually just talked to Fred
Mahlek.
John Kapelos (35:20):
Oh, yeah. I thought
Rachewl (35:21):
we did all the music. Yeah. And he's cleaning out his
storage unit, so I now have,like, a 100 videotapes that are
sitting to my right here for meto go through. But he Well, you
John Kapelos (35:33):
know what? I might have a few tapes for you too. So
Rachewl (35:36):
I mean, I'm here for you. Yes. He goes, I have a
couple of videotapes, and thenit arrived in, like, a 2 foot by
2 foot box. I was like, that'smore than a couple of
videotapes. That's fine.
They're all the screener copiesthat they sent him, and some of
them are the ones without sound,which you don't realize how much
sound is added
John Kapelos (35:57):
way it's
Matt (35:58):
a whole different scale.
John Kapelos (35:59):
It's amazing how, empty it is. Right? I mean, you
know, I I did last year. Iworked on days of our lives. I
worked on a soap opera.
Now a lot of people put downsoaps. But if you watch a movie
or a TV show without effects init or everything, it's kinda
like watching a soap. Yeah. Imean, you know, you could doll
(36:23):
up a soap with a lot of our, youknow, and 5 point runs around
and all that stuff. I mean, I'mnot saying but, you know, it's
interesting how that stuff canreally, change your POV on
something.
People really will not put upwith crummy sound. They'll put
up with bad picture. Like, TheBlair Witch Project, the old
that old film is an example ofthat.
Rachewl (36:44):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (36:45):
They'll put up with a really sort of gnarly
picture kind of in a weird way,but not sound. And sound is what
really sells a movie.
Rachewl (36:54):
Yeah. It's yeah. You're very true. In fact, 1 of the
well
John Kapelos (36:57):
I mean, picture does too in editing and acting
and all that other stuff. But
Rachewl (37:01):
Yeah. But no. I mean, yeah. Because I know that some
of the more recent movies we'vegone to see in theaters, the
music is so loud and the voicesare so low. You almost can't
hear what's going on.
And it's kind of the trend rightnow is just to have I
John Kapelos (37:13):
hate it. As a matter of fact Yeah.
Matt (37:14):
It's like a weird sound base.
John Kapelos (37:16):
Yeah. Finding a lot of narration and stuff that
I'm watching on TV. Thenarrations mix too low and this
and the music's too high.
Rachewl (37:23):
Yeah. Yeah.
John Kapelos (37:24):
And, you know, I've mixed a few things in my
time, albums and things in a fewTV shows, and I think that
they're bearing the thenarration. And again, you know,
because people have differenttypes of systems, surround sound
systems, whatever. Right. Anyway
Rachewl (37:41):
Yeah. So you were in the shape of water, and so was
Nigel Bennett, and so was a 1962teal Cadillac. Is Guillermo del
Toro a forever night fan?
John Kapelos (37:52):
I I wouldn't put it past him. I mean, Guillermo
is a watcher. I mean, he watchesstuff, and he's such a smart,
incredibly gifted individualthat yeah. I would imagine he
is.
Rachewl (38:04):
Okay. Well, let's we're gonna go with that then.
John Kapelos (38:06):
I'll ask I'll ask him next time. I'll nail him on
it. If not, I'll send him acompendium of stuff. Have you
ever seen have you ever seenthe, the Rockefeller skanks that
somebody edited together online?I love I love that.
I have seen. I I admire that.
Rachewl (38:24):
Because, we're friends with, Kristen who did all the
videos. She had a couple ofvideos on the Sony release of
the DVD and, where she's cutsome things together to some of
Fred Mullen's music and someother music. Good. Yeah. And but
she tends to focus on a coupleof characters, which is fine.
And so to see 1 that was skankywas like, oh, good. Like, I'm
I'm here for this. Yeah.
John Kapelos (38:44):
I know I'm not the most popular character with a
lot of the the vamp thevampirologists.
Rachewl (38:50):
Well, we, we deeply missed you in season 3. In fact,
Matt had no idea you were not inseason 3, and we got to the
first episode of season 3. Itblow
John Kapelos (38:58):
me up.
Rachewl (38:59):
Of course, skanky blows up. Yeah. And Matt was like, no.
He's not in I was like, no.
Matt (39:04):
Oh, I felt betrayed.
John Kapelos (39:05):
Well, they they did that because they wanted no
the network wanted no possiblechance of me ever coming back.
They disliked me that much.
Rachewl (39:14):
Yeah. Wow. What's interesting is in the German
version, there's that scene atthe beginning when, Skanky calls
Gare, and in the Americanversion, there's no audio. He's
just talking to the phone.
Matt (39:27):
You only hear Gare.
Rachewl (39:28):
But in the German version, they dub in, the Skanky
dub actor responding to him onthe phone, which I think is
interesting.
John Kapelos (39:36):
The skanky dub. Well, you know, III have to say,
you know, I mean, it's it's it'sa while back and and all that
stuff. But, you know, it's smartat doing you know, not not being
able to do it. But they had adifferent mandate. They wanted
me to do, you know, to be stonetree or whatever, be the
captain.
I didn't wanna do it.
Rachewl (39:56):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we talked about
Matt (39:59):
pitch for you staying Yeah. Was to be the captain?
John Kapelos (40:02):
Yeah. And, you know, take, you know, work less,
work you know, and and theywanted, a younger female partner
for Gare, which they got. Andthey also, you know, I guess it
was going to USA Network, andthat's sort of where they want
they had a differentdemographic, and they wanted
more I don't know whether it'ssort of sexier, younger,
(40:23):
whatever. It all seems so datedand weird now when you look back
on it.
Rachewl (40:29):
Well, if it makes you feel better, season 3 is almost
completely unavailable.
John Kapelos (40:32):
So Really?
Rachewl (40:34):
Yeah. That never streams.
John Kapelos (40:36):
The,
Matt (40:36):
yeah, the streaming rights for season 3 are tied up
somewhere.
Rachewl (40:39):
Mhmm.
John Kapelos (40:40):
Is that a Peridot? Is that a Peridot thing?
Rachewl (40:43):
I have no however it got packaged and sold, season 3
wasn't part
John Kapelos (40:47):
of it. So Paragon went south as a company. Right?
Rachewl (40:50):
I think, Columbia Tri Star had the distribution rights
for a long time, Sony. And then,when they lost them, they're
kind of just in the wind. And so
Matt (41:01):
We have someone on our Discord trying
Rachewl (41:03):
to track
Matt (41:04):
down the licensing rights for streaming for season 3.
Rachewl (41:08):
Yeah. But even when it was on Amazon Prime, you could
stream season 1 and 2. Season 3,you couldn't even buy. And then
now, I think Apple, you can buyseason 1 through 3, but Apple's
the only 1 where you can buy all3 seasons.
Matt (41:21):
But you have to buy it before you can
Rachewl (41:23):
watch it.
John Kapelos (41:24):
Buy it. More questions.
Rachewl (41:27):
Okay. I'm a let you chew for a minute. Alright. So
you have a jazz album, 2 hit forthe room.
John Kapelos (41:34):
Yeah.
Rachewl (41:35):
Did you always want to be a musician? How'd that come
about?
John Kapelos (41:38):
I did I did about 8 to 10 years of piano lessons
when I was a kid. And when I wasa teenager, I had a couple of
really, really gifted friendswho were musicians, and I
realized, gosh, I'm not as goodas them. And I also wanted to
act more, but I always didmusic, you know, and a lot of
actors, you know, harbor musicmusical ambitions. My my biggest
(42:01):
thing was to when I worked atSecond City was to do music that
was humorous, but not weird likeweird I'm sorry. Weird Al
Yankovic funny.
Something you can listen toagain and again that was funny
and humorous. But when I was akid, they call them novelty
songs. You know? And they werekind of funny for, like, the
(42:25):
first time you hear them, andthen you can't hear them
anymore. And I wanted to do sortof jazz.
People really take themselvesseriously. And I really love
music. Yeah. So I decided when Iafter I'd done a certain amount
of acting that I really wantedto do an album. So I started
working with some musicians andimproving my musical chops, and
I recorded 3 albums, 1 of whichis available right now.
(42:50):
I pulled I pulled the other 2off because, you know, streaming
and the whole you know, youcan't make money off this stuff.
I mean, it's not like No. Youknow? III don't know how some of
my working musician friends aredoing it, frankly. I have a
friend of mine that justreleased an album, and the
economics are so lousy.
But but I love doing it, and, II love writing it. And it's sort
(43:12):
of complementary to my sort of,work, if you will.
Rachewl (43:17):
Yeah. Well, it's good. It's good to have a thing that
you do because that's what youwanna do.
Matt (43:21):
Yeah. Rachel had some of it playing earlier.
Rachewl (43:23):
Yeah. We were. And I
Matt (43:24):
could see if if you don't listen, like, really closely to
the lyrics, it's catchy. Like,you can just listen to it and
enjoy it.
Rachewl (43:31):
Are also catchy. That's not where he's going. Yeah.
Matt (43:33):
But then the lyrics add like an it's, like, subtle. You
have to pay attention to lyricsto get
John Kapelos (43:39):
Yeah. It's not entirely background music
sometimes. I mean, 1 of mycousins put it on other place
and, like, it gets a little bit,you know, intense. But, you
know, I I come from a time andplace where, you know, I put on
an album and sit down and listento it. I'd listen to the side 1
and side 2.
(43:59):
I mean, I know that peoplelisten to music differently,
and, but, you know, IIII didmade the album. I mean, you can
listen to individual cuts andstuff like that. But, you know,
III love doing it. I love doingit, and I'm working on a new,
album right now on my dog. Mydog knows that I have pizza
(44:21):
here.
Rachewl (44:22):
Well, he knows you have food. Yeah. He's like, no. I'm
not okay. I'm not eating yourpizza.
So do you have any upcomingprojects?
John Kapelos (44:31):
I have a script that I've written with, somebody
else called the mayor ofKoreatown, and it's a film noir,
and it's a series for streamingand, that I would be the lead
in. So that's a project that weare currently trying to sell,
and, things are looking good.There are a couple of movies
(44:52):
that, I'm I'm slated to do thisyear. Although 1 of them, the
funding just fell through, so Idon't know whether it's gonna
happen. And the other 1, thefunding just happened.
So that that's gonna happen. ButI gotta tell you, I mean, I'm
sure other actors, I don't knowwhether they are telling you
this, but Hollywood is kind ofat a weird place right now.
Doesn't seem to be post strike,a lot of activity, and that's a
(45:15):
bit ominous for a lot of people,including myself. But, you know,
I've been doing this a while,and, and sometimes the ocean
swells can get kind of deep andand hollow, and so it can be a
long time between gigs. And, youknow, I say this to friends and
(45:38):
and family and anybody who willlisten, but they sort of nod
their heads and go, yeah.
We've heard you say this before.But, you know, I may never work
again. And and that's kind ofthe that's kind of the thing you
have to really keep in mind asan actor. Like, it this might be
it. Now did you have do you eversee a show called Beacon 23?
Rachewl (45:55):
I have not. It's
John Kapelos (45:56):
a sci fi show that's on MGM. I did an episode
of that a couple years ago thatI have not seen yet. Friend of
mine saw it recently, said itwas pretty good, but, that was
fun to shoot. And, is Lena LenaHeadley is in it, Hetty, The
woman from Game of Thrones?
Rachewl (46:13):
Mhmm. Mhmm.
John Kapelos (46:14):
Anyway, that's something that's out there. And,
you know, I did I did 50episodes of Days of Our Lives
last year, and they killed mycharacter off. I played a,
Rachewl (46:26):
Oh, that's not the end. It's a soap opera. You could
still
John Kapelos (46:29):
tell it. It's what everybody says, but I I think
that they were they they werekind of wipe them wipe their
hands on me. So any morequestions? What other questions
do you have? No?
Rachewl (46:37):
Well, yeah, just where can people go to figure out
where you're gonna be showing upnext? We saw you in New Jersey,
and I honestly can't rememberhow we found you there.
John Kapelos (46:44):
Well, Facebook is the best place right now. My
Facebook page or the Instagram,the John Capitalist message.
Rachewl (46:51):
You did a trial in Chicago where you were Socrates
on trial.
John Kapelos (46:55):
And that just was on PBS now, and it's it's up for
an Emmy on PBS.
Rachewl (47:00):
Yeah. Nice.
John Kapelos (47:01):
And I just did a play here in town, 3
performances of a play at theGetty Villa where I played I,
Socrates, another another hisname was ice Esocrates, another,
Rachewl (47:15):
Mhmm.
John Kapelos (47:15):
Philosopher who was after Socrates. But, so I'm
I'm sort of getting into playingphilosophers. You know? And I'm
always up for stuff. I mean, I'mup for a really good show and up
meaning, you know, they're I'm 1of the people they're putting in
consideration.
So that's always part of my
Rachewl (47:34):
Yeah. Keep your foot in the door. Yeah. And I love to
act.
John Kapelos (47:37):
I mean, I love to act. The thought of me not
acting anymore depresses me morethan anybody else.
Rachewl (47:43):
Well, I think you're good. You've got, like, 200
credits on IMDB, so just get yourolling.
John Kapelos (47:49):
Who's counting? Right?
Rachewl (47:50):
Well, IMDB count is how I knew. But, yeah, because we
were trying to make it toChicago, but we didn't hear
about it till too late and thencouldn't go. So I just wanted to
see if there was a the bestplace to go find information. So
Facebook or Instagram.
John Kapelos (48:04):
Well, I mean, you know, I'll, now that, you know,
keep your ear to the ground nowthat I know you guys, I'll make
sure that you're in the loop.You know?
Rachewl (48:11):
Okay. Because we're happy to advertise for you if
you haven't
John Kapelos (48:13):
been love that. I would love that. Because I'm
thinking of doing, do going onthe road with my band, with a
big band, and doing shows inCleveland, Chicago, New York.
And, so we're working on thelogistics of that. Because I'm
not gonna travel with a 18 piecebig band, but I would travel
with a piano player, and we'd goand do the band, pick up the
(48:35):
band in every city because thereare enough musicians in those
cities.
And I wanna do I wanna performlive. I wanna do some, live
singing and performing.
Rachewl (48:45):
Yeah. I could see that being pretty
Matt (48:46):
fun. Exciting.
Rachewl (48:47):
Yeah. Yeah. We just talked to Fred. He lived he's in
Nashville. So, my niece has aboyfriend who just moved there
to do drumming, and so we weretalking about you know, he was
saying that's, like, such aunique place for musicians and
kind of, you
Matt (49:01):
know The scene.
Rachewl (49:02):
The scene, I guess. Yeah.
John Kapelos (49:04):
And and Fred is so you know, he's inventive and
clever and smart and and sotalented that But, you know,
show business is a matrix. It'sit's tough. And, you know, I was
told the other day that friendsof mine were out and and with a
bunch of people, and they didn'tknow who Steve Martin or Martin
(49:25):
Short were, but they knew whoSelena Gomez was. So it's like,
you know, once you're over acertain age, people don't know.
They don't care.
Rachewl (49:35):
Oh, well, we knew you. It was fine. Drove all the way
up to New Jersey. Just for you.Well,
John Kapelos (49:42):
did now what about my swag? Do what do you think of
it? Yeah. Did you listen toanything?
Matt (49:46):
Oh, Meg has it?
Rachewl (49:47):
Yeah. Meg has your album that she bought. The
John Kapelos (49:50):
Then did she listen to the extra tracks?
Rachewl (49:52):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm sure she did.
John Kapelos (49:54):
Cool. Cool.
Rachewl (49:55):
Yeah. She's in Tennessee too, so, we don't live
close to each other. But, yes,she we took it apart in the
hotel room and had all you hadall the unpacked everything.
Unpacked. Yeah.
We you had the hand drawn cardsand some other stuff in there.
So that was really sweet.
John Kapelos (50:10):
Thing.
Rachewl (50:11):
Did you sell out? Did you sell all 6?
John Kapelos (50:12):
Yeah. I did. People bought them. Awesome.
Rachewl (50:16):
That was really good. Oh, thank you for coming on and
for chatting with us.
John Kapelos (50:20):
Well, thank you for having me. And and, you
know, have me again. I mean, youknow, if it it would be fun if
we did a get Nigel and and,Karen together, the 3 of us on 1
day.
Rachewl (50:30):
I would die. I would die. We are going to Toronto
John Kapelos (50:33):
Because then then the stories will come out
because honestly, you asked meabout stories, and and and there
are a few that I could tell,but, I I think I'd have to get
their permission. So
Rachewl (50:44):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've seen Kathy,
John Kapelos (50:47):
Disher.
Rachewl (50:48):
Disher. Yeah. Catherine. I should call her
Catherine. My my apologies.
So That's alright. We metCatherine in, Orlando, and then,
we we got a cameo from her aswell. And I feel like anytime
you get in her orbit, she lovestell stories about things. And
Meg and I joke that we're FortKnox. Can't repeat any story
she's ever told us.
John Kapelos (51:08):
Well, I think she she loves to diss. Disher loves
to diss. Dish. Dish. I mean, notdiss.
Rachewl (51:15):
Yeah. It's it's just been fun. We've actually gone on
a bit of a road trip. We met Garin Stratford. We saw, Catherine
in Orlando and then saw you
John Kapelos (51:24):
in lucky for you. What'd you see him in?
Rachewl (51:26):
We saw him in Grand Magic
John Kapelos (51:28):
fucking there. That's great.
Rachewl (51:29):
That he was in last year. Yeah. It was really and
he's in London Assurance thisyear, so we're gonna see him in
the
John Kapelos (51:35):
great on stage.
Rachewl (51:36):
And, yeah, we're gonna be in Stratford, and we're
actually gonna meet with Nigelwhen we're in Stratford. So
we'll get the whole
John Kapelos (51:42):
Well, when you see them, you make sure you say
hello to them from me. Okay?
Rachewl (51:46):
Okay. That I will. Everybody says that. Say hello
to me from to them fromCatherine. Kathy said that.
Garrett said that. So, actually,I think he said that. I don't
know. I've, like, blanked out.It was the weirdest moment of my
life.
That's why we have the wholepodcast because Meg Meg and I,
we waited outside the door, andhe came out
Matt (52:05):
grand magic.
Rachewl (52:06):
Yeah. He came out to say hello and to sign our
poster, and I just like, Matthad to push us forward. Both
Matt (52:12):
blanked.
Rachewl (52:13):
Yeah. I had to push us forward and was like, this is
Meg and Rachel. And I was like,hi. Never in my life have I ever
done that. I've ever beenspeechless before.
I don't know what happened. Itwas late at night. That's what
I'm gonna go with. I don't know.It was weird.
But yeah. So we we had a wewe've had a wonderful time kinda
going on a road trip, forevernight road trip, 30 years.
John Kapelos (52:35):
You know, if this is gonna be without a picture,
that's good because you areblushing so much right now.
Rachewl (52:41):
It's hot. It's hot. It's North Carolina. It's
John Kapelos (52:43):
like Oh, yeah. It's hot. It's like you're just
talking about Darren Nigel. Iguess I don't wanna listen to
the same response. But
Rachewl (52:51):
No. No. You're no. I'm just not being professional with
you right now.
John Kapelos (52:54):
No. No. I'm just teasing. They're they're really,
really, you know, they're bothextraordinary performers, and
and so is Catherine. I mean andand and dear, Natalie, gosh.
What am I blanking on her namenow? Not Natalie.
Rachewl (53:14):
Deb.
John Kapelos (53:15):
Deb Deb Deb Deb Duchenne. Has anybody heard from
her?
Rachewl (53:19):
No. She's just disappeared. Funny everybody
asks, and no. And she never didanything after forever night and
didn't stay in touch withanybody, I guess.
John Kapelos (53:29):
Holy fuck.
Rachewl (53:31):
So she's just in the wind.
John Kapelos (53:34):
Okay, guys. Dinner time. Eat.
Rachewl (53:38):
Okay. Eat your pizza and feed your dog, and thank you
for coming on.
John Kapelos (53:42):
Thank well, thank you for having me. I'm sorry
that, I probably was boring.Right?
Rachewl (53:47):
No. Not at all. Not at all. And I'll let you know when
I got the reunion show together.
John Kapelos (53:53):
Well, do it. Let me know. Keep in touch.
Rachewl (53:56):
I will. That would be great.
Matt (53:59):
Bye. Bye.
Hi. I'm Rachel.
Matt (00:01):
And I'm Matt.
John Kapelos (00:02):
Hi. I'm John.
Rachewl (00:04):
And this is Come in 81 kilo.
Matt (00:07):
A forever night podcast.
Rachewl (01:01):
Sorry. We we wrapped up coming 81 kilo in, like,
February, so we haven't we'reout of practice.
John Kapelos (01:08):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rachewl (01:09):
Yeah. We did every single episode. We ran out,
unfortunately. They stoppedmaking them. I don't know if you
knew that.
John Kapelos (01:16):
They stopped making what?
Rachewl (01:18):
Forever forever night episodes. We got to 70
something, and they just
John Kapelos (01:25):
they just stop making them. I never
Rachewl (01:27):
even knew that. Alright. So, I pulled our
Discord and got some questionsfor you, and then we have some
questions, and then just feelfree to talk about whatever you
want to too. But, how did youget your start in acting? Like,
where did you start?
John Kapelos (01:44):
I started in, my hometown of London, Ontario. I
did a play when I was a kid. Imean, a little boy when I was in
public school, and I loved doingthat. And then when I got into
high school, I auditioned forthe school play and got Guys and
Dolls. And it was it's socliched, but I look back on it.
(02:09):
I got bitten by the showbiz bug,and I really after that, it's
like, wow. I really enjoyedacting. I got out of class. I
got a lot of attention. Theschool show went well.
We did Guys and Dolls. I was thelead. And then then I went into
university, and I pretended tobe an English major for a couple
(02:31):
of years. I have a journalismmajor, then an English major.
Then I went into film andtheater, and they went, oh, man.
I would
Matt (02:39):
turn it back.
John Kapelos (02:40):
And and then, I left university and took sort of
a little bit of time off, likeabout 7, 8 months, and sort of
had a a little bit of, sort of athing with my father and my
parents, sort of didn't talk tothem for a few months. And then
we had a. And I went to Torontoand got, involved with Second
(03:04):
City in the workshops. And, Igot my tie caught on the Second
City, wagon, and I auditionedfor Second City in Chicago, and
I got a job. And I kept thatjob, and I never looked back.
That's kind of the I mean, but Istarted I started in London,
(03:24):
Ontario and, in in drama classin in in, high school and public
school.
Rachewl (03:31):
Yeah. So I
John Kapelos (03:32):
answer. Right? Too probably too long.
Rachewl (03:34):
No. No. That was good. No. We like long x answers.
But you answered my nextquestion, which was, did you
always wanna be an actor?
John Kapelos (03:40):
But Well, my my parents said I wanted to be an
actor. And, my family sort of rereinforced the notion that I was
a bit of a clown and performer.But, I was the youngest child.
And in a lot of ways, there's asort of a classic thing about
youngest children. I mean,apparently, Robin Williams and
Billy Crystal, a lot of peoplewere youngest children.
(04:03):
I don't know whether Garrett,Wendy's. I don't think Garrett
is I think, you know, he's a sonof a preacher, so that's a whole
different category.
Rachewl (04:11):
Yeah. You know what's funny? I actually don't know if
he has siblings or not. I havean entire podcast about him, and
I have no idea.
John Kapelos (04:19):
You don't know whether he has siblings, and I
worked with him. And I don'tthink he does have siblings.
Rachewl (04:25):
I I know his parents are still alive, but
John Kapelos (04:29):
To this day?
Rachewl (04:30):
Yes. Yeah. Wow. I know. Meg, my cohost for the podcast
specifically about Gare, wastelling me, and I was like, for
real?
Like, still alive? That's crazy.I think they're in
John Kapelos (04:42):
the nineties. Say really, really lovely, lovely
parents. My goodness. I mean,salt of the earth, his father. I
I remember his fatherparticularly.
His mother is lovely, but Iremember his father because his
father, I'm I talked to him at abit more than his his mom.
Rachewl (04:59):
Did they come visit the set when you would film me? Oh,
neat.
John Kapelos (05:04):
His dad came by and, just a lovely man and and,
with a very beautiful Welsh sortof brogue. Yeah. That's
Rachewl (05:13):
it. We, anyway, we have a we have another podcast called
Gare Can Get It, and it's just afunny, like, exploration of his
filmography because it's so wideand varied. And we talk about
his accent quite a bit, and,that's why we laughed right
there because he doesn't have aspecific Welsh accent, but he
has a very, like, Gare way ofspeaking, like clues. We love
(05:34):
clues. Everything is a clue.
John Kapelos (05:36):
Clues.
Rachewl (05:37):
Clue.
John Kapelos (05:38):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we we we we had a different
cadence on, forever night. Imean, I sort of employed my
Chicago accent as skanky, butthat's I mean, III didn't want
to sound Canadian Yeah. In anyway, shape, or form, which I am
by birth.
But I sort of not as Canadianaccent sounding as I once was
(06:04):
when I was before I left Canada.
Rachewl (06:07):
So do you have a favorite type of character to
play?
John Kapelos (06:11):
It's a really good question. I like playing glib
characters. You know? I likeplaying playing characters that
have a sort of verbal dexterityand that enjoy that are, smart.
I mean, I I think most of thecharacters I play have a level
of intelligence.
I don't really play dumb or,uninformed guys that much. I
(06:33):
don't find them thatinteresting. You know, I mean,
classic answer would be, youknow, what what's my favorite
character play? Is it the next1?
Rachewl (06:42):
Yeah. But,
John Kapelos (06:45):
that's a really good question. I like playing
people with a good verbaldexterity and that don't suffer
fools lightly. That's probably
Matt (06:53):
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that comes across in your roles.
John Kapelos (06:59):
You probably will. In reality, so we can certain
ways.
Rachewl (07:04):
So how did you become involved with Nick Knight, the
pilot movie?
John Kapelos (07:10):
That was a really circuitous story. I had a deal,
as a writer, producer, and actorat what was then known as New
World Entertainment. Not anoffice over there on Sepulveda
here in LA. And I was developinga show there that went to NBC
(07:31):
productions, called MontereyJack. And, New World actually
claimed ownership to it, andthen New World became Columbia
Pictures Television.
And there was a lot of sort ofback and forth. My show,
Monterey Jack, went to pilot atNBC, and then it fell apart. And
(07:53):
then New World, which was nowColumbia Pictures Television,
had this show called ForeverNight or, actually, excuse me,
Nick Knight. And they had adirector attached named a man
named Farhad Mann, and they had,Rick Springfield. Yeah.
And, they asked me to comeaboard with that. And that was
(08:16):
that came through myassociation, as I said, with
Columbia Pictures Television,formerly New World. And, there's
a lot more to the story in termsof my relationship with Columbia
Pictures Television and and thethe powers that be there. And
they weren't, because of we hada little bit of a difficulty
(08:39):
with my project over at NBC.They claimed ownership, and we
had a little bit of a tug ofwar, and they lost.
So when I went over to Colombiato do, Forever Night or at least
Knick Knick, I wasn't exactlygreeted with open arms, but they
wanted me to do the show. We didthe pilot in LA with Rick here
(09:03):
and Farhad. And and then werepeated the whole script.
Rachewl (09:07):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (09:07):
The whole thing we shot again in in Toronto.
Rachewl (09:11):
Yeah. But as a 2 part.
John Kapelos (09:13):
But that's how I got involved. I mean, it was
circuitous and long, and, theywanted me through for it. And
then I was disappointed when itdidn't go didn't go here. And
then when it got picked up inToronto, I naturally, they
expressed interest. And becauseI'm a dual citizen, I think they
were interested.
Rachewl (09:31):
Nice.
Matt (09:31):
Did you have to reaudition for the No. Toronto?
John Kapelos (09:35):
No. I I physically I physically looked different
when I went up to Canada becauseI'd put on a few poundages from
the the original pilot, and Ikept them on throughout most of
forever night. But, and then,you know, then I grew the
sideburns, and I did all thatstuff.
Rachewl (09:55):
That's actually a question for later. What was it
like working with RickSpringfield?
John Kapelos (10:01):
I mean, Rick's a good guy. You know, I wouldn't
say he's a ground shaking actor.It was more more fun and
challenging working with Garebecause Gare is a real thespian.
Mhmm. Rick had a sort of a very,you know, laid back approach to
to it.
And, I really enjoyed workingwith him. Although, you know, I
don't think it was long enough,and and, I don't know whether he
(10:25):
was entirely into it. But, youknow, it's it's it's tough to
gauge with certain people peoplethat are I would say that come
out of the the the the musicworld because they're not really
playing anything else other thansort of them of sort of a large
group of themselves.
Matt (10:42):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (10:42):
So I wouldn't say he was putting on a character.
And that's no flies. That's noflies on him. But he wasn't, I
would say I mean, you know, hewas acting, but I wouldn't say
he was, you know, a great actor.
Rachewl (10:55):
Yeah. But
John Kapelos (10:56):
he's, you know, serviceable in the part. But I
think that us that also hadsomething to do with why it
didn't go.
Rachewl (11:06):
I mean, I think the Rick Springfield star effect
sort of overshadowed. I'vealways felt like it overshadows
Nick Knight a little bit. Like,oh, it's Rick Springfield in
this movie instead of like, oh,it's this movie. Oh, look. It
has Rick Springfield in it.
John Kapelos (11:18):
Listen. I there's a term for what they what that's
called in in in Hollywood, andit's called stunt casting. It's
when you when you put in, like,you know I don't know whether
you guys remember JoeyButtafuoco, but, you know, the
the Long Island Lolita, youknow, he ended up shooting, you
know, and he became this guy.And then all of a sudden, 1 day,
I'm reading for a sitcom, andthey you know, this is many
(11:38):
years ago. And it's like it'slike between you and Adolf
Hitler.
It's like, really? You know? Orit's between you and Joey
Buttafuto because these people,it's stunt casting. They bring
them in. The Adolf Hitler thingis a joke and probably not that
funny.
But the the whole notion is thatthey they bring in people from
the real world. And, you know,sometimes it's because of
(12:01):
infamous reasons. Right? So I'llnever forget reading for the
sitcom. They go, oh, it'sbetween you and Joey Buttafuoco.
And I'm like, really? And Ididn't get it.
Rachewl (12:15):
So the character of Skanky is quite a bit different
between the movie and theCanadian plot pilot. Was that
intentional, or did that justdifferent director, different
You're talking about to playwith?
John Kapelos (12:26):
From from Rick Springfield to Forever Knight?
Rachewl (12:30):
Yeah. Because in Nick Knight, Skanky is a much more,
like, a harder, more sarcasticcharacter. And then when we get
to the dark knight part 1 and 2,we get more of the, like, skanky
skanky. So I wasn't sure if thatwas just you had different
actors to play with, and so itcame off a little bit different,
or was that intentional?
John Kapelos (12:48):
It's interesting. I think, it wasn't I wouldn't
say I mean, it was it was therewas a deliberateness to it. I
knew that it was happening. Iplayed it differently. But, the
way I work is not entirely itwasn't like, oh, okay.
This is what I'm gonna do. It'sintentional. It it also had to
do with the dynamic and the waythat the the guys wrote the show
(13:09):
in in Toronto and the wayGarratt was and the way the the
backstory was. I it came to passwhen I started doing more of it,
the episodes. And and I've saidthis in the past, but it it it
it bears repeating that theskanky represented the audience
in a lot of ways.
Mhmm. And it it it also therewas a such a seriousness to the
(13:34):
backstory and the sort of theway they played it. And that the
John Kapalas, the actor thoughtthat it would be best if Skanky
was a little bit of funnierbecause it would provide a
counterpoint to that sort ofseriousness. Yeah. And and also
(13:54):
provide something for theaudience to go, like, WTF, why
aren't you drinking or eatinganything?
I mean, all I see you have iswine and stuff like that. And
and and I think that that was animportant touchstone for the the
show. And and also the dynamicof Gerhardt and the sort of,
ornate Shakespearean aspect tohis his acting and the sort of
(14:16):
backstory, you know, the hischaracter. You know? Yeah.
The fact that he was this guythat lived for centuries. I have
this sort of noble, you know,you know, way of being, you
know, carriage. So I thoughtthat the best way to me for me
to anchor Skanky was to put himtotally in the 20th century
(14:37):
then. And in in the here and nowand sort of midwestern American
sort of skank sort of reallywith a wife and, you know,
family and the sort of the wholeearthbound catastrophe. And and
and have him you know?
And and that that and and andand the and I think it became a
(14:58):
little bit more, I would lay onthat a little bit more, the more
comfortable I got with thecharacter. And also the more I
could play off of Gare because Ialways found the whole Nigel
Gare, you know, all that stuffreally kind of worthy of poking
(15:19):
fun at.
Rachewl (15:20):
Yeah. Yeah.
John Kapelos (15:22):
You know, but in my own but in my own way, you
know?
Matt (15:26):
Yeah. Yeah. Forever Knight Skanky is a lot more, I guess,
wholesome family man being funnyversus the more cynical, like,
career oriented skanky from NickKnight.
John Kapelos (15:40):
Yeah. Well Yeah. And, you know, I mean, it's
funny that you should mentionthat because we never really,
really as you know, we didn't goon the road with Nick Knight. We
went on the road with ForeverKnight. And, I have no idea of
knowing how that skanky wouldhave changed.
But I do know that the the the,there was there was a different,
(16:01):
sort of orientation. And when wewent to, you know, also the
networks affect things,obviously. Yeah. You know, we'll
jump ahead to the 3rd seasonthat I wasn't in because, they
had a network change and thenetwork had a different mandate.
They wanted to go with a afemale captain, etcetera.
I mean, a female partner.
Rachewl (16:19):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's a later question. Did
they let you Adlib?
John Kapelos (16:25):
Oh, yeah.
Rachewl (16:26):
Or did you yeah.
John Kapelos (16:27):
Well, I mean, I don't know whether they let me.
I did it, and I think I did.Yeah. You know? You know, I I
think as an older actor, I I'vecome to look at guys like myself
younger and sort of go, oh,gosh.
You know? When are they gonnajust do the script? But, I kind
of I think that it was importantfor me to do what I did and to
(16:50):
change things because it alsowas my way of, marking my
territory.
Rachewl (16:59):
Yeah. I mean, that's yeah.
John Kapelos (17:02):
You know? And and also, I I had, I had a I had a
sort of a, tug of war going onwith the people in LA, the
executives.
Rachewl (17:11):
During the whole thing?
John Kapelos (17:12):
Pretty much. There was, you know, I I had to
negotiate to write and direct anepisode, and, you know, I ran up
against a couple of walls for,you know, there's a lot of
prejudice against actors whowanna do other things. Mhmm. And
the Directors Guild of Canadasaid, to me, you know, we don't
(17:35):
like actors becoming directors.And I I couldn't believe the
temerity of that statement.
And I said, well, if not us,who? And shouldn't we be on the
top 10? And, they were reallyyou know? And I said, if you
wanna call the director's clubof Canada, you should. But in
the United States, if I got youknow?
So they were not gonna allow meto direct. I basically, Columbia
(18:00):
and CBS and everybody went badfor me on that. But, you know,
it's just like, it it was justit was always a a little bit of
a grudge match, you know, to getme to do things. And, to being a
returning Canadian coming backto to Canada, there was a lot of
weirdness on that 1 too. But,you know
Rachewl (18:22):
Was Columbia involved the entire time? Because I know
Paragon was. Was Columbia the US
John Kapelos (18:28):
Columbia is the US entity. Yeah.
Rachewl (18:30):
Oh, okay.
John Kapelos (18:30):
And and, yeah, Columbia, Sony, they had a lot
to do with it. And then therewas a German entity. I mean, I
don't know whether you've heardthis from other actors, but they
wanted to do the the the Germanshows were a little bit longer.
Do you are you not Yeah.
Rachewl (18:43):
Knowledgeable about this?
Matt (18:44):
The Euro minutes?
John Kapelos (18:45):
Yeah.
Rachewl (18:45):
They Yeah.
John Kapelos (18:46):
And they also like to have topless ladies in it.
Right? Yeah. So we do we do ascene in a bar. Right?
And or just in some gratuitouslocation, and they say, okay.
We're gonna do the Germanversion. And all of a sudden,
the women around us would takeoff their tops. I'm like, well,
wait a minute. We'd we'd be in arestaurant.
(19:08):
We'd be in a restaurant scene,and all of a sudden there'd be
topless women in it. It's like,wait a minute. Is this a topless
restaurant? I mean, it would beit would be I mean, it was
distracting.
Rachewl (19:18):
Yeah. I'm sure. Imagine.
John Kapelos (19:22):
And, you know, you had to be on your you know, mind
your p's and q's, which I do anddid, and of course, and, you
know, just like, wow. But, youknow, that's another story.
Rachewl (19:33):
Yeah. Oh, the German version just came out on DVD, in
fact. So you can now purchasethe German versions, on DVD in
Germany, but you can't purchaseforever night on DVD easily in
the US, which I think isinteresting. So now I can buy
the German version and see thedifference in the restaurant
scenes, I guess.
John Kapelos (19:52):
But the thing is if you buy the German version,
is it gonna be a a European DVDthat you can't play on a North
America?
Rachewl (20:00):
You can you can buy jailbroken DVD players where
people have, made it possible.It's what it's called where you
take off the,
Matt (20:09):
The copyright
Rachewl (20:09):
the copyright protection.
Matt (20:11):
I'm a tech guy. I have ways.
John Kapelos (20:14):
Steel broken. I've never heard that, fear of some
Rachewl (20:17):
Technically, all region all region DVD players, if you
wanna be real PC. So my nextquestion was, were those your
real sideburns? And since youhave sideburns right now, I'm
guessing yes.
John Kapelos (20:29):
God, yes. They're my real sideburn.
Rachewl (20:31):
Did you
John Kapelos (20:32):
choose the Fabrics? You missed it. I had I
had flaming long ones. I lookedsort of like, you know, 1 of,
some old rock star, but now
Rachewl (20:40):
that Yeah.
John Kapelos (20:41):
Nothing comes out. Yeah. They were mine. And they
they get they I think theyticked off Gary a lot. Because
he's not doesn't mean he kept ongoing, why are you growing
these?
And the more and the more Elvisy they grew, the more I dug it.
And, you know, I just did it.
Rachewl (20:59):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (21:00):
And it it was, I think it was a kind of a cool
thing to do.
Rachewl (21:06):
Yep. In fact, in the podcast, we have the skanky
sideburn index because some ofthe episodes are aired out of
order, so your sideburns willchange, length. And so I'm like
I'm like, oh, okay. So this isan an older episode, and they
aired it out because we can tellby the skanky sideburn index
that it's slightly newer.
John Kapelos (21:25):
Well, you know, I just I love I love that. I
really, really love that.
Rachewl (21:29):
So, we noticed they were appreciated. Because I
think it's, like, 196 6, whichis you don't have to remember
the titles. I will. It's the 1that's mostly flashback, and
it's, like, kind of in theelevator episode where Skanky's
just hiding under a desk theentire episode. And you have
John Kapelos (21:47):
was fun. That was an easy 1 to shoot.
Rachewl (21:48):
You have quite large sideburns in that 1. And then I
think in the next 1, they'realmost gone. And so, our our our
postulation was that 1 wasfilmed earlier and aired later
because you definitely have adifferent style.
John Kapelos (22:01):
Sideburn, continuity sometimes was off.
Rachewl (22:06):
That's okay. Also, Gare's hair length because we
guess he gets a haircut at thebeginning of the season and then
didn't until, like, thebeginning of the next season
because it would always getlonger. So here's a question.
Did they always intend to neverhave a Myra or Jenny cast, or
was that because you have a wifeand child in the show, but we
(22:27):
never ever see them.
John Kapelos (22:28):
I think they were always intended to be off screen
characters.
Rachewl (22:32):
Yeah. I mean, it's such an interesting choice because
there are moments where you aretheoretically going to interact
with them, and it'd be like, oh,here's Jenny's entire class, but
Jenny's out with measles. And sothey had to really rearrange
lots of stuff to keep them out,which I was that was
interesting.
John Kapelos (22:48):
I think there's a there are a variety of reasons
that there weren't at Myra andJenny. 1 of them was probably
budgetary. Yeah.
Rachewl (22:57):
I'll go figure. Did Skanky know? Did Skanky know? I
know you don't have to answerthat. Do you think Skanky knew?
John Kapelos (23:06):
That he was a vampire?
Rachewl (23:08):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (23:08):
No.
Rachewl (23:09):
No? I mean I mean,
John Kapelos (23:13):
that's a 4th wall for Skanky. You know the 4th
wall. Right?
Rachewl (23:16):
Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.
John Kapelos (23:17):
I mean, I'm I'm not not that I'm condescending,
but I mean, the notion of the Imean, for Skanky, because of
just using that as a metaphor,like, for him not to believe
that. To frame to to to to thinkthat that Nick was a vampire
would blow his effing mind.
Rachewl (23:34):
Yeah. It's okay. We curse on this show.
Matt (23:37):
We had a lot of speculation about whether Skanky
knew his side his partner wassome kind of supernatural
creature Yeah. And depended onthat. But
John Kapelos (23:46):
I mean, you know, no. I mean, if if we had more if
if I had more episodes and we,you know, we'd stretched into it
I mean, the the the the theepisode I did with Nigel where
he, you know, that, you know, inhis radio in
Rachewl (24:04):
his Yeah. The close call.
John Kapelos (24:05):
That's the 1 reason. That episode. And I love
the whole, you know, who thefuck are these guys sort of
thing.
Rachewl (24:13):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (24:14):
You know? I think walking up to the line, but for
me to skate over it and to seeit, unless they take my memory
away and then bring me back.Right? You know?
Rachewl (24:23):
Yeah. Yeah. Which I think happens in that episode.
John Kapelos (24:26):
That's right.
Rachewl (24:27):
Yeah. Because we chat about it quite a bit on the show
in that maybe Skanky doesn'tknow he's a vampire, but he's
aware something is going onbecause it feels like it makes
the Skanky character moreinteresting. If he's if he,
like, knows something is weird,but he's like, but I don't care.
Like, I just like Nick.
John Kapelos (24:48):
Well, I I think there's a lot of that. I mean, I
think there's a lot of, like,you know, is he, you know,
what's his deal, you know, withwomen, with his nightlife, with
his diet, you know, all thatstuff. But I don't think that
he's, you know, yeah, I'll justlet it rely at that. Let you
guys enjoy the tough stuff. Ican
Rachewl (25:09):
I mean
John Kapelos (25:10):
I can I can project mystification?
Rachewl (25:13):
Oh, okay. Good. Good. You're like, I don't know. It's
a mystery.
That's fine. It can stay amystery. Do you have any funny
stories from the set?
John Kapelos (25:22):
There was 1 time when my mother came on the set,
and, in the middle of a take,she interrupted the scene with
Gary and myself. And I thoughtthat she'd lost it. I mean, not
that my mother was but I shewent she went, John, what's
(25:42):
going on here? What are youdoing? Why and and III really,
for a moment, thought, you know,mom, I'm I'm yeah.
I'm working. I'm working.
Rachewl (25:53):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (25:54):
And everybody laughed. I've got the video of
it. And, I've got it somewherein my files. I mean, I and and I
can I'll definitely share itwith you at some point if you
wish.
Rachewl (26:03):
Oh, I will. We will take it. We will borrow and
return it.
John Kapelos (26:07):
I beg your pardon?
Rachewl (26:08):
I said we will borrow and return it.
John Kapelos (26:10):
Well, I said I can send you the file. It's it's
it's and I gotta say that was areally wonderful moment. I mean,
we worked so many deep nights.You know, we'd shoot from 4 or 5
in the afternoon till 6, 7, 8, 9in the morning. And, like, you
know, I wish they I I I've oftensaid this.
I wish they burnished the timein the corner, like, what time
(26:30):
in the morning we shot this.Because sometimes I have to do
these, like, incredibly longsort of speeches or whatever.
We'd have to do these actionthings. And it's 4:30 in the
morning, 4:45. I mean, you know,in the middle in the middle of a
cold, cold Toronto, you knowYeah.
Yeah. But, there were I mean, Idid 48 episodes. I directed, 1
(26:54):
episode with with Geraint andand Nigel, and I had so much fun
directing that episode. I mean,I think, initially, when I first
was a lot of fun because and andalso John Kassar Mhmm. Who was
our camera guy, you know, wenton to do great things.
(27:18):
Any great stories? That's aboutit. I mean, I, you know, I could
probably dig up 1 or 2, but letme think for a second. More
questions.
Rachewl (27:24):
Okay. Okay. So my next one's actually you keep
answering my next question,which was you mentioned your mom
came to the set, so we alreadyanswered that 1. And then you
actually wrote the code anddirected A More Permanent Hell.
So what was that like?
Like, writing and then youdidn't direct the episode that
you wrote, but you directed anepisode you didn't
John Kapelos (27:44):
write. What's his name? Clay Borris directed the 1
I wrote. Right? I think hedirected the code.
Michael Levine, what did hedirect? I mean, partners of the
month. That was written byShelley Goldstein, and she was
my girlfriend at the time. Okay.The the, more permanent hell was
(28:09):
the 1 I directed.
Rachewl (28:10):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (28:11):
And it's like, you know, come on. They said, you've
got the destruction of Pompeiiand you've got, like, 10 setups
to do it. Now 10 I don't knowwhether you know what setups
are, but setups are basicallycamera setups. You put the
camera over here, and the actionhappens. Then you put the camera
over here and over here.
So I can do that 10 times tocover the destruction of
(28:34):
Pompeii. Are you kidding?
Rachewl (28:36):
That's fine.
John Kapelos (28:37):
I'm gonna need a few more setups in that. In
addition to that, it's like theythey were kind of, daring me to
direct the episode. And I'vebeen preparing to direct
something like this for a longtime. And, you know, the whole
notion of having a, statue ofNigel in that episode Yeah. That
(29:00):
gets destroyed.
That was my idea. That wasn't inthe script because I said, I
wanna see a physical destructionof this guy that never really
happens in reality. But inRight.
Matt (29:11):
Right.
John Kapelos (29:12):
In physical reality, when when the earth
comes plundering down on himand, you
Matt (29:16):
know Symblism.
John Kapelos (29:17):
You know, I want I want to see him destroyed that
way so he can see sort of mymortality mortal. I'd still like
to be mortal. You know, all thatsort of stuff. And the girl that
played, Divinia, was itcharacter's name?
Rachewl (29:32):
Divya. Yeah.
John Kapelos (29:32):
Divya. Divya. Divya. Divya. Divya.
Rachewl (29:34):
Right? Yes.
John Kapelos (29:35):
Yeah. What an extraordinarily weird, little.
She's grown up now. I'm suremuch older, much older. But, an
odd I mean, really, she wasperfect.
She was perfect. Casting wasgreat. Now we had a very funny
thing happen when we shot thedestruction of Pompeii. We had
(29:56):
to had to jigger the whole set,and this whole thing had to
shake and all this smoke
Rachewl (30:00):
and all
John Kapelos (30:00):
the and we had the camera back here, and we had the
whole set destroyed and fellapart. Boom. That was the last
last thing we did with that setwas to destroy it. Mhmm. And,
I'm I'm directing no.
I think I'm acting in anotherepisode, an episode later. And
(30:22):
they're editing the episode thatI directed, you know, putting it
together. And I get a tap on myshoulder and I think, John, you
gotta come to the editing room.We got a problem. I said, oh,
no.
So I go to the editing room, andwe'd I I think we just shot the
episode or when whenever it is.It may be working the next
episode. And they show me thethe footage of the set being
(30:48):
destroyed and all the smoke andeverything falling apart and
Nigel statue falling and allthat stuff. And the guy I said,
it looks great. It looks great.
It looks great. He goes, yeah.Yeah. Take a look over here. I
said, okay.
Takes a look over here. And inthe dust and everything, you see
a crew guy sitting there sittingthere and all of a sudden
(31:11):
looking up and realizing thecamera's on him, and he crawls
off. Now it's all done with dustand everything. So you can
barely see it, but it'shappening right there or there
or wherever. And I went, holyshit.
No. And he went, yeah. Yeah.Yeah. Can you believe it?
(31:33):
And I said, well, we can't youknow, he said, what can we do?
Well, they went in and theydigitally removed it. Now this
is, you know, not today, andwe're not working with a present
camera I mean, computers andstuff. But they managed to do
that. They managed to digi, youknow, fudge it.
(31:53):
That was a funny experience ofdirecting that episode. There
was also another thing thathappened. Nigel and Gary
wouldn't love to hear this, butthere was 1 day when I was
directing an episode that theguys wouldn't come out of their
trailers after lunch. Becausethey were a little bit ticked
off as to the way I directed thescene before lunch. I said,
(32:17):
really?
I said, yeah. They're they'reand I said, come on. They're
acting like actors, and they'refucking the directors. You know,
I have to you have to shoot acertain certain number of pages
during the day. And and and andI that was the 1 time the whole
48 episodes that I was on theother side of the thing, and I
(32:37):
said, get them out of theirtrailers and tell them to get
working.
You know, I'm not gonna toleratethis. Yeah. And they they were
serious. They both of them wereplaying a little hissy fit on
me. And, like, you know, youknow, it was it was uncalled
for.
But it happened. Mean, it
Rachewl (32:55):
it was an episode about a meteor that was gonna hit the
earth, so it's fine. It wasn'tShakespeare. Yeah. I mean, it
was a good
John Kapelos (33:01):
They were both stretching their they were both
stretching their acting egos alittle bit.
Rachewl (33:07):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (33:08):
There was a scene that we had shot that morning
that under the stairs were,like, Nigel appears here and
there.
Rachewl (33:14):
Yeah. Mhmm.
John Kapelos (33:15):
They didn't like the way I shot it, but it
really, really worked out.
Rachewl (33:18):
It did. Oh, that's a good scene.
Matt (33:19):
Oh, yeah.
Rachewl (33:20):
Yeah. That's the okay. Sorry. I won't and I remember
the episodes better than you.That's fine.
But, you
John Kapelos (33:24):
know, boys will be boys.
Rachewl (33:27):
Yeah. They just had a And
John Kapelos (33:29):
and I was the man that day. So
Matt (33:32):
The man.
Rachewl (33:33):
The man. So you wrote The Code. Is that the only
episode you've ever written, orhad you have other writing
credits?
John Kapelos (33:40):
That's the only episode of, that TV show I've
written. Yeah. There are otherepisodes of TV, but nothing has
been produced. I've written acouple of short short films, and
I've got a feature film. But,nope.
I'm, unproduced writer in thatregard.
Rachewl (33:55):
Well, you're a successful actor, so it balances
out. Do you have any props fromthe show? Did you keep anything?
Matt (34:04):
We won't snitch on you.
John Kapelos (34:05):
No. No. I'd
Rachewl (34:07):
It's been too long. It's fine. No 1 cares.
John Kapelos (34:10):
No. I don't.
Rachewl (34:11):
No? No.
John Kapelos (34:13):
I have I have props from a few other films. I
have something from TheBreakfast Club. I mean, I have a
piece of wardrobe from TheBreakfast Club, and I have
something from Roxanne, but no.Not from Forever Night.
Rachewl (34:26):
Not even a
John Kapelos (34:27):
doctor. I mean, I'm thinking out loud. I mean, I
have recordings. I did somemusic on the set with a couple
of the people, and I have, as Isaid, I have that outtake. And,
I have pictures that I took andsome stuff in my own
(34:50):
memorabilia.
But, you know
Rachewl (34:52):
Not even the duck lamp.
John Kapelos (34:53):
Reaching that point in my life, you know,
where people around me are, notme, but people around me are are
you know, their lives areending, and I'm thinking maybe I
should sort through some of thisstuff. So that's been 1 of my
plans for 2024 is to go throughsome of my my stuff. I mean, I
have extensive, stuff. I didn'tI I, you know, I I kept some
(35:16):
scripts. I kept a few things.
Rachewl (35:17):
That's yeah. We actually just talked to Fred
Mahlek.
John Kapelos (35:20):
Oh, yeah. I thought
Rachewl (35:21):
we did all the music. Yeah. And he's cleaning out his
storage unit, so I now have,like, a 100 videotapes that are
sitting to my right here for meto go through. But he Well, you
John Kapelos (35:33):
know what? I might have a few tapes for you too. So
Rachewl (35:36):
I mean, I'm here for you. Yes. He goes, I have a
couple of videotapes, and thenit arrived in, like, a 2 foot by
2 foot box. I was like, that'smore than a couple of
videotapes. That's fine.
They're all the screener copiesthat they sent him, and some of
them are the ones without sound,which you don't realize how much
sound is added
John Kapelos (35:57):
way it's
Matt (35:58):
a whole different scale.
John Kapelos (35:59):
It's amazing how, empty it is. Right? I mean, you
know, I I did last year. Iworked on days of our lives. I
worked on a soap opera.
Now a lot of people put downsoaps. But if you watch a movie
or a TV show without effects init or everything, it's kinda
like watching a soap. Yeah. Imean, you know, you could doll
(36:23):
up a soap with a lot of our, youknow, and 5 point runs around
and all that stuff. I mean, I'mnot saying but, you know, it's
interesting how that stuff canreally, change your POV on
something.
People really will not put upwith crummy sound. They'll put
up with bad picture. Like, TheBlair Witch Project, the old
that old film is an example ofthat.
Rachewl (36:44):
Yeah.
John Kapelos (36:45):
They'll put up with a really sort of gnarly
picture kind of in a weird way,but not sound. And sound is what
really sells a movie.
Rachewl (36:54):
Yeah. It's yeah. You're very true. In fact, 1 of the
well
John Kapelos (36:57):
I mean, picture does too in editing and acting
and all that other stuff. But
Rachewl (37:01):
Yeah. But no. I mean, yeah. Because I know that some
of the more recent movies we'vegone to see in theaters, the
music is so loud and the voicesare so low. You almost can't
hear what's going on.
And it's kind of the trend rightnow is just to have I
John Kapelos (37:13):
hate it. As a matter of fact Yeah.
Matt (37:14):
It's like a weird sound base.
John Kapelos (37:16):
Yeah. Finding a lot of narration and stuff that
I'm watching on TV. Thenarrations mix too low and this
and the music's too high.
Rachewl (37:23):
Yeah. Yeah.
John Kapelos (37:24):
And, you know, I've mixed a few things in my
time, albums and things in a fewTV shows, and I think that
they're bearing the thenarration. And again, you know,
because people have differenttypes of systems, surround sound
systems, whatever. Right. Anyway
Rachewl (37:41):
Yeah. So you were in the shape of water, and so was
Nigel Bennett, and so was a 1962teal Cadillac. Is Guillermo del
Toro a forever night fan?
John Kapelos (37:52):
I I wouldn't put it past him. I mean, Guillermo
is a watcher. I mean, he watchesstuff, and he's such a smart,
incredibly gifted individualthat yeah. I would imagine he
is.
Rachewl (38:04):
Okay. Well, let's we're gonna go with that then.
John Kapelos (38:06):
I'll ask I'll ask him next time. I'll nail him on
it. If not, I'll send him acompendium of stuff. Have you
ever seen have you ever seenthe, the Rockefeller skanks that
somebody edited together online?I love I love that.
I have seen. I I admire that.
Rachewl (38:24):
Because, we're friends with, Kristen who did all the
videos. She had a couple ofvideos on the Sony release of
the DVD and, where she's cutsome things together to some of
Fred Mullen's music and someother music. Good. Yeah. And but
she tends to focus on a coupleof characters, which is fine.
And so to see 1 that was skankywas like, oh, good. Like, I'm
I'm here for this. Yeah.
John Kapelos (38:44):
I know I'm not the most popular character with a
lot of the the vamp thevampirologists.
Rachewl (38:50):
Well, we, we deeply missed you in season 3. In fact,
Matt had no idea you were not inseason 3, and we got to the
first episode of season 3. Itblow
John Kapelos (38:58):
me up.
Rachewl (38:59):
Of course, skanky blows up. Yeah. And Matt was like, no.
He's not in I was like, no.
Matt (39:04):
Oh, I felt betrayed.
John Kapelos (39:05):
Well, they they did that because they wanted no
the network wanted no possiblechance of me ever coming back.
They disliked me that much.
Rachewl (39:14):
Yeah. Wow. What's interesting is in the German
version, there's that scene atthe beginning when, Skanky calls
Gare, and in the Americanversion, there's no audio. He's
just talking to the phone.
Matt (39:27):
You only hear Gare.
Rachewl (39:28):
But in the German version, they dub in, the Skanky
dub actor responding to him onthe phone, which I think is
interesting.
John Kapelos (39:36):
The skanky dub. Well, you know, III have to say,
you know, I mean, it's it's it'sa while back and and all that
stuff. But, you know, it's smartat doing you know, not not being
able to do it. But they had adifferent mandate. They wanted
me to do, you know, to be stonetree or whatever, be the
captain.
I didn't wanna do it.
Rachewl (39:56):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we talked about
Matt (39:59):
pitch for you staying Yeah. Was to be the captain?
John Kapelos (40:02):
Yeah. And, you know, take, you know, work less,
work you know, and and theywanted, a younger female partner
for Gare, which they got. Andthey also, you know, I guess it
was going to USA Network, andthat's sort of where they want
they had a differentdemographic, and they wanted
more I don't know whether it'ssort of sexier, younger,
(40:23):
whatever. It all seems so datedand weird now when you look back
on it.
Rachewl (40:29):
Well, if it makes you feel better, season 3 is almost
completely unavailable.
John Kapelos (40:32):
So Really?
Rachewl (40:34):
Yeah. That never streams.
John Kapelos (40:36):
The,
Matt (40:36):
yeah, the streaming rights for season 3 are tied up
somewhere.
Rachewl (40:39):
Mhmm.
John Kapelos (40:40):
Is that a Peridot? Is that a Peridot thing?
Rachewl (40:43):
I have no however it got packaged and sold, season 3
wasn't part
John Kapelos (40:47):
of it. So Paragon went south as a company. Right?
Rachewl (40:50):
I think, Columbia Tri Star had the distribution rights
for a long time, Sony. And then,when they lost them, they're
kind of just in the wind. And so
Matt (41:01):
We have someone on our Discord trying
Rachewl (41:03):
to track
Matt (41:04):
down the licensing rights for streaming for season 3.
Rachewl (41:08):
Yeah. But even when it was on Amazon Prime, you could
stream season 1 and 2. Season 3,you couldn't even buy. And then
now, I think Apple, you can buyseason 1 through 3, but Apple's
the only 1 where you can buy all3 seasons.
Matt (41:21):
But you have to buy it before you can
Rachewl (41:23):
watch it.
John Kapelos (41:24):
Buy it. More questions.
Rachewl (41:27):
Okay. I'm a let you chew for a minute. Alright. So
you have a jazz album, 2 hit forthe room.
John Kapelos (41:34):
Yeah.
Rachewl (41:35):
Did you always want to be a musician? How'd that come
about?
John Kapelos (41:38):
I did I did about 8 to 10 years of piano lessons
when I was a kid. And when I wasa teenager, I had a couple of
really, really gifted friendswho were musicians, and I
realized, gosh, I'm not as goodas them. And I also wanted to
act more, but I always didmusic, you know, and a lot of
actors, you know, harbor musicmusical ambitions. My my biggest
(42:01):
thing was to when I worked atSecond City was to do music that
was humorous, but not weird likeweird I'm sorry. Weird Al
Yankovic funny.
Something you can listen toagain and again that was funny
and humorous. But when I was akid, they call them novelty
songs. You know? And they werekind of funny for, like, the
(42:25):
first time you hear them, andthen you can't hear them
anymore. And I wanted to do sortof jazz.
People really take themselvesseriously. And I really love
music. Yeah. So I decided when Iafter I'd done a certain amount
of acting that I really wantedto do an album. So I started
working with some musicians andimproving my musical chops, and
I recorded 3 albums, 1 of whichis available right now.
(42:50):
I pulled I pulled the other 2off because, you know, streaming
and the whole you know, youcan't make money off this stuff.
I mean, it's not like No. Youknow? III don't know how some of
my working musician friends aredoing it, frankly. I have a
friend of mine that justreleased an album, and the
economics are so lousy.
But but I love doing it, and, II love writing it. And it's sort
(43:12):
of complementary to my sort of,work, if you will.
Rachewl (43:17):
Yeah. Well, it's good. It's good to have a thing that
you do because that's what youwanna do.
Matt (43:21):
Yeah. Rachel had some of it playing earlier.
Rachewl (43:23):
Yeah. We were. And I
Matt (43:24):
could see if if you don't listen, like, really closely to
the lyrics, it's catchy. Like,you can just listen to it and
enjoy it.
Rachewl (43:31):
Are also catchy. That's not where he's going. Yeah.
Matt (43:33):
But then the lyrics add like an it's, like, subtle. You
have to pay attention to lyricsto get
John Kapelos (43:39):
Yeah. It's not entirely background music
sometimes. I mean, 1 of mycousins put it on other place
and, like, it gets a little bit,you know, intense. But, you
know, I I come from a time andplace where, you know, I put on
an album and sit down and listento it. I'd listen to the side 1
and side 2.
(43:59):
I mean, I know that peoplelisten to music differently,
and, but, you know, IIII didmade the album. I mean, you can
listen to individual cuts andstuff like that. But, you know,
III love doing it. I love doingit, and I'm working on a new,
album right now on my dog. Mydog knows that I have pizza
(44:21):
here.
Rachewl (44:22):
Well, he knows you have food. Yeah. He's like, no. I'm
not okay. I'm not eating yourpizza.
So do you have any upcomingprojects?
John Kapelos (44:31):
I have a script that I've written with, somebody
else called the mayor ofKoreatown, and it's a film noir,
and it's a series for streamingand, that I would be the lead
in. So that's a project that weare currently trying to sell,
and, things are looking good.There are a couple of movies
(44:52):
that, I'm I'm slated to do thisyear. Although 1 of them, the
funding just fell through, so Idon't know whether it's gonna
happen. And the other 1, thefunding just happened.
So that that's gonna happen. ButI gotta tell you, I mean, I'm
sure other actors, I don't knowwhether they are telling you
this, but Hollywood is kind ofat a weird place right now.
Doesn't seem to be post strike,a lot of activity, and that's a
(45:15):
bit ominous for a lot of people,including myself. But, you know,
I've been doing this a while,and, and sometimes the ocean
swells can get kind of deep andand hollow, and so it can be a
long time between gigs. And, youknow, I say this to friends and
(45:38):
and family and anybody who willlisten, but they sort of nod
their heads and go, yeah.
We've heard you say this before.But, you know, I may never work
again. And and that's kind ofthe that's kind of the thing you
have to really keep in mind asan actor. Like, it this might be
it. Now did you have do you eversee a show called Beacon 23?
Rachewl (45:55):
I have not. It's
John Kapelos (45:56):
a sci fi show that's on MGM. I did an episode
of that a couple years ago thatI have not seen yet. Friend of
mine saw it recently, said itwas pretty good, but, that was
fun to shoot. And, is Lena LenaHeadley is in it, Hetty, The
woman from Game of Thrones?
Rachewl (46:13):
Mhmm. Mhmm.
John Kapelos (46:14):
Anyway, that's something that's out there. And,
you know, I did I did 50episodes of Days of Our Lives
last year, and they killed mycharacter off. I played a,
Rachewl (46:26):
Oh, that's not the end. It's a soap opera. You could
still
John Kapelos (46:29):
tell it. It's what everybody says, but I I think
that they were they they werekind of wipe them wipe their
hands on me. So any morequestions? What other questions
do you have? No?
Rachewl (46:37):
Well, yeah, just where can people go to figure out
where you're gonna be showing upnext? We saw you in New Jersey,
and I honestly can't rememberhow we found you there.
John Kapelos (46:44):
Well, Facebook is the best place right now. My
Facebook page or the Instagram,the John Capitalist message.
Rachewl (46:51):
You did a trial in Chicago where you were Socrates
on trial.
John Kapelos (46:55):
And that just was on PBS now, and it's it's up for
an Emmy on PBS.
Rachewl (47:00):
Yeah. Nice.
John Kapelos (47:01):
And I just did a play here in town, 3
performances of a play at theGetty Villa where I played I,
Socrates, another another hisname was ice Esocrates, another,
Rachewl (47:15):
Mhmm.
John Kapelos (47:15):
Philosopher who was after Socrates. But, so I'm
I'm sort of getting into playingphilosophers. You know? And I'm
always up for stuff. I mean, I'mup for a really good show and up
meaning, you know, they're I'm 1of the people they're putting in
consideration.
So that's always part of my
Rachewl (47:34):
Yeah. Keep your foot in the door. Yeah. And I love to
act.
John Kapelos (47:37):
I mean, I love to act. The thought of me not
acting anymore depresses me morethan anybody else.
Rachewl (47:43):
Well, I think you're good. You've got, like, 200
credits on IMDB, so just get yourolling.
John Kapelos (47:49):
Who's counting? Right?
Rachewl (47:50):
Well, IMDB count is how I knew. But, yeah, because we
were trying to make it toChicago, but we didn't hear
about it till too late and thencouldn't go. So I just wanted to
see if there was a the bestplace to go find information. So
Facebook or Instagram.
John Kapelos (48:04):
Well, I mean, you know, I'll, now that, you know,
keep your ear to the ground nowthat I know you guys, I'll make
sure that you're in the loop.You know?
Rachewl (48:11):
Okay. Because we're happy to advertise for you if
you haven't
John Kapelos (48:13):
been love that. I would love that. Because I'm
thinking of doing, do going onthe road with my band, with a
big band, and doing shows inCleveland, Chicago, New York.
And, so we're working on thelogistics of that. Because I'm
not gonna travel with a 18 piecebig band, but I would travel
with a piano player, and we'd goand do the band, pick up the
(48:35):
band in every city because thereare enough musicians in those
cities.
And I wanna do I wanna performlive. I wanna do some, live
singing and performing.
Rachewl (48:45):
Yeah. I could see that being pretty
Matt (48:46):
fun. Exciting.
Rachewl (48:47):
Yeah. Yeah. We just talked to Fred. He lived he's in
Nashville. So, my niece has aboyfriend who just moved there
to do drumming, and so we weretalking about you know, he was
saying that's, like, such aunique place for musicians and
kind of, you
Matt (49:01):
know The scene.
Rachewl (49:02):
The scene, I guess. Yeah.
John Kapelos (49:04):
And and Fred is so you know, he's inventive and
clever and smart and and sotalented that But, you know,
show business is a matrix. It'sit's tough. And, you know, I was
told the other day that friendsof mine were out and and with a
bunch of people, and they didn'tknow who Steve Martin or Martin
(49:25):
Short were, but they knew whoSelena Gomez was. So it's like,
you know, once you're over acertain age, people don't know.
They don't care.
Rachewl (49:35):
Oh, well, we knew you. It was fine. Drove all the way
up to New Jersey. Just for you.Well,
John Kapelos (49:42):
did now what about my swag? Do what do you think of
it? Yeah. Did you listen toanything?
Matt (49:46):
Oh, Meg has it?
Rachewl (49:47):
Yeah. Meg has your album that she bought. The
John Kapelos (49:50):
Then did she listen to the extra tracks?
Rachewl (49:52):
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm sure she did.
John Kapelos (49:54):
Cool. Cool.
Rachewl (49:55):
Yeah. She's in Tennessee too, so, we don't live
close to each other. But, yes,she we took it apart in the
hotel room and had all you hadall the unpacked everything.
Unpacked. Yeah.
We you had the hand drawn cardsand some other stuff in there.
So that was really sweet.
John Kapelos (50:10):
Thing.
Rachewl (50:11):
Did you sell out? Did you sell all 6?
John Kapelos (50:12):
Yeah. I did. People bought them. Awesome.
Rachewl (50:16):
That was really good. Oh, thank you for coming on and
for chatting with us.
John Kapelos (50:20):
Well, thank you for having me. And and, you
know, have me again. I mean, youknow, if it it would be fun if
we did a get Nigel and and,Karen together, the 3 of us on 1
day.
Rachewl (50:30):
I would die. I would die. We are going to Toronto
John Kapelos (50:33):
Because then then the stories will come out
because honestly, you asked meabout stories, and and and there
are a few that I could tell,but, I I think I'd have to get
their permission. So
Rachewl (50:44):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've seen Kathy,
John Kapelos (50:47):
Disher.
Rachewl (50:48):
Disher. Yeah. Catherine. I should call her
Catherine. My my apologies.
So That's alright. We metCatherine in, Orlando, and then,
we we got a cameo from her aswell. And I feel like anytime
you get in her orbit, she lovestell stories about things. And
Meg and I joke that we're FortKnox. Can't repeat any story
she's ever told us.
John Kapelos (51:08):
Well, I think she she loves to diss. Disher loves
to diss. Dish. Dish. I mean, notdiss.
Rachewl (51:15):
Yeah. It's it's just been fun. We've actually gone on
a bit of a road trip. We met Garin Stratford. We saw, Catherine
in Orlando and then saw you
John Kapelos (51:24):
in lucky for you. What'd you see him in?
Rachewl (51:26):
We saw him in Grand Magic
John Kapelos (51:28):
fucking there. That's great.
Rachewl (51:29):
That he was in last year. Yeah. It was really and
he's in London Assurance thisyear, so we're gonna see him in
the
John Kapelos (51:35):
great on stage.
Rachewl (51:36):
And, yeah, we're gonna be in Stratford, and we're
actually gonna meet with Nigelwhen we're in Stratford. So
we'll get the whole
John Kapelos (51:42):
Well, when you see them, you make sure you say
hello to them from me. Okay?
Rachewl (51:46):
Okay. That I will. Everybody says that. Say hello
to me from to them fromCatherine. Kathy said that.
Garrett said that. So, actually,I think he said that. I don't
know. I've, like, blanked out.It was the weirdest moment of my
life.
That's why we have the wholepodcast because Meg Meg and I,
we waited outside the door, andhe came out
Matt (52:05):
grand magic.
Rachewl (52:06):
Yeah. He came out to say hello and to sign our
poster, and I just like, Matthad to push us forward. Both
Matt (52:12):
blanked.
Rachewl (52:13):
Yeah. I had to push us forward and was like, this is
Meg and Rachel. And I was like,hi. Never in my life have I ever
done that. I've ever beenspeechless before.
I don't know what happened. Itwas late at night. That's what
I'm gonna go with. I don't know.It was weird.
But yeah. So we we had a wewe've had a wonderful time kinda
going on a road trip, forevernight road trip, 30 years.
John Kapelos (52:35):
You know, if this is gonna be without a picture,
that's good because you areblushing so much right now.
Rachewl (52:41):
It's hot. It's hot. It's North Carolina. It's
John Kapelos (52:43):
like Oh, yeah. It's hot. It's like you're just
talking about Darren Nigel. Iguess I don't wanna listen to
the same response. But
Rachewl (52:51):
No. No. You're no. I'm just not being professional with
you right now.
John Kapelos (52:54):
No. No. I'm just teasing. They're they're really,
really, you know, they're bothextraordinary performers, and
and so is Catherine. I mean andand and dear, Natalie, gosh.
What am I blanking on her namenow? Not Natalie.
Rachewl (53:14):
Deb.
John Kapelos (53:15):
Deb Deb Deb Deb Duchenne. Has anybody heard from
her?
Rachewl (53:19):
No. She's just disappeared. Funny everybody
asks, and no. And she never didanything after forever night and
didn't stay in touch withanybody, I guess.
John Kapelos (53:29):
Holy fuck.
Rachewl (53:31):
So she's just in the wind.
John Kapelos (53:34):
Okay, guys. Dinner time. Eat.
Rachewl (53:38):
Okay. Eat your pizza and feed your dog, and thank you
for coming on.
John Kapelos (53:42):
Thank well, thank you for having me. I'm sorry
that, I probably was boring.Right?
Rachewl (53:47):
No. Not at all. Not at all. And I'll let you know when
I got the reunion show together.
John Kapelos (53:53):
Well, do it. Let me know. Keep in touch.
Rachewl (53:56):
I will. That would be great.
Matt (53:59):
Bye. Bye.
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