December 4, 2024 • 32 mins
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Rick Overton joins us for a captivating exploration of improv comedy, offering a fresh perspective on the spontaneity and creativity that fuel not just comedy, but all performing arts. Imagine a comedy world where a tech support call spirals into a masterclass of wit and timing—Rick shows us how embracing the unexpected can lead to comedic gold. With a nod to the past, he challenges the idea of originality by encouraging performers to balance influences with their own unique voices, proving that even the most spontaneous acts are rooted in a blend of preparation and improvisation.
Sponsored by Jana McCaffery Attorney at Law. Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999 focusing on personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously and, if you are a fellow member of the Louisiana film industry and have been injured, she is happy to offer you a free consultation and a reduced fee to handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at Support the show
Follow us on IG @nolafilmscene, @kodaksbykojack, and @tjsebastianofficial. Check out our 48 Hour Film Project short film Waiting for Gateaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFvn4cd1U . & check out our website: nolafilmscene.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, I'm Rick Overton and I've done a couple of
movies.
You can check the IMDb to findout.
And I want to say it's apleasure to be here with these
fine gents on NOLA Film Scene.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello, welcome to NOLA Film Scene with TJ and
Plato.
I'm TJ and, as always, I'mPlato.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So great to have you, rick.
Thanks for joining us today.
Thanks for having me on.
Yeah, so I have a problem withmy dongle.
Now, you are both accreditedApple genii Is that the plural?
You are Apple geniuses Now thatI've made it all the way down
to the store.
Right, you are here to help mewith that, right?
That's right, we'll help youget what you need today.
Okay, now there's something Iwas told wrong with my dongle.
(00:51):
What do I do about my dongle?
Hmm, we might have to cleanthat off a bit.
Oh wait a minute.
Who's going to do that?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, I also.
You know my second job.
I work at the hospital, so Ican get you a shot for that.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, okay, good, yeah, I don't want to transfer a
virus through my dongle.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We'll check your connections.
We'll make sure all the portsare clear.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Dongle viri are the worst.
I know, don't set yourexpectations too high at my age.
I can't ask too much of mydongle at this age, but just the
same, I want to think I walkedout of here a satisfied customer
.
Anyway, okay, and scene andscene Bravo.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Bravo.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Improv, I think, though, is fun.
At virtually no point in yourlife are you not doing it.
There's another way to look atit.
Yes, sir, I hadn't thought ofit like that.
Yeah, that way it gets you usedto doing it for free, for no
pay.
Get used to that, and real lifewill dial you right in, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We're not going to be rich by doing improv.
Son of a.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's rare.
It's rare and it's brief andeveryone who does improv, it's
important probably to know howto go out of a script.
As well as no harm in that,combine the two, because I think
even when you're doingShakespeare and you're trying to
stay as close to the letter andthe word as you can.
The improv part is it's yourvoice doing it this time, you
with your timing, with your bodytype, right, that's a good
(02:09):
point.
You're not just a digitalreproduction of the last person
who did it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Right.
And when something goes wrongon stage, a chair falls, a sword
doesn't cut, doesn't fake.
You can't just ignore it, youhave to react to it.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, and if you don't, the only thing worse than
it happening is you didn'treact when it did.
That's a good point.
The same thing with a comediandoing a stage act and their act
is so structured that they havea part in their act where they
go sure you laugh, but I'm theone still sitting in the cab,
and that only works if they'relaughing.
It looks really bad with a sureyou laugh if he's just yeah,
and so a lot of times that'swhat happens when you're so
(02:45):
stuck in your left brain that itcan trap you, and when the
people say well, I'd rather justgo into writing, but what?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
is writing.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
What are you doing?
You are either improvising oryou're plagiarizing, and there's
no third option.
It's one of those two.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Wow, you just broke my brain.
Yeah, I had never thought of itthat way either.
Interesting and it's perfect.
It's all right.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Of course we're using English.
We're stealing from our pastknowledge of words and phrases
and stuff like that.
So you know, sometimes I woulddescribe improv as like the
second hardest job in the worldis being the first impressionist
abstract painter, because noone knows what the hell you're
doing.
The first hardest job in theworld is being the second
abstract painter, because noweveryone's comparing you to the
first one and it's only 10, 20artists.
(03:24):
Later they go oh, this is aboutthe separate brushstroke and
the individual personalitycoming through, or whatever.
It takes all these layers tosee it, but it's all improv.
Taking one abstract to anotherartist's hands is an improv and
we are all thieves thieves ofculture, thieves of language.
It's why someone understands asingle thing we're talking about
as a comic.
It had to have a recognizable.
I took that and then put itinto my mix of well, hopefully,
(03:46):
enough improv that.
It's something that you'll see,something familiar in a new way
.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh, wow, yeah, and I was starting to tell Rick before
we got on that I've been a fanof comedy since the eighties,
when down here in New Orleanswe've got HBO and we got comedy
central in the nineties and Iwas obsessed watching-up.
It's one thing I haven't triedyet, but I tend to be quick with
it.
I can be funny, you know, notbreaking my arm, patting myself
on the back, but I also findmyself I'll say something and
people might laugh and I go oh,I heard Rick say that in the 80s
(04:13):
and it popped out of my head.
So plagiarizing, but notmeaning to plagiarize it kind of
.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I've absorbed and then it came from, I wouldn't
spend a ton of time chasing it.
You'll go crazy.
Yeah, it'll break you.
You'll absolutely lose yourshit over this.
You know, yeah, every guy thatsaid a word.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know, I'm sorry, man, I don't want to say stole
it but I also say the word thein my act, and you know, just
don't use the, and that's all Iask you use both.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Now you're plagiarizing, that's it.
I put the play back inplagiarism.
I would hope that when we areimprovising, we're trying to
surprise ourselves.
You know, it's supposed to bethe first time.
We heard it too, and you'regonna.
Something's gonna sneak inevery now and then.
It's the way the brain works.
Oh, this other thing worksperfectly there.
Bang, put it in.
But it's this thing.
(05:06):
That means it's from the pastand it's like you just do your
best around it.
We are very past orientedpeople.
As much as we have gadgets thatlook like the future, we don't
think in terms of where we fitin that future at all.
We leave ourselves out of ourequation.
So the only thing that movesforward is improv, really, and
seeing everything in lifedoesn't have to be a funny
(05:26):
improv, that's true, real lifeis sad.
Improv drama improv ho-hum.
Improv security cam improv.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I think security cam improv is called being a robber,
being a thief.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, and that's why we got to start a union, a
performers union for them,called RAG Robbers Actors
Robbing Actors, Guilt Now.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I agree with you.
I used to wear a conveniencestore graveyard shift and they
had a guy came in and he'swearing these blue pants with a
yellow stripe down each side anda T-shirt and he walked in and
he was wide eyed.
He went over to the beer,picked beer, picked it up aim, I
didn't have to check his id, hewas old enough, paid, and then
he goes, start to walk out andthere's an end cap and he's in
the middle of the aisle it's notblocking him and he's steps
(06:12):
over the end cap, which wasn'tin front of.
Then, as he got to the door heslammed his foot on the mat and
jumped back and then he did itagain.
He thought it was an automaticdoor.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I I was like like those old fashioned pressure
plate mats.
Right, I remember those when Iwas a kid.
Yeah, get the door in your faceand parents would sit back and
see if you're smart or stupid.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, I told this guy , I said no, it's just regular
door OK.
And he walks out and he's stillall wide eyed.
I'm like, huh, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
The next day I see on the news someone had escaped
the mental institution.
You're brushed with celebrity.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
No one could improv like him.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Every moment is an improv.
Yes, but you'd be amazed at howmuch someone in that level of
distress is almost pure past theentire, every waking split
second.
It's a recycling of an eventthat broke him.
Oh yeah, in every so it improvsinto that, but it's completely
based on something that's nothere today and that's like.
Being schizophrenic is not yourmultiple personalities.
Being schizophrenic is you areabsolutely convinced of
(07:14):
something that has no evidenceof it like anywhere.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Wow, yes, you're hitting us with heavy thoughts,
and it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, that's, people get the phrase wrong.
Schizophrenic is a firm beliefin something that isn't
happening, a separate realityplaying in their head like a
movie.
And to them, it's like you, ifyou're watching with their vr
goggles, you'd say, oh wow, Isee why the guy's making that
face.
And they're finding thesethings out partly with
psychology and partly with justletting people wear the goggles
and say, yeah, that looks, thatlooks like the other shit.
(07:44):
Oh well, now we know thatexperience.
It's weird.
So the future doesn'tcompletely suck, it, only 75%
sucks.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I'm speechless.
Give me, speechless is a feat,sir.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I'm just trying to find things to joke about.
Yeah, yeah, no, to look at andto joke about, and sometimes you
stumble on I don't know wherethe jokes are here to joke about
and sometimes you stumble onyou.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I don't know where the jokes are here.
Look what the hell I found.
Oh my god, reality is gettingtoo weird to just.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Reality is catching up with crazy.
That's a fact.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, the steeplechase tj, if you got some
, I I'm formulating the questionbut I'm we'll leave this in my
brain is broke.
He looks like it.
Looks like that guy maybe itwas me.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I was jiggling the mouse.
I I thought brian was.
I thought his screen was frozenfor a second there.
He was just trying to wrap hishead around.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well, whatever you do , don't tell my wife how you did
that, because she's been tryingto find a way to shut me up for
years oh, oh, yeah, well, Ilove you know.
Okay, is that at Brian's houseor Rick's?
That's not a NOLA cop.
(08:55):
I think that might be over inthe other alley, oh, that's the
big hook and ladder.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You can hear the when it slows down.
That's the big diesel, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
This show is just fire it's fire dog.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Is dog still okay?
Is it still okay to call a mana dog in the Western world?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I guess not.
We were just censored bysomething.
Rick, can you move to yourright a little bit, right there?
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Oh yeah, perfect You're dead center.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Now I don't want to say dead, but Well, there goes
my question what we like to askpeople, entertainers, artists,
what inspired them to get intothe biz or whatever part of the
biz they're in?
Can you remember?
I always say the moment thatsent you down this path, or a
(09:41):
few moments, Nope.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
No, I don't think it's.
You can't always look for amoment.
Slow cumulative decisionsarrive as well.
You know it's not alwayslightning bolt Right.
I know it makes a great story,but in real life don't place
your creative expectations onthings like that.
I would tell you not to gothere as a creative because
you'll be disappointed andyou'll give up.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
It is Stay with the game when it goes high.
Stay with it when it goes low,especially if you think it's
your nature to do it.
Your nature comes with highsand lows.
Just because you're in yournature doesn't mean everything
goes perfectly.
But when you land in your low,you're doing so in your nature.
The only thing worse than thatis you're not even in your
nature.
When you land there, you don'tknow what the hell to do,
because you're not in yournature anymore.
(10:23):
You don't know who you are.
So how can you fix it?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I got you.
I got you.
Yeah, I was saying in highschool you did your first play
and then you loved entertainingFor me.
I kind of always loved watching.
And then Kevin Smith came totown and asked people who wanted
to be extras in the movie andthat sent me on the path.
I started loving backgroundacting and then I did Bill and
Ted.
I was Death's photo double inthe third one and then I started
taking acting lessons.
So the bugs bit me there.
(10:46):
Do you have anything like that?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
My dad loved Jonathan Winters, yes, sir, and so I
loved Jonathan Winters, yes, sir, and so I loved Jonathan
Winters and do and got to befriends and Robin Williams and I
befriended over the love ofJonathan Winters.
Nice, jonathan was such a biginspiration that I almost just
wanted to do that and see whathappens.
Career wise, I don't know,because if you follow Jonathan's
career, it went up and down,acting wise.
(11:10):
He wasn't a steady working guybut he was always a very
charming guest.
But no one could find the nicheor category for him, really,
because they didn't understandhe is the category.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
You meet his standards.
It's not the other way around.
That helped me, I think, eventhough his phrase was he said if
your ship doesn't come in andgo, swim out and get it or just
be okay with what you're doing,because he had, he didn't, he
swam out and got it.
But then there's times when hedidn't, he stayed and he just
did his thing.
And you go to him, don't swimanywhere.
You either find it or you don't.
And so maybe I didn't have thatsuccess orientation in my head
(11:45):
in the same format as someonewho just wants to get to the top
and they'll do anything.
I won't do anything, I'll dowhat I do.
I do my thing.
Yes, sir, yeah, see where itlands when you do your thing.
And so if someone wants supersuccess, I'm not sure my advice
is the go-to, but if what youcall success is you know, you
found you, I think that's asuccess.
Yeah.
And where does it land?
(12:05):
I think you land moreauthentically wherever you do,
when it's actually yourself you.
Yeah, that's a great point.
It might take longer, but youlike your own company.
And other people kind of likeyou too, that helps, but usually
if you like your own company,other people catch on.
(12:27):
They get it.
Yes, they go.
Yeah, dogs like you and theyget it.
Animals are hip too, whenpeople are in tune with
themselves.
You want that.
You just want to find youImprov.
Get you there quick, becauseall the characters you're doing,
they're all parts of you andyou're just getting to see them
at the speed of light.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I know when I'm on stage I can be too controlling
of the improv, but it's magicwhen you can just let it go and
be and never chase the laugh.
You get a great reaction fromthe crowd.
You're like I want to do thatagain.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Got it, yeah yeah, you never chased yes, never
chase a laugh, that's right, itwill betray you.
It can't wait.
That's setting you up.
Oh, this next one's gonna begreat.
Now, lucky three, step on itone more time crickets, crickets
, crickets boom, you're bombed,yeah.
And also because it's going inthe opposite direction of improv
yeah, repetition like that nothere are people that get a
(13:12):
running gag and the improv iswhere they put the thing in
again and again.
Yeah, because also improv ismusic and it's highly like a
percussion instrument kind ofmusic, very rhythm based, and so
you can see comedians who havea musical background of some
sort.
That plays into the way they dotheir comedy and they get
timing in a great way.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I had never thought about the musical timing versus
comedic timing that way.
That's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh, thanks, I just added a while, so I noticed it.
Just, it's just comparisons ofthings you, you would have seen
it just the same as me.
Anyone would you can see hey,this kind of looks like that and
that's using rhythm influencespeople's responses.
You can.
It's like hypnosis is use ofrhythm and comics are hypnotists
(13:57):
, and so are musicians andactors, and an actor who uses
his voice like this is stillusing rhythm.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yep, when doing my audition classes I got in the
note a couple of times.
Don't be one note.
Yeah, it took me a while tofigure out that I was playing
the end of the scene at thebeginning, or just trying to
play the scene instead of justbeing Letting emotion hit me and
carry me in highs and lows.
But it's all music, that'sright.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, the control thing started out as your friend
.
It saved you when you werelittle.
It was your best friend.
And now, as life gets morecomplex, it's like, hey, man,
you're not using me as much asyou used to Remember.
It was like me and you.
We were like the team manControl.
We had the situation down Right, but these are more complex
(14:45):
times.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know, man, and I'mgoing to catch up, I'm going to
learn how to control that too.
It's something you can'tcontrol.
No, don't start ditching me now, man.
I've been your friend a longtime.
Don't fucking jump me roadsidenow.
And it's kind of like a Georgeand Lenny moment.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
He was too rough with the rabbits and now he got.
You know we got to decide whatyou're going to do with that
part of yourself.
If you think about it, I'm 70.
Now, how many versions of youhave died so far?
How many?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
dead.
You's, do you have?
Uh, I've reinvented a few times.
Yeah, so I'm playing highschool, so I'm not a musician
anymore in that way.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I was gonna be more than that the way you thought
about the world, not just a setof activities, it's like the
whole.
I don't act like that anymore.
I don't think like that anymore.
Yeah yeah that guy's gone atleast five yeah oh yeah, at
least five.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
We should can.
Oh yeah, at least five.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Can you find them?
I mean, if you look for themyou could find it, but I don't
even remember the completely,the way they talk or anything as
a kid.
Oh, you know that version of me, a young man, that version of
me, I know I have video of it,but I'm saying my brain isn't
wired like that completelyanymore.
I have some of the things thatI have from my youth and certain
things that I like about art orwhatever that is, or music, but
in the accumulation of timeI've added things that I mostly
(16:01):
think you should do.
You should have added things.
Oh, you didn't evolve.
What do you come here for?
Using up everybody's time?
And you didn't evolve.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
A lot of times I've pictured it like a big block of
granite and we are our ownsculptor, so we've chiseled away
and found something and that'salways stuck.
And then, like you said, well,this looks good, oh, that looks
like crap.
Bam, that part's gone.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
It's interesting because our job is we're David
in the block of marble, butDavid's doing the chiseling and
he has to chisel his way out.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And there's one part you really don't want to knock
off, but we won't talk aboutthat part.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, it almost looks like they did, cause you know
it's cold in here.
Come on, this whole place ismarble.
I'm fucking freezing.
You're not going to do this.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
You're going to exaggerate, right?
Oh, we got you, don't worry.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, yeah, because, come on, guys, look at my
physique.
I've been working this shit out.
I'm like narcissists.
I'm looking at my reflection inthe water.
I'm looking good.
Right right, you know, come on,man, give me a leaf.
Will you give me?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
a leaf.
Adam's got the.
We can get you one from Eve,but you know.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, oh, eve gets one.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
She got three, she's fucking wrong man.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Eve got three.
She cornered the market on it.
Can I have the snake, hey, butanyway, scene.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
How's the snake today ?
Very fresh Snake and apple.
Welcome to the snake and apple.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I was thinking about the apple.
Why does it keep the doctoraway, Anyway?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
how does that?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
affect Johnny Appleseed.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Well, I don't think it does.
Okay, it's the clothes thatmade that man.
So where are you exactly?
We're in New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I'm in the suburbs when in New?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Orleans, where I'm in Metairie.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Metairie, metairie, jefferson, parish.
Yes, okay, I'm on the northshore.
Yeah, I did storyville yearsago.
I worked there.
Yeah, I drove around.
I'm told I had a very good timein nolens.
Yeah, that's a common theme wehear.
Yeah, they even make thesidewalks fucked up.
So you're like walking overthese broken teeth to get down
the street.
Like you're not fucked upenough.
Now the streets like throwingyou side to side as a.
(18:16):
It was like a challenge, like aNinja challenge drunken Ninja
challenge.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
The sidewalks on our potholes are made to only be
navigated by drunks.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh yeah, that's totally smooth and normal, right
, it looks like you're drivingdrunk, but you're not.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Because if you're driving, drunk but you're not?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, because if you're not, you're going to lose
your suspension in about aminute.
I always had a good time there.
I've always had a good time inthat town man.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I met Paul Prudhomme on his golf cart.
Did you eat at his restaurantor just out and about?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I did eat at his restaurant.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That man could cook.
He could cook, he tastedeverything.
It was good he could cook.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, he tasted everything.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
If I say Esplanade Mall, does that ring a bell for
you?
I think so.
Okay, the reason I'm going tosay I know I do this all the
time and this person looks likethat person and I'm wrong.
But there was one flashback toit, late 80s, I think 88,
because I was just out of highschool and I'm walking through
esplanade mall, which is inkenner for the people listening
and I think I saw you.
So it was the same hair you hadfor stand-up.
(19:20):
You had.
We both had more on top backthen.
And then you know the the 80sjacket with the sleeves rolled
up and you were smoking and youmight have been partying a good
bit.
You didn't smoke and it wasn'tyou.
It wasn't you because I waslike, oh my God, it's Rick
Overton.
Well, there goes that story.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I had that long hair that came down to my shoulders
but it was going away here.
I knew it was going.
I knew it was going to be gonesoon, so I was going to grow the
shit out of it before it wasall done.
So I can say I had the longhair while it held out, you know
(19:56):
, but I probably expedited itfalling out from the weight.
Yeah, where sting?
He went the other way.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
he like chopped it short so you know, you couldn't
tell exactly what the hell'sgoing on up there.
That's a smart man.
Yeah, his hair might be tantrictoo, I don't know tantric hair.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
That's right, it can stay up all night it's lasted a
lot longer.
We're like a writer's room.
Now, yes, you're friends withright, uh-huh.
I met her through facebook,like I met you, and we've had
her on.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We had a blast.
We're like a writer's room now.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yes, you're friends with Stephanie Hodge, right?
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I met her through Facebook, like I met you, and
we've had her on.
We had a blast.
Oops, hit my camera.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Please give Stephanie my very best.
I haven't spoken in too long.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I will send her a message today and we'll get
y'all talking.
But in that episode too, I justsaw TJ when I start going like
oh.
Brian's going again there goesthe mouth.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
There we go again, there we go again, we'll have to
label them head shaker episodes.
The head shakers.
That's actually.
You'll keep talking.
I'm making notes, ladies andgentlemen, the head shakers.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Hello Cleveland, are you running to rock?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah see Americans go like this.
We're like this, you agree, wedisagree.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Or they do this, but on the other side of the road.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I'm not on the road much, no, okay, the rarest
occasion I get out there, but Ijust did a fun show with Off the
Wall, the oldest single castimprov troupe in the history of
the world.
Oh, wow, they have over 50years together.
Wow, now the Groundlings.
Yes, you could say the grouphas been around that long, but
it's not all the same cast.
(21:25):
They've run through them.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Off the Wall is just these guys and ladies and
they're like a machine, like youhaven't seen.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, Talk about a group mind.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
They're all completely psychically dolphin
linked to each other and, yeah,it's a real treat to work with
these guys.
So I just did a fun couple ofshows with them lately and they
keep that little candle litevery now and then I'll do a
standup spot, but not by muchanymore.
You know I got you.
That whole world is slowed downa little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, the boom of the nineties maybe into the two
thousands.
Then it dropped off.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Saturation.
It was rare and unique in theseventies.
You had to get out of yourhouse to see it.
By the eighties it's startingto be you can stay home and see
it.
Right by the 90s you can be anytime of day and see it, and by
the aughts there's too much ofit, you can't not see it.
It's everywhere now.
Streaming services giving outspecials all over the place.
(22:18):
Yeah, guys with fivers gettingthe special, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
A five-minute set.
Okay, I was like fivers.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm all for the independence of some sort of
streaming alternate media givingsomeone else a chance.
I'm totally for that.
But at the same time the peoplethat were supposed to find it
special don't have to doanything.
It used to be.
You have to pay for parking anda babysitter, and dinner and
drinks and the show and coverand a tip and whatever else you
did that night Dessert or stayhome, click, put the kids to bed
(22:51):
and watch TV and one replacedthe other, just out of cold hard
practicality.
So there are big arena namesand they're big, big recognition
names.
But it's an interesting timefor the guys in between,
certainly my guys, my age.
Sometimes they go down toFlorida and retirement centers
where their age group is allthere.
We were all young somewhereelse and now we're all this age
(23:13):
here and there's guys doingboats, lots of boats.
I'm not so much a boat guy withwhat I do.
I'm not line line line joke,joke, I'm like ideas and you
know improv.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I was watching your specials again to prepare for
this, and I don't want to callit frantic, but it was a steady
stream of consciousness.
It was energetic, almost to thepoint of overboiling you know
what I mean, but you never lostcontrol.
It was incredible to watch.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
When I started getting the more heavy, weirder
political stuff, I kind ofpicked up the pace because I
wanted to make it.
So, hey ho, he, you know, funnyclown saying this shit, don't
fucking whack me, you know.
And yeah, I was trying to movethat pace along.
You got it.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
And you kept the golden rule of if you're going
to talk about this stuff, befunny.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Thank you, I tried to make sure of that too, but the
power of it was the hand.
The jump around.
Hammy, I don't go that fast nowon my comedy because it's I
just can't do it.
It doesn't look right.
At some point you have to takeyour baseball cap and you just
spin it around forwards, facethat brim forward.
From this point on in your life, old boy, you're not in the
kids club anymore, and thatapplies to what you talk about,
how you dress on stage and howyou comport yourself.
(24:25):
So you just can't picture a13-year-old talking like this.
That'd look fucking weird, youknow yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
And I shouldn't be like.
I'm talking like this, youdouche.
I made you do something, youknow.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, yeah, eloquent.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So it was starting to turn into more character work.
I would get grandpas and Iwould get judge and dean of the
school or head of a medicaldepartment.
You know those kinds of jobsfor a while.
You know if something comesalong and you know an offer
comes along for grandpa, we'llhave a look at it.
Funny grandpa on a sitcom.
You know wisecracking, crankyfuck, whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
We, uh, we may reach out to you in, in in the next
year or something.
We may have some projects wherewe might be able to get it no
guarantees, but I think tj knowswhat I'm thinking of and we can
definitely make you fit well,see, that's how it all comes
together, boys, that's how itcomes together.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Well, there's certainly lots of production
near you yeah, and it's startingto pick up again after the
storm blew away.
Everyone's rebuilding andthey're getting the shows up and
running again storm, you knowpandemic, and it went down to
almost nothing.
I know, hopefully now it'scoming back up, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Don't jinx it.
Don't jinx it.
That's like coming around thecurve and going.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
look how great this traffic is Still smooth around
the corner.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, our traffic is loaded with Swifties this week,
and so we understand.
Traffic can change in the blinkof an eye.
What's that?
Taylor Swift's fans.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
That's what they're called Swifties.
Oh, a Swifty, huh.
Oh yeah, I call them Swifties.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, the Swift they're cleaning.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, I'm old school Tom Swift.
You mean like from the books,he was a boy genius which is not
electric ray gun he had a raygun yeah, but it was like
electric.
He was steampunk, basically.
Yeah, before it was a thing.
He was steampunk.
He had a rocket.
I was a teenager with a rocket.
That's got to be safe.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Like Johnny Quest.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Sure, just let him go face the frogmen, stupid Ivan
by himself.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You know I'm trying to think of a nice question to
wrap us up, because we havethoroughly enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
It's been fun, guys.
Thank you.
It's a fine way to spend aSunday.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Indeed, they didn't know we were on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
No, Thanks guys, it was fun chatting with you.
Excellent, I've got anothertake in me.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Can I do three in a row?
Go ahead, let me do three in arow.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Hey, it was great talking with you guys too.
Hey, it was great talking withyou guys too.
Hey, it was great talking withyou guys too.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Give me one where it's not great.
But you use those words whenit's not what?
Where it's not great?
Hey, it's great talking to you.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Hey guys, it was great talking with you.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Thanks again.
Excellent, don't get no betterthan that.
All right, I can do dialects ohsure what you got.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Hey y'all, it was great talking with you.
Oh, we're glad to have you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
We're glad to have you, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, here's a good one , blimey mate.
I had a wonderful time, crikey.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
I didn't know if you were doing Australian, but
that's what it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I didn't either.
Yeah, everyone go out andlisten to Jonathan Winters.
Watch some of those YouTube andlook at the stick.
You guys know the stick he cameout on.
I think it was the jack parshow and they gave him a here.
Jonathan, here's a stick.
Did you ever see him do that?
Yeah, as a black and white,years and years ago 65 years ago
(27:58):
, something like that, maybemore and he just starts
improvising with the stick anddoing all this stuff.
It blew so many young mindscompletely open to you.
You can do that on TV.
They'll let you do that.
Oh, I've got to get into thatand there's a million other
things to see after that.
But you know, all your heroeshave heroes.
(28:18):
Go to a hero's hero.
Watch Jonathan Winters.
It's just, it's amazing and putin your mind the framework of
when he was doing this he wasdoing this no one knew exactly
what TV was all about.
He was doing this.
No one knew exactly what TV wasall about.
That was probably a luxury atthe time, right, but that level
of trust, they just don't givethat to anybody.
What you want to do is work tothe point where you get that
level of trust because you'vejust proven yourself so many
(28:40):
other places.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
That's the way I look at it.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I totally agree.
I loved him as a kid, of course, from Mork and Mindy that was
my first exposure to him and theScooby-Doo when they had guest
stars on.
He was Maude Frick, maude.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, Johnny Carson just openly stole Maude Fricker.
He didn't even try to hide.
That's what he's doing.
That's how giant an influencehe was.
He's the father If we're doingimprov, and especially on stage.
He's the father of a goodportion of what we're doing,
directly to him.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
You couldn't control him.
There was no way.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Well, there was some of that.
Yeah, once it started, you justhad to let it happen.
It's like launching a rocket.
There's no off switch.
Once you hit the Saturn rockets, you know that's it Off.
You go.
Yeah, I say go out and study it, because you don't even have to
be in showbiz for it to be goodfor you to just have a facile
mind.
The improv part of your mind isthe thing that makes everything
(29:33):
new.
Yeah, yeah, where is that notuseful?
I don't care if you're inscience or you're in education
or you're in the deli business,I don't know.
You want to remarket yourself.
There's no downside to it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
When my troop did improv online during the
pandemic because we couldn'tfinish class.
We did it every two weeks andduring the pandemic we were all
stressed out of our minds whoknows what's going to happen.
But for those three hours whenwe did afterwards he did a
little recap what you take awayfrom the day all the stress was
gone.
It came back.
It came back slowly, buttouching that creative part pops
the bubble and releases you,releases the stillness, even
(30:09):
when things are going crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Improvise, be ready to get it wrong and let it
happen.
Like trick with part of thetrick with riding a horse is
knowing how to fall.
It's the same with judo orjujitsu.
You got to know how to roll man, because you'll never stay in
the game if it throws you onceand that's it.
That's a good point.
So learn to interpret thebeating.
You don't always get to stop it, but you can interpret it and
(30:30):
eventually that gives you thatsort of martial art to work
around it.
You have to go through it firsta little bit.
Be ready to have it go high andlow, because the high part is
so, so worth it.
It's ridiculously worth it, andyou'll find out soon enough
whether you've got it in yourblood to really do.
Everyone will know, and you'lleither stay with it at that
point or you'll quit.
You'll go on to something youbelong at.
(30:51):
But if there's anything that'sworth a chance, take the chance
briefly to find out.
You conquered.
One of the biggest things thereis to conquer is the fear of
facing other people.
A, b not even having anythingprepared, and C the willingness
to look at.
If I change this, I'm like aslightly or majorly different
person.
Am I willing to ditch a portionof myself for this?
(31:12):
Because, how good it feels.
Did I make that part of myselfthat doesn't like change too
sacred?
And I'm cheating myself out ofthis beat in this moment, right
now, because there's alikelihood that that's what this
is.
That's what you're doing, andyou didn't know it.
Consider it, consider takingthe chance to dive in.
Don't sabotage yourself.
Don't fuck it up on purposebecause I knew it, I would suck
(31:32):
Really.
Embrace it, see what happens.
But if you did that, imaginewhat else.
You can fearlessly just turnand look at.
It's like the man, cold horse,richard Harris, where they're
hanging him by his man tittieson those leather straps for the
tribe to initiate him intomanhood Right.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
But without that he's just talking yeah, You'll live.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That's right.
It's a totally different typeof show, but you might be able
to make a few bucks on that.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, right, and we're back to the dongle.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And since we've come, full circle, it's a good place
to end it, ladies and gentlemen.
Circle, it's a good place toend it.
Ladies and gentlemen, take careof your dongle Rick thanks for
joining us TJ, thank you forbeing here, as always.
Good night everybody.
Hey, I'm Rick Overton and I've done a couple of
movies.
You can check the IMDb to findout.
And I want to say it's apleasure to be here with these
fine gents on NOLA Film Scene.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello, welcome to NOLA Film Scene with TJ and
Plato.
I'm TJ and, as always, I'mPlato.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So great to have you, rick.
Thanks for joining us today.
Thanks for having me on.
Yeah, so I have a problem withmy dongle.
Now, you are both accreditedApple genii Is that the plural?
You are Apple geniuses Now thatI've made it all the way down
to the store.
Right, you are here to help mewith that, right?
That's right, we'll help youget what you need today.
Okay, now there's something Iwas told wrong with my dongle.
(00:51):
What do I do about my dongle?
Hmm, we might have to cleanthat off a bit.
Oh wait a minute.
Who's going to do that?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, I also.
You know my second job.
I work at the hospital, so Ican get you a shot for that.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Oh, okay, good, yeah, I don't want to transfer a
virus through my dongle.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
We'll check your connections.
We'll make sure all the portsare clear.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Dongle viri are the worst.
I know, don't set yourexpectations too high at my age.
I can't ask too much of mydongle at this age, but just the
same, I want to think I walkedout of here a satisfied customer
.
Anyway, okay, and scene andscene Bravo.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Bravo.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Improv, I think, though, is fun.
At virtually no point in yourlife are you not doing it.
There's another way to look atit.
Yes, sir, I hadn't thought ofit like that.
Yeah, that way it gets you usedto doing it for free, for no
pay.
Get used to that, and real lifewill dial you right in, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We're not going to be rich by doing improv.
Son of a.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's rare.
It's rare and it's brief andeveryone who does improv, it's
important probably to know howto go out of a script.
As well as no harm in that,combine the two, because I think
even when you're doingShakespeare and you're trying to
stay as close to the letter andthe word as you can.
The improv part is it's yourvoice doing it this time, you
with your timing, with your bodytype, right, that's a good
(02:09):
point.
You're not just a digitalreproduction of the last person
who did it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Right.
And when something goes wrongon stage, a chair falls, a sword
doesn't cut, doesn't fake.
You can't just ignore it, youhave to react to it.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, and if you don't, the only thing worse than
it happening is you didn'treact when it did.
That's a good point.
The same thing with a comediandoing a stage act and their act
is so structured that they havea part in their act where they
go sure you laugh, but I'm theone still sitting in the cab,
and that only works if they'relaughing.
It looks really bad with a sureyou laugh if he's just yeah,
and so a lot of times that'swhat happens when you're so
(02:45):
stuck in your left brain that itcan trap you, and when the
people say well, I'd rather justgo into writing, but what?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
is writing.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
What are you doing?
You are either improvising oryou're plagiarizing, and there's
no third option.
It's one of those two.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Wow, you just broke my brain.
Yeah, I had never thought of itthat way either.
Interesting and it's perfect.
It's all right.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Of course we're using English.
We're stealing from our pastknowledge of words and phrases
and stuff like that.
So you know, sometimes I woulddescribe improv as like the
second hardest job in the worldis being the first impressionist
abstract painter, because noone knows what the hell you're
doing.
The first hardest job in theworld is being the second
abstract painter, because noweveryone's comparing you to the
first one and it's only 10, 20artists.
(03:24):
Later they go oh, this is aboutthe separate brushstroke and
the individual personalitycoming through, or whatever.
It takes all these layers tosee it, but it's all improv.
Taking one abstract to anotherartist's hands is an improv and
we are all thieves thieves ofculture, thieves of language.
It's why someone understands asingle thing we're talking about
as a comic.
It had to have a recognizable.
I took that and then put itinto my mix of well, hopefully,
(03:46):
enough improv that.
It's something that you'll see,something familiar in a new way
.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Oh, wow, yeah, and I was starting to tell Rick before
we got on that I've been a fanof comedy since the eighties,
when down here in New Orleanswe've got HBO and we got comedy
central in the nineties and Iwas obsessed watching-up.
It's one thing I haven't triedyet, but I tend to be quick with
it.
I can be funny, you know, notbreaking my arm, patting myself
on the back, but I also findmyself I'll say something and
people might laugh and I go oh,I heard Rick say that in the 80s
(04:13):
and it popped out of my head.
So plagiarizing, but notmeaning to plagiarize it kind of
.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I've absorbed and then it came from, I wouldn't
spend a ton of time chasing it.
You'll go crazy.
Yeah, it'll break you.
You'll absolutely lose yourshit over this.
You know, yeah, every guy thatsaid a word.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
You know, I'm sorry, man, I don't want to say stole
it but I also say the word thein my act, and you know, just
don't use the, and that's all Iask you use both.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Now you're plagiarizing, that's it.
I put the play back inplagiarism.
I would hope that when we areimprovising, we're trying to
surprise ourselves.
You know, it's supposed to bethe first time.
We heard it too, and you'regonna.
Something's gonna sneak inevery now and then.
It's the way the brain works.
Oh, this other thing worksperfectly there.
Bang, put it in.
But it's this thing.
(05:06):
That means it's from the pastand it's like you just do your
best around it.
We are very past orientedpeople.
As much as we have gadgets thatlook like the future, we don't
think in terms of where we fitin that future at all.
We leave ourselves out of ourequation.
So the only thing that movesforward is improv, really, and
seeing everything in lifedoesn't have to be a funny
(05:26):
improv, that's true, real lifeis sad.
Improv drama improv ho-hum.
Improv security cam improv.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I think security cam improv is called being a robber,
being a thief.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, and that's why we got to start a union, a
performers union for them,called RAG Robbers Actors
Robbing Actors, Guilt Now.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I agree with you.
I used to wear a conveniencestore graveyard shift and they
had a guy came in and he'swearing these blue pants with a
yellow stripe down each side anda T-shirt and he walked in and
he was wide eyed.
He went over to the beer,picked beer, picked it up aim, I
didn't have to check his id, hewas old enough, paid, and then
he goes, start to walk out andthere's an end cap and he's in
the middle of the aisle it's notblocking him and he's steps
(06:12):
over the end cap, which wasn'tin front of.
Then, as he got to the door heslammed his foot on the mat and
jumped back and then he did itagain.
He thought it was an automaticdoor.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I I was like like those old fashioned pressure
plate mats.
Right, I remember those when Iwas a kid.
Yeah, get the door in your faceand parents would sit back and
see if you're smart or stupid.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Well, I told this guy , I said no, it's just regular
door OK.
And he walks out and he's stillall wide eyed.
I'm like, huh, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
The next day I see on the news someone had escaped
the mental institution.
You're brushed with celebrity.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
No one could improv like him.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Every moment is an improv.
Yes, but you'd be amazed at howmuch someone in that level of
distress is almost pure past theentire, every waking split
second.
It's a recycling of an eventthat broke him.
Oh yeah, in every so it improvsinto that, but it's completely
based on something that's nothere today and that's like.
Being schizophrenic is not yourmultiple personalities.
Being schizophrenic is you areabsolutely convinced of
(07:14):
something that has no evidenceof it like anywhere.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Wow, yes, you're hitting us with heavy thoughts,
and it's good, it's good.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, that's, people get the phrase wrong.
Schizophrenic is a firm beliefin something that isn't
happening, a separate realityplaying in their head like a
movie.
And to them, it's like you, ifyou're watching with their vr
goggles, you'd say, oh wow, Isee why the guy's making that
face.
And they're finding thesethings out partly with
psychology and partly with justletting people wear the goggles
and say, yeah, that looks, thatlooks like the other shit.
(07:44):
Oh well, now we know thatexperience.
It's weird.
So the future doesn'tcompletely suck, it, only 75%
sucks.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I'm speechless.
Give me, speechless is a feat,sir.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I'm just trying to find things to joke about.
Yeah, yeah, no, to look at andto joke about, and sometimes you
stumble on I don't know wherethe jokes are here to joke about
and sometimes you stumble onyou.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I don't know where the jokes are here.
Look what the hell I found.
Oh my god, reality is gettingtoo weird to just.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Reality is catching up with crazy.
That's a fact.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah, the steeplechase tj, if you got some
, I I'm formulating the questionbut I'm we'll leave this in my
brain is broke.
He looks like it.
Looks like that guy maybe itwas me.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I was jiggling the mouse.
I I thought brian was.
I thought his screen was frozenfor a second there.
He was just trying to wrap hishead around.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Well, whatever you do , don't tell my wife how you did
that, because she's been tryingto find a way to shut me up for
years oh, oh, yeah, well, Ilove you know.
Okay, is that at Brian's houseor Rick's?
That's not a NOLA cop.
(08:55):
I think that might be over inthe other alley, oh, that's the
big hook and ladder.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You can hear the when it slows down.
That's the big diesel, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
This show is just fire it's fire dog.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Is dog still okay?
Is it still okay to call a mana dog in the Western world?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I guess not.
We were just censored bysomething.
Rick, can you move to yourright a little bit, right there?
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Oh yeah, perfect You're dead center.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Now I don't want to say dead, but Well, there goes
my question what we like to askpeople, entertainers, artists,
what inspired them to get intothe biz or whatever part of the
biz they're in?
Can you remember?
I always say the moment thatsent you down this path, or a
(09:41):
few moments, Nope.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
No, I don't think it's.
You can't always look for amoment.
Slow cumulative decisionsarrive as well.
You know it's not alwayslightning bolt Right.
I know it makes a great story,but in real life don't place
your creative expectations onthings like that.
I would tell you not to gothere as a creative because
you'll be disappointed andyou'll give up.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
That's a good point.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
It is Stay with the game when it goes high.
Stay with it when it goes low,especially if you think it's
your nature to do it.
Your nature comes with highsand lows.
Just because you're in yournature doesn't mean everything
goes perfectly.
But when you land in your low,you're doing so in your nature.
The only thing worse than thatis you're not even in your
nature.
When you land there, you don'tknow what the hell to do,
because you're not in yournature anymore.
(10:23):
You don't know who you are.
So how can you fix it?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I got you.
I got you.
Yeah, I was saying in highschool you did your first play
and then you loved entertainingFor me.
I kind of always loved watching.
And then Kevin Smith came totown and asked people who wanted
to be extras in the movie andthat sent me on the path.
I started loving backgroundacting and then I did Bill and
Ted.
I was Death's photo double inthe third one and then I started
taking acting lessons.
So the bugs bit me there.
(10:46):
Do you have anything like that?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
My dad loved Jonathan Winters, yes, sir, and so I
loved Jonathan Winters, yes, sir, and so I loved Jonathan
Winters and do and got to befriends and Robin Williams and I
befriended over the love ofJonathan Winters.
Nice, jonathan was such a biginspiration that I almost just
wanted to do that and see whathappens.
Career wise, I don't know,because if you follow Jonathan's
career, it went up and down,acting wise.
(11:10):
He wasn't a steady working guybut he was always a very
charming guest.
But no one could find the nicheor category for him, really,
because they didn't understandhe is the category.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
You meet his standards.
It's not the other way around.
That helped me, I think, eventhough his phrase was he said if
your ship doesn't come in andgo, swim out and get it or just
be okay with what you're doing,because he had, he didn't, he
swam out and got it.
But then there's times when hedidn't, he stayed and he just
did his thing.
And you go to him, don't swimanywhere.
You either find it or you don't.
And so maybe I didn't have thatsuccess orientation in my head
(11:45):
in the same format as someonewho just wants to get to the top
and they'll do anything.
I won't do anything, I'll dowhat I do.
I do my thing.
Yes, sir, yeah, see where itlands when you do your thing.
And so if someone wants supersuccess, I'm not sure my advice
is the go-to, but if what youcall success is you know, you
found you, I think that's asuccess.
Yeah.
And where does it land?
(12:05):
I think you land moreauthentically wherever you do,
when it's actually yourself you.
Yeah, that's a great point.
It might take longer, but youlike your own company.
And other people kind of likeyou too, that helps, but usually
if you like your own company,other people catch on.
(12:27):
They get it.
Yes, they go.
Yeah, dogs like you and theyget it.
Animals are hip too, whenpeople are in tune with
themselves.
You want that.
You just want to find youImprov.
Get you there quick, becauseall the characters you're doing,
they're all parts of you andyou're just getting to see them
at the speed of light.
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I know when I'm on stage I can be too controlling
of the improv, but it's magicwhen you can just let it go and
be and never chase the laugh.
You get a great reaction fromthe crowd.
You're like I want to do thatagain.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Got it, yeah yeah, you never chased yes, never
chase a laugh, that's right, itwill betray you.
It can't wait.
That's setting you up.
Oh, this next one's gonna begreat.
Now, lucky three, step on itone more time crickets, crickets
, crickets boom, you're bombed,yeah.
And also because it's going inthe opposite direction of improv
yeah, repetition like that nothere are people that get a
(13:12):
running gag and the improv iswhere they put the thing in
again and again.
Yeah, because also improv ismusic and it's highly like a
percussion instrument kind ofmusic, very rhythm based, and so
you can see comedians who havea musical background of some
sort.
That plays into the way they dotheir comedy and they get
timing in a great way.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I had never thought about the musical timing versus
comedic timing that way.
That's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh, thanks, I just added a while, so I noticed it.
Just, it's just comparisons ofthings you, you would have seen
it just the same as me.
Anyone would you can see hey,this kind of looks like that and
that's using rhythm influencespeople's responses.
You can.
It's like hypnosis is use ofrhythm and comics are hypnotists
(13:57):
, and so are musicians andactors, and an actor who uses
his voice like this is stillusing rhythm.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yep, when doing my audition classes I got in the
note a couple of times.
Don't be one note.
Yeah, it took me a while tofigure out that I was playing
the end of the scene at thebeginning, or just trying to
play the scene instead of justbeing Letting emotion hit me and
carry me in highs and lows.
But it's all music, that'sright.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, the control thing started out as your friend
.
It saved you when you werelittle.
It was your best friend.
And now, as life gets morecomplex, it's like, hey, man,
you're not using me as much asyou used to Remember.
It was like me and you.
We were like the team manControl.
We had the situation down Right, but these are more complex
(14:45):
times.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know, man, and I'mgoing to catch up, I'm going to
learn how to control that too.
It's something you can'tcontrol.
No, don't start ditching me now, man.
I've been your friend a longtime.
Don't fucking jump me roadsidenow.
And it's kind of like a Georgeand Lenny moment.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
He was too rough with the rabbits and now he got.
You know we got to decide whatyou're going to do with that
part of yourself.
If you think about it, I'm 70.
Now, how many versions of youhave died so far?
How many?
Speaker 2 (15:12):
dead.
You's, do you have?
Uh, I've reinvented a few times.
Yeah, so I'm playing highschool, so I'm not a musician
anymore in that way.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I was gonna be more than that the way you thought
about the world, not just a setof activities, it's like the
whole.
I don't act like that anymore.
I don't think like that anymore.
Yeah yeah that guy's gone atleast five yeah oh yeah, at
least five.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
We should can.
Oh yeah, at least five.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Can you find them?
I mean, if you look for themyou could find it, but I don't
even remember the completely,the way they talk or anything as
a kid.
Oh, you know that version of me, a young man, that version of
me, I know I have video of it,but I'm saying my brain isn't
wired like that completelyanymore.
I have some of the things thatI have from my youth and certain
things that I like about art orwhatever that is, or music, but
in the accumulation of timeI've added things that I mostly
(16:01):
think you should do.
You should have added things.
Oh, you didn't evolve.
What do you come here for?
Using up everybody's time?
And you didn't evolve.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
A lot of times I've pictured it like a big block of
granite and we are our ownsculptor, so we've chiseled away
and found something and that'salways stuck.
And then, like you said, well,this looks good, oh, that looks
like crap.
Bam, that part's gone.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
It's interesting because our job is we're David
in the block of marble, butDavid's doing the chiseling and
he has to chisel his way out.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
And there's one part you really don't want to knock
off, but we won't talk aboutthat part.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, it almost looks like they did, cause you know
it's cold in here.
Come on, this whole place ismarble.
I'm fucking freezing.
You're not going to do this.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
You're going to exaggerate, right?
Oh, we got you, don't worry.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, yeah, because, come on, guys, look at my
physique.
I've been working this shit out.
I'm like narcissists.
I'm looking at my reflection inthe water.
I'm looking good.
Right right, you know, come on,man, give me a leaf.
Will you give me?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
a leaf.
Adam's got the.
We can get you one from Eve,but you know.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, oh, eve gets one.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
She got three, she's fucking wrong man.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Eve got three.
She cornered the market on it.
Can I have the snake, hey, butanyway, scene.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
How's the snake today ?
Very fresh Snake and apple.
Welcome to the snake and apple.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
I was thinking about the apple.
Why does it keep the doctoraway, Anyway?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
how does that?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
affect Johnny Appleseed.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Well, I don't think it does.
Okay, it's the clothes thatmade that man.
So where are you exactly?
We're in New Orleans.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
I'm in the suburbs when in New?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Orleans, where I'm in Metairie.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Metairie, metairie, jefferson, parish.
Yes, okay, I'm on the northshore.
Yeah, I did storyville yearsago.
I worked there.
Yeah, I drove around.
I'm told I had a very good timein nolens.
Yeah, that's a common theme wehear.
Yeah, they even make thesidewalks fucked up.
So you're like walking overthese broken teeth to get down
the street.
Like you're not fucked upenough.
Now the streets like throwingyou side to side as a.
(18:16):
It was like a challenge, like aNinja challenge drunken Ninja
challenge.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
The sidewalks on our potholes are made to only be
navigated by drunks.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh yeah, that's totally smooth and normal, right
, it looks like you're drivingdrunk, but you're not.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Because if you're driving, drunk but you're not?
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, because if you're not, you're going to lose
your suspension in about aminute.
I always had a good time there.
I've always had a good time inthat town man.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I met Paul Prudhomme on his golf cart.
Did you eat at his restaurantor just out and about?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I did eat at his restaurant.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That man could cook.
He could cook, he tastedeverything.
It was good he could cook.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, he tasted everything.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
If I say Esplanade Mall, does that ring a bell for
you?
I think so.
Okay, the reason I'm going tosay I know I do this all the
time and this person looks likethat person and I'm wrong.
But there was one flashback toit, late 80s, I think 88,
because I was just out of highschool and I'm walking through
esplanade mall, which is inkenner for the people listening
and I think I saw you.
So it was the same hair you hadfor stand-up.
(19:20):
You had.
We both had more on top backthen.
And then you know the the 80sjacket with the sleeves rolled
up and you were smoking and youmight have been partying a good
bit.
You didn't smoke and it wasn'tyou.
It wasn't you because I waslike, oh my God, it's Rick
Overton.
Well, there goes that story.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I had that long hair that came down to my shoulders
but it was going away here.
I knew it was going.
I knew it was going to be gonesoon, so I was going to grow the
shit out of it before it wasall done.
So I can say I had the longhair while it held out, you know
(19:56):
, but I probably expedited itfalling out from the weight.
Yeah, where sting?
He went the other way.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
he like chopped it short so you know, you couldn't
tell exactly what the hell'sgoing on up there.
That's a smart man.
Yeah, his hair might be tantrictoo, I don't know tantric hair.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
That's right, it can stay up all night it's lasted a
lot longer.
We're like a writer's room.
Now, yes, you're friends withright, uh-huh.
I met her through facebook,like I met you, and we've had
her on.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
We had a blast.
We're like a writer's room now.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yes, you're friends with Stephanie Hodge, right?
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I met her through Facebook, like I met you, and
we've had her on.
We had a blast.
Oops, hit my camera.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Please give Stephanie my very best.
I haven't spoken in too long.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I will send her a message today and we'll get
y'all talking.
But in that episode too, I justsaw TJ when I start going like
oh.
Brian's going again there goesthe mouth.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
There we go again, there we go again, we'll have to
label them head shaker episodes.
The head shakers.
That's actually.
You'll keep talking.
I'm making notes, ladies andgentlemen, the head shakers.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Hello Cleveland, are you running to rock?
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah see Americans go like this.
We're like this, you agree, wedisagree.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Or they do this, but on the other side of the road.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I'm not on the road much, no, okay, the rarest
occasion I get out there, but Ijust did a fun show with Off the
Wall, the oldest single castimprov troupe in the history of
the world.
Oh, wow, they have over 50years together.
Wow, now the Groundlings.
Yes, you could say the grouphas been around that long, but
it's not all the same cast.
(21:25):
They've run through them.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Off the Wall is just these guys and ladies and
they're like a machine, like youhaven't seen.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, Talk about a group mind.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
They're all completely psychically dolphin
linked to each other and, yeah,it's a real treat to work with
these guys.
So I just did a fun couple ofshows with them lately and they
keep that little candle litevery now and then I'll do a
standup spot, but not by muchanymore.
You know I got you.
That whole world is slowed downa little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, the boom of the nineties maybe into the two
thousands.
Then it dropped off.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Saturation.
It was rare and unique in theseventies.
You had to get out of yourhouse to see it.
By the eighties it's startingto be you can stay home and see
it.
Right by the 90s you can be anytime of day and see it, and by
the aughts there's too much ofit, you can't not see it.
It's everywhere now.
Streaming services giving outspecials all over the place.
(22:18):
Yeah, guys with fivers gettingthe special, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
A five-minute set.
Okay, I was like fivers.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
I'm all for the independence of some sort of
streaming alternate media givingsomeone else a chance.
I'm totally for that.
But at the same time the peoplethat were supposed to find it
special don't have to doanything.
It used to be.
You have to pay for parking anda babysitter, and dinner and
drinks and the show and coverand a tip and whatever else you
did that night Dessert or stayhome, click, put the kids to bed
(22:51):
and watch TV and one replacedthe other, just out of cold hard
practicality.
So there are big arena namesand they're big, big recognition
names.
But it's an interesting timefor the guys in between,
certainly my guys, my age.
Sometimes they go down toFlorida and retirement centers
where their age group is allthere.
We were all young somewhereelse and now we're all this age
(23:13):
here and there's guys doingboats, lots of boats.
I'm not so much a boat guy withwhat I do.
I'm not line line line joke,joke, I'm like ideas and you
know improv.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I was watching your specials again to prepare for
this, and I don't want to callit frantic, but it was a steady
stream of consciousness.
It was energetic, almost to thepoint of overboiling you know
what I mean, but you never lostcontrol.
It was incredible to watch.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
When I started getting the more heavy, weirder
political stuff, I kind ofpicked up the pace because I
wanted to make it.
So, hey ho, he, you know, funnyclown saying this shit, don't
fucking whack me, you know.
And yeah, I was trying to movethat pace along.
You got it.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
And you kept the golden rule of if you're going
to talk about this stuff, befunny.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Thank you, I tried to make sure of that too, but the
power of it was the hand.
The jump around.
Hammy, I don't go that fast nowon my comedy because it's I
just can't do it.
It doesn't look right.
At some point you have to takeyour baseball cap and you just
spin it around forwards, facethat brim forward.
From this point on in your life, old boy, you're not in the
kids club anymore, and thatapplies to what you talk about,
how you dress on stage and howyou comport yourself.
(24:25):
So you just can't picture a13-year-old talking like this.
That'd look fucking weird, youknow yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
And I shouldn't be like.
I'm talking like this, youdouche.
I made you do something, youknow.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, yeah, eloquent.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So it was starting to turn into more character work.
I would get grandpas and Iwould get judge and dean of the
school or head of a medicaldepartment.
You know those kinds of jobsfor a while.
You know if something comesalong and you know an offer
comes along for grandpa, we'llhave a look at it.
Funny grandpa on a sitcom.
You know wisecracking, crankyfuck, whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
We, uh, we may reach out to you in, in in the next
year or something.
We may have some projects wherewe might be able to get it no
guarantees, but I think tj knowswhat I'm thinking of and we can
definitely make you fit well,see, that's how it all comes
together, boys, that's how itcomes together.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Well, there's certainly lots of production
near you yeah, and it's startingto pick up again after the
storm blew away.
Everyone's rebuilding andthey're getting the shows up and
running again storm, you knowpandemic, and it went down to
almost nothing.
I know, hopefully now it'scoming back up, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Don't jinx it.
Don't jinx it.
That's like coming around thecurve and going.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
look how great this traffic is Still smooth around
the corner.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, our traffic is loaded with Swifties this week,
and so we understand.
Traffic can change in the blinkof an eye.
What's that?
Taylor Swift's fans.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
That's what they're called Swifties.
Oh, a Swifty, huh.
Oh yeah, I call them Swifties.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, the Swift they're cleaning.
I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, I'm old school Tom Swift.
You mean like from the books,he was a boy genius which is not
electric ray gun he had a raygun yeah, but it was like
electric.
He was steampunk, basically.
Yeah, before it was a thing.
He was steampunk.
He had a rocket.
I was a teenager with a rocket.
That's got to be safe.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Like Johnny Quest.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Sure, just let him go face the frogmen, stupid Ivan
by himself.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You know I'm trying to think of a nice question to
wrap us up, because we havethoroughly enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
It's been fun, guys.
Thank you.
It's a fine way to spend aSunday.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Indeed, they didn't know we were on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
No, Thanks guys, it was fun chatting with you.
Excellent, I've got anothertake in me.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Can I do three in a row?
Go ahead, let me do three in arow.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Hey, it was great talking with you guys too.
Hey, it was great talking withyou guys too.
Hey, it was great talking withyou guys too.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Give me one where it's not great.
But you use those words whenit's not what?
Where it's not great?
Hey, it's great talking to you.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Hey guys, it was great talking with you.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Thanks again.
Excellent, don't get no betterthan that.
All right, I can do dialects ohsure what you got.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Hey y'all, it was great talking with you.
Oh, we're glad to have you.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
We're glad to have you, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, here's a good one , blimey mate.
I had a wonderful time, crikey.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
I didn't know if you were doing Australian, but
that's what it sounded like.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I didn't either.
Yeah, everyone go out andlisten to Jonathan Winters.
Watch some of those YouTube andlook at the stick.
You guys know the stick he cameout on.
I think it was the jack parshow and they gave him a here.
Jonathan, here's a stick.
Did you ever see him do that?
Yeah, as a black and white,years and years ago 65 years ago
(27:58):
, something like that, maybemore and he just starts
improvising with the stick anddoing all this stuff.
It blew so many young mindscompletely open to you.
You can do that on TV.
They'll let you do that.
Oh, I've got to get into thatand there's a million other
things to see after that.
But you know, all your heroeshave heroes.
(28:18):
Go to a hero's hero.
Watch Jonathan Winters.
It's just, it's amazing and putin your mind the framework of
when he was doing this he wasdoing this no one knew exactly
what TV was all about.
He was doing this.
No one knew exactly what TV wasall about.
That was probably a luxury atthe time, right, but that level
of trust, they just don't givethat to anybody.
What you want to do is work tothe point where you get that
level of trust because you'vejust proven yourself so many
(28:40):
other places.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
That's the way I look at it.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I totally agree.
I loved him as a kid, of course, from Mork and Mindy that was
my first exposure to him and theScooby-Doo when they had guest
stars on.
He was Maude Frick, maude.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, Johnny Carson just openly stole Maude Fricker.
He didn't even try to hide.
That's what he's doing.
That's how giant an influencehe was.
He's the father If we're doingimprov, and especially on stage.
He's the father of a goodportion of what we're doing,
directly to him.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
You couldn't control him.
There was no way.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Well, there was some of that.
Yeah, once it started, you justhad to let it happen.
It's like launching a rocket.
There's no off switch.
Once you hit the Saturn rockets, you know that's it Off.
You go.
Yeah, I say go out and study it, because you don't even have to
be in showbiz for it to be goodfor you to just have a facile
mind.
The improv part of your mind isthe thing that makes everything
(29:33):
new.
Yeah, yeah, where is that notuseful?
I don't care if you're inscience or you're in education
or you're in the deli business,I don't know.
You want to remarket yourself.
There's no downside to it.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
When my troop did improv online during the
pandemic because we couldn'tfinish class.
We did it every two weeks andduring the pandemic we were all
stressed out of our minds whoknows what's going to happen.
But for those three hours whenwe did afterwards he did a
little recap what you take awayfrom the day all the stress was
gone.
It came back.
It came back slowly, buttouching that creative part pops
the bubble and releases you,releases the stillness, even
(30:09):
when things are going crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Improvise, be ready to get it wrong and let it
happen.
Like trick with part of thetrick with riding a horse is
knowing how to fall.
It's the same with judo orjujitsu.
You got to know how to roll man, because you'll never stay in
the game if it throws you onceand that's it.
That's a good point.
So learn to interpret thebeating.
You don't always get to stop it, but you can interpret it and
(30:30):
eventually that gives you thatsort of martial art to work
around it.
You have to go through it firsta little bit.
Be ready to have it go high andlow, because the high part is
so, so worth it.
It's ridiculously worth it, andyou'll find out soon enough
whether you've got it in yourblood to really do.
Everyone will know, and you'lleither stay with it at that
point or you'll quit.
You'll go on to something youbelong at.
(30:51):
But if there's anything that'sworth a chance, take the chance
briefly to find out.
You conquered.
One of the biggest things thereis to conquer is the fear of
facing other people.
A, b not even having anythingprepared, and C the willingness
to look at.
If I change this, I'm like aslightly or majorly different
person.
Am I willing to ditch a portionof myself for this?
(31:12):
Because, how good it feels.
Did I make that part of myselfthat doesn't like change too
sacred?
And I'm cheating myself out ofthis beat in this moment, right
now, because there's alikelihood that that's what this
is.
That's what you're doing, andyou didn't know it.
Consider it, consider takingthe chance to dive in.
Don't sabotage yourself.
Don't fuck it up on purposebecause I knew it, I would suck
(31:32):
Really.
Embrace it, see what happens.
But if you did that, imaginewhat else.
You can fearlessly just turnand look at.
It's like the man, cold horse,richard Harris, where they're
hanging him by his man tittieson those leather straps for the
tribe to initiate him intomanhood Right.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
But without that he's just talking yeah, You'll live.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
That's right.
It's a totally different typeof show, but you might be able
to make a few bucks on that.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Yeah, right, and we're back to the dongle.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And since we've come, full circle, it's a good place
to end it, ladies and gentlemen.
Circle, it's a good place toend it.
Ladies and gentlemen, take careof your dongle Rick thanks for
joining us TJ, thank you forbeing here, as always.
Good night everybody.
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