Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I never thought that I would spenda little time in studio with one of
the great actors of all time,Academy Award winner al Pacino. You know
him from so many gangster movies.Very nice ross for you to say that,
because I come from a long lineof actors. You know, my
grandmother was the woman that held thetorch at the end of Columbia Pictures.
(00:24):
My grandfather it's Curly from the ThreeStooges. Who are Nobody knows that.
I know. I was almost CurlyJoe, but I was eleven years old.
What do you? What are wedoing? What are you talking to?
That is one of the best impressionsever. Well, I like al
(00:45):
Pacino's becoming mumbles from Dick Tracy,the older he gets because he played mumbles.
He did. Yeah, I didnot know that. By the way,
folks, In case you don't recognizethe second voice, the actual voice,
it's Christopher Walkin. Come to thecommon works in Greenwood, Villaine.
It's crazy. I'll read from thebook of Doone. Is he from New
(01:08):
Jersey too? Queens Queen's all right, it is somewhere. I was born
in Manhattan, but I don't havethe accent This is Jay Moore by the
way, Yeah, indeed, Andhe's been in comedy since like nineteen twenty
seven something like that. And he'splaying Tonight and Tomorrow Night seven fifteen and
nine forty five and Comedy Works outat the Landmark Comedyworks dot com for your
(01:30):
tickets. You've seen him in lotsof movies and he's just done everything.
And dude, it's really good tohave you in studio for the first time.
Thanks man. So I want toask you some funny stuff and some
real stuff like you mentioned, andyou've been very open about it, about
the whole rehab thing, and Ijust want to say I'm proud of you.
(01:51):
He likes buddy. Not everybody wholives in Hollywood and kind of famous
and has some money, like doeswhat it takes to get their life straight.
You'd be surprised. But it's youknow, it's might maybe they don't
talk about it'd be called anonymous fora reason, yeah right at the radio,
press and film Yeah right, butuh yeah, what what you know
why it's anonymous because if I touchthe group that I belong to, my
(02:14):
name, right, and then Irelapse. I give a newcomer a reason
to say, see, look,it doesn't work. That's that's why Wow
press, radio and film, whyit's supposed to be anonymous. Really,
so I don't I just say I'min a recovery TOLSP recovery program, but
sure I don't say my name.Was there a particular thing that made you
say, all right, I havea problem to that. I've heard.
(02:35):
Okay, when you're at your ownintervention at fifty, that'll that's a wake
up. I was fifty years old, sitting in my own in my house,
my own intervention, and you knowyou got to lie to get a
drug addict to their own intervention.Sure, so the lie they told me,
I had my pot I had apodcast at the time, and I
did it at my house and Iwas told the next morning for my podcast
at eight am, I was goingto interview Wu Tang Clan. And I
(02:59):
was so high. I thought thatwas true. Think about the level of
disconnect in my life. I thoughtWu Tang clan was coming over to my
house at eight o'clock in the morningso I could interview them and help them
with their careers. I thought,you listened to Wu Tang clan. Ever
I have, Well, then youknow they're not morning people. Indeed,
(03:22):
it was not Mutang clan. Uhhuh. I was my family friends and
an interventionist who had a swastika tattoowas an old mes guy, a skinhead
for real. Yeah, he washaving it removed, but you know what,
not fast enough. That shouldn't bea going going gone. Look uh
huh and uh I'm looking at thisbald guy in my podcast room with a
(03:43):
swastik at tattoo to his head andI was like, I don't don't.
I don't think this guy came withWu Tang clan. And then he also
had no teeth because they were smokedout in the eighties. Yeah, and
so it's the most important day inmy life and he's like these people,
he's like gumming at me, he'dbelil and I was like, maybe he's
with Wootang clam. Hold on aminute. So this is like scared straight
(04:03):
kind of They're they're trying to tellyou you're gonna be this guy if you
don't know, I, well,I was that guy. I was just
it was just it was March eleventh, twenty twenty one. My agent put
together this rehab and he wasn't gonnabook me anymore. My girlfriend who's now
my wife, was got an apartment, was going to move, and I'll
tell me where she went. Youknow. Really there has to be like
these bottom lines. Yeah you don'tgo. Yeah. But it was a
(04:25):
fast intervention. About eight minutes in. I said, just so everybody knows
I'm gonna go to treatment. Butthat's that's because my first addiction is approval.
If you don't like me, Idon't know how to act. So
the fastest way for this approval addictto get everybody from looking really upset to
nodding their heads yes and happy againwas just to go to treatment. And
then once I was there, Ijust I got sober, like on Spie,
(04:46):
like I really, if I haveto get sober, I'm I'm gonna
be. I'm gonna out sober everybody. So so far, so good.
So obviously no drugs. Also,no alcohol, no, no, nothing,
nothing that affects me from the neckup. Gotcha. Oh yeah,
and are you happy? I've neverbeen happier in my life. And I
had to make that decision when Istarted going to meetings and all these guys
(05:06):
were like, you know, thisis this is the best I've ever had
at this. I had to doit. It's it's actually impossible. It's
a statistical impossibility that they're all lying. It's like a ghost story, Like
everybody can't be wrong, right ifsomebody saw something that was completely creepy and
ghosty, so's it'd be. Itwould I would be playing god if I
(05:27):
was to say, nah, they'reall lying to me, you know.
So I was like, all right, so I'm just And it's the first
thing. Recovery is the first thingI ever gave one hundred percent in my
life, acting, girls, standup comedy, wrestling, fighting, I've
always had one foot out to doit my maximum effort, which looks to
you like I'm all in eighty eightysix percent. I always got it.
(05:53):
I always got something going on theback burner over here. What percent are
you going to be tonight? It? Comedy Works one hundred Baby's Comedy Works
is the best? Isn't that?It's the best club in the country,
And no comedian can name another onethat can take you. It's it's there's
something about it. Yeah. I'vebeen in other cities promoting other clubs and
they've asked me, and I've saidcomedy works, and both of them both
(06:14):
so bizarrely that the unique that Downtownyou're in like this cool cave. Yeah,
and then Greenwood is uh, it'skind of like more theaters set up.
Will you be able to stick aroundfor one more segment? Yeah?
Yeah, let me ask you onequestion and we'll hit a break and we'll
come back to another. Who isWilliam Jennings Bryant? Oh? Sorry,
you do read a lot of nonfiction, don't you. So you said that
(06:35):
you always seek approval. Were youlike that as a kid? Oh yeah,
insatiable? Tell tell me a littlebit about what you were like as
a kid, and were you reallyfunny as a kid or how did you
seek approval? That was annoying,you know because you before you do stand
up comedy, there's no there's nodirection or outlet, so you're just kind
of this overflowing, whirling dervish ofjust hey, look at me, look
(06:57):
at me, Look at me,look at me, look at me.
And so it was like if youand I were kids together, like I
don't know, we're thirteen years old, Like my son in there and I'm
at your house watching TV. I'mspending that entire time trying to convince you
how great a time we're having.It's just an exhausting I was exhausting.
I was exhausting. Were you funny? There were moments I knew I could
(07:19):
do impressions because I would do impressionsof a movie. I saw to my
friends and I knew I had theirThey were like, okay, yeah,
it's like I knew I had theirfull attention. Yes, I was funny.
Maybe when we come back, I'llask you to do an impression.
I don't. I know we alreadydid me. I love it, but
the other I don't normally ask comicsto tell jokes and be funny. I'm
(07:40):
not that guy. But it'll bemore funny. But I got to say
that I'm amazed by impressions. Idon't understand how people do good impressions.
I don't understand how it's possible.I got a lot to say about it.
Okay, so why don't we justtake ten seconds with al Pacino taking
us into the break who you're listeningto Koa, and you know what,
(08:01):
You probably don't have a CD,and you go, I'm a CD players
all the times? Al Pacino Koaeight point fifty ninety four FM. Stay
here, we'll be back.
I never thought that I would spenda little time in studio with one of
the great actors of all time,Academy Award winner al Pacino. You know
him from so many gangster movies.Very nice ross for you to say that,
because I come from a long lineof actors. You know, my
grandmother was the woman that held thetorch at the end of Columbia Pictures.
(00:24):
My grandfather it's Curly from the ThreeStooges. Who are Nobody knows that.
I know. I was almost CurlyJoe, but I was eleven years old.
What do you? What are wedoing? What are you talking to?
That is one of the best impressionsever. Well, I like al
(00:45):
Pacino's becoming mumbles from Dick Tracy,the older he gets because he played mumbles.
He did. Yeah, I didnot know that. By the way,
folks, In case you don't recognizethe second voice, the actual voice,
it's Christopher Walkin. Come to thecommon works in Greenwood, Villaine.
It's crazy. I'll read from thebook of Doone. Is he from New
(01:08):
Jersey too? Queens Queen's all right, it is somewhere. I was born
in Manhattan, but I don't havethe accent This is Jay Moore by the
way, Yeah, indeed, Andhe's been in comedy since like nineteen twenty
seven something like that. And he'splaying Tonight and Tomorrow Night seven fifteen and
nine forty five and Comedy Works outat the Landmark Comedyworks dot com for your
(01:30):
tickets. You've seen him in lotsof movies and he's just done everything.
And dude, it's really good tohave you in studio for the first time.
Thanks man. So I want toask you some funny stuff and some
real stuff like you mentioned, andyou've been very open about it, about
the whole rehab thing, and Ijust want to say I'm proud of you.
(01:51):
He likes buddy. Not everybody wholives in Hollywood and kind of famous
and has some money, like doeswhat it takes to get their life straight.
You'd be surprised. But it's youknow, it's might maybe they don't
talk about it'd be called anonymous fora reason, yeah right at the radio,
press and film Yeah right, butuh yeah, what what you know
why it's anonymous because if I touchthe group that I belong to, my
(02:14):
name, right, and then Irelapse. I give a newcomer a reason
to say, see, look,it doesn't work. That's that's why Wow
press, radio and film, whyit's supposed to be anonymous. Really,
so I don't I just say I'min a recovery TOLSP recovery program, but
sure I don't say my name.Was there a particular thing that made you
say, all right, I havea problem to that. I've heard.
(02:35):
Okay, when you're at your ownintervention at fifty, that'll that's a wake
up. I was fifty years old, sitting in my own in my house,
my own intervention, and you knowyou got to lie to get a
drug addict to their own intervention.Sure, so the lie they told me,
I had my pot I had apodcast at the time, and I
did it at my house and Iwas told the next morning for my podcast
at eight am, I was goingto interview Wu Tang Clan. And I
(02:59):
was so high. I thought thatwas true. Think about the level of
disconnect in my life. I thoughtWu Tang clan was coming over to my
house at eight o'clock in the morningso I could interview them and help them
with their careers. I thought,you listened to Wu Tang clan. Ever
I have, Well, then youknow they're not morning people. Indeed,
(03:22):
it was not Mutang clan. Uhhuh. I was my family friends and
an interventionist who had a swastika tattoowas an old mes guy, a skinhead
for real. Yeah, he washaving it removed, but you know what,
not fast enough. That shouldn't bea going going gone. Look uh
huh and uh I'm looking at thisbald guy in my podcast room with a
(03:43):
swastik at tattoo to his head andI was like, I don't don't.
I don't think this guy came withWu Tang clan. And then he also
had no teeth because they were smokedout in the eighties. Yeah, and
so it's the most important day inmy life and he's like these people,
he's like gumming at me, he'dbelil and I was like, maybe he's
with Wootang clam. Hold on aminute. So this is like scared straight
(04:03):
kind of They're they're trying to tellyou you're gonna be this guy if you
don't know, I, well,I was that guy. I was just
it was just it was March eleventh, twenty twenty one. My agent put
together this rehab and he wasn't gonnabook me anymore. My girlfriend who's now
my wife, was got an apartment, was going to move, and I'll
tell me where she went. Youknow. Really there has to be like
these bottom lines. Yeah you don'tgo. Yeah. But it was a
(04:25):
fast intervention. About eight minutes in. I said, just so everybody knows
I'm gonna go to treatment. Butthat's that's because my first addiction is approval.
If you don't like me, Idon't know how to act. So
the fastest way for this approval addictto get everybody from looking really upset to
nodding their heads yes and happy againwas just to go to treatment. And
then once I was there, Ijust I got sober, like on Spie,
(04:46):
like I really, if I haveto get sober, I'm I'm gonna
be. I'm gonna out sober everybody. So so far, so good.
So obviously no drugs. Also,no alcohol, no, no, nothing,
nothing that affects me from the neckup. Gotcha. Oh yeah,
and are you happy? I've neverbeen happier in my life. And I
had to make that decision when Istarted going to meetings and all these guys
(05:06):
were like, you know, thisis this is the best I've ever had
at this. I had to doit. It's it's actually impossible. It's
a statistical impossibility that they're all lying. It's like a ghost story, Like
everybody can't be wrong, right ifsomebody saw something that was completely creepy and
ghosty, so's it'd be. Itwould I would be playing god if I
(05:27):
was to say, nah, they'reall lying to me, you know.
So I was like, all right, so I'm just And it's the first
thing. Recovery is the first thingI ever gave one hundred percent in my
life, acting, girls, standup comedy, wrestling, fighting, I've
always had one foot out to doit my maximum effort, which looks to
you like I'm all in eighty eightysix percent. I always got it.
(05:53):
I always got something going on theback burner over here. What percent are
you going to be tonight? It? Comedy Works one hundred Baby's Comedy Works
is the best? Isn't that?It's the best club in the country,
And no comedian can name another onethat can take you. It's it's there's
something about it. Yeah. I'vebeen in other cities promoting other clubs and
they've asked me, and I've saidcomedy works, and both of them both
(06:14):
so bizarrely that the unique that Downtownyou're in like this cool cave. Yeah,
and then Greenwood is uh, it'skind of like more theaters set up.
Will you be able to stick aroundfor one more segment? Yeah?
Yeah, let me ask you onequestion and we'll hit a break and we'll
come back to another. Who isWilliam Jennings Bryant? Oh? Sorry,
you do read a lot of nonfiction, don't you. So you said that
(06:35):
you always seek approval. Were youlike that as a kid? Oh yeah,
insatiable? Tell tell me a littlebit about what you were like as
a kid, and were you reallyfunny as a kid or how did you
seek approval? That was annoying,you know because you before you do stand
up comedy, there's no there's nodirection or outlet, so you're just kind
of this overflowing, whirling dervish ofjust hey, look at me, look
(06:57):
at me, Look at me,look at me, look at me.
And so it was like if youand I were kids together, like I
don't know, we're thirteen years old, Like my son in there and I'm
at your house watching TV. I'mspending that entire time trying to convince you
how great a time we're having.It's just an exhausting I was exhausting.
I was exhausting. Were you funny? There were moments I knew I could
(07:19):
do impressions because I would do impressionsof a movie. I saw to my
friends and I knew I had theirThey were like, okay, yeah,
it's like I knew I had theirfull attention. Yes, I was funny.
Maybe when we come back, I'llask you to do an impression.
I don't. I know we alreadydid me. I love it, but
the other I don't normally ask comicsto tell jokes and be funny. I'm
(07:40):
not that guy. But it'll bemore funny. But I got to say
that I'm amazed by impressions. Idon't understand how people do good impressions.
I don't understand how it's possible.I got a lot to say about it.
Okay, so why don't we justtake ten seconds with al Pacino taking
us into the break who you're listeningto Koa, and you know what,
(08:01):
You probably don't have a CD,and you go, I'm a CD players
all the times? Al Pacino Koaeight point fifty ninety four FM. Stay
here, we'll be back.
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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