Fitzdog Radio - Phil Rosenthal - Episode 1042

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

Creator of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and host of “Somebody Feed Phil” Phil Rosenthal returns and talks about traveling the world and stuffing his face.    Follow Phil Rosenthal on Instagram @phil.rosenthal

Welcome to my podcast. This is Greg Fitzsimmons coming from Venice Beach, California, baby. I apologize that, not apologize. The last podcast I put out with Dana Gould and Laurie Kilmartin, some Irish people I pulled together for Valentine's Day. If you missed it, go back. It's really one I'm proud of. We had such a blast. I think you'll enjoy it. Tell your friends. Really fun. I was going to actually split it into two because we talked for an hour and 45 minutes and I kind of forgot to. That's why I said I'm sorry because I think it would have been fun as a two-parter. But anyway, it's a great big one-parter. And I also did the intro wrong because basically I thought Lori was coming first and Dana was coming at two and then they both came at 11. And so we just did it together. So the intro I had already recorded and I did it for just Lori.

And so, uh, that's why Dana didn't get an intro anyway, just some housekeeping. Uh, this week's show I had, uh, I got Phil Rosenthal.

I did his show at his house after he did mine, which was fun. He's got a beautiful home. If you have a show that's one of the biggest hits in history, you should have a house like Phil's. He earned it, and it's fucking beautiful. Made me feel welcome. Had a blast. And then I did Harlan Williams' podcast a couple days ago.

That was fun. Went up to his house and we laughed and laughed and he challenged me to something, which I'm going to show up and do. Very mysterious, isn't it? Going to do Corolla later on today if you want to listen to that. I don't know. It's rainy again here in Los Angeles, which reminds me of growing up in a place where it was rainy and snowy a lot in New York. And it just makes you pensive. It makes you feel emotions. It makes you feel creative. And you realize that's why we don't get enough of this in LA. That's why entertainment is so blah, is so without balls or soul because it's all written by people that are living in a place where there's no strife. I mean, yeah,

you got your strife. We got an earthquake once in a while. Nothing really. Day to day, it's sunny. You got a convertible. You're listening to the go-go's. You're hiking. Most places you hike because something went wrong. LA, you set out to wander. And I was thinking like, maybe that's what we need to do is get entertainment out of LA. Shoot stuff or no, pitch things, develop things in Bismarck, North Dakota, where screenwriters have not run out of ideas. You come to LA and maybe you had a bunch of ideas because you're from Lincoln, Nebraska. And you had some interesting shit about the farmer that lived next door and maybe your high school sweetheart who got knocked up, you tell your stories, you sell them, and now what? Now you're sitting in a fucking Pete's Coffee with your laptop open waiting for

something to happen. It doesn't happen. Go to Bismarck, North Dakota. That's where all the writers and actors should live. Just pick a new place every year. Go to New Orleans one year. Go to fucking Syria. What about that? Go to a war-torn zone and set up the entertainment. I bet you're going to get some good stories. You want to come to the pitch meeting? Okay, it's in what's left of the Gaza Strip, right in the corner, the spot they haven't got yet. Come pitch us there. I think there'd be better things. I think there'd be one less Ted Lasso type of a show.

I don't think we'd have Ted Lasso. I don't think we'd have another documentary about Paris Hilton or fucking Dolce and Gabbana. Who cares? Who cares about any of it? And it's the same with comedians are better. I hate to say it because I live in LA and this is going to offend a lot of LA comedians, but you come up better in New York. It's a better place to start comedy. People come up faster. They come up more interesting. They come up edgier. And instead it's like LA is filled with like happy, shiny people doing comedy. Like some chick that went to Oberlin and took an improv class. And then, you know, her uncle got her an internship at Warner Brothers,

and she's doing stand-up, but she doesn't go on the road. She doesn't want to work the road. That's too inconvenient. Her publicist, even though she doesn't make any money, she's got a publicist, a social media publicist, says, no, you shouldn't be on the road. Pilot season's coming up. And plus, you should be shooting viral videos at the farmer's market and raise your profile. And, you know,

there's a new app. And that new app, do the new app. Is that the old app? It's a new app. Do that one. Come on. Gotta go on the road. I'm going to Alaska in a few weeks. You think I want to go to Alaska? Yes, I do. Cause it's the fucking road. It's what you do. You go to tough places and tell comedy to people that actually need to hear it. You don't want to tell jokes to a guy who, who dresses Brad Pitt or, or, or the woman that Or the woman that fucking gets coffee for, I don't know, name a director. Quentin Tarantino. Come on. Real people living real lives, and I go to them.

That's what it is. I mean, is it going to be fun in Alaska? Fuck no. But I'm going to have some stories. I just watched True it's in alaska and it's it's bleak it's fucking cold everybody's poor it's dark all the time in december but you need strife the greatest think about it the greatest novelists where do they come from? Russia, Ireland, places where it's cold and mean. Greatest composers come from Eastern Europe. All the greatest rock bands come from the shittiest part of England.

Our music in this country, from Detroit, Memphis. I mean, LA's had a few good bands, but not considering how many rock clubs it has. You got Guns N' Roses. You got Red Hot Chili Peppers. You got The Doors. You got The Birds. A couple others.

I don't know. Think of the best TV shows. My three, what I consider to be the greatest TV dramas ever written were in Baltimore, New Jersey, and fucking New Mexico. The Wire, Sopranos, and Breaking Bad in shitty places shitty places create drive drive to get out drive to stand up stand out drive to feel something you know in a place that there are there are not a lot of feelings you're breaking through you know it's where the great thinking happens i mean look at the best universities in america are all in shitty neighborhoods okay yale new haven connecticut

horrible columbia now nice only has only been nice 10 years, used to be in a really tough part of New York. Harvard was in a shitty part of Cambridge and it got gentrified in the last 20 years. Used to be a shithole. USC, worst neighborhood in LA. Where else? Brown in East Providence, horrible neighborhood. Berkeley used to be a terrible neighborhood. Georgetown used to be the worst part of a long time ago. Like at the beginning of the 19th century, it was the worst part of DC. Anyway, so get some grit. Young people,

go somewhere tough. My son's in Mexico right now, Guatemala and Mexico for six months, and he's learning a lot about life. Assuming he's not kidnapped, he's going to come back and be an artist of some sort. I would imagine, have a little edge. You don't make great art when you're rich, in general. There's obviously exceptions, but most people do their best work when they're young and hungry and broke, and they have nothing to lose. With the exception, I would say, of comedians. I think comedians generally get better as they get older because you feel like you have a command. I just did this new special. I feel like it's the best thing I've ever done. And because I have a command of my art, I have more stuff to talk about. I haven't done a special in like

seven years because of the pandemic. And I feel like I got the best stuff from that. And I also have something to prove because I'm getting older, but I feel like I got the best stuff from that. And I also have something to prove because I'm getting older, but I feel like the industry will marginalize you as you get older. And I'm not going to let it happen. I'm in your fucking face industry. I may not be going to the Montreal Comedy Festival or the New Faces Showcase or whatever. I'm not that guy.

I got to make some noise, but I'm gonna. It's like William Blake. Wild men caught and sang the sun in flight and learned too late. They grieved it on the way. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage. Rage against the dying of the light! That being said, I had a pretty spoiled white guy weekend. A lot of golf. Went to see my cousin Denny McCarthy playing at the Genesis Open at the Riviera here in LA. I waved at him at one point, which I realized was a huge mistake. You don't wave to a golfer where they're in the middle of a tournament. But he gave me a big hug at the end,

so we're good. But I went with a bunch of guys. Fitzgibbon. I went with Fitzgibbon, Mikey Fitzgibbon, Dickie Egan, and Michael Dugan, three Irishmen. My whole life is Irish people. We met up, but we bribed. There was no place to park, so we snuck into a middle school, and I bribed a guard 20 bucks to park. Then we went in and met up with Chris Chaney, my golf buddy, who's the bass player from Jane's Addiction. He has big news. We can now officially announce. We've known it for a while, but it's announced.

He's going to be playing bass for ACDC on a world tour starting next month. We're very proud of him, very excited for him. I can't wait for the tour to come to LA. Or maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and go see him in Detroit. That would be a better city. We went to Tulsa to see Springsteen, and that felt right.

Anyway, also went to a golf tournament, went to a benefit. It was a celebrity charity golf tournament out in Palm Springs this weekend. Went with my buddy Matt Malloy. Hung out with a lot of cool dudes, Steve Garvey and Wally Joyner, the baseball players. Jonathan Banks from Breaking Bad. Had dinner with him and then hung out with him

and had lunch with him the next day. Great dude. He played Mike from Breaking Bad. Mike Ehrmantraut. We told a lot of jokes. And here's the best one. Everybody told a joke. And one guy said,

gym teacher shows up in a classroom. He's teaching sex ed. He's got a banana in his hand, and he says, I'm going to teach you guys how to put on a condom. Now, if you're wondering why I'm holding a banana in my hand, I can't get an erection on an empty stomach. That's a quality joke. I hope you're laughing at that.

Anyway, if you want to support the organization, it is Tunnel to Towers, and they pay off the mortgages of first responders that are killed in the line of duty. Military, police, firemen, great organization. Also, support me. I'm going to be at the Portland Helium Comedy Club this weekend, February 22nd to the 24th. Huntington Beach at the Rec Room, March 1st. Boca Raton, March 3rd. La Jolla, March 8th through 10th. Hollywood Improv, St. Patrick's Day, March 16th.

Then I'll be in Alaska, March 20th through the 23rd, right around Fairbanks. Tampa, Florida, side splitters, April 4th through 6th go to fitsdog.com get yourself some tickets my guest today Phil Rosenthal creator executive producer of the hit show Everybody Loves Raymond he's got a travel documentary series called Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix amazing dude spent his life as a writer, actor, and then hit it big with Ray. He's done it all.

We had such a great time. Really good talk. And he's been on before, but I feel like this was a really, really great one. So please welcome Phil Rosenthal. It's disgraceful. It is disgraceful. Phil Rosenthal is my guest.

Let me tell you something. I've worked with some of the big talents in Hollywood. Ellen DeGeneres. Yes. But you to me, and she always seemed like she was having fun at her job. Nobody's having more fun than Phil Rosenthal. I'm the Ellen DeGeneres. You really are. Of food and travel.

Yes. I'm the luckiest guy you're ever going to see. And you dance just like her. You dance on your show. You're ever going to see. And you dance just like her. You dance on your show. You're not a good dancer. What are you saying? Well, rhythm and the Jews are foreign to each other. You approximate the rhythm.

But listen, everyone has their own style. Yeah. I'm an original. I think there's certain things. There are people who try to dance like me. They really can't. Right. Well, they say dance like no one's watching. You dance and then nobody watches.

That's it. Yeah. Or nobody wants to. Nobody wants to. Dance like nobody wants to watch. That's my motto. Dance like people want to leave the room. I'm inventing mottos now.

Like I want to have a hat. Yeah. Make America not him again. Oh, that's good. Is that good? My friend has a bumper sticker that says, this was at the last election. Look, right away politics. Yeah.

It said any functional human being on a bumper sticker. Fantastic. Yeah. But listen. The key on a bumper sticker. Fantastic. Yeah. But listen. The key word there is human. Right. Now, I don't want to put you on the spot, but I'm going to put you on the spot. And I decided this because one of the things I love about your show is that in older episodes, your dear father and rest in peace.

Yes. They're both, yeah. They're both gone. Yeah. And in the last couple of years, did they both go? peace. Yes. They're both, yeah. They're both gone. Yeah. And in the last couple years, did they both go? Yeah. Okay. Well, they were an integral part of the show.

They brought joy to people. Yeah. And the best was your dad would tell a joke. Yeah. And now you have celebrities come in to dance and tell the great joke. So I'm going to put you on the spot. You're from New City, New York, which is the home of all the great joke tellers. You got it.

All the old Jewish comics, because it was halfway between the city and the Catskills. That's right. So they settled it like settlers. Yes. They said, let's pitch our tent here. Yeah, yeah. With that accent. That way they could go into the city during the day and go to the Friars Club and get

a schwitz and have a little Dover sole in the dining room. And have the family in New City in Rockland County and schlep up to the Catskills and then not have to drive as far back. So I was a member of the Friars Club. And I grew up as a kid. My dad was in radio in New York. So I was at the Friars Club from when I was seven years old. Amazing. And I got to hang out with all this new city. Freddie Roman. Freddie Roman and Dick Capri and Mal Z Lawrence. Myron Cohen. Myron Cohen. And they were really just-

Who would you say would be the top dog in that pile? I feel like Mal Z had a charisma and a theatricality that put him above everybody else. But he only had the one monologue. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And it was in Catskills on Broadway, and it's one of the all-time great monologues. No one could follow him. Yeah, right.

He closed with that afternoon in Grossingers. Right, right. But Freddie was by far the best emcee. Him and Alan King. Incredible. Were the best emcees. Alan King didn't live in Rockland. No, but he was the guy who hosted a lot of events at the Friars Club.

But I think Myron Cohen was maybe the elder statesman. Oh, is that right? The one who was like, he might've even been the most famous. Is that possible? Yeah, probably. Myron Cohen of that group. Obviously, there's Henny Youngman and Milton Berle. But they weren't from there. They weren't. But Milton was the dean of the Friars Club. Of course. Oh, well, Milton Berle's the most famous of everyone. I'm just talking about the New City Bucks. The guys that were there. Yeah. And, you know, Freddie was definitely the most giving. He was my sponsor for the club. He was the center. Yeah, he really was. And, you know, I was very good friends with his son.

Alan, of course. Went to high school together. Oh, no kidding. And he encouraged me to write. Whoa. We were in high school plays together. No shit. Yeah, he was a year behind me.

And he encouraged me when I was a struggling actor in New York to try writing. Wow. Yeah. And he was already a writer. And we wrote a screenplay together. It was the first thing I ever wrote. Yeah. And we sold it.

We sold it to HBO. Wait, did you, was Down the Shore the TV show that you guys did together? Yes, that was his show. Down the Shore. Yeah. But you were were on you wrote on that show right yeah lou schneider pamela adlon and a gun no tom mcgowan all on that show wow which was a precursor to friends it was we used to say we're the we were the precursor to Friends. We just didn't have the friends. Friends being viewers? Viewers. You know, I would never disparage the cast, but I can't say they were as attractive, maybe,

as the Friends. I couldn't love them more. Tom McGowan, Lou Schneider, these are two of my best friends in the friends. I couldn't love them more. Tom McGowan, Lou Schneider, these are two of my best friends in the world. Oh, Lou is in front of the camera. Yes. Oh, I thought he was a writer. Hence the failure. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Lou belongs behind. He belongs way on the other side of the camera. But Lou is famous. I heard this on Everybody Loves Raymond. I heard that he Everybody Loves Raymond. I heard that he was the class clown in the writer's room. He was the room monkey.

Yeah. I think is the professional term. Right, right. Meaning it's long hours in that writer's room and you need to laugh. Right. You need to warm up the car. Yeah. And usually, listen, before I had a show, I was the room monkey. Uh-huh.

Right? In Alan Kirshenbaum's rooms, I was the insane idiot. Yeah. But when you have a show, it's your show, you got to be the adult. Right. So you need another monkey. Oh, that's funny. Lou Schneider comes to the rescue.

That's amazing. Yeah. And then, you know who's another good monkey is Andy Kindler, I think was Alan's monkey. Well, the greatest. He's the greatest. I mean, who's funnier? Nobody. And when we put him on Everybody Loves Raymond as a friend of Ray's, we just loved him.

I don't see him enough. Do you get to see? A little bit. Not enough. He is pretty active on Twitter. I love him. I don't see him enough. Do you get to see? A little bit, not enough. He is pretty active on Twitter. I love him. He engages with the political wing of, so it's gotta be exhausting. Yeah, no. Picks fights, you know, goes back and forth. I don't. In fact, this little comment I made at the beginning of this is the most political that I get. And it's only for jokes. Right, Right.

All right. So I'm going to put you on the spot and ask you to, we'll each tell one great old Jewish joke. Ah. Okay. All right. An old man is in his deathbed. He's surrounded by family.

And he says, is my son here? Are you here, Louis? Yes, Daddy, I'm here. I'm here. I love you. And my daughter, my beautiful daughter, are you here? Yes, Daddy, I'm right next to you. I'm holding your hand.

Oh, thank God you're here. And where's your mother, my bride? Where's my beautiful wife? I'm here, honey. We're all here for you. We love you. He says, you're all here? Yes.

Then why is the light on in the kitchen? He was seeing the light. He was seeing the light. He was seeing the light at the end. Ladies at the beach, she's got her son, three years old. His name is Jaime, and he's splashing around in the water. And it's very shallow water. It's just like up to his knees, and she's sitting on the beach, and she's enjoying this moment. And suddenly this tsunami-type wave comes out of nowhere,

slams on top of him, sucks him out into the water. She runs out. She's up to her waist. She's screaming, Jaime, Jaime, where's my Jaime? Doesn't see him. And suddenly she looks up to the sky and she says, God, if you have any compassion whatsoever bring back my hymie there's a clap of thunder a strike of lightning and now sitting on

the sand on a dry blanket is hymie and he's smiling and she looks at him and she looks up to the sky and she goes, he had a hat. Have you heard that one before? It's the greatest. It's the classic. It's kind of a quintessential. Yes. It goes to the heart of who we are as a people.

Yes. It's why you're successful. Do you think that's why? Well, I think that there's a work ethic that came from, what am I? I'm the Irish guy, but I think that the Irish and the Jews seem to share a lot. Well, you guys have guilt, we have shame. They're related. Of course. But obviously the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people have forced you to be well-educated, hardworking, and accept excellence in the family. I think there's a lot of pressure in a Jewish family, isn't there? It's not enough, right? Right, right.

Did your family feel like you were... Well, I come from Holocaust survivors, right? So I think, you know, listen, there are therapy groups just for children of Holocaust survivors. No, they say it carries in your DNA. Really? They say that trauma can be stored in DNA. That's very interesting. They studied that with Holocaust survivors.

Stressed hormones. Right. Right? I guess that, yeah, it makes sense. Yeah. But there's a, I'll give you one example of growing up. There's a, I'll give you one example of growing up. I'm like, hey, mommy, all the kids, they're getting the five speed bikes, the Stingrays for their birthday.

The Stingrays. Can I have a Stingray bike for my birthday? She goes, you know what I got for my 10th birthday? And then you have to hear about a concentration camp. Yeah. Nope. No 10 year old wants to hear that story. We just want the bike. Yeah, right.

Keep your stories. But that kind of trauma, that then dictates who... But I will say this. Art, education, values, these values, they were strong, really strong. And they got in deep. And I am who I am because of that. So whatever mishigas I had on top, fine. Because especially now that they're gone, you reflect on what, who they were and what they gave you and what they did for you. And I honestly, I just feel so lucky to have been there, son. Right. That's amazing. Yeah. I mean, I think that there's, um, there's a lot to be said for

the passing that on. And sometimes I worry and you've, you've've you've got three kids and two kids two kids. Okay Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've seen them both on the show and in Lily. Yeah, and Lily runs a foundation where she brings restaurants together Yeah, she was doing that fusion cuisine. She's gonna open her own restaurant. She is her boyfriend this great chef No kidding fantastic. His name is Mason Royal. Wait a minute. Your daughter is dating a chef? I win again.

How perfect is that? Right? She wasn't even trying to please me. Right, right, right. She was. She was. She loves you. And my son started a cookie business. No kidding.

Swear to God. They're both interested in the arts as well. They both can act. Yeah. They're both super funny. Right. I couldn't be happier with their senses of humor. Right.

It's probably the thing I'm most proud of them for. Yeah. You have kids. Yeah. Funny. Daughter's got a great sense of humor. Son knows good comedy. Doesn't produce it necessarily.

But you love his sense of humor but he he his choice in first of all uh two thousand year old man he was obsessed with when he was seven eight years old wow he's like me we used to play backgammon and listen to it he memorized every line and then we go out and mel brooks's son lives a few doors down from us. Max. Yeah, Max. So Mel's in the neighborhood all the time. He's got a guest house in the back that Mel stays at a lot. Awesome.

So Halloween comes and I go out with Owen and we're trick-or-treating. Yeah. And he's eight years old. Yeah. And I go, Owen, it's Mel Brooks. And he goes, somebody dressed as Mel Brooks. I go, no, it's Mel Brooks. And he goes, somebody dressed as Mel Brooks. I go, no, it's Mel Brooks. And we turn around and it's Mel.

And I walk up and I said, hi, Mr. Brooks. We've never met, but I'm a comedian. And I just, you know, Producers was my father's favorite movie and now it's mine. And this is my son and he loves the 2000 year old man. And he looks at me and he goes, you? What would a kid your age be doing

loving the 2000 year old-year-old man? And my son does the line about, I'd rather have a rotten peach than a ripe nectarine or whatever the line is. And he starts laughing. And we took a picture, and it's on our mantle. It was very sweet. He is the king of kings. Have you hung out with him at all? It's funny you should say that.

I just spent the most time I've ever spent with him. Really? I was invited to dinner at Carl Reiner's daughter's house. You know the story of how Mel and Carl would have dinner every night. Every night. They were widowers. They would set up TV trays and they'd watch Carl's big screen TV.

Yeah. I asked, what would you watch? They said, we like movies with the words secure the perimeter in them.

Somebody wake the president. Right? And they would watch and they would watch Jeopardy. Yeah. And then Mel would make his way over to the couch and fall asleep and Carl would go upstairs and by the make his way over to the couch and fall asleep.

And Carl would go upstairs. And in the morning, Mel was gone. He would go back to his house. That's amazing. Okay. So one night, Carl, they're watching. Carl gets up to go to the bathroom and doesn't come back. And he's dead.

No kidding. I didn't know what happened like that. And Mel finds him. Whoa. And it's super sad. And the family, of course, comes over. And Carl's daughter, you know, Mel hugs her and says, where am I going to eat dinner now? Oh.

And she says, you come to my house whenever you want. So he does. No kidding. It's been a few years now. Oh, that's nice. She says, she tells me this and says, come over. Oh, wow. So I come over.

I see Mel. This was a few months ago. I see Mel, who is 97? And I've met him in the past several times. We've had lunches with Norman Lear and Carl and Neil Simon. I've had the life of lives to have been with these guys and to eat with them and spritz and have fun. Yeah.

But Mel doesn't go out much. And on this night he goes, listen, I got a little something in my stomach. I'm not sure how long I'm going to last. Four and a half hours. No kidding. Four and a half hours with him. So much fun. Watching TV or just talking the whole time?

Talking. Wow. The entire time. At a certain point, I said, Mel, I have to go. Can you imagine? I have to go. Yeah. But can we do this again?

He said, sure. Yeah. I love him so much. What a gift. I wish he was more accessible. Uh-huh. And I wish he was younger so we could have more time with him. Right, right, right.

Because when he's gone, that's it. Yeah, I know. I know. And he is super funny. You know, that's, and he is super funny. Did you know another friend of theirs from the Sid Caesar show, Larry Gelbart? Of course, yeah. So he was like a very close friend of mine, maybe the closest of this whole bunch.

Yeah. And Mel said he was the fastest and the funniest. Oh, is that right? He was super. He was a Your Show of Shows guy, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And MASH and Tootsie. Right,otsie right i mean this was a friggin genius uh-huh wow that's amazing well listen speaking of amazing let's talk about your show it is amazing i mean seventh season it's like i look at that show and you go there's two things that pop out at you. Number one, how the fuck are you eating this much food? And I think you probably get that feedback a lot. And so I want to ask, like, how many days of eating is that it looks like I'm a pig. Right. Because every scene, but listen, you know how they make a dog food commercial?

They don't feed the dog until the commercial. So I'm the dog, and I don't eat until that scene, that day. That's hilarious. So you're seeing that scene, oh my god, look how much he eats. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I ate that day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's right up against another scene, which is

probably the next day. Because the bites are not small. You take big bites. I'm hungry. I learned early on when I did a test run of this show 10 years ago when I'm trying to get the show, which took 10 years to get, by the way. Let's not forget. It's not just like, oh, you did Raymond. Let's give him anything he wants.

No, it wasn't like that at all. Well, 10 years to get the PBS show. Yeah. Which led to the Netflix show. Yes. Right. But 10 years between Raymond and that show. And you were continually putting effort into it for those 10 years. Yes, I can't say nonstop.

Right, right. But off and on, yes. Yeah, yeah. And when I was not pursuing that, I was writing pilots that nobody wanted. Yeah. Because the business changed greatly while Raymond was on. Right. Less multi-camera.

Much less. And they all told me, hip and edgy. We want hip and edgy. Right. I said, well, you got the right guy. I missed the hip and edgy. I couldn't write Friends if I wanted to. Right?

I couldn't write a show like that. Friends was hip and edgy? Well, that's all they wanted after that. Yeah. They wanted the young, hot people. Right. Right? I couldn't write a show like that. Friends was hip and edgy? Well, that's all they wanted after that. Yeah. They wanted the young, hot people. Right. Right. I remember writing something. You won't even believe this story. Somebody called me, a producer called me and said, here's a great thing that happened in the news that we just saw. thing that happened in the news that we just saw a college dorm ran out of space for the kids yeah and the retirement village up the road had space that's true and the kids moved in with the old people fantastic I love that yeah yeah okay I would love to do that great you want to take it out with us and we'll try to sell it to networks I said nope because I know what the networks will say I'd been down this road already could the young people move in with great, you want to take it out with us and we'll try to sell it to networks? I said, nope, because I know what the networks will say.

I'd been down this road already. Could the young people move in with younger, hotter people? Yeah, maybe it should be more like a troubled teen housing situation. Well, yeah, the young and hip, nobody young and hip is wearing New Balance sneakers. I'll tell you that right now. I heard these gray New Balance is the cool dad look. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I was with a guy who just happened to design clothes who recommended these. I said, what's wrong with these black sneakers? He goes, that's all right if you work in a kitchen. Yeah, right, right, right. I don't know anything. I'm like, comfort. No, I think SNL did a whole thing about, well, first it was mom jeans, and then it meant fathers that wear New Balance.

I guess that's me. Yeah. But you know what I was a pioneer of? What? 10 years ago, I was wearing hokas. Were you really? If you look at the PBS shows, I'm wearing hokas. I look like Frankenstein because of the big thick soles, and they were black.

Wow. Now they come in all colors, but everyone wears them now. Why? Because that thick sole turns out to be the best, most comfortable walk forever, stand around forever shoe. No, and apparently they are the best running shoes. The best. shoe. No, and apparently they are the best running shoes.

The best. Yeah, they used to, because they've got a giant pillow heel on them that you can land on. Yeah, my son wears them. Got them on Abbot Kinney in Venice. There was a trend to have very thin running shoes to mimic barefoot or something, right? Turns out, worst thing possible. Right, right. Because pounding, pounding, pounding.

Well, there was that book that they wrote that my wife actually read that was based on yes showing those like um is the kenyans that are always winning the marathons yes that the kenyans they they don't ever train they just run everywhere like they grew up running 15 miles to school and back yeah get in the car it's your feet. Right. Yeah. And also you're going to take different routes depending on if there's a lion or a hippo along the way.

And you are born running. Yes. So yes, for them, they're built for it. Right. We are soft and not. We are soft. But you exercise a lot, you say, to keep off the weight of this show. Yes.

What's the workout? Mostly weights. The older you get, the more you need weight training. Osteoporosis. You also lose muscle mass as you get older, and you also gain fat as you get older. Do you do supplements as well? I do. Protein?

I do not so much protein. I think I get enough protein. Yeah. But I have this scale now. It's $100. You can get it on Amazon. You stand on it barefoot and it sends an impedance,

like current through you. You don't feel it. Yeah. But it measures your body fat, your water weight, your muscle mass. It's not, I don't think it's 100% accurate, but at least you're in the ballpark and it tracks you. So every day you can see how much of you is good and how much is terrible.

Right. That's amazing. Even subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. Yeah, because you're on camera, one of the happiest people I've ever seen. And what people don't realize is off this podcast, you are the most negative, morose, miserable person I've ever met in my life. And it's amazing how you can turn it around when the cameras come on. I honestly feel, I wake up, and it wasn't always this way. And by the way, I'm still a person. I still get horrified, saddened, frustrated, angry at the news like everybody else. But I'm the luckiest. I wake up grateful every day that I woke up. My wife still

likes me enough to be next to me. My dog is on my bed. Right. My kids are happy. Everything's nice. I have a house. Right. Everything's nice. Right, right. And I get to do this thing where I travel and eat and meet people, which is the best part. Yeah.

The people are so sweet. And you're wanted and you're needed. Oh, thanks. No, I mean, really, people have a successful career like you did. It doesn't get much more successful. And then there is this crash. And I saw you after Raymond. I remember we went to a party in Venice one night.

We ran into each other and we ended up walking around the neighborhood. And I remember thinking to myself, wow, this guy, you know, it was the biggest success in one of the biggest sitcoms in TV history. And now you're walking around Venice kind of looking for the next thing. Well, you think I had this success with this show. I guess they want more of that. I guess that's my purpose in life is to write another one. Nobody wanted it. Yeah. Nobody. I wrote at least one pilot a year for years that nobody wanted. And it's okay. It's okay. Do I think they're

lousy pilots? No, I wouldn't have written them if I thought they were lousy. Do I blame them? lousy pilots? No, I wouldn't have written them if I thought they were lousy. Do I blame them? No, it's probably a combo. The magic that I was able to capture in Raymond and writing about my specific family, which is something only I could do, right? Based on the real life of Ray, what I didn't know about his actual family, I filled in with characters from my family. And every week, 90% of the stories on Raymond came from something that happened to me or to Ray or to one of the other writers. And we wouldn't put it out there

until we completely related to it, right? How could I have that again? I could never have that again. I like to think that I learned enough to be able to apply what I learned about making a sitcom to any sitcom. Right. I understand story structure in a sitcom. I understand the need for character. I understand jokes.

Yeah. But that singular point of view in that world, I guess, will never happen again. Right. And yet other people have had more than one. Right. It's okay, though, because I took everything I learned about how to tell a story on television. Yeah. And now it's in the service on this show,

on Somebody Feed Phil, of everything else I love in life. Right. One of the main things I love in life is making these shows, is making a show. Right. But my values, family, friends,

food, travel, and laughs. Yeah. That's what Somebody Feed Phil is. Right. It's not really feed fill is. Right. It's not really about the food. It's in there. I'm just using food in my stupid sense of humor to get you the real message. Right.

And it's also giving you new experiences, which you didn't have with Raymond. You're basically- Yes. You're, I mean, vibrant new challenge. Don't forget challenging. I mean, people see the finished product of this, but I've been in TV production and I've done overseas stuff. It is lonely.

It is uncomfortable. It's finding the right plug for your phone and getting diarrhea. And I mean, that stuff's not on the show. Sometimes the answer is the same for both. show sometimes the answer is the same for both was there ever a meal that you sat down and were presented with and you just said no yeah it's in the show oh it's in the show i try never to be negative in the show yeah yeah right people say it looks like you like everything yeah i like everything i put in the show yeah but i was inaca. Oh, that's where my son is right now. The most beautiful place. That's what he said. No, but he said we're dying to go because he's been traveling

for six months around the around the Central America. And he said, this is the place I want to work. He's fluent in Spanish and he wants to go down there and work in Oaxaca. It's the artistic and gastronomic center of Mexico. Yeah. It's such a beautiful, it feels like a little village. Yeah. Colorful, sweet. Everywhere you walk in is some great food.

Uh-huh. Art everywhere. Dancing. Yeah. Spectacular. Right. People, beautiful, everything great. So I'm at this restaurant,

and I'm in the back. If you see the Oaxaca episode, it's there. So sorry. You're getting choked up. And people do the Fitz Dog Radio, and they get very choked up. And they start crying. Yeah. I'm at this counter.

The chef is right there, and I'm eating with a sidekick, a local food expert, this very nice lady. And we're eating things. I say to the lady, I heard they have iguana here, right? And I'm a little nervous. And she says, are you going to eat iguana? I've heard that too.

If you try it, I'll try it. I don't know if I... And the chef hears us and she says, oh, you would like iguana? And I freeze and she says, there it is. And she points, oh, you would like iguana? And I freeze. And she says, there it is. And she points to a bowl on the side. I didn't know what that was. But it turns out it was a blackened, like it had already been through a fire,

iguana with the curly tail. Oh, a hole. And the body and the face. Oh. Like this. And I go, oh. And she says, if you would like it, it will take another half hour to prepare. And I'm not proud of myself, but I said, oh, look at the time. You know, the crew, the crew.

Yeah, yeah. We got to. Right. And she says, this is all in the show. Yeah. Well, if you don't have time for that, how about this? And she reaches on the counter and she presents me with a bowl of living, moving Beatles. Whoa.

Now, I never want to offend anybody. Yeah. Culturally, you know, I'm very sensitive. Yeah. And what flew out of my mouth was, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I ran away. And there were times- The outtakes, you got to have an outtake.

No, they're all in the show. Have you been keeping one? All the outtakes are in the show. Okay. There is no, I want to let the audience know just through showing them everything that there is no acting on the show. Right.

This is completely 100% real. Every single thing. Yeah. Have you gotten food poisoning or have you gotten sick in your stomach? One time in seven seasons. Yeah. San Francisco.

No kidding! Swear to God, I've been all over the world. Oh, that's hilarious. Listen, we just filmed Mumbai. Yeah. San Francisco. No kidding. Swear to God, I've been all over the world. Oh, that's hilarious. Listen, we just filmed Mumbai. Yeah. That's in the new season. What kept me from Mumbai were two things. One was fear of food poisoning.

Yeah. Because every single person I know who's been tells me- Everybody. They got sicker than they've ever been in their life. Right, right. So I'm afraid yeah i'm not running to that if somebody tells you that are you running to that place no right and the other thing was how do you deal with the dire poverty that i know that's there i'm having a fun

light upbeat show well how's this going to be right and and the first thing i thought of was well and i it maybe took all the experience of the other episodes to learn this uh you own it you you you acknowledge it right that it's there and you try to help right that's all we can do in life right let alone my stupid show well anthony bourdain i think embraced that he's the hero of heroes yeah you know the way i sold the show was with one line right i'm exactly like anthony bourdain if he was afraid of everything that's great that's perfect that's the definition of the show yeah well he was a big vietnam seemed to be his happy place yes and how about the the scene where he had had Obama sit on that little stool?

You know, there's a scene in Hanoi, I believe it is. Yeah. And he takes him to this little place, tiny plastic chairs, little plastic table. You're like, you're six inches off the ground. Yeah. Okay. President Obama, when he's president, goes and sits with him and they have these noodles. he's president, goes and sits with him and they have these noodles.

That table and those two chairs are now encased behind a wall of glass. No kidding. In Hanoi. Wow. Isn't that cool? That's amazing. So he literally reinvented the entire genre. Right. My show and all the other shows that came after him are merely a take on what he did,

what he was able to accomplish. I owe everything to him. The whole idea came from him. But I thought he's amazing when I watch him on the couch. He's amazing. I'm never doing that. But it occurred to me, what if there was a show for people just like me who are sitting on the couch going, he's amazing. I'm never doing that. Yeah. Which is kind of more inspirational, I think, for the average person to then venture out of their comfort zone. Well, I just figured there were more people like me. Nobody watched Anthony Bourdain and went, like, I can do what this guy's doing.

Oh, no, but there are young people and adventurous older people who do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They do follow in his footsteps. They do want to ride the dune buggy and turn over. They do want to go into war zones and have fun. Right. That's not me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I need a nice bed with a pillow. Yeah. When I fly, I need to lie down now. Yeah, yeah. Anything where I feel uncomfortable, I don't want to do. Yeah. Anything where I feel uncomfortable, I don't want to do. Yeah. And my brother, to his credit- He's the executive producer.

And the showrunner, he says, you're going to jump in this cold water. I said, no, I'm not. He says, yes, you are. I say, no, I'm not. He says, yes, you are. And then I do it. Really? That's how it goes every single time.

Yeah. are and then i do it really that's how it goes every single time yeah you're gonna uh do this uh ropes course in the forest in the up up in the trees no i'm not yes you are no i'm not yes you are and then i do it and every single time i'm happy that i did it yeah right and that's the lesson right and now i am a tiny bit i'm to say brave, but more open to new experiences. Why? Because the fear of the unknown is gone for a lot of things. Why? Because I did them.

It's actually physiological. There is a part of your brain. Yeah. I forget what it's called, but I just watched a video about it. And every time you challenge yourself to do an experience that you're afraid of, there's a portion of your brain that expands a little bit. And every time you do it, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and it allows you to take on more things. So it's a real thing. Wow. Yeah. So at this ripe old age now, I'm braver, I guess, than I was before. Which is where it's the most important.

As you get older, you have to challenge your brain. You have to shock it. You have to do new things with it. Yes. And I fight it every single time. You do. Of course I do. Yeah, yeah.

Isn't that great? Because I want to be comfortable. Yeah. And it just shows you that those baby steps out of your comfort zone, I'm not doing anything crazy dangerous, right? Yeah. But those tiny baby steps, even trying a food like I ate an ant in Tokyo, which I did not want to do. It took all the courage I could muster to crunch down on this giant carpenter ant that you would see at the picnic. You wouldn't dream of eating it, but they told me it tastes like lemon.

I should try it. I said, you know, if it's lemon flavor we're going after, could I have some lemon? And they said, you got to try this ant. And so I did. And damn, if it wasn't like somebody put a drop of lemon on my tongue and I'm like, okay, all the questions. Did you baste them in lemon? Did you? No. These particular ants from this particular part of the forest in Japan, they taste like lemon. Right.

Who the hell found this out? Yeah. Who tried all the ants? Yeah, yeah. Somebody died exploring different animals. You got it. So the first episode of the new season seven is Mumbai. Which is an adult dose, as they say. That's like, they call it maximum city because you're going to see incredible splendor right next to poverty like you've never seen before.

Right. And so I was very, as I said, nervous. The poverty, first of all, wasn't nearly as bad as I was led to believe. There are places in Los Angeles where it feels worse. Yeah. Swear to God. Right. And then I was with enough people who were experts in, you don't go to that street vendor because this one uses the filtered water.

And you brush your teeth with the bottled water. You even rinse your toothbrush with the bottled water. Right. That's how nefarious the water might be. Yeah. I don't know. Right. But I didn't get sick.

Yeah. I took a Pepto-Bismol every morning as a preventative. Yeah. Not that it would keep you from getting really sick, but even just the little tiny things that could set you running to the bathroom, you maybe stave off by doing that. That's my tip for the day. I also like the episode where you go to Dubai. Love that. Dubai was, because to me, that's just completely unknown. I didn't know anything about it. And I started to see, I just pictured it was all one developed concrete area, which it mostly is, it seems like. Well, you drive down the street in Dubai and you go, oh, this is what Vegas would be like if they had real money.

Right. It's just the most modern, crazy skyscrapers you've ever seen. Yeah. Some of them are beautiful. Yeah. You feel like you're in the city of the future. Yeah. With like monorails running on each side of the road.

Uh-huh. Right? Like spectacular. Yeah. But that's not the beautiful part. Old Dubai. Right. Which is only 60 years old.

Yeah. The great thing about Dubai, like everywhere, is the immigrant population. It's over 80% immigrants. So there's beautiful Indian food. I think one of my favorite scenes we've ever done, this was filmed, by the way, last April, was with a Palestinian woman in her restaurant. So here's an old Jewish guy and a Palestinian lady bonding over the food she makes. I actually got emotional and fell in love with this lady because of her spirit

and her soul and her sense of humor and her talent. Yeah. It's like the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. Yeah. Yeah, my version. Yeah. Wow, that's beautiful. I love that. This is my version of that.

Yeah. Right. I guess it's don't curb your enthusiasm. Right, right. Which is why, to Larry's credit, knew that we were, who I've known for 25 years, knows that we're on the personality spectrum as far away as from each other as possible. He's recently said that his show has allowed him to be more like that character.

Oh, interesting. Because people expect him to be a curmudgeon. Right, right. That's who he is. And also famously cheap and not- Hysterical. Not ashamed to be that cheap. Absolutely hysterical.

I went to a golf outing where there was valet parking. Uh-huh. He parked his own car. Hysterical. Yeah. His little mini whatever it is. His Prius. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was a Prius. Right. A Prius, and he self-parked it, carried his own bag. Why would I give the guy money when the parking space is two blocks away? I get it. I saw him at a memorial recently, and I've been on the show a couple times. Yeah. And he goes, Phil, we were just talking about you.

I said, really? He goes, yeah, I'm thinking of having you back this season, the season that's on now. Yeah. I said, oh, great. I can't wait to come back and bother you some more. And he goes, all right, don't get excited. I said, that was excited? Yeah, yeah.

We don't know yet. I said, you brought it up. What are you bothering me? Get my hopes up. And then, of course, I wasn't in the season. That's perfect. That's like, that reminds me of this old story. You know Barry Katz? Of course I wasn't in the season. That's perfect. That's like, that reminds me of this old story. You know Barry Katz?

Of course. Yeah. So Barry Katz started out as like a real Broadway Danny Rose kind of a booker back in Boston. Yes. He lived in a, he had a basement apartment office with this one woman who used to help him out. Yes. And he booked, he must've booked 50 gigs all over New England, like one-nighters in Chinese restaurants and bowling alleys and pizza places. And he calls up Frank Santorelli.

I don't know if you remember him, but he's a great old comic from Boston. Yeah. And he calls up and he goes, Frank, I got a gig for you. It's in northern Maine. That's a good imitation. It's about four and a half hours. There's no hotel. And you got to pick up the opening act and drive them.

$200. Do you want it? And Frank thinks about it and he goes, yeah, I'll do it. And Barry goes, it's canceled. He got a text as he was talking. That's so good. No, I think he wanted to see how low he could get Frank. Oh, no.

He was establishing his new quote. That's terrible. Yeah. Broadway, Danny Rose, by the way, favorite Woody Allen movie. Is it? Yes. Yeah. Well, it kind of was about the Borscht Belt comedians a little bit.

I think if you're in show business at all, that's your movie. Yeah. Because most of show business is like that movie. Right. Not the glory end. Right. I think it's a perfect depiction. I also think for other reasons, it's the, think about it, it's the one time Woody plays a character.

He's not the Woody Allen persona. He's playing a very specific character. And he wrote the movie because he was out to dinner with Mia and Mia pointed at a woman and said, I'd love to play a woman like that someday. And so we wrote the character for her. And since she was this, you know, larger than life character, he also had to match. He had to be in that almost Damon Runyon-esque world.

And the story I love because it takes on the personality of a story being told by comedians at a table. Yeah. It has that heightened exaggeration to it. I just think it's perfect. And it also reminded me of certain managers. Of course. There are managers that really stand by there, and they groom, and they develop.

And they're sweet, and they never get anywhere. They never get anywhere. I know. and they never get anywhere. They never get anywhere. I know. Because, well, the problem is, is a lot of times those guys,

their clients outgrow them. You know, they groom them, they support them, they drive out to the comedy cellar at 12.30 a.m. Right. And then they go to a coffee shop with them afterwards and they go through their act.

Right. I heard that actually about Woody Allen's manager. Who's that famous one? Charles Jaffe and what's his name? The other one. Charles Jaffe used to go with Woody Allen

everywhere. And his partner. The other producer. We'll get it. Yeah. And held his hand. But a lot of times those guys yeah, I'm not going to name names, but Woody was loyal and stayed with them. Yes. Yes. But they usually don't. And they're the producers on his films.

Right, right. But he knew that world really well. He knew that the king of that world would be Milton Berle, so he put him in the movie. Oh, that's right. Yeah. It's fantastic. Yeah. So what about, do you watch the show The Bear?

And are you thinking about going to Chicago and doing one on the Chicago beef? I would, we did it. Oh, you did? The first scene in the Chicago episode, this was years ago, before The Bear, was at the beef. No kidding. Restaurant. And the guy, I think he's passed away since, probably too much beef. Yeah.

But he shows us how to eat it. He shows me the stance that you have to take. Yeah. Which is you lean forward like Trump at a press conference so you don't get the shit all over you. Right, right. so you don't get the shit all over you. Right, right. And then he takes a bite like a dinosaur would take a bite of a thing.

It was hysterical. Oh, that's great. Yeah, Chicago. My son went to college in Chicago, so we ate at a lot of great restaurants there. Oh, what a great city that is. I think it's- It's the most, they say, the city of the broad shoulders, right? I think it's the most handsome American city. I think the architecture is spectacular.

Yeah. I like the space between the buildings. Right. As if, like, in a museum, you don't put all the paintings butt up against each other. They're allowed to breathe a little bit. Right. And when you take that river, the architectural river cruise- That's one of the great tours in the country.

Agree. I do it every time I go. Yeah. And I take anyone who hasn't been, I take them. Right. It's gorgeous and it's great. And you just have such an appreciation for the work. Not just the work, but the personality of the city.

Because in between some of the giant buildings, there's some holdout homes. Yes. That they decorate with different themes. And yeah, it's incredible. And also, Frank Lloyd Wright did some of the buildings, and they just jump out. You know when you see it. You got to drive out a little bit to the suburbs to see a lot of his houses. Yeah, right. What a magnificent place.

Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Love the people, love the food. Right. One of the best Italian restaurants in the country is there, Monteverde. Oh, is that right? Yeah.

No. Yeah. Monteverde. That's a tip for everybody. Yeah, yeah. It's so good. And then I love the, I remember because I'm a big fan of Nate Bregazzi and you did Nashville with him.

Yeah. And I was shocked because I had the medium strength hot chicken sandwich when I was there. Okay. You went extra hot with your son. I did. And actually, you didn't seem like it floored you. Okay, here's what happened. I didn't know that was coming, but we're filming.

Yeah. happen. I didn't know that was coming, but we're filming. And maybe a tiny bit of the quote unquote bravery is that they're filming. And you think, well, I'm in a TV show. This can't hurt me. So I was shocked actually that I could, maybe it's years of building up a tolerance to spicy, but I could take take a couple bites of this extra hot, which they give you the black latex gloves. Right. Is that for real? Is that a joke?

But what kind of idiot puts on black latex gloves and then puts that substance in his unprotected mouth? The most sensitive part of the body. The most sensitive. Yeah. But we do it. Yeah. I do it. I was really proud of myself. Yeah. But we do it. Yeah. I do it.

I was really proud of myself. Yeah. Two hours later, I'm in the car. Oh, no. With my family. My family, Monica, Ben, and Lily are in the backseat. I'm up front with our driver. And it's not going well for me.

And I'm getting actually scared. Yeah. I'm having severe chest pains. Whoa. Like I've never had before. No kidding. And I'm about to tell the driver, I don't want to upset my family, I'm about to suggest to my driver that we maybe just pull over at the next hospital.

Right? How do you say that and not alarm anyone? Thank God I Googled right before I said that on my phone. Difference, swear to God this is true, difference between heartburn and heart attack. And it turns out there's similarities and differences. Yeah. The difference is with a heart attack, you get the famous left arm thing. Right.

You have trouble breathing and you sweat profusely. Okay. Didn't have those symptoms. I just had the elephant sitting on your chest similarity. Yeah. And I asked, anyone have a Tums? And it went away. That's all it took.

Well, and time. Wow, yeah. But man, that is, I'm never going back there. Yeah, my daughter this week, she had extreme pain in her stomach, and she was in bed all day, and as she was going to bed, it was getting worse. And so we said, it could be the appendix.

Let's go to the hospital. So we go to the hospital, and they check her out. They do a scan. They're there for an hour. You show up at a hospital late at night at an emergency room. You see why ER has been on the air for so many years. It is life at its heightened state. People screaming and crying and homeless people that are... And it was a pouring rainy night and they had to tell some of the homeless that they had to leave because it's not a shelter. And so anyway, we're doing the and then we do the interview with the doctor. Have you what have you eaten lately? And she says, well, I couldn't eat anything at all last night, all day.

Well, what about last night? Well, I was out late and I had two hamburgers from Carl's Jr. I'm like, all right, so this is going to be about $1,200 in copay and deductible. Because you ate stupid food.

Because you ate stupid food. Yeah. So you never go to a standard chain restaurant. Has that ever been part of the show? It didn't make the cut, but I did. I was told by one guide, you've got to try the McDonald's in Mumbai because they have, you know, it's no beef. Yeah. So they're doing stuff with like chicken and with veggie stuff.

And it's very interesting. And sure enough, it was like an Indian burger. No kidding. And it was fascinating. Yeah. Oh, that's wild. Yeah. Because you go to fast food restaurants, but they're great fast food restaurants sometimes. Well, there are some good chains, I think, out there in the world.

Yeah. One is in Chicago by way of, I think it's, is it South Africa? Nando's? You know Nando's chicken? No, no. They're not here yet in LA, but they should be. Yeah. It's just wonderful roast chicken with different sauces.

Great. Like peri-peri sauce. Yeah. All right, listen, I could keep you all day, but we're going to- I could keep you all day. You're going to come do our podcast, Naked Lunch. I'm honored. Naked Lunch, one of my favorite books, by the way, by William Burroughs.

Yes, that's where we got the name. Let's talk about, let's do a little thing called Fastballs with Fitz. Here's how we end every show. Oh, I love it. I'm going to ask you a few questions. I'm ready. There are two different types of people in the world. Go.

Oh, Democrats and Republicans. There are no more independents. Whenever people say they're independent, I go, you're a Republican or a libertarian. You're a Republican. I mean, I can't stand it. I wish that we were more together. Yeah. You know, my whole show is an effort to bring us together. By the way, in Washington, we do a Washington, D.C. episode.

Yeah. I'm slowing down your fastballs here. No, they don't have to be fast. Okay, good. I had one idea in the show, one thing I wanted to accomplish in the show. I'd like to sit with a Democrat and a Republican over a meal. Yeah. Do you know how hard that was to get?

No kidding. But we got it. Wow. It's a Republican congressman named Kevin Fitzpatrick. Okay. From Pennsylvania. Yeah. And Pete Buttigieg.

No kidding. And it was beautiful. Wow. It's one of my favorite scenes we ever did. Wait. I thought Pete Buttigieg. No kidding. And it was beautiful. Wow. It's one of my favorite scenes we ever did. Wait, I thought Pete Buttigieg was a Democrat. He is. He's the Democrat. Fitzgerald is a Republican.

Fitzpatrick, yeah. What happened to all the Irish? The Irish used to be Kennedy. That's right. There was, you know- Pat Leahy. Pat Leahy. And who's the guy for the Senator from Massachusetts forever? But they were all court.

They were at least friendly. It wasn't war. Yes. It wasn't, we're not going to vote for this because it might mean that your side wins. Right. Tip O'Neill. That's right. And now it's like every Mitch McConnell and this new Speaker of the House.

Mark Johnson. Johnson. These guys are all Irish. Anyway, I don't want to get into politics. No. Who would you have give your eulogy? I know that's dark, but. Oh, I guess my kids.

Yeah. They seem to like me so far. Who would be the better speaker? Oh, they're both kids. Yeah. They seem to like me so far. Who would be the better speaker? Oh, they're both phenomenal. Yeah. Lily is very outgoing and gorgeous and sweet and great. And Ben has this dry sense of humor. Hysterical.

Yeah. And he's the funny... I think we'd all agree he's the funniest in the family. They both come through because, you know, when somebody's as successful, when you have a parent that's as successful as you are, it's very, very often you find the kids are, they don't seem grounded. And your kids come across as extremely real and organic. And I'm glad you have them on the show. I love having them on the show. It's not just because they're my family and I'd like to push them on you.

I believe that if I can show people that this is one of the great things you can do in life is travel with your family. And we all take vacations as families. And I'm showing you where to go with your family. And we all take vacations as families. Right. And I'm showing you where to go with your family. Right, right. When you go. And also, when you travel with your family, it forces you out of your comfort zones. That's right.

And you're forced to grapple with things together. Yeah. And you see signs that you wouldn't see. By the way, we all did without traveling. We all did it. Yeah. COVID was that. Right, right, right.

And that's the hidden blessing, I think, of COVID. Yeah, right. What, my kids were in their 20s. What 20-somethings want to hang out with their parents every night? I know, it, right. And that's the hidden blessing, I think, of COVID. Yeah, right. What, my kids were in their 20s. What 20-somethings want to hang out with their parents every night? I know, it's amazing. But my wife and I would look at each other, ha ha, they can't go anywhere. Yeah, I know. I enjoyed that part of it also.

It was pretty nice, actually. You know, unless you had a terrible thing happen to you during COVID, this was, I think, a hidden blessing. Yeah. was, I think, a hidden blessing. Yeah. Finally, if you could learn any skill you want in the world without having to try, what skill would you learn? I'd like to be Bruce Springsteen. I knew you were a Springsteen fan.

That's right. Just to experience that for one night would be kind of awesome. To have that talent and ability to hold 100,000 people in your hand. Yeah. That's pretty awesome. What song would you open with? I like my favorite Springsteen song is 10th Avenue Freeza. Yeah, great saxophone.

It's a great song. Yeah, it's a great song. It's like majestic. Yeah. And then it's like the power of rock and roll to me. I was standing on the corner trying to take in all the heat she was given. Pretty good. Yeah, that's not bad.

He's a genius. All right, listen. Phil Rosenthal's show, Don't Miss It, it is on Netflix. Somebody feed Phil. It's season seven, and it goes to Mumbai, D.C., Kyoto, Iceland, Dubai, Orlando for some reason. I'll tell you why if you want. Yeah. There's this, we call it the real Orlando.

Yeah. Because Disney's been there 50 years, they've employed tens of thousands of immigrants from around the world who've all set up neighborhoods. Oh, interesting. And so their cuisines are everywhere. Okay. It's gorgeous. That's a sleeper. I never would have thought of that.

I never would have thought of it either until I visited on my live tour, which, by the way, I'd also like to plug, I'm coming to a city near you, people. Okay. I'm coming this spring. We're going to go all over. philrosenthal.com? That's good. philrosenthalworld.com. Yes.

philrosenthalworld.com. philrosenthalworld.com. All the info is there. Okay. Well, sir, welcome back. Thank you. I'm so glad Phil Rosenthal world.com. All the info is there. Okay. Well, sir, welcome back. I'm so glad you returned to the show.

I love the show. Again in the future. And, and a plug for your podcast, which you do with David Wild, which is called. Naked Lunch. And you're going to be on it.

Okay. Thank you. Bye. Thank you, my friend.