Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S6 Ep 1: Kiefer Sutherland
Episode Date: April 24, 2019…And we are BACK!! With a brand new baby in tow, we kick off Series 6 with a Hollywood icon; none other than Canadian actor, producer, director and singer/songwriter Kiefer Sutherland (AKA Jack Baue...r)We bond over Scotch whisky, gasp at his antics with Kevin Bacon & Robert Downey Jr & his picky eating habits as a child. Other than eating goldfish and changing his food preferences last minute, this man can do no wrong!! Get ready for an even bigger and better series of Table Manners… l'haim!!#WednesdayIsTableManners Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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What time do you call this?
Jessie, I left the house at ten to nine.
Well, I've done everything. Don't worry about it.
You've had your hair cut.
It's very chic.
Oh, right.
You've got milk. Good, I'm glad someone does.
Hi, and welcome to Series six of Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and my mum has just sauntered
through the kitchen with a load of tat that doesn't need to be done if she brings more
plastic into this house. Now since we've last seen each other I have had a baby and this series
will go a bit back and forth with the baby being
inside my tummy to the baby being newer and at the moment the baby is five and a half weeks and
right here with us so anything could happen on this podcast I hope Kiefer doesn't mind breastfeeding
crikey Jessie please it's not professional what mum don't sound anti-feminist. It's not anti-feminist.
What am I supposed to do?
I'm supposed to feed my baby and you and Kiefer Sutherland.
Can we talk about this?
Yeah.
You know one of our peeves is when people change their mind about their dietary requirements.
We had our darling friend Amol who said he was vegetarian 12 hours before we saw him.
We managed to resurrect that. We had... What do hours before we saw him. Yeah.
We managed to resurrect that.
We had...
What do you mean, we?
Okay, you.
Yeah.
We had Paloma Faith who said she was vegan.
And then when she comes around and she sees a puy lenta bolognese,
she says, oh, I thought your mum was cooking.
I'm not vegan all the time.
Now, we've had a bit of a clanger today.
Well, Jessie, I did think it was quite heavy stuff that you were cooking for breakfast.
Now you tell me.
At night.
I did say that to you.
Why don't you just give him a sausage?
Brisket and sausage is exactly the same kind of heaviness.
Okay.
Who will eat the brisket?
And if he doesn't eat it, he'll get a piece of toast.
Look, maybe it's because I haven't slept in six weeks.
doesn't eat it'll get a piece of toast look maybe it's because i haven't slept in six weeks and because i was pretty impressed with myself for making a brisket whilst trying to look after a
newborn baby and may have nearly broken my marriage down through making the brisket last night because
it's a madhouse here and then for one for them to say come back after they'd listened to the menu which makes me feel
like they just don't like the menu probably and now they say they don't have three things off the
menu of the five and he probably doesn't eat anywhere he's probably doing intermittent fasting
like me well i've got and i shall be eating it slow cooked smoky chili biscuit with a bit of bourbon in and i've done it with some a hash of
potatoes beetroots and sweet potatoes and they said no hollandaise so we're not doing hollandaise
so i've done a chipotle yogurt and with a poached egg chipotle chipotle mom what's Chipotle? Chipotle Oh and you call it Chipotle
And you call it Chipotle
Yeah
Yeah potato potato
Okay
Anyway I'm really looking forward to it
But I don't know if anybody else is
You obviously aren't
So I've also got croissants
I've got berries
It's fine Jessie
I've got coffee
I've got apple juice
That's perfect He Jessie. Berries. I've got coffee. I've got apple juice. That's perfect.
He's here for the crack.
Well, Kiefer Sutherland is somebody who everyone knows from whether it's being from Lost Boys,
Flatliners, 24, Special Agent Jack Bauer, to now being a really critically acclaimed singer-songwriter.
He's good.
I listen to him.
Sounds kind of like Tom Petty and Springsteen.
It's kind of raspy rock and roll.
It sounds really, really good.
Does he play instruments as well?
Yeah, I think he plays guitar.
So he's just come and done it.
He's better than you then, darling.
Yeah.
He's a proper musician.
I'm really excited.
We won't ask him about Julia Roberts.
No, we won't ask him about Julia.
Oh, I really want to ask him about Julia Roberts. No, we won't ask him about Julia. I really want to ask him about Julia Roberts now.
Yeah.
Although there have been some dietary requirements quite late in the day,
Kiefer Sutherland, you will be forgiven.
Because you're a Hollywood movie star.
Because you're fantastic.
You brought yourself back to life.
And who can do that but from Jack Bauer?
Yeah, so I'm really excited about this.
I'm a bit tired.
I need a coffee, I think.
Kiefer Sutherland coming up on Table Manners.
Kiefer Sutherland, we have you in finest Dalston
and schlepped you out on the morning.
This is wonderful. This is great. Holden, you've come from, like, where have you come from Dalston and schlepped you out on the morning. This is wonderful
and Holden you've come from like where have you come from?
We started our tour
in Germany and so
we were in Cologne, Frankfurt
then we went to
Amsterdam then we started
in Scotland kind of worked our way
down here and now we're just doing kind of
some press stuff for the release of the record
which is on the 26th of Aprilil and i have tomorrow off which is great yeah so and then i go back to
germany uh to do some stuff there and then back to the uk and then we go to the states as soon as
the record is released and we start our tour in america so how has it been in Europe? Is this the first time you've toured?
No, it's not the first time. You've got like
four records maybe?
This is the second album but we've toured
extensively in Europe over the last
four or five years.
How was Amsterdam? Great.
I love Amsterdam. My band is
quite young so I have to kind of put leashes on
them when they go to Amsterdam.
What, so they don't get too stoned yeah well I saw this interview from Tom Petty once uh when they had first gone
to Amsterdam and they couldn't believe that all this stuff was legal and there's this story about
Tom Petty that they they had bought more hash than they could possibly have used in a year
and they were standing in line at customs and the bass player just couldn't bring himself to throw it away,
so he ate it all.
His teeth were black.
And they had to play a show in Germany later that night.
Oh, my God.
Was he tripping?
On a television show.
And so they show the footage, and he played like a champion.
But he was so out of it.
And it was so funny.
So Amsterdam can be a trap just because
can't get over the fact that it culturally
is just so different there and people kind of misstep.
So yeah, I watched the band quite closely.
But is it, it's legal in California now.
Where do you live?
Sort of.
Not to smoke outside in cafes and things.
Yeah, it's not like it is in Amsterdam
where you can go into a coffee shop and then get all whatever you want.
You have to have a prescription.
But it's lightening up.
I think it's even more free in Canada now than it is in the US.
Is that where you were born?
I was born here in London.
You were born in London?
You're a Londoner?
Yeah, I was born in St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington.
Wow, where all the royalties are. Royals! Yeah, yeah. And it St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington. Wow, where will the royals live?
Royals, oh yeah!
And it was actually a very funny story.
I was taking some friends.
We were shooting a documentary of an artist that I had signed to a small label in the U.S. almost 15 years ago.
And we were on the subway filming, and we got to Paddington Station and we hopped off and I said, look,
I want to show you where I was born. And I hadn't seen it ever. And there were all these great signs
to St. Mary's Hospital. So it was very easy to find. And I looked and I said, that's where I
was born. And as I said it, a wrecking ball came out of nowhere and knocked a huge hole in the
wall. And I was like, oh my God, I can't believe this is happening.
And the photographer, the camera guy, started laughing so hard.
They were moving the hospital across the street.
So I got to see it for the last day that it was there.
Oh, man.
So are you British, Canadian, or American?
I have a British passport and I have a Canadian passport.
And the way I got the British passport was actually so sweet.
Back in the kind of mid-'80s,
I think I came over here to do some press for a film called Young Guns.
And I was standing in the longest queue ever,
waiting to go through customs.
You know, you had British and then you had everybody else.
And a very kind person from the passport office
walked up and was checking everybody's passport.
And he looked at mine and says,
son, you were born here in London.
I said, yeah, I know, but I grew up in Canada.
He said, oh, son, you're British.
Come with me.
Well, that wouldn't happen now.
I tell you, we're trying to get rid of everyone.
It was so sweet.
And at that moment, I was like,
he said, you need to get a British passport. I said oh my god absolutely i do and i think i had one within
six weeks wow very sweet yeah but where do you live now i have a home in los angeles california
but i haven't been home for almost three years is that because of touring a combination of things i
shoot a television show called designated survivor yeah i. Yeah. I shoot that in Toronto.
You shoot that stage.
Right.
And then we would tour the second it was finished to the second it started. So, in fact, there's
a track on the record called Song for a Daughter. It's the last track. And I was kind of walking
around my kitchen trying to remember where I'd put the pots versus the dishes and everything
else. And I had stumbled across, my daughter daughter's 31 now and I stumbled across the very first picture of
her ever and I had handed her to the nurse who swaddled her up and handed her back to me and
that was the first picture I saw and I got quite emotional hadn't seen it for a while
and so I ended up writing that song but it kind of came about because I just hadn't seen it for a while and so I ended up writing that song
but it kind of came about
because I just hadn't been home for so long
and it just got very nostalgic about
everything that was there
How can you have a daughter of 31?
I was married when I was 19
Wow!
to a 32 year old, 33 year old woman
and I just had her very early
and then my oldest daughter
her real father your oldest my oldest daughter her father passed away when she was seven okay and i
raised passed away when she was three i married her mom when she was eight and then i've raised
her since and so i have the two but you look about 35. well you bless your heart. Okay. I'm moving in.
You can't be 50. I'm 52.
Shit, you don't look it.
You look great. You're very kind.
Thank God this is... Mom is obsessed about age. Thank God this is not filmed.
No, you look fantastic.
Thank God I have the bags of a 60-year-old child.
You look fantastic. Well, that's very sweet. Thank you.
I mean, you are Jack Bauer to me.
You know, you are still kind of slim and fantastic.
Come on, get over.
This is because mum's been fasting, so she's like, you look fantastic.
And you're so slim, and she's just like, yeah.
The diet of whiskey and cigarettes goes a long way.
Is that your drink of choice?
It is, actually, yeah.
Me too.
What's your favourite?
My mum and dad used to drink J&B Scotch. drink of choice it is actually yeah me too yeah what's your favorite what's your favorite me it's
my mom and dad used to drink j and b scotch and when i was 15 years old i was working in a theater
festival and the youngest actor next to me was like 35 and wanted nothing to do with me and it
wasn't like i could go to local high school and make a friend so i spent six months quite alone
and i think it looked like i was gonna cry and when I was taking my makeup off, and he felt bad.
And he went, okay, Master Sutherland, you're coming with me.
And so I went to the bar, and we sat down at the bar, and the bartender asked him what he wanted, and he ordered his drink, and he asked me what I wanted.
And I ordered a Coke, Coca-Cola.
And the bartender walked away, and the guy looked at me and said,
No, no, no, you have to order a drink if you're going to sit with me.
And so I looked up, and the one bottle that I recognized from when my parents drank,
and they haven't drank since they were in their late 30s, was J&B, J&B Scotch.
So I said, Well, I guess I'll have one of those.
And it stuck, and that was my drink of choice.
It's very hard to find because the
single malt whiskeys have become very popular and well for a proper scotch drinker they're a nicer
drink i tend to like the cheaper stuff for some reason what do you like then well i think to put
it best a dear dear friend of mine who i worked with for 25 years, who has since passed, used to work for my dad for 25 years.
And when they finally started to do well and he had made some money, he bought his mom a really, really nice expensive bottle of whiskey and took it to his mother and presented it and said, look, I'm doing really well and I'm giving you this gift.
And she poured a dram and threw it back.
And she went, oh, son, they've ripped you off.
It doesn't burn.
So I guess I like the burn.
So you like the burn.
How do you drink yours?
Not classy at all.
I will have a Coke on the side usually.
Like a chaser.
Yeah, and i'll just sip
the whiskey and someone says well why don't you mix the two together and so the part of the story
that i didn't tell you when i first walked into the bar was that i took the first sip of whiskey
and made this awful face and then took the coca-cola and sipped it and it went away so
yeah so i liked i liked the burn and then i liked to be able to get rid of it and that's how you carried on. Yeah, so I liked the burn, and then I liked to be able to get rid of it.
And that's how you still drink it?
Unfortunately, yeah.
So like when you're on stage?
Not much evolution over here.
I love that.
No, but like, so on stage you'll have your whiskey, and do you have ice in it, or do you have a bit of water?
No, on stage I'll just have the one whiskey because I'll just sip it, and I'm only going to have the one through the show.
But I like to have it out there because it gives me an opportunity to toast the audience and thank them for coming out in the first place and their support and they usually
have a drink too so yeah that's like a nice moment would you just be a musician and not act or do you
like to combine the two i'm an actor to the death yeah oh sorry i feel like i need to say there's a
bloody scaffolding and so there's like the sweet sound of building work in the back behind.
I'm so sorry.
Well, what's pretty impressive about your street is the whole street's being redone.
Yeah.
No one told us.
The value of this block is going to be quite something in about a year.
Well, no, actually, no, they're all social housing.
So the council's doing it.
Oh.
So actually, it's just them giving them double glazing.
So it's a bit of a mixed street.
So we have no such thing in the United States. So I'm envious of that. Yeah, it's just them giving them double glazing. So it's a bit of a mixed street. We have no such thing in the United States.
So I'm envious of that.
Yes, interesting.
Your grandfather started free health care.
I want to get this right.
He was responsible for health care in Canada.
He was premier of Saskatchewan for almost 17 years.
And he was elected on four platforms one was
health care one was education one was paving all of the roads in Saskatchewan
and the other was streetlights and he accomplished all four in the first four
years of his that's more than a mensch you know and he was he was something and
then in the early 70s he and Pierre Trudeau took the health care system from Saskatchewan
which was a province in Canada there's 10 and they took it federal and certainly during the 70s
it was the most successful health care system in the world because it was funded a quarter of the
Canadian budget went towards health care and slowly it's been whittled away at, which is unfortunate.
But there was certainly a time when it was really the envy of the world.
And I'm very proud of him that he accomplished it.
He was from Glasgow, moved to Canada when he was seven.
And just the impact that he had on people's lives was so profound that they had a contest done by the CBC, which is the Canadian version of the BBC.
And they did all these little documentaries on important Canadians.
And my grandfather was one of them.
And he won as Canada's most important citizen.
And that was a very proud moment for our family.
Where do you feel most at home? One is Canada's most important citizen, and that was a very proud moment for our family.
Where do you feel most at home?
In Canada?
Los Angeles?
Los Angeles.
My kids are there.
My grandkids are there.
My friends are there.
I'm not there very often,
but certainly it seems to be the one skyline.
You know when a plane's landing,
and there's one town that you just see the skyline,
and you just know you're going home.
And I think I moved there when I was so young.
I moved there when I was 17 years old and started working,
and I kind of think of that time as the beginning of my life,
you know, when I wasn't living with either of my parents,
and work was starting to happen,
it was all kind of new and exciting.
So I associate that city with that time.
You've been acting since you were really young.
Yeah, I was, yeah.
And are your parents both actors?
Yes, my father is a very successful actor.
Well, I know.
I've always been in love with him since Don't Look Now.
And Don't Look Now
is actually my favorite film.
It is my favorite film too.
And him and Julie Christie,
I thought,
were just extraordinary.
Sensational.
Yeah.
And then,
you know,
but it was very funny.
That was before videotape
and any of that.
So if you weren't old enough
or you didn't see the movie
when it came out,
that was it.
You missed it.
So there was a lot of work of my father's
that I never got a chance to see
until I was older, until I was in my 20s.
And I remember calling him, and I was so embarrassed
that I didn't know what a prolific, important actor he was
in the English language.
So fantastic.
And so I remember, I think I was almost kind of crying
about how appalled I felt like such a bad son.
And he was so sweet.
He just kind of laughed and said,
how would you know you were a baby?
How old were you when Don't Look Now came out?
Oh, I'd have been about eight.
Eight.
Yeah.
Did you travel all the time or not?
No, I was raised by my mum.
And my mum is a very successful theater actor in Canada.
And so I have a twin sister, and she and I would finish school,
and we'd go to the theater, do our homework, wait for my mom's performance to finish.
And then we'd go home, and that was our day.
So I spent so much time as a child in the theater.
And I could tell the people that worked in the theater were different.
They weren't, when I would go visit other friends at their house, their parents and those friends weren't the same. They weren't as colorful,
they weren't as funny. And so I knew I wanted to kind of live in that world. I didn't know what I
wanted to do. But then I saw a production of, my mother did a production of Virginia Woolf.
And it was the first time I'd seen either one of my parents where I didn't recognize them anymore.
And it blew my mind.
And it was like magic.
And that's when I first got excited about what I thought was interesting about acting.
And that's what really turned me, because at that time I had a small band and I was playing a lot of music was it similar kind music that you make now no
it was a little more rock okay it was a little more listening to at the time I
think at that time probably a lot of ACDC okay and Aerosmith okay yeah stuff
like that so it was more in that vein. Do you just play the guitar?
Just, I don't play anything. Just, you can't play anything, I know.
I play the guitar.
I played the violin from the time I was four.
And then I played, I wanted a guitar desperately when I was seven.
And my mom said, if you play the guitar, the violin till you're 10,
I'll get you a guitar.
And then I'll know you're serious about music.
So I played the violin till I was 10. She'll get you a guitar. And then I'll know you're serious about music. So I played the violin until I was 10.
She was true to her word.
On my birthday, I got a guitar,
and I never picked up the violin again.
Oh, great.
I know. I really regret that now.
Your grandfather was obviously a political figure.
Are you political?
I am, in a much more private way.
My mother was a very, very strong activist.
We ended up having to leave the United States
because she organized a breakfast program
through the Black Panther Party in California
that was feeding children that weren't getting taken care of
because both parents or one parent would have to go to work very early
because in the poorer communities they were doing more manual labor jobs,
and they wouldn't be able to take care of the kids.
The kids had to kind of find their own way to school.
So she organized this breakfast program at a time when the Black Panther Party
was feared by the FBI and different aspects of the government.
So we were asked to leave after that,
and that's why we all moved back to Canada.
So there is a very funny moment.
My sister and I, the first year we were in Canada,
were sneaking around trying to find our Christmas presents.
And instead we stumbled across a bunch of posters,
and it was for performing artists against nuclear disarmament or for
nuclear disarmament i remember my sister crying thinking that we were going to get kicked out of
this country too but obviously we didn't and uh and they respected freedom of speech do you know
pierre trudeau uh i did i i have met him and uh he's fabulous as he's fabulous well Pierre Trudeau is the father and
Justin Trudeau I was just yeah Pierre was amazing and and again he he was as
responsible for healthcare going federal in Canada as anybody and he was vision
and have a great deal of respect for him. And I do like his son very much.
Yeah, he's great.
I had the pleasure of meeting him long before he even thought of running
for public office.
But I met him and his mom in a diner.
I was doing a play at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada,
and I met them both in a late-night diner,
and I was just having a quick meal after the show.
And they came up to you?
The mother, she was so sweet.
She was a fan of something that I had done
and she just said hello and introduced me to her son
who ultimately, you know, 10 years later became Prime Minister of Canada.
You are such a global star
because all your programmes have been seen everywhere, all over the world.
So when you walk down, I mean mean i don't know if they noticed you
in dalston but do you get recognized wherever you go is it annoying it's not annoying and i can only
speak for myself and i can only imagine what it's like to be tom cruise or and i've seen it we did
a few good men together and that life is i don't experience that that's a very different thing
life is, I don't experience that. That's a very different thing. I have managed to become successful enough that someone will recognize me, but all we have to do is say hi. Whereas
someone like a Tom Cruise or even Julia Roberts, which I did witness firsthand, that kind of
stuff can get scary at a point if a crowd's too big for someone like that or whatever uh i've been
really lucky that i could go into any bar i wanted i could sit and have a drink all that was required
of me was to just say hello and thanks very much and so they're not ready to mob you no it's uh
i've been really fortunate that way i've been able to have i think that's interesting you call it
fortunate yeah a really huge i've been able to have I think that's interesting you call it fortunate yeah a really
human I've been able to have a proper very normal human interactions with people and
so I've been lucky that way I want to because this podcast is predominantly about food and
food memories so and I feel like we need to I want to know about you and your twin because
our producer editor who isn't here today and thatah is taking over for oh it's gonna pipe in
twins were you a nightmare together at the dinner table did you like the same things or did you like
opposite things because she's a twin and she says that they used to just like opposites and it drive
their mother oh yeah no we well it's interesting so my mother was queen of the minute steak. Oh, yeah.
We had two meals.
It was either we had like the thin minute steak with some vegetables and rice,
a lot of rice pilaf, and or we had a chicken breast
that she would drench in paprika and rice and a vegetable.
Was she a good cook, you'd say?
It wasn't her forte.
Okay.
It wasn't her strength, but we always had dinner together.
Yeah.
And she still, to this day, makes the best salad dressing I've ever had.
What is it?
It's just a Dijon mustard vinaigrette, and it's just really simple.
Some things like honey and a couple things
that i would never have thought were in there because it's not a sweet dressing but yeah she
just cooked very simply i mean she she had so much going on that it was more about the economy of
time than anything else and so rachel and i just that's what we ate now my father and his wife maybe are more foodie.
So when we would be sent over there, I balked a lot at a lot of the food because for whatever reason as a kid I had real texture issues with food
and then never, you know, didn't fully get past a lot of that.
And I think because our diet was so kind of specific consistent and and on some degree
limited i used to fear the the greatest fear of all was to be invited over to a friend's house
and their family was going to make dinner and i just didn't know if i would be able to eat it
and and i would have to you know and potentially hide stuff and it was just yeah
so i was embarrassed about the fact that you know there was a lot of food i didn't like growing up
and it's gotten it's gotten better it's not great but i certainly fell in love with indian food i
absolutely love chinese food in fact the first cooking lessons that i ever took were all asian
cooking lessons and I just I
love the fact that you can actually spend an hour and a half preparing a
Chinese dish and then cook it in three minutes you know but yeah so it was it
was quite limited I want to know because obviously you've been you've been acting
to such a long a long time well like such a young age and obviously you get
offered riders like you do
us as musicians we get riders were you offered riders like in your your dressing room and if
you were a fussy eater what were you asking for when you were doing lost boys were you like i want
pizza every day or is it kind of you know and how's that changed what's on your rider now
on a film set we have a caterer like a food truck
and so you know they get a sense of what you like to eat and they'll figure out a way to
incorporate that and they're and you know they're feeding 200 people so they're trying to mix it up
and uh but again if you just want a chicken breast and some rice they can make that for
you in two seconds the rider for the music stuff is the funny one.
So what do you have on yours?
Socks and underwear.
Your socks is brilliant.
And underwear is a good one for boys, yes.
Why socks and underwear?
Because you don't want to go into laundry.
If you're staying at a hotel, it costs more to launder a pair of socks
than it does to buy a pair of socks.
And if you're not staying at a hotel and you've got
three hours to relax going to the local laundromat is not fun um so we figured out that socks and
underwear was really great for the rider and then the other thing is gummy bears with the glycerin
is really good for your voice jesse this is what this is what you need, darling. Well, so I have a whiskey on stage,
but I have it without ice so it's not too cold
because I'm really neurotic about my voice on stage.
And also, I think it makes me lose it more
because I'm so neurotic about it.
You know, we had Sara Bareilles on
when we did a New York special of this,
and she was just like,
oh, I have cheese on my rider.
I was like cheese?
how could you have cheese?
couldn't do it either
you're literally
you're clearing your throat
now
and she's like
oh I don't really
think about it
and I think
because I'm so aware
of the things
that also
I don't think it
helps you sing
me
it doesn't help
to have a really heavy meal
before singing
and whatever
but I'm really like
strict about it.
I'm steaming for, yeah, so yeah, it makes me.
We played a festival in central California
and we went backstage and all there was was yogurt,
and I was like, you guys have to be kidding me.
So we ask everybody, what would be,
mum doesn't like to call it a last supper,
but what would be your desert island supper?
You have a starter, a main, a dessert dessert and a drink of choice the drinks easy I would have a whiskey with a yeah
and coke on the side what's your starter soup dumplings oh yes yes and then
probably pan fried rice noodles with beef in a black bean sauce.
Sounds nice.
And then pudding?
I mean, dessert?
Dessert?
Well, it's so out of Congress with what I just described as the meal.
It would either be pumpkin pie with whipped cream
or a little piece of pound cake with some ice cream.
What's pound cake?
Pound cake is... I cream what's pound cake pound cake is it's like a pound of butter pound of sugar and it's just and it's uh it's a really dense cake yeah but i just my mom used to give it to us as a kid every once in a while
did she used to make it no no sarah lee made it you gotta love Sarah Lee that's right yeah absolutely
mum met you made a cake the other day that tastes like a Betty Crocker one like yeah like it was
like a Sarah Lee cake yeah well and the other one is just a simple slab cake which was just like
vanilla cake with vanilla icing it's just you can go buy it for six bucks at the market
that's that seems to be my sister's and my favorite cake.
Not very fancy.
I love, you were very,
you're probably the most decisive we've had
from anybody over our six series to decide.
Everyone goes, is it because you're quite picky
and so you know what you like?
And I could easily have said a cheeseburger
from Fat Burger with fat fries and a Coke, you know.
I've never had a Fat Burger.
When you go to
california it's a california chain um yeah everyone always talks about in and out we went to in and
out okay so in and out would be kind of fat burger started in east los angeles and it was really it
was owned and operated primarily by african-american restaur, or not that you could call that.
For instance, Magic Johnson probably owns the most.
And then In-N-Out is like the white version of that.
It's like they're religious, aren't they?
And the great thing about the Fat Burger is
they do not mess about with the salt and the pepper.
They use it.
It's got some real flavor and texture,
and it's still my favorite burger in Californiaifornia and so will you have a cheeseburger or you just have
cheeseburger cheeseburger lettuce onions tomato what's your worst table manner in somebody else
like we ask everybody so is there anything that you just can't stand where you're going out for
dinner that's other people do or have you got any bad table no there's a couple things that i'm
always confused that people don't understand when the the salad is served, or a cold dish, you wait.
When the hot dish is served, out of respect to the chef, you start.
And people who are getting hot dishes sit there for a table of 12 and won't start eating.
I'm going, you don't understand.
Read the book of etiquette.
I don't know that one.
You are, the second the hot dish is served you are supposed to start
eating i love that one i don't know that one the cold dishes you wait for everybody to be okay but
the hot dish you're supposed to start right away here's me we're british we'd always wait for
everyone to know first and then the person who gets served first is sitting there waiting for
the last person to get served and by the time that happens their dish is cold thank you for uh
teaching me some table manners keifer you're very welcome i want to know where do you love to eat in
los angeles well toronto's so good for food though right toronto's yes toronto is good um
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Are you not fast? Would you just prefer to make? No, there's there's there's a couple places in
Los Angeles that are really quite extraordinary. There's an Italian, kind of cross-French and Italian, called Il Piccolino on Robertson's, one of the nicest restaurants.
And then I've always enjoyed Mr. Chow's in Los Angeles.
I've never been, but everyone talks about it.
Have you been to the one here?
I have, yeah.
Is it as good or different?
No, the menus are the same.
Just the one in Los Angeles, I was roommates with Robert Downey Jr.
when we were about 17, 18, almost 19.
Wow, that would have been a powerful duo.
Did you have lots of fun?
We did.
We had a great time.
And we both started working around the same time,
and he was dating Sarah Jessica Parker,
so she lived with us as well.
Did you know I was Sarah Jessica Parker?
Yeah.
I didn't know that.
They lived together for a couple of years, and then Billy Zane was in the apartment next door. How the hell? Did he have hair? Did he have hair? He did have hair. He did have hair and so we were all friends and we had a couple other friends and
Robert and I started to work first and so and I got very lucky I got very lucky with films like
Stand By Me and Lost Boys
and Young Guns Quite all within the first couple of years.
And then Bobby went and did Saturday Night Live for a while,
and then he got a couple of big films.
And so we would take our friends.
What we thought success was was being able to go to Mr. Chow's once a month
and take our friends and have kind of what we consider to be a really posh night.
And so I will always have those memories
of that restaurant going all the way back then.
So when I go there now, it just kind of makes me smile.
What did you and Robert used to order?
Oh, Robert was,
Like beans.
No, I know, but.
Robert was, no, from there I would order,
they had a really wonderful wonton dumpling soup.
You'd order the squab with the lettuce and the plum sauce,
chicken joanna, the most tender chicken dish I've ever had.
What's a chicken joanna?
You have to go there to experience,
but it's a chicken beaten within an inch of its life.
And then Singapore noodles
or whatever noodle dish you would want.
But Bobby, towards the end of us
having these once-a-month dinners,
would come in and order the duck,
which was the most expensive thing on the menu,
and then leave before the bill got paid.
Oh!
So naughty!
Was he known by then?
Oh, yeah.
He did it to mess with me.
It was always very funny.
So you were paying?
Yeah.
But trust me, he took care of the things.
He was a very, very funny boy.
Are you still friends now?
I don't see him as much as I think either one of us.
I saw him a little while ago, and we kind of hooked up for lunch.
I think one of the problems is everybody gets so separated because
of where you're working and I've been again
on tour for so long that
but we do check in on each other.
One of my
favorite stories of his, we were doing a film
in Savannah, Georgia
and he took
a fire extinguisher
and I had gone to bed early and I
think he was upset with me for that. So he took this fire extinguisher and And I had gone to bed early, and I think he was upset with me for that.
So he took this fire extinguisher,
and he completely sprayed my hotel room door,
and then put it behind him,
let it off, and walked backwards all the way to the elevator,
and then hurled the fire extinguisher down back towards my door,
so it looked like I had done it.
So he basically just thought you were in trouble.
Yeah, walked into my door.
Well, about a week later, I found a substance that would wear through metal.
And I put it on the hinges of his door.
And about three days later, his front door fell through.
So we were in a hotel that was an atrium.
So all the doors were purple except for Bobby's, which was just black steel.
So we had a lot of fun back then.
We kind of, a lot of practical jokes and teasing.
So again, back to Mr. Chow's.
I used to, I like going there just because of the memories.
And what about in Toronto?
Did you just get your mum to cook her chicken?
No, no.
Or her minutes, say?
No.
In Toronto, this last pass, I had a quite nice house and a kitchen.
And so the things that I'll cook, I have like four dishes that I feel really confident with.
A roast chicken, a very simple steak, and then beef and oyster sauce with steamed rice is a pretty clean meal for me.
with steamed rice is a pretty clean meal for me. And then traditional Irish beef stew,
which I really like a lot.
And I've had friends that are actually really good cooks
that have really screwed up a stew.
It's not easy to make a really tasty one.
Depending on how and what you're doing with the flour.
So what's your special ingredient?
Well, it's not the ingredient.
It's the process.
And it's that I add the flour earlier than later.
And I'll cook off the beef probably more. With the flour.
Yeah.
And earlier than later.
And so that the beef gets really tender.
And a lot of people, where they they make the mistake it can get very tough
and the first time i ever cooked that properly uh i was in new york and a friend of mine had a dog
and they had a dog walker and i was halfway through cooking the stew which was actually
you know i thought that a stew would take eight hours but it's about two and a half hours and
the person who was
walking the dog came in the house and went oh my god that's the best smell i've ever smelled you
know that was the best smell i've ever smelled and i was so excited and proud and and it was one of
the first times that i followed the recipe like to the second to the t and that's a challenge for me at times and when i actually brought it out and i had the
first taste of meat uh i was pretty proud of myself for a second and it was and so yeah and
that kind of really inspired me to start trying to learn how to cook and following recipes and
it was a really exciting thing so for the last year uh i was at a place where i could actually
cook a lot which we did just
you're gonna give him something well i i want to say basically we've got a load of bits because i
know basically i think because i'm so tired i've been craving rose of red meat so quite selfishly
i made some brisket um which is quite a heavy breakfast meal and i understand that so we have
berries we have croissant we have toast we have we have brisket. You can have whatever you want.
You do not have to have...
Thank you very much.
But I love brisket.
Oh, yeah?
Okay, a few.
Right.
And then I've got...
A few.
Well, I've got kind of...
It's not very spicy, but a chipotle yogurt you can have.
You can take or leave if you want.
You don't have to have it.
I have to sing tonight, so I might pass on the yogurt.
Oh, shit.
I've given the worst meal for you then.
No, the brisket's good.
It's not too spicy.
The brisket's good.
Okay, fine.
And then just with some potatoes underneath?
Okay, fine.
Mum, do you want a poached egg with yours or not?
Here, you don't have eggs.
I have...
You know, eggs are the weirdest thing.
Like, I can cook scrambled eggs or make an omelette,
but I've always made it...
That's the one thing I've always made it.
That's the one thing I've had texture issues the most with.
Like my grandma and grandpa, they were so cute,
but they would have their little egg and they would crack the shell. Oh, man, when I was a kid, I used to have to stop myself from like...
Being retching.
Yeah, retching.
Because it just, there was something just yeah yeah it's so you can do scrambled in omelets yeah i could do scrambled omelets
no i get it and they have to be pretty well done like kind of kind of racquetballs yeah
yeah interesting yeah the second something looks like the snotty so it's not because you're fussy
about what you eat it's just the textures and yeah and it's snotty. So it's not because you're fussy about what you eat.
It's just the textures and things.
And it's from way back when you were young.
And I've got friends that when they,
especially with the kind of British breakfast,
they look so happy when they get that fried egg.
And I get so jealous.
I wish I could enjoy it like that.
I love it when it's soft as well.
Yeah.
And so I regret not, I wish I could figure out whatever my issue is and get past it.
But I have not to this day.
I respect that.
I couldn't eat an oyster.
Could you eat an oyster?
I drank an oyster.
Yeah.
The texture of that makes me feel ill.
But that you can get away with because you just and it's done yeah but i can't imagine
that you're enjoying it no no you just do it because everyone else is doing it it's meant to be
well the first time i did it i didn't realize but it was actually in the shot it was in the
drink jesus and it was like oyster and like some tabasco sauce and some tomato juice
and i didn't realize that was there, but it was gone that quickly.
And the way I knew that that wasn't ever going to be an issue,
Kevin Bacon and I were doing a film called Flatliners together.
It was the first time that we worked together.
And it was a scene with he, myself, and Julia.
And there was an aquarium.
And in the aquarium where these four goldfish
and Kevin said I dare you and I said what he said I dare you before this
scenes finish see if you can swallow one of those goldfish and I said sure and so
I caught it in the little net when they were kind of moving the cameras around.
And it was just to make them laugh.
And I took the goldfish like this, and I dropped it in.
And what I wasn't expecting, when I swallowed,
I realized why we have the mechanism of our Adam's apple.
It crushed the goldfish.
Oh, my gosh.
It broke its back, and I could feel that.
Oh, my gosh.
In my throat, and I'm like this.
No, no, no, I got it down.
But Kevin, I think he had to, it was a dare.
So he then had to do something.
But if you watch the film, at the beginning of the scene,
there are four fish swimming around.
And at the end of the scene, there are three fish staring at me
and no other fish.
I'm sorry, Keith.
You can't eat a fucking egg, but you can eat a goldfish.
Well, and the goldfish was a one-off.
So, yeah, I'm not going to do it again.
But you'll do anything for a dare?
For a laugh, yeah.
For a laugh. Right, so you don't have to eat anything.
You can eat a little bit.
It's kind of...
This is going to be the healthiest meal I have had in a long time.
I want to know, what did you eat last night?
I didn't. Kiefer that's terrible. We finished, we played on the Joe Wiley show. Oh I love Joe, she's great. So we played a couple songs there so again like you I don't really like to eat before I sing and then got back to the hotel. I think I had some shrimp tempura at the bar.
Had a cocktail and went to bed.
What cocktail did you have?
Oh, I just had the J&B.
I love that you're calling that a cocktail.
Please eat whilst I jiggle my baby to sleep, hopefully.
That's wonderful.
Okay, good.
That's great.
Thank you so much.
This is really good, Jess.
Thank you, Mum. You know what, Kiefer? I'm not going so much. Well, okay, thank you. This is really good, Jess. Thank you, Mum.
You know what, Kiefer?
I'm not going to lie, I'm quite proud of myself.
It's the first meal that I've cooked since this kid's been around, and I'm just glad
that I didn't burn the chin.
He's like five weeks?
Yeah, he's like five and a half weeks, yeah.
Good for you.
What would you describe your music as?
Because you managed to get to play in Nashville, which I think is the biggest compliment for songwriting, isn't it?
We have some kind of really old school country songs. Songs like This Is How It's Done, Song for a Daughter.
But then there's some real rock songs like Agave and Something You Love is kind of...
I love that.
Thank you very much.
It's really lovely. I listened to it last night.
Right down the middle.
So it's a varied record,
but because the country stuff,
whether it's Blame It On Your Heart,
that they are kind of old school country songs,
we've been given a lot of latitude
in a place like Nashville.
And we'll go back before the CMA Festival,
we'll play the Grand Ole Opry
again and that'll be the fourth time we've played it and so those kinds of
moments are really good.
That's like for us playing at the, it's kind of more grand than the Barbican it's kind of like Royal Abbott Hall
it's smaller than the Royal Abbott Hall but like it like it's it's it's prestigious I mean I watch Nashville
the TV show
so that's how
like I'm obsessed
haven't you been to Nashville?
I've been
I've played there once
and
I wanted to go
and do like writing camps
there because
the best songwriters
they're incredible
I want to see their work
and it's the only place
I've seen
where the music industry
is centred around
the writing
your album sales
are secondary. Your position on the chart is secondary. Everything stems from the writing,
which I think is correct. The thing about the Grand Ole Opry, which is why you're going to
have to write a country song and you're going to have to go play there, is as an actor, I remember
the pictures of Jimmy Stewart and Judy Garland and all those people
sitting around a piano and playing. And there was this sense of community. And as I've watched,
the film industry changed. When I started working, there was five studios and they made 50 plus
movies a year. Now there's three and they make less than 15. So people have had to go
different ways to find jobs and work. And for a lot of people, it's been very tough.
And so it's become more competitive. And that sense of community just isn't there the way I
remember it, kind of in the early 80s, and especially the way my father describes it in
the 60s and 70s and so I'm watching that
evaporate and I get to the Grand Ole Opry and I'm scared to death you know first time and they'll
have and it's like a review so you'll play three songs and the other artists will play three songs
and there's six artists that will go on at any given night all the dressing room doors are open everybody's out in the hall playing and at first
i was very suspect of this and you know this is insincere and artificial and a fantastic woman
i i don't think i ever got her name i was still in my dressing, and kind of my door was open, but I was still in. And she just leaned her head in and she said, hey, hon, nervous?
And I went, yeah, a little.
I just went, don't worry, sweetie, we got you back.
And my bottom lip started to go.
I was like, ooh, like that.
And that's when I realized how nervous I was.
And literally from the time walking from those dressing rooms to the stage, and it's a big
house, and you could feel it. These guys would give you a guitar if your string broke. They would
give you a strap if your strap broke. And it reminded me of the rodeo. They were there.
Everybody had each other's back. And I hadn't had that experience as a performer,
not to that degree.
It's been something I'd always yearned for.
And it really is authentic there.
And I was really moved by that.
And I've played there three times and going back for the fourth.
And it's been like that every time.
Yeah, because usually in the dressing rooms, everyone's sizing each other up a bit.
Or they're being completely antisocial.
Yeah, or so bummed we have to follow that person.
Their song sucks. Yeah, or so bummed we have to follow that person. Yeah, exactly. Their song sucks, you know.
And it's like, yeah.
And so I was so moved by the authenticity and the sincerity of the goodwill.
And you've been allowed in that club, and now you'll be there forever.
And you'll be the person that's poking your head around the corner.
Poking my head going, hey, Sonny.
Nervous?
Well, you should be.
It's scary as hell out there.
So the record comes out this week
and then you'll tour.
And then when do you start filming again in Toronto?
We don't have a date,
so we're going to be touring all the way through to December.
And you're happy about that?
Mm-hmm.
And then by December you'll be like,
I need to do something else.
It's always good to take a break to write, to reflect
yeah but there's a lot of places
we haven't been able to get to yet
there's Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Rim
and so
we're going to try and take advantage of the time
that we know we've got
well that's the perfect time because then it's warm
and nice
follow the sun Kiefer
yeah
thank you so much
for coming here
thank you so much
for feeding me
good luck with the album
thank you so much
the new song is so good
yes thank you
and I do have to say
about your father
I found that
one of his finest performances
was in Buffy the Vampire set
oh very cool
I will tell him that
that was
fantastic
that was my film
I will tell him that'll make him that was my film I will tell him
that'll make him smile
I completely loved him
from
Don't Look Now
that's so sweet
and this was wonderful
no what a pleasure
to have you
thank you
absolute pleasure mum yes that felt quite hollywood he was so special he was very charming charming
conducted himself with modesty humility he ate some of my food. He just...
When he really doesn't like textures.
I don't think he liked...
He doesn't eat a lot, darling, let's face it.
I think he just knows what he likes
and he likes what he knows.
Yeah.
So I felt a bit guilty giving him brisket.
But bless him.
I'd like to try his Irish stew.
Yeah, I don't think he makes it a lot, darling.
No, I don't either.
But I do...
He was charming. he was so sweet i was so close to asking him about julia roberts and then i just he kind of brought her
out i know what a good ex i know jesse ginotti said to me what bye mom you rock
do you think they say bye mom it's when they don't remember your name yeah bye mum you rock you rock mum i rocked yes well i'm hoping i'm going to be on the festival bill
with him i was rocking my child to sleep so he wouldn't speak um no that was really bizarre
seeing keifer sutherland in my kitchen jack bauer mum don't call him jack bauer he's so many other people i i mean i wanted to
talk about lost boys with him and i just held my time designated survivor because your dad's
favorite i don't watch it i don't but apparently it's really popular yeah what a pleasure to meet
keifer suverland to hear about his music and his interesting life yeah Yeah, and some Robert Downey Jr. stories. Credentials.
No, I mean, he's worked for so long.
Yeah, he'd been working since he was eight.
Yeah, boss sod.
Out on the boards from eight.
Playing a violin.
Since four, he played the violin.
Bloody hell.
No, he was just lovely.
And I don't think
he's a foodie
no
but I do want to go
to Mr Chow's now
we'll go
Knightsbridge
is it meant to be
any good
yeah it's fantastic
I used to go there
all the time
in the 70s
and 80s
did you
yeah
anyway thank you so much
Kiefer Sutherland
for coming on
and his album
is out now
and it's beautiful music
so you should give it a listen
and you can definitely hear those jbs and cokes on the record if you are enjoying us please do
subscribe and then you can just have that nagging ping on a wednesday that we're here back in your
ears annoying you um no it i think it also helps with chart placing i think it does so yeah can
you just subscribe please
and like us a lot and rate us quite highly.
We're going to go and pack a car
and go to a cousin's wedding now.
Okay then, you ready?
No.
Right, let's get going.
The music you've listened to on Table Manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser and Table Manners is edited by the wonderful Alice Williams.