The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Phil Rosenthal

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

Phil Rosenthal joins Andy Richter to talk about having immigrant parents, starting as a performer, keeping writers rooms fun, and more.

so if you do want to do headphones they're just you i don't okay no peer pressure because i hate hearing myself i'm i love it i can't get enough actually i, I don't. I can't get enough. I don't really. I like, like, I can hear myself talk live, but hearing myself on tape makes my, I think that's, oh my God. People are hearing that whining all the time and they're okay with that. And you had years of having to see yourself too. No, I didn't because I never watched. Not once. I mean, sometimes if there was like a good bit, I would watch, but I never watched just willy nilly.

Like if I was watching TV at that time of night. And flipping by. Keep going. Yeah. Why would I want to? I already was. I was there once. You know, I saw what happened.

There were I mean, there definitely were bits that I was proud of that I would come home and say, you guys got to see this. And not even necessarily ones that I was in, just some of the crazy, because I mean, I still, you know, as the show wound down, you know, and we started to sort of write our own obituary, you know, and people would ask us stuff about it. Like one of the things I started to say was, I think we were the funniest show ever in late night. Just in pound for pound funny. I agree. I think that we did more weird shit than anybody else. Right. Letterman did a lot of weird shit.

He laid out the runway and then you took off. He did like the laid back version of Weird. And we did the ADHD desperate to please version. Yeah. He still had some show business decorum. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Like he was like in the Johnny Carson mold. I mean, there's a straight line from Johnny. Yes. To Dave. Yeah. You guys. But there's a reserve with them. And there's not.

There's not. I mean, it's, you know, all of those things are based on the personality of the host. They're all, like, it's all kind of dependent on that. So Conan's personality is very, you know, he runs at a very high RPM.

I mean, much more so than most of the other hosts. I mean, you can make the case it may be Fallon, but I don't know. I mean, much more so than most of the other hosts. Yeah. I mean, you can make the case that maybe Fallon, but I don't know. I don't, you know,

I mean, but they don't do the same stuff that we did. Like, you know, they don't do like, you know, long chase scenes. Like we would,

you know, have chase scenes and robots and Roman soldiers. But as silly as it was, there was an intelligence underneath. Yeah, I think so. A brilliance underneath. Smart stupid is what we always aspired to. And that was, I mean, that's what he and I had in common from the first time we met. You know, we just knew immediately like, oh, you like to be as stupid as I do.

You like to be as silly as I do. Right. And I still. But if there's no brains behind it. Yeah. Then it's just. Then it's just. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then it's just, you know, sort of your garden variety bro stand-up humor. You know, it just ends up being farts and dicks and, you know, women are weird. You know, that kind of stuff. But it's what South Park has. It's what the 60s has. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We've started.

We're recording all this right i hope so we always do ours but just like we get people coming in the door i just had to detangle this is the first time for those listening if you're panting it's not me it's not phil uh i'm talking to phil rosenthal which you all know that by now because you saw you when you clicked on it you saw that. But this is the first time I brought my dog to a podcast. So sweet. I'm in about three years and she used to come all the time. So I just had to detangle her from some headphones.

So, well, Phil, thank you. We're you know, this is a this is close for you. This is in your neighborhood. Yeah. Two minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Nice.

I mean, we don't want the stalkers to know, but it's nice. Well, they don't know where you are. Yeah, that's true. No, but by this point, yeah. I don't think anybody knows where we are. It's Conan's secret bunker. Yes, you can't get in anyway. Even if you knew where it was, you can't get in.

Deep in the Appalachians. But this is the nicest office ever. It really is. This is the second or third time I've been here. Where do you usually do it? From your house? From Zoom. I mean, from Zoom.

When I started the podcast, it was always in person. And we had a studio at the Conan stage that sadly, after we kind of downsized and we got rid of the band, which was like cutting off an arm. That sucks. They turned their dressing room into a podcast studio. So it always, to me, had like, it was a really nice podcast studio, but it always had this air of like, this game room is where grandpa died. It always had this sad tinge to it. Want to sleep in here? Yeah, yeah. That's terrible.

But I used to do it there. And then Daisy used to come with me there. You know, I never thought of that. Yeah. That's terrible. But I used to do it there. And then Daisy used to come with me there. You know, I never thought of that. Yeah. No, the band. That's your family. It was really, really tough. It was really tough.

And it was, you know, it was a down. It was, you know, all those guys, none of the, all those guys were so gracious about it and so wonderful about it. Because to be a musician and to have a steady gig. I mean, but I mean, I feel the same way to have a steady gig like that for all those years. And also not just a steady gig, but kind of regular office hours. Like you have a steady gig in show business. That still can mean you work 16 hours a day, you know. Yes, but a fun gig.

And a very fun gig and a very fun gig a very fun gig so yeah they were all it was very sad but they were all very gracious about it you know and and i'm sure that they've all um gone on to well who knows they're all they're all gone they're all uh they're all out in the world wandering around no i mean we you know i keep up i hear updates nice yeah so you this is supposed to be about you. We've been talking about you. Yeah, we'll get to you tomorrow. Yeah.

On our podcast. I am. I'm coming on your podcast tomorrow. Yeah. And so you are originally, you're an East Coaster. Yeah, New York. Yeah. You?

And I'm from Illinois. I'm from the Midwest. And your folks are both German, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Not for a way back. Richter sounds a little German. Yeah, it is German.

It is more than a little German. It's pretty German. My father one time was, my father did not like his father, which is where all the German comes from. And one time going through, he was traveling with a group of students because he was a college professor and he was going to the airport and i think frankfurt and there was a yeah a uh luftanza uh flight attendant going saying to people your boarding card please your boarding card please to all these people in line and she looked took one look at my dad and said eat a button card bitter like she looked at his face and knew kraut yes she knew immediately like you're german and he was so pissed about it he thought he was he thought he had skipped skipped the obvious genetics of of germanity but nope you know listen i was doing a

i was doing a making a transfer from uh one flight to another in at the frankfurt airport and the lady taking us said rosenthal this is a jewish name yes i'm like yeah is that okay you know yeah yeah it's it's a that was it's weird to be asked i have had friends that went over there who jewish comedian friends who like did stuff at comedy festivals and said it's really fucking chilling and weird still but 99 of the people i met were beautiful and great of course so generous and wonderful but when you get the question, holy cow, I was at the opera there. I had a layover. Somebody said, you got to see the opera. It's going to be like the most

modern thing you ever saw. I'm not an opera fan, but I went just to see the theater experience. Well, the audience loved this Alto who did an aria. And at the end, they showed their love for this person by stomping their feet the entire theater. And I got the hell out of there. Because that sound is not good. Rosenthal! A Jewish name, yes? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's the sound that drove your mother to Cuba.

That's right. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yeah, because I saw your mother, she stopped in Cuba for a while. Well, yeah. So after the war, you heard about this, that the boats weren't welcome in America necessarily necessarily yeah they had to go to cuba yeah they turned boats away of refugees i mean we do the same thing now i know i guess i know but but but in those days it was specifically because they were jewish i guess yeah they didn't want

all these people i mean there were there were quite a few nazis here it turns out it sure there's footage i think there's a new documentary. Yeah, Madison Square Garden. That's right. Full of Nazis. Wow. Yeah. And I think it was like 1937 or something like that.

So, yes, my parents both are survivors. My dad got out right after Kristallnacht, which is that famous, they call it the night of broken glass. That's what Kristallnacht means. And what it was, was it wasn't simmering under the surface anymore. It was now coming out. And we're going to smash all the windows of Jewish-owned businesses. We're going to beat up any Jews we find in the streets. And it got worse, obviously, from there.

So that was like, I think, 39, I think that was. from there. Yeah. So that was like, I think 39, I think that was. My dad's parents had enough connections to get a boat to America. So they got out right after that. My mother was not so lucky and she was actually in a concentration camp. Oh my gosh. Yes. With her mother separated from her father. At what age? 10. 10. Wow. Yeah. Wow. And survived that. It wasn't a death camp. It was a concentration camp.

Yeah. Not all of them were literally putting people to death. They were just concentrating them into one enclosed area. And this one was actually, did you know they had them in France? France was more than happy to accommodate. Oh, I didn't know that. The Germans. Yes. So this was in France, hers.

And they survived, obviously. And my grandfather, when they said, when they found out, my grandfather was in the worst of the worst. He was separated from them. He was also a political prisoner as well. So he was in Auschwitz and he survived was also a political prisoner as well so he was in auschwitz and the he survived the death march the famous death march to buchenwald and survived that he made himself useful by by making uh uh roach spray and lice powder that the nazis could

use he made himself useful for them for them so they didn't kill him. Yeah, yeah. And after the war was over, they found each other by letter. My grandmother said, come on, we're going. We have relatives in New York. Let's go. He said, no, I have work to do in Germany. Went back to Germany and started something called the restitution program, which to this day, the German government has to give checks to any Jews that they stole business from. Wow. So he's responsible for that.

I'm named after him. Wow. Yes. Never met him. Wow. What a wonderful thing to have somebody in your family to be that proud of for doing something that. Absolutely. absolutely i mean and also too like you say not just you know he could have you know he could have come from canada and made the restitution product or project and he'd be a hero yes but

to have gone through that and then to go back who goes back i think somebody who figured out how to live by making roach powder who's like. Who's like, what are they going to do to me? You know? Well, here's what's funny. Not funny. But after this, after this happens, guess what? German government, not so happy with him. Oh, wow. They bring him up on charges of embezzlement and stuff that they never proved, but they convicted him.

And he killed himself in his jail cell. Oh, my God. In the 50s. Oh, my God. In the 50s. Oh, my God. Right? Wow. So, that affected my mother's whole personality. Yeah.

And her, you know, abandonment issues and her. I'm telling you all this because if you've seen Everybody Loves Raymond, people want to know who was the model for that mother. Well, it was my mother. Yeah, yeah. So, she did everything she could to hang on to her boys right right and and uh family was so important to her uh yeah because i was i mean i was gonna ask does having parents because there's you know having immigrant parents yeah gives you a perspective that most i say you know most american kids don't have but having your kind of immigrant parents yeah i mean

how did how did they let you go out into the world how did i mean you know wasn't i realized it was very strange i realized it was strange at the time because they did not appreciate American pop culture at all. My mother was into the opera. Yeah. That was her great love of her life was the opera and the fine arts. My father was kind of checked out of all. He liked maybe Jewish comedians. He liked, but they had to be so jewish that they would be

embarrassing we lived in new city young men's like take it down a notch yeah yeah jeez like i'm talking about myron cone uh-huh did you do you know i don't know who that is he you know so jewish that he had to affect an almost brit British accent until he got to the punchline. Robert Klein did a whole routine about him. Two gentlemen of Hebraic persuasion were speaking on a park bench one fine sunny day. And one turned to the other and said, That was Robert Klein. That was such a great routine

but yes those are the comedians he loved and even he dabbled a little bit like in the Catskills you know on like amateur night

he would get up oh really and my I think he was in New Jersey at some club and my mother was on a date and saw him

oh wow so the reason I'm here is because my dad was funny to my mom. Was on stage. Yeah. Like if she didn't appreciate his sense of humor, no me. Wow. Or my brother.

Did you find him funny? Do you think he was funny? Hysterical. They're both hysterical. If you've seen somebody feed Phil or even the other one, I'll have what Phil's having. I Skype with them at the end of every show. And when my mother passed, my father continued to be on the show. I wanted to involve him not just in life, but I knew he was the best part of the show because he would tell a joke.

Yeah. One of these jokes, one of these Jewish jokes. And best part of the show. Yeah, yeah. Best part of the show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So they were tremendous but to get back to your original question what was it like having them for parents they i here's an example when i was 10 i asked my mom for my birthday for the same five-speed bike that all the other kids were getting for their birthday the schwinn yeah stingray collegiate remember yeah you know what she says she goes you know what i got when i was 10. oh boy and i had to hear a concentration camp story a 10 year old doesn't want to hear that story i just want the bike yeah i don't want i don't care about your holocaust story in fact hey downer story in fact hey downer yes and now I should slap that kid right terrible yeah yeah well no the kids got a point the kids got a point just like within context you know worse you know and and and yeah you just want the bike yeah and

why you know and there is this thing that happens and it's not just with holocaust survivor parents there is there isn't this really and i think it's like uh uh unself-examined tendency to like pay the misery forward yes you. You know, and it's kind of like, hey, I always found it about like hazing. If you get hazed, you go one of two ways. You go, I'm going to haze next motherfucker that comes through here that I can get by with. Or you go, that sucked. I hated that. I would never do that to another person.

And there's just this very, I don't know. It's how the army operates. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, because it is. But yeah, the army relies on it. We must break you. Yeah, we must break you.

But that's but like in a family, do you really want to squash the individuality of the some do? I guess they do. I mean, I don't know those parents. By the way, I just listened to your podcast with Katie Tour, who I frigging love. She's fantastic. I mean, what a story. Well, I didn't know the story until I listened to her. Yeah, yeah.

I'm just in love with her, watching her. Yeah, yeah. First of all, she's so bright, so articulate, so human on the news. Yeah. But I didn't realize how human until I heard her story. I'm going to read that book now because of you. And I don't even think I touched on it because it is kind of in some ways incidental. But it is really fascinating.

Her father is a trans woman now. I had no idea. Yeah, yeah. And I, you know, like I say. He was a news guy. Yeah. He drove a helicopter. He rode the helicopter.

He was like a rageaholic helicopter pilot. And the mother. And his wife did the helicopter. He was like a rageaholic helicopter pilot. And his wife did the shooting. Hanging out of the helicopter. Yeah, she did all the shooting. And then they broke up. And they, the father, is now a woman. You know, I mean, you know, then the thing to say is, she was always a woman. Yes.

But, you know, I'm still old. I still am like the pronoun, you know, like I can handle the, I don't have the problem with the pronouns that every, that, you know, people complain about. Oh no. But I still misuse them. And my, like, having children.

Because we're old. Yes, having children. That's the only reason. My daughter has to help me constantly, because I'll, you know, we have trans friends that I'll refer to them in like what happened back then with her. And she'll say, you mean they? And I'm like, well, but they weren't they back then. She goes, it doesn't matter.

They were they back then. It just wasn't. No. I'm like, OK, right. OK, yes. Yes, I agree. So, you know, I'm going to pick They were they back then. It just wasn't. No. I'm like, okay, right. Okay. Yes. Yes, I agree. So, you know.

I'm going to pick them up at the airport. Yes. Don't you need the bigger car? No. It does. I mean, yes. It throws you. But people have told me that the confusion that we have is the point.

Yes. That they want the conversation. We're talking about it now, which brings attention to the point. Yes. That they want the conversation. We're talking about it now, which brings attention to the thing. Right. Right. Right? So that I understand also.

And my daughter made me understand that putting he, him, or she, her, even if you're as cis-normative, straight as you can be, putting it on whatever it is that your linkedin your your twitter putting it on there says to trans people or gender fluid people i'm aware that you exist and that this is just this is just to mark that i that i'm not making assumptions i'm telling you you know because it's like,

you know, I could say, and I don't have it on my Twitter bio, and I mean, arguably I should, but it does say to a trans person, this person at least is aware of the fact that this is an issue and that this is a way that society is changing. And I do think it's for the better, you know. I do, too. Can't you tell my love's a-growing?

Now, you started out as a performer. I did. Yeah. In high school and college, there was no bigger star. And then I moved to New York. They hadn't heard what a big star I was. You should have had your mom tell them. I should have. Yeah, yeah. No, I was, then I floundered around for years. And it wasn't until we got a little smart. I'm going to say it took six or seven years to learn this lesson.

Yeah. What if we wrote something for ourselves to be in since no one else is doing it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, we could have done that immediately and saved a lot of time and trouble. But who knows? Maybe that real life was necessary to inform what we were going to write about. Absolutely. Absolutely.

So that struggle, that floundering is essential. Yes. And also, yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think, you know, when there's kids that like say want to, I went to film school and kids that like are like want to be filmmakers. Yeah. You know, we feel like, well, go flip some burgers. That's right. You know, go stock some grocery store shelves.

You can't write about real life unless you have one. Absolutely. And so many, and that's why so many movies are, because film school is so big now. And I have a daughter who's probably headed there. Yeah. It's so big now, but that's why you get so many movies that are about movies. Right. You know.

Because that's all they know. Yeah. And TV that's about tv and it's true entire you know i mean i love stranger things but it's like all that stuff yeah all that stuff about reference i just feel like no no how about you just tell me a story and the story's strong enough it doesn't need to make you go oh my god that's like the goonies you know like just but don't you think that the audience the the the core audience of stranger things are kids that don't even know what they're referencing because they're too young so it's new to them yes yes it's new to them and i think that yes and that in some way i mean i'm

just being crabby old man first of all but when i because when i first started i first watched that show because i like genre stuff yes and and And I was kind of like, eh. And then I watched it with my daughter. And there's so often that getting, when I've watched things with my daughter that I was kind of eh on. And I get like her contact high. And I'm like, oh, no, I see it. And one thing that Stranger Things has done that I think is beautiful. Yeah.

It has progressed with the age of its audience like kind of like there was another smart thing the harry potter movies did the fans got older so there it gets darker and scarier and weirder yep and stranger things is kind of the same thing because you know my daughter what she was probably 11 when she first started watching that yeah she's going to be 17 you know so it's like a little bit you know they had different world yeah they had to sort of you know amp it up a little bit for the kids um but so was it hard to let go of of being a performer like you know not when i because listen i was eating tuna fish for dinner as a performer. Yeah.

And then when I made it as a writer, I ate whatever I wanted. So it was not hard to let go. And as you've established, food is important. Well, yeah. Yeah. But, you know, I literally went from being a hundred air to a thousand air. Yeah. Yeah.

When that show hit or I sold my first screenplay. And what was it? What was the first, what was the first piece of writing that you, and when do you start to say, Hey, maybe I better write something. And what is it that kind of specifically inspires that decision? There were two big moments and they both happened in, I'm going to say 1987 when I was, when I was 27. This little group of kids from my college had been fooling around with sketches and kind of improv and solidifying those into shows.

And I was always terrified of that until I thought most of those things are terrible. Okay? I see. Like a lot of improv stuff is awful. It's not good. Yeah. 90%. Yeah.

To me. And I didn't want to be, I was too afraid of going up there and doing that. Being a part of something that was shitty. But I did take a Groundlings class, and that was the single best class I ever took. Oh, really? Including all my college years. Did you ever do any of that? Absolutely.

That's where I'm from. But improv, the Chicago version of all of that. But it's the same philosophy, yes, and. Exactly. Right? Exactly. Which is a great philosophy of life. It's fantastic.

And if you can do that, you can do anything. Anything. And I don't just mean acting. I mean, but I mean, specifically, yeah, if you get to the point where you're regularly doing 90-minute shows and you don't know what you're going to say when you go up there, and then you're really entertaining people for 90 minutes. Yeah. Give me some lines in a movie. Oh, no, that's scary. Like, no, that's not scary at all

that's a fun quok yeah yeah but just to survive in the world you want that philosophy of yes and yeah and yes and for people who may not know is the acknowledgement of the scene that you're in that if you say to me well we got to put out this fire i don't go there is no fire right i say yes let me get the big hose yes yes yes and you're adding yeah that's the end part yeah so that's a philosophy of life acknowledging what the other person's giving you in life yeah and then enhancing it adding to it not negating it not being negative. It's the most positive outlook on life. Changed my life. Yeah.

Those two words. Those two words. Yeah. Anyway, I got over my fear of this. Yeah. And I said, I would like to. They had invited me to be in their next show. And I was afraid.

And I took this class. And then I wasn't. Oh, wow. And so that turned into something called Tony and Tina's Wedding. Oh, wow. Yeah. That true. And at the same and yeah you were you were did you help write that or i helped write it and i was the original priest that was all over the place it was a big deal it was one of the

biggest off-broadway shows in history i had friends and i had friends in chicago that's they were making money you know and nobody made any money. No, it was crazy. Yeah. It didn't end well for a lot of us. Yeah. Because there was, you know, sometimes with success. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that was the worst thing that ever happened to me was being kicked out of the very show I helped create. Wow. I wasn't alone. There were others too. Yeah. alone there were others too yeah but the the the one or two people who were the at the core of the group were jealous of anyone else's attention as the show was maybe going to come to hollywood so they got they started getting rid of us oh wow who helped create and i could have sued yeah yeah but i did the poor man's version of suing. I got incredibly depressed.

It's cheaper. It's cheaper. Yeah. And I, you know, of course, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened. Yeah. Because it kicked me in the ass. Yeah. I could have still been doing that show.

Wow. But it made me have to reevaluate to understand that oh maybe i can write and maybe i should go since nobody's paying me to act yeah maybe and i my my acting boat has sunk all of a sudden i guess i should write at the same time that we were doing tony and tina my friend alan kirschbaum who i went to high school with, he was already a sitcom writer. He's been doing it one year. And he hated it because he didn't like the sitcom he was on. He said, come here. We're going to write.

I have a word processor. 1987. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to write a screenplay. I don't know anything about that. And he goes, I do. Just be funny. We'll write a thingplay. I don't know anything about that. And he goes, I do. Just be funny. We'll write a thing.

Yeah. Okay. So there's something that we learned in acting school, which was having a healthy naivete. Uh-huh. Not knowing what you don't know. Right. Not knowing what you can't do. So you do it.

Right. Jump off the cliff. Right, right, right. Are there rocks down there? I don't know, but we're going. Yeah. Sometimes it works out. Yeah.

And it's an on purpose thing. It's a purposeful naivete. It is a kind of compartmentalization where I could acknowledge that I don't know this, but it's better if I just treat myself as just a naif. And then you get this joy of discovery of what you can do, which is everything. It works in acting. It works in writing. It works in painting, it works in everything. It's still yes and. Exactly.

Because the knowledge is the no. That's right. It's accelerator. It's not brakes. If somebody told you, show businesses like this and told you exactly what it was like, would you ever go in the business? No. It's insane.

No, no. Right? No. I tell my kids, do you understand how insane it is to even want to do it? Yeah. But you have to, you know, nobody can say anything. We had a guy in Hofstra University, a new drama professor, the head of the department, came in. New guy on our third or fourth year. Came in.

His first words were, theater is dead. Why the hell are we here then? Yeah bad attitude not yes and yeah yeah right no get out right right this was the attitude right anyway we write the screenplay and damn if we didn't sell it we sold it to hbo in 1987 for 70 000 wow i had 200. I had $200 in the bank. Wow. Yes. I called my parents. My father was dancing around the house.

My mother gets on the other line. Why is your father so happy? I sold a screenplay. Really? What do you get for something like that? I said, Alan and I are splitting $70,000. And there was dead silence on the other. I said, Ma?

She goes, do you know we've worked our whole lives to have that much in the bank she was almost angry with me yeah like you little putz you fool around the scribble on a paper yeah this is how the world rewards you right right do you know what I got when I was 10 buy your own bike exactly yeah but I was like oh I guess sometimes the world shows you what you're supposed to be. So I did that. Yeah, yeah. By the way, that screenplay was never made because they asked us, who do you see as the lead?

We said, Alan Arkin, our favorite actor. They said, Alan Arkin doesn't open a movie. Dead. That was it. They didn't even want to pursue it. I think six months later, we got a call from someone they said they had shown the screenplay to, and he was interested. Will you have lunch with Jerry Lewis?

Now, I think if you look at the dictionary, the opposite of Alan Arkin is Mr. Lewis. Right. And also, does he open a movie? I don't think he opens a movie either. Well, as he told us, in France, I do. Yeah, yeah. In fact, they would fund the whole thing, he said. They never did.

But by the way, I didn't want to do it with him. Did you ever meet him, by the way? Was he ever on Conan? I saw him once because in the early days of Conan, I experienced what a lot of, well, I don't know how, I mean, COVID changed everything and also just, but things are just different. This is pre-internet. This is 1993. Yeah.

And I used to get invited to stuff. Right. You know, just because I was on television. Of course. And there was no personal, but like, you know you know the new jersey nets were terrible at that time but you want courtside seats well yes i want courtside seats to an nba game even even a terrible nba team is pretty damn good you know yeah um but one of the things i got was uh you're invited to jerry lewis's and i don't know 70th 65th whatever birthday party whatever 1993 94 would have been yeah uh being hosted by his and it was just his

friends from france great that was there was no i don't know whether it was the hot foreign press or what, but it was. That's where the money for the food was from France. Yes. And so it's in a in a banquet room at Planet Hollywood in in New York, in Midtown. My wife, my ex-wife, my wife at the time, and her sister and her sister's fiance, we go. And it's just jam-packed with people. Not even sure that you can see Jerry Lewis there, but lots of French people. And at one point, somebody, they bring in a piano, an upright through the crowd like parting ways you see the

crowd parting and then it's a a piano and it stops right in front of us like in the middle of this crowded room pierre salinger yeah the speech writer for jfk and sort of Bon Vivant writer sits down and starts playing at the piano. Joanne Worley gets on top of the piano and starts singing. There were birds on a hill, but I never heard them singing. But with like funny takes, you know, there were on a, you know, from the top of the piano, she starts doing this. And then Jerry Lewis, I neglected to say he was in Damn Yankees at the time. And he was on Broadway in Damn Yankees. They call him over. And I mean, we're this close to him as across the table from you as he gives a speech to everyone thanking them for his birthday.

And then Pierre Salinger plays You Gotta gotta have heart which i guess is from right show that's right and jerry lewis is screaming it into our faces oh my god and so i just it was you know yeah alice in wonderland kind of stuff you know but i'd never talked to him i just had him scream uh you gotta have heart into my face. You know? Was he doing it as funny, Jerry? Oh, yeah, yeah. You got to have heart.

You know, like really, you know. You know, it was not, yeah, he was not being a shantoose. You ever see the documentaries about him where these legends of comedy talk about the subtle genius of him and then they cut to a clip yeah i have seen yeah yeah well you know i think i don't know how you feel but i just feel like comedy is the most dispensable of the arts it's? It has, I just think it has, I mean, not dispensable in its vitality. Yeah. But there's stuff that is hilarious right now that in 10 years is not going to be that funny. Oh, I see.

There's stuff that's really funny right now that'll be funny forever. You know, like W.C. Fields will always be funny. But Jerry Lewis was screamingly funny at the time. But now it's kind of like, oh. People tell me who lived through it that the funniest thing they've ever seen, ever, was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis on stage in New York. Yeah, yeah. At that time.

I've heard the same thing. In the late 40s. Yep. That you never laughed harder. Yeah. And if you saw tape of it, you would cringe. Yeah. Right?

It's, you know, the Dean Martin celebrity roast. All the laughs. You watch him, it's like, ugh. Yuck. Cigarette-y old drunks. Like, you know. Listen, that could be us. It will be us. It will be us.

It will be us. But it is us. It might have been us at the time. You know? And that's what I mean. I don't mean dispense. I mean just like the shelf life is short. Of course.

But not for everything. Not for everything. So the aspiration is to be timeless. Yes. Yes. Yes. Is this truly funny or is it just funny right now? That's why we try to avoid the topical.

Yeah. Because that's going to date you automatically. Absolutely. A lot of shows, they live on that. They live on that. They live on that. They live on that. That was, you know, Connor and I talked about it many, many times because, you know, we came on the air and there weren't that many shows. And then the Daily Show really kind of took off. you know, you know, that became like for me,

one of the, for the years in the Emmys, it was the West wing winning all the time. And this is the Sopranos, you know, coming in second. And to me, that didn't seem right. Right.

You know, right. And that's because, but it's like, they like to, they like to vote for the things that make them feel good and make them feel smart and wise and, you know,

educated. Of course. And that's, you know, the daily show is a fantastically funny show right um and and we you know we kind of did some topical stuff because we had to of course you're on nightly but we were really committed to being silly and like conan even told me once in a conversation he says he said you know there's there's prescient political humor that is that feels really good right now and that and that you can laugh really hard he said but he said i truly believe that in the long term the silliness is more valuable well you can just go to youtube yeah your clips are evergreen and you don't see those other clips because they were dated the day they came out.

Yeah. And I don't want people to think I'm trashing The Daily Show. No, of course not. It's just a different form. It's a different thing. And I know people that have worked on that show and that show is brilliant and that show is useful. I mean, John Oliver, the things that John Oliver does, thank God he's doing it. Absolutely.

I just, like, I also, too, I don't think it's funny. Like I don't I make jokes on Twitter about politics every now and then. But but to sit down and like really do like I'm going to do a long bit about Trump. It's like that's like doing a long bit about cancer. You know, it's like, how are you going to really, really? That's what you want to. But nowadays and through the Trump administration, we depended on these guys to kind of digest this for us and share with us that we are not alone. Yes. To make us not feel crazy. We are not. We are seeing it, too.

You are not crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought so. Not dispensable. The opposite. Yeah. Maybe dated later. you are not crazy yeah yeah yeah yeah it's i thought so not dispensable the opposite yeah uh

maybe dated later yes of course it is well i'll make i have i have looked at sometimes at my old tweets that'll there will be a political joke and i have no idea what's in it's in reference to you know it'll just be like something that happened that day that I don't know. And somebody in Congress said, and it's, you know, and it's like a sly reference to it. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't have a clue as to what that was about. But what's hilarious is every single time Trump opens his mouth, there's a tweet. Yes. Refuting it.

Yes. Yes. Of course. Absolutely. All of them at this point. Yes. I mean, all of them at this point. Yes. I mean, all of them at this point. Well, now, do you put your acting, when you start writing like that, do you, is it like,

okay, I'm going to just stop trying as an actor? The acting is in the room. Yeah. With the writers. Yeah, yeah. We act it out. Yeah. We, you know,. We act it out. Yeah. We, you know, I'd play every character. Yeah.

In fact, when we would read stuff back, I wanted the other writers focusing on the writing. And I would be like the idiot who was reading it out loud. Yeah. And I'm with one eye towards how does it sound coming out of my mouth. So it's kind of a pre-table reading. Sure. But I didn't divvy up the parts with the other writers. I wanted them focused on the writing.

Right. Not, oh, my part is coming up and I have to do it. Yes. Especially because so many of them aren't performers. A lot of them were, though. A lot of them were stand-ups. Right, right. Right?

And a lot of them could act and do it great. Yeah. I just was, I felt like I would have more of their attention on what was so important, the writing and how it sounded. It makes perfect sense to me. Instead of them performing. You want them listening. You don't want them acting. Because it's going to be listened to by other people. So they were the first audience. We were the first audience. Then Ray would come in at the very end because we wanted to make sure he was okay with everything. Before you get to the table, Reed, because I've been on shows where the lead wasn't in on it.

And he's seeing it for the first time sometimes at the table, and then throwing it out. Yeah, yeah. I don't like this. Goodbye. Yeah. I wanted to go home at a reasonable hour. That's a lazy lead, though. That's like somebody, you know.

Listen, I could name names. Oh, I know, I know, I know. I mean, some of it's appalling. Yes. The behavior is appalling. Yes. Like, what world are you in that you just think that you can take this gigantic check and make everyone else's lives miserable and the show's miserable? Yeah. Right?

I've never understood. Did you work on staff of sitcom ever? I've never worked on a staff of a sitcom that I wasn't in. I've always been, you know, a producer. But you would go in the writer's room because you're a writer. And I was going to ask but you would go in the writer's room because you're a writer and I was going to ask was Ray in the room

very much as often as possible yeah and that was with me too before we were shooting I was there all the time that's right but once we started shooting

you have to be on stage you have to be on stage yeah but if I had if there was a stretch of a couple of scenes that I wasn't in more often than not I would go back in there yeah and uh and so and i had to get over

i had to get up because there's a new york la difference right and one of the and like a in new york it's everybody you know we're all in this together i always say we were laying tracks for a train that we could hear, you know, coming. Yeah. And so there's no there's no preciousness. There's, you know, how about this? Nah. What about this?

Nah. What about this? Oh, yeah, that's great. Out here, somebody pitches a joke and I'd go, nah. And they'd go, wow. Ooh, ouch. Oh, you hurt their feelings. Yeah.

I'm like, I don't have time you know and now you're canceled you know yeah if it's the wrong person yeah and i just always was like i and i don't i never understood too i mean because but i was polite but i was but i was also like it's an expediency thing an expedience thing but i also made sure that the overall morale of the place was at the top of my list in terms of my job responsibility. Happy place. If I want a funny show, it better be a happy place. I'm sure you wouldn't be shocked how many places don't care about that.

I have guested in them. I have been the number one on the call sheet in them where I wasn't writing, you know, and just amazed. Like, this is how you're going to be funny? By making everyone feel shitty, you know? Here's what completely solidified how i would be as a show runner i worked on a hit show wasn't mine i was a writer and it was a hit show for abc and i got this memo the memo came to all of us who worked in the building, we noticed some of you are putting milk on your cereal when you come in in the morning. The milk is for coffee.

The cereal is for snacks. We do not provide breakfast for you. Please do not put milk on your cereal. This is a hit ABC comedy. Top ten show. I thought when the moment I read that, I i said if i'm ever lucky enough to have my own show we're gonna have milk in our cereal yeah yeah right in fact we had the best craft service in the history of hollywood we flew in food from new york yeah yeah yeah it's a freaking

party right look how freaking lucky we are to have this life. Yeah. Celebrate it. Yeah. Every day should be fun. Right. Because why? We're making fun.

Right. And I'm convinced that if you're making drama. Of course. It'll still be better. If you're happy. If you're an accountant firm. It comes through. Yes.

Yes. I don't know. I want to believe that an unhappy bakery makes bread that doesn't taste as good as a happy bakery. You know, I. A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, I've never. Yeah.

I worked the show that I wasn't a writer on. Yes. We had, I think it was either to me. I think it was two episodes, maybe three episodes left in the in the order yeah and it just happened to fall on the first of a month you know like that the days we started into a new month yeah and the coffee machine on stage was gone and i that you know and everyone's like where's the coffee machine where's the coffee you know and uh i asked the uh coordinator that the you know the line producer guy hey where's the coffee machine he said well you know we're only going to be working another

two weeks what and i said i'll pay you i said of course i took my wallet out yeah i said how much is that coffee machine and he i i insisted you tell me and it was like 72 yeah i was like here and he went no no i can't take your money i was like get the coffee machine back you know like it's insane the pettiness it's just unbelievable and then when you find out yeah those guys every dollar they save, they get to keep. Oh. When you find that out, it changes your entire outlook of who's on your side in a production. Right. Because line producers, you come in under budget, you get to keep it.

They personally? Yeah. It's like a bonus. They get bonuses built into. Andy, I never knew that. Yeah. Oh, I have some people to call. Yeah.

It's like, I don't know if they get every dollar, but there certainly is. They are financially incentivized to come in under budget. Wow. So that explains a lot. That explains. I mean, I always figured like studio people, network people, they're going to trim your budget so they can go to the boss because it's the only way that they can show the boss they're doing a good job. Yes. I didn't know that they're personally getting money. Yeah, no. That's their...

And then, you know, when you say, we want a crane or we want to, you know, we want to blow up a car or whatever. I really want I guys, I know. I know it's really vital, but I just they're not going to let me have a crane. Yeah. And, you know, and then you find out it's like, oh, you fucker. It's not terrible. um terrible uh how how long are you writing before and and had you created other shows that got to air before raymond i don't forgive me that was no it's fine so that was the first wow and how long and when was that because it was started in 80s your first sold a person in 87 and Raymond started. First sold, 96 we were on the air.

Okay. So the five years that I was in Hollywood, before that, I was writing on other people's shows. And my first sitcom job here was the Robert Mitchum sitcom. What the what? I didn't even know there was such a thing. 1989. Wow. It was a TV movie.

Remember TV movies? Of course I do. Robert Mitchum played a homeless man who lived in a refrigerator box in Central Park. Oh, that's funny. Hilarious. Three recently orphaned children come to him and ask him, will you pretend to be our grandpa so we're not split up and put into separate foster homes. Wow.

So he takes the gig to have a roof over his head. This TV movie called A Family for Joe was the highest testing anything in NBC history. Wow. Higher than Cheers, higher than The Cosby Show of the 80s, the famous one. This Verstunkene movie. So they couldn't leave it alone. They had to make a sitcom. Now, Robert Mitchum couldn't do a movie.

Yeah. They made the sitcom live in front of a studio audience for camera. Oh, my God. It lasted seven episodes. Does this exist somewhere? Can you see this? I think if you YouTube search a family for Joe, you can see some clips of it. Oh, my God.

Now, I was the only person, and I was young. Yeah. I was the youngest person on the staff of this show, what they call a baby writer. Yeah, yeah. And I had a partner. Yeah. We were the only people who knew who Robert Mitchum was on the staff. The showrunner knew.

But the other writers who were all older had no idea who is Robert Mitchum. I said, come over. How could they not? I know. Come over tonight. I have a VHS of Night of the Hunter. Yeah. Arguably one of the greatest movies ever made.

I put it on for them and they laughed at it. They didn't understand surrealism. They didn't understand, you know, heightened reality. They didn't get it. And as they were leaving my apartment, they said, great movie, Phil, like you're an idiot. And I knew right then and there, oh, I'm in a world of shit. And now I have to go and work with these people who have no, not even respect for the guy we're doing it for. Now, I meet Robert Mitch on the thing.

I'm the only one who is curious about him and his life. He was a great old guy. You would have loved him. Oh, my God. He was salty and funny. I already do love him. But to talk to him. Yeah.

Arrested for marijuana in like the 50s. In the 50s. Coolest guy. Yeah. And like, eh, whatever. He did. He told me stories about making Heaven heaven knows mr alice which is him as a as a uh uh an army guy stranded on an island with a nun okay they get the ship gets blown up right stranded there together

and their friendship yeah it's like a sexless swept away except that when the studio had some of the, what do you call them? Standards and practices people come as they visit every set. They were on a cliff over and pretended to screw her on the beach. He tells me this story. Robert frigging Mitchum. Every day I would get a story like this. I loved the guy. Here's how they do the show. And I'm naive enough at this time to think, listen, he's hysterical. There's a world where this could be funny. If he plays, remember Uncle Charlie in My Three Sons?

Yeah, yeah. William Demarest. He hates people. He hates everything. Get the hell out of here, you rotten kid. So let's say that, if that was his personality, hates little kids and little dogs, but takes the gig to have a roof over his head. Right, right. Like W.C. Fields.

Right. Exactly like that. Remember, It's a Gift? Yeah. One of the funniest movies ever made. One of his head. Right. Like W.C. Fields. Right. Exactly like that. Remember, it's a gift. Yeah. One of the funniest movies ever made. One of my favorites. One of my favorites too.

One of my top, maybe my favorite comedy of all time. I show the children when they're three years old, Mr. Muckle. Yeah, yeah. Open the door for Mr. Muckle. Honey, sweetie. Honey, sit down, dear. Sit down, honey. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, my God. Okay. So let's say that's the sensibility. You know, my company's name is Carl LaFong Industries. Oh, come on. Yeah, yeah. We're friends. Yeah. Okay, so, you know, if you were on staff, you would be with me.

You would say yes. Yeah, yeah. I get it. This could have a shot. Right, right. Here's the first moment of the first scene in front of the studio audience the set looks like brady bunch yeah okay like that house right in new york city empty stage it's la yeah empty stage ding dong you hear offstage i'll

get it robert mitchum the kitchen door swings open and in comes Robert Mitchum in an apron. He stops on his way to the door to adjust the flowers on the kitchen table. Show's dead right there. Oh, my God. Why did they do that? Likeable. The worst word in the language of all of television. Yeah, yeah.

Is likeable. Yeah. They think he won't be likeable if he if he's gruff or yeah or hates little kids yeah only done the thing that's made him like a smoldering sexy monster his entire career yeah i mean this is this guy yeah so they cut his balls off in the first moment of the show you're now now you're dead yeah and we were just treading water until they canceled us wow yes juliet lewis was the daughter wow she went from that show into cape fear the scorsese oh wow wow yes that's interesting well we felt like we discovered a

major talent yeah yeah uh didn't last very long. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's great. Now, I want to, because we're running out of time here, so I want to get to food. Please. Because it's such an important part of your life, obviously, because, you know, you had Raymond and then you're just like, I mean, I know you do other things, but if you just kind of look at your IMDB after that, it's food.

Okay, so there was 10 years between. Raymond, yeah, yeah. Like if you go in your agent's office after having a somewhat successful sitcom and you say, you know what I'd really love to do is a food and travel show. They act as if you just pooped on their desk. You mean you're not going to bring bags of money into here anymore?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to do something you like? Right, right. Yeah, we're not with you. As a matter of fact, we'll do everything we can to dissuade you of this. Wow. And it took 10 years to get this show. But it wasn't like the first idea I had after Raymond, I thought that I would

do more sitcoms. Nobody wanted them. In the nine years that we were doing Raymond, the business had changed so much to not value this building block of television, which is the family sitcom. It would be five years between Raymond and Modern Family, for example. They don't like these shows as executives because they're not cool. Friends is cool. Sex and the City is cool. That's what they want. They want it almost in defiance of what the numbers say. They want on their resume, I am cool. I greenlit this yeah i made this not something that smells like full house right right right which is how raymond was kind of treated even though it wasn't right uh they're not it's not an incredibly creative you know industry in many ways it's not it's not i don't know if you know that same thing like with casting

like casting is the dumbest well now they go by how many instagram followers do they have you want to kill yourself my girlfriend keeps saying you got to get more instagram followers oh my god i'm like i got a lot on twitter she's like it doesn't matter it's got to be instagram i'm like oh well by the way i got bad news for you now it has to be tick tock and whatever it's the next thing is coming talk about uh dated oh well right yeah yeah i guess i will get that real estate license after all well yeah so so listen they didn't even want the spin-off of raymond did that after really they didn't even want the robert show wow yeah did were you tempted did you then say like okay well then i'll i'll if i'm gonna bang my head against this wall of show business

why don't i pick a spot in the wall that i would really love oh i see after failing many yeah many times yeah i'm still failing but i mean you weren't you didn't say like oh they're not buying family shows so i'll go do i'll do a show about you know sexy people driving cars fast kind of stuff or yeah that's a great point to be fair i didn't want what they were offering me either that's i i only because that's not my world i can't do it right i was born an old jewish man and so that's gonna come out in regardless whatever i do in the one about sexy people driving cars fast it'll be like this feels like it's old and jewish i mean i couldn't write friends if you right if there was a gun to my head

i couldn't write sex in the city if there was a gun to my head i wouldn't not because i don't like it or or respect it for what it is i can't do it can't do it can't do it right yeah uh so here's what i know and the food and travel thing it just hit me one day first of all we had an episode in raymond that that really triggered this this idea which was we went to italy and we brought the whole cast over in one of those special episodes but that was the genesis of that was Ray I asked him where he was going on hiatus after season one and he said I go to Jersey Shore I said that's nice. He ever been in Europe and he said no I said why not he goes I'm not really interested in other places. I Said like things I don't like things. Yeah. Yeah, so the light bulb went off

We've got to do that episode where we send you to Italy, where your family's from. Yeah. With your attitude of, I don't like other places. And you come back as me, someone excited about travel and especially Italy in this. And we did that episode took three years to get them on a goddamn plane because he was scared of flying.

Okay. But we get them there. And the arc of the character that I wrote that it gets, you know, woke over there. Yeah. I saw happen to my friend, the person. Yeah.

And that was when the real idea got in my head. What if I could do this for other people? Because I dare say you're doing what you do because you like turning other people onto stuff you like. Yeah. Right? Absolutely.

So there's no greater high than that. And so I thought, I watched Bourdain. Here's how I sold the show. I told the network, I'm exactly like Anthony Bourdain if he was afraid of everything. But it's true. Yeah. What if there was a show like Bourdain, but with a regular guy doing this? I don't want to be shot at in Beirut.

I'm not driving the dune buggy and flipping over. I'm not getting a chest tattoo by wild Borneo tribesmen when I'm drunk. I'm not that guy. Right. But there must be a show for the guy sitting on the couch watching that guy. Yeah. That's my show. Yeah.

That's how I got there. It all comes down to the food, right? Yes. Well, we all love food. But I'm just using the food and my stupid sense of humor to get you to travel and meet these people. The world would be better if we all could appreciate a tiny bit of other people's lives. Yeah, yeah. Other cultures, right?

lives yeah yeah other cultures right maybe we wouldn't be in the crap that we're in right now if we weren't so provincial and only like what we like yeah you've got to step out of your comfort zone a tiny bit that's where the fun is yeah it's just like improv yeah you've got to take that little chance are there what what are some of the like just most incidental biggest surprises you've had and go in different places? Places that you might think you might not have liked so much and then ended up you really did. Tokyo. Or vice versa. Tokyo.

Have you been? I have. When you step off the plane in Tokyo, you step out into the city. It's like a giant pinball machine. It's like, oh, my God. What's that square where the five roads meet? Shibuya. yeah you're like oh i think i should hide in my hotel like bill murray in the movie right and because you've seen the absolute sea of humanity crossing every time the traffic you've seen that

a hundred times and it's it's intimidating yeah and when you realize there's like a hundred of those squares in that city. Yeah. And what is the center? What's happening? It's a pinball machine. Yeah. Yeah. Until you have your first meal.

Yeah. And you realize how perfect it is. And the lesson that you get rather quickly is, oh, I can't control the outside, but I can control the inside on every level. I can take, I take what I can control and I make it as perfect and beautiful as possible. That's the culture. Yeah. And I fell in love with it.

Yeah. And I got it. So that was the first big surprise to me. Yeah. Because I hadn't been to that part of the world at all. That was the first time. Did you, had you Because I hadn't been to that part of the world at all. That was the first time. Did you like Japanese food pretty well? Love.

Yeah, see, me too. Love. Love every bit of it. But by the way, we're lucky. If you like sushi, we're in LA. One of the best sushi towns in the world. I don't think I had better sushi in Tokyo than I've had at the best places here. I mean, we have so many amazing spots.

Yeah. Do you want to say your favorite? I still really like, well, there's some really good ones. There's a little one. I live in Burbank. There's a little one in a strip mall in Burbank called Nishiya. Yeah. Do you know that one?

I don't. Is it on Ventura? It's on. Because Ventura has a million of them. No, no. one? I don't. Is it on Ventura? It's on Ventura has a million. It's no, no, it's it's in Burbank. It's in Rancho Burbank on the border of Glendale. It's on the corner of Western and Victory. Wow. And it is in the back corner of a little strip mall. And it is literally a mom and pop business. and uh it is literally a mom and pop business i love it a mom and pop omakase and you tell them you know you have any particular things you do or don't like uh bring it to me and then they feed

you to your full and you say okay stop you know but i mean but there's no bus boy there's no there's just the man and his wife and the you know and they got to close down for a month because they go back to japan you know you know it's just so that's like that's great but as fancy one goes i still matzahisa on la ciena first place ever had sushi in la it's in 1989 so yeah so fantastic it is still great there's uh first place they have a crab kamameshi that we got once which is like a kind of almost like a porridge like a clay pot yes yes rice thing with crab in it and that just spectacular one of those things like one of those dishes that you just remember for the rest of your life you know even a sushi zo so there's one in uh cheviot hills

and there's one downtown now. Okay. Spectacular. I'll remember. Yeah. Because my son's the one. My son, I cannot say to my son, hey, have you heard about this new Congolese rice porridge place? And he'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that. Yeah.

I was there. I'm going to an Indian-Italian mashup in Silver Lake tonight. What? Wow. Where the rigatoni is in chicken masala. Wow. Sounds good, right? Yeah, it does sound good.

It sounds like a fridge cleaning exercise. You know what I mean? I hear it totally works. Yeah. I can't see why not. Yeah. It's, you know, sauces on starches, you know? Yeah.

And then a curry like sauce pizza. Yeah, yeah. They have it. See, that's, I just love that you love food so much because I just don't understand people. I mean, and I probably love it too much, you know, but I just don't understand people that don't. It's like not liking sex or something. Yeah, it's just not used to say, oh, you don't like music? How do you feel about colors?

Yeah. I just don't understand. It's like one of the things we got to do. Why not? Enjoy it. Yeah. Why not like search out every little nook and cranny of it just to make it interesting and make you feel alive

and make you feel like you know the alpha species on earth like nobody else is listen so you know nobody else selfishly i automatically because i love to travel my favorite thing about traveling is the food i'm going to eat and i plan my trips around absolutely where i'm going to eat if i hear a place doesn't have good food just forget the show, just life, I'm not going. Because that's the main thing I want to do is taste that culture. Absolutely.

But then I realized it's universal. It's everyone, we all got to eat, first of all, and I've yet to meet a culture that hasn't told me, nobody eats like we do. You come to our house.

Right, right, right. You're really good. We're Greek. We have the most refined palates on earth. Yes, we're Greek, and you don't see any space between the dishes on the table. Yeah, yeah. Right? Or we're Italian.

You know we're going to eat. Oh, we're Chinese. You've never seen a banquet like this. Oh, we're Jewish. We're going to feed you until you die. We're Puerto Rican. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Yes. We're Ghanaian. So who says this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone. Yeah, yeah're Jewish. We're going to feed you until you die. We're Puerto Rican. Exactly. Yes. We're Ghanaian. So who says this? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's when you're, especially when you're doing a scene with people and you want to hear about them and their culture, the food is this great connector.

Mm-hmm. And then laughs are the cement. Yeah, yeah. That's what we find, right? Yeah. That if we share a meal and if it's good, we're already a little happier than when we came in. And then if we laugh, now we're friends.

Right. So that's the whole thing. Plug the new version of the show, because it's- It's called Somebody Feed Phil. It's on Netflix. There's five seasons out right now, and a sixth one is coming in the fall. And a book, correct? The companion book with recipes are 60 most requested recipes from around the world.

It's going to be one of the great cookbooks, not because of me, but because we got the best chefs in the world to all give us recipes. Oh, I got to get that. You got to get that. Do you cook? Not at all. Not at all? No. And people say, how do you have a food thing?

And I said, well, listen, I meet the great chefs in the world that came around to sitcom. Right, right, right. So we all contributed in our way. That's right. And I couldn't be a bigger fan of theirs. And, and, you know, I said, well, listen, I meet the great chefs in the world. They came around a sitcom. Right. Right. So we all contributed in our way and I couldn't be a bigger fan of theirs. They need, they need me. They like me because I love them. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I, I, I love to cook. Oh, good for you. I cook. I have such respect for anyone who can. I it's, you know, it's, it's it's uh it can be almost like a meditative things and there's sometimes there's sometimes when i am not necessarily feeling down but just like i don't know there's stress anxiety don't know what to do with myself and i'll just be like ah i'm making a curry you know nice and then you know and then and then you have, you know, I live most of my daughters with me half the time.

But, you know, so there are I do now like why we'll have curry then for four meals. But, you know, it's like it's still it's pretty good. And, you know, like curry gets even better as you leave it in the fridge. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I love these foods. I love these foods, the street foods, the foods that came from necessity. Yeah. Those are the most delicious because they have to be.

Absolutely. And what I love, too, and this is something that you see so much with shows like yours, all this fancy schmancy, you got to have this thing, you got to have this machine, you got to have this thing you got to have this machine you got to have that some of the best food in the world is made by people that cut things on their thumb that's right with a knife that's 60 years old yeah and they cook it in basically an aluminum bucket you know it's like you don't need fancy stuff to make delicious food you can have any you know the like i say the best cooks in the world are cooking on the cheapest stuff that you get at the dollar store. A dollar is what a bowl of cow soy costs in Chiang Mai. Yeah. At a shack. Yeah.

Maybe I always talk about it. It's maybe the most delicious thing I've ever had in my frigging life. Yeah. Yeah. Have you been there? I have not. I have not. But I have a friend that lives.

I have two friends that live there. I have no excuse. I think you should go. Other than the fact that I got to go when it's not 9,000 degrees, which is never. Good luck. Yeah. You have a choice of 9,000 degrees or monsoon. Yeah.

Yeah. I would take monsoon, honestly. I would rather have, I'd rather be, you know, I'd rather be wet from an outside source rather than an interior source. I'll try to remember when we went. It wasn't devastating. It was good. It was fine. Yeah. It was we went. It wasn't devastating. It was fine. Yeah.

It was T-shirt and shorts. Yeah. It was good. Well, what's forward for you? What's in the future for you? Oh, yes, this is the third question. This is the second question. This is the one.

Oh, my God. Yeah. The first one's a long one. That was very long, that question. Yeah, yeah. So, look, you'll see tomorrow I will chew your ear off on your podcast. I want to continue doing what I'm doing. Yeah.

Every single season is a struggle to stay on. Yeah. Because where I am right now at Netflix, they only renew 5% of their existing shows. And it almost doesn't matter how well you do. And they're downsizing too, you know, that place. Yes. Yeah. So I don't know if I get to continue.

Yeah. Now, do I do it somewhere else? Maybe. Yeah. I don't know what the future is. I really don't. Yeah. I do have other interests.

I do have other, you know, I write a pilot at least a year, which I do with other people. I love collaborating, but so far nothing. Yeah. I, you know, maybe I'm a, I can only write about my family. Maybe the world is telling me that because I had Raymond and maybe that's enough for one person. Yeah. I mean, how many things do you have to be remembered? Right. I'm so lucky that I got enough for one person. Yeah. I mean, how many things do you have to be remembered? Right.

I'm so lucky that I got to have this second act of absolutely travel show. Yeah. And that our show now has become the number one food and travel show in the world. Wow. I couldn't. I didn't even know that. I couldn't. What a bad interviewer I am.

You're great. I should have blown the smoke up your ass. I love talking to you. And I'm just so grateful i know in fact you started your katie turd thing but i hate these idiots who say they're grateful but i really am these idiots who who they live in the bubble and they have to tell you how grateful they are yeah no but i mean you have to be a putz not to be yeah yeah but i mean but you're making your i asked you so you're telling me you're grateful. You're not like.

I'm not leading with it. Yeah, you're not leading with it. You're not, you know. Every morning I wake up. Yeah. With gratitude. Yeah, with my bowl of chai, you know, look out at my spacious estate. You're talking to a Jewish guy who every morning wakes up and complains.

I have nothing to complain about. But this is our genius. Yeah. We find a way. You got to, you know, a fish got to swim. Fish got to swim. The body at rest complains. Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, I worry about what, not just for my own personal career. Yeah. But for the whole world. Yeah, of course. I mean, the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans, as they say. Yeah, absolutely. So who cares? I'm so lucky I got to do it if it ended tomorrow.

I said that after filming the first scene on the first day of the food and travel show. If it ended now, I got this. Right, right. So that's how I feel about the whole thing. And it shows. It shows, and I think it's why the show is successful and ongoing, because you have likability. No, but you have, I mean, and it's wonderful that you can say,

I made Everybody everybody loves Raymond. And not necessarily that's enough, but maybe that's enough. I think it's enough. And then you get to do this whole other fantastic dream job thing. True. And it's obvious that you're not burning up inside with dissatisfaction. You're a very content happy guy and and that energy comes across in the show of a happy guy that

wants to interface with the world in an enthusiastic way the the trick is to not just be eating yeah right because that would be even boring even to me yeah so you have to try to we always try to put some, something, let's leave the place a little better than we found it. Yeah. In there so that you have a purpose, an excuse. Now you can eat. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

After you've done a nice thing. And I just wish that it would catch on. Yeah. This spirit. Yeah. I'm inspired by other people I see doing way, way more for the world than I do. Yeah. This spirit. Yeah. I'm inspired by other people. I see doing way, way more for the world than I do. Yeah. But if I can reflect it a tiny bit, then then I feel like we have a purpose. Yeah. Not just a guy eating. Is there is there something is that sort of what you want people to take away? Yeah. This is the third question. Is this is this sort of what you want people to take away from from basically your whole story i want you to travel yeah that that again the food and my my idiocy is just to get you in because when you travel you literally make the world better yeah because you your eyes are open to how other people live and you can't leave the experience without some degree of understanding or even empathy for others.

Yeah, yeah. And then what you get back in return is invaluable. Yeah. You get perspective. In other words, my first trip to Paris when I was like 23, I got a free trip. I was a courier. Okay. I go to Paris and I go go oh my god blown mind blown

yeah how old were you when you first uh went over uh and it was it was france was my first trip uh i mean aside from canada um and it would have been about i would have been about about same age 28 29 maybe okay so you said 23? That was me. Yeah, it was a little bit later. I needed to get the Conan job to get the money to go over there and pay for my own ticket. Okay, so you go. Yeah.

Mind blown. Yeah. Look at how they live. Yeah. Look at how, what first was an inconvenience. What do you mean I can't buy a shirt at two o'clock? What do you mean? They shut down?

Why would they do that? Don't they want to make money? What's wrong with these people? Oh, the next the next day oh they're enjoying the day yeah oh they're sitting by the river yeah yeah oh they're having a picnic right oh they've been doing this for thousands of years look how yeah look how the trees are on the boulevard yeah gorgeous yeah i go back to my apartment in washington heights in manhattan and i go hey look at the trees we have nice trees too yeah never noticed them before uh-huh that's just an example yeah of the perspective that you get it's not even they're better than us they're worse than us it's different

yeah you need that yeah otherwise everything's the same. You appreciate nothing. Yeah. Yeah. So you're doing it. I'm telling people, do it for yourself. Yeah. But you can't help but make the world better when you go. Yeah. And even if you're half nice, you're representing. Yeah.

Your family, your town, your state, your country. Right. And just humanity for that matter. Humanity. So it makes the world better. Well, thank you so much for spending this time with me. I loved it. I loved it.

Let's go eat sushi. Tomorrow. Oh, I would love to. Absolutely. Yeah. I'll bring the dog. Okay. What a good dog.

Look at that dog. She's passed out on the floor. Great. Me too. Well, thanks again, Phil. And thank all of you out on the floor. Great. Me too. Well, thanks again, Phil. And thank all of you out there for listening. And I will be back next week, God willing. With someone better.

No, no, no. God willing. Because I thought there was an end. No, no, no. Yes, Ed. That was it. That was it. God willing.

I've got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Yearwolf production. It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Yearwolf. Make sure to rate and review the three questions that Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.