WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1260 - Steve Buscemi

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Steve Buscemi has covered a lot of ground in New York City: standup comedy, experimental theater, independent film, even firefighting. Marc talks with Steve about his career beginnings and some of his most memorable roles. They also talk about his time as a New York City firefighter, how he joined his old Engine Company after 9/11 to aid in the recovery operation at Ground Zero, and how he's working to keep attention on the continuing health needs of firefighters with the new documentary Dust: The Lingering Legacy of 9/11. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global bestselling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life when i die here you'll never leave japan alive fx's shogun a new original series streaming february 27th exclusively on disney plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what the fucksters how's it going i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it how have you been steve buscemi's on the show today. You know Steve Buscemi from being in tons of movies and TV shows like that everyone knows.

Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, Boardwalk Empire, Con Air, The Sopranos, The Big Lebowski. He also used to be a New York City firefighter. He's on the advisory council of the group Friends of Firefighters, He's on the advisory council of the group Friends of Firefighters, which provides free mental health and wellness services to active and retired FDNY firefighters. Fire Department in New York City. He's one of the producers of a new documentary, Dust, the Lingering Legacy of 9-11, which I watched. Heavy stuff, ongoing, PTSD, major health problems cancers lung problems people are still dying from that attack on the towers 2001 9-11 let's ease into that all right there's some shows that happened that were released this week that this week got a little jammed up sadly the uh repost of ed asner's 2015 interview memorializing that great actor

sashir zameda uh from monday which was a new podcast then uh the remembrance another memorialization is that what you say a member in memoriam of michael k williams which we posted monday night that was just fucking devastating so i just want to make sure you're on top of or know about all the things that came out this week on this feed you know what i need to mention my tour dates. Can I do that with you people? Are we close enough to do that? Helium Comedy Club, St. Louis, Missouri, September 16th, 17th, and 18th. That's coming up next week. Tickets are selling robustly, but the late shows on Friday and Saturday could use a little help. Now, listen, I know that I've been hard on Missouri and I'll

continue to be hard on Missouri. And I know that there are plenty of good people in St. Louis, nice, decent, progressive people that need to be entertained and that are having a hard go of it. I know. And I know this is a vaccinated show, proof of vax or recent test. I know. I know there's a lot of obstacles to people coming in Missouri. And some of them are principled because I've bad mouthed the fucking state so much. Why would they why would they pay to see me? Because you like me and you kind of know I'm right. Neptune, Seattle, Washington. That's on September 22nd. Eight o'clock show. Tickets are selling well. I would get those if you want to go. Aladdin Theater. We added a second show. These are dates with Dino. September 24th, two shows.

First show at the Aladdin in Portland, Oregon, sold out. Second show, 10 o'clock show. There are tickets. I would get them. Comedy Attic, sorry, Bloomington, sold out. Doesn't even matter the dates. Does it? Does it matter?

Sure. September 30, October 1, October 2. Dynasty Typewriter shows, October 4, sold out. Sorry, October 10, there are tickets. There will be some shows going on sale in the near future. The Largo, another Largo music show, and also a regular stand-up show at Largo coming up. And I'll let you know, all this is moving towards

the New York Comedy Festival Town Hall, November 13th, 7 p.m. My mother, how many comps do you have? How many people can I bring? How many free tickets do you have? How many are you going to need? Probably at least 10. Oh, my God. All right.

I don't know how many I'll have, but I guess no friends. You just bring everybody that I never see who's in my family to the show. I think my brother's coming up, though. Apparently, my father and his wife have seen Respect four times, and she texts me every time that she sees it as if it was the first time almost but just as excited though she tells me the number of times that she's seen it i have gotten good uh good feedback i'm proud of that work proud of that work i just did a voiceover for another i'm doing two animated movies they're both coming out next year um i play lex luther in super pets and i'm there's a lot of people there's like big stars in that one.

Same with the other one. Bad Guys. Me and Rockwell. Craig Robinson. Awkwafina. Big people. Exciting. And I got to watch all of Bad Guys.

It's good. Anyway. So Buscemi's here. It was good. It was great to talk to him. It was great to see him. Felt like I knew him. He's one of those guys that for most of my adult life has been in movies that I've seen and watched. And you feel like you know

at least the Buscemi frequency. I'm finding that with celebrities and with actors and with people I've known my whole life who I get to talk to that you don't know them, but you do know their frequency. You know, everybody kind of hums along at a particular vibration. There's variations in it. Certainly if they're actors or characters, but there is a essence, a vibration, a fundamental frequency to the people that you see over and over again. And usually they're pretty, it's an honest thing. And that's a big chunk of who they are. That's what they are for you. Whether they're candid or cagey or withholding or never themselves, you get a sense of their fucking frequency.

You know a lot more about them than they think you do or than you think you do. And I know this as an experienced talker to many different frequencies. So the 9-11 anniversary 20 years is day after tomorrow. What day is today the 9th and you know steve and i talk about that because he's involved with firefighters and this movie that he's involved with one of the producers of dust the lingering legacy of 9-11 is a powerful movie a reminder and also maybe not a reminder maybe information that you did not know about the sort of cancerous legacy of that tragic event. But Jesus, man, my heart goes out to everybody that lost people there and to people who were there and just to like, I don't know what trauma looks like once it's

buried in your heart and in your mind and what PTSD looks like. But to be there that day and then to wander around those streets for those months after with that smell in the air and this sort of strange kind of, you know, it was personal, man. When you lived in New York, it was personal. And I just remember that the woman that I was seeing at the time, who later became my second wife, was down there. She went to work that day. And I remember waking up and turning on my big old Dell home computer. And on the AOL home screen, the news screen, was one tower and just a pile of rubble. And I didn't, I could not process what was happening. And then I went up to the roof and I saw what was happening. There was, it was so

quiet. And so, and then I freaked out because Mishna was downtown. She'd gone, she worked down there. She didn't leave my house, but she left her house, but she, she went to work and I couldn't get hold of her all day. And you couldn't get hold of anybody. And these towers were falling and the people upstairs in my building, they lost their mother and they were, everyone was looking, waiting around a TV set. It was just terrible. And Mishna finally got through to me and she had to walk all the way up. She was covered in ash and walked all the way uptown from ground zero, basically. And, I mean, it just blew her out, man. And she split.

She went back to Seattle to deal with the trauma, to come down from it. And I was in New York. It was dark, man. That day, the fucked up thing about that day was that it was so clear so crisp so quiet because they stopped everything all cars planes trains nothing was moving you just saw this billowing horrible smoke coming off that end of manhattan from the roof and nothing you could hear there was not a sound devastating fucking horrible and just to be there and everybody was walking around like zombies shattered but you know that was post 9-11 is where the schism began it's where the two sides

were chosen nationalistic and progressive ideas went head to head. It's where the table at the cellar became this shouting match between the three or four liberals and what quickly became many, many kill all the Muslim thinking people. And it was out of that ashes of 9-11 that Tough Crowd came, Colin's show. And I think it was out of the ashes of 9-11 that this current tribalization of comics and comedy has happened. I think out of 9-11, you get Trump's world that we live in. Certainly in comedy, I can track the tribalization of comedy back to that table in that club

weeks after 9-11. Have you been down to the memorial? It's something, man. I think it's really something. Like, I think it's pretty effective. It's worth seeing. Steve Buscemi is a great actor.

And you can find out more about the new documentary that he produced or was one of the producers of Dust, The Lingering Legacy of 9-11 by going to dust-doc.com. And no more intro necessary. Steve Buscemi, you know Steve Buscemi. Here he is with me talking on the machine. Think again. Business insurance from Zensurance is a no-brainer for every business owner because it provides peace of mind. A lot can go wrong. A fire, cyber attack, stolen equipment, or an unhappy customer suing you. That's why you need insurance. Don't let the, I'm too small for this mindset, hold you back from protecting yourself.

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It looks like you're in a hostage situation with some modern art on the wall. I am. I have to be very quiet so my captors don't hear me. I'm in hollywood i'm i'm at an airbnb in hollywood in oh jesus you should have come over i know but i'm i'm in pre-production for a film that i'm directing in a few days and so i'm like back-to-back meetings and it was just hard to get away. What's this movie that you're doing? It's called The Listener. It's just a it's a small independent film. I've been asked not to divulge too many things about it.

But I mean, I could talk about a little bit. It's about a woman who works for at home for a helpline. Yeah. You know, people call in and she works at night. So the whole movie is just her and we only hear the callers off camera. And it's all about mental health and what people have been going through.

Not even, I mean, of course, it's about the pandemic a little bit, but mental health is always issues. I've been with this for a long time. Sure. Are you shooting it in that room you're sitting in now? We're shooting right now. So, like, that's interesting.

So, it's just going to be, so you're just going to hear the callers and you're going to see her reacting. Who's the lead? That's what I'm not, I don right now okay but it almost sounds like like talk radio like for a little bit right yeah yeah it's um it's a funny you know challenge because on the one hand it's like oh it's one person in one location, you know. But she's the only one we see. It's one location. So visually, yeah, it's a challenge. Yeah. How do you keep that interesting?

That's your job. That's what keeps me up at night. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. So how do you resolve that? I have an amazing team. And, you know, we'll have two chapters going.

Well, I mean, we'll figure it out. Sure. But really, I guess the audience is going to have to embrace the idea that this is like we're just with her. Yeah. And we're only going to hear the callers. So for part of the film, you know, she's listening. I mean, that's what it is. But then there's one call where she divulges a lot of her personal information, which,

you know, they're not supposed to do, but it's her way of connecting with this one caller. I have a feeling that somewhere in the middle of the production, you're going to be like, we got to add a flashback sequence of her life. Something kind of got to mix it up a little i know so how long you been in town i got in a few days ago i was here a few weeks ago just for some pre-production and you know and then went back to new york and but you're used to it right coming here i've been coming here off and on for 30 years yeah and it's the only other city you know that i actually know

like i know how to get around i know where things are right um so it's nice you've shot everywhere in the world probably but you know this city i've shot in a lot of places but this is the one place that i you know when i hit the ground i kind of know where i'm going right you know you can uh you know where to eat you you know what to do. Yes. So what do you like, are you locked down because of, are they afraid of COVID? Is that what's happening? Boy, it's definitely a challenge to shoot during COVID.

Yeah, I've done it. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I do this series, Miracle Workers. Oh yeah. I saw that. How's that going? Really fun. You know, we just, we're, the third season is airing now. That's with Daniel Radcliffe and you? Daniel Radcliffe, who I love. And we were lucky because this season, it's an anthology show. So each season is a different location and different theme. And this year it's the Oregon Trail. And so we were mostly outside and we were shooting in Santa Clarita.

So that really helped being outside, but we were tested three times a week. Yeah. That's what, yeah, that's, I was on a set that did that. Santa Clarita has, has acted in many movies as many different locations. It seems like everyone shoots out there. How the fuck did they make that look like Oregon? A lot of special effects, I guess. Wow. It's like the desert out there. How the fuck did they make that look like Oregon? A lot of special effects. I guess. Wow, it's like the desert out there, isn't it? Well, we were shooting on this ranch. Actually, there was a lot of different landscapes.

Oh. No, but actually the hardest one to get was just like flat, flat land. Oh, yeah. It's pretty hilly there. But yes, it's very warm and desert-like, yeah. It's pretty hilly there. But yes, it's very warm and desert-like, yeah. I've randomly been using a line of yours in some of my Instagram lives, and for no reason.

Sometimes I'll just go, are we square? That's a good one. I like that. It's a great one. It's just holding your face together. You know, we were in the city, I think, at the same time for many years. But I was watching. I know that you're sort of doing a little press around this Bridget Gormley documentary, Dust,

really about the struggle to get legislation passed. So these survivors of 9-11, both civilian firefighters, police, anyone who got sick from it could be taken care of, right? First responders. Yeah. And people who were down in the, lived there and went to school there. You know, I knew that Jon Stewart was involved in the hearings and stuff. But I just, you know, it's really amazing when you kind of lay it. Because I was in the city when that happened. And we were doing comedy a couple weeks after that. And, you know, I remember that smell in the air. And I remember, you know, in my building in Queens, the woman upstairs from me was there and died in the towers.

And the guy downstairs in my building was working, I guess, with you excavating, you know, the stuff. And he just broke down like this macho, you know, Latino guy. You know, he'd come home and I ran into him in the hall and he just couldn't keep it together, you know? And, and, and I just remember having that, that feeling that, uh, you know, the things weren't okay and there's no way they could be okay. Yet they were really pushing that line. And I like this documentary really kind of focuses on that weird confluence

of, we need to appear strong, you know, being being sort of that was the selling. That was the selling of the idea to the people of of New York. But the bottom line is they were concerned about economics. Really? Yeah. And it parallels today. You know, I mean, when the when the you know, when the pandemic hit, you know, we were hearing the same things, you know, that we're so afraid of shutting down the economy. And I think that was certainly true at that time. could have stopped, you know, any of the first responders and the volunteers, you know, who were there. Yes. To do this, you know, enormous job, but it would have been good to at least know the dangers going in, you know. Yeah, or at least shortly after anyways. It didn't, like in my recollection, it was such chaos and such. It was it was totally devastating. You know, like everybody was in a state of real shock, you know, for months.

I mean, people were walking around like zombies. Absolutely. And I guess but but information really did start to come in fairly quickly about what was needed. And not unlike the pandemic, they were ill equipped to protect these guys. Right. And the stuff that they did provide just didn't work. needed and not unlike the pandemic they were ill-equipped to protect these guys right and and the stuff that they did provide this didn't work it was either not enough to go around or it didn't really work or yeah it just um the operation was already underway and it was hard you know you can't sort of stop that machine once and it's just sad because you you know, there were, you know, guys down there, you know, I mean, people knew, you know, you could just feel it like that it was not safe.

And you would hear people say, you know, I'll bet we're going to, you know, die from this in 20 years. Who knew that? I mean, it would take it only took about five years for these 9-11 related cancers to start materializing. And we had people dying within the first, you know, within the first decade or before. Yeah. And still dying and they're still sick. And I give so much credit to Jon Stewart and Jon Feal and all the first responders who, and all the first responders who, you know, would constantly go to D.C. and, you to engage in terms of money to do something that, you know, is should be a moral no brainer. Right. I just find it really strange when I mean, Jon Stewart said it best in the film.

You know, what what does never forget mean? You know, they they they all were saying it and tweeting it to never forget, never forget. Well, OK, what is what does that mean? And we take the people who are down there for for however long it takes. You know, this is there's no time limit on that. So when you were a firefighter, I mean, you grew up in the city, right? Well, I was born in Brooklyn and then we moved to Long Island when I was eight. So I spent my real formative years in Long Island. And then I moved into the city when I was about 19.

So, I mean, I lived in, yeah, I mean, I've always lived in New York, and most of my time has been in the city. Where did you move in the city when you were 19? I moved to the East Village, Avenue A, between 9th and 10th Street. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I lived in, I was on 2nd between A and B. Oh, yeah. was uh on second between a and b oh yeah in uh you know in 89 90 91 wow a and not yeah a between you were at a and what uh between 9th and 10th streets so this was like 1978 yeah wow and um

i mean it was you know my that the first apartment that I had was, you know, I mean, it was a hundred bucks a month, you know, I don't want to sound like one of these geezers, you know, back in my day. Yeah. But that's who we are. A hundred bucks a month. There was a bathtub in the, in the, you know, middle of the room and, and I had a piece of plywood on top of it.

And that was my table table you know when i when i wasn't using it so you had you had one of those uh those things that you hook up to the faucet to to shower while you're sitting in there yeah i remember those apartments yeah was your family firefighters no i mean i did have an uncle uh who was a firefighter um But my dad was on the sanitation department. He worked for the city. And so he always kind of knew about what civil service test was coming up. He told me and my brothers that as long as we're living under his roof, which we were, you know, like when we turned 18, that we would have to take a civil service test, whatever one was available. And for me, it was the fire department. And that was the only one I took. I, you know, there was a physical and

a written test and I trained for the physical. I did okay. I did pretty well on the written test and that's how I was able to like even make the list. And it still took four years for them to get to my name. What is a civil service test? I don't know what this is. It's just basically a test to see if you can read and write and answer the basic questions. But there's always a couple of questions that are meant to throw you off. But my dad, knowing that you can get prior tests, you know, I mean, they would publish these tests. So I actually studied to see what the types of questions were that were, you know, maybe a little bit more difficult. Otherwise it's a pretty, I don't remember the questions, but they were pretty

simple. But your father believed in this idea that, that the, the civil service was a good way to go, that it was him being concerned about your future. Absolutely. He said, it's, you know, you have security and, and, you know, it's, it's a city job. You'll, you'll have, you know, you have security and, you know, it's a city job. You'll have, you know, benefits, security. He knew that I wanted to be an actor, but he would say to me, you know, you put in your 20 years, then you can be an actor. You know, I mean, not a bad idea. But, you know, but as you know, in this business, you have to go where the opportunities arise. And I was I mean, I was doing both, you know, for for a while.

I was doing theater and then I started doing some independent film. So wait. So like so when you went there at 19, you graduated high school and you're like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go live in New York and I'm going to do this. And at that time, I mean, the East Village, you know, what was going on there artistically was kind of crazy. There was a lot of stuff going on. It was amazing. It was, you know, I was there because the rent was cheap and it took me a while to like figure out, oh my God, I'm in like the art center of the world. I mean, you had independent film that was just sort of, you know, kind of blossoming bands, you know, the punk bands, alternative bands, the art world was exploding. There was all these like pop up galleries and artists and performance art was all over.

And it was just such a vibrant place to be and such a community. It was all happening in that area below 14th Street. Yeah. So what did you first kind of get in? How many brothers and sisters do you have? I have three brothers. Isn't one of them an actor? Didn't one of them, I know one of them?

Yeah. My brother, Michael is an actor and he's been in a few of my films and, uh, that I've, uh, made and, uh, yeah, he's, he's been, he's been working all along. I feel like he's been around the comedy scene a little. I kind of feel like he was around or I kind of knew him somehow. Well, um, I mean, I actually used to do standupup so i don't know but i don't but you wouldn't have known me from stand-up no where'd you do it i i don't know how this happened but i actually passed the auditions at the improv in like i'm 44th yeah yeah and i mainly just hung out there and just sat in the back and i would watch people people like Jerry Seinfeld and Gilbert Gottfried. And it was an amazing time to be there.

What year? Yeah, this was like 78, 79. If I got on, it wasn't until really, really late at night, or sometimes they would let me open at 9 o'clock. So was Bud still there or just silver? Silver was there. Yeah. I think Bud was already in LA. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So you had a bit, you had an act. I had a cobbled together act that I just sort of, you know,

I was influenced by so many different comics and I wasn't sure like what my style was, you know, like, because I liked everybody, you know, I mean, growing up, I loved comedy and comics, you know, but it was a pretty diverse, you know, the people that I liked were George Carlin, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor, you know, I mean, they were all different from, from each other. That was the thing about being aor you know I mean they were all different from from each other yeah that was the thing about being a you know trying to do stand-up was that I really couldn't find my voice I mean I would watch people like Jerry and nobody was nobody else was like him nobody else was like

Gilbert and I just really couldn't find what it was well Well, what, like, what's my, what's my style? And I also didn't like the aloneness of it. I'd like to, you know, I mean, like when it was going well, if you got laughs, that's the greatest feeling in the world. But yeah, having to like write your material and practice on your own. And, and, uh, I much prefer working with actors. Well, it's interesting because I understand that struggle. This idea that you think it's a decision you make to be who you are on stage, where it isn't

really. Some guys figure out what the parameters of their particular talent and character are early on as part of the job. It is in some ways limiting depending on your freedom of mind, you know, that, you know, where you land with your

persona. But oddly, you know, like if I think about when I started seeing you in movies to this day, I feel like I have a very strong sense of who you are. Well, that's the interesting thing. I mean, I feel like I've found my voice or whatever through, you know, acting and roles that I've played. But then when I think about some of the roles that I've played, I go, well, is that me? But know, but I always, you know, like which ones, which ones are the ones where you're like, you mentioned Fargo, you know, it's like, you know, I mean, that guy is just despicable on so many levels, but there's something I still like about him or there's something that I can identify, you know, with his struggle or whatever, you know, whatever has made him, you know, who,

who he is like, okay, there's enough of that in my background or whatever that I could, that I could relate and put it into the character. It's just the insecurity of that guy. Just like he, he never quite has a handle on shit, you know? And when I think about it it i think about that character it's a very funny character in a way he is very funny he's you know he's sort of ridiculous but what i loved about him is that he always thought he had a handle on things and i got this yeah yeah it just gets away from him pretty quickly. So what were you getting involved in, you know, before you became a firefighter,

when you were down there in the Lower East Side and kind of your brains opening up to what's going on? What were some of the stuff that you were like, holy shit, that you saw down there early on. Well, a few things. There was, did you ever know the actor and comedian Rockets Reglaire? I think I brought him up to you. You know, it's like, it was funny because I interviewed you once when I was on an Air America show years ago. Oh, wow.

And Brendan, my producer who was just here said you brought somebody up that you you you both knew and and i said it was either it was either maggie a step who i know who i knew yes well i loved maggie yes and i think that's who it was because i knew her we were kind of friends yeah but but i i then i wrote then i said maybe it was rockets red glare who i didn't know but i was sort of fascinated with because he seemed like a character he was such a character like what was so would you see him like what was he doing well he had he had this cabaret show that he would do and he would bounce around a few locations but uh i met him because he was a bouncer at a bar that we all used to go to. That's right.

Briefly, I think he worked as a bodyguard for Sid Vicious. That's right. But he also did stand up. And he was also in Jim Jarmusch's early, early films. He was in Strangers in Paradise and Down by Law. And then I worked with him in Mystery Train. But yeah, he was just this downtown fixture. And he would have these shows. And one night, I finally got up the courage to, you know, tell him that I was an actor. And I gave him a flyer for, you know, a little play I was

doing. I told him that I did some stand up. And without ever seeing me perform, he went, Hey, I'm doing a show on Sundayay why don't you do something and i was just kind of shocked that he would let me perform in his cabaret show without knowing anything about me and it was in his show that i um you know kind of the first time that i did stand-up down you know like like in the the in the East Village and met people, you know, Mark Boone Jr. He of Sons of Anarchy fame. He was also working in Rockets shows with another actor named Tom Wright. And the two of them were doing these sketches or one act plays. And so I got to know them and then started to work with them and then

eventually just worked with Boone. And it was from that time, you know, working with Rockets and then working with Boone that Boone and I started to write and perform our own material. And we did that for many years. So, but like, I can't imagine that it was framed as traditional standup because it always seemed that there was a slight tension between mainstream standup comedy and what was sort of evolving as performance art on the Lower East Side. Right. So then there was the whole performance art, you know, aspect of it. And, um, through my late wife, Joe Andres, I got to meet people like Tom Murren, who was the alien comic. You know, he was he would just find things on the street and make his own props and costumes.

There was another duo called Dance Noise, Lucy Sexton and Annie Obst. And they did this like sort of like political burlesque. And this is in the late 70s? Well, no, now we're moving into the early 80s. Okay. And another performance artist, Mimi Gacy, who was also a wonderful singer. There were a lot of people like this, and Tom and Joe, they used to, in that group, they had a show called the Full Moon Show.

And they would always do a show like every full moon. The four of those, you know, those four acts were like the core. Then they would invite other acts in. I used to like Blue Man Group. Like I first saw them in a full moon show. So what were you doing in the team thing was that a straight comedy or was it sketches most will you yeah bud and i would write these characters and do these like situations they were halfway between like sketches and one-act plays

you know usually comedic it seems like this tradition carried on into the 90s when I was there with Collective Unconscious. There was certain surf reality, that place where the showcase was sort of a variety show, but it was definitely not mainstream or it didn't have any parameters, really. Yeah. You'd see a lot of things that just you probably only see there. And there was definitely like a community, everybody would go to each other's shows. And not to say that people weren't ambitious. But there was, you know, the goal wasn't to get an agent and to, you know, like, get something mainstream. you know, like get something mainstream. The idea really was to sort of experiment and explore and a lot of the times do something outrageous. Right. And like Rockets was sort of,

was he a particularly talented guy or just a character? Both. I think he was very talented, but it's like he was always performing you know like he that's just who he was you know and um and he was also uh you know the big thing about rockets was that he always needed money he'd always hit you up for 20 bucks he'd you know and well he had a habit didn't he he? He did. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. He definitely struggled, but he was so, you know, lovable in every other way. It's so funny. The first time I think I,

I noticed him was when he, he plays the, the killer and talk radio in the film. Yeah. Yeah. That was huge. Like we all thought, wow, rockets, you did it man you know and i mean he had he had parts in a lot of films and um yeah it's sad you know i mean he he's been gone 20 years now but um but uh yeah he was quite the actor what about like baghazian in those cats i mean like was that all were they all contemporaries like tom noonan baghossian yeah tom noonan i knew a little bit and then we both worked on mystery train eric i didn't know at the time i kind of got to know him later but yeah but he was like he was like one of the one of the giants of that you know like that was i think what uh you know, people like Eric and Spalding Gray. Yeah. That really had it down.

Like, I think that's what people really aspire to, you know, like to have their own shows. Because mainly it was a lot of group shows. But those guys, like Spalding came out of the Worcester group, though, right? Yes. And the Worcester group is another, you know, and they're still going strong. And they're still like my theater group. They're your theater group? You're with them? I think, yeah, I worked with them a little bit, you know, Willem Dafoe worked with them for many years.

And when he first started making movies, I think when he was doing Platoon, they asked me to come in and do some of the things that he was doing in that in that show and uh and then i got to do some other shows with with them uh but willem was you know he was one of the first guys that i remember seeing that didn't have any qualms about you know breaking out of the experimental world and you know like downtown and doing movies and he got a little flack for it too you know but uh for me it was like why not this is what he wants to do and he's he's able to make a living and he's able to give back to the company and and uh and i you know that was that was a real example for me to follow. Isn't it interesting about that flack? I mean, who the fuck are those people? I mean, I've been,

I've been those, I've been that guy. I get where it comes from, but it doesn't come from a place of principle. It comes from some sort of weird, you know, attachment to, to, uh, to something you think is a freedom or rebellious or, you know, there's an immaturity to it. Yeah. I mean, I get it. I get it. But none of those, I shouldn't say none, but a lot of those people that were sort of like giving that flack, it doesn't end well for them. It doesn't end well for them. I think we're in a much better place now because it seems like there is, you know, there's a lot more of people going back and forth between doing theater.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. I mean, there's not at some point it kind of broke down that, you know, that the integrity of who you are is not based on, you know, you're involved with necessarily right right and if if you're of a certain ilk you can transcend it if you're not then you become a hack and that was your destiny anyways yes but but that but what about like uh did you do any of those foreman plays i did did a Richard Foreman play. Yeah, Miss Universal Happiness. And we did it. He used the Worcester group.

He used the whole Worcester group for that particular play. Who was in that crew at that time? It was Kate Bach. There was Ron Vauder. Willem was in it. Francis? Francis McDormand? No, Francis wasn't part of the group yet.

So she came a bit later. But even Elizabeth Lecomte, who was the director of the Worcester group, she also acted in that piece. So it seemed like such amazing time. Because it's all gone now, Steve. Like, it's like, like I caught the tail end of that because I was on the Lower East Side, 89 is when I really got to New York. And it was already sort of like over that, that whole sort of like whatever was going on through from the late 60s on into the early 80s, you know, that

generation of performers is it was sort of gone and there was a new crew, but, you know, that generation of performers, it was sort of gone. And there was a new crew, but, you know, it was a different generation almost. And that whole sort of sense of what the Lower East Side stood for was already starting to buckle by the late 80s. Yeah. And I actually, you know, we actually moved to Brooklyn in like 91. And I remember feeling like, okay, I think it is time to move on. But also, I think, you know, there were other pockets of, you know, things happening that I just, you know, just didn't know about. I mean, I think the East Village at that time really was the place.

And of course, things change. But loved how brooklyn kind of became also i mean it took it it took a while but especially with like the music scene brooklyn became like the new frontier for for that so it just you know part of it is just i aged out of it you know yeah but i was so i'm so grateful that i was around at that at that time and in the middle of it. Right. I mean, where did you meet Jarmusch? Was that a New York thing? Yeah.

Like, I met him and Sarah Driver at Rockets show. You know, like, that's how they knew of me. That's how I knew of them. And was he a student? No. When I met him, I think he was, was he a student? He, no, he had, when I met him, I think he had already shot Stranger Than Paradise, but it hadn't come out yet.

You know, he just looked like a really interesting guy to me. And Boone was the one who would tell me, like Boone knew everybody. And he told me, oh yeah, that's Jarmusch. And he did this.

And, you know, I mean, at that time too, you know, if you were able to make a film an independent film that was halfway decent it played in theaters for a while you know i was just talking about this with somebody the other day there was a movie liquid sky i don't know if you yeah it

played at the waverly for like months you know it was pretty out there and and but it but it played for a while when when Jarmusch's film first came out it was very exciting because it was such a non-traditional you know film and it was in black and white and it's all master shots and we had never seen or I mean most people had never seen this cast before, you know, John Laurie, Richard Edson, Esther Ballant, Rockets, that it was exciting. It meant, oh my God, he did it.

You know, like it just inspired everybody. Like, you know, we can do this and there's an audience out there for it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I remember seeing it just being like, what the fuck is this and john but he was part of the music scene there like did you know like that whole no wave crew a little bit i mean i yeah i i i really wasn't part of that whole music you know scene like i

didn't i i've met them all later like sonic youth and you know like people, like I didn't, I met them all later, like Sonic Youth and, you know, like people in those, in those bands. But, but yeah, the Lounge Lizards, I would see them all the time, you know, John Lurie and Evan were an amazing band that, that they were. And yeah, there were a lot of, you know, I mean, it all sort of kind of just intermingled, you know, performance art and the bands and. Nick Zedd. Nick Zedd, yes.

I used to see him, you know, we used to go out and paper flyers, you know, like we would like get the bucket of like paste and you put up your own flyers, you know, on construction sites or wherever you can. And I would often see him doing the same thing. And there was a wonderful place called Dorinka. A friend of mine, Gary Ray, he had this little performance space

in his basement apartment. Wow. And we would perform there. And I remember Nick Zed showing all of his films there one night. And he's operating the projector and it would break down and we'd have to wait for him to fix it. And it was great. Those were the days.

What about Julian Beck? Yeah, well, that's the Living Theater. I didn't really see too much of the Living Theater because they were kind of, you know, their heyday was really before my time, even though they like kept doing work. But Julian Beck was another one. We had the same manager, Mark Amiton, and he represented Julian and Judith Molina and other people of like from downtown. And he was helping us all get work, you know, like on Miami Vice or the Equalizer, you know, and these things would sustain us. You know, we were able to make some money and then go back to doing other things. He was the Faustian valve for the Lower East Side artists.

Yeah, yeah. But were you training as well or is it just all hands on? I, well, I took acting classes when I was, uh, 17 or 18. I went to the Lee Strasberg theater Institute and, um, I studied with John Strasberg, uh, Lee's son and, um, John's wife at the time, Lee's son and John's wife at the time, Sabra Jones. And, you know, a few other teachers. I went there for six months, you know, on like, like a full course thing, you know, like four acting classes a week, a voice class, a movement class. And then eventually John sort of broke away from the Institute and started his

own, his own place. And so I was with him on and off a few years. But that was really beneficial because, you know, I basically grew up in Long Island, had no idea what the theater scene was in New York, didn't know anything about plays. And so that was a big education for me to like, just watch what other people were doing and learn about Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and get to, and get to do, just get to act, just get to, you know, be in a scene. How much crossover when you did the firefighting, like when did you start to do that as a job and how were you managing acting and being a Lower East Side

guy and being a New York City firefighter? So when I first, you know, got on the job, this was in November of 1980, I just stopped doing everything. I stopped doing standup. I stopped taking acting classes. I just figured, let me just do this for a while. And I didn't tell anybody in the firehouse, Engine 55, where I worked in Little Italy. I just didn't tell anybody what I did. They knew I was half a weirdo because I lived in the East Village. None of them lived in the city. They all live in Staten Island or Long Island.

And so that was their first clue, like, you know. And then I had this other firefighter from a different company, Engine 24, this firefighter that I had heard about. His name was Dean Tulipane, and he was an actor. But the way they would talk about, oh, yeah, that guy Dean, you know, he's a little, you know, he's whatever, you know, he's an actor and but the way they would talk about oh yeah that guy dean oh yeah he's a little you know he's whatever you know he's an actor you know but i could tell that they liked him but they but they but they thought he was weird anyway when i first met dean and he heard about me that i lived in his village he sort of outed me you know you, you know, he's like, well, what do you do? Like, what, like, how come you live there? Like, what are you an actor? Are you a writer? And I

sheepishly said that I was, you know, I had done some acting and stand up and the guys in my company looked at me like, you? Because I was seriously, I was the quietest guy in the firehouse. Yeah. The quietest? guy in the firehouse yeah um the quiet break out of my shell and and uh and then you know there were some like firefighter parties where i would start i would you know drink and and uh be drunk enough to then get up on a chair and start like doing like a don rickles routine on like everybody and it was risky but they liked it they you know so you did it that got me over yeah that's that's some risky stuff man but so you stayed at you you were at the uh you you were with the the the what do you call it the outfit the unit the the engine house for how long yeah yeah i was uh i was there for uh for four years and in 1984 i got cast in an independent

film called parting glances and i was also doing a play with um john jezer, who I had worked with a lot. And I just couldn't do all three things. I just, so I ended up taking a leave of absence from the fire department, three months at first, then I would extend it for another three months, and then another six months. And then it just became clear. I'm, you know, my, my window of opportunity feels like it's now and I should take it and just, and, and not go back. So that's what I did. It's interesting in that, could you have seen it being your life? Yeah. I mean, sometimes I think, oh, maybe I should have done my 20 years and then retired. But there was something, yeah, you know, I remember, even though I came to love the job,

I do remember, like, the night before I started, you know know and I did six weeks of training on Randall's Island where they have the uh the fire academy I just remember the night before kind of just feeling down and thinking all right I guess I guess I'm not going to do acting I'm not going to do stand-up I'm not this is what I. This is what I'm going to be doing now. And feeling really depressed about it. It turned out that I ended up loving the job. But just the thought of, oh, I just became my dad. I just became, I'm going to,

is this my path not that there's anything wrong with what my dad did and I I'm you know like I'm so proud of what he was able to accomplish and provide and to me was such a an act of love for his sons that he wanted us, you know, uh, he didn't quite, you know, think that we were college material maybe, or maybe it was just, he didn't want to pay for college, but, uh, but he, but he was looking out for us, you know, he like, he just wanted to make sure that, uh, that, uh, we'd be okay. Well, is uh immigrant no i mean both his uh parents were but they but but they came as kids but you know what's funny is that you know even though his parents were immigrants um they did not they did not speak italian in the house and they were really intent

on you know being american you know because being American, you know, because I think at that time, there was a lot of discrimination against Italians. And so they really wanted their kids to be, you know, American. And even myself, I mean, my mom's not Italian, my mom, you know, is Irish, Dutch, English. So growing up, I never really felt Italian. You know, when I think of like my heritage, I think Brooklyn, you know, like as if I'm from the nation of Brooklyn, you know, even though I ended up like moving away from Brooklyn when I was eight, but now I'm, I've been back in Brooklyn for the past 30 years. I've been back in Brooklyn for the past 30 years.

So when 9-11 happened, you, did you go back to the house, the firehouse that you had started with to try to help? Yeah. What happened was the next day on the 12th, I, I, you know, like I still had my turnout coat and my helmet and I just grabbed those things and I took the subway in to the Lower East Side, walked over to Engine 55 on Broom Street. And because I wasn't, I just didn't have any information. I kept calling the firehouse, you know, like the day before. And of course, there was no answer, because I knew that they would be there. And then I eventually learned that five of them were missing. And one of them was a good friend of mine who I used to work with,

Faust Apostle. And then I was driven into the site that day, and then I was driven into the site that day, walked around for hours and then found my company, found Engine 55 working there and asked them if I could join them. And they were, I could tell they were a little suspicious at first, you know, like, what are you doing here? But I worked with them that day. And the captain of 55 at that time, Captain Toomey, at the end of the day, we all went back to the firehouse. And he said, look, if you want to come back, you're welcome. Just come to the firehouse early and we'll take you in. And so I did that for the next few days. did that for the next few days. I was so grateful because so many people who were in New York at that time, you know, wanted to help. And, you know, I mean, a lot of people gave blood, but there were just no victims. There were no, you know, there was that, you know, it was just so

devastating. And people wanted to volunteer and did in, you know, a lot of ways did whatever they could, but I actually had, I was privileged enough to have access to the site and to, and to be in the thick of it and to just experience that, um, the humanity of what was going on there. And, and did did you, have you experienced any health issues or did you experience any PTSD of any kind just from being down there? Definitely. I have not experienced any health issues

and I get myself checked out, but definitely, yeah, post-traumatic stress, absolutely. Like when I, I was only there for like five days, but when I stopped going and, you know, sort of tried to just live my life again, it was really, really hard. You know, I was depressed. I was anxious. I couldn't make a simple decision. Yeah, all those things. It just, it's still with me.

It's still, you know, like there are times when I talk about 9-11 and I feel myself, I'm just right back there. I just, I start to get choked up and I realize, ah, this is still a big part of me. And now that we're in our, you know, this is the 20th year anniversary. Yeah, it's, I know that for a lot of people that were down there, it's definitely a trigger. years or maybe longer, I've been working with this group called Friends of Firefighters, and they provide free mental health services and counseling to firefighters, active, retired, and their families. Because, you know, the first responders that were down there for a length of time, and, you know, a lot of them were there for months. They didn't see their families. They were going to funerals, you know,

like all the time, or they were at the site and survivors guilt is, you know, was like a big factor, you know, like why did they survive? Like why a lot of guys were supposed to be working that day, but, you know, somebody else was working for them and and were killed and um so yeah i'd say that you know there's definitely like the health issues you know that are related to people being down there you know definitely physical but also mental. Oh, for sure. Like I, you know, I, it was, the whole thing was so galvanizing and horrendous in a way, you know, around being, I just remember being, because I lived in Queens. But like there was something about being a New Yorker at that time that was like really felt deep you know and it was I I found myself being offended by people coming to to New York to kind of like you know rubberneck the thing like I I

remember feeling very angry that you know once you, they could get in that all these people from the middle of the country were just coming to look at that smoking pit. And I was like, it just felt intrusive and invasive to me. I get it. I get it. And, you know, and it was hard for me to, once I stopped going down there, it was hard for me to see any images of it or to be near it or I didn't go again until like months and months later when the site was you know pretty much done but they but they were still clean up to be done and I remember seeing one of my old lieutenants at Engine 55, Ken Grabowski, and he was a chief now and he was kind of in charge of like a lot of that operation. And it was just, you know, just knowing that he had been there that whole time and I had not been there for months and months and months. And I could just see it in his face.

and months and months and um and i could just see it in his face it's sort of you know it's just hard to describe you know like what what these first responders you know went through being there that you know the ones that were there for months or the whole time and the after effects you know yeah we've been experiencing is just uh it's, it's heartbreaking. I just remember being at, you know, around people and being at meetings where, you know, people were lost. Like it was, it just, it just never ends for some people. And that's really what that move, that documentary dust is about. You know, that, that, that day is every day. Yes, exactly.

Does you, do you find that this stuff, I mean, I guess it's hard to, to, cause I, I've only seen you, uh, act, uh, to be a firefighter in that one film, the Judd Apatow film. Yeah. That was the first time I ever played a firefighter, which was kind of fun. Uh, cause that was kind of like, oh, this is what I would be doing had I stayed on the job. Yeah, yeah. And you knew the guys that were the real firefighters that were there? Some of them, yeah.

Yeah. But it was great to be in a movie with Pete Davidson and knowing his real background. And then in the film, I'm, you know, playing someone who knew his dad, you know, that was, it was really, that was really special. And what I

loved about that film, you know, so, so many kids lost, lost their parents, right. And for the ones, you know, like the firefighters kids, if you were a young kid, you know, all of a sudden you're, you know, your dad is like put on this pedestal. I mean, rightly so. But what that does to a kid, I think it's like, I'll never measure up. I'll never, you know, I never got to know my dad and I'll never be able to measure up. never be able to measure up um and what i love about that film is that pete's dad in the movie was you know somewhat of a goofball and an asshole you know and that's when pete learns that you know when pete when pete's character learns that and thinks oh my dad was like me you know my dad was yeah just like just like me you know that sort of humanized him yeah i think you know so rightly so that you know that that that these the first responders

and the ones that we lost are you know put up on a pedestal i think it's also we have to be careful not to mythologize them too much as being like these, you know, like super beings. They, you know, any firefighter, any first responder, anybody that we lost on that day, they experienced fear. They, you know, they did their job, but you know that it had to be, you know, that it was fearful. I mean, how do you go into a situation like that? When they, those. Not be afraid.

You have to overcome that. You know, that to me is what the true heroism is, is that they, you know, overcame their fears and did their job anyway. They just went up into those buildings, the burning buildings. So. They just went up into those buildings, the burning buildings. So many of them went up. It's like,

it chokes me up now as watching that thing and just to, you know, to know that so many of them were up in that building heading up. Heading up and walking, you know, walking up all those flights with their heavy equipment and a a whole length of hose because you have to bring that into and you know and then seeing the people running out in panic you know and but you're going up you know or you're helping people out and um and it was not a quick evacuation by any means you know know, it, it was, it was, uh, it took, it took a long time and, um, it was an incredible rescue mission, you know, uh, that they got that many people out. Yeah.

So like, so now this is, you're directing the film you're working on now? Yes. So it's been a bit, huh? It's been a while since i've directed a film i've been i've been yeah that last one i did was in 2009 interview and but i've been directing you know some uh tv in the last few years and i've been lucky enough to direct on the show that i do miracle workers and that's been that's been fun and it's always good to sort of exercise that muscle because I don't really feel like a director. You know, I've done it, you know, over the years, but I don't do it enough to feel like I know what I'm doing.

You know, it's always like a learning experience every time I do it. How do you choose the, you know, like I, you do a lot of comedy and you have these relationships with certain people like the Coens. It seems like you have a relationship with Adam Sandler, you know, how, how do you decide, you know, I mean, you work all the time. You're one of these, you know, and now as I've done a little bit of acting, I know when, you know, you look at a resume and you see someone's done seven films in a year, sometimes that's only a couple of weeks work. How do you decide what you're going to do? It doesn't seem like you take anything. In the beginning, I did. In the beginning, I just wanted the experience. I just wanted to work. And I was lucky that I got to

work with people who were just coming up like Jim Jarmusch and the Cone brothers and a lot of films, you know, that I just wanted to be on a set and be working. And it didn't really matter the part I was playing to some extent. I mean, you know, I, I had to relate to it in some way, but I'm much more discerning now, and I feel grateful and lucky that I'm able to be more choosy. But in the beginning, yeah, I just want to work. But it's interesting because you were there at the beginning for the Coens, for Jarmusch and and Tarantino that was that was incredible to get to work on Quentin's first film and it certainly didn't feel like his first film I'm just it was so impressed that he had so much confidence as a first-time director that uh I was like how does he do that? You know, like we'd be shooting a scene and in the stage direction, it said,

you know, camera is on Mr. White. The camera stays on Mr. White, slow pushing. And while Mr. Pink, you know, like motor mouth, Mr. Pink is off camera, just, you know, we got to the set that day and we're shooting the scene just as he you know described it and then of course the producers and you know whoever else were saying okay we got it just for safety why don't you turn the camera around and shoot steve and shoot mr pink quentin no nope i got it i'm never going to use it. You know, well, you know, when you get to the editing room, you might feel different. Nope. Nope. I got it. Let's move on. It's done. I was

like, wow. How do you, where, where does that confidence come from? And of course he was right, but it was amazing. He had his vision. Wasn't he supposed to play your part? Well, I think he wrote Mr. Pink for himself. And I still don't know how they really landed on me. Because I know that there were other people that they went out to and maybe other people, you know, who maybe turned it down or weren't available. But I know that he wanted to play it. I don't know if he was talked out of it. But somehow it landed to me. And the way that Quentin told me about it, we were doing a workshop at Sundance for Reservoir Dogs and, you know, like a lot of other films and where they have mentors and then they invite these filmmakers who are doing their first films.

So I was invited to go but on the condition was that i didn't necessarily have the part so i thought well okay i'll go anyway i mean i may not be cast in this movie but at least i get to do that and you know i was working with quentin and then we were taking a bathroom break and in the bathroom as we're both peeing he turns to me and he says oh by the way uh you got the part you got the part of mr pink it's like what oh thanks i i couldn't even shake his hand you know i was like that's how i learned it because i mean you did a couple movies with him but you did a lot of movies with the coens and you came up together it seems like you grew up your evolution as an actor is parallel with the evolution of american independent film you know post 1980 yeah you know it's funny you

never know when you're working on something you know you get close to the people you work with i mean i do and but you never know if that's you know going to translate into your personal lives sometimes it overlaps and some you know um but yeah i think you know like the people who i've stayed friendly with uh jim jarmusch and sarah driver um other people that like alexander rockwell i did this movie in the soup with and we've stayed friends and I've worked, you know, and I've, you know, worked in many of his films. You just never know. I mean, so there is, yeah, I mean, I had a small circle of friends, but it's not necessarily all the people that I've worked with. But when we see each other, even if we haven't seen each other for years, it's always, it's always nice to have that, that feeling of, Hey, we did, you know,

we did something good together. Yeah. Yeah. That I get that. I get, cause I, I don't know why, even after, you know, being in some television myself and doing some movies that like I still, some part of my brain wants to believe that everybody's remains friends forever. And honestly, you know, sometimes it's the last time you see those people. Yeah. Yeah. it's weird it is where it's like its own it actually has its own full life when you shoot something like you when you're done a lot of times you're thinking like

that life is now done yeah i used to go you know it used to be whenever I ended a film, especially if I was on location, and then come back home, for days I would be depressed and not knowing why. I was like, I just had this incredible experience. Why am I so down now? And it took me a while to realize, oh, I'm going to go through this every time. I'm just missing everybody. I'm missing the experience. It's over. I may not ever see those people again. And you're right. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you get really close to somebody you're working with. And then for whatever reason, what happened? I don't like, I thought we were friends, you know,

and it just kind of, you know, it just dissipates, you know, sometimes it's because I live in New York, they live in LA, and then you just don't see each other. It's sort of the liability of the job of the actor is that you're going to invest emotionally in this thing. And I think that, I'm just thinking about this now out loud, that you share something fairly profound

and I guess in some ways it has to remain on the set, you know? Yeah. Yeah, it's true. Well, I'll tell you, I mean, we're about done here, and I'll see you again. I'm more than happy to hang out. I'm sorry I couldn't get to your studio, but I do hope that we can see each other in person,

but we may never talk again. I mean, that is the reality each other in person, but we may never talk again. I mean, that is the reality. That's true, Steve. We might not. But if I see you, I'll run. It's interesting because this is nice. If I see you, I'll say hi, and you'll probably know me and everything. But I swear to God, I interviewed, because you brought up Defoe.

I interviewed Defoe, and I don't think it went well you know because like I mean he came over and I don't know what it was you know I don't know what kind of guy he is you know to his friends or anything but I think I rubbed him the wrong way and and I saw him at the independent spirit awards and like I know on some level I'm to some people I'm just another journalist who talked to them yeah they I can't remember most of them that I've talked to so I'm I'm willing to to to entertain the idea that I'm not that memorable to people I talk to but I saw him in like the Indie Spirit Awards and I looked at him and and he looked at me and I swear to God it was contempt it wasn't I don't it wasn't like who's that guy why is he looking at me it was contempt. It wasn't, I don't, it wasn't like, who's that guy?

Why is he looking at me? It was like, that fucker. And I don't know. I don't know. But I don't, I don't think it's going to happen. All I remember when I see him again, because I go, sometimes I go years without seeing him. I hope I remember to ask him about this. Yeah, yeah.

Ask him, do you remember Mark Maron? He'll be like, yeah, that guy didn't know my work he didn't he did you know he was uh annoying i don't know what else it'd be interesting so wait if you hear anything you let me know okay all right steve good talking to you thank you so much mark really enjoyed it steve buscemi, folks. Heavy stuff, good man. The documentary, Dust, The Lingering Legacy of 9-11.

You can go get information on how to watch that at dust-doc.com. Now I'm going to rock my new Explorer guitar. My new Banker Explorer. Banker does a replica of the Carina Gibson Explorer. This thing is fucking.

These pickups, man. They make me want to do this. Stop, stop, stop. guitar solo Boomer lives. Monkey Lafonda. Cat angels everywhere. Here they come. Coming down fast. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats.

But meatballs and mozzarella balls, yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats, get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson

bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com.