Ethan Suplee Meets World

You demanded it - and here he is. Ethan Suplee, formerly known as Frankie Stecchino Jr., may look completely different, but he’s still the talented and passionate human that made his professional debut on Boy Meets World almost 30 years ago.
Ethan chats with the gang about the reason he acts, his friendship with Joey the Rat and some behind the scenes partying you’ll never see coming. 
Get ready for an episode that will not only leave you nostalgic, it will leave you inspired.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
M. So, I came across this term the other week, um,

(00:24):
and I've been thinking about it a lot. Have you
guys ever heard of the end of history illusion? No? Yeah,
but I'm intrigued. I hadn't heard this either. It's it's
it's a good new it's relatively new. I guess it
was coined in like two thousand two fourteen, and I
came across into something I was reading, And I've been
thinking about it a lot in relation to our show, um,

(00:47):
which is it's this, it's it's it's the end of
history illusion. And it's a cognitive bias that people have
that we tend to think of ourselves in our current
context or life as fixed as like we've we've we
were done growing, Whereas when we look back on times
in our lives, like we look back on our adolescents

(01:09):
or early twenties, we're able to see ourselves as like
a work in progress. You know that we give ourselves
grace when we look back and say, oh, yeah, I
wasn't fully grown yet, or I was changing constantly, But
then we rate ourselves at the current moment as like
incapable of changing, like we think of history is done,
like we're done growing, and like they've done a bunch
of studies where people consistently rate themselves as like finished

(01:33):
or fixed, um, you know, like and and yet when
we look back on our lives, we can say, oh, no,
I wasn't done growing at all yet. And it's something
that I've been trying to keep in mind in relation
to this show. You know, this this project that we've
embarked upon together and now we're opening up to the
world to listen in on where we're looking back on,

(01:53):
you know, obviously a very pivotal time in our lives,
and we're able to say like, oh my god, we
were so young, we didn't know anything, but that actually
we still kind of are, like we still don't know anything,
and we still are not done. And I've been thinking
about like how it's kind of important for us and
probably for our listeners to be aware of that we're

(02:15):
still changing and growing, you know, like we're not coming
to a conclusion about Boy Meets World. We're not gonna
like decide like, oh well that's the way the show
was or that's what it actually meant to us. It's
going to keep changing, you know, and that we're going
to keep changing and growing, and like ten years from now,
we might listen back to Pod Meets World and be like,
what were we thinking we were so young in our

(02:37):
forties back then when we were talking about the show.
That would be That's that would actually be really interesting,
is do Pod Meets World to this time? It's personal,
and we'll do it twenty years from now, and we
watched the show again, and it's going to mean something
completely different than next time we watched it. Abs No,
but it's so true, right, Like we tend to think
of ourselves as done, and like we have to kind

(02:59):
of give ourselves permission to to not know. And like
when we when we have these strong opinions about various
episodes or scenes or moments, to say like, well, we're
just kind of figuring them out now or coming up
with ideas about them now, and they're probably going to change.
That's changing, you know. Anyway. It's something I've been trying
to like keep in mind, um, because yeah, it's not

(03:22):
going to be fixed, you know. Yeah, I mean this
is an ongoing project. In thirty years, when we do
this again, we're gonna be like, Man, I relate to
Rue McClanahan so much as you know, Mr Feeney really
was the only character who knew what he was doing. No,
but it's true, and it's it's it's also the second

(03:44):
you stop growing as a person, you're done. You're supposed
to be. That's our point. That's the point of being here.
Is you grow every day and you learn every day,
and you know you you hope that's what you're doing. Anyway,
I would imagine that you know how well we talk
about how the perfect example is none of us realizing
how wonderful or important Rusty and Betsy were that And

(04:08):
that's all we're looking at. It is how amazing they are.
And so there, there's it's just it's where you are
in that journey of life where you're gonna kind of
as traveling down the road called life, as a great
great poet wrote. A great poet once said that, um
I I found something. Speaking of our histories, I found

(04:29):
a couple of things. So I've been occasionally I will
go on cleaning product projects, which I was gonna say,
go on cleaning products, which a whole different thing. Again,
Well again, sorry, i'll tell you free based wind. Um No,
I've been, so I'll go. I'll find something that hasn't
been cleaned in forever. And so I'm in this little

(04:49):
podcast room and right above me are these two shelves,
and Sue's like, came in the other day. She's like, well,
at least your shelves are empty. And I went and
I opened it up and it was horrifying. So I'm
the we had off. I said, I'm going to clean
it out. I just started cleaning it out and I
sent you guys a picture. I found it a huge
stack of Boy Meets World scripts that I think we
find a way to give out to everybody our pod

(05:10):
Meets World fans. But I came across two things which
were pretty great. First is from our very last episode.
It's the last script that we did, the Matt Nelson script,
signed by everybody, which is pretty incredible. But the other
thing I found, which which our audience will understand what
I'm talking about, but you guys will really understand what

(05:31):
I'm talking about. When I first moved out to Los Angeles,
I was by myself. I didn't know anybody here, and
to make me feel more comfortable alone, Arlene wrote out
her name and address and phone number so I could
always get in touch with her if I needed to,

(05:53):
And it was in a pile of stuff that I
have in a posted note in her handwriting, and it
just hit me. It was so strange and it came
out of nowhere, and to think it was the first
time I I kind of realized that she's been gone
for like twenty seven years. Yeah, yeah, you're right. And

(06:14):
just she was such a wonderful person and this was
her I mean, just I didn't know anybody, and so
one of the first things she did was I kept
it and I still have it, and so I don't know,
it's just I kept it right here, So I just
I thought I would share that with you. We're also
going to give that away to our fans. And exactly

(06:36):
was the Arlene Grayson phone number, but here. Yeah, it
just it was so strange to find an amazing woman,
you know, like I mean to the fact that she
was sympathetic enough to like reach out to you and
be like, just in case you need anything, here right
am like going above and beyond as a producer, like yeah,
I'm just gonna I'm also here for you as a person,
as a parental sort of figure. It was she was

(06:59):
just she was amazing she was truly amazing. So yeah,
I just I came across that and I thought you'd
want to see that. It was pretty pretty neat to
be glad you kept all these scripts too. I mean
I never kept any of them. I wish I had.
These are just the ones I found up here. I've
got a crate of them up in the other room.
I don't see anything. And the only reason so I

(07:20):
also found a Batman Beyond script from Return of the
Joker signed body everybody that I just went and had
framed today. And the reason I didn't have this one
framed is because I realized Trina wasn't there and I
want her to sign it. Rusty didn't sign it, and
Bill didn't sign it. So I'm going to make sure
this year I get everybody else's signature on it, and
then I will throw up behind. Is that the one

(07:41):
that's Matthew Nelson's script? This is this was the shooting
draft of a Brave New World. I made sure and
I checked. It's in perfect condition. It's got every page there,
it's got the breakdowns, it's got everything. So once I
get everybody else to sign it, I'm gonna I'm gonna
frame it and if you notice, that was probably the
last time I signed by a with a little face
that I used to drive and the X do you

(08:04):
want to get into the X? But the best part
about the face is that I was drawing I was doing.
I would always sign my name and then I put
that little face next to it. And I remember we
were signing autographs for one of the last episodes, probably
maybe that script, and um uh Amy Snow our phone

(08:25):
page at the time, who was still a really good
friend of mine. Um and I went on to work
with her. She directed a film that I produced, and
she's a great friend and a great writer. But at
the time she was she was our phone page and
she would be the person and responsible for having to
sign all the scripts that they would give away to
the audience. And on one of the times I was
signed doing a little face and she just very innocently

(08:46):
asked me. She's like, so how long are you going
to keep doing that little thing? And I was just like,
you're right, it's pretty childish. I'm twenty years old now.
I don't think I need to be doing a card
And so I decided to retire are put in a
little face, So no longer, so that was probably the
last time I signed it. That's hilarious. Well, that's really cute.

(09:09):
Thank you for sharing all of that with us, will
and um, yeah, well, welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm
Daniel Fishel, I'm Rider Strong, and I'm Wilfred. So this
week we are very honored to welcome a fan favorite
of Boy Meets World, someone who has been requested to
come on the podcast hundreds of times by fans. Um.

(09:30):
I keep seeing and be tagged on Instagram, and I'm
sure he's like, yes, yes, I'm coming on, leave me alone. Um.
He is someone we all have wonderful memories of as
Frankie Stucchino, a bully with a what with a heart
of gold who appeared in nineteen episodes of Boy Meets World,
starting with the season to Reset Back to School. He's
also beloved for his roles in American History X, alongside

(09:53):
William Rusty Roy, the Wolf of Wall Street, Remember the Titans,
and most memorably as Randy My Name Is Earl and
William the Magic I Obsessed, Mall Rat and Kevin Smith's
View Askew Universe. And he was most recently seen in
the award winning movie Babylon with Brad Pitt. No big deal,
he's just yeah, he's just nothing, nothing going on in

(10:16):
his life. Child actors that aren't working anymore. Yeah, exactly,
such a shame. It is time to welcome our favorite
tough guy Ethan. Hey, guys, Yeah, how's it going. Oh

(10:40):
my gosh, it's so good to see you. Also, you're
lighting and where you are it's so pretty awesome. It's cool,
it's so moody. Yeah, this is like if you could
just see the jumbles are. We're not probably allowed to swear.
You can say anything you want, really, Okay, you guys

(11:03):
will patch that up for me because I do have
a mouth like a pirate. Okay, maybe will make your swear.
We should make them louder. They should just make them louder.
I think we should bracket it. I love Yes, Have
you always had a mouth like a pirate? I don't
remember you cursing on boy Meat's World, No, I think

(11:24):
I think I have. You know my like, my grandmother
used to tell me that um cursing was a sign
of low i Q. And at some point I read
like Bukowski and I was like, he's got a pretty good,
I Q and he swears a lot, swears a lot
like what I can say whatever I want. I love
that you've already mentioned Bukowski because one of my key

(11:46):
memories from our time, my boy Meate's world was you
giving me a copy of Burning and Water Drowning in Flame,
a Bookowski collection, because you knew I was into poetry,
but at the time I was into like English romantic poets,
and and you were the first person to be like,
you need you need to get into the twentieth century
and you gave me and it changed my life. I

(12:09):
became like a Kowski fanadict, which then led to Jon
Fonte later in the Best And you were like, you
need to be reading this writer. And you totally totally
got to me, and you greatly influenced my reading life,
like with one gift. And I think you just did it,
Like I don't think it was for any occasion. You
just came and brought me a Pokowski, but you're like,

(12:31):
you need to read this, and you were so right.
So like this kid is smart, he's reading a lot.
What if I corrupt him a little bit? It was
so great, just so even it's come up a couple
of times on the podcast, But was Boy Meets World
your first ever job? First ever job, by the way,

(12:55):
it was it was my second audition. I got an
agent and he was like, Okay, I'm gonna start sending
you out. And I had an audition for Melrose Place
in the morning in Santa Monica. I drove, I did
that audition, got to call they want you for this job.

(13:16):
As I'm driving to see Sally Steiner in Burbank. Go
to see Sally Steiner. Get the call right before I go,
and you're not sad they're not hiring you. You didn't
get kind of bummed, but like, I got another shot
at this right now. Went in to see Sally Steiner.
She said come back this afternoon for these other people.

(13:37):
And I was like, what does that mean? Maybe I
blew this too. And then I went back from Michael
Jacob's first job, first auditioning, believing Sane's that's how the
business works. Just do your first Yeah. Easy. But it's
so crazy to me is that I thought of you

(13:57):
was such a grown up with such a wealth of information,
and you were like such a pro actor and like
so for me to realize now that you were your
first job, ever, is just mind boggling. It seems so confident,
not obvious. Dude, I didn't know what takes of my

(14:18):
first scene where I shoved Ben into a locker or
something like, Yes, I thought I was I thought I
was getting fired. I was like, nobody can't do this
this many times? This is psychotic. Why am I not
doing this right? I don't remember that. Do you guys
remember doing that that many times? No? But it's actually
makes perfect sense that a new person on the cast

(14:40):
would instantly be shown that they were a new person
on the cast. Does that make sense? I was very
clearly a new person, and it was like, let's let's
show you that we're in charge. Yeah. I think what
will saying is that somebody was not going to let
you come in and feel too confident about yourself, even
if you deserve to have confidence. Yeah, they achieved that

(15:01):
in spades. No, I felt very welcome. Other other than that,
we did that thing many many times, and I just
didn't know any better and was like at first, like, well,
this is just what you do. You do a lot,
but not in front of an audience. By the time
we were done, the audience was just like, can you guys,
ye do anything else? Scene? Yeah, you know, you know

(15:23):
when you're starting to lose the audience when they start
you hear the fake laughter and they're they're forcing all
that stuff, and you're kind of sitting there going like, Okay,
we gotta we gotta move on. We're losing them. But
we also just recently watched that episode that it's just
the first episode of the second season, and it is
a huge episode. There's so much going on. It's like
a whole new show and you guys are introduced, you
and Blake and um Danny and like it's like a

(15:46):
whole like a whole set of a subset of characters
that like get a lot of screen time, and it
just and we were watching it going backstage. Must have
been crazy. None of us could really remember it, but
it must have been such a hectic episode because we
had Tony Mr. Turner introduced you guys high school. He
is so much going on. It's jarring and it must

(16:07):
have felt like crazy making to all of us at
the time. But I don't really remember it, do you do?
You remember meeting Danny and Blake on set like the
first day and feeling like, oh, these are the guys
that I'm gonna be like in a crew with. I
remember Blake and feeling very much like I'm in Me
and Blake are contemporaries. And then I remember Danny being

(16:29):
like he's older, he's cooler. We don't talk to him
too much. He you know what I mean, Like he's
a little more mysterious. He had that Harley Kinder thing.
I don't know if it was like method or what
it was, but he was like less approachable. Blake and
I from you know, the moment it was like, you're Joey,

(16:50):
You're Frankie. Okay, we're buds rat right, that's sing. He
said the same thing. Blake said the same thing, where
it was just kind of an instant connection between the
two of you. Yeah, it was great. And I had
seen the show prior to that, and I just remember
coming in and going, this does not look anything like

(17:11):
what I watched last year. It just was totally it
seemed totally different. Yeah, yeah, it was. We felt the
same way. Yeah, we're now slowly getting more comfortable with
season two, but it was a completely different television show
and we're trying we're kind of now figuring out why

(17:31):
there was a whole bunch of changes when it came
to the writing staff, and a bunch of changes when
it came to the cast and the producers, and there
was it seems to be maybe a mandate somewhere that
the show was to be aged up. So all of
a sudden, this kind of innocent family sitcom has become
much more high school, much more sexual. Uh, it was
just we were calling it drop shock. Well I am

(17:53):
they haven't caught on yet, but um to to just yeah,
getting season two and hey, we're going to start the
show over a little it, which is what it seemed
like we were doing. Even what made you get into
acting to begin with? So you have your your first
day of auditions Melrose Place in Boy Meant's World and
you technically booked them both. What what was the motivation
and inspiration behind you getting into it at that at

(18:14):
that age of your life. So, I, as an overweight kid,
was unbelievably uncomfortable with myself, and I I went to
school oddly with a couple of actors, uh, Solei moon Fry.
I went to school with her and Giovanni Rabc and
I went to actually the set of the Wonder Years

(18:37):
with Vanni once and and I was just like, this
is incredible, Like it seemed incredible that that you could
go and play make Believe and get paid for it
and not go to school. Although there was like classroom,
but it wasn't anything like real school. Um, there was that.
But the thing I noticed mostly that was appealing to

(18:57):
me with these guys was that well didn't actually see them.
People saw characters. People saw the guy from with Annie.
I don't know if that was after my two dads
or or before whatever. If it was just that he
was kind of known for the Wonder Years at that point,

(19:18):
but he was kind of a known actor, and they
saw that they saw whoever they saw from TV. So
they was just Punky Burst at the time, and and
nobody knew anything about them other than that. And it
seemed like this wonderful defense against people actually looking at

(19:38):
you and seeing you and observing you. And it was
appealing to me in that way that you could kind
of hide. The other thing that was kind of fascinating
and nice for me was I was kind of, um
always plagued with this feeling of discomfort with myself and feeling,
uh that I was bad and wrong because of my

(19:59):
weight and the characters I played were all meant to
be overweight. So for those moments, it suddenly became okay
to be overweight and and and it wasn't there was
no wrongness in that, in that in embodying that character.
So there were a few things like that that we're
appealing and then it was just like I don't have
to go to school and I can make money and

(20:21):
it's like the coolest job ever. And it was kind
of like a mix of all of that. That's amazing
to me that the idea that the best way to
hide is to have more people watching you kind of incredible.
I mean, yeah, it's it's amazing though, but but it's true.
You do you get to especially for somebody like you,
and we're going to get into some of your other roles.

(20:42):
I think because I instantly go to American History X, where,
you know, while we didn't know each other very well
when we were doing more means where we still knew
each other. And I remember the first time I saw
American History X, I just saw a completely different person
on the screen, and I was so captivated by it
and by you that it was one of those things
where it was one of those moments in my life

(21:02):
where I was like, I don't I don't think I
know any of these people the way I thought I did,
because they're becoming who they are to then become the
characters they want to embody. So to see that, I
remember walking out going like, I'm not sure I knew
Ethan at all because to do that, to find that
in him, it was just that was amazing and rusty
too for for that matter, for you know, the one

(21:24):
or two scenes he was in. You're just seeing such
a different side of these people that you thought you
quote unquote new uh. To then see that was was
pretty incredible. So yeah, it was to me making fun
of myself. Was was if I could do that quickly,
then nobody else would make fun of you, because it's like, yeah,
the guy making fun of yourself, it's it's smoking mirrors,
it's how do we distract them from this thing? And

(21:46):
I could rationalize it in a way. And this this
kind of came later, but it was part of what
was appealing to me was are they looking at me
because I'm disfigured in the way that I perceived that
I'm disfigured, or are they looking at me because they've
seen me in something. The minute I could rationalize that
they're staring at me because they saw me on a

(22:07):
TV show, if there was such a relief associated with that,
and that actually it wasn't that until Boy Meets World.
I actually had the most one of the most profound
experiences I've had as an actor. I I've always felt
that I was an embarrassment to my father, and you know,

(22:31):
I just you know, he was like this fit, active guy,
and I was a kid that was not fit and active,
and he was the one who very much always wanted
me to diet. And and the first time I ever
spent any Boy Meets World money, I took my father
on vacation and we went to an island in the Caribbean,

(22:52):
just me and him, and it was like this bonding thing.
And we were at the pool one day, and you know,
I'm still very uncomfortable with myself wearing a shirt in
the pool and there's these kids, and you know, you know,
as a bigger guy, you avoid kids because there's no filter,
and they'll just say and and and it's horrible, but like,

(23:12):
what are you gonna do yell at kids? You're not
gonna yell at kids, and I remember, uh having this
feeling of fear that these kids are gonna say something
and make me feel like crap in front of my dad,
who I've I've just like taken on this trip. And
they pulled the rug out from under me. They they

(23:33):
came up to me to talk about boy Mets World,
and it was truly the first time I felt that
my father was really proud of me, and it was
like really profoundly meaningful. You know. It was like a
massive deal because all the that I carried inside about
myself evaporated in that moment. It was really awesome. Wow. Man, Yeah,

(24:01):
it was a big deal. The show was a big deal.
It touched a lot of people. We're starting to realize that.
I mean, I think we knew, but you know, but
you don't know. I'm you don't really get what it
meant to people until you hear a lot of the stories,
and especially when we started doing conventions together and things
like that, and you hear the stories of people coming

(24:21):
up to us and how much the show affected them
and different aspects of the show. I mean, you don't
some people identify with Writer's character because of the way
Sean grew up in a trailer park. They identify with
Eric because he he didn't get into college and had
to find another way to get in there. Or Danielle's
character of being unkey and weird and smart and still

(24:42):
having friends and boys. You know, yeah, you just it's
it's you don't realize how much you're affecting people when
you're doing what you're doing. Um So, yeah, hearing stories
like that is insane amazing. Yeah, it was like life
changing moment for me, and so thank you guys for
being a part of it. It's so different from you know,

(25:04):
my experience, like because I just hated fame so much,
like I just never wanted to get recognized. I never
wanted to be acknowledged. Um So, it's it's I'm so
glad that it was like the exact opposite for you.
You know that at a moment like that could be
so empowering. I mean, yes, but look, there is certainly
there's a line there, and I can't I can't imagine

(25:26):
what you were going through could be fun at all,
because that's a totally different thing. This is kids who
you know, they're also recognizing I'm the bully though I'm
kind hearted, I'm not a guy they're running up and
squealing over. But it is there is some defense there.
It is a deflection. It's like I now have kids
who on any other at any other point in my life,

(25:49):
would have been snickering at me, or would have been
nice kids and and just ignored me, or maybe made friends.
But there the the the look from across at a distance,
the continued look back that always meant I'm going to
get made fun of and and it stopped meaning, which

(26:10):
was a big deal, massive, massive deal. Wow. I So
we had Blake on recently and he talked about how
important your friendship was to him, not just while he
was on Boy Means World, but just generally in his life.
What do you remember about your friendship with Blake and
the way you guys were on set together, and do

(26:31):
you remember any pranks like we We think about you
guys as being like a little I don't know if
Frank's is the right word, but yeah, we were up
to stuff. We were certainly up to stuff. Um. Blake
was so much fun and we were we were very
very close friends. You know, I'm now a grandfather. So

(26:51):
and this is also going back almost are you. Yeah,
it's completely wild. But yeah, I have a nine month
old grand four girls, granddaughter. Yeah, congratulations, that's incredible. So
I don't have a huge amount of time for socializing,
but I've you know, Blake. Blake and I continued to

(27:14):
be friends until I basically was like, I'm not raising kids,
I'm not going to be social with people. And that
chapter is over. You know, Well, it's funny because Blake
now has a has a child, and so he understands
it perfectly. I can guarantee you he is in the
thick of it. So we also recently had on Adam Scott,

(27:38):
and so what do you what do you remember about
that kind of changeover from you know, we had had Danny,
Danny was Harley, than Danny left, and then they brought
somebody else on for one episode and that person was gone,
and then Adam Scott comes in. Do you have any
specific memories about your time with Adam or about that changeover.
I loved Adam. Adam was wonderful. I remember feeling very

(28:00):
empathetic for the position he was put in, you know,
because Harley was a popular character and that and and
then and then there was that other guy who was
in and out. So it's like he came in knowing
that that's a lot of compressure. And I just felt
like he was such a nice, good guy that I
was rooting for him, you know what I mean. He

(28:22):
he was like a guy where I don't remember the
last guy. I don't remember the intern between Unfortunately, like
two days it was yeah, he Yeah, he came, came
and was gone. I mean, they didn't even have time
to change the name of the character. They just you're
Harley now, thanks, you know. So, yeah, we didn't. I

(28:42):
don't remember his name either. Well we'll find out when
we get to the episode. Yeah, exactly. But Adam was
a sweetheart and uh and I thought he was great.
You know, he was a totally different than Harley, but
he was He was awesome in a totally different way.
Very cool and um maybe not quite as scared, but
that's okay because we weren't meant to be the scariest guys. Yeah, no,

(29:05):
I have I have a question for you. So, before
he came on, um and and was just obviously one
of the nicest guys ever, were you a wrestling fan
had did you know who Vader was before they brought
him on to play your dad, no idea. Never I
saw Cogan, I like new whole Cogan. I knew Jake
the Snake. I knew when when when he written out
of match with Jake the Snake. I knew Jake the Snake.

(29:27):
But but I had never heard of Vader before, which
seem sacrilegious to me, you know, having known now he
was a big deal, but I didn't at the time
know him. Did you have a great time working with
him as your dad? Like, what was your relationship? I
mean you probably worked closer with him than than any
of us. What was you know? He told me he

(29:51):
I got like really hardcore stories about fighting in Asia.
He would go and do we all remember, Yeah, where
he like he lost an eye in a match and
scooped his eye back in back in himself. That's right,
put it back in himself when he won some sort
of ultimate fighting international. Yeah, it's a crazy When he

(30:13):
first told me that story, I was like, this guy's
And then I asked some people and they were like, no, no,
he's legit. Like that guy's as legit as they come.
And then I was kind of like treated him with
a lot more deference but when he first said told
that story, I was like, you're just coming in hearing
and to tell me you lost an eye and fight
in Japan. Yeah, and shoved it back into your head.

(30:36):
What kind of what do you take me for it? Um?
The most nerve racking experience which you were there for, righting,
was that WrestleMania. Yes, and so I almost got into
a fight with multiple people. Nobody prepared us for. No, no,

(30:57):
They just wanting to shut us out, no idea, and
I didn't know. I think all the people there, we're
just there as red, like they didn't know what was happening.
We didn't know what's happening. And people hated him. People
hated Vader so much, and they were saying really nasty stuff.

(31:18):
But I remember somebody telling me in between stuff, they
were like, you're Mike, stop fighting with people because you
can hear what you're saying. Oh, I love it. You
fought back. Ben and I were just terrified. I remember
feeling like like running backstage and almost crying because everyone
was just like, you know, screal boardman world, and we

(31:39):
were just like but you, I know, you were on
like you were in the ring the entire time. Ben
and I were like running in and out, but you
were there the whole I love that you fought back.
I was I almost got into a physical fight with
people in the audience, and one of the whoever was
somebody there, somebody on our team, was like, stop, you're
acting like, don't listen to them. You're gonna get in

(32:02):
real trouble. And I was like, that guy's keep saying,
your mom, I'm ready. You know that was That was
one of the most nerve racket experiences of my life. Yeah, god, God,
I'll think about that sometimes. Like you know, it's very difficult,
even on gigantic movies to like lock up New York

(32:24):
City streets, and so you'll be in the middle of
shooting something and you'll just think, like, this is a
hundred million dollar movie and you guys can't like pause.
These people from the walking through the same like what
are you? What are we doing there? And even then
I'll have to remind myself just go back to the
mid nineties and WrestleMania and this is like nothing can eat.

(32:51):
So I have a question for you, because you're you're
in a very unique position to answer this. Um you
went on I mean not only to do all the
films that you've done, but My Name Is Earl was
it was a huge hit as well. Can you talk
about is there one type of television you enjoyed doing
more than you know? I mean, you went from four
camera on Boy Meats World with an audience to single

(33:13):
cam on My Name Is Earl, which is kind of
like shooting a film every day. Is there one type
of show you preferred doing over the other? Well, okay,
I mean like there's uh, there's I guess I. I
guess I would have to answer this as honestly as
I possibly can and say, like I did Boy Meats World,
which really spoiled me for my next working experience, which

(33:35):
was like so night and day, nothing like the leisurely
work schedule that we had, especially because you guys would
have to go to school and I wouldn't. And suddenly
it's like me and Blake are going to the movies
at lunch in the middle of the day. You guys
have a couple hours of school, and we're just like,
please keep them in school. This is great, Um, but

(33:57):
I like the aesthetic. I guess, I guess I would
probably prefer watching a single camera show. But you just
can't be. I then went on to do uh a
bunch of episodes of a show called The Ranch and
the Ranch, you know, towards the last season of that,

(34:17):
I was on Boy Meats World. It even got looser
than that. It got to be like table read and
we're out. We just call it do the table. So
it got to the point on The Ranch where they'd
call me and go, we need you for four episodes
this season. We need six hours pick a day and

(34:39):
I'd go, I'd go like, how's this day and they'd go, great,
we'll see you from this time to this time. And
I would literally show up and they would block shoot
my scenes and I would be done, And that was
the whole season, like four episodes or it was insane. Now,
I don't think you can beat multi camera for like

(35:03):
your life, especially if you have kids or something like that.
Was that also David Trainer? Yeah, David Trainer, who you
would have met on your very first job ever, Boy
Meets World? What what like? The greatest guy? It's amazing man. Yes, yeah,

(35:23):
it's one of our first guests. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I
mean we remember him so well because he was so
I mean, obviously we were all for the most part
pretty green and the way he works with actors, and
I mean, you know, he's he's just one of the
best ever. So yeah, that's so funny. Did you guys
talk about Boy Meets World then when you did that

(35:43):
really all the time? Yeah? Yeah, And I had um
he did all the episodes of that seven ye and
I went to there said a couple of times and
was like, Holy trainer, you're here. This is amazing. So
I had seen him again in between, but it was
a pretty big It was a twenty year gap between

(36:04):
when I had worked with him, and it was really fun. Man,
he's he's he's the best. Do you have a specific
favorite like behind the scenes memory of filming that isn't WrestleMania,
or maybe it is WrestleMania, or like a favorite episode

(36:27):
or scene that really stands out to you over the
nineteen episodes of Boy Meets World you did, Yeah, I
think it's not WrestleMania. Like that's one of those things
like you you get into a car accident and you
survive it, and then you tell the story because it's
like exciting, but you don't want to ever do that again,
you know. I think, just like the first episode. Every

(36:53):
every experience on that episode was new and fresh and
interesting and exciting, and and it it never really got old,
you know, it was always it was always kind of
fun and exciting. But that first that first episode that
was Disney. Um, working at Disney was exciting. Yeah, all

(37:18):
of it. It was just so surreal. Yeah, Disney Studios.
I mean, I know it's it's probably also because it
was my first job too, but like, although that's not true,
I had done Full House, but there's something about when
you first work at Disney Studios and you're that just
feels like, I don't know, the magic of Disney. People

(37:39):
talk about the magic of Disney. You go onto the
Disney lot and the squirrels come up to you. That's
not a joke, they actually do. It is there is
something about Disney that is just magical. Really, they're piping
in happiness from somewhere. It's amazing. Man. So when Blake
was here, he we asked him about if he had

(37:59):
a specific memory about when or how he found out
you guys weren't going to be coming back to the show,
and he told us a story that you guys actually
went in to pitch a script that you had written. Yeah,
so the story Blake told and I was I was
actually before actually know what, let me not tell you
what Blake said. Let's just do you have a memory

(38:20):
of when or how you found out that like Frankie
and Joey just weren't going to be coming back to
the show ever. No, I don't. I don't remember. No,
I really don't. Um. I mean no, I don't remember.

(38:40):
I don't remember it being official in that way. But
it was always weak. I suppose it probably was. Yeah, well,
because even when you guys did the first episode, you
had no idea that you were coming back, right, it
was just the one off. No, it was towards the
end of the week and they were like, hey, two
weeks from now, are you busy? And I of course

(39:01):
was not. So that was kind of my entire experience,
was like hey this week, can you work? You know? Um?
But I I have no memory really of it becoming
an official, but I would love to hear what Blake's. Yeah,
so Blake said that you guys wrote a script that
was based around like Catcher in the Rye, Like there

(39:22):
was a Holden Caufield character, and you were really excited
about it. You had worked really hard on it. You
felt like you had all the angles worked out, and
you went in to pitch it to Michael Jacobs, and
in that meeting, Michael listened. He took it all in
and he was like, yeah, you know, it's really good. Um,
we're not going to buy it, but I'm you know,

(39:44):
glad you guys are here because we have good news.
We're actually going to offer you contracts. Like whether that
meant more recurring or thirteen out of twenty two or one,
like I don't you don't don't know if you really specified,
but it was definitely like, you guys are going to
be an official part of the cast. Now, you're gonna
be coming background regularly. And then you guys never heard
from him again and just never came back to the show.

(40:06):
He said, you left the room. You were high fiving, like, yeah,
this is awesome, He's like, and then nothing. I feel
like I do remember going to see him, but I don't.
I don't remember. I mean, listen in in fairness towards
the end, I had a bit of a drug problem,
and you know, like we like we can be as

(40:28):
real and open podcast as we want. We're adults now,
I've gotten my act together. I've been sober now for
multiple decades, and so that's good. But towards the end,
and you know, I never I just never thought about
it because I wasn't really paying attention. I'm sure that happened.
I do have some vague recollection of us in Michael

(40:49):
Jacob's office, and it's it's a memory where I'm like,
why the were we in Michael jakes off, you know,
But but I do recall us being there, and I
I could have gotten excited over anything at that point.
You know, I was excitable in that state, but U
and I was. But you were also already working a

(41:11):
lot world, you know. I imagine that it probably didn't
mean as much to you because I mean, even between
what season two and three you did Mall Rats right
like that must have been a writer, because I remember
you coming back and telling us about it and being like, oh,
I can't wait for this because I was a huge
Clerks fan and I love that whole you know, so
it was like such a big deal that you were
already doing. And then American History X like that all

(41:33):
happened during Boy Meets World, So yeah, you were already
like rolling right into other projects. Yeah, I think. I mean,
like I liked the I think, you know, when I
didn't understand anything at first, and so at first it
was like I'm on this show. And when I was
doing multiple episodes, I was like, oh, I'm I'm on

(41:53):
this show, like I'm actually on this show. And then
I I learned like, oh no, there's different contracts and that,
you know, I didn't understand TV and movies and anything
like that. And I think by the time I stopped
doing the show, I was just doing other stuff and
it wasn't there. I have no memory of any point

(42:13):
going like that's a bummer that I'm not doing that right,
you know, right, you just got you just were stopped
being asked, but you were being asked to do a
bunch of other things exactly right. And then you know
your I will guarantee you your question is better than mine.

(42:34):
I don't know about that now, and then we'll be
the judge. Well, I was going to talk about his
journey into this new healthy, incredible life questions too. Yes,
I mean, I I follow you on Instagram. I see
your your food journey and your fitness journey. Talk to

(42:56):
us about that and what you are up to And
I just started working out again, and my whole body hurts. Thanks,
my whole body hurts. Um. I I was kind of
newly sober in two thousand, two thousand one, two thousand one,
newly sober, and uh, I'd had a few rough patches

(43:20):
of getting sober, and and now I kind of had
my footing there. And you know, I woke up one
day and I was like, Oh, I have this whole
other thing that I haven't been thinking about that I
should really start addressing. And I had this girlfriend who
I cared very much about, and I had this weird
experience where I kind of realized that if I didn't

(43:43):
do something about this, my relationship couldn't go anywhere with
her because there was tons of stuff that I couldn't
participate with her. And she liked going to going on
hikes and spending time at the beach and going to museums.
None of that was interesting to me at my size
and uh, and so I had to ask her for help.

(44:04):
And asking her for help, it was almost as though
I was letting her in on a secret, because she
didn't ever treat me as though it was an issue
and it was a very weird situation to find myself in.
And then when I asked her for help, she kind
of was like, yeah, that's no problem, we can totally
do that. Um. There were many years after that of

(44:26):
trying to uh figure out what food was doing to
me rather than what I was doing to myself with food,
and so I didn't really get my I didn't really
come to a proper equilibrium with that until many years later.
And um, there was a one point with her where

(44:49):
I had gotten really thin and doing lots of cardio
and starving myself and that just was not sustainable at all.
And I finally threw up my hands and said to
my wife, I'm getting fat at him, like this is
not fun, living like this is not fun. And she
was like, Okay, that's fine. And then I was doing
a show in San Francisco and I tore my bicept

(45:09):
and I gained a bunch of weight, but I didn't care.
I was eating whatever I wanted. And I had to
have surgery on my arm, and normally it was like
a very simple outpatient surgery, and because of my weight,
they said no, no, you're too heavy for outpatient. You
have to go do this in a hospital and my
wife said, listen, I've never really cared. I love you.

(45:32):
You know I love you. This is not an issue
that I have with you aesthetically at all, but because
there's this weird health concern, you have to get your
weight below whatever that number is. I don't care what
the number is, but get your weight below that. And
then I just was like, Okay, now I have another

(45:52):
reason to do this. Plus I have a bunch of
kids and I want to be around for them as
long as possible. But that's been that's been the real
impetus behind trying to get and maintain a level of leanness. Um.
So when I was on social media, which I have
not been for years and years and years, and there's
very few things I miss about social media, but following

(46:14):
you is I do miss because you gave me a
philosophy when I start working out. I've always struggle with
my weight. I will fluctuate sixty pounds sometimes. Um, you
had a concept that just spoke so much to me,
and I would hit you up on Instagram about it. Uh,
and I'd like you to talk a little bit about
it if you could, which is killing your clone. And

(46:35):
I was wondering if you maybe you could talk a
little bit about killing your clone, because it really resonated
with me. Yeah, so the idea of killing your clone,
and this the when I tore my bicept. I was
playing this character based on a guy and the real
guy is I don't know if you've seen the movie
The Hunted with Benacio del Toro and Tom Louie Jones.
So the guy I was playing is the guy who

(46:58):
choreographed all that knife off. He's uh considered uh um
a subject matter expert in edged weapons by by our government,
like our government says he's the most knowledgeable person with knives,
and yeah, he's awesome. Is this? This is also Patrick
Huguets teacher, isn't it? Yes? Pat's been training with him

(47:22):
even longer than I've known him, and I I was
playing a character based on him in a TV show
called Chance, which I thought was very good. Nobody watched it,
and getting to know him was this amazing experience. And
he had all these little knowledge bombs and one of
them was kill your clone. And for him, because he's uh,

(47:43):
he trains military people in combatives. The idea is like,
as a warrior, every day you have to be able
to kill the old version of you, but not the
old version of you ten years ago, the version of
you today tomorrow. You have to be be to kill.
So you have to always be leveling up every day, training, uh,

(48:06):
reading something. And so the way I apply it is
just in order for me to level up as a person,
as a father, as a husband, as an actor, as
a human being. Whatever I'm doing every day is leveling up,
and it's killing the old version of me. And the
old version of me again, is not from the distant past.

(48:26):
It's from the immediate past. It's from five minutes ago.
How am I improving myself constantly? And in order to
do that, I'm doing that so that I can kill
the clone of me that exists in the past. Not
such a cool concept. It really resonated me. I remember,
just because I would. It was when I was really
trail running, which I'm trying to get into again, and

(48:46):
I would want to stop after about three miles, and
then I'd say, no, wait, I did three miles yesterday,
So I went three point two and then I take
a picture. I'd send it to you be like, killed
my clone. You're like good, Keep keep it up. That's
a week later, I'm like four, I did full you know,
it just kept going. Was let me say, it might
be also important that you rest for a day so

(49:09):
that you can kill that colin, you know what I mean. Like,
there's that too, Like a day if you're just constantly
going above, above, above, four miles and six miles, eventually
you know you're running a hundred miles and your body says,
go yourself, we're not doing this, you know what I mean?
So yeah, there's that too. Yeah. Pat would always talk

(49:29):
about So Patrick Fuguet for for those of you don't know,
and a terrific actor. He was starting um almost almost
famous and uh is a phenomenal dungeon master for the
for the nerds out there, he was my d m um.
So it was. And by the way, he's a killer.
He is a killer, like I yeah, the first day

(49:50):
I saw him in class, I was like, what are
you doing here? Pat? And he was like, what do
you mean? This is where I trained? And he is
an assassin, Like he's a bad man. Yeah, very yeah,
like yes, you just you kind of don't expect it,
which is the thing I think that makes him so
damn dangerous, which is awesome. Um, but yeah, he so
he was would always impart that kind of wisdom as well,

(50:12):
where he's like, no, you gotta you gotta do this,
you gotta do And then I started asking about that
teacher and he's like you and I gotta talk, okay, okay.
So yeah, it's very very very cool. Yeah, he's awesome
that Tom Kaier is his name, and he he's a
very special, special person because you know, I like to
train combative ju jitsu stuff like that. It's almost always physical.

(50:37):
Most of what I've learned from Tom is philosophical m M,
which is great. Yeah. I want to go back to
boy Meat's world for a second because I want it.
So after you had done a number of episodes in

(50:58):
the first couple of seasons and didn't see you for
a long time, we they brought you back for the
graduation episode in season five. Do you have any memories
of what that was like to be back all of
a sudden after a couple of years of not being there.
Do you have any memories of that reunit that that
graduation episode. I just remember shooting at Radford and being

(51:18):
like this this is a popular show. Why does it
keep moving? I remember that being every every two years
it's a new studio. I was with you guys for
Disney and then and when they were like, yeah, come
do this episode it's at Radford, I was like, what's

(51:39):
going on here? Why can't they just have this? We
keep getting evicted? Well it does anyone know why? But
I mean, I mean, I think it goes back to
like we never felt like a popular show. Like we
always felt like we were sort of taken for granted,
like nobody. I don't know. I never even within the

(51:59):
t G I F line know, we had lower ratings
than Sabrina the Teenage Witch and all that, so we
always kind of felt like we might get canceled at
any moment. And it seems ridiculous now because we look back,
We're like, there were millions of people watching us, we
had so many fans, but we always felt like we
were on the bubble, which is just weird. Um Yeah, so,
I mean to me, it was part of that. It
was just like they just shuffle us around. We never

(52:21):
had that much money, We never had security as a show.
I don't like that. Yeah, that's weird. I that was
prior to me even understanding what what TV ratings were
it was just you know, people seem to like it,
and it's part of t G. I F that seemed
to be a big deal to you know, like most
people aren't watching TV on Friday nights, but they're watching

(52:41):
t t G if some yeah, we had that block.
That block seemed to be just kind of unstoppable on
a Friday night. So because I mean this is because
you've changed so much physically. Do you ever get recognized
from Boy Meets World all the time? You still do? Okay,
It's it's it's you know, it's one of those things

(53:02):
where they have to put it together like a like
I know who you are right now for whatever reason,
and I knew who you were fifteen years ago, but
you were part of my life thirty years ago, you
know what I mean. Like it's one of those weird things. Um,
but it is astonishing how consistent, you know what I mean,

(53:28):
Like it's just always existed, you know, you do. When
I remember when we were doing it, there was a
certain age range of people who watched the show, and
it wasn't ever a nineteen year old. It was like
a fifteen year old. It was never a year old.
And to have to go through the past thirty years

(53:50):
and experience the different generations that have been touched by
that show, because it's always I don't know if it's
on the air now, but it was on the air
for nearly thirty years. Yeah, the same. Yeah, and once
streaming came around and then kind of went to streaming,
but before streaming existed, it was never not on the air. Yeah,
which is really wild. Yeah, because you're right now there

(54:12):
are eight year olds who know of it, there are
forty five year olds who know of it, and then
every single age in between, Yeah, which is you know,
sometimes somebody will say like I loved you on boy
T World, and I'm like, you're years old. When did
you watch are we talking? Weren't a live They're like, oh,
on MTV and reruns? Right, Yeah, it wasn't even MTV.

(54:36):
Was it like MTV? We were like on the we
were like an ESPN THEO it was, Yeah, we were
we weren't even on the top MTV. Okay, we're watching it.
You are the last person I could possibly ask about
this mystery that has come up. It's a good one,

(54:58):
so I've I mean, I think it's just a lot
of character that's why we're trying. We're dying writer. Writer
doesn't like the mystery, but I'm gonna tell you about
it anyway. So when Adam Scott was here, Adam Scott,
at the end of his interview says, all right, I'm
going to tell you something. I haven't even talked about
it about this at all. I just recently told the
story to like my wife. I have otherwise kept it

(55:19):
a complete secret all this time, but I'm dying to
know if Writer, if you remember this story. And the
story was that at the end of the season, we
had just taped the last scene and everyone is like,
whoa high fiving? You know, we're going into Hiatus rap
party tomorrow or whatever it is, and everybody's like congratulating
each other and giving hugs, and Adam Writer hugged you

(55:43):
and Blake and then Adam was standing there and Adam
went in and gave Writer a big hug, and Writer
apparently shoved him off of him, like kind of aggressively
and looked at him like what the f man and
Adam was like and then ran and then it righter
than ran off. I have absolutely no memory of that

(56:05):
at all. I don't think I can't picture a rider
doing that. Writer with such a sweetheart and such a hugger.
I think it's so. I'm a huggy guy, always been.
I mean, is that one of the things where like,
you hug somebody and you and you perceive, right, it's
all in your your universe kind of you perceive their

(56:27):
energy not being off, and then it becomes over the
course of decades this shove. Right, That is entirely possible
that it could have been something small that in his
in his mind and especially feeling insecure, like, oh my gosh,
I hugged at the star at the show and it didn't.
It didn't it didn't get the response that I was expecting,
And it could have been that. But also one of

(56:48):
the things that I thought of was that I remember
you and Blake being especially Blake being very like, like
I said, mischievous or pranky, and I imagined that maybe
you two did something like grabbed Writer's butt in the
middle of Adams hug by the way that could have happened, Okay, right,

(57:10):
I mean, that's I think that could have happened, like
because because like Adam told us about, he killed you
guys like an incredibly dirty joke, and you and Blake
were like, you know who would think that's funny? Tony
Quinn and like that's funny, and you like so you
guys would do stuff like that all the time, and
like there's I don't remember this moment at all, but

(57:33):
I imagine one of you guys watching him hug me
could have like grabbed my ass or something to just
freak me out, and I thought it was him, and
I don't know. Yeah, the first thing I thought of
was like, I wonder if there was something going on
where that was kind of set up and so anyway,
I don't have a strong memory of that specifically occurring. However,

(57:56):
within that universe that a million percent like if somebody
said this happened, I'd go, yeah, that probably probably that
sounds more pile yeah then right or just not like
we hug right. Well that so that leads to Blake.
The other thing Blake told us was that when he

(58:16):
when you no speak for him, when he said he
met all of us, he felt like we were all
kind of the good pure kids, and you were the
two of you were kind of like a little bit
of darkness coming on the set. Is that how how
you felt when you met us. Look, you guys had
to go to school. You guys had people there who

(58:38):
were in authority positions. And me and Blake had forties
in our trailers, if you know what I mean. We
we didn't. That's what we had. We we had like
we had cocktails for lunch, even though neither of us
were anywhere near to one one. Is that true? Were

(58:59):
you really seventeen years old? Man? Are doing that? I'm
not going to speak for Blake. I was doing just
about everything you could imagine, maybe not on day one
of work at the time. We got to the point
where I was like, oh, these guys have to go
to school every day for three hours and I don't
have this, Like I don't have to be here, like

(59:20):
I can do whatever. And then when we come back,
nobody's got a lot of energy, like nobody very loose.
It became so there was I don't think Look, and
also Blake had been doing this for a while already,
so he he had everything dialed way more than I did.

(59:41):
But I was I feel like that identity grew, you know,
there was a there were higher stakes for you guys.
You guys, you know, by the time I understood what
contracts were and all of that, and how there were
you know, not right, I don't think ever had a parent,
but there were some parents. Ben's mom was always there,

(01:00:05):
um and and so it was like, okay, we're now
in our best behavior, and then there's just carnage in
the trailer, you know, behind in the alley. We're out
in the alley behind the building, which is like the
you know, the crack alley on your Disney law. You
guys were having so much fun though it wasn't super healthy,

(01:00:29):
but it was probably so much fun. It was so
much fun. It couldn't have been better. Like honestly, it
spoiled me for jobs moving into the future, like some
pilots that were multi camp pilots. Uh. After that, and
I was just like, what are we doing? Why are
we still here? Why? What do you know? Much learning?

(01:00:51):
It's been done? I want three hours for lunch at
the bar? What is the six I'm call all about? Yeah?
I know I remember realizing that too, like after Boy
met World, like working as an actor is hard, but
multi multi caam it was the easiest schedule and and

(01:01:12):
also coming in for me having have you guys having
ironed whatever kinks out year one, even though I know
it was changing a lot, it was already running. Once
that machine is running for a while, it's it just
knows what it is and they're not nobody scrambling to
get everybody there. You know. It was like it was

(01:01:34):
nice to come in on season two on a show
that's established, that knows what it is or knows what
it's becoming, and everybody knows their part. It was great.
It was awesome. So looking back now after thirty very
consistent years working in Hollywood, like, I just like to
have a little list of some of the directors that

(01:01:54):
Ethan has worked with, Martin Scorsese, Ted Demi, Todd Phillips,
Tony k Tony Scott, Dave that Lynch, Kevin Smith, and
Channing Tatum. What are your three feelings looking back on
your very first job, Boy Meets World, David Trainer, the
best guy in the business. Um, there's utter just the

(01:02:16):
fondest memories. Like I I feel like, you know, uh,
I've been asked many times like how do I get
in acting? And I'm like, I don't know, you know,
especially now, like who knows how anything works now? Because
it's like everything's done like this on zoom. Like, if
you guys were doing this three years ago, we'd be
sitting in a room somewhere all together. What we don't

(01:02:38):
even do that now. So I I don't know how
it works now, but I know that, like you tend
to not get your first audition, and and then when
they say, like you're not in the union, you can't work,
there's not a backup five hours later that says like, well,
we'll take you and we'll handle that union thing. And
so I've always felt really kind of um lucky or

(01:03:02):
blessed in that way, blessed to be alive today with
all the dumb stuff I did to my body. UM,
blessed to have not um turned into a total life.
You know, UM, maybe have yelled a few times in
the last thirty years, but but never maliciously, which is
thank god. UM. And uh, the fact that it started

(01:03:24):
with boy Meat's world has been nothing but make me
feel grateful because it has affected so many people, Like
it's profound how many people of ridiculously varying ages through
the years, from little kids to adults to adults now
who said I grew up with you like you meant

(01:03:45):
something to me. As a child. That's a huge deal.
Did your kids watch it? Um? I don't know if
my kids. We we shrive very hard to limit television,
like we don't have kids in our We have some
streaming platforms. I have told them many times, like I

(01:04:06):
caught them as teenagers watching my name is Earle, and
I was like, what are you doing? Turn that off?
Like I don't want that plane into here. So I've
always kind of like not like seeing myself and then
felt uncomfortable with myself in my house. And so they haven't.
I don't think they have. They might have. I have

(01:04:26):
no idea. I don't as they My fellow co host
here will tell you I am happily childless. I have
a step daughter, but happily childless. But from everything I've
heard about parenting, um, it sounds like you can catch
your children doing a lot worse things than watching your
own television show, for sure, which I and I taught
them doing worse things than watching my But I don't

(01:04:48):
even know. It's less of a it's less of a
painful memory somehow, you know, them laughing at you, basically
doing this performance to like distract people from actually looking
at you. It was a very meta thing to walk
into my house and see them watching the show and
then saying like, no, it's actually pretty good dad. You

(01:05:09):
know well I said the same thing to Blake, because
Blake also hasn't watched it in you know, thirty some
odd years. But if you ever feel so inclined, do
yourself a favor and watch your performance on Boy Meets World,
because it's great. It's great, man, you are truly phenomenal.

(01:05:33):
And um, you know. Writer remembers talking about it with
David Trainer, that David Trainer specifically pulling right aside and
being like, look at this guy. Look at what he's
able to do by like your second episode. He he
like pointed you out. He's like, this is this is
an actor. This is how you need to be like
he is, so he's like, I mean, his point was,

(01:05:57):
this character could easily be a joke. You know, this
character could easily, as written, be one note. And Ethan
is taking everything so seriously and committing so hard to
what he's doing that this is like, you know, a
masterclass in acting. Watch this guy. Um, And I totally
remember it, and I remember realizing it too, which is

(01:06:17):
partly why I thought you were such an old pro
you know what, I've never assumed that it was your
first job. In my mind, you were just this older
genius actor I had to had to follow. I bet there,
I bet a little bit of it was just like,
don't blow this, you know, ye don't because I even remember,
like I have to even today, go like, you got

(01:06:40):
a job, you have to actually put some effort into this,
because there is kind of the thing to go like,
I've been doing this for a while, I'm just gonna
I'm just gonna show up. And I was not just
showing up for the world. I was working. I was
like I was trying, you know, I was trying. Yeah, right,
well it shows. It's it shows, I mean, really a

(01:07:01):
remarkable performance. So thank you for being here with us, Ethan.
I hope it wasn't too much of a I think
you were being hassled on Instagram about it. You need
to get anything. We were like, we are you know,
any mention of Boy Meets World. It's it's nothing but
pure glorious nostalgia for me. And I'm so glad you
guys are doing this because I think that there are

(01:07:23):
so many people who want to ask me questions about
you guys, and I'm like, I don't know what to
tell you talk to them. So I think it's like
somewhat important that you guys are doing this. Thank you well,
thank you, And if you'd ever like to come back
for a recap, maybe we could force you to watch
an episode and then you can come back and talk
about it with us. All right, I'll do that. Yeah,

(01:07:46):
I want to watch the one I remember talking about
having a grilled cheese in my sandwich and somebody. That's
something that people have said to me repeatedly, and so
I need to go back and watch that. I have
no idea what it is. Okay, we we will put
we will put our producer on it to figure out
which episode that is, and then maybe come back and

(01:08:07):
recap that one with us. Yeah, okay, it's in season three.
I just got a note it's in season three, so yeah,
so we will. We will be wrapping this, uh this
season up probably around June and then moving into season three,
so maybe towards the end of this year you could
come back and recap that one with us. I'm okay, awesome,
thank you so much for being to see you guys. Wow,

(01:08:41):
isn't it so crazy? How I was thinking about the
fact that he has no memory really of being in
Michael's office and pitching the script idea, And I'm thinking,
isn't it so weird and wonderful and amazing? How many
times it has come up that, like, our memories are
all so different because of the things we're going on
in our lives at the time, and like the things

(01:09:02):
that were you know, like how it was so important
to me that I got this audition for Topango when
I was and yet ultimately it was just another guest
star role, but to me it stood out so much.
Um and here Blake, Blake, it was such a like
it was such a memory for him, and Even's like, yeah,
I have a recollection of doing something like that. But

(01:09:24):
you're right, right, or to exactly what you said, he
was already doing so many other things, not getting a
phone call about boy Meat's world wasn't as high on
his radar as it was maybe on Blake's exactly. Yeah, yeah,
it's just so it's yeah, hearing those stories too, but
I mean things that were happening on the set that
we had no idea, but just all these different little
worlds were going on these pocket worlds that are happening

(01:09:47):
in this one global universe that was boy Meats World
is uh is pretty cool and we're all going, wait
what uh So? I think that's I think that's what
That's what I'm taking away more from this podcast, I
think than anything else, as much as I'm loving watching
the episodes, and I am and it's phenomenal to kind
of stroll down memory lane too. Oh, I remember shooting
this and this is what the character did. Hearing the

(01:10:08):
other experiences of the people that we had no idea
what was going on in these little worlds has been
so eye opening to me. It's been amazing. I mean,
Blake and Ethan won't okay, Ethan was drunk yet three o'clock,
we're going to the bar just a little bit. The
thought of the two of them going to get a
beer and then going to a movie and then showing

(01:10:29):
back up to do our run through. Were you guys
in English class two? Can you help me with the
math problem? But it's also so funny that he lumps
me in with that's what everybody lumped me in with
with with you guys where it was I was actually

(01:10:50):
apparently older than them, and we were just so different
that the idea was hanging out and going to the
shooting rangement. Yeah, it just never go I don't think
it occurred to them to ever invite me to have
a drink in the trailer, And it never occurred to
me to ask. You know, we're just yours. We're such
different people that you kind of now I want to
go back and go just once. I want to go

(01:11:11):
share a beer with those guys in the trailer. I
know the one time you did go in the trailer
and they played music with Jenny Lewis, Like, that was
the awesome day. Yeah, it was a phenomenal day. So yeah,
that was man, that was cool. And the whole god
the story about his dad. I know, I wish we
had a different podcast because I wanted to like really
have a whole conversation about that. I was like, man,

(01:11:32):
let's let's let's talk about this on the on the
other podcast we have, and then a third podcast just
to talk about all the films he's done and the
directors that he's worked with, and and the grandchildren he has.
These kids are Gray's of grandpa. He's a grandpa. That's cool,
man And and then okay, so then we're gonna need
that's four. We're gonna need a fifth just about his

(01:11:54):
health journey, because that's a whole another world for him.
Um and if you have not followed him and on
Instagram and seeing his um his journey, it's staggering. And
the people that he's helped in the kind of health
world as well, myself included. I mean I was I
would look at it every day and I would always
send him a picture, you know, kind of hey killed
my clone today, and he was always supportive. Yeah, it

(01:12:14):
was very very cool. That's cute. Well, thank you guys
for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World.
You can follow us on Instagram, pod meets World Show.
We have got merch pod meets World show dot com,
and you can send us your emails at pod meets
World Show at gmail dot com. And don't forget you
can catch some of our season one episodes on YouTube.

(01:12:37):
We are adding new shows all the time, I promise you.
It's just that it takes a while to get him loaded.
Uh So, yeah, thank you guys for being with us.
I hope this episode lived up to all your expectations.
Since man, people love Ethan as they should. Boy, They've
they've been excited to have him on. So thanks for
being with us. Will you want to send us out?
We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is

(01:13:00):
an I heart podcast produced and hosted by Daniel Fishel Wilford,
l and Ryder Strong Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy
Sugarman Executive in charge of production, Daniel Romo, producer and editor,
Taara soup Box producer, Jackie Rodriguez engineer and Boy Meets
World super fan Easton Allen. Our theme songs by Kyle
Morton of Typhoon and You can follow us on Instagram
at Pod Meets World Show or email us at Pod

(01:13:22):
Meets World Show at gmail dot com