Kevin Bacon & Jennifer Nettles (The Bondsman); Comedy Icon Sandra Bernhard

In this episode of Pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon it's a packed, all interview extravaganza as Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles discuss their new Prime Video series The Bondsman and Comedy icon Sandra Bernhard joins to discuss her career, her time on Severence, and her 2025 stand up comedy tour.

Comedy legend Sandra Bernhard graces the mic with stories that span her transformative journey from Beverly Hills manicurist to stand-up powerhouse. Hear her recount the vibrant scene of open mic nights and takes us behind the scenes of her forthcoming Shapes and Forms 2025 comedy tour, promising an intriguing blend of humor and music that continues to captivate audiences. As she reflects on her career against the backdrop of the ever-evolving digital age, Sandra offers a rare glimpse into the resilience and creativity that cemented her status as an icon. Check out Sandra's website and follow her on Instagram.

Then, singer / songwriter / actor (and Grammy and Emmy winner) Jennifer Nettles stops by to discuss The Bondsman, working with Kevin Bacon and becoming a "Scream Queen".  Finally, the one and only Kevin Bacon joins to discuss The Bondsman, his love for horror and music and so much more.  He also discusses his joint EP with Jennifer Nettles, The Bondsman: Hell and Back. Their creative collaboration promises to deliver a genre-blending experience that fans won’t want to miss. Join us for a captivating episode filled with laughter, inspiration, and the magic of storytelling from some of the most innovative minds in entertainment.

Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I talk with
the one and only Kevin Bacon and the amazing Jennifer
Nettles and the legendary comedian and Sandra Bernhard. Let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from My
Heart Radio your pop culture news, views, reviews, and celebrity
interviews on all the movies, TV, music and pop culture
u CRABE Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Nick No No no NT, Hello, and welcome to pop Culture
Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I, of course am Kyle McMahon.
I thank you as always for joining me once again
for another episode of pop Culture Weekly. We've got such
a great all interview episode, and I talk with the
one and only Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles, who I love.

(00:52):
I love sugar Land, I love Jennifer Nettles, I love
her voice, I love her acting. She's just an amazing person.
And I'm talking to both of them about the brand
new series The Bondsman on Amazon Prime Video. And I
talk with Sandra Bernhardt. I love her so much. She's
one of my favorite comedians and she has been, you know,

(01:12):
just such at the forefront of so many things in
comedy in her incredible career, so I'm really excited to
talk to her too. Just an update on me, I
went to the orthopedic doctor once again, and I have
been downgraded from the full immobilizing brace that was going
from like my thigh high thigh all the way down

(01:33):
to my ankle, and now I'm in a compression sleeve.
I'm still using crutches, and I'm gonna be able to
test out driving soon. So it'll be almost two months
since I've driven myself anywhere, which is crazy. But in
any event, that's just a little update on me. So
let's get right into it because we have a big
show today that I'm really excited about. Today. We have

(01:57):
the distinct honor of speaking with a true original. She
is a comedic force who has never been afraid to
speak her mind ever, and she's been making us laugh
for decades with her sharp wit and her fearless observations
and her marriage of comedy and music. She is a
cultural icon. She is a trailblazer, and she is a

(02:20):
living comedy legend. The incomparable Sandra Bernhardt is on today
and I am so excited to talk to her. She
is joining us to talk all about her brand new
comedy tour, the Shapes and Forms twenty twenty five tour.
So that's gonna be awesome. I can't wait to see it.
And you can catch her live in cities across the country,

(02:42):
so make sure to check Sandra Bernhard dot com for
dates and tickets and all that stuff. So let's jump
right into my interview with the one and only Sandra Bernhart. Well,
first of all, thank you, the one and only Sandra
Bernhard come to iHeartRadio as a pop culture weekly. I

(03:03):
really appreciate it. You're an amazing talent. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Of course, So you you were going to talk about
your your tour dates for this year and and certain
show that you're currently on.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
What U But I would like to go back for
a second. You started in stand up and you know
you've come to do so many many things TV, books, music, movies.
What what was it when you were first starting out
that you sent out to do well?

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I mean back in the day when I started off,
you could like just sort of come with a notion
that you wanted to be a performer and entertainer, and
then you kind of fell into it. I mean, I
guess unless you went to college and maybe studied, you know, acting,
But I didn't do it that way. I came to
LA when I was nineteen, and I learned how to

(04:05):
become a manicurist. So I had a day job and
I was working in Beverly Hills and I just kind
of like was hanging out at the Rocky Horror Show
on sunset, the live show at the Roxy, and I
just fell in with a bunch of kids who are
from the San Gabriel Valley, and I just cracked them up,
you know, and they thought, Oh my god, you're so funny.

(04:25):
You're so funny. And then I met this woman who
I was doing her nails and she was singing at
this venue called the what was called the Beverly Hills.
It'll come to me in a minute, and I'm gonna
take you there. And they would open Mic Night and
I'm gonna introduce you to Paul Mooney and he's gonna

(04:48):
love you and think you're the coolest person in the world.
So I went down and opened Mike Night. I put
together five minutes of my material and I got up
and I was kind of like a strangely kind of
a hit, you know, without even trying. And then I
met Paul Mooney and my friend Lotus Weinstock, and they
were like my mentors and took me under their wing,

(05:10):
and that's how it all started. It was like, I
didn't know I wanted to be a singer. I wanted
to be an actress. I knew I was funny, but
I didn't think about stand up comedy per se. But
it was kind of like it ended up being the
perfect kind of way into everything because it was back
in the seventies and not many women were doing what

(05:30):
I was doing, which was sort of like free wheeling crazy,
you know, comedy that wasn't like, you know, Philistiller or
Joan Rivers, like self deprecating. It was like, hey, I'm cool,
I'm postmodern, I'm post feminists, and you know, of course
I'm cool. Of course I'm sexy. Of course you know

(05:52):
of course I'm beautiful. So that was something that people
hadn't done before. And then I started singing, and all
of a sudden, it all kind of came together, and
that's how I jumped in and how it started. But
today it could happen because everybody would do it on
TikTok or they would do it on Instagram, and there
were you know, this was just like me with a

(06:13):
crazy notion going to a club. The little Club was
the name of the club by the way on Cannon Drive,
and the magic just happened.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
I love that that got it did because we have gotten,
you know, so much work from you and one of
the and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but
one of the things that I think stands out for
me looking at your career, you were on David Letterman
a lot, and that didn't seem to be a normal thing,

(06:49):
especially for a woman comedian. Is that right?

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, well, there were a few of us that There
was Terry Garr, there was me, a couple other on
and that would go on, and just and other guys
too that were his friends. But the really great thing
about that was I mean, yes, I always had something
to tie into it, promoting, but I didn't go on
to promote. I just ended up going on to like

(07:14):
it was almost like performance art. I'd go on with like,
you know, my own idea, my own set, and then
they'd be the pre interview and I'd tell them things
I was going to do. But most of the time
it didn't end up being that at all. I would
just go off on these tangents, which you can see.
I was on the show thirty times Wow. So I
always tried to have like a theme to my my

(07:36):
appearance and developed this funny, kind of flirtatious relationship with Dave,
which I did have a crush on him, but that
that was that was unrequited love. That nothing ever get that.
And back then, you know, people you tune in if
you miss David Letterman, you miss David Letterman. There wasn't

(07:58):
no there was no Tomorrow, there was no YouTube. There
wasn't like there were no clips. You saw either you
watched it in real time or you never got to
see it, un let's say, because they didn't repeat you know,
talk shows. So you know, especially at college kids we
get together, you know, and watched together. It was a
whole thing. So I developed this great audience from those

(08:18):
appearances and again just from being so in the moment
and improvisational. It's just that kind of stuff can't happen anymore.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, And it just so happened that on YouTube today
a video of you came up in my recommendations. You
and Madonna on Letterman was incredibly funny. Was that was
any of that? I want to say exactly?

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, well no, not really. I mean, the only thing
that was planned was that I was going to bring
her on the show because she'd never been on before,
and we had been hanging out a lot, and we
just de how we're going to address the thing, and
and but what we kind of ended up doing. No,
it was like there were little maybe there were moments
of things we were going to talk about, but then

(09:08):
it just like blew wide open. Of course, David was
like out you know, outraged, and you know, this was insane,
and these two crazy women and his whole thing with
me dismissing me. It was just it all just happened again.
They wouldn't let anything like that happen now.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, And it was I mean I was laughing hysterically,
and you said something about Sean Pain and then and
then you made a comment to madonnaa you're you're even
better or something.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
You know, it was like, you know, yeah, I stupt
with with Sean, but you were even better. It was
like again back then, you know, that was like nineteen
eighty eight. That was like, oh my god, you know,
I was like blew everything up because you know, the
whole gay thing was like, you know, it still was
a little bit like uncharted territory.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, and you know you've been at the soap and
Donna for that matter, have been at the forefront of
you know, the lgbt QI plus community.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
You won't install me if you miss the letters.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Thank you where you know, you've been at the forefront
of this forever. And it's interesting because for me looking
back at something a video like that from nineteen eighty
eight and seeing just how shocked and you know, everybody was,
and it's like, you know, not that something like that

(10:33):
would happen out of high school today, but like it's
it's so much more accepted today, where you and Madonna
in that case, we're very much at the cutting edge
of that sort of thing that brought acceptance, you know.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, it's true. Well also it's like we're comfortable
with who we are, so you know, for myself, I
can always speak for myself. You know, sexuality and you know,
love and relationships have always sort of you know, been
very fluid, and you know I flowed in and out

(11:08):
of them, so fluid and flowing anyway. So that wasn't
like like a big deal for me. So when when
everybody else seemed to respond a certain way, I was
always like, I mean, really, I mean, thoughts having crossed
your mind, Attractions, you know, you know, people aren't appealing.

(11:29):
Everybody who's beautiful or sexy or interesting is appealing, right
and subject for you know, a possible you know, relationship.
So that was just sort of what I was presenting
in a fun, you know, sort of from you know,
uninhibited way.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
And so much of your career has not shied away
from things like that. Was that intentional or is that
just because it was so much a part of your
world and your community that that's what reflected in your art.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Well, I thought it's you know, it became something that
was sort of a little bit of a fallback just
because nobody else had really done it. And then I
started getting sort of like comfortable and into because I
saw the reactions I was getting from it. But also
it's like it's like kind of like poking at culture,

(12:25):
poking at society in a way that makes people kind
of open up a little bit. And I've always done
that in my work. I've always wanted people to like,
you know, if you're sitting in a dark room and
you've got the curtains down, you're kind of looking out.
Once you just open the curtains and like let the
sun in and like look at what's happening out on
the street, you know what I mean, it's so much
more fun than being fearful of it. So I like

(12:47):
to think I infuse my work with the idea of
throwing the curtains open and revealing all the light.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, I love that. And you know, as we're talking,
I'm thinking you did the same thing similarly similarly with Roseanne,
you know, on the series. You know you've done that.
So you've broken so many boundaries in your art that
I don't know. I think it's a pretty powerful thing.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
I think I think it is. And and you know,
I mean it's harder and harder to do just because
there's so much shock value in the world. But I
think the thing that transcends at is honesty and really
looking at things. You know, it's easy just to be like,
you know, loud or drunk or sexual or you know,

(13:35):
you know, show your you know, your body in a
way that's just sort of like for you know, attention
but if you like cut through all of that and
you get down to like the real like essence of
who you are, that's what really pushes people's buttons and
makes them either wake up or like become aware of

(13:58):
how important being who you are is.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
I love that. And uh, you know another thing that
I've loved about your career and love about your career
is your marriage of different forms of art. So I'll
give you an example. When I was a kid in
the nineties, there was a video store right up the
street for me that had DVDs and such, and I

(14:22):
was there every day getting a new movie, and you know,
it's my thing. And here I am on a pop
culture show. But one of the DVDs that I eventually
got was your stand up and it was very much
a marriage of music and comedy and art. Is that

(14:45):
you know? Can you speak to that a little bit?
You did a whole thing with Stevie mix Songbird with
Christy McVie and and had this whole thing about Stevie
and this, you know, that whole thing. I mean, it's
just me as a child, you know, as a kid
watching this, I'm just like, this is so cool because

(15:06):
this isn't the other stand up DVDs that I've watched.
You know this like marries all kinds of things.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
Right, Well, that's what I do. That's what I do.
I take songs that have a lot of impact and
you know, sense memory, and I write monologues that are
not about the song, but about something that sort of
runs maybe parallel or maybe it's something that's completely out
of a left field, but you know not unlike when

(15:33):
you're driving or walking down the street and you're listening
to a song, you might encounter something and in the
future you'll think of that song in conjunction with that experience.
So I do a lot of that of you know,
synthesizing songs and feelings and memories and creating like either

(15:54):
you know, kind of comedic dramatic pieces that have you know,
have impact and you're like, oh wow, it's like, you know,
it's like when you watch a movie and they use
certain music, it's like it's evocative. And that's what I
like my work to be. That's that's the one overwriting
word is evocative.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, I think that's a great way to put it.
And it made such a huge impact on me because,
like I said, you know, I was going through that
whole store, every DVD in that store, and so I
had seen, you know, whatever order it was in, I guess,
alphabetical in the stand up comedy section. None of the
other ones that I had seen were like that at all.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
No, No, and they probably never will be. But it's
it's uncategoriable, so you kind of like have to put
it where people would just assume it would be. Yeah,
thank you, that's a high compliment. I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Oh, thank you. So today, you know, you're still touring,
you have new tour dates that are coming that are
you know, throughout twenty twenty five on the Shapes and
Forms tour. You are in a very big hot show
right now. What is life like for for Sandra Bernhard today?

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Well, same as it always is. You know, it's like
it's like it's day to day. You know, it's like
you get up and you have your life. I have
my dog, I have my girlfriend and my daughter. I
mean she's out on her own. But you know, well
it's it's it's you know, I do what I do.
I go to the gym, I go shopping, I cook,

(17:30):
I watch you know, women's college basketball. I'm in the
middle of March madness, you know, and simultaneously, you know,
you sort of soak in the whole idea that you know,
you're you continue to be a part of, you know,
important work, and people respect you so they want you

(17:51):
to be in there in their work. Like Ben Stiller
asked me to do Severance, and you know, I've been
sitting on that for a year now because we shot
it last year and I was like, you know, you know,
you work, you shoot something and then you sort of
put it in your back pocket and you don't think
much about it, and then it comes out and you're like, wow.

(18:12):
You know, it's like, you know, you just never know
what's going to really have that sort of you know impact.
And it's really nice at this point in my career,
in my life that I still you know, make a
difference in you know, a scene or a show. It's
you know, it's it means a lot to me. It's
not you know, I don't take it for granted.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Did you you know, were you aware of the impact
of I'm a huge Apple TV Plus fan and and
I've worked with them a lot on their various series.
You know, in regards to to my show and Severance,
especially I loved the first season, but it seems like
season two just blew up even further. Did you So

(18:59):
you weren't expecting this kind of zeitgeist explosion.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
No, I don't. There's no way of knowing it. First
of all, when when you shoot your scenes, you really
don't know any idea what else is happening in the
other scenes. You don't get a script, you only get
your scenes. They keep it very compartmentalized and you know, separate,
which I think is smart. You can only focus in
on what you're doing and.

Speaker 5 (19:24):
Now.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
And I think that I think that the you know,
the election made a big difference. I think that people
are feeling you know, sort of uncertain, unmoored, and I
think touchdowns like great shows like like severanths kind of
like mean more in these times than they write in

(19:46):
other times. It also took a long time to do it.
There was the writer's strike, I mean, and the actors strike.
A lot of it had to be put on hold.
It takes a long time to shoot the show, and
people were desperate for the second season, and you know,
I think and because of it, it just had a
bigger and much bigger impact than anybody could have imagined.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, it's awesome. I love I love it. I love
you in it. Of course. Tell me about touring. I
mean you've been doing this, you know, for a while,
and here you are still today doing it. Is that
like your home creatively for you?

Speaker 3 (20:23):
Oh? Yeah, absolutely, because you know it's rare to be
a part of a show where you get to like, well,
I'm not walking on the set. That's not mine in
telling people what I'm going to say. So you know,
I have such a strong point of view. And when
you can write your own work and continue to have

(20:45):
that thread throughout your career and people come to expect it,
it's something you just never want to stop doing.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
And is it that is part of it? That live
you know, that instant reaction. It's obviously different when you're
doing a film or a series that you know a
year later you're getting you know, feedback on stage, it's
like instant.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Right exactly exactly, and you know you're making the physical
effort to like go to places and you know, I
have my band and my people I work with and
it's our little insular world and it's fun and you
know it's just it's you know, I've always been so
attracted to rock and roll, into to music and getting

(21:31):
to you know, have a lot of friends who are
singers and performers, and so it's my little microcosm of
that world and getting to reenact as much of it
as I get to as I can and do. And
I just love it. I love being on the road.
I mean, we don't go endlessly. We just do a
few dates and I come home. You know, I don't

(21:52):
think I'd be the kind of person to go out
on a three month tour unless I had a hit
song and you know it was being supported in a
way that you know made sense. But for what at
the level I do it, I really just enjoy it.
It's fun and you get to go back to cities
you haven't been to in a long time. You see
people and fans that have been coming for years, and

(22:14):
it's just, you know, it's you can't you can't replicate it.
It's not like anything else, like you said, it's just
it's a one of a kind experience.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
I love that and for for you, you know what's
next for you? Like I said at the top, you
know you've books, you know, stage, screen, every kind of
medium you can think of, what's what's next that you
know you're looking forward to.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
Well, you know, like like everything else, I kind of said,
I mean, besides my own work, I don't ever really
know what's coming down the pike in terms of my acting.
So you know, when they people come around, you know,
like I'm gonna I'm in an episode of that show
Percy Jackson coming up. I'm they just released those second

(23:00):
season of Survival of the Thickest, my friend Michelle Buteau's
show on Netflix. I'm in an episode of that. I
shot a small scene in Marty Supreme, which is Timothy
shallow May's film that's coming up at the end of
the year that Josh Softy directed. So things just come

(23:23):
to me, but I don't. I can't really just call
it the shots. And that's okay except for my own work.
And so I just sit and wait for my manager
to call me and say, yeah, they want you for this,
they want you for that. There might be periods where
things are quiet, but it'll all, you know, it always
sort of picks up again.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
I love that. I love you. I love your outlook
on everything and your work. Please say thank you. Everybody
can go and see you on tour. The dates are on.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Your website Burnhard dot com and we'll have that on Instagram.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
Yes, everywhere. We'll have all the links so people can
get you every where you are. And please come on
back on the show whenever you want. Thank you, of course,
thank you so much. Of course, Sandra Bernhard love her

(24:22):
And it is like like I said, from when I
was checking when I was a kid checking out you know,
every DVD. Literally my goal was to watch every movie
in top ten music and video in Ellesmere, Delaware when
I was a kid. I picked that one up and
I just loved it so much. It was just unlike

(24:43):
anything else I had seen. All the other comedy specials
i'd boughted were just the comedians just standing and talking,
which you know, obviously some amazing stuff, but hers was
just different. It just blended music and comedy and theater
and it was just so cool and it remains cool,
and she remains cool. So it was a huge thing
for me to be able to interview her, and I

(25:03):
welcome Sandra, you know, back to the show whenever she wants.
We can talk whatever she wants, whenever she wants. And
I know you guys feel the same all right, So
we're gonna take a quick break to pay the bills,
and when we come back, we are talking with Kevin
Bacon and Jennifer Nettles. See you in sixty all right, beautiful,

(25:29):
Thank you for supporting our sponsors and helping us pay
the bills. Our sponsors allow you know, me to do
this for you, and so thank you and thank them.
Thanks to them, is what I'm trying to say. All right.
So The Bondsman is this brand new show on Amazon
Prime Video out right now, and I am in love

(25:53):
with it. It is you know, I would say comedy
action horror series. I guess you could say. It stars
Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles and Beth Grant, Joline Purdy
and Kevin is hub hallerin who is this murdered bounty
hunter and he comes back from the dead after being

(26:16):
resurrected by the Devil. But there's a catch. He is
resurrected by the Devil to trap and send demons that
have escaped from the prisons of hell by chasing them
down kind of like cal you know he did as
a bounty hunter and kind of learn how his own
sins got his soul Condemned to Hell. So it's an

(26:38):
awesome show. I highly recommend you watch it on Amazon
Prime Video. Horror fans, comedy fans, you know, action fans.
It's got all of the things. So let's start our
interviews for The Bondsman. I am so hyped to be
joined by a multi talented artist who has conquered the

(27:01):
music charts and she's won Grammys, an Emmy, and now she,
you know, has been bringing her presence to the screen.
She's in The Exorcist, Believer last year. She's been in
some great stuff and I love her. She's got a
voice that can soar in a stage presence that commands attention.

(27:22):
She is a true force in the entertainment world. And
now she's taking on this thrilling new role in The Bondsman,
and everybody's going to be talking about this. I'm telling you,
she is here to discuss The Bondsman, and she co
stars in it with Kevin Bacon and she plays his
ex wife, so you know, funny and interesting dynamics. So

(27:45):
let's just jump right into it. My interview with the
one and only Jennifer Nettles. Thank you so much for
speaking with me. Jennifer I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Thank you, Kyle.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
How are you.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
I'm doing well, thank you. Congrats on the series. The
Bondsman is so great. I'm a huge horror fan and
I absolutely love it. And it's much funnier than I
thought too.

Speaker 5 (28:10):
Right, it has a lot of comedy. It has a
lot of heart. Like it's not just the horror and
the gore. It's got the comedy. It's even got some
camp in there too, you know, like it has a
lot of levity. It's like highs and lows, dark and light.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
What drew you to play marhand?

Speaker 5 (28:29):
First of all, the script and the idea for the
story and the world. I loved that it was. You know,
I definitely love supernatural otherworldly. I'm not necessarily a horror
fan per se, or at least in terms of like
old school slashers, you know, whenever I was growing up,
I was always like totally freaked out by those. But

(28:50):
when we get into the supernatural, the otherworldly, the.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Even you know, I could even.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
Go into sci fi sometimes, like depending so I can,
I can I enjoy different genre, right, But the script
for this itself really popped for me. And when I
read when I read something I always say, like, as
a musician, first I read with my ears, not my eyes.
So how does this sound? Does it sound authentic?

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Is it?

Speaker 6 (29:20):
You know?

Speaker 5 (29:20):
How does it sound? Can I hear someone saying this?
And it was so real and so authentic to me
when I read it, even though the subject matter is
absolutely out there right, but the characters felt so real.
The characters felt so real to me that I was like, Okay,
And then and first and foremost Kevin Bacon, of course,

(29:42):
you know, I mean like to be able to star
opposite him, to be able to work with him, having
been a fan and grown up a fan. You know,
he's an icon in Hollywood. So to me, it's I
joke and say, like the stuff of the show is
of nightmares, but working with Kevin Bacon is the stuff
of dreams.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
I love that I was talking to him and we were,
you know, discussing how musical the the series is, and
he was saying early on that there was talk about
you know, the act, the characters, you know, being more
even more musically oriented than than what ended up being.

(30:26):
But the two of you ended up you know, I
think it's so awesome that the two of you ended
up kind of infusing your own artistry as as musical
artists as well into the series. How was that for you?

Speaker 5 (30:41):
That was amazing And to me that was definitely also
a big draw to the project because you know, to
be able to write for a show as the character
in character, that's such a you. I don't really know
any show out there right now that is doing this
in the way that doing it, so I think it
makes it really unique. But for me, as an artist,

(31:03):
you know, and loving music and coming to things many
times through music first, to be able to write for
Mary Anne as Mary Anne and be a part of
this world and the show really can get you that
much more deep into the character and into the world
and into the story. You know, to do that through
the music, and then even you know, getting to collaborate

(31:26):
with Kevin on a musical level as well was exciting
because of course we all know him as a Hollywood icon,
but we also know that he's had a band for
many many years and he tours and they record, you know,
he and his brothers. So I was familiar enough with that,
but you never know until you get in a room
with someone to collaborate how that's going to be. And

(31:47):
I was thrilled, you know, to find out that we
had a really natural ease in our collaboration. And he's
such a fantastic writer and amazing lyricist and a wonderful
musician you know, across the board. So we had a
lot of fun on this project.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
And it comes comes through as a viewer, you know.
And and uh, when I as I was reading the
production notes before I started the series and I heard
this the first thing. First of all, I thought it
was is behaving.

Speaker 5 (32:22):
I know, listen, dude, like, do you know I have
laughed so much because obviously the fourth season of Gymstones
is out now, you know, and Amy Lee going from
like televangelist to demon hunter, right and all of it,
you know, with music involved. I just I feel like, yeah,
total total, a wide wide range.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
I got range.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
I got range.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
From from heaven to hell and back again.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
You brought up a really interesting point that it is
super interesting to me, and I'm sure for you as
an artist that this is an opportunity that you know,
most artists, actors when they're coming into a script don't
get to be you know, obviously, you many actors, you know,
kind of dive into the personality of their role and all.

(33:12):
But you are literally writing, you know, from this character
and and her and their experiences. And that's that's a
really cool angle that you know has got to be rare.
I would assume absolutely rare.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
It is absolutely rare. I mean, like I said, I
don't know any other show that's doing it. And and
for me, you know, obviously as a writer and a musician,
even in my own original work, you know, all of
that is storytelling. Not all of that is autobiographical confessional, right,
I mean sure, everyone, every artist puts his or her

(33:52):
emotional landscape into every song that he or she writes,
and yet not all of it is a confessional.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
You know.

Speaker 5 (33:58):
Some of us do more that that than others. But
some of the songs are absolutely there for the story
of it, you know. So that wasn't anything new luckily
for me, you know, creating a character or creating a
story in that way, what was new. It's almost like
I came at it from the flip side. Then with
this with this project, because I got to obviously read

(34:21):
the script, understand the characters have all of this story
already there, and then go even deeper with the music
and I do think it makes it super unique. I
think it adds to the world right that we've created.
It adds to the show because you get a whole
other level right of these people and of what they're
going through, and of their relationship and of their backstory.

Speaker 6 (34:43):
All of that is in the music.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
And we're going to be able to get it in
an EP. The bondsman helm.

Speaker 5 (34:49):
Bet are you there at iHeartRadio? Are going to be
able to play it right there in the EP that's
coming out the day after. I don't know when this
is when we're going to be doing this here that
you know we're actually right now, but it's going to
be coming out the day after the show comes out.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
I can't wait for that, are we can? We hope
for any you know, maybe live appearances in the future
where you're both doing somehow. I would love that, you know.

Speaker 5 (35:12):
We did actually when sugar Land was out on tour
just before the holidays, we had Kevin come out and
we performed one of the songs that's on the EP,
So you'll be able to see some snippets of that
video that we captured when we were in Austin. He
came out and joined us on the road, and of
course the crowd went bananas, you know, because I set

(35:34):
it up. It's like I've been working on this project
and now you're going to get to say your one
degree away from Kevin Bacon, you know.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
So of course everybody loved that.

Speaker 5 (35:42):
But yeah, it was it was a super fun performance.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
I can't wait for everybody to see this. I got
to ask you finally, are you are you, I mean
the Exorcist Believer now the Bondsman. Are you a scream queen?

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Ah?

Speaker 5 (35:55):
I I guess I I think you are. Oh my god,
we just established it right here.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
Yeah, I think I am.

Speaker 5 (36:04):
I'm a screampoint.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
I love it. I am, I love it.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
I am.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
I am claiming that.

Speaker 5 (36:09):
You know what, I'm using this for the rest of
the day.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
I'm using it. I'm a scream point.

Speaker 5 (36:13):
I am right here.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
You coined it right here.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
I love it. Thank you Jennifer so much. I can't
wait for everybody to see The Bondsman and check out
the ep The Bondsman Helen back and uh and we'll
be seeing you again. Thank you. You're a joy to
talk to and.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
I likewise, yes, yes, thank you, thank you so much.
I have a great day.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
Thank you you too, Thank you Bye bye.

Speaker 7 (36:37):
Soun Jennifer Nettle Love Love Love Scream Queen Jennifer Nettles.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
She is so awesome, such a great person. And her voice,
oh my goodness, gracious, if you haven't for some reason
listen to sugar Land and you've lived on nder a
rock for the last fifteen years. She her voice is
just oh so powerful. Yeah. She you know, she's also

(37:10):
featured in The Righteous Gemstones, which I absolutely love that
movie or that series as well, and she is hysterical
in that. She's just so great and I hope that
she comes back on the show for her next project
because she's just awesome. All right. Next up, we have
the one and only Kevin Bacon. He is a cinematic

(37:31):
icon and his career spans decades of unforgettable performances, from
like his early breakout roles to becoming a household name.
He has consistently captivated audiences with his versatility and that
Kevin Bacon charisma. And now he's diving back into the
supernatural with the Bondsman. So, as I mentioned, you know

(37:54):
earlier in the segment, Kevin plays Hupala and it is
this kind of backwoods bounty hunter who gets it's a
second chance at life and I'll say life in quotes
with a demonic twist. So let's jump right into my
interview with you want to only Kevin Bacon. So, first

(38:16):
of all, congratulations on the series. I love it. I'm
a huge horror fan, and I love how it kind
of toes the line through multiple genres. Is that something
that I mean, You're Kevin Bacon, you can do any
project you want. Is that something that drew you to
the project?

Speaker 8 (38:33):
Well, I mean, as you know, I've always loved horror.
I've circled back to it from Friday Thirteenth to Tremors
to Stir of Echo the Holiday.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
I mean, I.

Speaker 8 (38:44):
It's something that I'd like working in because I like
how high the stakes are. You know, it's always a
life or death situation. It's also just a genre that
I've just enjoyed as a as a consumer. I mean,
I I remember one of the first movies I saw
was Vincent Price's House of Wax in three D. It

(39:06):
was like a movie that I don't remember being a
great movie, but it was, but it was a lot
of fun. You put the stupid goggles on and smoke
comes in the room and you and the and the
girl that you're you know, sitting next to try to
pretend the smoke's there. And then I, you know, I
went on and you know, fell in love with like

(39:26):
Rosemary's Baby and Don't Look.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
Now, and.

Speaker 8 (39:31):
You know the Shining and the Exorcist. You know, all
those were all like beautiful, crazy, psychological, scary films that
were made by auteur filmmakers. So yeah, I'm drawn to it.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
The thing about the Bondsman.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Is is it it.

Speaker 8 (39:51):
Is threads a needle and I think a really cool
way between horror and comedy, which are not I don't
always work.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
It does work.

Speaker 8 (39:58):
Sometimes, you know. You can see examples of that sometimes
in you know, things like whatever Sean of the Dead,
and you know, you know some there's some there's some
humor and barbarians and you know, and certainly and get Out.
You know, there are some funny moments and get Out.
But it's it sometimes doesn't doesn't work at all. So

(40:20):
that that was really the That was the fine line
that I think we had to walk with this show.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
And you did it beautifully. I also have to ask
you you have an EP coming out supporting the film
with Jennifer Nettles, which is set like another outlet for you,
you know, as a creative where you can kind of yeah,
you know, I mean, I'm I'm.

Speaker 8 (40:42):
I've been a musician for a really long time in
writing songs from I started writing songs before I even
started acting, so I've always kind of kept them separately.
But for this character was already a songwriter. He was
supposed to be a musician who had had a band
with his wife that didn't break up. The band broke
up and him and his wife broke up, and she's

(41:02):
still singing, and so someone suggested that, you know, maybe
I could write some songs for the show. And when
Jennifer got cast, because she was the best actress, it
also happened to be that she's also a great singer
and a great songwriter. So the first thing, before we
even started shooting, we got together and just started writing

(41:23):
some tunes. And some of them made him in the show,
and some of them didn't make it in the show,
but we liked the songs and decided to just record
them all and put them out.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
I can't wait for that, and I can't wait for
everybody to see The Bondsman. It's such as a horror fan,
it's such a great series. Thank you, mister Kevin Bacon.
You're amazing as always appreciate you, Kevin freaking Bacon. I
just interviewed Kevin Bacon, and I just interviewed Jennifer Nettles,
and I just interviewed Sandra Bernhardt. What a freaking show.

(42:00):
What an episode of pop Culture Weekly. I am like
hi right now, not literally, I mean, you know, but
I'm just high on. I get to do what I
love to do. I get to, you know, interact with
you and you hit me up on socials and we
discuss movies and pop culture and TV and music and
all of the things. And I love what I do.

(42:22):
I genuinely, absolutely love it, and I thank you for
allowing me to do this because you listening, you sharing
the show, you know, on social media with your friends
or whatever, you talking about it, you're reviewing it. It
all helps me to continue to do it. And I
can't thank you enough for that, seriously. So that's this

(42:42):
episode of pop Culture Weekly, and I can't wait to
see on the next one with all kinds of great stuff,
and I can't wait to hear what you think about
the Bondsman and let me know, and let me know
if you're going to see Sandra, if you've already seen her.
I want to talk about that too with you, So
hit me up and let's discuss pop culture. All right,
I'll see you next week. I love you. Yeah. Thank

(43:05):
you for listening to pop Culture Weekly.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
You're all the latest at pop cultureweekly dot com.

Speaker 6 (43:17):
I am zero degrees from Kevin Bacon. I am zero
degrees from Zanna Fonetoz. I'm zero degrees from Sandra Bernhard.
I am zero degrees from Kevin Bacon.

Speaker 7 (43:37):
Oh