David Schwimmer

David Schwimmer talks new Goosebumps series on Hulu and more!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Real fun with Mario Lopez.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's everyone Moril Lopez joining me right now. Actor David Schwimer.
How are you doing, David?

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, how are you man?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm well, Man, I'm well. Thank you for taking the time.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Oh my pleasure to have you. Congrats.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Are starring in this new show, Goosebumps The Vanishing based
on the books. Of course, it sounds like a lot
of fun with the premise.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Oh wow, well, the the promit. Well, first of all,
it's based on these incredible best selling book series by R. L. Stein.
It's it's this comedy action horror series which a lot
of people there, it's got a huge, you know, international
fan base. So I was really excited to be asked

(00:45):
to join this this this great kind of al read
this great series bringing the series to life, this particular one.
It's it's eight episodes and it's an anthology series, as
I say, horror, action, comedy, and and this one is
is really about a family and some you know, these

(01:07):
these kids, my fraternal twins, seventeen year old twins who
are are back in uh you know, staying with me
in Brooklyn for the summer at in the house that
I actually grew up in. And as they as they
said about getting to know and reconnecting with some other

(01:27):
friends in the neighborhood, they get kind of enmeshed in
this uncovering of a dark secret, this this profound mystery.
They basically unleash some really some really bad stuff and
uh and and you know, and then we all have
as a family, we all have to deal with the consequences.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
My kids love these books, so I'm sure I'm going
to be seeing uh oh really, Oh that's good. They're
very They're very into, be very popular at Costa Lopez
right here. It's a good it's a good like introduction
to the horror genre for kids.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I feel it really is. It really is. I mean,
I'm a huge fan of horror. But what I love
about the tone of this show is, you know, somehow
they they make they make for some really good thrills
and scares, some really good frights, but it's never like
gratuitously violent. There's it's not gory, and of course there's

(02:27):
no like sexual violence or anything. They managed to find
this this way in for young adults and kids into
the genre of horror, but also make everyone feel safe
and taken care of in a way. It's really it's
really quite something actually that they're able to achieve.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, great family viewing right there. Very cool. This is Randon.
But I wanted to ask you this.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Man.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I heard about the story of you being a server
and you hit Rod Stewart with some divorce papers.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Oh man, I love that story.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
She's had a feeble right there. How did you end
up becoming a process server?

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Dude? Okay, So I was eighteen home from college for
the summer and my mom's a divorce lawyer, you know,
and so she was wrapping you know, a lot of
people in Los Angeles and some of them happened to
be famous and yeah, and I just needed a summer job.
And so she was like, look, you could do this

(03:24):
for me, you know, I could either pay you or
some other some other yeah, you know, And it was
like thirty five bucks a pop. So I was like,
I'm in Yeah, you know, that was real money. Dan.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I love that story.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
This fun facts right there.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Speaking of this business, I know you've been in the
industry for what over thirty five years.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Probably come closer to forty.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Aside from friends, of course, any particular set that's just
been a who to work on you just like you
were constant laughter.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Well sorry, that was my computer making a noise. Sorry
about that. That's like constant.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Laugh like you had, like you really have like a
great time.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well yeah, I mean most most jobs, thankfully have been
a great time, whether it's a lot of like laughs
or not. But I thought, like curb your enthusiasm, Oh yeah,
I did. I did a bunch of episodes with you know,
working with people like you know, Larry David and mel Brooks.
I mean that that was just one of the best

(04:27):
gigs ever, constantly laughing as soon as the camera cut.
In fact, there were a few times that both Larry
and I were kind of broke in the middle of
filming because it was just too It was just too funny.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
And and I love that show.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
You were great on it, by the way, But the
rhythm of a sitcom in front of the audience, you know,
there's there's an obvious like musicality to it and rhythm
single camera that's not the case. And is it as
much improv as they say on Curb And how many
takes do you do?

Speaker 2 (04:54):
I'm just curious.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Well, when I'm assuming like by the time I came
on the show, like they had, you know, they had
a whole process and a rhythm going already, and I
assumed it was the same afterwards. But you know, the
great the cool thing about it was you'd get like
a summary of the idea of the scene, and of course,
you know, we'd we'd meet and talk about the whole

(05:17):
arc first, but essentially, you know, it was all improv
and then we refine it. There might be one or
two scripted lines or points or beats to kind of
work our way towards hitting Like really like if there
was a really good joke that you know, Larry or
the writer other writers had, you know, knew that the

(05:39):
scene was building too, we'd you know that Larry usually
Larry would have that joke and rightfully so then we'd
all try to work our way towards that. But on
the way there, like anything could happen, and that's what
was so fun and exciting. It's really it's really you know,
it's living on the edge and that you really don't
know where the scenes get to go, and you have

(06:01):
to just trust that hopefully you're gonna you're gonna be okay,
and be funny.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
So funny, I love it.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
That's great, man.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
I know you have a teenage daughter.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
I'm right in the trenches myself right now. How are
the teen years of parenting treat you?

Speaker 1 (06:18):
I mean, I love being a parent. It's one of
the greatest choices ever. I'm sure you feel the same way.
But you know, it's it's a lot. I think kids
are navigating these days, and I'm you know, I think
the social media thing is is the biggest honestly, is
the biggest concern for I think any parent today. And

(06:40):
I you know how much time kids are spending on
these devices, you know when we did. It's funny, you
know when sometimes I'm asked about you know, the show Friends,
and when I when I do catch an episode, I'm
reminded that we never had cell phones on that show.
You know, it's just just pre all of that.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
Oh wow, right, there's phones for sure.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
Yet and nowadays, as you know, if you if you
catch a group of kids sitting together, usually at a
coffee shop or whatever, usually they're all on their device
actually speaking to each other. They're sharing what's going on
on their screen. And I think as parents we have
to be really proactive and really careful.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
You're exactly right.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
And rigorously limit how often they they use their devices
and what they have access to. That's my opinion.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
If you made friends today, it wouldn't be the same
show would be. You couldn't because it would be on
your phones. Like you said, these six people in an
apartment sharing means right sliding.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
So I'm just curious.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
You played Robert Kardashian in the Uh the O J. Simson,
which was great. I love I love that show. There
is yet another documentary coming out on Netflix. I watched
them all, but I refuse to watch this one because
I'm like, what are we going to learn? We can't
possibly learn anything else? And yet a friend of mine said,
oh no, it's good. I'm like, damn it, I think
I'm pulled back in. Did you get fascinated with it

(08:08):
and doing the research and prepare for the role and
are you going to watch the new one?

Speaker 1 (08:12):
For sure, I was fascinated. I was doing I was
consuming as much as I could find about about the case,
and including news footage and researching Kardashian's life, and you know,
there was, you know, so many great documentaries actually about
it about that time and the history of OJ. But

(08:34):
I saw recently on Netflix that that popped up and
I was like, oh, man, I feel like you. I'm like, really,
we haven't minded this enough exactly. I mean, well, David
I started it, I'm his producer and I started it,
and I think it's worth watching.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
That is I was like, there's new information. Where is
this coming from?

Speaker 1 (08:52):
I don't know. I think there's uh, well, who knows.
Maybe I will. I'll call you back if I get
sucked in.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Sounds good and that sounds good.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Well, mean, while everyone, be sure to catch David in
the new show Goosebumps The Vanishing, which is streaming now
on Disney Plus and Hulu.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Thanks for checking in, man, appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Thank you. I appreciate it. And uh, I hope your
kid enjoys it.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, I know they're gonna have my kids, they're gonna
love it.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Thank you, all right

Speaker 2 (09:18):
With Mario Lopez