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Adam Carolla
In this episode, the Goot Steve Gutenberg joins us. Talk about his home up in the Palisades and do some news with mayhem as well right after this. Hey, this is Adam Carolla from the Adam Carolla Show. Betonline continues to be your number one source for all your sports betting action. Baseball's in full swing, football is right around the corner and Betonline's got you covered with the latest odds, breaking news and live scores. Betonline even has live in game betting while the games are being played real time from MLB to UFC to tennis to NFL futures, Betonline, that's the place to play. And between games, hit up the Betonline casino packed with top Vegas style games, poker and live casino. Betonline has it all. Sign up now and score big with VIP rewards, level up bonuses and weekly cash bonuses bet online. The game starts here.
Jason Mayhem Miller
The ace man's coming to your town. If your town is Rosemont, Illinois, Wednesday night, then it's off to Wisconsin in Plymouth on Thursday night at Road America Tuft Center, Stand up comedy show on Thursday night and then Saturday night a.
Adam Carolla
Screening of the 24 Hour War.
Jason Mayhem Miller
So Thursday and Saturday night at Road America Tuft center. And I'll cap it all off on Sunday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Pabst Theater presented by 1029 the Hog. Get tickets for these shows and a lot more@adamcarola.com From Corolla 1 Studios in Glendale, California, this is the Adam Carolla Show. Adam's guest today, Steve Guttenberg. Plus the news and trending topics with Jason Mayhem Miller. And now always racist, never wrong, Adam Carolla.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, get it on. Got to get in on the choice, but get on mandate, you get it on. Thanks for tuning in to tell friend that's about you. Steve Guttenberg, one of the good ones, one of the nice guys in Hollywood is joining us. He's in New York. He is a Palisades guy, was affected by the fire and fled to New York where he has a second home. Where are you staying, Steve?
Steve Guttenberg
Adam, Adam, Adam, first of all, I would rather you not say I'm in New York. If you could just say I'm in the Palisades, that would be pretty helpful for everything he's rebuilding.
Adam Carolla
He's rolled up his sleeves and he's rebuilding in the Palisades. And right now Gutenberg's taking a break from working with the brave men and women of the Army Corps of Engineers, clearing other people's property at no cost, for no cost, helping neighbors, handing out bottles of Water. Even firing up his grill and cooking dogs for the brave men and women who work for the fire department. That's where he is. But he took a break to jump on Zoom with us. Right, Steve?
Steve Guttenberg
Absolutely. Only Hebrew national. We answer to a higher power.
Adam Carolla
That's right. Bun length all the time. So Steve's got a movie out. It's a Lifetime movie. It's called Kidnapped by Kid.
Steve Guttenberg
Wait, Adam. Yes, Adam. Can I just start with how are you doing? And how's your family doing?
Adam Carolla
That's Steve Guttenberg. I'm good. I was in Malibu during the fires. I think you and I and I have a recollection of where your home is because you very great graciously invited the cast of Dancing with the Stars, Season 6. I was reminded today, you and I did that together. You invited the entire cast over to your home for, like, a mixer, barbecue, and just a nice afternoon.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, that was fun.
Adam Carolla
And I remember your home being up the canyon in the Palisades. Also. I think Dennis Quaid lived up in a canyon up in the Palisades. I don't know if it was the same, but there's not too many of them.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, he did. Yeah, he did. He had a house maybe right around the block from me. He was renting one. Yeah.
Adam Carolla
Yeah. I sort of have a recollection of going to his house, going to your house, and having me, you know, generally in the same neighborhood. So then when the fire hit, I thought, well, for sure, Steve's house must have either been damaged or perished. Cause he was up in the hills and not, you know, although it was so random, because it was this crazy fire where everything on the water side of the coastline burned down. And a lot of stuff up on the hill made it. Which just so people know, the fire starts on the hill and then it works its way down to the coastline. But it's very. It's counterintuitive to think that all the houses on the coastline went, but many houses in the hills were spared. How did that happen? So yours was spared?
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, yeah, it was. But I tell you, it was spared because we had two fire trucks with fire personnel there. 48 hours straight, Adam. And they were just standing there because, of course, we had no water. None of the hydrants had water. So they were using all the pools in the area and these water trucks that were filling up the 500 gallon fire trucks. And I was standing in the back with a really wonderful fire woman who is so strong. And she was Alaskan, she was Eskimo, and we were Standing there and the fire was just coming down. It was unbelievable. Probably 200 yards from my house. And I said to her, aren't you afraid of this fire? It's like the devil coming down. And she said to me, well, you know what I say? Not today, Satan, not today.
Adam Carolla
Wow.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
So the water was not in the. It wasn't coming through the fire hydrants, which is insane. James woods just sent a tweet out the other day that I saw, which is a picture of the empty reservoir in the Palisade. So it was empty. Listen, I know there's a lot of people and I see them out there doing this, hey, let's stop blaming people. There's nothing they can do. I got a couple thoughts on that. One is, if you go into there's nothing they could do, stop blaming people mode, then what's to stop this from happening every other year? I mean, I would. Look, no matter what the disaster, I would like to not necessarily attack people, but I would like to know, hey, if the reservoir was empty, who's in charge of the reservoir and why was it empty? There may be a good reason, but I don't think that makes me a bad person to ask those questions. If you've got a home up there and there's nothing coming out of the fire hydrants and the fire's coming down the hill, then I think it's reasonable to ask why in these modern times, in an era where you have some of the highest tax paying burden in America, there's nothing coming out of the hydrants when the fire hits. I don't think that makes you a Republican or a Democrat or a good or bad person. I think these are just questions that we'd like answers to.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, those questions are obvious. It's the first thing you ask. And I ask those questions. The answer I got back was that at the time of the fire, which was the 7th of January, it's generally not a fire season. So what they do is they let the reservoirs go low so they can fix them, repair them, and that's the reason that they were low. Now, I agree with you. First of all, it all comes down to who's the boss. Well, the boss is the mayor and the boss is the governor. Basically, that's the boss. I mean, they delegate everything. But the truth is they've got, they have to have a 24 hour day job that they keep up on everything. That's the job. And the fact that in this day and age, they don't figure out a way to repair the reservoirs while they're full? Because we're in a state that fires happen at any time of the year now. There is no fire season anymore, there is no rainy season. You know, it just happens anytime. And same with earthquakes and all kinds of stuff. So I agree with you. So the answer is somebody made a decision that they don't need to be full, cuz fire season is over. That was a bad decision. And it was a really bad decision to not monitor all the fire hydrants to real so. Because you have, you probably have 10,000 fire people using all the fire hydrants at once. And isn't there a way to moderate those fire hydrants so they're not putting out so much so that the water lasts longer?
Adam Carolla
So you.
Steve Guttenberg
I am actually. Yeah.
Adam Carolla
Well, I'm curious. So you're in a neighborhood where almost everybody, including yourself, has a swimming pool. So while there's nothing coming out of the fire hydrants, there's at least, you know, 30,000 gallons of water sitting behind your house in a pool. And your neighbors have that as well. So somebody figured out we should suck the water out of the pool, put it into a tanker truck and then have the tanker transfer it into a fire truck.
Steve Guttenberg
No, no, the fire department has these engines that go right into the pool and go directly to the fire. The water trucks came to refill the fire trucks on their own. So there was a double holster, you know, double bullets.
Adam Carolla
So what, you saw the fire, you're in the backyard and how many homes in your neighborhood burned or did they?
Steve Guttenberg
11. 11 out of 80 in our development.
Adam Carolla
Okay, so you were spared and now there's just. The cleanup is still going on, I'm guessing.
Steve Guttenberg
Oh yeah. It'll take years. And it's. It's so rough. I got to tell you, when you were out in Malibu and you saw those houses that were burned, right? Of course.
Adam Carolla
I see them every day. I look. I literally look out of my living room window and I can see 18 to 25 burnt lots just, just standing. I don't have to move. I just stand in my living room and I can see about 25 burnt, burnt lots from just where I'm standing.
Steve Guttenberg
Isn't it terrible? I mean, it's terrible, right?
Adam Carolla
Well, you know, I'm very agnostic about things. It's like, shit happens. It's kind of the way society works. I wish it didn't. It's baked in. And I would like in my world, we are competent and we do our best to mitigate. And I've said on many Times I said, look, you can't prevent an earthquake. An earthquake is not preventable. But we know we live in earthquake country. And I was a contractor, and I did earthquake rehab work, and I've built, and I know what the codes are. And so in Guatemala, when a 7.3 hits, the place is leveled, because they don't build like they're in earthquake country. You see these, you know, they go, oh, this town and this Guatemala. Places in Central America, South America, leveled by a 7.3. We get a 7.3. And we get a little structural damage to a parking structure in Northridge and a couple of freeway overpasses and three deaths. We don't have any kind of devastation, but same earthquake. We just. We build for it. You know what I mean? In my world, we can't stop the earthquake, but we can understand we're an earthquake country and build for it. And what I'm saying with the fires is just like an earthquake. We cannot stop it. We're in fire country. But we can mitigate if we build for it and we don't do anything for it because we have incompetent representation. Who's more worried about Black Lives Matter going to Ghana or LGBT community or whatever? There's only so many hours in the day, if you're spending the lion's share of your day worrying about the LGBT community, the trans community, and ice and fighting ice and Black Lives Matter, then you have a limited amount of time to give toward reservoirs. I mean, it's a simple math equation, and I'm not even saying it's good or bad. I'm just saying we live in a place that's governed by people that are more interested in the trans community than the reservoir community. And that's going to be a problem at some point.
Steve Guttenberg
It's already a problem. But I do think that there's more time in the day to do all kinds of structural prevention, because I think that, listen, the dealing with the LGBTQ community and Black Lives Matter and making sure that people who don't have can somehow survive in this on our state and live well, and every human being deserves to live well. Even if you're sitting on a couch not doing anything, you're a human being. And we, as the. As I believe we as a community, need to take care of everybody to a point. But I think there's plenty of time, and they have plenty of experts and plenty of people who could have done Fire Prevention 15 years ago, 20 years ago.
Adam Carolla
I know, but they don't care. That's the.
Steve Guttenberg
That sucks.
Adam Carolla
Well, listen, I mean, here's the bottom line. There's stuff I care about. There's stuff you care about. If I was mayor of Los Angeles and you asked me about the Gay Pride Parade, would I like to be the grand marshal? I would go, no, I'm not interested. I don't have anything against those people. I don't care. It's not what I'm thinking about. And if they asked me if I'm gonna be the grand marshal the Black Lives Matter parade, I'd go, no, I don't really wanna do that. And if they said, you wanna go to Ghana and be in some sort of dance ceremony where you're awarded a ceremonial head garb, I'd go, no, I don't really wanna do that. I do wanna focus on the reservoirs, but I like building. That's where my interests are. Karen Bass, Interest is not in building, so they're not interested. I would say I would like to issue permits, fix the reservoir, see if we can get a fire drop. Like, that's what I would think. And then they would say, but what about the Gay Pride Parade? And I'd go, I'm not interested. If it's Sunday and it only takes an hour, I'll be there. But I'm gonna be thinking about the reservoirs. Okay, she doesn't.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, that's what.
Adam Carolla
But she's not interested in that. And I'm just saying to everyone listening, once you get enough city council people, mayors and governors who aren't interested in what you're interested in, filling potholes, cleaning up graffiti, you know, the nuts and the bolts of running a city, then you're gonna have a shit city. I mean, that's. But it's gonna be great for the trans community. Okay, let's not get too political. Let's talk about you for a second. So the house is there, but you're out. They're rebuilding. And thank God your house was spared. My house was spared, but my. You know, your odds of 11 burned in a community of 80 are still 11 homes lost. But least it was more than a coin toss for you. For me, I feel like if you took the 50 closest structures to my house, probably 41 of them are down to the ground.
Dawson
Literally.
Adam Carolla
If you just used a measuring tape and you just put it in the middle of my living room and did a circle around my house and did the 50 closest structures, I'd say 41 of them are down. That's how crazy. I have no idea why my place was spared, but I'll take it. So, Steve, for you, I always talk to you about Diner because Barry Levinson and Just one of my favorites. One of my favorites. And I always bring it up because there's a handful of movies like Diner or like Breaking Away that were sort of early 80s, late 70s, very funny kind of smaller films. People don't really know how to categorize them because they're comedies, but there's a lot of pathos. And Breaking Away, which is one of my favorites as well, has the sort of flavor that Diner had. And they're small and they both slid under the radar a little bit. And then they don't get repurposed. They don't pop up enough. So you're gonna have to go out and seek them. But watch Diner, everyone. That's just a great film.
Steve Guttenberg
And Danny was in Breaking Away too.
Adam Carolla
Oh, that's right. Daniel Stern. Daniel Stern was in probably Breaking away in like 79 or 80 and then goes off to do Diner. So he's in two of my favorite sleeper kind of early 80s movies. And now I think he lives on a farm in sculpts or something.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, about an hour out of the city. And he lives on this gorgeous home. First of all, he's a great guy, and his wife Laura. And you know, his son is Senator Henry Stern.
Adam Carolla
That is so crazy because we gotta find out how old Henry Stern is, because I have a vague recollection. I've never met. I shouldn't say I never met. I was on a flight. I think I was flying from LA to New York. Maybe I was in first class. Maybe it was 1999. Maybe I was doing Letterman or I was doing Howard Stern or something like that. And so he's 43 years old, so 20. 23. Yeah, this would have been about right. So he was, you know, Henry Stern, Senator Henry Stern was, you know, 19 in 2000, was, you know, 18 or something like that. This must have been about 2000. And I'm on a flight and I see Daniel Stern and I'm like, oh, I love this guy. And I think I say hi to him and he's super nice. And I think he introduces me to his 17 and a half or 18 year old son. And he says, we're looking at colleges, we're going to look at colleges. And I'm assuming Henry Stern went to school, to college back east, because we were leaving L. A. Going back east. And so that guy was like a senior in high school at the time.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
And. Oh, he went to Harvard. There you Go. Right. So that was that guy. That's how old we are.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, I know, I know. It's crazy how you turn around, you go, henry. I thought Henry. Isn't Henry still 7 years old? Oh, Henry's 40. Okay, got it.
Adam Carolla
So you're doing Diner. Diner. That's a big break and early for you, right?
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, really big. Oh, enormous. You know, the, you know, it got so many accolades and it was such a good movie and I got to work with all those guys. It was, you know, it's really like, it's, you know, it's our US Open or our Masters or Super bowl, you know, when you win big on a show like that. And although it wasn't a, you know, a blockbuster in commercial sense, but it lives so long and it had such an effect on the creative community that anybody who knows movies like, you know, knows that picture.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, I mean, Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, I mean, Daniel Stern, Guttenberg, Elaine. Who else was in that thing? Oh, Paul Reiser. Right, right. Ellen Barkin.
Steve Guttenberg
Tim Daly.
Adam Carolla
Tim Daly. I mean, it was a real who's who of just young guys all at the beginning. I mean, take a look at what Mickey Rourke did after that, what Kevin Bacon did after that. Ellen Barkin, I mean, Steve Guttenberg. It just, it's, it's Daniel Stern. Like, it just. Everybody, everybody just left that and just did incredible things. Homes.com. some might say homes.com is the best home shopping site. Maybe homes.com's super comprehensive and transparent agency directory. Or Maybe it's that homes.com is the only site that always directly connects you with the listing agent who knows the home the best. Perhaps that's at. Homes.com has the most in depth neighborhood content of any home shopping site that's extensively researched to highlight the personality of each neighborhood. I'm into real estate, so I like to just go and browse and kick some tires and see what the Joneses are up to, see if I can keep up with them. Homes.com goes above and beyond to bring home shoppers the in depth info they need to find the right home. Homes.com. we've done your homework.
Dawson
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Steve Guttenberg
That was a. Yeah, I think that Michael.
Adam Carolla
Mad. Michael Madsen was in it. I didn't Remember that?
Steve Guttenberg
No, he was. He was in the pilot. They did a pilot for Diner.
Adam Carolla
Oh, that.
Steve Guttenberg
And he. He played Mickey's part. And Mike Bindert played my part.
Adam Carolla
Wow. Comedian, Writer. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Oh, I never knew they did a pilot. It never got greenlit. I mean, never aired.
Steve Guttenberg
No, no, it didn't go. And I know Barry really wanted it to run, you know, and for some reason it didn't get picked up, but it was, you know, and the fact. The great thing is we still see each other once in a while. I saw Kevin over at snl and I went to Danny's farm, it's enormous giant farm. And I saw Tim Daly. We had breakfast a few months ago, and Paul. And then we went to Musso Frank's. There was a thing, some sort of a film festival. And a bunch of us went to Musso Frank's and we had dinner and then we went and did the show. You know, I'm sure the same with your show and your movies sort of like attracts like, you know, if you're lucky, you get people who are like you. You all look different, you act different, but inside you have something, a core. Maybe it's a core value system or something that gets you all together and makes something that really works, you know?
Adam Carolla
Yeah. I mean, I'm looking down at three men and a babying cocoon and short circuit and. Yeah. To speak to that. I grew up in the Valley. I grew up with sort of blue collar dudes. We like, you know, dirt bikes and, you know, wrestling and fighting and playing sports. And we didn't do any. It was a bunch of dudes, like a real dude kind of guys. And then I ended up in construction and that was just a bunch of dudes, you know, from Canoga park and a lot of. And it was just dudes and lots of talks about trucks and going to the lake and jet skis and beer and fighting and stuff. It was all dude stuff. But I never was able to connect with anyone or really talk to anyone about comedy. And then I got to the Groundlings, and when I got to the Groundlings, I was like, oh, yeah, you guys want to talk about comedy? Like you're laughing and we're talking about stuff, we're exchanging these ideas and stuff. And I was like, I don't know where you people have been my whole life, but yeah, I've been waiting to talk to you people. Cause I couldn't talk to any of these people about comedy. They didn't really. They didn't know and they didn't care. They just wanted to get a beer and go down to the lake, you know, and they wanted to fucking fight. That was all they wanted.
Steve Guttenberg
That was their connection.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, yeah. And I liked that stuff, too. But I was also thinking about comedy, and they never understood it. So when I got to the Groundlings, I had that sense of like, oh, yeah, good, we're home now.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, I know. You're not weird. You're not weird. You're like among a bunch of people who are like you.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, but see, the thing that's strange or different maybe, like when you watch the Pee Wee Herman documentary, you go, okay, Pee Wee Herman was this avant garde. Paul Rubin was this avant garde guy. Always sort of weird, you know, kind of cross dressing and just doing all kinds of experimental stuff, like in high school and stuff. So he had to hang out with the weirdos. But I was captain of the football team, so I wasn't that person at all. I was sort of a jock who was fine with the jock stuff and the cars and the fighting and the beer and all construction. That was my life. So no one ever looked at me and thought I was. I never felt out of place or weird. I was sort of right in the middle of that. I just also was thinking about comedy, which made me weird for that group.
Steve Guttenberg
Sure, sure. You couldn't sort of express yourself, and I know the feeling, you know, sensitively. Or talk about a play or talk about a comedic riff that you heard. And guys would be like, okay, but if you're sort of taking it apart, going, wow, how did he get from here to here? And I wonder, wow, how does he do that? How does that work? How did it work so well? How did that play work so well? And I. I was that way. And then when you find people who are like you. And by the way, I was in a class with Paul at the Groundlings.
Adam Carolla
Paul Reiser?
Steve Guttenberg
No, Paul Rubens.
Adam Carolla
Oh, really?
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
Wow.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah. And. And he was, you know, quiet. A quiet lad. But, you know, I became friendly with him and he would do that with the Indian and he would go on his toes. Remember that when he.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, sure. Oh, yeah, yeah. He did the dance. He did the Pee Wee toe dance.
Steve Guttenberg
He did that dance. He did that in class. He did that in class.
Adam Carolla
He did it on the Gong Show, I believe, when I was watching the doc.
Steve Guttenberg
Really?
Adam Carolla
I didn't see, wow, he was on the Gong show, not as Pee Wee, but is another character. So you were there. You were at the Groundlings in what year?
Steve Guttenberg
76. 77 78.
Adam Carolla
And how long were you at the Groundlings?
Steve Guttenberg
I took classes there for three years, almost four years, I think.
Adam Carolla
So you did beginning intermediate, writer's lab.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah. And Newman, Lorraine Newman's sister, was one of my teachers. Really great lady. Forgot her name. Terrible.
Adam Carolla
Was Cynthia Sagetti there back then?
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah. Yeah. And. Oh, gee, so many.
Adam Carolla
Well, let's.
Steve Guttenberg
And Phil. Phil Hartman.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, Phil Hartman was there. Yeah. Paul Rubens did the Jay Longtoe Native American character. The Indian who dances. Well, I don't know. Look, we're old, but let's talk about this, because I had this sort of discussion with a younger person and their friend, and I said, look, she said, I didn't really dig the Groundlings because they were too tough and they were kind of demanding. And I just didn't feel. I didn't feel creative there because it was too much anxiety because they were too tough. And the friend, of course, was agreeing vehemently. And I said, look, I went to the Groundlings, I went through the Groundlings, and I had Cynthia Sageti, and she was a bitch, and she yelled at me and she would say, you know, you would come walking. You know, she'd go, oh, lights up. You know, you come walking in Cynthia's past, by the way. She was a character actress. She was sort of the. Yeah, she was sort of the elder statesman, queen of the Groundlings. And so she'd be sitting there in the Groundling Theater, sort of alone, almost in the bleachers with a couple other students. And then you'd come in, she'd go, lights up. And you'd come in from backstage, you know, and you'd come walking in and you'd go, hi, what's happening here? And then she'd go, stop. And then you'd go, what? She'd go, you're walking in empty handed. Bring something. Bring something to the party. And I'd go, okay. I'd go back out again. Then I'd come walking in and I'd come in and I'd go, oh, I brought you a lovely fruit salad. What are you guys up. What are you guys doing here? And she'd yell, stop. Don't ask questions. You know what they're doing. Go back out, come in again, and don't make me stop you. And I'd go, okay. I'd go, do it. And this person was going, yeah, man, that doesn't fly. And I go, that's how I got good. I got good at it because I got yelled at. I'm fine with it. Cynthia Sagetti loved me. She yelled at me more than anybody, but she fucking loved me. I knew she loved me. She was taking the time to yell at me.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah. Yeah, that's right.
Adam Carolla
And I'd like a little more of that back in society. I'm okay with it. I always knew, even when Cynthia Sagetti was yelling at me, she was yelling me because she thought I had some potential.
Steve Guttenberg
Right. Isn't that cool? That's great. That's a great. That's a great observation. That's such a great, healthy observation. Because more people need it. Because so many people get offended when someone's trying to, you know, shape them a little bit, but what they're really doing is taking time out of their life to say, I care enough about you to say, go right instead of left. And that's what you should do.
Adam Carolla
Yeah. And later on, I would run into Cynthia after I had some success, and it was always great. She's like, ah, Adam, my favorite student, you know. And I was like, well, Cynthia, I knew, like, running an old football coach that yelled at you. I knew what she was about. I was fine with it. So you were there. You were east coast guy. So what got you out to the Groundlings?
Steve Guttenberg
I came out right after I graduated high school in Long island in Massapequa, and I had two weeks to become a movie star. My parents gave me two weeks. And if I didn't do anything, I had to go back. I had to go start Albany State upstate.
Adam Carolla
Now you're in Massapequa with the Baldwins, right?
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, we're the same town. There were three high schools. Massapequa, Burner, and Plain Edge. And I was in Plain Edge, and Alec and Jerry and, you know, a bunch of other guys were at Massapequa.
Adam Carolla
Ever come across them? I mean, I think the Baldwins had quite a reputation, I'm guessing.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
Did you run into him at the sock hop or anything?
Steve Guttenberg
No. I used to run into Billy and Steven and I think Alec at this luncheonette.
Adam Carolla
Yeah.
Steve Guttenberg
That we had. And I would always see them. And I think the guy, the owner, told me that Steven or Billy was always stealing candy. And, you know, they were running after them. And Chris's luncheonette, which is a great luncheonette. And Jerry. I know Jerry used to go there, too. Cause I asked him about it, and.
Adam Carolla
Every once in a while. Jerry who?
Steve Guttenberg
Seinfeld.
Gina Grad
Oh, okay.
Adam Carolla
I didn't. We're in the Baldwin mode. I wasn't sure if there was a Jerry Baldwin that I never heard of.
Steve Guttenberg
I think they Have. I think they had two sisters. I know there's four boys. Four boys and two sisters. Right?
Adam Carolla
So Seinfeld grew up there too.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah. Jerry grew up in Massapequa and his father had a sign company, Cal Seinfeld Signs.
Adam Carolla
So you got the Baldwins, you got the Gutenberg, and you got Seinfeld all sort of about the same time from about the same place.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's pretty rare. And then years before Dick Van Patten and Marvin Hamlisch and. Wow. Oh, Brian Setzer of the.
Adam Carolla
Brian Setzer.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, he was there too.
Adam Carolla
All right, so now you graduate high school and you just. At 18, you just know what you want.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, actually I was 17. It was June, and I wanted to become an actor. So I went out there and I just hustled my ass off and I got a. A Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial. You know, sitting in the stands with the Colonel, you know, no dialogue, but yelling and screaming. And I called my parents and they gave me another two weeks. And, you know, that went on for a year.
Adam Carolla
So you flew out here, you had like a one way ticket to Los Angeles and you had heard of the Groundlings or Where did you land? No, like, where'd you stay? What'd you do?
Steve Guttenberg
I stayed with my godfather, my parents, good friend from Brooklyn, Michael Bell, who was also an actor. And he immediately said, if you're going to stay, you got to go into the great, the best improvisation in town. And he pointed me toward the Groundlings and I started taking classes. I never did improvisation before and just had a great time with it.
Adam Carolla
And you booked your first commercial. You found an agent, I'm guessing.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, Michael Bell's agent. It was called Cunningham at the time. And they started sending me out as a favor to him because he was a big money maker for the agency. So he asked them to let me out and they sent me on a few commercial interviews. That was my first interview. And they Taft Hartleyed me, which means you got 30 days to join the union. And then you. And I remember it was $500 or something to join the union. It was crazy money. It was insane.
Adam Carolla
I know, I know. It's like that's all you have to your name. So you get a spot, you're auditioning. What's the break is Diner. The break. Diner was later.
Steve Guttenberg
Well, yeah, I just had a series of them. I did this teen movie with the guy who produced all the Beatles films, and it was a good teen movie and I did a few other things. But, you know, after a year of Being out in California, I couldn't take it anymore. I had no friends. You know, actors were so competitive. I really, I didn't like the culture of being a professional actor. And I quit and I went back to Albany State and I started school and I wanted to be a civilian. I didn't want to be an actor anymore. It was just too weird for me, the culture and the way it was all, you know, you only get love when you, when you book a job and that sort of thing. But anyway, I was going to school there for six months and I got a call from my former agent, my agent, guy named Arnold Rifkin. And he calls me and says, I got an interview for you. And I said, I don't want to be an actor anymore. And my father said, look, go down, do the interview. If you, if they choose you and you don't want it, you don't have to take it. I went down there and I walked into a room and there's Greg Peck and Frank Schaffner, who directed my. One of my favorite movies, Planet of the Apes with Charlton Heston. And I just was, you know, so excited. I did the reading and they hired me on the spot. And I, I remember I used their phone to call my dad and I said, what do I do? And they were going to fly me to Portugal, to Vienna, to London, and a few months of working there. My dad said, you know what? You never been to Europe. You can go back to college afterward, do this job and then you'll go back to college. And that's what I did. And when I was over there, I started getting a lot of other offers and I just took the bait. I took the bait.
Adam Carolla
That movie was the Boys from Brazil.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
So that's a very serious, heavy movie. There was a big movie at the time and it was basically Nazi war criminals who'd fled to Brazil. Is that the basic story of it? Gregory Peck is in this James Mason. I mean, that's a real heavy. Laurence Olivier's in it. I mean, that's a big star studded, heavy cast about a real heavy serious subject. And what part do you play in that?
Steve Guttenberg
I played a JDL member at the beginning. And all my scenes were with Larry Olivier. And I'm telling him he's a Nazi hunter, where the Nazis are. So I was an informant. And it was a great part.
Adam Carolla
Probably based on a book, I guess. I'm trying to think.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, by Ira Levin.
Adam Carolla
All right, so that's a big star studded, heavy Hollywood movie. But it's serious. It's a far cry from Police academy for sure. And so now are you thinking, I want to be a comedic actor, or are you thinking, I'll just be an actor?
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, I just want to work. I mean, and it's never changed for me. I just like working. I like the feeling of getting it right, and I like the craft. And then I learned. I liked screen craft. Learning how to work the camera and how to be your best and how to give the illusion in artificial circumstances that, you know, these feelings are real. So I never really said I want to be a comedic actor or dramatic actor or I want to be in a thriller or horror movies. I just wanted to work. And I also knew that I would sort of find the right place for me. My, you know, my sort of specialty will come about. I was always told that by my acting teachers that at one point, you know, you know, at one point, Basil Rathbone, you know, the story goes that Basil Rathbone thought he was really funny and he wanted to be in funny movies. And they said, you just don't look funny. You know, you don't look that way. So, you know, a lot of it is the equipment that you have, you know, and that's what you get cast. But I've always just liked to work, you know.
Adam Carolla
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Adam Carolla
Well, I think I'd read earlier that your screen credits, you and Gene Hackman have the most credits from the 80s that you actually did the most work, the most films in that decade. You and the great. The late, great Gene Hackman. So you did get your wish of working.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah. Oh, man. And it was, you know, I mean, that was a crazy time because I was doing three or four pictures a year and maybe home about two months a year, but it was the time to do it. You know, my grandmother always said, make hate when the sun shines. You know, do it when it comes about. And I remember having a conversation with. I've got to tell you, I was at a dinner with Michael Caine and Gene and the three of us and Sidney Poitier was there, a bunch of other guys, and Gene and Hackman and Sean Connery was there, and they were talking about being specific about working. And Hackman and Michael said, we take anything. Anything. It doesn't matter. As long as I get paid, I will do anything. And I thought that was really funny. And then Michael had a cool story about Jaws 4. He goes. They go, why did you do Jaws, Ford? Why did you do it? And he goes, I did it for the money. They go, well, have you seen the movie? And he goes, I have not seen the movie, but I saw the house that I bought for my mother with the money from the movie. And I saw that and it made sense. And he. He said, you know, I want to work. I want to make money so I can take care of my family, do nice things for my family, my friends. And, you know, not that I would do anything, but I would probably do almost anything if, you know, if I get paid and I can maybe make something of it. So I'm the guy who likes to work, you know, and then there's, you know, great actors who do one movie every 10 years. You know, that everybody has a different point of view about it.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, I'm more than Michael Caine camp and the Steve Guttenberg camp, which is, I like to work. I like to work and I like to get paid. And I didn't look at it any differently than when I was a carpenter. It's like, I worked, I got paid. I didn't necessarily question what we were building, I was there to build it. I was there to get paid, you know, and there were like, jobs that I was a little more into. They were a little more interesting or creative or what have you. And then there were jobs that just kind of. Of grunt work, Boring. But it wasn't really. No other profession has this criteria where you then decide, is it up to my standards? No roofer, no plumber, no truck driver. No truck driver asks what's in the payload. You know what I mean? It's whatever. You drive the truck. Don't worry about what's in the box in the back. And that was kind of how I approached it as well. And I don't know that the other approach is bad. Like, there's a lot of comedians who won't do a corporate gig. And I'm like, look, you go up on stage, they give you a microphone, and you talk, and then you get paid. It's not any different than a theater or a club. And they go, yeah, but this is a corporate gig. It's like, well, then you get paid more and you do less time. And then they go, yeah, but those audiences, it's like, do you need to be paid and adored at the same time? Or can you just get paid? Can you just get free food, get paid and go home? You don't have to be adored. And also, if it's a corporate gig, that's up to you. You know what I mean? You're gonna have to work it out a little bit. It's ten in the morning and it's the asphalt convention. It's like, okay, work it out. Then don't come at them with your late night set and your avant garde bullshit. Work it out a little bit. You're getting paid. There's your challenge.
Steve Guttenberg
And they're an audience too, you know, they're the same human beings that probably go to the clubs, and they're just human beings who want to laugh. Someone said to me, nobody goes and sees a comedian hoping that he's terrible. Everybody's going, they want to laugh. I want to love this guy. I want to support this guy. I want this guy to make me laugh. I'm here, I got a big smile on my face. And I think everybody's, you know, they got that momentum. And no matter if you're at a birthday party, a corporate event, you're at the Comedy Store, you know, or you're in Iowa, that's what you do. And also, you're bringing some. You're bringing gifts to people who Usually, you know, sometimes people don't even laugh once during a day with their normal life. So I think it's a great service, an amazing service.
Adam Carolla
Speaking of getting out and doing events, you got an event coming up. It's the Police Academy 40th anniversary, and that's at the Gallo center for the Arts. That's in Modesto, California. That's coming up on August 9th. How did that come about? And then how's that? I mean, obviously, it's a live event. You get up, you screen. I'm guessing you screen Police Academy, or at least you show bits and pieces.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, we screen the whole picture. It came about because I wrote a play and did it in Jersey, and I did it in Sag Harbor, a play, and it was a great experience. A lot of it was about my dad, and my dad passed three years ago, and I was thinking about doing the play all over the country and maybe take it to Europe. But, you know, Adam, I couldn't do the play anymore. I didn't want to do it. A lot of it was about when my dad was sick and doing the play, you know, every night. It was really. It was emotionally kind of tough. I would rather do the Producers or, you know, the Art couple as a play. But I was talking to this promoter, and she said, well, what if you maybe took Police Academy out and then you show the picture, and then you do a question and answer and meet people and have some fun with it, and we could do that as a little side business for you. So I said, that sounds great. And I like meeting people, and I like giving them something that brings back either great memories or makes them laugh today. And so we're going to do it in Modesto for the first time. And if it works, you know, I'll do it everywhere. I really like. I like a party. I like a good time, and that'll be a good time.
Adam Carolla
I'm with you. I am also surprised that comedians, especially getting back to the. You know, talking about the job and getting paid, and there's a lot of comedians that don't want to be touched by people or see people or hang out with people. And I'm like, you're a fucking comedian. What are you talking about? You know, and they go, I don't. I'm not. And, you know, after every show, I do, I go do a meet and greet, you know, and people go, you know, you don't have to do the meet and greet if it's late or you gotta get back to the hotel or two shows early morning flight. I go, no, I like meeting people. They all come by, they tell you why they like you. They'll tell you, I brought my son. I got him listening to the podcast or whatever. And they take a picture with them. You shake their hand, have a drink, it's fine. I don't know. Why would you set up these rules? A lot of people like, I don't like hanging out. I feel too claustrophobic. I don't want the crowd. It's like, I don't know what you're doing. What business are you in? Go into accounting. Then you're up on stage holding the microphone. There's 300 people in the room, and you're talking for an hour while they reminded to shut up and listen to you. And then you don't like people or you don't want to meet people. I don't get that.
Steve Guttenberg
I think there's something else. I've always found my friends who don't like to do that. They got something else going on emotionally. Yeah. And take it out on the other people. Like, no, I'm not going to meet you. No, I don't want to know. I was. I got to tell you.
Adam Carolla
Tell me.
Steve Guttenberg
I was around a celebrity and they said their name, they said, let's say their name was John. Someone said, hello, and they said, john is not meeting anyone new today.
Adam Carolla
I know. I don't, I don't. For me, it's a general subject that I'm really interested in, which is people and the rules, the number of rules. Like I. And now I always use the tomato. But here's what I'm saying about the tomato. Yes. You look perplexed. Here's what I'm saying. Here are my rules with the tomato. I like cut up tomato. I like tomato on a burger. I like tomato sauce. I like salsa tomato. I like tomatoes. Everyone else I know has very specific rules where they go, I like pizza. I like red sauce. I like pasta. I don't like raw tomato. I don't want tomato on my salad. I don't want it on my burger if it's cooked. If it's cooked, I'm fine. And it's like, why so many rules? Why not just enjoy the fucking tomato? Can we just enjoy tomato? What's with all the rules? And why do you do that to yourself? And then this extends to all fat, you know, John is not gonna meet anyone new. How about you just. How about you meet someone new, John? Maybe sit down, enjoy a tomato? Why. Why impose? I have people tell me all the time. I don't do this and I don't do that. And I'm like, who cares?
Steve Guttenberg
You know?
Adam Carolla
And people go, you fly southwest. I go, yeah, I don't care. It's to Phoenix. It's 51 minutes. I don't care. Why do you fly south? I don't fly. Okay, you have rules. I don't really have rules. And I don't know what people think it is, but I'm telling you, if you're listening, try to have as few rules as possible. It'll make it easier. It just makes. It makes life easier.
Steve Guttenberg
Well, I have. You know, when you talk to your friends and you go, why don't you do that? Then they get furious, right? You know, they get. You get furious with you. Do you go, you know what? We don't need to fight over this. Let's go. Let's go get a tuna fish sandwich and enjoy some life right now, please?
Adam Carolla
No, My solution is when they say, no tomatoes on my salad, I go, put them on the side. I'll take them. I get more. That's what I do. All right.
Steve Guttenberg
Wow, that's great.
Adam Carolla
Your dad. Now, see, you seem happy and adjusted, and your vibe is just a sort of positive and good vibe. I don't know you well, but from the time that I've spent with you, I'm like, oh, Gutenberg, good, good dude. And you kept sort of weaving in your dad and calling him and asking him for advice, and your dad saying, go out in two weeks and come back. And you brought your dad up a few times, and that's good. So you must have a base because your dad and mom, I'm sure, are solid. Like, gave you, like a good, solid base. Like a healthy relationship base.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, yeah. I always say my dad, when I was a little kid, I thought my dad was full of it. He goes, everything you need to know in this world, you're going to learn at this kitchen table. You need to be at the kitchen table when we have company, when the family is here, when we have friends, when I have business people and it's just you and your mom and your two sisters, you're going to sit at this table and you're going to learn everything you need. So if you ever meet the Pope, or you ever meet a president, or you ever meet a big time guy, you're going to know how to handle yourself from what you learn on the kitchen table. And I think it's true. You know, I, you know, I could sort of take everything I learned listening and talking to whatever position, whatever I'm into. My parents were always pretty solid and very positive and always tried to smile and make a joke. And, you know, my dad said 80% of life is supposed to be happy. 20% is going to be tough, and you're going to have some really horrible days and some bad things and disappointments, and you're going to lose people and things. But 80% of life is supposed to be funny and happy. You're supposed to be happy most of the time. That's what you're supposed to do. So I kind of go by that, you know, and I understand that 20% of life, you know, things are gonna happen. You know, horrible. You know, bad things are gonna happen, but it shouldn't be most of life.
Adam Carolla
That's a very good way to think. So, last question for you, Steve. I have this thing about people, and I can kind of judge their childhood by their sandwich score. You're talking about sitting at the kitchen table. Let's talk about the sandwich. Now, here's what I'm saying.
Steve Guttenberg
Sure.
Adam Carolla
Dr. Drew didn't have a great mom. And so what he had was a shit sandwich mom. Now, you don't think you can get lower than shit sandwich mom, But I had no sandwich mom, which is a slightly worse than shit sandwich mom. And then there's moms who toasted the bread. The toast. The bread. Drew's mind was blown when he found out moms even toasted the bread. Like, that's a whole extra step for my mom. It would have been. Electricity was used. Who's going to pay for that with the toaster and the heating coils? And it just was a whole different level of caring that Drew, who had shit sandwich mom, was not into. But if your mom had a specific. And it doesn't need to be an expensive sandwich. It's just your sandwich, what you liked. Would your mom make that sandwich for you?
Steve Guttenberg
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, man.
Adam Carolla
What was your sandwich? What was your sandwich?
Steve Guttenberg
It was toasted rye bread.
Adam Carolla
Toasted rye.
Steve Guttenberg
Toasted toast. Toast, toast. Did you hear me?
Adam Carolla
An extra step of love.
Steve Guttenberg
Toasted perfect.
Adam Carolla
Perfectly rye.
Steve Guttenberg
Perfect.
Adam Carolla
Yeah.
Steve Guttenberg
And tuna fish with chopped up celery in it.
Adam Carolla
Had it last night. Had tuna fish with chopped up celery last night.
Steve Guttenberg
Oh.
Adam Carolla
Made it myself, not my mom.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, because now you know how to make it. You learned. And a lettuce, tomato, and a pickle on the side.
Adam Carolla
A pickle on the side. Okay. So you had. I'm gonna give your mom a nine. Sandwich. Sandwich department. And that's why you're so adjusted. That's why you're happy. That's why you're happy to meet people. And that's why you're not a troubled actor, because you had a sagely dad and a great sandwich scorer of a moment. She toasted that rye. The old deli rye. The thin rye, not the big chewy rye. The thin rye made a nice crispy little crunch to it. Almost see light pass through it if you held it up. You know, the thinner stuff.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Carolla
All right, Gutenberg.
Steve Guttenberg
Good note.
Adam Carolla
A good note to go out on Happy mom sandwich high, high sandwich score. Everyone has to think of your mom. Give her a sandwich score. That's how much she loved you.
Steve Guttenberg
I'm thinking about the shit sandwich and the no sandwich Mom.
Adam Carolla
You got lucky, Sean. Kidnapped by killers. The name of the movie, it's on Lifetime. You can stream it now on Philo or you can watch it for free on Lifetime with dads. And then the police Academy's coming up. 40th anniversary. That'll be in August 9th, Modesto, Gallo center for the Arts. Steve, when you're in town, come by, man.
Steve Guttenberg
I will. And Adam, last time I was there, you had a show that night, and I couldn't go to it. I had some personal issues. But next time I come into town, I want to come see you. And I wanted to see a show. And you make me laugh so much. You have such a great spirit, and you're a really special guy, and I always felt that when I met you. You're a very special guy, and you got a great family, and you're a good person, and you're very funny. And, man, thanks for the laughs today.
Adam Carolla
Thanks, Steve. And again, we honor your mother on a great sandwich score. All right, we'll take a break. We'll do some news right after this.
Steve Guttenberg
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Adam Carolla
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Jason Mayhem Miller
It's time to check Adam's voicemail.
Adam Carolla
Face man. This is Warren up in Folsom. Just heard breaking press release. The Gavinator has steered 100 million towards affordable housing in the Palisades and Eaton fire districts. Just what we thought might happen all this time. Here we go.
Steve Guttenberg
Get it on.
Jason Mayhem Miller
You can leave us a message at 888-634-1744.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, you know, this whole, like, there's no affordable housing in Brentwood or Beverly Hills or Malibu. Yeah, bitch, that's how it works.
Gina Grad
That I'm applying for Section 8 in Calabasas.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, listen, I was poor most of my life and no, there was no housing in Malibu. That's where rich people lived. That's how it worked. Now, there was apartments in North Hollywood, and that's where I lived. And it was fine. Now, here's the whole deal about this. Your job isn't to get a poor family a home in the Palisades. Your job is to have affordable housing in reasonable neighborhoods that are safe and clean and orderly. So, like, people are like, man, it's Sodom and Gomorrah out here. My kid's got a Dodge. Gunfire, walk into school. Well, how about you clean up that fucking neighborhood? Don't take those people. Pick them up and move them to the Palisades. And by the way, I got bad news for you. But if you pick up those people, move them to the Palisades, then your kid's gonna have to run serpentine to fucking Palisades High because gunfire is gonna be going off because guess who's firing the fucking guns? Those fucking people. So clean up that neighborhood. Make that there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to live anywhere in the San Fernando Valley. It should be safe and clean and orderly.
Gina Grad
Stay low and run in his exact pattern. Chad.
Adam Carolla
Yes, Chad. So that's what they're gonna do. There's this weird thing where they're constantly. Their number one priority is figuring out a way to get shit away from People that work hard and earn their money and give it to other people to somehow fix their life. That shit doesn't work. It doesn't work. You know how everyone who wins the lottery ends up fucking bankrupt three years later? Or they dive an OD or whatever. It doesn't. You can't. They can earn their way. You can teach them a trade, you can try to create an environment where they can flourish, but you can't hand them shit.
Gina Grad
With great power comes great response at Trilotrans.
Adam Carolla
All right, what do you got there?
Gina Grad
All right, here's some Peak California. An arsonist stopped by fitness influencers along the Hollywood Hills hiking trail. Yeah, one of my favorite spots to hike. Runyon Canyon.
Adam Carolla
A man who was arrested influencer. You know who our fitness fucking influencer? Arnold fucking Schwarzenegger.
Steve Guttenberg
Just fucking jacked.
Gina Grad
Jacked out of his mind.
Adam Carolla
Jacked out of his mind. That's who our fitness influencer was.
Gina Grad
Like that dude, everything feels like calming.
Adam Carolla
By the way, you being a 23 year old chick and not being fat doesn't make you a fitness influencer.
Gina Grad
Well, she fills out them yoga pants quite right. Have you seen her of.
Adam Carolla
I don't. I'm saying again, your ass being the right shape doesn't. When you're 23 doesn't make you. It doesn't mean we need to follow your advice. How did you get such a shapely ass? That's what's fucking boring. We do this all the time. Like Heidi Klum. What are your secrets? Fucking great genetics, bro.
Gina Grad
I'll tell you here. Okay, all right. Back in my day, they didn't have Instagram influencers figuring out how to make your butt perfect. And these days butts are at an all time high.
Adam Carolla
Are they your butt guy?
Gina Grad
I mean, I am, but you know what I mean, I dance around the subject every direction. All right, but I'm just saying like. Yeah, they caught him. He was caught in the.
Adam Carolla
Wait, do I have footage?
Gina Grad
Yeah, we have some footage. He's starting a fire. He literally got it going. Check him out.
Adam Carolla
So he's starting a fire and Runyon.
Gina Grad
Cannon, he just took off. They saw him, started filming it. Yeah, he's sauntering off, even sauntering. And then having a chat with looks like a lineman for the Seattle Seahawks.
Adam Carolla
I always could have a big brother.
Gina Grad
Yeah, I think that guy got a single leg on him for sure.
Adam Carolla
You have the warrant for the murder, right? Oh, wow. Yeah.
Steve Guttenberg
You are going to be fine and hospitalized.
Gina Grad
The British lady thinks that we have hospital for him.
Steve Guttenberg
A dull Moment in la.
Adam Carolla
What are the. Okay, let's just say this. We've crafted a society where we have piles and piles and piles of deranged, drug addled and crazy people just sort of milling about, milling about. And so people go, somebody stole my dog or somebody hit my cat with a machete or somebody started a fire. Yeah, I don't know how else do you think this is gonna. How else would this go?
Gina Grad
It's kind of country wide, as in Nashville. They had like these guys that were, you know, they, they shove them out of the town, the bar town, but they're like sauntering around in the shadows all day and it's kind of like a zombie apocalypse where all the zombies stay hidden in the shadows until the. And then they run wild.
Adam Carolla
It's a strange thing that we've become accustomed to. And it's interesting, you know, it's also, it's kind of interesting. It's like when you see a guy with a really fat wife and you go, you're thinking to yourself, man, you're in pretty good shape for 56 year old dude, but your fucking wife is huge, you know? And you go, and then you think to yourself, how long have they been. I've been married for 27 years. And you go, why is so fat? And you think, how'd that happen? And then you go, oh, she gained eight pounds a year for the last 20. But I'll tell you how it happens. Slowly, slowly. If you just went to bed with your bride and you just woke up with today's version of Lena Dunham, you'd be like, holy fuck, what the fuck? But if your bride just put on £7 a year, you wouldn't even notice for the last 21 years. Then here we are. That's what we do with homelessness and junk and graffiti and failing schools and everything. It's just, it's real slow. It's real slow and it just keeps happening. And eventually you're just stepping over a homeless guy to pick up your mail versus, you know, sleeping with this salve a wife of yours. And listen, it's a two way street. Guys get fat too. It's the same thing. I'm trying to think. Here's a challenge for you, all right? Your fitness expert, all right, I'm put this up to the peanut gallery. I feel like I see skinny guys with fat chicks and I feel like I see two fat people. The fat couple, skinny guy with fat chick. And I guess they're skinny guy with skinny. Gal, chick, gal with fat dude, what's more prevalent in the long marriage, like in the 20 year marriage department?
Gina Grad
Oh, come on, man. Your old lady gets fat, that's just standard, you know what I mean?
Adam Carolla
But the dude.
Gina Grad
Yeah, yeah, but his chick ain't skinny. 9 out of 10 unless he got some dolla dollar bills, y'.
Steve Guttenberg
All.
Adam Carolla
Okay, so I don't even know what you said, all right? But the point is this. I kind of like. You know what I like? I. I like the tacit agreement of we're both getting fat. I like that thing where it's like.
Steve Guttenberg
It's just.
Adam Carolla
You go, look, I'm 63, you're 67. Do you really give a fuck?
Gina Grad
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
And wouldn't you rather have ribs tonight than kale? And it's like, yep, okay, so we're both just gonna be fat and no one's gonna wanna fuck us, and that's fine. The mutual assured destruction and that's it. I understand that world.
Gina Grad
Yeah, yeah, I get it.
Adam Carolla
Yeah.
Gina Grad
I feel like sometimes that's when I see a nice couple out. Two huskies. I'm very happy for them. You know, they're enjoying their food. Ribs, sauce all over their face. Partly part of the sexuality, you know, I think that it's good for them. I think America needs to chub up again.
Adam Carolla
Oh, we're there. All right. So anyway, we have oodles of crazed people who walk amongst us and they never go home and they never. They don't have a mortgage and they don't need insurance and they don't need anything other than to just sort of live. And then we get these weird random acts, like, who's got the chainsaw and is cutting down all those trees in downtown? You know how long it takes to grow one of those trees? And that guy did it all in 30 seconds. Cut down 14 trees. What? And then we do this weird thing. Who would do that? It's like. Well, a crazy person would.
Gina Grad
I'll posit this to you. All right? If we had to stay in this room, right? Schizophrenic guy sitting right there. Okay. Scary gang banger sitting right here. And you had to sit here, all right, for nine months and eat a bag of lunch. That was all you got. Just slobs appetite. How long before you start acting weird? And what if somebody come up to you and, hey, I have this substance in my hand that will make you.
Adam Carolla
Forget that you're here. Drugs.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Gina Grad
How long before Adam Carolla starts chopping down trees and lighting fires?
Adam Carolla
Listen, first off, I would look forward to Prison these days. I got a busy schedule, number one. Number two, I'm not saying. Here's what I'm saying.
Gina Grad
I'm saying it's a factory. It's like. It's not a bus, it's a feature, not a bug.
Adam Carolla
I get. Listen, everything needs, everything needs to work. Everything needs to be revamped and work. But what I'm saying is letting people stroll around the street with the machete and a load in their pants is not. That's not the answer. Yeah, you're right. We need some other version of this.
Gina Grad
But like no hospital take them to.
Adam Carolla
There's no. You know what I mean?
Gina Grad
There's like barely any jail space for all the other crimes that's going on.
Adam Carolla
Well, look, okay, first things first, we can dance around the symptoms or we can go to the cause. The cause are fucked up broken families. We need to focus on that. If we focus. If everyone's last name was Gutenberg, we'd all have a sandwich in our belly and a song on our lips and.
Jason Mayhem Miller
A seat at the kitchen table.
Adam Carolla
A seat at the kitchen table because his mom, I don't know if you heard, I gave her a nine in the sandwich department.
Gina Grad
Sandwich tastic.
Adam Carolla
Steve Guttenberg is Steve Guttenberg because Steve Gutner comes from a real fucking solid ass family that took the time to tell him right from wrong and toast him some nice rye and make him a wonderful sandwich. So that's how Steve, now dad was a raging alcoholic and mom was never around and so on and so forth. And then he got pushed out in the streets when he was 14. Then we might have a different version of Steve Guttenberg. So can we at least. Let's figure out there's a great line in the Freddie Blassie wrestler song called Pencil Neck Geek. Do you know that song?
Gina Grad
I mean, I heard that term many a times. I called people that.
Adam Carolla
Professional wrestler wrote a novelty song called Pencil Neck Geek. Grit eatin freak. No good moron with a lousy physique. He's a one way no good losing streak. Nothing but a pencil necky.
Gina Grad
Yeah, yeah. This is like a common insult.
Adam Carolla
So he goes, at the end of the song, he goes, they say these pencil neck geeks are a dime a dozen. I'm looking for the guy providing the dimes and I'm like, yeah, homeless people are a dime a dozen. Who's providing the fucking dime? How did these people like, well, I came here from Nebraska. Okay, where's your home? Where's your dad? Where's your system? Where's Your safety net. Where. Where you. What's going on with you? What's going on with your family? My kids can't be homeless because they got me and they got their mom and I work and I'm semi sober and I will take care of my kids. They will always have a sofa to live in. If I have to pay to get them help or rehab or whatever, then that's what we're gonna do so we don't have to worry about them. Pencil neck geek. Can you play? Just play the end and you can hear Freddie Blassie get a YouTube takedown over this. Oh, are we allowed to play this?
Gina Grad
I know. I don't know.
Jason Mayhem Miller
I don't know. There's a master list, essentially, of major labels, so that's. I don't think this is in the paradigm.
Adam Carolla
We'll see.
Gina Grad
WarnerMedia Group owns that. You never know. I got taken down a few times.
Adam Carolla
All right, well, you guys could go look. Just go look. I'm blessing.
Steve Guttenberg
Right, I realize that. I just thought perhaps we could improve on the engineering.
Adam Carolla
All right, forget it. Let's just play the. Don't even play. Just play it at home. I don't want to deal with it. I don't even know what the rules are. Nobody knows what the rules are.
Gina Grad
I got some more morbid California.
Adam Carolla
I want to. I want to play you. I want to play you a tape. It's a LA City Councilwoman Imelda Padilla, which is. Okay. A lot of the problems that we're having right now are chick think. And everyone hates it when I say that, but that's what we're dealing with. We elected too many dingbat chicks, we put them in too many big positions of power. They have some sort of version of life that doesn't really exist. It's up in their head. Here's basically what it is. They would. Half these dingbats would stand in Tiburon on the other side of the bay. The other half would stand in San Francisco and they would dream of a bridge and they would discuss a bridge and they would talk about the children need a bridge and they wanna live. And no bridge would ever get built because some fucker at the end of the day has gotta go do it. And they're not doing any of it. But they would dream of a day and they would have marches and they would have slogans and they would talk about it and they would have discussion groups and. And half of them would stand in Tiburon and half of them would stand in San Francisco and they would dream of a bridge and they would discuss a bridge and they would get elected on a bridge. But there'd never be a bridge would ever get built with these ding mats.
Jason Mayhem Miller
Do you realize there is an actual real world recent example of that? In New York city they spent $100 million to light all the bridges in New York. Guess how many bridges are lit?
Adam Carolla
0.
Jason Mayhem Miller
$100 million are gone and all the lights are still in a box in storage that New York City paid $2 million to store for the last seven years.
Adam Carolla
That's Chick think right there. And look, there are a lot of dudes that are infected with chick think. Look how Gavin Newsom crosses his legs. Look how Barack Obama crosses his legs. Look at how Justin Trudeau crossed. That's all chick think. It's not all. You can have a cock and balls and suffer from chick dank. But we may have a new leader in the clubhouse. Nithya Raman, who's always a perpetual leader because she wanted to blame Toyota for making catalytic converters super easy to steal. We have Councilwoman Imelda Padilla.
Gina Grad
She's one of my favorites.
Adam Carolla
She's talking to the police chief and she's got an idea. By the way, it's also stupid, but empowered is a very dangerous. What we have is a lot of stupid and righteous. And that's a fucking. That's a problem. So listen to her.
Steve Guttenberg
All right.
Adam Carolla
Shopify. Well, starting a business, man, that can be a little intimidating. Shopify, they're the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and about 10% of all E commerce in the US from household names like Mattel to Gymshark to brands that are just getting started. But I'm sure you're going to hear about them soon. You get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand style. Get the word out like you have your own marketing team behind you. Easily create emails and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling. And best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert. With world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. It is Shopify right, Dawson?
Jason Mayhem Miller
Turn your big business idea into Shopify on your side. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com corolla go to shopify.com corolla shopify.com corolla.
Dawson
This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Summer of cinema is here. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator, Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger, and Transformers. Dark of the Moon. Bring the action with you and stream for free from all your favorite devices. Pluto tv Stream now. Pay Never.
Imelda Padilla
I'm asking creativity question here. What can your department do to do more? To warn us? To warn the business community that outside of our LA borders, Coming in from Englewood, coming in from Antelope Valley. I don't know. You can warn us so that we can warn our folks of your loyalty to the city of Los Angeles.
Adam Carolla
All right, hold on. She's saying to the police chief who's trying to enforce laws that if you're really loyal to Los Angeles, you are gonna warn our illegal lawbreakers that ICE is coming in so they can avoid participating in the law when they're here illegally. So a city councilwoman, her concern. She's not talking about rebuilding the Palisade. She's talking to a dude and saying, give everyone a heads up so they can run before the law shows up. Even though you are the law in this city. All right, so that's her request, by the way. She wants to know what he can do about it. We'll hear what his answer is.
Steve Guttenberg
Weird.
Adam Carolla
So you're asking me to warn you about an enforcement action being taken by another agency before it happens?
Imelda Padilla
Yes.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, we. We can't do that.
Imelda Padilla
Why not?
Adam Carolla
That would be obstruction of justice. You may want to talk to the city attorney about that.
Imelda Padilla
Where's the city attorney? Aren't they here? I see her, officers. Where's she?
Adam Carolla
We got a real problem in this city.
Steve Guttenberg
We'll hear from the city attorney after we hear from lapd.
Adam Carolla
We can re.
Steve Guttenberg
We can revisit it then.
Imelda Padilla
Okay. Yeah. Cuz, I mean, I. They're in route. We know they're coming. We know they're coming to bring disruption. There's no way that we can know.
Steve Guttenberg
I can't.
Adam Carolla
I don't know how to even respond to that.
Imelda Padilla
Wasn't she just here? Who took her?
Gina Grad
This is performative, though.
Imelda Padilla
Where did she go?
Adam Carolla
We'll come back to some other business, but we can come back.
Steve Guttenberg
We'll give you the opportunity to ask.
Adam Carolla
Yeah, we don't do that. We. We're not gonna. We're not gonna broadcast for like, the FBI is looking for a terrorist suspect. Say. Right. Are we going to tell, you know, hey, the FBI is coming looking for you.
Imelda Padilla
Yeah, but see, there's a difference between someone's coming because they're going to, you know, go get.
Adam Carolla
I'm using that as an example. But no, we're not allowed to do that. That would be completely inappropriate and illegal. She's passed. What's going on?
Imelda Padilla
Is she coming?
Adam Carolla
Get the city attorney.
Gina Grad
She'll come late.
Steve Guttenberg
She'll come after. She. We will.
Adam Carolla
She said dope. First off, these people are fucking dumb. Which is scary because we're like, hey, we gotta work something out with the aqueduct system. And they're like, I don't know if that fucking is. But I am worried. But the gay. Fucking gay pride parade is coming. That I can talk about. Listen, here's the bottom line. I know no one likes it. They don't want to hear it. Once you get enough of these people, you're fucked. Because they're in charge, they're making policy, and they're fucking dumb. And now they dumb. They want the opposite of everything you want. So it's a combo of dumb and wants the opposite of whatever you want. I want filled aqueducts and less street vendors. That's illegal. Street vendors with filled aqueduct. She wants no aqueducts and tons of street vendors. I guess. Or maybe they don't know what they want. I don't know. Did this person beat out Nithya Raman blaming Toyota? I. I just don't think I've learned that you cannot beat Steve Guttenberg's mom in the sandwich department. And I've learned you cannot beat Nithya Raman in the dingbat. I'm going to put a microphone in front of my fucking retarded mouth and say shit to people who are all gonna think I'm clinically insane department. I don't think you can. Blaming Toyota.
Gina Grad
I know. Yeah.
Adam Carolla
And also not only blaming Toyota, sounding like a fucking imbecile while she's saying it, she's like, they make a thing that's easier for super. Easier to steal than the other than like a Mac, MacBook Pro. Okay, bitch, I don't know what you're saying. What is the suggestion? Well, then Toyota should pay, okay? No one knows what the fuck you're talking about. You sound like a retarded person. I have no idea how you got to this position, but I will tell you, it's a critical mass thing. People go, how much of this can we absorb? And you know what I say? I tell them mayhem. I say, the ocean. The ocean is amazing. And it heals and it repairs and it can take almost everything you throw at it. You know, tanker spills and pollution and rivers of. Of toxic waste just flying, churning along, just keep turning. But eventually, yeah, eventually, fish start floating to the top. Eventually, yeah. And we can take a whole bunch of dumb broads with horrible ideas and bad positive. We can keep. But eventually we'll have so many dingbats making so many bad ideas that the place may burn down.
Gina Grad
I know. There's something about empathy, like, you know, if we have a team, we have to have somebody to slow the juggernauts down. Right, Somebody. But now we hired all those whiny types to allegedly build bridges and tunnels and fix fires.
Adam Carolla
They don't do anything but talk about the trans community and then get angry at the police chief. All right, let's do one more. What do you got? Or two more. Give me a choice.
Gina Grad
All right, I'm going to give you a choice about Burger King worker or an American Idol music boss getting murdered.
Adam Carolla
Oh, yeah, that's a crazy story. First things first. They're murdered in a very nice part of this city, which is Encino.
Gina Grad
And not only that, they had a fortified castle around them and had gone to the security store about a week previous. Break in, so. Or attempted, I should say.
Adam Carolla
Yeah. So they're living in what I could see from looking at it in the neighborhood and sort of just eyeballing the square footage and that whole nine yards. They're living in a six to nine million dollars home.
Gina Grad
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
Castle almost. And it has a high wall around it. It has security cameras.
Gina Grad
And the bars on the top, the spiky kind of bars, they.
Adam Carolla
They spiked the top of the gate. They did everything. I mean, here's kind of the bottom line. If I just said I'm gonna hire an assassin to kill mayhem.
Gina Grad
Yeah, yeah. Be pretty simple.
Adam Carolla
Outside the gym, you could go. I'm gonna get a bulletproof vest, and I'm gonna look left, and right after I leave my apartment or something, it's like. It's not really doable. He's gonna get you at some point.
Gina Grad
If somebody sends a torpedo, you know what I mean? It's fire and forget. Like this kid's going to prison for.
Adam Carolla
Right. This is a. So Encino used to be a really nice neighborhood. And then. And so did that part of the Valley. And then crime started, kind of. Something happened. And what happened in the last several years in this city, it happened with crime the same way it happened with homelessness crime. When you'd go to the inner city and you'd go to the barrio and you'd go to South Central, there's always bars on all the windows. All the windows. And these are junker houses with these Shitty bars. It's also kind of a weird thing where it's like, well, we live in a society where you're not in prison, but you have to sort of put bars. Your kid will grow up staring out a window through bars. Later on maybe he'll see bars in his prison cell. But either way, we live in that society. And those houses would always get robbed. But if you really think about it, what's in the poor guy's house?
Gina Grad
Yeah, no, yeah, maybe flat screen, maybe.
Adam Carolla
I mean, how much good stuff's in there?
Gina Grad
Kilo of cocaine.
Adam Carolla
And the poor people also lived in skid row. And I always sort of thought to myself, if I was homeless, I'd go to fucking Santa Barbara and be homeless. I'd go homeless by the beach with the rich people. I would live in a nice. If I just said you're homeless, yeah, you can live wherever you want. Well then I'd pick a nice neighborhood to live in. But the homeless lived in skid row. And then they all robbed each other in the neighborhood, in the hood. And then at some point the robbers and the homeless went, wait a minute, why are we robbing the poor people where we live? They don't got shit in their house. Why don't we go to Encino? They have nice stuff there. And the homeless people went, wait up, cuz I'll live in Encino too. What the fuck am I flopped around in South Central for? I'm going to Encino too. And there they all went. And so now we have homeless in the nice neighborhoods and then we have crime in the nice neighborhoods. And the real problem with when you're in a nice neighborhood like Encino or you're in a nice neighborhood like Hancock park, you can get back to the barrio real fucking fast from your, from the nice neighborhood. You know what I mean? You want to be. If you're on top of, of some hill deep in Malibu or something, then where are you going? It's gonna take a long time to get back in the hood. It's gonna take you a half hour just to be in Calabasas with the Kardashians. And that's kind of what you want, but Encinos had like a lot of break ins. And you know, they say that this.
Gina Grad
Could have been sort of random. You know, he jumped the fence and kind of laid in wait for 30 minutes.
Adam Carolla
Well, the guy broke into the house, the alarm went off, our neighbor saw it and they called the cops. This is the sad part, the cops showed up and the cops were like we can't get into the house because it's fortified and they weren't going crazy over the fence into the shrub like the 22 year old gunman did. So they came to the house while the gunman was in the house before the couple came home?
Gina Grad
Yes.
Adam Carolla
And then they probably hit the buzzer a few times and then they left. And then the couple came home and were shot dead by the guy who broke in their house. Which is tragic, but it's even more tragic that the fucking cops were there before they got there. I know.
Gina Grad
Yeah, you know, I mean, but what would you want? Like the cops jump the fence and do a sweep?
Adam Carolla
I had the cops drinking. You know, I was in a towel, but yeah, I was drinking. Yeah, okay, you caught me. I did have the cops jump over a fence and come into my house.
Gina Grad
And you were pretty pissed, right?
Adam Carolla
No, because. Well, the reason it was a faulty alarm, but I wasn't pissed because the alarm went off. I wasn't aware the alarm went off and they were responding to the alarm. Yeah, you know, I'm not. First off, fuck everyone that gets annoyed. Yeah, fuck you. These people, I'll tell you who these people are. They're the people where like, you order a sectional sofa, right? You order it, you pay for it. And then at some point, six weeks later, there's a moving van, a cube van with the thing, and it's being delivered, right? And right at that time, your ex wife or this person could be a roommate or whoever, the person that lives in the house with you, they come pulling up the driveway and the cube truck that's got the sectional sofa and it's being dropped off is blocking them. And then they come in and they're fucking coming to fucking front door, the head of steam, what's going. I couldn't park. It's like, bitch, you're getting a fucking free sofa. These guys are dropping it off. They're gonna be here for 10 minutes. Shut the fuck up. You're not allowed to be allowed. You're not allowed to be pissed. I know you're pissed because you're coming up the driveway and you couldn't get to the garage, but shut up. You're not allowed to be pissed. You're getting a fucking free sofa and these guys are bringing it in the house. So shut up. Shut up. It's, it's very specific. No, I've run into this my entire life. Shut up. You're not allowed to be pissed. This is on this, on you. This is timing. You're getting A free sofa. My alarm went off. Cops are banging on my door. I answered the fucking door and there are four of them standing there. It was on tmz. And I'm like, huh? And. And it's like the alarm went up and I'm not allowed to be pissed. I don't care. I was drinking wine. I was watching Sports Center.
Steve Guttenberg
Yeah.
Adam Carolla
But I'm not allowed to be pissed because they're doing their job. Just like the furniture guy doing their job guy.
Gina Grad
Didn't you know? They didn't do the job.
Adam Carolla
I don't know. You know, this is. I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We are going to Rethis is going to give way. If Nithya Raman and dingbat number one Louisiana city councilwoman can find time. We need some protocol where the cop has the cell phone number of the house. Here's the address. Here's the number you want. Hey, if you're a taxpayer and you're going out to dinner, you should want the cops that have that information. And then they would call you or text you and they would say, there's no communication. We've come to your home. We cannot get in. Would you like to give us the gate code? We can enter or we can wait here until you return and escort you in that. There's going to be protocol from now on. All right, you can see me. I'm going to be at the Pabst theater in Milwaukee doing shows there. That's coming up July 20th, and I'm everywhere. I'm in Portland at the Aladdin theater August 7th. Just go to AdamCroll.com for all the live shows and nice job, mayhem. Until next time, the sandwich king, Steve Guttenberg. Adam Kroll. May. I'm saying mahalo.
Jason Mayhem Miller
Pick up your phone. Leave us a voicemail at 8 at 634-1744. Still a few tickets left to see the Ace man in Milwaukee at the Pabs theater. Make sure you get yours. Get them now. Right now. Stop everything. Get your tickets for Sunday night with adam corolla@adamcola.com.
Dawson
This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Summer of cinema is here. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator, Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger, and Dark of the Moon. Bring the action with you and stream for free from all your favorite devices. Pluto tv Stream now.
Adam Carolla
Pay.
Dawson
Never. This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Summer of cinema is here. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger and Transformers. Dark of the Moon. Bring the action with you and stream for free from all your favorite devices. Pluto TV stream now pay never.
The Adam Carolla Show: Steve Guttenberg Shares Harrowing Palisades Wildfire Experience + Arsonist Busted Setting Fire on CA Hiking Trail
Release Date: July 17, 2025
In this episode of The Adam Carolla Show, host Adam Carolla welcomes Steve Guttenberg, a beloved Hollywood actor known for his roles in classics like Police Academy and Diner. The conversation delves into Guttenberg’s recent harrowing experience during the Palisades wildfires, his dedication to community service, and reflections on his illustrious acting career.
Surviving the Blaze
Steve Guttenberg opens up about the devastating wildfires that swept through the Palisades, forcing him to flee to his second home in New York. Despite the chaos, Guttenberg's residence was spared—a stroke of luck attributed to the relentless efforts of local fire personnel.
Steve Guttenberg [06:42]: "Not today, Satan, not today."
The wildfire started unexpectedly on the hills, moving swiftly towards the coastline. Surprisingly, many hillside homes, including Guttenberg’s, remained unscathed. This was largely due to the presence of two fire trucks assigned to their area for 48 straight hours, even amidst challenges like depleted hydrants.
Reservoir Management and Firefighting Challenges
Adam Carolla expresses frustration over the empty reservoirs that hampered firefighting efforts, questioning the decision-making behind keeping reservoir levels low during times when fires could erupt unpredictably.
Adam Carolla [07:42]: "I think these are just questions that we'd like answers to."
Guttenberg acknowledges the flawed decisions but also highlights the absence of a defined fire season in modern times, emphasizing the need for better infrastructure to handle such emergencies year-round.
Steve Guttenberg [09:59]: "They have to have a 24 hour day job that they keep up on everything."
Early Beginnings and Groundlings
Guttenberg shares his journey into acting, starting with his time at the Groundlings, a renowned improvisational and sketch comedy troupe in Los Angeles. His tenure there from 1976 to 1980 was transformative, allowing him to connect with like-minded creatives and hone his craft.
Steve Guttenberg [27:11]: "I had Cynthia Sagetti, and she was a bitch, and she yelled at me and she would say... I knew she loved me."
Connections with Hollywood Icons
During his time at the Groundlings, Guttenberg formed friendships with future luminaries like Phil Hartman and Paul Rubens. These connections proved invaluable as he navigated the competitive landscape of Hollywood.
Steve Guttenberg [28:46]: "We can revisit it then."
Breakthrough Roles and Hollywood Challenges
Guttenberg discusses securing his breakthrough role in Diner and later starring in the critically acclaimed Boys from Brazil. Despite initial successes, he candidly talks about the hardships and competitiveness in the acting industry, which almost led him to abandon his dreams and return to education.
Steve Guttenberg [40:17]: "I played a JDL member at the beginning. And all my scenes were with Laurence Olivier."
Comparing Career Approaches
Adam Carolla and Steve Guttenberg delve into their respective work ethics. While Carolla emphasizes versatility and consistent work across various gigs, Guttenberg highlights the importance of dedication and passion for one’s craft.
Adam Carolla [48:37]: "I like to work and I like to get paid."
Steve Guttenberg [49:28]: "Nobody goes and sees a comedian hoping that he's terrible. Everybody's going, they want to laugh."
Engaging with Fans and the Community
Guttenberg reflects on the joy of meeting fans and the reciprocal relationship between performers and their audience. He champions the idea that entertainers provide a valuable service by bringing joy and laughter to people's lives.
Steve Guttenberg [49:28]: "You're bringing gifts to people who usually don't laugh once a day."
Police Academy 40th Anniversary Screening
Guttenberg is set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Police Academy at the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto, California, on August 9th. This event will feature a full screening of the film, followed by a Q&A session, allowing fans to engage directly with him.
Steve Guttenberg [49:58]: "We're going to do it in Modesto for the first time. And if it works, I'll do it everywhere."
Promoting Kidnapped by Killers
Guttenberg also promotes his new Lifetime movie, Kidnapped by Killers, available for streaming on Philo and Lifetime, showcasing his versatility beyond comedic roles.
Family Influence and Life Lessons
Guttenberg credits his solid family foundation for his positive outlook. His father’s philosophy—that life should be 80% happy and 20% tough—has been a guiding principle for him.
Steve Guttenberg [56:10]: "Everything you need to know in this world, you're going to learn at this kitchen table."
The Importance of Simplicity and Enjoyment
He shares anecdotes about simple pleasures, like enjoying a well-made sandwich, emphasizing the significance of appreciating everyday moments.
Steve Guttenberg [59:09]: "It was toasted perfect. And tuna fish with chopped up celery."
Adam Carolla and Steve Guttenberg wrap up the episode with mutual appreciation, celebrating Guttenberg’s resilience during the wildfires and his enduring contributions to the entertainment industry. The conversation underscores the importance of community, dedication, and maintaining a positive outlook amidst challenges.
Steve Guttenberg [61:20]: "You have a great family, you're a good person, and you're very funny."
This episode offers listeners a profound glimpse into Steve Guttenberg's personal experiences, professional journey, and unwavering commitment to community and craft. It's a testament to resilience, the value of mentorship, and the enduring power of maintaining a positive outlook.