Rick Springfield | Club Random

Summary

Podcast Summary: Club Random with Bill Maher Featuring Rick Springfield

Episode Information

• Title: Rick Springfield | Club Random
• Host: Bill Maher
• Release Date: August 4, 2025
• Description: In this episode of Club Random, Bill Maher engages in an in-depth, hour-long conversation with Australian musician and actor Rick Springfield. The discussion spans a wide array of topics beyond politics, delving into personal experiences, the music industry, mental health, and reflections on aging.

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1. Personal Connections and Friendships

Bill Maher begins the conversation by highlighting his friendship with Sammy Hagar, stating:

Bill Maher [04:36]: "This is my rum I have with Sammy Hagar. Beach Bar Rum."

Rick Springfield elaborates on their collaboration:

Rick Springfield [04:44]: "We have the Beach Bar Rum together."

This segment underscores the camaraderie between Bill and Rick, setting a relaxed tone for the episode.

2. The Music Industry and Hit Records

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the nature of hit records and the fickleness of the music industry. Bill shares his skepticism about music reviews:

Bill Maher [06:15]: "the stupidest thing I think in the world is a music review because you can't describe whether to someone, whether they're going to like a song or not."

Rick agrees, recounting his experiences with harsh reviews:

Rick Springfield [07:12]: "They gave me a lot of [reviews]. They were merciless."

The conversation touches on the subjective nature of music appreciation and the disconnect between critics and artists' intentions.

3. Reflections on The Beatles

Bill and Rick delve deep into the dynamics of The Beatles, focusing on the relationship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Bill notes:

Bill Maher [12:09]: "they both lost their mother almost as she did."

Rick adds insights into the emotional struggles faced by the band members:

Rick Springfield [12:14]: "But he's also... he took it more personally and deeper than any of them."

They discuss how personal tragedies influenced the band's trajectory and eventual breakup, highlighting the complexities of managing fame and personal relationships.

4. Mental Health and Personal Struggles

Rick opens up about his battle with depression, sharing a poignant moment:

Rick Springfield [19:28]: "I actually tried to hang myself when I was 16."

Bill responds with empathy and shares his own perspective on depression:

Bill Maher [17:36]: "There are two kinds of depression. One is what I would call logical depression... the other kind of depression, which really doesn't come from anything."

This candid exchange sheds light on the pervasive issue of mental health, especially within high-pressure industries like entertainment.

5. Parenthood and Aging

The conversation shifts to the joys and concerns of parenthood. Rick discusses becoming a grandfather:

Rick Springfield [43:06]: "I'm looking at my son and going. Seeing him with his baby... that's my little boy."

Bill reflects on the responsibilities that come with raising the next generation:

Bill Maher [45:02]: "The earth can't exactly... we just can't feed them and take care of all their shit."

They explore the anxieties surrounding the future and the challenges of ensuring a better world for their children and grandchildren.

6. Meeting Legends: Elvis Presley

A highlight of the episode is Rick's anecdote about meeting Elvis Presley:

Rick Springfield [82:44]: "I met Elvis on a plane... he was sitting in the passenger seat... he looks amazing."

Bill adds to the story, emphasizing the surreal experience:

Bill Maher [83:04]: "He walked back and signed autographs and took photos."

This encounter underscores the reverence many artists have for legends who paved the way in the music industry.

7. Acting Career and Show Business

The duo discusses their respective journeys in acting and comedy. Rick shares his experiences on soap operas:

Rick Springfield [58:03]: "I was a doctor for 18 months on a soap opera."

Bill contrasts this with his own disdain for acting:

Bill Maher [62:26]: "I never did. I hated it. Too much waiting."

They highlight the different paths their careers have taken and the personal fulfillment derived from their chosen professions.

8. The Impact of Music on Personal Development

Rick emphasizes the profound influence music has had on his life:

Rick Springfield [72:47]: "Music hits you in such a place that nothing else does really."

Bill concurs, sharing his own relationship with music:

Bill Maher [73:44]: "I don't have all the Beatles early stuff in my iPod that I play that... I do like to listen to my shuffle because it's got 4,000 songs, all of which have one thing in common. I like them."

They discuss how music shapes identity and provides solace, especially during formative years.

9. Cultural Reflections and Appropriation

The conversation touches on the British influence on American music, particularly in acknowledging African American blues artists. Rick points out:

Rick Springfield [77:08]: "They brought them out and toured with them, you know, that they understood how amazing they were."

Bill reflects on cultural appropriation as a natural progression of artistic evolution:

Bill Maher [80:05]: "What a beautiful thing. It's all appropriation. That's what culture is appropriating from each other."

They recognize the cyclical nature of cultural exchange and its role in enriching the arts.

10. Closing Thoughts and Final Anecdotes

As the episode wraps up, Bill and Rick share light-hearted exchanges and final reflections. Bill jokes about adopting the phrase "thank you" for autographs:

Bill Maher [85:34]: "I think I might change mine to thank you. It's from thanks."

Rick adds humor to the conversation, reinforcing the friendly rapport between the two.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Bill Maher [06:15]: "the stupidest thing I think in the world is a music review because you can't describe whether to someone, whether they're going to like a song or not."

• Rick Springfield [19:28]: "I actually tried to hang myself when I was 16."

• Bill Maher [17:36]: "There are two kinds of depression. One is what I would call logical depression... the other kind of depression, which really doesn't come from anything."

• Rick Springfield [72:47]: "Music hits you in such a place that nothing else does really."

• Bill Maher [80:05]: "What a beautiful thing. It's all appropriation. That's what culture is appropriating from each other."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Club Random provides a candid and multifaceted conversation between Bill Maher and Rick Springfield. From personal struggles and the intricacies of the music industry to reflections on cultural influences and the impact of music on personal growth, the dialogue offers listeners a deep dive into the minds of two accomplished individuals navigating their respective paths. The inclusion of personal anecdotes and honest discussions on mental health adds a relatable and humanizing layer to the conversation, making it a compelling listen for fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

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[Rick Springfield]

It's my best friend and bold and beautiful. Yeah. So were you on that? Yeah. Because you're very bold and you're very beautiful.

[Bill Maher]

That's right, Rick. I grow my own. I grow my own and I smoke my own because that's what real men do.

[Rick Springfield]

That's what real men and let me.

[Bill Maher]

Tell you something, Rick.

[Rick Springfield]

Hey.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, does that really play?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Nice to meet you.

[Rick Springfield]

Thank you. You too.

[Bill Maher]

It's not in tune though. Couldn't it?

[Rick Springfield]

I just tuned it.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, you just tuned it. Oh, wow.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I've had so many musicians. You're the first one who I think picked that up and thought to play it. Yeah, I guess when you see a guitar, it's like, you know, you can't.

[Rick Springfield]

You gotta pick it up.

[Bill Maher]

You gotta like women.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. You know, I was intrigued by the. The doll over there. That's wild.

[Bill Maher]

That's from my friend.

[Rick Springfield]

I had to check the vagina.

[Bill Maher]

I'm sorry, everybody. You think you're the first person to check that vagina? Find a list of people who check that vagina. Mostly women, but that's from my friend Whitney Cummings. You know Whitney the comic?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, she's the best. And she.

[Rick Springfield]

That.

[Bill Maher]

That dollar's worth $175,000.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, that's what he was saying.

[Bill Maher]

And she gave it to me. She did a whole special about.

[Rick Springfield]

So why did she have it made?

[Bill Maher]

Well, she. She did a whole special where they made the Whitney, you know, robot doll. She had a lot of material about that idea of. And I think it's. First of all, it says she's a brilliant comic and it's a brilliant special. But it's also so in the news with AI and everything, and, you know, we are moving very soon to a time when we will be the robots.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes.

[Bill Maher]

What? No doubt. Right.

[Rick Springfield]

The industry that makes the most money out of a new. Any new technology is a porn industry.

[Bill Maher]

Yes. Everything. Everything immediately goes to porn.

[Rick Springfield]

Goes to porn.

[Bill Maher]

We're old enough to remember when the Internet came about and it was going to be this super highway of knowledge. Yeah, Knowledge of my balls.

[Rick Springfield]

You know, I opened my son's computer when he was 14, and there was a little square of video and I clicked on it and there was this girl getting fucked in the house like. Like right here.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

And I hadn't seen that. I was like 30 till I saw something like that. My boy was like, 14.

[Bill Maher]

You were 30 before you saw something like that?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah. I grew up in Australia, but not.

[Bill Maher]

In real life, I'm guessing.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, no, no, no, no.

[Bill Maher]

I saw people in the ass in my room. It's not on a computer.

[Rick Springfield]

Hardcore porn.

[Bill Maher]

You saw it for real?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. This is my rum I have with Sammy Hagar. Beach Bar Rum.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, Sammy was here? He was, yeah. You're in business with him?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, cool.

[Rick Springfield]

We have the Beach Bar Rum together.

[Bill Maher]

How did that come about, you and Sammy would join forces?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I recorded his song, I've done everything for you.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Back in the early 80s and it was kind of the first. It was the first big hit he'd really ever had like that, you know, and.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

And he was kind of pissed off because he had the single and didn't do anything. And then I had the single and it was a hit, so it kind of. He was very mixed about it, you know, but we've been really been friendly. He helped me get on the road. He was awesome.

[Bill Maher]

And why do you think yours hit and his didn't?

[Rick Springfield]

Because I'm cuter.

[Bill Maher]

Well, we know that that's really. You think the whole thing.

[Rick Springfield]

No, honestly, it could be. No, I hope. I hope not. Jesus. My career is built On I'm.

[Bill Maher]

Well, it matters. But you're right, it's a record you're listening to. It's in the group.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, they didn't, you know, it was. It followed Jesse's Girl, which was a really huge record. So the door was already, you know, kind of. They're already looking in my direction kind of thing.

[Bill Maher]

Well, that makes me think of the song. I've heard it through the grapevine because Glattus Knight put it out and had a mild hit.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, wow.

[Bill Maher]

And then Marvin Gay put it out a next year and had a massive number one smash.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it's. I don't know. That's. I mean, what makes a hit record, you know, really, if we all. If we knew, we'd write a thousand.

[Bill Maher]

I was down in BOA last week talking to Billy Joel about everything musical. But certainly this subject came up and you know, someone who, as he was, you know, so much better than what the critics gave him credit for. And I was just saying, you know, the stupidest thing I think in the world is a music review because you can't describe whether to someone, whether they're going to like a song or not.

[Rick Springfield]

And I. And I have. I. I was so I bought. For a couple of years, I bought the top 10 LA. You know, the. The Whoever the guy was. These are my top 10 records and they were horrible. They were horrible.

[Bill Maher]

It is the surest way to have a shitty record collection because record reviewers, they don't. First of all, it's.

[Rick Springfield]

They want to be cool.

[Bill Maher]

They want to be cool. They want to tell you what's important. I don't give a. What's important in music. I care what's good, what.

[Rick Springfield]

What turns me on.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

What I like to hear.

[Rick Springfield]

And they. They gave me a lot of. With my stuff. I mean, I was. They were merciless. I. One record I had out, I got, the LA guy reviewed it, he said he listed the songs and what they're about. And he goes, guilt, nothing, nothing. Guilt, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And it was like stuff, you know, I was.

[Bill Maher]

And you're still selling. Really frustrating. The Hollywood Bowl. Yeah, I mean, that's the old.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, he's dead.

[Bill Maher]

He's dead and you're selling out. Hollywood Bowl. Well, you know what they always said about critics? They're like eunuchs in a harem. They're surrounded by it. They just can't.

[Rick Springfield]

They can't do a fucking thing.

[Bill Maher]

They can't do it. So here's to fuck them. Yeah, I've had the Same thing in my career. Comedy wise. They just don't. They don't. I mean, it's just not a job you would gravitate toward. I mean, look, there have been few and far between good critics who were constructive and said things that registered and even certain artists have said. Yeah, I read that and I think that was right.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

But in general, they're just bitchy assholes who.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, they're pissed off that they didn't get to do it.

[Bill Maher]

And. And there's no. You know how sometimes they get the job, they're just on the paper doing something else.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

There's no effort to like find a credential. It's like, oh, this guy used to write the restaurant review.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Have him go see a play. No, really, they do that unapologetically and that's awful. It's like, hey, everybody's got an asshole.

[Rick Springfield]

I wish I'd known that. I mean, I thought these were guys, you know, that like, was seriously in the music and fucking. Anyway, I want to show you this. I hear you're. You're a Beatle fan. Yeah, this is a copy, but I. I have the biggest personal handwritten lyrics. Beetle collection.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, wow.

[Rick Springfield]

That's if I fell. And John.

[Bill Maher]

Wow.

[Rick Springfield]

Written on a. On a. On a anniversary card to Paul. You can turn it over and see the anniversary card. And on the way to their. Their first show at the Ed Sullivan Theater on the plane.

[Bill Maher]

Sending a happy Valentine with wishes fond and true from one whose heart will always hold Such lovely thoughts of you.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, they didn't write that.

[Bill Maher]

But why is John sending Paul a valentine with hearts?

[Rick Springfield]

Not from John? I think it says Jay. I think it's from J. May be from Jane Asher maybe. He probably said. Has anyone got any paper? I want to finish the song.

[Bill Maher]

Cool. Oh, wow. That's. This is an awesome artifact. Yeah. And it's pretty much as I read these lyrics, how it was recorded.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, there are a couple of. I mean, I have some first drafts that are pretty amazing, but that's awesome. Yeah. You can have that if you want. I know you have stuff.

[Bill Maher]

Really? Oh, thank you. That's awesome. I need a double side. I needed to put it in a.

[Rick Springfield]

Window so you can see. I don't know why I was thinking it would make it a double sided.

[Bill Maher]

Thank you very much. That's great. I mean, John. In the early years. Of course, John was the.

[Rick Springfield]

The primary driver.

[Bill Maher]

Yes. And then it switched.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Which.

[Rick Springfield]

How amazing is that really?

[Bill Maher]

You know what?

[Rick Springfield]

Four guys in Liverpool. One carries this amazing band and the other one picks it up. Like, I still can't believe they were like a real band almost. It was so staggering what they did.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like John wasn't doing anything. But he definitely was not the mover after a while. You're right.

[Rick Springfield]

Lost interest.

[Bill Maher]

And he lost some. Some interest. And.

[Rick Springfield]

And he's also. I think he also had a problem with Paul having all the hits.

[Bill Maher]

That was always my theory, that Paul got the asap.

[Rick Springfield]

Jealousy, dude. I've been in bands and I understand that. Jealousy.

[Bill Maher]

No, I. It's not even just jealousy. It's like if you have a healthy competition and you're writing great songs and still losing.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I said this to Billy. You know, if you write Revolution and it doesn't get the A side because the other guy wrote hey Jude and you write Strawberry Fields and the other guy gets the A side with Penny Lane, you're like, I'm not winning this competition. I don't seem to be able to. I don't think that's the only reason.

[Rick Springfield]

He got out of the band. But I think it was in there.

[Bill Maher]

And it's not really discussed, but his peak was this. This is from Hard Day's Night.

[Rick Springfield]

He incredible.

[Bill Maher]

Wrote almost that whole album. That was his. Paul wrote Can't Buy Me Love on that album, which was a big hit for them. But most of the rest of that, I feel like that was 1964, of course, their first movie. And I feel like that was John's peak of interest. Like, okay, we got to the topper. Most thing. Yeah. And this is it. And after that, I mean, the next year, you have help. I need some. I'm in trouble. You know, it devolved very quickly.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

But I'm not that. The music. The music kept coming, even to the very end.

[Rick Springfield]

But he did lose. He did. He changed. He took it more personally and deeper than I think and darker than any of them.

[Bill Maher]

Well, he also felt the need to. Or the compulsion to work out his personal problems. After the Beatles were as successful as they could be. I don't think it was a conscious decision, like, oh, okay, well, now we're super successful. I'm gonna start on me. But that's just how it went.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, getting.

[Rick Springfield]

You have time.

[Bill Maher]

You have time. And you also just have a psychic need. I mean.

[Rick Springfield]

Absolutely.

[Bill Maher]

Getting together with Yoko, whatever that was. But, I mean, it was a lot. Come on. About losing mom. You know, they both lost their mother, which was what. Their original bond. They both lost their mother almost as she Did.

[Rick Springfield]

I didn't know that side of it with her. Oh, yeah. You talking about Paul and John? Yeah. No, that was the bond. Right?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. And they handled it very differently.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah. And Paul soc. And John was more, you know, deep looking in.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I think he, you know, he wasn't a recluse at all, but he did. He just, you know, had to, like, get to the bottom of him. I mean, he and Yoko, first thing they did when the Beatles broke up was they came out here and did that. Jack. Jack. No, what's his name? Janlov Therapy. It was screaming.

[Rick Springfield]

Screaming therapy. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, there was. There was a lot of screaming. I mean, the therapy was screaming. Yoko was always screaming. You know, I mean, maybe it has something to do with the fact that when they were at their height, everybody was screaming at them. It was always.

[Rick Springfield]

You see the video of John with. With Chuck Berry and Yoko, and they're doing some song and John, obviously, I want Yoko to sing too. So they're doing Bye Bye Johnny or something, right. And so she. They're running away and suddenly gives Yoko the nod and she steps up to the mic and it's on Chuck. And she starts singing. He goes, just real brief, like. He doesn't look over.

[Bill Maher]

You just go, what the fuck about Chuck Berry did? He just reacted to Yoko? Yeah, but as you say, you know, I've never been in a band, but it is so obvious that the issues are. And of course, this is also what people in bands have told me. Two things. Why they hate each other and always break up and are always on the verge of breaking up. You didn't like my song and you took that girl.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, man, that's absolutely true.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

I was in a band.

[Bill Maher]

How could it not be?

[Rick Springfield]

No, I know I was in a band.

[Bill Maher]

And I doubt if a lot of them took girls from you. I'm. I don't imagine you run there losing end of that a lot.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, I was occasionally, but I was in a band. And. And. And I found out after I left that one of the guys really, like, thought I was trying to take over the band and hated my songs. And it was like. It's really. It was actually really. It really hurt.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. What, so what, what, what do you do when. When the band gets to that point? I mean, we. We see Oasis is back out on tour.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Ob. The Eagles famously had their Hell Freezes overture because they said they would never work. Hell, look at the who. The who, yes.

[Rick Springfield]

They've had fist fights and they're back on the road.

[Bill Maher]

Again, you know, Eagles had a physical altercation on stage and so did just Dave Navarro. Yeah, with somebody. I mean, when it gets to the point when you're fist fighting on stage, that's pretty awful.

[Rick Springfield]

I mean, kind of like a marriage fighting in public. It's like we know it goes on, but we don't want to see it, you know.

[Bill Maher]

Well, it's like being at the office and going over to the copier, clocking, you know, Bill from accounting. Because this feud, this beef that was simmering around the break room until you just punched him, that doesn't happen in real life.

[Rick Springfield]

No. Sure, there was drugs involved and, you know, and you get to a certain point in fame where things become unrealistic. What? You know, how you view things. I mean, it's very hard to. I had a terrible experience in 1985 when I kind of thought I'd kind of got. A lot of my dreams had come true, you know, And I remember walking around the pool of this beautiful house I had in Malibu and I just had my first son born. I'm going, I am more miserable than I've ever been in my life, really. And it was, it was, you know, from. I thought this would fix me.

[Bill Maher]

What was wrong with you?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I thought I was depressed. I was. I just had a lot of. Really didn't like myself. Really. A lot of self doubt and a lot of self loathing and. And exactly right. What was wrong with me? I know it was like. What?

[Bill Maher]

No, I'm asking what was.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was depression. I was. I've had depression, depression since I was a kid.

[Bill Maher]

Just from. Okay, this in my view, and of course this is not like medical, but just.

[Rick Springfield]

I'm sure it's very well informed.

[Bill Maher]

Well, it's common. It's common. Thank you. Common sense tells me and from my own life, there are two kinds of depression. One is what I would call logical depression. I've had this. I've been depressed and when I was depressed, it's because my life sucked.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

It was logical.

[Rick Springfield]

I should have been depressed.

[Bill Maher]

I was a huge fucking loser. Then there's the other kind of depression, which really doesn't come from anything, which very often just a lack of a certain chemical in your brain. It's all what you're putting in the test tube. That's what you had.

[Rick Springfield]

I had that and I have that. I take, you know, I take some medication for it, but.

[Bill Maher]

But it's not because your family was bad to you?

[Rick Springfield]

No, no. I had a great upbringing. It was nothing to do with that I, I.

[Bill Maher]

In Australia.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I was. Well, my dad traveled a lot and, and he was in the army and I was, I never had a, A base. Like every time I'd meet a kid, he'd pick on me and then I'd befriend him and then two years later I'd leave him. And, and it was continually that I never, I had to leave my dog one time when we moved to England and.

[Bill Maher]

Tough to leave a dog.

[Rick Springfield]

And I, but, but the, the thing in 85 was that I, I thought I'd achieve what I'd wanted to achieve, but it hadn't made me happy.

[Bill Maher]

Well, I gotta say, that puts a lot of responsibility on the baby. Yeah, this fucking baby obviously just laid there and didn't do anything to fix your problems. When you thought, I have a baby. It's all gonna be great. I think, I think that kid has a lot to answer for. Obviously he was just laying, laying around.

[Rick Springfield]

Doing nothing, sucking out money.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. You're like, so what'd you do about it? Jump in the pool?

[Rick Springfield]

I thought about it. I actually.

[Bill Maher]

Really?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I actually tried to, I tried to hang myself when I was 16.

[Bill Maher]

And how'd that go?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, obviously it didn't work out, but.

[Bill Maher]

I'm sorry. No, I mean, I'm glad. What am I saying?

[Rick Springfield]

I could have spared the world a couple of pop songs, you know, whatever.

[Bill Maher]

No, we love those songs.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I was, I was really dark. I was, I was failing in school. I was really had a lot of self loathing, you know. I don't know where quite.

[Bill Maher]

Well, you're also failing at hanging yourself. Couldn't even succeed in that.

[Rick Springfield]

Loser. I'm kidding.

[Bill Maher]

I'm just with you.

[Rick Springfield]

I didn't succeed. I know. Another thing I failed at.

[Bill Maher]

So let's go back to the baby. The baby, the pool. You know, parenthetically, I will say when I was a kid and we were, you know, both. I'm almost 70. This is a great show for septuagenarians and people. Kids, you should be listening to us more. You know, older people have wisdom. Duh. Anyway, like there was no divorce in my town. Like it's amazing how much things have changed. You know, this has been 60s and 70s.

[Rick Springfield]

I remember that. Not happening either.

[Bill Maher]

Right. No drugs. That I was aware. You know, it was leave it to Beaver time.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

But two of the men in the neighborhood did kill themselves. One in the swimming pool, you know? Yeah, daddy's in the swimming pool. It just shows, like divorce, unthinkable. Just killed.

[Rick Springfield]

Just killed on the cards and the.

[Bill Maher]

One in the swimming pool. Everyone in the neighborhood was like, we knew the wife and it just made perfect sense. It was like, I would be in the swimming pool too, if. If I couldn't divorce this woman. I mean, she was just.

[Rick Springfield]

Holy, that's big. I mean, that's.

[Bill Maher]

But you didn't try to kill yourself in the pool?

[Rick Springfield]

No. Oh. Oh. And then you just looked at it? No, no, I was. I was just really dark and I. I pulled the plug on what I was doing and started to go to union therapy for like three or four years, you know.

[Bill Maher]

Did that work?

[Rick Springfield]

It doesn't cure or anything. You identify the demons, you know, some of the demons kind of thing, you know, self loathing.

[Bill Maher]

But why self loathing from such a talented, handsome man?

[Rick Springfield]

Dude, it's, you know, you know that. It's. That the notoriety is great at first and all that. And it's head, you know, it's wow, you know, and eventually if you. You come back to who, you know, what pushed you to be in the limelight in the first place. Right? I mean, it's not just. I. Yeah, but I mean, there's a big part of. I think I'm not enough. And everybody that gets into the limelight, I could be wrong. But I think I've always thought, well.

[Bill Maher]

I don't know, the people who succeed. It wasn't, I'm not enough. It was almost, I'm too much.

[Rick Springfield]

But, you know, I. But I think there's a core of, Of. Of the need to. For validation.

[Bill Maher]

Yes. There's a lot of, mommy, look at me now. I'm doing it.

[Rick Springfield]

I did it for my mom. I really. When my mom died. Yeah, when my mom died, I kind of had a moment of, aw, who's gonna see this now?

[Bill Maher]

It's also. Sometimes we just recognize in ourselves that we do have a talent. You had a big talent. I have a friend who says, you know, these kids are. Everything is woe is me. No. How about woe is me? Whoa. Woe is me. And I certainly wasn't like that, but I was very young when I thought, yeah, I could be a comedian. I can do what. What those people on TV are doing. And I maybe even do it better.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I. I did see that and see, yeah, I can, I can. I know. I thought, yeah, I could do that. But I'm from Australia too, so, yeah, there's a tall poppy syndrome over there. When I was growing up, you know, you get too big, off comes your head, you know, they pull you down. Who's they the Aussies?

[Bill Maher]

No, like all of them.

[Rick Springfield]

All of them. But no, it's just a general thing. I mean, your friends. It's called the Tall Poppy syndrome.

[Bill Maher]

You know, Canada talks about something that I think is similar to what you're talking about. I have a Canadian friend who came here, like many do, and succeeded very well. And he said, yeah, I love Canada and I know we romanticize Canada, but they cut down the tall trees. I think it's the same thing.

[Rick Springfield]

And it's a British colony. Very similar. Still has British roots. Never been a world power. Never.

[Bill Maher]

But. But where does that come from? That don't get too big in Australia.

[Rick Springfield]

There's a great book called the Fatal Shore. I don't know if you've ever read that. It's brilliant. It talks about mateship. Who? Mateship?

[Bill Maher]

What's that? It's mateship.

[Rick Springfield]

Mateship.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, like a mate. You remind me. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

How they're small. There's no class in Australia, but there's lots of. There's no opera and, you know, but there's lots of little classes.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

And it came from. The way he explains, it came from the Irish and the English, you know, hated each other, and they founded Australia. So what a. What a nightmare that must have been. The English were the cops, the Irish were the. The farmers.

[Bill Maher]

And the Irish came to Australia, too.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I didn't know that. Well, they were also subjugated by England at that time.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes, absolutely.

[Bill Maher]

So the. So the British brought them to Australia just as, like, workers.

[Rick Springfield]

No, they came over also. Or a lot of them were convicts that had come over and. And made good, you know, that you can earn your passage into freedom, which in Australia in the 1700s must have been wonderful.

[Bill Maher]

Right? It was a penal column. Hey. Club Random is brought to you by Radioactive Media, ranked number 20 on Inc. Magazine's fastest growing companies in the Pacific region. Summer is wrapping up, which means your tan is fading, your margarita budget is maxed, and you ate your last burnt backyard barbecue burger. So now it's time to get back to work. And let me ask you this. Is your brand ready for real attention? Well, enter Radioactive Media. Radioactive Media knows this game cold. They don't just slap your name into a jingle and call it a day. They build smart, authentic audio campaigns delivered by trusted voices like, oh, I don't know, me. Podcasting is the fastest growing medium, reaching loyal, engaged audiences. In fact, audio reaches more people than social media and digital combined. Radioactive Media believes in the power of audio so much, they're literally Using it here and now, that's confidence or madness. But either way it works. Go to RadioactiveMedia.com or text the word random to 5115 11. Summer is the hottest time to start planning for the fall and the holidays. So get started at RadioactiveMedia.com or text random to 511 511. Message and Data Rates may apply. Let's face it, smoking is gross. Vaping is sad. Nicotine patches are about as sexy as orthopedic shoes. That's why this episode is brought to you by Zipix Nicotine infused Toothpicks. Toothpicks. Because winding up in public has been out since the 90s, Zipix gives you a better, easier and way more discreet way to get your nicotine fixed. No smoke vapor batteries or chargers. You just pop one in and boom. Cravings handled. Zipit comes in six flavors, multiple, multiple strength options, and best of all, no one knows you're using it. It's the most discreet modern nicotine system, meaning you don't annoy anyone around you. Or at least not more than you usually do. Use it on planes or at work or at dinner, anywhere you go. Just ditch the cigarettes, ditch the vapes and get some nicotine infused [e-mail] today. Get 10% off your first order by using the code random at checkout. Your lungs will be glad you did. Must be 21 or older to order. Warning. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Zip more, smoke less with Zipix Nicotine toothpicks.

[Rick Springfield]

Dude, it was horrible. It was. There's places in Tasmania which is the last island before Antarctica.

[Bill Maher]

It's where the devil is from.

[Rick Springfield]

Tasmania. Exactly right.

[Bill Maher]

Tasmanian devil.

[Rick Springfield]

Funny devil.

[Bill Maher]

What is a Tasmanian devil? I forget.

[Rick Springfield]

A Tasmanian devil was a. It's all. They're all dead now. But it was. It was a half tiger. Half. It was. It was a. A marsupial because all the marsupials in Australia and it had tiger stripes and it was a beautiful animal. It was kind of like a dog with tiger stripes. And they loved it so much they killed them all to stuff them and put them in their houses.

[Bill Maher]

We killed everything.

[Rick Springfield]

They killed all the aborigines. They went through a line in Tasmania with guns and killed all the. All the Tasmanian aboriginals.

[Bill Maher]

All right. But outside of that unpleasantness. Tasmania, Lovely place, Tasmania.

[Rick Springfield]

It's a lovely. Errol Flynn's from Tasmania. How bad could it be?

[Bill Maher]

Is that right?

[Rick Springfield]

Errol Flynn is from Tasmania?

[Bill Maher]

Wooden sword.

[Rick Springfield]

Yep.

[Bill Maher]

Those swords were made of wood. Everything comes out.

[Rick Springfield]

Talk about. Talk about a Guy who took advantage of, you know, his fame and everything.

[Bill Maher]

He. Was he gay?

[Rick Springfield]

No. God, no. He was very, very. I mean, he might have switched back for. But I mean, I don't know that for sure, but I know he was up on, like, statutory rape charges and stuff all through, you know.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

And he would make jokes with, like, having a big rubber dick hanging out of his shorts and.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, in his day. Which. His day was the 30s, where his movies came out, you know, Captain Blood and all that stuff.

[Rick Springfield]

Right. I mean, I'm amazed how. How you hear that. Yeah. These guys used to hook up, right?

[Bill Maher]

Hook up with each other.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Well, like Danny K. You know who that is?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Bill Maher]

American comedian. I've read many times that he and Lawrence Olivier. Lawrence, yeah. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I mean, okay, you know, so, you know, I had a friend who. Who used to go over to Danny K's house. He was a manager of mine at the time. And he say, Danny would make the meal and they'd all sit at the table, and he'd sit at the head of the table and not eat. Just watch the meat like this, and.

[Bill Maher]

Then suck their dicks.

[Rick Springfield]

I didn't. I didn't get that.

[Bill Maher]

That would be why. I don't understand What. What do you get from doing that?

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, I just went. I know. I thought it was weird that he'd make dinner and wouldn't eat. He'd just sit and watch them all eat the food. Maybe. Maybe that happened later. I don't know.

[Bill Maher]

I don't know. But anyway, I didn't push it. So you're in Tasmanian. Go back to that. What were you telling. Why did you bring.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, why did I bring that up? Because when I was a kid, we went over there and we saw the penal colony. It was the worst penal colony. It was cement blocks. And it's so cold there. It's so frigging cold. Of course, no heating. And it was the worst place to go if you're a prisoner. And the transports were, like, very similar to what the way they brought the slaves over from Africa to America. If you stole something. There was a thing called the bloody code that in England, if you stole something over a certain amount, you're dead. They instantly execute you. Other than that, they would store you in barges because the prisons were full. They'd store you in barges up and down the Thames, these leaky barges. And then when they got full, they discovered Australia, and they said, let's send them all there.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. Britain basically outsourced their prison population to, you know, this play.

[Rick Springfield]

But that's why Australia's Australia because of the prisoners. I have a spring. My family named Springthorpe. We have a springthorpe that was on the convict ship and set in the 1700s.

[Bill Maher]

I think Georgia in our country was also a penal colony. Don't quote me, but I'm pretty sure I remember that. So they were doing it here in North America too.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, no, absolutely.

[Bill Maher]

You know, I don't want to get on my high horse on this theme.

[Rick Springfield]

I love you on your high horse.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, okay. But like, it just, it's awesome. It always bugs me when the kids, they just don't have any understanding of historical perspective. And I've tried to tell them a million times, look, humans are not good people. They weren't good people then, they're doing things now. Not as bad, we've come a very long way. But the bad things that they were doing, they were doing everywhere. All races did them. It's a human thing, you know, it's not just that some people were the colonizers and some people were colonized and every. Oh, it was just the innocent and the guilt. It's just not that simple. Everybody, everybody, it's humans. And it wasn't that long ago when what humans would do to each other and put up with. I mean, we still have brutality in the world, but again, they have no perspective. They have no idea how much more routine it was and how much haven't it affected so many more people around the world.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

So there's, you know, they're just, I mean, the idea that you don't.

[Rick Springfield]

They read the news?

[Bill Maher]

No, they don't. They read TikTok, read haha jokes.

[Rick Springfield]

I can't believe we're talking about younger people. We used to be younger people. I used to be the younger people.

[Bill Maher]

What is this about you with no shirt on? I mean that like we're segway from.

[Rick Springfield]

From, from World Problems to me with my shirt on.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, because you said we used to be young, but I'm telling you, you're like Benson booning it out there. I mean, at. I mean, I didn't want to say how old you are because why?

[Rick Springfield]

No, it's okay. It's on the Internet. You can't escape the I.

[Bill Maher]

But really, it's. It's incredible.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, dude, you too. I mean, when I thought guys in their 70s as a kid, I thought some hunched over guy with a giant belly and loafers because it used to be that.

[Bill Maher]

Another thing that has changed a lot. Things change a lot.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

You know, and that is one. I agree. My father, when he was 20 years younger than I am now, was much more sedentary.

[Rick Springfield]

On his way out, we would go.

[Bill Maher]

Out to the driveway if I was shooting baskets and he would like two steps, you know, and then one like hook shot. Oh, and I gotta go in, you know, he always had back and it's like, you know, it just didn't even cross their mind to like work out.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Or I remember him ever. He wasn't obese, but he. I don't remember him ex. Exercising. Their exercise was smoking.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I know. I don't either. My. None of my parents did. And, and how do you keep the weight off?

[Bill Maher]

Cigarettes? How does anybody keep.

[Rick Springfield]

Cut down your appetite. You don't want to eat quite as much.

[Bill Maher]

No cigarettes. And they're good for you.

[Rick Springfield]

My doctor, he smokes himself. He's in an ad.

[Bill Maher]

You can't eat when you're smoking.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Although I've seen people do it.

[Rick Springfield]

I, I think, I think for guys like us, the greatest generation. Yeah. But the greatest benefit has been the awareness of, of what keeps you healthy and how you can stay vital in later years. Of course, I can use that word, later years. But that information wasn't available. And honestly, you know, they looked at their parents. I mean, I remember my parents saying, yeah, when you 30 or 40, you get your teeth removed and you get false teeth. There was no other option. That was their view of the world.

[Bill Maher]

Right, so. Right, exactly. Yeah. Right. They made those kind of concessions.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

And I concur with you when you say later years, but I mean, let's be honest, we're not in the earlier years.

[Rick Springfield]

No, we are not. But I'm. But I'm okay with it.

[Bill Maher]

But I feel like with AI, we'll live forever. Well, they could live forever.

[Rick Springfield]

AI live forever.

[Bill Maher]

They could like start us. They could like start a second round of us, which is in the past. Has always been accomplished by having children. You have a mini you. It's not really you. The problem with that is that. Here's what I think is the greatest tragedy in all of human life is that you spend all this time and energy and pain and effort to like keep making this thing better, this brain in your head, you know, and it goes with you. And then because the body can't sustain it, you're throwing out all the. I mean, I say to people all the time, like, wouldn't you rather be 30? I'd rather be physically 30, but if I had to make the choice, I still would Be the age I am now because I don't want that stupid thing in my head that caused me so much pain and made so many bad decisions. And so, like, I actually wouldn't make the trade. But it's just such a waste to have accumulated all this knowledge and experience and you get nicer and you get more accepting, or all this working toward positive, positive. And then.

[Rick Springfield]

Six feet in the ground.

[Bill Maher]

Throw it in the trash because the fucking, you know, prostate gave out or whatever. It's just.

[Rick Springfield]

It's crazy.

[Bill Maher]

They look back in 200 years and go, that is so barbaric. We could be having Isaac Newton here now, but we just couldn't figure it out.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I mean, you know, 25, 30. They were pretty much done, you know, back in the old days.

[Bill Maher]

No, that's not true. Well, I mean, in different times of history, I mean, the Greek playwrights lived, or they were all 90 when they died, because Greece, Ramses II, healthy Mediterranean diet, olive oil, sunshine. I mean, they were lucky, but they.

[Rick Springfield]

Didn'T write it down so that we could follow it.

[Bill Maher]

What do you mean?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, they didn't say, this is how we're living this long.

[Bill Maher]

Well, we can guess. There was no pollution.

[Rick Springfield]

Absolutely not.

[Bill Maher]

There was no Snickers bars. Right.

[Rick Springfield]

No attitude.

[Bill Maher]

This is what it is. This is what it is. Like, I mean, we're talking about 500 BC.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. Life was just healthy. Unless it wasn't. There was. There was.

[Rick Springfield]

Or you could die from a toothache.

[Bill Maher]

You know, or a splinter.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

But their immune systems were probably crazy strong. So when they did get a splinter. No, they didn't take antibiotics. Their body just took care of it.

[Rick Springfield]

Their body took care of them? Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, not always. Then you get to the Middle Ages, and, yes, they were living in much worse. What?

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, my God. There was Rome, and then there was living in fucking huts, you know, and it all went to shit.

[Bill Maher]

It all went to shit. And there was also two horrible plagues. It was really the same bacillus. Yes, bacillus. It's. I know it's the right name for it because it's like. I don't know, but it was the plague of Justinian in the sixth century. And then it came back as the Black Death. The Bubonic Plague, 1347. It started, and it just, you know, wiped out half of Europe. And Europe didn't recover that population for four or five hundred years.

[Rick Springfield]

Probably them up.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. It also had benefits. It also kind of ended the Middle Ages.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. You know, which needed to end well up with that and that you got.

[Bill Maher]

To kill half the population to make an omelette. I've always said that.

[Rick Springfield]

I know, but it really did end the feudal system.

[Bill Maher]

Yes, it did.

[Rick Springfield]

And that was, you know, that was. That was a major break.

[Bill Maher]

Yes, there was definitely a labor shortage. When you kill half the people, there was definitely a labor shortage. And they also lost a little bit of faith in.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, the ones who would guard them. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Yes. I mean, of course. Because they were so in the dark about what causing this plague.

[Rick Springfield]

Wouldn't that have been scary? I mean, we know what it's like because of fucking Covid. The beginnings of COVID where we washed out our bags from the grocery store.

[Bill Maher]

Right again, kids, I'm telling you, you were born at a really good time. Really good. I know we have a lot of problems, but trust me, they did not have grubhub for Chaucer. You know, they starved. I mean, even before the Black Death, which started in 1347, Europe had just experienced in the earlier part of the century, and again, for superstitious people, maybe the 1300s, they would read something into that. Apollo 13, I don't know. But the 1300s were the worst century ever. And in the early part of the century, there was a horrible just over rain. It killed all the crops for like 10 years.

[Rick Springfield]

What is this now?

[Bill Maher]

Like from 1315 to 1325? It just rained way too much. You know, there was a little ice.

[Rick Springfield]

Age, you know, many ice age. Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

We have global warming for sure. And we also just have climate change. Does just sometimes happen.

[Rick Springfield]

But they didn't have heaters and air conditioning and so they had to suffer.

[Bill Maher]

I'm telling you, we live in a great time with all the shit it's.

[Rick Springfield]

And I, I don't think. I don't think in 100 years they're going to look back and go, well, those poor fuckers, I think they're going to go, how amazing that must have been about us. About us.

[Bill Maher]

Well, we did die. And they're going to not do that. And so they're going to. I think there's going to be something that'd be amazing.

[Rick Springfield]

I mean, if they could really pull that off.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, I think they will pull that.

[Rick Springfield]

Really.

[Bill Maher]

I think they will.

[Rick Springfield]

We stay alive long enough till that happen.

[Bill Maher]

That's our, that's our goal. Some of us with our shirt off. But I'm not going to let that go. No, but, no, it's what I was just saying about. They will see this as the big tragedy that the brain that's got to be preserved because it has all the knowledge and. And this passing it on to the next generation, it's doing it in a leaky bucket. I mean, you're doing it, but most of it is. I mean, when you think, I never had kids, but when you think about what you have to start over with, like, I have all this knowledge, and now here's a two year old, and it's just like, sky is blue. Okay. I just couldn't. I just never could go through that. I just, like, you know, give me the kid when he's already 20 and a genius and maybe I'll talk to him.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

But I just can't go through sky blue. I just.

[Rick Springfield]

I get that we just had a granddaughter, actually, and we're. We're probably starting it.

[Bill Maher]

The sky is blue, of course.

[Rick Springfield]

But I'm. We're more enamored with, oh, my God, this little beautiful creature, you know, in our life. But I worry because I thought we wouldn't have to worry about the future, but I think shit is coming down in our lifetime, and I think I worry about my kids and I worry about my kids. Kids.

[Bill Maher]

You say you're a grandfather.

[Rick Springfield]

Mm.

[Bill Maher]

And how old are the grandkids?

[Rick Springfield]

She was just born, so she's like, wow, two weeks old.

[Bill Maher]

How does that change? I've heard certainly people a million times say, being a parent changes everything. And, like, how does being. Does being a grandparent, like, change your mind?

[Rick Springfield]

I was never kind of like, my wife's. All she wanted was to have babies and be a great mom and everything. She's an amazing human being, and she's the complete baby hog with this.

[Bill Maher]

And how long have you been married?

[Rick Springfield]

40. 40 years.

[Bill Maher]

42 years, I give the fuck out of 10. Really?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. No, she's amazing. People say, how do you stay married? I say, marry my wife. But you can't, because I did. She's responsible for it.

[Bill Maher]

Women, if you're not watching this show, you're missing something, because at the end, Benson Boone is coming in and he's gonna take his shirt off. So it's gonna be a big night. So.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, what were you saying about your wife?

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, yeah, she's amazing, but yeah.

[Bill Maher]

So, grandkids, does it change you?

[Rick Springfield]

I mean, I'm looking at my son and going. Seeing him with his baby and, like, on his chest, and, like, you see this look in his eyes, and it's like, I'm going, you remember that? That's my little boy that I used, you know?

[Bill Maher]

You did that? Yeah, with him.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, exactly. And I was a good dad and my dad was a great dad too. But. But, you know, it's the, the. The new life is a freaky thing that's. I don't really know quite where to put the grandchild yet. In my head, I know they say, oh, you're going to fall in love. And you know, at the moment, you know, she's a beautiful baby blob. Right. And my wife is already, you know, she's going over there tomorrow and she's like, got party wheels and she's so excited as all get out.

[Bill Maher]

I am really falling behind in this reproductive competition.

[Rick Springfield]

I don't know. We don't need more. Don't need more.

[Bill Maher]

I think that. And yet there's a big movement out there. Elon Musk. Many other people talk about we have to have more babies. This is like a thing.

[Rick Springfield]

Everyone else is taking care of that.

[Bill Maher]

But I think they're wrong. I think we already have too many.

[Rick Springfield]

I think we have way too many.

[Bill Maher]

The earth can't exactly.

[Rick Springfield]

Cannot support what it has now.

[Bill Maher]

Right. And their argument is stupid. Their argument is there's plenty of room.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

There's plenty of room. There's not plenty of resources.

[Rick Springfield]

No. There's not plenty of.

[Bill Maher]

We can fit them here. We just can't feed them and take care of all their shit.

[Rick Springfield]

Exactly. Exactly. Where's all that shit go? Where's all the food come from? Where's all the shit go?

[Bill Maher]

Somewhere.

[Rick Springfield]

It's insane. It's insane. It really. And there's way too many of us. And I. Anyone who. Who doesn't believe that, I mean, you just got to look at. Take any segment of any country where there's, you know, too many people. There's everywhere. It's disease and, you know, no one's having a good life. Everybody's struggling. They're happy to be alive, but they're not happy to be alive there.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I mean, if they live, you know, in a nice house and everything, they be, you know. But look at. Look at. I mean, what, like 70% of the world goes to bed hungry or. That's crazy.

[Bill Maher]

I don't think that's true. I think that's an old.

[Rick Springfield]

I just made that up.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I was going to say. Right. Let's bust me statistics. Yeah. On Club Random are pulled out of our ass. Okay. It's.

[Rick Springfield]

No, but a lot of people go.

[Bill Maher]

To bed hungry way less than they used to. Again, kids, if you're on TikTok. And it's not There, I'm telling you, in the 21st century we've made enormous progress in what they called, have always called extreme poverty. These are like people who live on a dollar a day. We've made amazing progress. Not that some people don't. We've also made amazing progress in this century. Hardly ever noted with the issue of people who defecate in the street. It used to be like a billion people around the world would just drop trow and in the street. Really.

[Rick Springfield]

This is, you know, 1600 all over again.

[Bill Maher]

We've, yeah, well, and it's in many places never improved.

[Rick Springfield]

No.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I mean I'm sure they did it in London in 1600.

[Rick Springfield]

They used to throw shit out the window. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Look out below, there's a guy named Ralph who does it now. I mean there are people who do it now. There are people who will always do it. There always will.

[Rick Springfield]

People who will imagine what 16th century London smelled like. That's. I, I read a lot of books about like you know, Tudor and you know, the history and what it was really like and you know, Henry viii, how he died and all that crazy scary man. It was like everybody stank, nobody bathed.

[Bill Maher]

And you know, it's scary. Also, apropos of our previous discussion, I do remember once and again why I wouldn't want to have a 30 year old brain being on a date and a girl just squatted in a parking lot and took a pee. A girl I was on a date with.

[Rick Springfield]

That could be hot. I'm sorry, that could be. It depends on the girl and the situation. That could be hot.

[Bill Maher]

I mean she was.

[Rick Springfield]

Did that turn you off or did it turn you off?

[Bill Maher]

It turned me off. I mean, but look, I, I, I'm sorry, but that's, she needed to do it and for some reason we, we could. I blame myself for perhaps.

[Rick Springfield]

How long were you.

[Bill Maher]

I, I, who the knows, but I'm guessing 30. It was a long time ago and you know, I should have been able to find a bathroom perhaps maybe. We couldn't get into the club, so I blame myself.

[Rick Springfield]

But did you film it?

[Bill Maher]

I don't, there was no film.

[Rick Springfield]

You have it on your camera.

[Bill Maher]

But I can look back then there was no, no cell phones. But I just, I, I vividly remember that like she was wearing a short skirt so it wasn't hard to do and just. Yeah, just.

[Rick Springfield]

I'm sorry, I got to borrow the love doll over here for a second. You okay with that?

[Bill Maher]

It's a love doll, but yeah, I.

[Rick Springfield]

Mean, you know, well, different things Turn different people some.

[Bill Maher]

I'm just saying there will always be some shitting and peeing in the street, but we, We've really cut it down. And I think we should give ourselves a clap on the back for that, you know, like, could we just acknowledge the progress that we've made?

[Rick Springfield]

Yes.

[Bill Maher]

You know, we really have cut down on people shitting in the street. And that's really my whole issue. I'm a one issue candidate. I mean, look how your life turned out. Awesome, right? I mean, you must be. Every day. You must still pinch yourself.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, but I, I still have my issues because I challenge. I, I know the challenge, but I. I deal with myself every day that I want to be a better person, a better writer, a better whatever, you know, And I've been. I, I could never, you know, like, I could never write. Don't Worry, Be happy.

[Bill Maher]

I remember it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yep.

[Bill Maher]

Who was it? Who was the artist?

[Rick Springfield]

Bobby McFarren.

[Bill Maher]

Bobby McFarren.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. I could.

[Bill Maher]

Well, very few people could.

[Rick Springfield]

I feel like every dope and all that.

[Bill Maher]

I don't know if it's the dope. I don't smoke dope. My.

[Rick Springfield]

I thought you did. Someone said, yeah, you'll get together with Bill. He'll smoke dope and drink and it'll be fun, you know?

[Bill Maher]

Were they wrong?

[Rick Springfield]

No, they're right about the fun and the drinking, but that looks like a cigar to me.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, no. You don't smell it?

[Rick Springfield]

What is it?

[Bill Maher]

Pot. What do you think it is?

[Rick Springfield]

It is.

[Bill Maher]

Of course. You don't smell it.

[Rick Springfield]

No.

[Bill Maher]

You should get your nose checked out. No, really.

[Rick Springfield]

I mean, it's gonna sniff it.

[Bill Maher]

You can have it.

[Rick Springfield]

You're gonna eat it.

[Bill Maher]

Smoke it. You smoke pot.

[Rick Springfield]

I don't, actually, I don't. I used to love the, the pot high, but I get paranoid.

[Bill Maher]

Now, that's a fair. I get paranoid when I eat it. So I don't eat it. No, I mean it. It's not for everyone.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I used to. I was an acid guy. I used to love acid. Really? Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

What years are we talking about? The 80s?

[Rick Springfield]

No, 70s. All through the 70s, I was an acid guy until I. This guy gave me some mushrooms.

[Bill Maher]

And you felt it was really acid.

[Rick Springfield]

Because it was window pane?

[Bill Maher]

No, but you think it was really acid because Timothy Leary himself.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I saw the chair, dude. I'm very impressed.

[Bill Maher]

That's right. The Timothy.

[Rick Springfield]

I am very impressed.

[Bill Maher]

That's a cool item. Yeah. So is this, by the way, and I really thank you for it. But he told me that like after, like almost the original batch, there was never really acid again.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay.

[Bill Maher]

That people can sell you something and say it's acid. Do you. You felt it was acid?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, it did what it was supposed to do.

[Bill Maher]

What was that?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I started to see things and rainbows and see, you know, and good things. Yeah, no, I was, I was an amazing high for me.

[Bill Maher]

You never had a bad trip?

[Rick Springfield]

I, I did the last one I did. Actually, I've done a couple since. But the last one I did. My friend gave me some frozen mushrooms at a party. I took them home and I took the mushrooms and I said, nothing's going on. He said, oh, well, were they frozen? I said, yeah, well, drink some tea. So I drank some tea. Nothing. So I took some more. Nothing. Drank some more tea. Nothing. So I said, fuck it. Took some window pane. I'm sitting in my apartment in Hollywood and suddenly the wall started going, well.

[Bill Maher]

You'Re not supposed to mix.

[Rick Springfield]

It all kicked in.

[Bill Maher]

You're not supposed to mix.

[Rick Springfield]

I know. I didn't know that. It all kicked in and I'm like.

[Bill Maher]

Again, this is why we're GLAD we're not 30.

[Rick Springfield]

30.

[Bill Maher]

Because we do things.

[Rick Springfield]

Stupid shit.

[Bill Maher]

Yes.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it was freaky. And he came. All I remember had Valium. And I'm like pouring Valium in my hand. It was like going like trying to get Valium into my mouth.

[Bill Maher]

Bad drug trips really suck because, you know you're not going to get out of it.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

Until it wants over. Until it says it's over and it's going to take a while. Yeah, I mean, I've.

[Rick Springfield]

That's why smoking's better, because you can.

[Bill Maher]

That's why I do it.

[Rick Springfield]

And edibles, I've had edibles where I thought I was going to die.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I would rather eat it because I'd rather not have to use my lungs to get high. But it just doesn't work that way.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, no, it's a different high.

[Bill Maher]

There's something about holding a. You know, I used to smoke. Did you smoke cigarettes at some point?

[Rick Springfield]

For two weeks when I was 14.

[Bill Maher]

Lucky you. You avoided that. But there is something about smoking.

[Rick Springfield]

It's very, it's still very elegant. Dude, I know people up and, you know, but it, it's, it's funny, the.

[Bill Maher]

Back in the 90s when I was doing Politically Incorrect and they came to me once to do a PSA for no smoking, you know, I was the new, you know, 30 something talk show host and like, tell the kid. And I said, okay, I Got a great idea for it. I want to be honest with the kids and tell them smoking is cool. Yeah, that's what you. That's why you want to do it. You have to be aware of that so that you can say, no, I am cool on my own. I don't need this to be cool. I thought that was a great message. No one got it. Thank you for your suggestions. We'll let you know.

[Rick Springfield]

Can you just read this?

[Bill Maher]

I don't think they heard anything past smoking is cool, but it is.

[Rick Springfield]

They don't want. Yeah, I mean, that's.

[Bill Maher]

And it's back in movies. Cuz it's cool.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

And it's also a way to indicate.

[Rick Springfield]

Maybe that you're an elegant human being or a nervous or you're a thinker.

[Bill Maher]

Or a nervous human being. It can also be.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, right. Yeah. I mean, everybody did it because they wanted it to hang in their fingers and everybody to go, he's fucking cool.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, when I was an actor in the 80s, I remember always, you know, doing the scene, especially if it's the close up and the second it was over, light the cigarette. Because I was like, you know, this is my remorse. Stress reliever.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

You know, I mean, you never did that when you were an actor smoking, you mean? Well, anything. Like right after the scene, I would.

[Rick Springfield]

I didn't start acting until I came over here.

[Bill Maher]

I remember watching you on Californication and I was like, wow, this guy is. This is risky. He's playing like a terrible version of himself with his own name. Am I remembering that wrong?

[Rick Springfield]

Yes. No, you're remembering correctly.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. I mean, I thought it was very entertaining and gutsy, but it was like, wow. For a guy who, you know, is sort of on the cusp of having a lot of stupid people want to write him off. And like, you're not giving.

[Rick Springfield]

It's been my whole life, dude. I know. I'm at the point where it was like, it. You're really giving them ammunition.

[Bill Maher]

But it was also a great way to own it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. So it was.

[Bill Maher]

I think it was the right decision. Yeah, I like that show. I watched every episode. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Writing was crazy. And when I signed on, they sent me the first script and it was, you know, it was. It was mild. And I said, guys, I know what your show is about, and I'm okay with doing whatever you want to do. So the next script that arrived, you know, I'm like fucking everything. And, you know, it was. But it was great. It was. But it was great writing and I'm okay with that. Because, I mean, unless you're a fucking moron. You know, they don't hire doctors to play doctors. They hire actors to play doctors. And a friend of mine said, oh, he had to defend you a couple of years ago. He had to defend you against this woman. Said, I didn't know Rick Springfield. I saw California Case, I didn't know Rick Springfield did blow. Said, it's acting.

[Bill Maher]

Are you trying to tell me George Clooney is not a doctor?

[Rick Springfield]

Because. I'm sorry. No.

[Bill Maher]

Sell it somewhere else, pal.

[Rick Springfield]

And I. I was a doctor for 18 months on a soap opera.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, yeah, I remember that.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And I did one operation. What kid died.

[Bill Maher]

What soap opera?

[Rick Springfield]

General Hospital.

[Bill Maher]

Oh. Because I work at CBS Studios. That's where we take.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, Young and Restless. My best friend and bold and beautiful. Yeah. So were you on that? Yeah, you're very bold and you're very beautiful.

[Bill Maher]

No, but, but I. When I go to my writers meeting, we pass it in the golf court, the set of it, every day. I mean, people who are these beautiful.

[Rick Springfield]

People that look like her, that robot.

[Bill Maher]

Well, you know, soap operas. A lot of great big people were on soap operas.

[Rick Springfield]

It's a great learning.

[Bill Maher]

Yes.

[Rick Springfield]

That platform.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

You felt that served that for you?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah, it was great. I mean, I, I.

[Bill Maher]

Well, who did you play? Dr. Michael Matthews.

[Rick Springfield]

I don't know who that is.

[Bill Maher]

Well, I'm just guessing.

[Rick Springfield]

You're showing a name. Dr. Noah Drake.

[Bill Maher]

Dr. Noah Drake is so much better.

[Rick Springfield]

It's so much.

[Bill Maher]

Dr. Noah Drake. Dr. McDreamy and patients.

[Rick Springfield]

They named actually Joey's character on Friends, Drake, after my character, Drake something, whatever his last name was.

[Bill Maher]

And you'd give the girl a breast exam, and then she'd say, now, let me do you.

[Rick Springfield]

All he did was pick up. It was like he was my. Every scene within the cafeteria or in someone's bed.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, poor you.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, you know, acting with a. With a girl is very. You know, it's really hard for me to be turned on when there's 30 guys around staring at you and. You know.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

You know what I mean? It's.

[Bill Maher]

Well, you're not supposed to be. You're acting.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, right.

[Bill Maher]

Not even supposed to. Let's be honest.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. A couple of times it's happened.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, yeah. Oh, it does happen.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. And it's actually very exciting when it does because it's very real.

[Bill Maher]

For who? For you or her?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Sometimes both. Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, look at all the people who fall in love from doing.

[Rick Springfield]

I know.

[Bill Maher]

I know, you know, they're on sets and the script says you love them and, and you're crazy for. And they're actors.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

You know, oh, this is what I'm so easy.

[Rick Springfield]

I'm gonna commit to this role.

[Bill Maher]

Right. It's so easy to get hot people to actually fall in love with each other.

[Rick Springfield]

Let's get them together. Yeah. Put them in a movie. Get em to smell our underwear.

[Bill Maher]

The only thing that tabloids and you know, gossip places do is either try to break up a couple or get.

[Rick Springfield]

Them together or tell everybody they're together and they don't want anyone to know.

[Bill Maher]

And it's very easy to do that.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

To get them together.

[Rick Springfield]

It is.

[Bill Maher]

It really is.

[Rick Springfield]

They lined me up when I first came over here. I was in all these teen magazines. I just thought about this the other day actually, because someone brought it up. But they, you know, remember Susan Day, right? She was the beautiful.

[Bill Maher]

I live in her house.

[Rick Springfield]

Get the out that house.

[Bill Maher]

I live next door. She was the original owner. I have pictures of when she lived there.

[Rick Springfield]

I was this close to her in that house.

[Bill Maher]

Everything.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, I just heard laughter. No, it's wild. Dude, that is so bizarre because they line me up with her. But I thought, oh, it's just a teen magazine thing, so it's not a real date, so I'll just play along. And at the end I said, hey, nice to meet you. And I left. But they'd try to line us up to get us together so that it would be press. But I was clueless, so I didn't get it. And thankfully your house is sanctioned back.

[Bill Maher]

To us being clueless when we were young, right? Yes, okay.

[Rick Springfield]

I was totally fucking clueless.

[Bill Maher]

But I mean, people I think know.

[Rick Springfield]

Sorry, Susan, if you hear this, I'm sorry. You're wonderful. I love you and I would have loved to, but I didn't. I was crazy. I was clueless.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. And thank you, Susan. It's a great house. I mean, she sold it to someone before. I wasn't. Didn't get it from her, but she. I believe she was the original owner. And I have pictures of what it was like when she was there. Wow. Men and women are so different. I mean, just. It was just way more feminine, let's put it. Of course.

[Rick Springfield]

But it's. Dude, I'm so amazed. I walked back here and there's all these grounds. I mean, there can't be many houses with grounds like this.

[Bill Maher]

This isn't that. This is the house next door.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, okay. So you got what all right.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

That's how you get grounds like that. Yeah, that's great. It's really fabulous.

[Bill Maher]

I need land for my crops.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. This comes from my land. I'm not gonna claim I personally grew it, but I do feel so good about the fact that, like, my own land produces the weed that makes me hungry.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, you grow your own.

[Bill Maher]

That's right. That's right, Rick. I grow my own. I grow my own and I smoke my own because that's what real men do.

[Rick Springfield]

That's what real men do.

[Bill Maher]

And let me tell you something. It's a rich irony that you pretty boys are always more miserable than guys like me. Yeah, exactly. Right. But you enjoyed the acting part, right?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I love acting.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, you do?

[Rick Springfield]

I. I did.

[Bill Maher]

I never did. I hated it. Too much waiting.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I mean, there's that, but, you know, it's the passion for the part. And to me, it's as exciting as writing a song that I finish and go, oh, that actually is not bad. And, you know, you do something and you feel like you've done a good job.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I did get a high after you nail your close up. I remember that. Or nailing a scene.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, when you nail a scene, it's a great feeling.

[Bill Maher]

It absolutely is. I mean, for me, it added up to nothing. And it always. I was never destined to be that. I mean, doing what I do, I mean, as a comedian in general, but especially the kind I am, is the exact opposite of an actor. The exact opposite.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. It's all true.

[Bill Maher]

It's all exactly what I really think and not like somebody else.

[Rick Springfield]

It's not a script where you can't talk other people's.

[Bill Maher]

But, you know, it was in my head again, stupid when I was young, but we all thought when we came out of the New York comedy clubs, the way to get ahead was to be an actor. You know, get on sitcoms. I followed the script. I did. I got onto sitcoms, and then I did, like, silly movies. I mean, we have some of the posters around here. Some of them aren't real, but they.

[Rick Springfield]

Could have been religious. Religious.

[Bill Maher]

Well, that was good.

[Rick Springfield]

That's not a silly movie.

[Bill Maher]

That was real. That was me.

[Rick Springfield]

That was fun and that was fun. Did you write that?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, I was 51 when I did that. Okay. And that's the one movie that I love. But I, you know, I did DC Cab and, you know, silly movies, and I could handle that kind of acting, but, you know, it was never where I was going to wind up. And luckily, you know, I got where I was supposed to get going. Yeah, but, you know, to our earlier discussion about, you know, why do you do it? I mean, you do. You do in life what you're good at. I don't play tennis because I'm not good at it. I play basketball because I'm good at it, you know?

[Rick Springfield]

Really? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.

[Bill Maher]

Why do you say it like that?

[Rick Springfield]

I know. I didn't picture you as a basketball player.

[Bill Maher]

I'm not saying I could join the Lakers tomorrow, but, like, for my age. Yeah, I can still hope.

[Rick Springfield]

I'm impressed.

[Bill Maher]

What do you play?

[Rick Springfield]

Guitar. No, I.

[Bill Maher]

In Australia, you don't play shirtless pickleball.

[Rick Springfield]

I do, and it's hot.

[Bill Maher]

No, don't you do something. You're in good shape.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I work out, but. But I. Soccer was my game as a kid. I love soccer because I moved to England.

[Bill Maher]

That's a great workout.

[Rick Springfield]

The best.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, so you moved to England.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

So you're like the Bee Gees.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, well, the Bee Gees are born in England, and they moved to Australia, and then they moved back to England.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. But there's that. That connection.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Yeah. And I love. I love the Bee Gees. I think their writing is.

[Bill Maher]

I will fight you for who loves the Bee Gees more, because I love the Beachies.

[Rick Springfield]

They are amazing.

[Bill Maher]

They are. Another group, like Billy Joel doesn't quite get the do from the critics who have relegated.

[Rick Springfield]

They had three fucking careers.

[Bill Maher]

Exactly.

[Rick Springfield]

They had a great career in Australia. Okay. I have a friend in Australia who was a big. In the 60s, he was one of the top solo guys, right? Solo stars. And he. And he heard these three brothers in Sydney that writes good songs. So he went up. His name was Ronnie Burns, and he went up to Sydney. Flew up to Sydney. They pull up in a Volkswagen van, these three brothers, and they say, can you give us some money for petrol? So he gives us some money for gas, and they drive back to their house. They've got a guitar with two strings on it because they can't afford any more strings. And they play him three songs. And he says, oh, my God, I'll take that. And then he play him another one, and they say, I want that one. They say, no, that's for us. There's a song called Spicks and Specs.

[Bill Maher]

I know the song very well.

[Rick Springfield]

It was their first hit.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, it's a great song.

[Rick Springfield]

They wrote it on two strings of a fucking guitar.

[Bill Maher]

That sounds like bullshit.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it's not bullshit.

[Bill Maher]

How could you write. How could you.

[Rick Springfield]

This is wrong with the guy who was there.

[Bill Maher]

Rick, think about it. How could you play a song with a STR guitar with two strings? Oh, Jesus.

[Rick Springfield]

Specs and spec.

[Bill Maher]

Is that two strings?

[Rick Springfield]

Well, it's one string. Where is the sun? You just need to move up the neck. Oh, specs and the specs in my life.

[Bill Maher]

I stand corrected.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

It's a great song. Yeah, it's one of their early great ones.

[Rick Springfield]

I mean, and that was their first hit.

[Bill Maher]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

And then they had a. The amazing ballads and then they went under and thought they were over. And then they came back with this. It wasn't disco. They were beyond disco. And they came back.

[Bill Maher]

No, they were the kings of disco.

[Rick Springfield]

Fucking amazing song.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, the. This people don't remember the. Weren't Alive. I was 21, I think, in that year, and I was in. Happened to be in Europe. And it's all anybody played was the soundtrack to Saturday Night.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

And it was a double album.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it was huge.

[Bill Maher]

I was asking Billy Joel last week about, like, what. What. What is your list of great double albums? Because it's not that big. No, but Saturday Night Fever. Saturday Night Fever is definitely on that list. Now, it's not all BG's recordings, but I think they wrote them all.

[Rick Springfield]

They wrote. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, some of them were done by other artists, but that's. But it is an amazing.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, we've got another song we don't want to do. It's a great song. Do you want it? You know.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, they wrote Islands in the Stream is an awesome song that they wrote first. That was not a hit for them. And the ones they wrote for Andy Gibb.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Right.

[Bill Maher]

I just want to be your everything. How great is that record? Right? You know the one I've dropped.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I know all. I know all the Bee Gees.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, it sounds exactly like the Bee Gees.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, he was the Bee Gee.

[Bill Maher]

It is.

[Rick Springfield]

And they were almost going to pull him into the Bee Gees before he died.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, and. But you say they had three different careers. To me, they. Yes. They had like the 60s early stuff. Then they had the disco period. And the 60s early stuff alone was. Has so many hits. I've got to get a message to you. I started a joke.

[Rick Springfield]

I was in Vietnam when I heard that single. It was. I blew my mind.

[Bill Maher]

Now, what do you think that's about? They certainly have said over the years that it was about Jesus.

[Rick Springfield]

You know what they were. They were consummate songwriters. They would pick A song and go, let's write a song like that. Only make it better. And they'd write a better song. And I don't think it went to that extent that it was.

[Bill Maher]

Well, there was the line I died, which started the whole world living. That suggests.

[Rick Springfield]

I think it's wordplay, dude.

[Bill Maher]

That suggests one particular person.

[Rick Springfield]

No, but I think it's wordplay.

[Bill Maher]

Okay, but like, if I.

[Rick Springfield]

Brilliant wordplay. Like Lennon. Lennon would always talk about his songs. There's that great thing where he meets a guy and his.

[Bill Maher]

That's not wordplay. All right.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay. Well, that's your take. I get it.

[Bill Maher]

Wait, let me ask you if there was never such a song, right? And I just said to you, Rick, let's play a game sentence. Tell me who you think of. And it was, I freed the slaves, Lincoln. Right. I died and started the whole world living.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay, point taken.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I don't even know if it is. Or if they even were trying to, like, be Christy at the moment.

[Rick Springfield]

I.

[Bill Maher]

But you can't ignore that line.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it's a brilliant line.

[Bill Maher]

And I don't give a no.

[Rick Springfield]

And it doesn't matter because songs are open to interpretation. Right?

[Bill Maher]

I love the song.

[Rick Springfield]

It's amazing.

[Bill Maher]

It's just a great song.

[Rick Springfield]

And if it is that. If they came up with that, then that's even more brilliant.

[Bill Maher]

But just.

[Rick Springfield]

And they didn't talk about. To not talk about it.

[Bill Maher]

Just the premise and the title. I started a joke.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, no, it's brilliant. And that's what. That brought Robin back into the fold. Right.

[Bill Maher]

But you know where most. They say most sick jokes start?

[Rick Springfield]

No.

[Bill Maher]

Prison. Australia. Penal colony. It also.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay, but they're from England. They were born in the Isle of Man.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, but they're known as.

[Rick Springfield]

But they went to Australia, so they have the convict by assimilation, by the.

[Bill Maher]

Way, I gotta say, in excess. Also amazing.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, They're Aussies.

[Bill Maher]

Amazing.

[Rick Springfield]

Absolutely.

[Bill Maher]

And Crowded House, even though they're from.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, so Great.

[Bill Maher]

So great.

[Rick Springfield]

I know. There's so many great bands.

[Bill Maher]

Not so many. I just named them all, actually. Those.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay. All right. Okay.

[Bill Maher]

I got Lulu. I think maybe had no, Lulu.

[Rick Springfield]

Was English.

[Bill Maher]

Okay.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay. Daddy Cool.

[Bill Maher]

Don't know that.

[Rick Springfield]

You got to hear it. Russ Wilson. Okay. Ross Wilson and Russ Wilson. Daddy Cool. The Church. Have you ever heard the Church?

[Bill Maher]

No. Who are these? Your local high school band?

[Rick Springfield]

No, I know if they'd been. They were. They were Australian, but if they'd. They should have been huge. They were fucking amazing. And. And Steve Kilby still around. And the singer.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. But I. I'm not denying this premise, but I just got to ask, because sometimes you hear about bands like this or people like this, and they were amazing, but you don't know the why. Like, if they were really amazing. I always say show business, it is full of bullshit. But the cream does rise to the top. Generally, the people you know about are the.

[Rick Springfield]

There's a reason, actually, are the best ones.

[Bill Maher]

You know, I know you think that there's some, you know, leading man in the woods who's probably better than Timothee Chalamet. No, he's the right guy for this moment. He's very good at what his job is. He's very cares, you know, and whatever it is, or DiCaprio in his era or whoever, Humphrey Bogart, you know, casting directors, they actually don't really make big mistakes usually. So when I hear like, oh, they're great, and you never heard of them, like, who. And by the way, I could name some musical artists who. I think that's.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, of course. But music is. I think it's a different art than acting. Music hits you in such a place, right. That nothing else does really. It triggers something in you. Just the beat and the music and it's 12 notes. And they make. Look at all the amazing songs from 12 notes.

[Bill Maher]

People get so annoyed at you when you don't like what they like and they think you should listen to this. You're listening. Listen.

[Rick Springfield]

No, you're not hearing it, man.

[Bill Maher]

You don't like that.

[Rick Springfield]

Give it some time.

[Bill Maher]

Fuck yourself. I could play shit you don't like. That I think is great.

[Rick Springfield]

It's very personal. Music is very personal.

[Bill Maher]

It is.

[Rick Springfield]

It's not like music movies where. I mean, music. You said it in. Sit in the room alone as a kid when you're forming and this amazing stuff comes in. It's really part of your. Your makeup is the music you pull in while you're still, you know, the. I caught the window where you're like 13 and realize, oh, there's out there until you get married or you have a job or. And it shuts it down and you go, I get to go with my life. Is that window where everything. Where music comes in, it stays with you forever, Ever. Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

No. I mean, I don't know what I would do without it.

[Rick Springfield]

Right? I mean, it's. It's your soul. It feeds your soul. You know, when. When I'm. I have music from the 60s that I listen. If I listen to it now, I go, that's pretty lame, dude. But because I was 13, 14, 15. It spoke to me and it reassured me and I loved it.

[Bill Maher]

I don't have all the Beatles early stuff in my ipod that I play that, you know, I'll go into ipods again. But like, I do like to listen to my shuffle because it's got 4,000 songs, all of which have one thing in common. I like them. But I don't have all the early Beatles stuff. I mean, some of it is just. First of all, the lyrics are for 12 year olds, which is okay, we understand that.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, I don't think the guys.

[Bill Maher]

But if I Fell is in there because that is always good.

[Rick Springfield]

That was John's first great ballad.

[Bill Maher]

It's a great ballad. It's a great ballad. But I don't have Love Me do. They were 16. I mean, I've heard it enough. I get it.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bill Maher]

It has their magic. Like all of it has their magic, but it's just not a song I want to hear over and over again.

[Rick Springfield]

Right.

[Bill Maher]

If it comes on. It doesn't.

[Rick Springfield]

Were you a Paul or John guy as a kid?

[Bill Maher]

Oh, that's not a question you can ever ask a Beatle fan because you have to love them equally.

[Rick Springfield]

No, that's not a good answer.

[Bill Maher]

That's my honest answer.

[Rick Springfield]

Really?

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

I was a Paul guy because.

[Bill Maher]

Well.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, because I love the way I. I had a boy crush, cuz. Loved the way he looked. Plus, he was amazingly talented. He had a voice like a God. He could play every instrument and I. To. For me, he wrote the most popular, top, best song. But as I've gotten older, I've understood Strawberry Fields and. And. And the great John songs that really stick to the wall.

[Bill Maher]

Revolution.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, Revolution, I was never crazy about. Honestly, I'm.

[Bill Maher]

I'm still crazy about it and always will be. All right. I mean, I'm talking. Well, that's talking about the single fast version. Yeah, the single fast version.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

I'm not. That's not.

[Rick Springfield]

But the. The rock one.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, with one of the single.

[Rick Springfield]

Right. One of the first examples of distorted guitar.

[Bill Maher]

Distorted guitar, yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And they didn't put it through an app. They put it through a board.

[Bill Maher]

It was the right choice.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, we're still copying the Beatles. I mean, I hear songs now where they've taken snippets and snuck it in.

[Bill Maher]

But they were copying.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, yeah, but they took it way beyond.

[Bill Maher]

Dude, of course they did. But everybody cops.

[Rick Springfield]

Everybody stands on somebody's shoulder.

[Bill Maher]

Absolutely. But I mean, on their first three albums. Yeah, I'm sorry. Three of their first Four albums. The exception being Hard Days Night.

[Rick Springfield]

Hard Days night.

[Bill Maher]

There was 14. 14 songs and six covers on each, so they did 18 covers, so.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, that's because they weren't writing enough. That's all.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, and also because they were still paying tribute to the enamored with the time that went before. Yeah, and I'm glad they did. Yeah, I'm glad they did. Please, Mr. Postman.

[Rick Springfield]

The British bands are responsible for the acknowledgement of black American blues. When black America. When America was going, we don't pay attention to them. England was going, oh, my God, these guys are freaking unbelievable.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, Keith Richards devoted, I think, a couple of years of his life to giving Chuck Berry his due and bringing.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, Chuck had. Chuck had had hits. I mean, he was like one of the few black artists that was actually on the white chart. But there's all Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters and all these guys that they were. I was listening to as a kid, too, and they were. I'm going. I'm hearing this growl and this animal, like, shout coming out of these guys. I'm going, what is that? It was almost scary. It was so intense.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. And you can imagine the racism in his era that Chuck Berry had to endure.

[Rick Springfield]

Crazy to me.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, he participated, as I recall, in the. Keith Richards.

[Rick Springfield]

Is that the one where he punched Keith in the mouth?

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I think Keith Richards expected him to be like, you know, thank you so much.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, thank you so much for taking.

[Bill Maher]

The time to acknowledge that I am the progenitor of rock and roll. And Chuck Berry was like, whitey, you know what? If you expect a thank you, you have got another thing coming. I did it. I'm happy. I did it.

[Rick Springfield]

I did it originally.

[Bill Maher]

I don't need you to come in here and tell me I did it and say thank you. Because first of all, you stole it.

[Rick Springfield]

Stole his licks, all his legs. But. But no one would know about them. It wasn't for the British bands that loved them. They wouldn't be where they are or where they became. I mean, they brought them out and toured with them, you know, that they understood how amazing they were. Because there wasn't the same prejudice in England as there was here that kept them away from. Right, the radio here. And I, you know, I mean, I look now, I look for black artists that kind of continue that blues energy. And there's. There's a couple of them around and they're amazing.

[Bill Maher]

Like.

[Rick Springfield]

But, I mean, that's where. That's where I learned to play the guitar. Was from Blues Players because it was. It was simple. You could play it in a couple of weeks. It wasn't hard, but you couldn't get. You know, our white boy versions of, you know, Smokestack Lightning were pretty fucking lame. But you could play the riffs and you could feel like you were doing something, you know, authentic.

[Bill Maher]

The great thing about the arts is that most of us are such poor impersonators that when we steal, it's so bad, our impersonation, that nobody recognizes it. Woody Allen was doing Bob Hope. He was doing him, but he's so different. You didn't see it.

[Rick Springfield]

No one saw it.

[Bill Maher]

And sometimes Paul McCartney was doing little Richard, but he's just a different guy. So it just comes in his mind. He's doing it, but we don't see it. And that's okay. That's not appropriation. It's all appropriation. That's what culture is appropriating from each other. It's actually a beautiful thing.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Or beautiful.

[Rick Springfield]

No, it's continuing the legacy, you know, it's.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, and sharing ideas.

[Rick Springfield]

And what Paul did with I'm down, you know, he basically created a Little Richard song. And. But the fact that he could sing like that.

[Bill Maher]

Well, and he did it on their last album, Abbey Road. He did oh, Darling, oh, Darling, which is a rock. Which is a torch song. You know, I'm sure John was rolling his eyes.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. He said, I wish I should have sung that. Actually, I read a quote. He said, I should have sung oh, Darling. But.

[Bill Maher]

Well, he put out a solo album. Lennon did.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, the rock and roll one.

[Bill Maher]

Right? Rock and roll. And he did love that raw music. You know, that was their biggest beef, is that he wanted it raw, like the early days.

[Rick Springfield]

Well, they were. I mean, you listen to the first.

[Bill Maher]

Album, they were both what.

[Rick Springfield]

The first album they did in what, like 12 hours or something. And you can hear him how shredded their voices are.

[Bill Maher]

That's why they. They. That's why they recorded Twist and Shout. Laughs.

[Rick Springfield]

Laughs. Right. Because it would shred his throat. But you can hear, like nasal going on.

[Bill Maher]

I love it. I love the vocal. To Swiss and Shout is one of my all time favorites. And it's because it's a little shredded. Yeah, I mean, it's the energy.

[Rick Springfield]

But people weren't. White guys weren't doing that back then. They were Pat Boone and, you know.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, they thought Elvis was black when they played him. You know, I mean, that was.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, that's one thing I have. I have. I have Elvis stationary. The Beatles signed.

[Bill Maher]

The Beatles signed.

[Rick Springfield]

Beatles signed. Elvis stationary when they went to meet. They went to meet him in 1965.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, out here.

[Rick Springfield]

And.

[Bill Maher]

Well, the Hollywood Hills. He was staying in some house and he was making a picture. You know, he was. That. That was the era when he was making Elvis.

[Rick Springfield]

Trying to conquer Hollywood.

[Bill Maher]

Shitty pictures every year. I mean, they made money.

[Rick Springfield]

But I. Dude, I hated them. But I love them now. He hated them. I know, but I finally. Acapulco. I love that music.

[Bill Maher]

I love Elvis.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I do too.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, but I'm not going to watch Fun and Acapulco again. Once was enough.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I wouldn't watch it. But I love that the music is kind of. Back then, I'm like, oh, this is. This is up. But it now because of childhood memories and everything. It's wonderful to me. And I met Elvis on a plane.

[Bill Maher]

Really?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Elvis Presley.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I'm sorry, is there another. Yeah, that was Costello.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I met Elvis. No, I met Elvis on a plane.

[Bill Maher]

What year was this?

[Rick Springfield]

1973. I was. I'd just come over here and actually, my managers at the time, my manager was Steve Bender, who directed the. The Comeback special. Oh, the Elvis Presley comeback.

[Bill Maher]

68. And he has the black leather suit.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

What was he like when you met him?

[Rick Springfield]

He was wonderful, actually. I walked on the plane and he was sitting. I was in the back of the bus because I was going to Australia to renew my visa, and he was sitting in the front in a powder blue suit and jet black hair and skinny, and he looked amazing. I wasn't a fan back then because I was, you know, the Beetle guy and everything. And I walk by him, Elvis. I sit in the back of the bus and before we landed, he came back and signed autographs and took photos, which if you've ever, you know, you've been on planes with people and they've got like the hoodie on and they're like, don't talk to me. I'm, you know, sure. Elvis walked back and signed autographs and took photos. And I had a girlfriend at the time in Australia that was an Elvis fan. And I said, hey. He came up to me and said, hey, I know Steve Binder. He's my manager. And he goes, oh, Steve, I love Steve. Which he did. I mean, they really had a great connection. And I said, will you sign this autograph to Allison? I guess he thought my name was Allison. So he wrote thanks. And to this day, I write thanks a lot of the times on my autographs because Elvis wrote that on this autograph to her.

[Bill Maher]

You know what? I've been looking for something to write on the autograph for, like, 30 years.

[Rick Springfield]

I give it to you, brother.

[Bill Maher]

Thanks.

[Rick Springfield]

Thanks.

[Bill Maher]

It's so simple and so right. It's just.

[Rick Springfield]

Absolutely. I love you.

[Bill Maher]

I'm thanking you for being my father.

[Rick Springfield]

Thanking you for appreciating what I do. Right, right. The better version is thank you for loving me. But I don't want to go there.

[Bill Maher]

No, I don't want to go there either.

[Rick Springfield]

But, yeah, it was awesome. And so I put it. I had a little recorder, a tape recorder that I used to record my demos on. And I put the autograph in there to take it back to my girlfriend. And when I was getting off the plane in Australia, the customers go, oh, what's up? Right? You know? Yeah, I have porn on my. You know, on my little recorder. We need to take that and look at that. When it came back, the autograph was gone.

[Bill Maher]

Really?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. So some has the Elvis autograph.

[Bill Maher]

I think I might change mine to thank you. It's from thanks.

[Rick Springfield]

Thank you.

[Bill Maher]

I like that better. Yeah, it's a little thanks.

[Rick Springfield]

A little thanks. I gotta go over here.

[Bill Maher]

You can get away with it if you're Elvis.

[Rick Springfield]

You definitely can get away with it.

[Bill Maher]

I think I need the full thank you. I may need I may be parentheses Forget me ever I may need. Thank you very much. In two languages.

[Rick Springfield]

Are you Swedish?

[Bill Maher]

But you still write songs?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm right.

[Bill Maher]

Like, every day. Is that something you do? Like every day?

[Rick Springfield]

Every day.

[Bill Maher]

Every day.

[Rick Springfield]

No, not every day. It's a binge thing. And I love to write. It's my favorite thing to do. And I just had an album out with, like, 20 new songs, and.

[Bill Maher]

Come on. They put 20 songs on an album?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it was digital. You can do that now. Plus, I write short songs. But, yeah, I love to write. It's really fun for me and. And to play a new song in a show, you know, I mean, you can only play the songs we play so many times and go.

[Bill Maher]

But you have to play Here we.

[Rick Springfield]

Go again, you know, to play the hit. Yeah, but. And I get that. And I. And I love that because I want. I know. I want to plea. I want the audience to have fun.

[Bill Maher]

You have to.

[Rick Springfield]

I want the one. I'm not the guy that got up. This is my new album. I'd like to play all 12 cuts. No, no, that's not the venue either. But. So we. We throw a couple of songs in. You know, a new song.

[Bill Maher]

Everybody does that.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, it's great. I love it.

[Bill Maher]

Hey, we have to go to the bathroom sometime.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah, I went to an Elton John show, right? And he says, yeah, we'd like. I'm gonna play a new song for my new album. And I got up to go to the bathroom, right? And there was a fucking line to the male bathroom, right? And I get behind this guy and he turns around and goes, new song, huh?

[Bill Maher]

That would be funny for someone to put in an album cover of just people in line for the bathroom.

[Rick Springfield]

Like, these are new songs.

[Bill Maher]

These are the songs you're gonna hear.

[Rick Springfield]

Bathroom song.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, it's a little unfair because I get it.

[Rick Springfield]

You go for a maximum moment. You're going to a concert for a maximum moment. You don't want to, you know, you don't want. It's a big deal. You know, you, you babysitter, dog sitter, whatever. Dinner right over, expensive T shirt working. It's ridiculous. Walking up to a venue with a trillion people finding your right seat. You want it to be a moment.

[Bill Maher]

Yes.

[Rick Springfield]

You don't want dead. You know, we're gonna play our new song. Hope you buy our signal.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, whenever I read about concerts, it makes me always say to myself, I just don't understand the American economy, you know, that we can't seem to solve this issue where yes, there are. No, not 70% of people starving. Not even close. But so a lot of people really struggling. Like half the country has 400 in the bank. Like they can't. One little hiccup and they're. And then Beyonce and Taylor Swift and you know, I mean, you're not getting their ticket price. But it's a lot of money to see your. It's. And what like you say with babysitters and that's crazy. I mean, I pulled. I went to just a restaurant in. Out at the beach last weekend. Parking was 27. The is up with us. 27.

[Rick Springfield]

Just my Beatles ticket was six shillings, which is about a dollar fifty.

[Bill Maher]

My Fair lady was on Broadway. The biggest hit in 1956, the year I was born. A ticket was $6.

[Rick Springfield]

I saw for the front row. I saw My Fair lady in London.

[Bill Maher]

Wow. Wow.

[Rick Springfield]

Julie Andrews.

[Bill Maher]

Wow.

[Rick Springfield]

And Rex Harrison.

[Bill Maher]

Come on.

[Rick Springfield]

I was 10 years old. I didn't appreciate it. My mom was completely into that. She took us to this London.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, with Julie Andrew. I mean she didn't even do the movie. I mean, Audrey Heern did Job.

[Rick Springfield]

She was. She was.

[Bill Maher]

But she was the original Eliza Doolittle.

[Rick Springfield]

She killed it.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I always say that is one part that I would be great at. Professor Higgins.

[Rick Springfield]

Professor Higgins.

[Bill Maher]

I would not Eliza Doolittle. But I could be a curmudgeonly professor. It's a great part. And you can't. It can't ever be. Kind of too old for it. You could do it, too.

[Rick Springfield]

So amazing. And he couldn't sing, so he spoke the line.

[Bill Maher]

He's half sang.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. But it was wonderful when he.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

They. That. That album played through my house.

[Bill Maher]

Me too.

[Rick Springfield]

Me too.

[Bill Maher]

The other thing that played in my house as a child was Camelot. Richard Burton.

[Rick Springfield]

Was that one of the greatest musicals ever?

[Bill Maher]

Both because of the music. Was it Rogers and Hammerstein?

[Rick Springfield]

You know what I love? Rogers and Hammerstein were my favorites because of Oklahoma. Carousel.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

South Pacific. The Brilliant. It was played through my house all the time. I don't know if they did Carousel. I would. I mean, we need to look that up.

[Bill Maher]

Well, I know Lerner and Lowe did My Fair.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. My Fair Lady. Right. Okay. They did great.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah, they did great.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah.

[Bill Maher]

Anyway, somebody did that.

[Rick Springfield]

We did Camelot. I mean, we need to know. Let them.

[Bill Maher]

Let them look it up.

[Rick Springfield]

Look it up.

[Bill Maher]

They all have chatgpt. They could find a lot.

[Rick Springfield]

I was.

[Bill Maher]

You find it in two seconds and they don't care. And I don't care. They're dead.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I'm a writer, so I love to know who wrote what.

[Bill Maher]

I mean, I don't think it is Rogers and Hammerstein. Because it was.

[Rick Springfield]

No, I don't think so.

[Bill Maher]

You know why? Because it's a little.

[Rick Springfield]

I would know.

[Bill Maher]

It's a little too hip for them.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Yes, I agree. Later. Later on, too.

[Bill Maher]

But it was always a very meaningful show for me. If people don't know what it is, it's the King Arthur legend, but it made into a romantic story and then, of course, used as a metaphor for the Kennedy. Kennedy administration. But in the story, King Arthur, he's older. They made a movie of it with Richard Harris. Richard Gere.

[Rick Springfield]

What?

[Bill Maher]

Yes, not Richard Harris. Sean Connery. Sean Connery played the king.

[Rick Springfield]

The Camelot movie.

[Bill Maher]

It's called First Knight.

[Rick Springfield]

Okay, but it's not a musical.

[Bill Maher]

No, no. It's the same story.

[Rick Springfield]

Right, right.

[Bill Maher]

The story is that King Arthur, he's older and he's got a young bride, and then she falls for the handsome young knight played by Robert Goulet originally. S. Gulay, sir, who was a friend of mine, Sir Lancelot and.

[Rick Springfield]

Wait, Lancelot's a friend of yours or Gu's a friend.

[Bill Maher]

Goulet.

[Rick Springfield]

Is he still Around. No, dude, he's awesome.

[Bill Maher]

He was. I. We had a great time. Little kooky, but still.

[Rick Springfield]

Still friends. Love to have met Gulay still.

[Bill Maher]

Oh, I could have hooked that up. Still friends with his widow, I took. My mother was a giant Goulet fan as a kid.

[Rick Springfield]

My mom was, too.

[Bill Maher]

Okay. So for her 75th birthday, I flew her to Vegas on a private plane, and we went to Robert Goulet's house and then went out to dinner in the limo to.

[Rick Springfield]

So how did you hook up with Robert Goulet?

[Bill Maher]

You know, I was on tv. He was a fan. I had him on the show. Whatever, you know, it wasn't hard. It wasn't hard. Great. Totally great.

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. Great. When you meet people that you wouldn't normally have met because of what you do.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. It also could be dangerous. You know, they say don't meet your idols. I mean, there's some of that. That can happen.

[Rick Springfield]

Yes. I agree totally.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah.

[Rick Springfield]

And Paul McCartney is a fucking God.

[Bill Maher]

He's great. I've met him a number of times. I am not disappointed.

[Rick Springfield]

You know, I wouldn't want to. I'd be scared to meet John. You ever meet John?

[Bill Maher]

No.

[Rick Springfield]

No one did. No one alive met John. I would be scared to meet John.

[Bill Maher]

People alive have. But he died in 1980. That is a long time ago.

[Rick Springfield]

I remember saying I had an apartment in the boulevard in Hollywood. And I would walk. I used to eat. When I first came over here, I thought, oh, my God, Hungry man dinners. How amazing. And I eat these Hungry man dinners and tell my mom, yeah, this America is amazing. They got these whole dinners and tin foil. And I started, like, zits popping out all over my head and my dog. And the doctor said, you got to go to a real restaurant and eat a steak. So I went. I used to go to the Hungry Tiger across the street from me, La Brea Avenue. And I'm standing on La Brea Avenue waiting across for traffic. And a Rolls Royce goes by, and Lennon is sitting in the passenger seat. And it's so. So you know it's him, right? And he's heading to A and M Studios, which is just down the street.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

For his, you know, stuff he did in the last weekend.

[Bill Maher]

Right.

[Rick Springfield]

But it was Lennon. I'm going, wow.

[Bill Maher]

So what kind of food did you have in Australia? Grubs and roots. You're impressed by that?

[Rick Springfield]

Yeah. We had no kangaroos. We. Snakes. Poison snakes.

[Bill Maher]

But you had food. You didn't have Hungry Man Dinners?

[Rick Springfield]

No, dude. I came over here and we think America back Then we thought, America. My mom used to say, oh, my God, their teeth are so white. Their skin is so good. You know, the movies, it's. The movies were the greatest PR thing America ever had and still is. Still people still want to come to America because of the.

[Bill Maher]

Yeah. And I know I once asked Chris Hemsworth, why do you guys all, like, speak such perfect America? You could do these American accents. And he said, because that's all we watched as kids is American tv.

[Rick Springfield]

I remember in my high school walking around trying to imitate John Wayne, and all I wanted to do was come to America. I wanted to be in America. Well, I'm here. You're here.

[Bill Maher]

It was a pleasure and beyond to get to know you and talk to you.

[Rick Springfield]

I'm very glad you came from.

[Bill Maher]

I'm a fan of yours that you came to America and you did so well, and I'm glad you're over there.

[Rick Springfield]

Depression and. Yes, I did, and I will not hang myself. And I hope we do wonderful things.

[Bill Maher]

Personally.

[Rick Springfield]

Oh, my God.

[Bill Maher]

I know. I'm a fun guy.

[Rick Springfield]

Thank you.

[Bill Maher]

Brother goes fast.

[Rick Springfield]

That was awesome.

[Bill Maher]

So are you, by the way, random.