Tom Bergeron Unplugged: From Hollywood Squares to Star Trek Adventures

Summary

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Dropping Names ...and other things

Episode: Tom Bergeron Unplugged: From Hollywood Squares to Star Trek Adventures

Host: Brent Spiner & Jonathan Frakes
Guest: Tom Bergeron
Date: July 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode brings together the iconic television host and occasional actor, Tom Bergeron, with Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes for a laughter-filled conversation about Bergeron's wide-ranging career—from "Hollywood Squares" and "America’s Funniest Videos" to that memorable stint on "Star Trek: Enterprise". The episode journeys through Bergeron's Hollywood anecdotes, game show insights, surprising career detours (miming!), epic name drops, and the sometimes perilous life of a long-running TV host. The trio trade stories, poke fun at themselves, and occasionally dream up bizarre show-pitches—like “TrekNado”.

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Conversation Highlights & Major Segments

1. Opening Banter: Scams, Complaints & Family

[00:00–02:46]

• Tom kicks off with a lighthearted complaint about being bombarded with social media scam messages, segueing into stories about scam calls targeting his elderly mother.
  • Tom Bergeron [00:35]: "These kids... people calling and going, grandma. And she goes, huh? ...But my mother's hip to it. She said, 'My grandson didn't call me Grandma.'"
• Brent jokes about Bergeron's kindheartedness, setting the playful tone of the episode.

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2. Hollywood Squares, Star Trek & Name-Dropping

[02:53–09:55]

• The trio enthusiastically recollects the days of hosting and guesting on "Hollywood Squares".
  • Bergeron clarifies Whoopi Goldberg’s and Henry Winkler’s roles as producers.
  • "Dropping names" is underscored by Brent’s actual bell-ringing—mocking their penchant for celebrity namechecks.
• Tom recounts his guest spot on Star Trek: Nemesis and subsequent appearance as an alien, Damar, on Star Trek: Enterprise.
  • Tom Bergeron [07:08]: “It’s an episode in the first season called Oasis. I play a trader of exotic goods, an alien named Damar. It’s the whole opening scene of that episode.”
• Fun tales about Stuart Baird's directorial style and a surprise set visit by Madeleine Albright.

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3. Tom’s Hollywood Lore & Favorite Moments

[09:55–22:01]

• Bergeron dishes on working with makeup legend Michael Westmore—who “told me great stories... stories I don’t know if you know this, I enjoy a good Hollywood story.” [08:15]
• An anecdote about Bette Davis:
  • Tom Bergeron [08:36]: “I asked him who was the worst person you ever had to make up? And he said, 'Oh, Bette Davis.' ...I was putting her eyebrows on... she went, 'give me that', and did two hard lines over her eyes.”
• Reflections on producing “Hollywood Squares”, including rapid-fire references to Paul Lynde, Charlie Weaver, Regis Philbin, and Peter Marshall.
  • Tom Bergeron [09:55]: “Paul Lynde was already dead. But was he on the show? …No, he was still dead.” (Cue laughter)
• Joyful digressions about Peter Marshall’s time as center square, and the Arquette family line.

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4. Breakfast Time, TV Chaos & Live Improv

[13:43–17:13]

• Tom warmly reflects on his “most fun” job: FX’s Breakfast Time.
  • Tom Bergeron [14:17]: “Even though it wasn’t the most viewed or the most lucrative, it was creatively the most fun I ever had.”
  • Memorable stunts: Bob Barker playing “Hard Hat Price is Right” for repair crews, and a donut delivery prank on the set of “NYPD Blue”.

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5. Comedians, Quirky Guests & Behind-the-Scenes Tales

[16:53–21:57]

• Bergeron’s admiration for Gilbert Gottfried’s comedic presence on “Hollywood Squares”.
• Tom Bergeron [17:04]: “Everything he said, even if it wasn't funny on the page, was funny because of this voice.”
• Tales of Penn & Teller’s appearances, and fantastic Christmas cards from Al Yankovic and others.

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6. Game Show Mechanics & Difficult Celebrities

[18:45–20:55]

• Discussion on the writing and genuine improvisation required for “Hollywood Squares”.
• Tom recalls Bill Maher being a tough guest—“He didn’t seem like he wanted to be there... he apologized to me for how he behaved.” [19:33]

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7. Dancing with the Stars Era: Gigs, Gaffes & Departures

[27:46–38:43]

• Tom covers his dual-hosting years (“America’s Funniest Videos” and “Dancing with the Stars”).
  • Tom Bergeron [31:39]: “Two network shows for 15 years running down the same track.”
• Candid about the infamous multi-host Emmys disaster:
  • Sam [28:55]: “I said, you know what? I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s a great idea. It’s going to be like herding cats...”
  • Tom [29:40]: “Suddenly, I had an ending... I had to shake off [the Emmys] on a Sunday night and host a live show on a Monday night.”
• Springer’s surprisingly kind nature as a contestant, and Marie Osmond fainting on live TV.
  • Tom Bergeron [34:55]: “I have never seen even an Osmond look that white.”

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8. Divisive TV Moments & Political Entanglements

[36:01–37:57]

• Tom describes the behind-the-scenes tension of Sean Spicer being cast and his subsequent, cordial reunion with Spicer at a DWTS party.
  • Tom Bergeron [36:01]: “Let’s just not go there. Let’s not book any political people of any party... Let’s be that respite, that oasis.”

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9. Showbiz Workweeks & Behind the Curtain

[37:33–41:11]

• A peek into the smooth, enviable work schedule of a long-time TV host.
• Warm stories about Florence Henderson and the legendary “showmances” (romantic liaisons) behind DWTS.
• Tom Bergeron [40:00]: “You know what a showmance... It lasts as long as the show lasts. It might be intense... On some of those flights, some of those showmances had a big finish... on the plane, put it that way.”

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10. Dancing With Sharks & Absurd Projects

[41:03–43:44]

• Tom’s hosting “Dancing with Sharks” for Discovery:
  • Choreographed underwater shark wrangling in the Bahamas, equal parts parody and education.
  • “Did you get in the water with the sharks?”
    —“God, no, no, no. I had a ‘coward clause’ in my contract.” [42:33]
• The wild “TrekNado” pitch (sharks on the Starship Enterprise).

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11. Family Tree, Hollywood Projects, & Misdirected Credits

[44:55–47:57]

• Tom details the genesis of Family Tree, a magical realism Christmas movie project with William Shatner, inspired by his real-life family home experience.
  • “The house refuses to let these people sell it until they heal themselves.” [46:30]
• Hilarious confusion over online credits, including rumors of Tom editing “I’ve Got a Secret” and being in “Gremlins.”

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12. Game Show Origins & Miming Past

[48:41–51:02]

• Both Bergeron and Sam share stories about appearing on classic game shows.
• Tom’s confession of a youthful career as a street mime (and triggering a guest’s phobia live on “The View”).
  • “I was too into my own performance to read the room.” [51:02]

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13. Tom’s Current Life, Wellness, and Final Laughs

[51:15–52:43]

• Bergeron describes his active, gym-going retirement—except for an unfortunate “Peloton-induced prostatis”.
  • Sam [52:23]: “Now I have a very testicle friendly seat on my bike.”
  • Brent [52:28]: “Now there’s a phrase you don’t hear every day.”
• The conversation closes with playful teasing, a rundown of household celebrity encounters, and reflections on weird career gigs (including Brent playing Captain America for Stan Lee).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom Bergeron [07:07]: “That was the end of your acting career.”
• Brent Spiner [08:04]: “That’s an Academy Award winner. He’s the king of makeup.”
• Tom Bergeron [15:43]: “I managed to breeze right past real New York police. ... I’m going, ‘Mr. Franz, I got your donuts!’”
• Sam [34:55]: “I have never seen even an Osmond look that white.”
• Tom Bergeron [36:01]: “Let’s be that respite. That oasis that people can go to.”
• Brent [40:00]: “Spicer was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
• Brent [52:28]: “Testicle friendly seat. That’s a technical seat term, boys and girls.”
• Sam [41:44]: “It was educational and ridiculous at the same time and a lot of fun.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:35 – Tom on scam calls to his mother
• 07:08 – Tom’s “Star Trek: Enterprise” appearance
• 08:36 – Bette Davis makeup story
• 13:43 – FX’s “Breakfast Time” memories
• 18:19 – Improv on “Hollywood Squares” explained
• 27:46 – “Dancing with the Stars” and career multi-tasking
• 29:40 – Hosting the notoriously bad multi-host Emmys
• 34:55 – Marie Osmond fainting incident
• 36:01 – Sean Spicer controversy explained
• 41:44 – “Dancing with Sharks” for Discovery
• 46:30 – The “Family Tree” Christmas movie genesis
• 48:41 – “I’ve Got a Secret”/game show origins
• 52:23 – Health woes from over-Pelotoning

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The Episode’s Unique Tone

The conversation zings with seasoned showbiz wit, plenty of self-deprecation, and a genuine warmth among old friends. Bergeron’s sharp timing matches perfectly with the hosts’ penchant for name-dropping, meta-references, and running gags (even a literal bell). Both nostalgia and mild irreverence color the show—which is as much about storytelling and Hollywood insider lore as it is about embracing comedic absurdity.

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For the Listener

Whether you’re a fan of nostalgic game show TV, Star Trek, or just love a good behind-the-scenes yarn, this episode is packed with juicy anecdotes, sharp humor, and career wisdom. You’ll come away with new appreciation for the artistry of hosting, the weird world of showbiz, and Tom Bergeron’s underrated comic brilliance.

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Transcript

[Tom Bergeron]

I have a complaint. Oh, I'd like to air, please. And I've said this before, you know, back when I was on Twitter, before I became a quitter of.

[Brent]

Quitter.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

Currently X.

[Tom Bergeron]

Currently X.

[Brent]

They're threatening me at X, saying that you're going to lose your blue.

[Tom Bergeron]

You know what? I don't know if that's real. I get things from X every day.

[Brent]

Saying I haven't been on X in years.

[Tom Bergeron]

Me either. Your account has been compromised. And that's just, you know. Could you please input all of your financial information,

[Brent]

all the routing numbers?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Wow.

[Brent]

So your complaint is.

[Tom Bergeron]

This isn't even about a scam. We could talk about scams forever, you know, because my dear mother's still alive. She gets these. These kids. I mean, people calling and going, grandma. And she goes, huh? They start off with, grandma, and I need some money. I'm stuck in someplace, you know, and. And my mother's hip to it, though, because she said that my. My grandson didn't call me Grandma.

[Brent]

Oh, good for her.

[Tom Bergeron]

So go to hell.

[Brent]

Brent is such an incredible son. He calls his mother every day at the same time. Well, you know, I'm telling you, you are going.

[Tom Bergeron]

My mother's going to be a hundred

[Brent]

this year, and you're going to be a mensch again this year. Well, that's really honorable. Well, thankful.

[Tom Bergeron]

It's. You know, sometimes, you know, sometime even you can be kind, which you won't see very often.

[Brent]

No, but Sylvia appreciates it.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. She's still getting her hair done every week. I love her nails and hair.

[Brent]

She's gorgeous.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

That's fantastic.

[Tom Bergeron]

But. So let me segue into a complaint then.

[Brent]

Yeah, I'm trying to.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. This is.

[Brent]

I just wanted to. I wanted to frame the complaint with a overview of how beautiful and thoughtful you are as a man.

[Tom Bergeron]

I can actually be a kind person now.

[Brent]

You're going to kvetch.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. This isn't a big deal, but it bugs me. You know, I sound like I'm Andy Rooney. I'm starting to sound like Andy.

[Sam]

You know what?

[Brent]

You know what bugs me? Can I tell you one?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

That's a reference from the past. Nobody's. Our references are just going.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, but it's okay. And maybe even a bell.

[Brent]

A cabell.

[Tom Bergeron]

A bell for Andy. There you go. Here's what bugs me.

[Brent]

Go ahead.

[Tom Bergeron]

And I've said this on Twitter. Did I tell you that when you drive down the street, you're on a highway or you're on a street, you're going 40 miles an hour, and there's a car in front of you and they decide to wash their window of their car, the windshield. And all of a sudden water goes all over my windshield. I don't want to wash my windshield. It was fine and now it's all smeary. When I try to get it off, it's all smeary.

[Brent]

So you gotta use your own wiper.

[Tom Bergeron]

I can't because there's a car behind me and I don't want to be the same shock as the guy in front of me, you know?

[Brent]

Can I tell you something?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

I have never thought of that as a problem. No?

[Tom Bergeron]

No.

[Brent]

I thought of that as entertainment.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, you enjoy that?

[Brent]

I don't. I wouldn't go that far. But when I see somebody splashing their windows, I wait. I think, oh, gotta get on my. Because my windows are filthy anyway.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. So you kind of like it?

[Brent]

Well, yeah, it's free water. And water's the new gold, Right?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

That's so funny. So that bugs you? Shit out of you.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

How close are you that you get their water on your windshield?

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, it's just the.

[Brent]

Doesn't he sound like he's driving too close?

[Tom Bergeron]

No, no, no, I'm not.

[Brent]

If you're driving 40 miles an hour, you're supposed to have four car lengths between you and the car in front of you.

[Tom Bergeron]

You could be surprised how far that water flies.

[Sam]

Dropping names and other things where the

[Tom Bergeron]

whiskey flows and the laughter sings.

[Sam]

Pull up a seat, join the game. And Johnny,

[Tom Bergeron]

I was going to go to. To.

[Sam]

Should I leave while you guys work this out?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, you want to.

[Brent]

Hollywood Squares. Is Whoopi.

[Sam]

No, with Whoopi. Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Was she the center square?

[Brent]

Wait a minute.

[Sam]

She was center square.

[Tom Bergeron]

How many years did you do that?

[Sam]

I did it four with Whoopi and then two with Henry Winkler and Michael Levitt is the exact. That's a two dinger. But I actually was on the set of Nemesis.

[Tom Bergeron]

I remember that.

[Sam]

Yeah. I can't. You were doing the wedding. You were in the Worker and I was wedding adjacent. Yeah, you were wedding adjacent, but yeah, you're that. I got the sense. Who was the director? Stuart Baird.

[Tom Bergeron]

Stuart Baird, yeah.

[Sam]

Not a big Star Trek fan.

[Tom Bergeron]

No, not really. But world class editor, brilliant as a director.

[Sam]

He was a world class.

[Tom Bergeron]

No, but he is.

[Brent]

He.

[Tom Bergeron]

He edited the Omen, which is Citizen Kane. No, he edited all of Ken Russell's movies.

[Brent]

Is that right? And he owed the studio because he apparently had fixed Mission Impossible.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Was what they gave Him. Our movie. Because he fixed that movie.

[Brent]

You know who else famously came to the set during our wedding? Who? Secretary of State.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Albright.

[Sam]

Madeleine Albright.

[Tom Bergeron]

Madeleine Albright. No kidding. Yeah.

[Brent]

Close personal friend of Sir Patrick Stewart's. Oh.

[Sam]

Did not know. So I was a tricker. So. So during your meal break, Rick Berman came over and asked Whoopi if. I know. I told you, I'm gonna go for the record.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

So Berman comes over and asks Whoopi if she'd like to see the sets of Enterprise. And he. His kids watched America's Funniest Videos.

[Brent]

So.

[Sam]

Tom, you want to come? Oh, yeah, yeah. So we go over. They're shooting. They're shooting a bridge scene. She's still dressed as Guinan. Everything stops, and Scott Bakula and everybody come over and say hi to Whoopi. And so after that, we're walking through engineering, and Whoopi hadn't seen the show. So I'm going, oh, Whoopi, it's cool. It's like a prequel. It's a sequel. It's like the Reese's peanut butter cup of Star Trek. And this is where the Warp Corps, the Suliban, come back from the 24th century and fuck with the warp. And so Rick turns to me and goes, you watch the show? Yeah, I do. And he turns, oh. Then he goes, you want to be on it? He turns to.

[Brent]

So those are the pointless bells.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Sam]

So he says, I saw you critiquing the bell usage.

[Brent]

Yeah, because I have a new fishing line on it, so it's easy, it's more accessible.

[Sam]

Yeah, but you gotta remember, this is called dropping names.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sam]

Just arbitrarily ringing the bell.

[Brent]

What am I gonna do? I'm back off.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so.

[Brent]

I'll back off. I like you both, respect your notes. I could take a note. Okay.

[Sam]

I'm directing the director now.

[Tom Bergeron]

I like it.

[Sam]

So he asked Whoopi, he goes, can he act? Now, Whoopi had never seen me act. She'd only seen me ad lib and host. And she goes, he's good. So I show up about, I don't know, maybe a month later. I get the call that, all right, we've got an episode. You're gonna be in it. I think I'm gonna be like a Klingon in the background. I show up for a costume fitting at Paramount, and Robert Blackman comes up

[Tom Bergeron]

to me, Bomb costume.

[Sam]

Is that right?

[Brent]

Share a birthday with he and Roddenberry.

[Sam]

And he says to me, not bad. Tom. The whole opening scene.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

That's what I said.

[Brent]

You hadn't seen a script?

[Sam]

No. And so he went and got me a copy of the script. And it's an episode in the first season called Oasis. And I play a traitor of exotic goods, an alien named Damar. And it's the whole opening scene of that episode. I'm having dinner at the captain's quarters.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. And look what that led to.

[Sam]

It led to me doing literally no acting after that.

[Tom Bergeron]

Exactly.

[Brent]

The end of your acting career. Not really.

[Sam]

No. No. It was. A lot of. It was pre Castle.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Where they killed me off in the first five minutes. But that was such a great experience. And Scott and the whole team there could not have been nicer. Oh, yeah, they really were.

[Brent]

He's a mensch.

[Sam]

And to have Michael Westmore do my

[Tom Bergeron]

makeup, well, that was. Come on.

[Brent]

Permission, please.

[Sam]

Come on. Especially.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's a real name.

[Brent]

That's an Academy Award winner.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, he's one of the giants.

[Brent]

He's the king of makeup.

[Tom Bergeron]

He is. He just had a birthday, you know, I think I mentioned that. Yeah. He did my makeup every day.

[Sam]

Really.

[Tom Bergeron]

And it was a treat to go in every day and to sit in Michael's chair. And he told me great stories, Hollywood stories, which I don't know if you know this. I enjoy a good Hollywood story.

[Brent]

And hence the show we're on.

[Tom Bergeron]

Hence the show. Yeah. He told me this Betty Davis story that I said to him, I shouldn't

[Sam]

say this, but, yes, go for it.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, I. I asked him who was the worst person you ever had to make up? And he said, oh, Betty Davis. And I said, why? And he said, well, I'd be making. You know, he's very. Had a light touch.

[Sam]

He was.

[Tom Bergeron]

You know. And he said, I was putting her eyebrows on and doing. Feathering them, you know, and she went, give me that. And just went and did two hard lines over her eyes. Okay. But I was actually in the trailer one day when the phone rang in the trailer, in the makeup trailer, and they said, michael, it's for you. He says, ask who it is. They said, it's Bette Davis. He said, I'm not here. I said, can I take it? I want to talk to Bette Davis.

[Brent]

Yeah, I've heard more news stories. I've known him 40 years doing this show.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Well, you know, you didn't ever ask me anything.

[Brent]

Can I ask you something?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, go ahead. So what do you mean? Henry Winkler? What? It was Henry.

[Brent]

He was a producer. Right.

[Sam]

He produced because. Whoopi. And Moffat. Lee did the first four years and then as producers. As producers. And Whoopi was one of the exec producers as well. And then King World kind of left their deal with them and brought in Henry Winkler and Michael Levitt for the last two years. That I did from 04 and 06.

[Tom Bergeron]

And was. Was Paul Lind. He was already dead. But was he on the show?

[Sam]

No.

[Tom Bergeron]

Okay.

[Sam]

He had died before.

[Brent]

He was still dead.

[Sam]

He was still dead.

[Brent]

MacGyver, too. Did Winkler produce MacGyver?

[Sam]

Yeah, he was one of the producers of MacGyver.

[Tom Bergeron]

Breakfast time. I was. I had this on my. Whatever these are.

[Sam]

Have we started? Is this officially. Let me just. I just want to say something at the start. First of all, a pleasure to be here.

[Tom Bergeron]

Thank you.

[Sam]

Your very charming producer called me two days ago.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And asked if I could do this. And obviously I said yes. But it does beg the question who dropped? Who canceled? Yeah, who canceled?

[Tom Bergeron]

That was Daniel Dane Lewis dropped out.

[Sam]

Okay. But I can be like your Regis.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Letterman used to call Regis whenever a guest dropped out. So I'll just think of me as fill in Filbert.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's a great idea. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brent]

Letterman called Regis.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Regis would always show up, do Letterman show.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's true. But.

[Sam]

But didn't I get a ding for Regis and Letterman? That's a two dinger.

[Tom Bergeron]

I thought I had breakfast show.

[Sam]

What's the ding record on the. On the show.

[Brent]

You're going for it.

[Sam]

I'm going for it.

[Brent]

Even you're the right guy for it.

[Sam]

Mother Teresa.

[Tom Bergeron]

Just ding, ding. Thomas Raymond Bergeron. That's right. This is your life.

[Sam]

And that's when I knew I was in trouble. When my father or mother.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Yelled Thomas Raymond.

[Brent]

Hey, dad, how do you feel about the gum? I'm going to keep Bergeron's card and put the gum in Sam's card.

[Sam]

Wow.

[Brent]

This one will be when we're selling it later.

[Sam]

You know, Carson used to do that with actual burnt cigarettes. He would put them right. I just.

[Tom Bergeron]

On his car thing.

[Sam]

I'm making that up. But I thought if I dropped Carson.

[Tom Bergeron]

Did you ever. Do you do the Carson show?

[Sam]

No, I didn't. No. I worked with Ed McMahon.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Come on. Thank you. Yeah. On the muscular dystrophy telethon with.

[Tom Bergeron]

With Jerry.

[Sam]

With Jerry Lewis.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

Who.

[Tom Bergeron]

You know, we love a good Jerry story.

[Sam]

I did know he's, you know, Oliver Sholem. Yeah, yeah. He was. He was an interesting cat.

[Tom Bergeron]

I love it. I love Jerry. Give us the worst Jerry story.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Well, I here's the thing. I would show up and do the overnight. It was, you know, when it started. He would do the whole telethon, 72

[Brent]

hours or 48 hours, something like that,

[Sam]

just until he dropped. And so I would come in at, like, midnight and do the overnight, sometimes with the Muppets. And so I'm in. I'm in Vegas and I'm introducing an act at, like, three in the morning. Bob the Spoon doesn't deserve a ding. Bob the Spoon played Flight of the Bumblebee on spoons of different sizes.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, wow.

[Sam]

Amazing, right? So it's three in the morning in Vegas. They come to me, we're live, and I'm thinking, I'll go with it. I said, so I'm watching Bob the Spoon, and I'm thinking, what the fork was that? And let's go to the tote board.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

Tom, you're shameless. Yeah. They describe you as wonderful improviser and personable.

[Sam]

Who says that?

[Brent]

I just read that. But I've known him for years. I haven't seen either of those qualities.

[Sam]

Never at lunch.

[Tom Bergeron]

Never at lunch. Richard Leacock time I want to talk about.

[Sam]

I had lunch with him just the other day.

[Brent]

I know he did. He blew me off.

[Tom Bergeron]

Who's that?

[Brent]

He didn't invite me. My trainer.

[Sam]

Former trainer. He didn't invite you. Okay. That's not the story he gave me.

[Brent]

I know it's not true. It's not the truth. I was in Megacon.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. We were in Orlando for four days. So breakfast time. You opened with that. And I was like.

[Sam]

I realized we were opening with that. That's just, like.

[Tom Bergeron]

To explore that.

[Brent]

There's a lot of stuff around here. Yeah. This is. Things about you I didn't know. This is gonna be good.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. But breakfast time.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Was. Was what? What channel was that?

[Sam]

That was on fx.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

When FX had a lowercase F. Now. Now it drops a bigger F. Yeah, But. But in those days, it was a lowercase F. And so I co hosted a morning show.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Which. Which was just an amazing. Actually, the most fun I've ever had on television.

[Tom Bergeron]

Really.

[Sam]

Even though it wasn't the most viewed or the most lucrative, it was creatively the most fun I ever had. We did it live for two, two and a half hours in the morning in an apartment built for television in the Flatiron district of New York.

[Tom Bergeron]

Fantastic.

[Sam]

A corner of 26 and 5th. And, I mean, we did amazing stuff, like there was a water main break right outside. And they were there for the better part of Two weeks. Kind of fixing that. And Bob Barker showed up to promote Happy Gilmore. That's a movie title. Is that kind of thing he does.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

So I asked him before we went on live. I said, you know, this crew, we've put out pastries for them, so they have breakfast. We called it the Catastrophe Cafe. We have French bistro music playing. Would you be willing to go out there and play Hard Hat? Price is Right?

[Brent]

Oh.

[Sam]

And he improvised it all. We got things that they normally would use, like a hard hat, a jackhammer, a hammer, this type of thing. And they had to guess the retail price of their own equipment. And this was a live improv, live show. I like NYPD Blue. Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smith. That's a two dinger. Thank you. We're shooting, like, at the next block. And we had a camera on the building across the street so we could see that they were shooting. So we're on live. I said I should bring them a box of donuts.

[Brent]

Yeah, of course.

[Sam]

Because they're cops. And so I managed to. They actually had real New York police as security. I managed to breeze right past them. It's all on camera. I'm going, Mr. Sands, Mr. Sands, I got your donuts. And Jimmy Smits is on the other side of this car. This poor woman acting as a corpse in the car.

[Brent]

Right up your alley. Yeah, we'll get to that story.

[Sam]

I was, of course. Why did I think a horse is a horse? Of course. Of course. So I got through their security. Luckily, Dennis Franz thought it was funny if he. Because he watched fx. If he had, he knew the show,

[Brent]

he would have gone.

[Sam]

Jimmy Smits, thankfully, was on the other side of the car. He didn't think it was funny because they were in the middle of a take. I didn't realize. Not that it mattered, but what years were? 94 to 96.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

And then we did an abortive version of the show on Fox daytime for a season.

[Brent]

Wow. Because they added the O. Yeah. Hooked a show down.

[Sam]

Yeah, that's. That's what did it. We were one vowel too many.

[Tom Bergeron]

So who was. Who was actually very funny.

[Sam]

My favorite.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Was Gilbert Godfrey. Oh, Gilbert. I love Gilbert.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

The thing about Gilbert.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Everything he said, even if it wasn't funny on the page, was funny because of this voice.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Yeah. That's a good Gilbert.

[Brent]

Really? Hey, Sam.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, I love Gilbert. He was really great.

[Sam]

I actually got. I did an episode of the newer version that Drew Barrymore is producing, and when they called on me, I got to do my I got to do my Gilbert because he was always.

[Tom Bergeron]

So were you on the show? Yeah, yeah.

[Brent]

In a box.

[Sam]

In a box. In a square.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

And Drew's producing and. In a box.

[Sam]

In a box. In a square.

[Brent]

In a square.

[Tom Bergeron]

Drew's in the show, too.

[Sam]

Yeah. She's the center square.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, really?

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Brent]

And it's the.

[Tom Bergeron]

The.

[Brent]

Nate Burleson's.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah. He's the host. They're like him. We did a thing where coming back from commercial, I was. I was at the podium welcoming everybody back and just reassuring the contestants. I won an Emmy doing this. You're in good hands. And then Nate comes up and goes, I don't know what happened. I got locked in the bathroom.

[Brent]

Good bit. Yeah, it was good.

[Tom Bergeron]

Now, correct me if I'm wrong. Everything that was said on that show was improv. There was no scripting at all of any of it. Right.

[Sam]

They. They were given suggested jokes and bluffs.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Now, they could go with that or not.

[Tom Bergeron]

Right.

[Sam]

But it was just like a safety net.

[Tom Bergeron]

Right.

[Brent]

For them.

[Sam]

But no, it was like a lot of the classic Paul Lynn stuff.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

By Jay Redick, who also worked on our show. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brent]

So when they cut to you, you're supposed to say something and they have a suggestion for you as they call on you. Yeah.

[Sam]

And you can either, you know, bluff or give the real answer or whatever.

[Tom Bergeron]

It's a tough gig to write for that show because you've got to come up with all of those jokes every day. Yeah. Well, it's a daily show.

[Sam]

We shot five in a day.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sam]

So we would do a whole week in a day.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow. Yeah. That's tough.

[Brent]

Who was the most difficult?

[Sam]

The most difficult. You know, one of the advantages of being the host was that they don't show you their face. The most difficult people tend to deal with the producers or the person from craft services or something like that. Bill Maher was reading the newspaper up in his square until he was called on, and just. He didn't. It didn't seem like he wanted to be there. And. And it was such an attitude that he. Actually, I did a show that he had on abc. What was the one?

[Tom Bergeron]

Politically Incorrect.

[Sam]

Correct. And he apologized to me for how he behaved it.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

At. At Hollywood Squares. Wow.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, he had matured.

[Brent]

Ish.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. But. But some of those people were genuinely really funny. Were. Penny Teller. Were they on it?

[Sam]

Yes.

[Brent]

Yeah, they were on In One Square.

[Sam]

In One Square.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

They were on probably famous episode that we did in those six years. It's called the you fool episode because every square was picked except Gilbert. And for the entire half hour they kept guessing wrong. So it became whether they agreed or disagreed. Gilbert would say, you fool, and they'd be wrong. And so I got to do that on the new Hollywood Squares. When I gave the answer and she guessed, she agreed and it was wrong, I went, you fool. A bit of a 20 year callback.

[Tom Bergeron]

Throwback to Gilbert.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

But Penn and Teller, easy gig for Teller, though. Yeah, he just.

[Tom Bergeron]

He does.

[Sam]

He doesn't say anything.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, he's great in the act.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

And he's. We had dinner with him. Were you?

[Brent]

We did, yes, in Vegas.

[Tom Bergeron]

We had dinner with him and Joel.

[Brent]

And Joel Gray together.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, yeah. Come on.

[Brent]

Joel Gray. Yes. Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Let's do that again. Shall we do it again?

[Sam]

No, no, that's great.

[Tom Bergeron]

Joel Gray was doing a Star Trek convention in Vegas.

[Brent]

Did Joel Gray not famously introduce Patrick Stewart to his wife Sonny?

[Tom Bergeron]

Correct.

[Sam]

Oh.

[Brent]

After a production of the Scottish play in Brooklyn.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, Joel took Patrick to dinner at a restaurant that Sonny was performing in and introduced them. And one thing led to another, but. And that Joel was there at the convention and he was sitting next to me at one point and I said, joel, it's fun, huh? Are you gonna do this? You think you'll do more of this? And he went, no, but he was great. And I said, come have dinner with us. And he said, can I bring a friend? And I said, yeah. And it was Teller from Penn. Teller. And Teller was a revelation at that dinner because he's a very bright guy.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

And just, you know, to hear his voice was a thrill, but he was.

[Sam]

And sends the best Christmas cards.

[Tom Bergeron]

Does he?

[Sam]

Yeah, just crazy Christmas cards every year.

[Tom Bergeron]

The best Christmas cards I get every year from Al Yankovic.

[Brent]

Oh, really?

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, they're really good. Yeah. What about you? Do you get Christmas cards from anyone?

[Brent]

I get Christmas cards from Noah Wiley. Oh, no, obviously. Hot.

[Sam]

Very hot right now.

[Brent]

He's so heavy. Are you watching the Pit? Oh, I think it's the best.

[Sam]

Watch all of it. I watch like most of the shot, like when they go into the operations and things, because it's amazing what they do prosthetically for the opera.

[Brent]

It's brilliant at every level.

[Sam]

It's amazing the oners they do where, you know, all this action's going on. Yeah. My sister was a critical care nurse for decades, and so that was her life.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

And I, you know, I could barely stand watching a blood draw, you know,

[Tom Bergeron]

so, yeah, I, I actually. We know. I've told this story, but I'm not going to tell this story again. Oh, it's. I did work in a hospital when I was younger.

[Brent]

We got it on tape.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, it's already exists on tape.

[Sam]

You actually record on tape in the 1950s.

[Brent]

We're old school,

[Tom Bergeron]

but yeah, I was, I. I had medical aspirations. It's.

[Brent]

No pun intended.

[Tom Bergeron]

No, exactly. They. They inspired my. As good. Yeah. Well, what a good gig. Hollywood Square.

[Sam]

It was amazing because that's a good show too.

[Tom Bergeron]

I mean, it was fun.

[Sam]

And you know, again, I'd fly in from the east coast on a Friday. We'd shoot 10 shows over the weekend and I'd fly back on Greenwich.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

To New Hampshire or Connecticut. And we, we had. Because of Whoopi, we had Spago do the meal break and catering. We had this room adjacent to where we ate that had all these great video games like.

[Brent]

So this is when Whoopi was living in.

[Sam]

Yeah, she was. She had a place out Trankus and. In Malibu.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah, Far in Malibu.

[Brent]

Right. You know who I met at Whoopi's house?

[Sam]

Who?

[Brent]

Bob Dylan.

[Tom Bergeron]

Dylan. Oh yeah.

[Brent]

Come on, new name.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's Dylan.

[Sam]

Her place in Tuxedo park on the. On the East Coast. She would have Christmas parties there.

[Brent]

Go ahead.

[Sam]

And our girls were quite young and as we were getting ready to leave, Lois was engaged in a conversation with somebody whom I had talked to earlier. And as we were driving away because Lois tends not to. She was a producer, director when we met, but she's not. She doesn't recognize people that quickly as celebrities or whatever. I said you were having quite the conversation. I was really impressed that you were so relaxed. And she said, what do you mean? I said, well, Robert De Niro.

[Brent]

Excellent.

[Sam]

And. And she, He. Lois said he was backlit. He was standing in front of like a stained glass window that would be had. And. But he was a dad there. He had the camera around his neck and he was just walking around taking pictures of his kid.

[Tom Bergeron]

I remember that show. When Charlie Weaver was the center square.

[Sam]

Yeah. No, Paul Lynde was a center square. I hate to correct the host, but Paul Lynd was the center square. Charlie was usually bottom left.

[Tom Bergeron]

Okay, I'm out of here.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yes.

[Brent]

Take off my mind. You cross the line, Tom.

[Tom Bergeron]

No, but, but prior to Paul Lynd.

[Sam]

I don't think there was anybody prior to Paul.

[Tom Bergeron]

I think it was Charlie Weaver. Really. I think he got booted to the corner.

[Sam]

Now that's a. If that's true, who was the host? Who Was the original host, Peter Marshall.

[Tom Bergeron]

Peter Marshall.

[Sam]

I hosted his memorial service.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, is that right?

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

At CBS television.

[Brent]

You big at memorial services.

[Sam]

I'm. Yeah. If you need me.

[Brent]

Yeah. You got stuff written.

[Sam]

Talk to Jeannie.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And get it in writing. So he came. He was the center square for a week on my version, and that's when Henry was producing with Michael. And I said to Henry, I said, look, we got to find out if he's willing to swap for one show. I'll take the center square there and he can host again. Because I grew up watching his version, Peter. Yeah. And the idea that I could watch him host the show from the center square, and he agreed to do it, and it was great.

[Tom Bergeron]

Love, Peter Marshall. He wasn't he famously someone's brother?

[Sam]

Well, his baseball player, Lecoq. That's his real last name.

[Tom Bergeron]

Is a French mime. Right.

[Brent]

Studied with.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

You know, I think you're right.

[Tom Bergeron]

Was. You know, not that anyone watching today knows Joanne Drew, but she deserves it. She was a. A movie star.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

50s, I guess.

[Sam]

I think so.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Peter Marshall's sister.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

I know all kinds of stuff.

[Sam]

I know you got the Charlie Weaver thing. I'm gonna.

[Brent]

You're going to research on that.

[Sam]

Ask chat GPT about that one.

[Tom Bergeron]

Charlie Weaver is an Arquette, right?

[Sam]

Yes. Yeah, that's right.

[Tom Bergeron]

He's Cliff Arquette. Yeah, that's what he was. Right.

[Brent]

Father of.

[Tom Bergeron]

Father of. Not. What was the father? Cliff's son. I can't think.

[Brent]

David. No, David's the grandson.

[Tom Bergeron]

David's the grandson.

[Sam]

David dressed up as Cliff on the Drew Barrymore version.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, he did?

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Charlie Weaver, if you remember, Charlie Weaver was a brilliant character, actually, that he put together. Cliff Arquette, that was his shtick, was this one character, and he was very funny. Literally, very funny. Not just Roseanne and David, but Patricia Arquette, grandfather of the three of them.

[Sam]

A whole family.

[Brent]

Very talented family.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Really.

[Brent]

What about hosting the Emmys? Not as easy as.

[Tom Bergeron]

That was an interesting show. Tell us about that show. Because you weren't the only host right.

[Sam]

At that time.

[Brent]

This was five hosts.

[Sam]

It was a disaster. It was. It was interesting to me because I was writing a book at the time called I'm hosting As fast as I can.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Which was really a bunch of career anecdotes, but it was really a book about meditation, about.

[Brent]

He's a TM guy, too big TM

[Sam]

for years and building that mental muscle, being present. Right. And I. So I had. I was in the process of writing it, and I I didn't really have a finish. And because of that debacle of the Emmys, standing on stage, knowing at the end of the show that it had just completely laid a big egg. And that's just. It did worse than that. But for you kids watching, I won't get graphic. And suddenly, I had an ending because the very next night, I had to host the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. So I knew I had to shake off. The premise was it was the first year that all the reality hosts were nominated.

[Brent]

Yeah. So there were five of them meant to co host. Yeah.

[Sam]

ABC thought, oh, let's get the reality host to host the Emmys. I got the call. I was. My daughter Samantha, who's over there, she was getting her hair done in Greenwich, and I was at a coffee shop reading the paper, and I get the call. Tom, we got this great idea. The reality hosts who were nominated, and I was nominated hosting. I said, you know what? I hear what you're saying, but I don't think it's a great idea. It's going to be like herding cats. I mean, we're friends, most of us, but very different styles. Very. No, no, it'd be great. And. And they've already kind of agreed. So all of a sudden, I'm the ABC guy, kind of holding out. And I thought, okay, all right. Against my better judgment, I'll do was a disaster. Regret.

[Brent]

Regrets. I've had a few.

[Sam]

Oh, my God. But it gave me an ending for the book, because to be able to shake that off on a Sunday night and host a live show on a Monday night was the perfect example of how to stay present and not to get caught up in regrets or anticipation or any of that. And it was interesting, because Monday morning, before I went to the studio, Lois and I were walking into a Starbucks, and a buddy of mine was reading the LA Times, and the entertainment section had a picture of me holding a swooning Heidi Klum. And the caption was, a host of problems. I mean, that was the headline. A host of problems. So I said to Lois, who had been a producer, I said, you know what? If dance goes really badly tonight, I'll say, well, at least you didn't have to host the Emmys. Yeah. And I thought it was a good line, but the producer and her said, don't make it about you tonight. They're all nervous. Be there for them. I went, okay. So a few weeks later, we had had a series of injuries on that show, like Misty May Trainer, the Olympian had snapped her acl. So they had a tape montage of all these injuries. So then it comes to me live, and I said, see, that's why I host. You never hear about hosting injuries unless you host the image.

[Brent]

So you waited a few weeks.

[Sam]

Yeah. Tragedy plus time.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, Right. There you go.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Is comedy.

[Sam]

Yeah, exactly.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's right.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Brent]

How many episodes of Dancing did you do a season?

[Sam]

I did 20.

[Brent]

Oh, you did 20 years.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

So how many?

[Sam]

Eight seasons from 2005 until 2019.

[Tom Bergeron]

I remember you asked me if I wanted if I would be on the show.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. What did I say?

[Sam]

I think it was full of expletives, right? Yeah. But you used them in a sentence.

[Tom Bergeron]

I said, if you can't get somebody else, I'll do.

[Brent]

Do.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

If I could be on the show. And he said, is that right? I've seen you dance

[Tom Bergeron]

28 seasons.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Brent]

Wow.

[Sam]

While. And also doing America's Funniest videos simultaneously for fit. So I had two. This is why you'll never hear me. Two network shows for 15 years running down the same track.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

The same time.

[Sam]

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Because I started doing videos in 2001, and then dancing came along in 2005, and then I left videos in 2015 because I wanted to take it to the 25th season. That was my 15th year. And that felt like a good time to pass the pinata stick on to somebody else, which turned out to be Alfonso. And he's doing great.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah. Who was the single most surprisingly great dancer?

[Brent]

Yeah, great question.

[Tom Bergeron]

Who did the show? I mean, who was not one of the dancers? Yeah.

[Sam]

I'll tell you, it wasn't so much because of his dance ability. It was because of my preconceptions about what he might be like. Jerry Springer, when they booked. Yeah. When they booked Jerry Springer, all I knew of him was the show where people are screaming and yelling and throwing chairs at each other. And he turned out to be the biggest mensch. He just wanted to do it so he could learn how to dance for his daughter's wedding. And she was there at one point and in the audience. And he. He was, you know, not a close friend, but a nice acquaintance over the years subsequent to that. Just a really kind of hyper, normal guy who once famously paid for a hooker with a check. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

He was a mayor, too.

[Sam]

Yeah, he was a mayor. I think. I think Cleveland was it.

[Brent]

Well, I thought Cleveland.

[Sam]

Oh, Cincinnati. Yeah, Cincinnati.

[Tom Bergeron]

Cincinnati.

[Brent]

Did you do one show a day on Monday on.

[Sam]

On dancing? Yeah, we. Because it was Live. We were live to the east coast from 5 to 7 Pacific time.

[Brent]

And what if something got up? You never.

[Sam]

That I live.

[Brent]

No cuts.

[Sam]

I live for. I love that. I grew up watching Carson.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Do the Tonight Show. And the monologues were never funnier.

[Tom Bergeron]

Right.

[Sam]

Than when the joke died.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And you want to see what he. Yeah. I had somebody faint on me on live tv. Marie Osmond went down like a sack of potatoes.

[Tom Bergeron]

No kidding.

[Sam]

Yeah. Marie Osmond, she. She had done a samba and she was, like, very excited, jumping up and down. I turned to hear one of the judges offer a comment, and out of my peripheral vision, I see.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

And she was down. And so all I really did was cut to a commercial to get the paramedics in there and all that type of thing.

[Tom Bergeron]

Because it was live.

[Sam]

It was live.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And it was a much longer commercial break than normal because they had to make sure she was still alive. And a few years later, she had a talk show on some cable, Lifetime or Hallmark or something, and I was a guest and she had a studio audience. And she said to me, she said, tom, you know, some people think I faked that, that I didn't really faint. And I turned to her audience, I said, look, I was standing over her when she went down. And I have never seen even an Osmond look that white.

[Tom Bergeron]

Good lie.

[Brent]

You're clever.

[Sam]

I do what I can.

[Tom Bergeron]

You're clever, but you can't. I mean, 28 seasons, you've met so many people. I mean, people who should be there and people who shouldn't be there.

[Brent]

Spicer. Yeah. Spicer was the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Sam]

Well, it's interesting. Yes and no. I mean, I had. Had. And I've told this story a lot, so I'll make it really short, but I had had a lunch with the BBC exec and then subsequently with the showrunner that I was already kind of locking horns with because we were not doing a spring season anymore. We were just doing a fall season so there'd be a year where we weren't going to be on the air. In the midst of that year, I signed a new three year contract. They wanted my advice. What do you think we. I said, well, look, fall 2019, it's gonna be the cusp of an election year. We're so divided in this country. It's just. It's gotten so toxic. Even worse now. But I said, let's just not go there. Let's not book any political people of any party. Let's be that respite. That oasis that people can go to.

[Brent]

Yep.

[Sam]

Oh, yes, we agree. We agree all this. And then I was in New Hampshire and they called me for the lineup of who was gonna be on, and the showrunner said, all right, you might wanna sit down for this last one. And then he told me it was Trump's first press secretary, Sean Spicer.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

I said. And it wasn't about him as a person or Republicans as a party. It was about being lied to by the people that I had been.

[Brent]

It's the second time today that somebody in show business had been lied to.

[Sam]

Is that right? What are the odds of that?

[Brent]

Shit doesn't I know.

[Sam]

No, it's really.

[Tom Bergeron]

I've never been lied to, so.

[Sam]

So I went back for the 20th anniversary in November of last year, because my original showrunner, they hired back wisely, and he got the show back on its dancing feat and he invited me to come back as a judge.

[Brent]

And.

[Sam]

And at the party after, I spot Sean Spicer across the room. So I walked up to him and I said, sean. And he looked at me like, oh, what's going to happen here? And I said, sean, I just want to tell you, it was never about you. It was always about the idea where we were, what they promised me. He goes, I know, it got really blown out of proportion. And he goes, can we have a picture together? I said, absolutely. So I put my arm around Sean and I went, this is going to blow people's minds.

[Tom Bergeron]

You can see it.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

It's a brutal week, though, for the contestants.

[Sam]

For them, not for me. It was. Here was my work week, no lie. And people would say to me, oh, you host America's Funniest Videos, Dancing with the Stars. You must be exhausted. I would be there on a Friday for a production meeting, right. Where we'd look at the next week's show lineup and all that, and then I'd take a few of the staff out to lunch at the Whisper Lounge over in the Grove, when that existed. Then on Monday, I'd show up at about 9 o', clock, we'd have a production meeting in my dressing room. We would do a dress rehearsal at about one in the afternoon, which I always regarded as the NC17 version of the show. So I could get all that out of my system. And particularly in the early weeks of the show, to help relax the contestants by just going off script and being totally improper, I'd be canceled now and then. We were live to the east coast from five to seven. By 7:15, I was back in My jeans at the Whisper Lounge, having drinks with friends like Florence Henderson. There's a She's Worth Henderson. I adored her.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Everybody did.

[Brent]

Everybody.

[Sam]

And she was as salty as they come. I mean, she was great. The stories I got from her about the people she worked with. And so I would, you know, I'd be done my work week.

[Brent]

Yeah. 7:30 on.

[Sam]

At 7:30 on a Monday night, and I didn't have to go back till Friday. Yeah. So that's a great gig.

[Brent]

It's better than a sitcom job.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it was, you know.

[Brent]

And what about the home video show?

[Sam]

Home videos we would do every other Saturday, we'd do two of them. And I was telling Brent before we started that Vin Dabona, who's the producer, also was involved with Maguire Driver. He. Before I did my first show because I like a cold studio, especially if the audience.

[Brent]

I do too. I like a cold sound stage, very big.

[Sam]

You don't want to see people wilting under the heat. So Vin said to me, is there anything you want to see on stage that'll make your hosting easier? I said, really, Vin? Just three things. My nipples and my breath.

[Brent]

Yeah,

[Tom Bergeron]

exactly.

[Brent]

Yeah. He's used that line before. Of course, today, it was the first

[Sam]

time with Vin, but. Yeah. Second time today.

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, there was a lot of romance on. On Dancing with Showmance.

[Brent]

Showman Showmance.

[Sam]

You know what a showmance. It lasts as long as the show lasts. It might be intense. I mean, there were. There were stories of. I won't drop names here, so no dinging on this. But like sometimes after the finale, we would all get on a private jet and fly to do Good Morning America the next day. And on some of those flights, some of those showmances had a. A big finish. Yeah. On the plane, put it that way.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Yeah. There was a commercial flight that I was not on where I heard that one of the pros.

[Tom Bergeron]

Can we guess.

[Sam]

I'm not going to tell you. But was. Was helping relax. One of the male contestants.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Until the flight attendant said, you really shouldn't do that.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow. What an experience. Yeah.

[Brent]

What happened? I love the precursor and your social. On the. The shark show.

[Sam]

Oh, damn.

[Brent]

Yeah, that was.

[Tom Bergeron]

That looked like a ball shark show.

[Sam]

I was contacted by. By Discovery, who do famously do Shark Week every year.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And they said, tom, we have this idea. And I told my agent that I, you know, I've hosted every format. I really don't have a fire in my gut for that anymore. That being Said I'm always willing to be surprised. So, you know, if something comes out of left field, feel free to let me know. About two weeks later, she goes, I think I got one. Discovery wants to talk to you. They want to do a one off called Dancing with Sharks. Wow. And they're going to shoot it in the Bahamas. So they'll fly it to the Bahamas. Okay.

[Tom Bergeron]

It gets better.

[Sam]

And what they will do is have five young actual shark handlers, divers, and this beautiful, talented Russian choreographer. Just stunning, talented person. And she was teaching them dance moves to do underwater while they lured sharks towards them. And we did it on land pretty much, you know, the way I did Dancing with the Stars, it was just sandier and it was me and three judges. We had somebody from the dance world, we had somebody from the shark world, and we had a comedian, Pete Holmes. And I mean, it was ludicrous but deliberately so. But it was also wonderfully informative.

[Brent]

Did you get in the water with the sharks?

[Sam]

God, no, no, no. I had a you're wise man coward clause in my contract. But what Discovery is so good at doing, even with the most over the top concept, there's always education in it about sharks, about who they are, what they are, you know, how they work on the planet. And so it was educational and ridiculous at the same time. And it was a lot of fun.

[Brent]

It looked like a.

[Tom Bergeron]

Do you ever do Sharknado?

[Brent]

No, I missed Sharknado.

[Sam]

No.

[Tom Bergeron]

Remember Sharknado?

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Brent]

Surely you've been asked.

[Tom Bergeron]

I've been at. Well, I think I was asked. I had this idea. Maybe now's the time for it, really. I had an idea called Trek NATO.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

And where it's sharks in space and we fight them in space. I think now that there's, you know.

[Sam]

Can I ask what you're smoking?

[Brent]

It feels like the sharks have gotten the Enterprise.

[Tom Bergeron]

Would you want to. Yeah, the sharks got the Enterprise. Exactly. But would you. If, if you were. If you could be captain of the Enterprise and fight sharks in space, would you do it?

[Brent]

Yes.

[Tom Bergeron]

Okay. I think I'm gonna pitch this.

[Sam]

All right. Because there's no current Star Trek show.

[Tom Bergeron]

Correct. Now's the time to go out after that.

[Sam]

Yeah. There's a.

[Tom Bergeron]

And that could be.

[Sam]

That could be the hybrid that they're just. They don't even know they need.

[Tom Bergeron]

Exactly.

[Brent]

Yeah, pitch that. That's a good call.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. And I'm gonna pitch you as captain.

[Brent]

Okay.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Sam]

All right. And Jerry Ryan gonna be pissed. She's the captain. Yeah, but she's the captain.

[Brent]

She Is the captain. Yeah, I'm the admiral.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, yeah. Well, you'll be admiral, she'll be captain.

[Brent]

That way I only have to work a couple days a week and Jerry can carry the show.

[Sam]

Absolutely, but that's the way to go.

[Tom Bergeron]

But you got to have the guy.

[Brent]

Jerry.

[Sam]

Joe. Love Jerry Ryan.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, let's go. What about the guy from 90210 who's in all the Sharknado movies? Would he be in it? Could he play Wharf? Can he be a Klingon in that one?

[Sam]

Which one? Which 90210. Oh, oh, I think he was on Dancing with the Stars too.

[Tom Bergeron]

You think it's Ian, but it's iron.

[Sam]

Well, he'll correct you.

[Tom Bergeron]

Correct.

[Sam]

Say Ian. Ian. What's his last name?

[Brent]

I am curious. With Yellow. Gotcha. Very good.

[Sam]

Yeah, I love a good pun.

[Brent]

Speaking of work, what happened with the Christmas movie that you and Shatner?

[Tom Bergeron]

Well, it's still called Family Tree.

[Sam]

Family Tree is a project that Bill and I, I was having lunch at his house and was telling him about how when my parents died within like four months of each other, it kind of fell to me to get the childhood home ready to sell. Sold it to this young family, he was in construction. Five years later, my brother in law calls and says, hey, I just thought you'd want to know that that family we sold the house to, they're leaving because he got a job in Florida. And I said, should we. So we bought back the family home, which had been. The inside had been completely updated, redone, the footprint was the same. And so my sister and brother in law live there now. And I was telling the story to Bill and Bill said, tom, that's a movie. He never really does talk like that. But I said, I don't think that's a movie, Bill, because we get along too well. We gotta, there's gotta be conflict. So over lunch, we basically broke a story with a family coming together because of the death of a parent, but a family that had torn apart the house. Yeah, well. Or just getting the house ready to sell. And Bill has such a. He's a voracious reader and he's very into the idea at that time too, of the interconnectedness of life, of forestries. You know, how a healthy tree will send nutrients, speak to each other.

[Tom Bergeron]

They do.

[Sam]

So we're sitting there, I go, what if the house was built from the forest wood around it? And the house, instead of having the trope of Santa Claus in a Christmas movie, let's make it more magical. And the House refuses to let these people sell it until they heal themselves. And Bill was going to play sort of our Santa substitute, and I would be his caretaker. And so we didn't want to write the script ourselves, so I brought in a friend who was a showrunner. He brought in a couple of very talented writers, one of whom would direct if we ever actually mounted, and they turned it into a lovely screenplay. That Village Roadshow before they were bankrupt. Yeah. Optioned. So now it's. We're just trying to find out where it's in turnaround. It's in turnaround. And. And it was announced in Deadline, like a couple months ago that we were doing this, and it was, you know, it was great to see it becomes a little more real, but we still have. Have some financing to get and some, you know, things to jump over.

[Tom Bergeron]

Does the house speak?

[Sam]

No. No, it doesn't. No.

[Tom Bergeron]

Maybe one of the bedrooms talks to the other bedroom.

[Sam]

That could. That could be interesting, actually. Yeah. Let's bring sharks and Star Trek into it, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. A starship laden with sharks lands in the forest. Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow. It sounds good.

[Brent]

I found something weird in my research that I'm going to check with you about me.

[Sam]

I'm surprised.

[Brent]

I've got a secret.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah.

[Brent]

List you as the editor. Huh. And Katie Couric as a department head. Any of that make any sense?

[Sam]

No, it doesn't. Nor have I ever been in the film Gremlins, though you'll see that as listed.

[Brent]

And the Beach Boys are listed as the musical talent. Any. So this is entirely created. Yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

Did you know that? Not to bring it back to me, but why not? That seems to be the theme of this show.

[Sam]

There you go. Only because you rest control of it.

[Tom Bergeron]

I actually did an episode of I've Got a Secret.

[Brent]

Oh, my God, you guys. I did almost an hour. It was almost an hour we got through without this resume coming up.

[Tom Bergeron]

That was my first.

[Brent]

Who was on it, Brent?

[Tom Bergeron]

It was me. No, I was. I was one of the contestants.

[Brent]

What?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Oh, I was a contestant on I've Got a Secret. The. The people on the panel. Gary Moore was the host. Yeah, yeah. You are Old Nipsey Russell.

[Sam]

Oh, God.

[Tom Bergeron]

Bill Cullen.

[Sam]

Yeah. Nipsey did Hollywood Squares, didn't he?

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. And Anita Gillette were the three. And I. They.

[Brent]

How old were you?

[Tom Bergeron]

I was maybe. I think I was 21.

[Brent]

You in New York?

[Tom Bergeron]

I was in New York, yeah. It was the only thing I needed to. I read in the paper they were looking for imposters on oh, no, I'm sorry. If you're Ally, tell the truth. You're right. I was about to tell the truth. Yeah, that's what it was. It's on YouTube, by the way. For those of you at home right

[Sam]

now, by the way. And you can also see, not to steal this thunder, my episode of I've Got a Secret on. On YouTube.

[Brent]

Oh, see, it's not one with the Beach Boys.

[Sam]

No, it wasn't. It was the later. Whatever, the latest version of that they did years ago. I was on it.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, yeah? Yeah.

[Sam]

And the secret was I was a mime.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh.

[Brent]

I thought we were going to be able to avoid the whole mime thing, but I think we have to honor it.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Brent]

I was terrified of mimes. We historically make fun of mimes. We avoid mimes. We cross to the other side of the street to avoid a mime. And yet both of you.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, I worked as mimes.

[Brent]

One of my favorite people have worked as mimes.

[Sam]

And I'm embarrassed if you asked Nicole Wallace from Ms. Now, formerly msnbc, when she was on the View. Yeah, I was a guest on the View. And Rosie o' Donnell said, you know, Tom used to be a mime. And Nicole Wallace stiffened. She is frightened of mime.

[Brent]

There's a word for it. It's a great word.

[Sam]

And I didn't. I kind of went into Big Brother mode, not really realizing that she honestly was freaked out. So I. I start doing, you know, I start doing the wall.

[Brent]

Old man at the parade.

[Sam]

Old man at the parade.

[Tom Bergeron]

And, you know, you know, walking against the wind. Yeah.

[Sam]

And her hands. And I felt terrible after because I didn't realize how. Seriously?

[Brent]

Read the room, Tom.

[Sam]

Yeah, well, I was too into my own performance to read the room.

[Tom Bergeron]

I'm kind of scared of TV hosts as well.

[Brent]

You got one of the greats. Well, historically, yeah. What are you doing now?

[Sam]

I'm loving life. Really?

[Tom Bergeron]

I'm that nice.

[Brent]

Yeah. Clearly working out. You look fabulous.

[Sam]

Well, I've. I still train, you know, three or four days a week, and here's.

[Tom Bergeron]

You're on the Juice, aren't you? Huh? You're on the Juice.

[Sam]

No, but I. Yeah, here's. I got. I became a peloton addict. Right.

[Brent]

Oh. Who do you follow? Who do you.

[Sam]

Hannah Corbin is my favorite. Is my favorite.

[Tom Bergeron]

Do you ever do Paris? Just bicycling around. Paris on the peloton.

[Sam]

Yeah. You can do that.

[Tom Bergeron]

You pass this guy. Right.

[Brent]

Here's the thing.

[Sam]

So my last physical, everything's good, and then my doctor Goes, your PSA number has shot up in the past year. I said, really? Do you think it's a cause for real concern? He goes, you said you're really into this peloton, right? How much are you riding every week? I said, you mean on that really narrow, really hard seat? Probably about three hours, sometimes a week. I got prostitis.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

An infection from my effing peloton seat.

[Tom Bergeron]

Geez.

[Sam]

So I had to.

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

So now I have a very testicle friendly seat on my bike.

[Brent]

Now there's a phrase you don't hear every day. That's a technical seat turn, boys and girls.

[Tom Bergeron]

I'm not going to touch that.

[Brent]

I'll tell you right now.

[Tom Bergeron]

I could.

[Sam]

Thank you so much. Not without dinner first.

[Brent]

God. Tom Bergeron in the hu. That was great.

[Tom Bergeron]

That's a good exit line.

[Sam]

I think I have nothing to top that.

[Tom Bergeron]

All right.

[Brent]

God, thank you.

[Tom Bergeron]

Thank you for being with us.

[Sam]

Pleasure.

[Tom Bergeron]

Appreciate it.

[Brent]

You know what, I'm glad they Lewis couldn't make it.

[Sam]

Me too.

[Tom Bergeron]

Me too.

[Sam]

Me too.

[Tom Bergeron]

He is coming though, right?

[Sam]

And if you know what he said, I'm your regis.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah. No, the only person like in that level. We've definitely got Emma Stone coming and that's nice.

[Sam]

No, you really legit.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, no. Okay. All right.

[Sam]

I don't know. He's very convincing.

[Brent]

He's a.

[Sam]

He's a good actor.

[Brent]

Nice little actor.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Bergeron]

I actually had a zen moment just now when I did this.

[Sam]

Nathan was here, right?

[Tom Bergeron]

Nathan and Alan.

[Brent]

Nathan was there and now was here.

[Sam]

Yeah, yeah. The last time I saw.

[Brent]

You're a firefly fan.

[Sam]

I Firefly fan. And I was on Castle. They killed me.

[Tom Bergeron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brent]

Second time you mentioned that.

[Sam]

The last time I saw. Actually the first and last time as of now that I saw Alan was at a tribute to Stan Lee. The late Stan Lee that I was part of.

[Brent]

All right. Yeah, I worked for Stan Lee.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh yeah, you worked for Stan. I did. On what?

[Brent]

I was Captain America.

[Tom Bergeron]

Oh, Captain America. That was a long time ago, Right.

[Brent]

You don't know this story.

[Tom Bergeron]

That was the supermarket.

[Brent]

Charlie Davis.

[Sam]

Was Spiderman supermarket Captain America.

[Brent]

Exactly. He used to ride in on the. On a rented car. Yeah. And I take the garbage can out of the. The trunk of the car and I'd hold it.

[Sam]

That was your shield.

[Tom Bergeron]

Like this.

[Brent]

And ride into the 7 11.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Brent]

And. Or to whatever the comic book store is. And people would come up and say, you don't even look like Captain America. I had a cleft. I had the cleft I used to have to go to marvel at 575 Madison Avenue and sign out the costume and put the little, you know, grip of the ears on the top of the.

[Tom Bergeron]

This was in. You were already in New York when you were doing this?

[Brent]

Where else would I have been?

[Tom Bergeron]

I thought you were a kid and.

[Brent]

Well, I was young.

[Sam]

Well, so you. When you see Chris Evans. Try it. What do you think? As someone who was Captain America before

[Tom Bergeron]

him, the Justice League.

[Brent]

I'm not gonna. I did play the White House.

[Tom Bergeron]

You did? As Captain America With Stan Lee.

[Sam]

Oh, okay.

[Tom Bergeron]

Stan was actually there. Did he approve of your.

[Brent]

He was doing the Jimmy Carter. We had an environmental lawn party, and we head to the security. Have I told this story in the show yet? Bam. Who's that?

[Sam]

Oh, is that you?

[Brent]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Wow.

[Tom Bergeron]

Wow.

[Sam]

That's a. That's a big shield you got there, buddy.

[Brent]

Thanks a lot, Tom. Tom Bergeron.

[Sam]

Thank you, Sam.