JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN Drove a Hearse from Seattle to LA

Summary

Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Drives a Hearse from Seattle to LA

Episode Overview In this engaging episode of Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, hosts Seth and Josh Meyers welcome actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan as their special guest. The conversation weaves through childhood memories, family dynamics, life on a farm, and Jeffrey's experiences in the entertainment industry, offering listeners a heartfelt and humorous exploration of family travel and personal journeys.

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Weekend Highlights and Family Activities

The episode begins with Seth and Josh sharing their recent weekend activities. Seth recounts organizing a large movie outing for the latest installment of the Final Destination franchise:

Josh [00:14]: "I bought 10 tickets for an IMAX at the Grove, 7pm Saturday night."

Seth humorously highlights their mission to support the film:

Seth [00:20]: "You just wanted the box office to be big enough that they would keep making Final Destination movies."

The conversation then shifts to Seth’s attendance at a memorial for Lynn Marie Stewart, adding a heartfelt note to the episode.

Local Art Store Fundraiser and Family Fun

Seth and Josh discuss a local art store’s 25th anniversary fundraiser, emphasizing the creativity and joy it brings to their children:

Josh [02:37]: "They knew what they were doing. It's attached to a pottery studio. So one of the things was you could donate $5 and your kids could smash a clay pot."

Seth humorously compares his children’s enthusiasm for the activity to addiction:

Seth [02:40]: "Addie especially was like, one more pot. One more bowl."

The hosts reminisce about similar childhood activities, sharing anecdotes that highlight the joys and occasional frustrations of family outings.

Introducing Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Jeffrey Dean Morgan joins the conversation, diving into his current life and family:

Jeffrey [10:03]: "I live in this [Airstream]. When I don't use it for work, my daughter and I spend weekends out here."

He elaborates on his transition from Hollywood to farm life, reflecting on his upbringing and the influence of his family’s rural roots.

Farming and Family Life

Jeffrey shares insights into his farm life and the dynamics within his family:

Jeffrey [19:58]: "I loved it. It was my favorite place to be."

He discusses the challenges and rewards of raising his children on a farm, balancing nature with modern life.

Memories of Road Trips and Childhood Adventures

The conversation takes a nostalgic turn as Jeffrey recalls his childhood road trips from Seattle to Disneyland:

Jeffrey [27:36]: "We never went on planes anywhere. It was always road trips."

He humorously describes the hardships of long drives and the anticipation of reaching their destination, painting a vivid picture of family travel in earlier times.

Experiences on The Walking Dead

Jeffrey delves into his role on The Walking Dead and how it intertwines with his family life:

Jeffrey [48:05]: "I've been on this show for 10 years."

He reflects on balancing a demanding acting schedule with being present for his family, offering listeners a glimpse into the challenges of life in the spotlight.

Reality TV and Current Projects

The discussion shifts to Jeffrey’s recent foray into reality TV, specifically his experience hosting a show where contestants embark on uncertain European road trips:

Jeffrey [51:51]: "They travel Europe a little bit differently than they did, thank God, because I couldn't have done it."

He shares humorous anecdotes about managing the show's dynamics and his interactions with contestants, highlighting his adaptability and sense of humor.

Speed Round: Quick Questions

In a fun segment, Jeffrey participates in a speed round, answering rapid-fire questions about his vacation preferences and hypothetical scenarios:

1. Ideal Vacation:

   Jeffrey: "Relaxing. Great."

2. Favorite Means of Transportation:

   Jeffrey: "Private airplanes."

3. Vacation with Any Family:

   Jeffrey: "The Waltons."

4. Stranded on a Desert Island With One Family Member:

   Jeffrey: "George."

These lighthearted responses add a playful dimension to the episode, showcasing Jeffrey’s personality beyond his screen roles.

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with warm exchanges between the hosts and Jeffrey, celebrating family bonds and shared experiences. Jeffrey expresses his gratitude for the conversation and hints at future stories from his travels:

Jeffrey [67:05]: "Thank you. I'll have stories for you next time we talk."

Seth and Josh bid farewell, leaving listeners with a sense of camaraderie and anticipation for future episodes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Josh [00:14]: "I bought 10 tickets for an IMAX at the Grove, 7pm Saturday night."
• Seth [00:20]: "You just wanted the box office to be big enough that they would keep making Final Destination movies."
• Seth [02:23]: "So they smashed that. And yeah, they're real, real happy about it."
• Jeffrey [10:03]: "I live in this [Airstream]. When I don't use it for work, my daughter and I spend weekends out here."
• Jeffrey [19:58]: "I loved it. It was my favorite place to be."
• Jeffrey [27:36]: "We never went on planes anywhere. It was always road trips."
• Jeffrey [48:05]: "I've been on this show for 10 years."
• Jeffrey [51:51]: "They travel Europe a little bit differently than they did, thank God, because I couldn't have done it."
• Jeffrey [67:05]: "Thank you. I'll have stories for you next time we talk."

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Final Thoughts This episode of Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers offers a rich tapestry of stories and insights, blending humor with heartfelt moments. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s reflections on family, travel, and personal growth resonate deeply, making this episode a memorable listen for anyone interested in the dynamics of family adventures and the life of a beloved actor.

Transcript

[Sufi]

Hi, Bashi.

[Bashi]

Hi, Sufi.

[Sufi]

How are you?

[Bashi]

I'm great. How are you?

[Sufi]

Good, nice. Are you. What'd you do this weekend?

[Bashi]

A couple weeks ago, when I saw that tickets had gone on sale for Final Destination Bloodlines.

[Sufi]

Oh, right.

[Bashi]

I bought 10 for an IMAX at the Grove, 7pm Saturday night.

[Sufi]

You would just buy 10 and just go yourself. You just wanted the box office to be big enough that they would keep making Final Destination movies.

[Bashi]

I've always loved the Final Destination franchise.

[Sufi]

Huge fan. Yeah.

[Bashi]

And, you know, some old friends in the past, like Nikki Sullivan, our old buddy, who I feel like I maybe saw the first two with, but I haven't seen a movie in a long time. She texted me like a week after I bought tickets and she's like, hey, should we do this? And I was like, I already have 10. You want in? And, yeah. So we had a big group, got together, had dinner beforehand. Great gory.

[Sufi]

So you were happy?

[Bashi]

I was very happy. Yeah. So that was kind of. That was my big thing. And then I went to a memorial for Lynn Marie Stewart, who played Miss Yvonne on Pee Wee's Playhouse, who sadly passed away. But she had a. Her memorial was a luau at this place called the Friendship Pavilion, which I'd never been to, which is also just a perfect name for an event to remember her. And I had a rehearsal for something, so I had to leave a little bit early. But it was such a warm, happy, sort of, you know, good vibe and saw lots of great people and wish I could have stayed to see everyone speak because it was clearly going to.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Be.

[Bashi]

An excellent celebration of just a wonderful, wonderful person who will be much missed.

[Sufi]

Well, that's lovely.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

We had a very nice thing this week, which was this little arts. Like a sort of local art store. You've been there. Have I dragged you with the kids to. Yeah, yeah. They had their 25th anniversary and this is just sort of a place where kids can go and do arts and crafts. And, you know, basically a lot of the stuff is just donated items from, you know, just like buttons and, you know, old markers and.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

Pine cones. And my kids could just spend hours there.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

So they did a fundraiser and. And they knew what they were doing. It's attached to a pottery studio. So one of the things was you could donate $5 and your kids could smash a clay. Clay pot.

[Bashi]

Oh, yeah.

[Sufi]

I mean, just. It was a smash tent.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

And basically, long story short, I'm out like fifteen hundred dollars. I'm not, but I will. I mean, each kid did it Once. And they reacted the way I imagine you react the first time you do heroin, which is all you can think about is when is the next time I'm going to do heroin. Like, Addie especially was like, one more, one more pot. One more pot. Yeah, dad, dad, one more pot. One more bowl. One more bowl. And so they smashed that. And yeah, they're real, real, real happy about it.

[Bashi]

I. Well, we years ago were in Tivoli Gardens, or Tivoli Garden, I don't know if it's plural or not, but Tivoli Garden in Copenhagen. And there are rides that you can go on and then there are sort of little games that you can play, you know, like a ring toss kind of a game and that kind of stuff. But there was a booth where there were these ceramic plates sort of clipped onto the back wall. And I forget. I think they moved. I think they were going back and forth.

[Sufi]

Yeah, I think they were too. Yeah.

[Bashi]

And for whatever the amount of money you paid, you got like three wooden balls. They were like carved wooden balls and.

[Sufi]

They were real Danish balls. Like, it felt like like a craftsman's ball.

[Bashi]

They weren't perfectly circular. It was like as soon as someone made it close enough, they were like, this one's done and moved on.

[Sufi]

That's enough of a ball.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, right.

[Bashi]

And you'd pay money and you'd get these balls and you could chuck them and ideally you would hit a plate and smash it. And I remember, I forget which one of us, but we smashed it and we were like, what do we win? And they were like, nothing. That's it.

[Sufi]

You win. You win the joy of destroying a plate.

[Bashi]

Yeah. And even when we found out we didn't win anything, we kept paying money to do it more because it is their self.

[Sufi]

So it was like make believe money. You could use it for real goods and services.

[Bashi]

Yeah. It's like this bill's pink, this one's blue.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Blue.

[Sufi]

How about this one's got a duck on it? I've always said we haven't talked enough about it. The best hot dog I've had in my life was at the Copenhagen airport.

[Bashi]

Oh, yeah. Was it that weird red, red hot dog?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

Like. Like think of a real. Here, see if this sounds appetizing, listeners. Just the longest, skinniest, bright red hot dog.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

They were selling it next to the luggage carousel, I think it was then I had put mustard on it with then like really crunchy onions.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

It was probably like 7:30 in the morning. And I think about it all the Time. And I feel like it maybe was. I don't even think it was licensed. And so I'm worried that if I go back, they're going to be like, no, we got to rid of him. What was those.

[Bashi]

What were those words?

[Sufi]

We got rid of him. That was lies.

[Bashi]

We got rid of him. I say, I see. Yeah. So, yeah, smashing stuff. Always good, smashing stuff.

[Sufi]

It was good back when we were young and we could smash stuff.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

Now every time something gets smashed, I'm like, ugh, I gotta pay to replace it.

[Bashi]

I like that art store was having a fundraiser because it always seems like every time we're there, you spend about $1,600.

[Sufi]

I will say it's not for the fact that everything's donated. It does seem like, I don't know, it should be a little cheaper. Also, they're always calling and saying, hey, you left some stuff here. Do you want to pick it up? I'm like, no.

[Bashi]

Yeah, well, that's.

[Sufi]

The boys are always like, I'm not done with my, you know, Castle.

[Bashi]

Oh, yeah.

[Sufi]

Well, I think maybe.

[Bashi]

Maybe then it's a good idea that they have this fundraiser because it tells kids if you don't pick your stuff up, it's going to go into the smash bin.

[Sufi]

Oh, that's true. Hey, the other cool thing they did was put an easel on, like, a spinner. So, you know, and then the kids, like, basically paint and, like, ketchup bottles and they would, like, just spray the paint. It would make, like, spin art.

[Bashi]

Oh, fun.

[Sufi]

And that the kids are a big fan of. And Addie's sucks so much because she just put way too much paint on it, so it just looks like brown. Also, the kids learn, like Ash learned. You, like, you squeeze it straight down, you know, and you, you know, you're sort of. You're paying attention to the dose, whereas Addie was kind of squeezing it to the side and was definitely got some pain on some people who were just walking by. The spinner.

[Bashi]

Yeah. Are any of any of these artworks currently in the gallery?

[Sufi]

They're in the gallery, yes.

[Bashi]

Okay. The gallery. For those of those who don't. For those people who don't know, the.

[Sufi]

Gallery is in our dampest shit basement.

[Bashi]

It's in the scariest room of very old houses.

[Sufi]

If you walk through the cobwebs, you actually haven't gone too far that you've.

[Bashi]

Convinced your children that that's a gallery. And then also, anytime you go visit, it's like, they'll be like, do you want to See, the gallery, and you walk down there, and it's. I'm sure Mom's always terrified you have.

[Sufi]

To walk by multiple mousetraps, like a snake skeleton. And then you can see just some real, real lazy art. But, you know, I love them. I don't know what I'd do without him. Hey, this is a really. This man. Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

[Bashi]

Oh, yeah. Negan for those who don't know.

[Sufi]

Negan for you don't know. And I mean, just from the walking. In real life, a real reverse Negan. Yeah.

[Bashi]

Real, real nice guy. Not a bad guy.

[Sufi]

Yeah, Negan ultimately, you know, a little bit of a Negan rehabilitation over. Still, at core, a far worse guy than Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

[Bashi]

Yeah, I think, you know, if we're in a world where all of a sudden it's zombies, who knows how.

[Sufi]

Who knows how we'd behave, right? Yeah. I'm not going to just rush to judgment on Negan. Why? Just because he has a baseball bat with nails in it? Now, all of a sudden, he's a bad. All right, well, he's a delight. And Pashi, you're a delight.

[Bashi]

Oh, so are you, Sue.

[Sufi]

You know what's not a delight?

[Bashi]

Huh?

[Sufi]

The gallery. All right, Here. Enjoy him. Jdm.

[Bashi]

Hey, those are my initials.

[Sufi]

Oh, my God. I just jumped on. I know you were expecting to hear Family Trips, the theme song by Jeff Tweedy. I just remembered. Yeah. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has the same initials as you.

[Bashi]

Yeah. Josh Dylan Myers. Not Joshua, everybody. So back off.

[Sufi]

Not Joshua. All right, let's check it out. What a. What a breakthrough.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Family Trips with the M Brothers. Family trips with the Myers brothers. Here we go.

[Sufi]

Y. Wow, boys, look at you.

[Bashi]

Is this the Airstream that we read about?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I'm in the fucking Airstream out in the middle of the field at my house.

[Sufi]

A lot of times, these showbiz people, they pretend they have an Airstream. You know, they talk a big game, and then you just show up fully inside it.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I live in this thing. When I don't use it for work, my daughter and I, like, spend weekends out here. We're Pinnacle Camping. Great.

[Sufi]

So how far away is it from, like, the main house?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's not far. It's a couple hundred yards, but still.

[Sufi]

I mean, I would prefer that. I like the idea of going camping with my kids, but I don't want to be in a tent. So the Airstream sounds like a real win Win.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, it's way more like glampy than. I mean, you know, like, last night. Well, this weekend we spent the weekend in here, her and I. My 15 year old wants nothing to do with it, but, you know, she wants me to cook dinner in here and I'm like, why don't we just go into the house or order some doordash, you know? No doubt.

[Sufi]

So wait, this is. I want to get the age where a kid wants to actually spend a weekend in an Airstream with her dad.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She's seven, but she's.

[Sufi]

That's great.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She's been cool with this since she was born. She's very much a daddy's girl. And anything to be with her dad. Where my son is 100% opposite and just wants to hang out with mom.

[Sufi]

Oh, that's.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

He's 15.

[Bashi]

Where in the world are you? I'm sorry, Jeffrey.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I'm in upstate New York, just outside of Rhinebeck. We have a farm in Salt Point. And then. And we're actually, I wouldn't say we're leaving the farm, but we are moving into the city full time. Right next to where you live, Seth. On. On. We have a place. I shouldn't say where, but right. Right there by Bowery Hotel.

[Sufi]

All right. You're going to be in the Seth district we look forward to seeing. But now, you. You also didn't kind of come to Airstreams late in life, like these sort of modern hipsters. You were. Your youth was very Airstream forward, correct?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Well, it was very camper forward. Remember the campers that you just slap on the back of a pickup truck? And then we had. You know, it was funny because I know you guys like to talk about vacations and family travel and all that stuff. And. And I'm like, last night I was thinking about it, I'm like, God, you know, we didn't, we didn't have any money, so we didn't do anything.

[Sufi]

By the way, I want to point out, you do have money now and you're staying. You went on vacation 200, 200 yards from your house.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I do. I sleep in my hairstream. My wife loves it. We have four dogs, too, that want to come in here at the same time. So I got four dogs and my daughter and me, but we had a Volkswagen bus, a 1971 Volkswagen bus that I learned to drive in, but my dad retrofitted it with plywood and vinyl cushions that stuck to every part of your body on a hot day. And we would go, oh, road tripping, camping and that kind of thing. And that was Pacific Northwest. Pacific Northwest, yeah. Seattle. Just outside of Seattle. Born in Renton and then lived in A little town called Kirkland, which is like the east side of Lake Washington.

[Sufi]

Now I would imagine, you know, having a camper and taking road trips from a starting point of Kirkland. You saw some pretty amazing stuff though.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, I mean, God, I was so young when my parents were together for one, because that was sort of the key to family vacations, I suppose. And my sister was four years younger than me, so she was really small. But I remember that the biggest trip we did was to Disneyland from Seattle in the bus. And I remember that very distinctly. Otherwise, you know, the great thing about the Pacific Northwest when you're a kid I didn't know any better was, you know, there was lots of places for like camping and we would just go pull up to a camp spot. My parents would stay in the, in the bus with the sticky vinyl and then I would sleep out in the tent.

[Sufi]

So were you and your sister close despite the age difference?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Not really. Because four years is a tough difference when you're, you know, a 10 year old boy. You know, you got a little sister who's just telling on you the whole time. And that's, that's kind of what I remember to this day. And it hasn't changed. She still tells on me.

[Bashi]

Could you ever neglect negotiate with her to maybe shut up about some things?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I thought that I had made great deals and then it would turn around that she would stab me in the back.

[Sufi]

My, my wife had a moment the other day where she just was so worn down and you just. Where like I feel like every good motherly instinct had just been burned off her and she was so tired and my daughter was just whining and she goes, no one. And you know, she's four or three, excuse me. And she was like, no one plays with me at school. And my wife goes, is it cause you're a narcissist?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's my conversation that I have with them because my, my wife kind of encourages the narcy behavior. And I'm like, no, no, you can't be throwing. I said that that might be well and good to be like, you know, the teacher loving you and stuff, but your friends are gonna, that's gonna follow you around. Don't be throwing people under the bus, kid.

[Sufi]

Also it's funny cause my wife is, you know, she's a former prosecutor. And so the amount I'm like, your whole career was based. What would you do without a narc or two? Shame my daughter for narcing out.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That is, is, is three. Is that your only is that your only one?

[Sufi]

No, I have three. I have a nine. Seven. You know what?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Oh, my God.

[Sufi]

I can't. I don't even remember how old she is.

[Bashi]

Nine, seven and three.

[Sufi]

Nine, seven and three. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Which baby was born in, like, the lobby?

[Sufi]

The middle one.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, a middle one. Okay.

[Sufi]

And as my. I do have a joke where if you met him, you'd know.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You would.

[Sufi]

I wouldn't have been able to tell you before we had him what a lobby baby's energy is, but he's got it.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

What about you, Josh?

[Sufi]

You no kids? No kids yet. He's got his hand full being an uncle to mine.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, that'll do it.

[Bashi]

Hey, we're gonna take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors.

[Sufi]

Support for family trips comes from Airbnb. Hey, Bashi.

[Bashi]

Hey, Sufi.

[Sufi]

How are you doing?

[Bashi]

I'm good. I got an invite to a wedding later this year in Ireland, and I just pulled up unique Airbnbs in Ireland because we want to travel around a little bit. And I'm so excited to stay at some of the coolest places I feel like I've ever seen. And this is going to be the first time that I've kind of, like, built a trip around cool, unique Airbnbs. And I'm very excited about it.

[Sufi]

And I think one of the nice things about that is now you have these wonderful Irish hosts who are going to make memories for you and MacKenzie as you visit their homeland.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

Or as Rory McElroy would say, hi. Hire. Hire.

[Bashi]

Yeah. And I think also one of the nice things about staying in an Airbnb is you will have this host who will give you the keys, and they're going to have a lot of great local insights as to, you know, what you should do in town or, you know, what, hikes are good nearby. And it really gives you that sort of direct connection to where you're staying.

[Sufi]

Your home could be worth more than you think. Find out how Much more at Airbnb.comHost.

[Bashi]

Family Trips is brought to you by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ever notice how many more people are stepping away from organized religion? It's like we all collectively realized, wait, I don't actually have to go to synagogue on Friday or church on Sundays. And boom, sleeping in won. But here's the thing. Not everyone's cool with this shift. Christian nationalism is on the rise, and they're working overtime to shove their beliefs into our laws, our schools, and even our personal lives. It's like, hey, I respect your right to believe whatever you want. Just don't make me live by it. That's where the Freedom From Religion foundation comes in. They fight to keep church and state separate like our founders actually intended. So whether you've always been secular, have left religion behind, or just believe in keeping faith out of our government, FFRF has your back. Join us. Go to FFRF US Freedom or text Family to 511511 and become a member today. Text Family to 511511 or go to FFRF US Freedom. Because the only thing worse than someone forcing religion on you is when they do it by law. For membership information, text family to 511-511.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Here we go.

[Sufi]

So do you think you knew, like, based on your upbringing, are you surprised that you sort of have this farm life now?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Well, my grandmother, my, actually my great grandmother had a farm outside of, outside of Tacoma, Washington. And she had an array of animals, but it was primarily a pig farm. And so you're going to love this. It all goes back to fucking Airstream. When I was little, and I mean little, probably five, five, I guess I started going out there for a couple weeks at a time during the summer and working there and they didn't let me not work. I mean, I worked, I chopped cords of wood and, you know, feed the pigs and. But I slept in an ancient Airstream out in the middle of the field with three cows and I would make a campfire and I would like wrap potatoes in, in foil and chuck them in the fire. And I remember being just a wee kid and surviving out there.

[Sufi]

Do you. Were you just surviving? Because it also sounds like maybe you were thriving. Like, did you.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, I love it.

[Sufi]

Did you love it?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I loved it. I did. It was my favorite place to be. And then when I met my wife, I was doing a movie out in like, Santa Fe area. And I mean, literally we had just met and we both had this kind of dream of, of having a farm. She grew up in, in Virginia, so kind of grew up in the boonies herself. And we had this kind of idea that we would live on a farm and, and own like a little cheese shop in town. And literally of meeting, we had this all planned and figured out and now that's kind of what we have. We live on a farm and have the candy shop, not a cheese shop.

[Sufi]

So this is the candy shop that Paul Rudd is also has candy shop.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sufi]

He once came on my show and I believe he had either cookies with his face on it or lollipops with his Face on it.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's. Yeah. Marshmallow fucking rice.

[Sufi]

Oh, baby. Marshmallow. That's what it was, right?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bashi]

And it's called Samuel's Sweet Shop.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Samuel's Sweet Shop.

[Bashi]

Who's Samuel?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Samuel is like the uncle of the original guy that originally started the candy store, a guy named Ira Gutner, who was the first guy that Hillary and I met when we came up to Rhinebeck. And I was doing a film across on the other side of the river, kind of Kingston, Woodstock area. And we came over to visit. Do you know Griffin Dunn?

[Sufi]

Yeah, of course.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. Okay. I was coming over to visit Griffin, who lives just outside of town. And we went into town and decided we needed a coffee. And we went into Samuel Sweet Shop when I met Ira, and we bought a little cabin in the middle of the woods. Like that day, I just. I was like. And I had a house in la, in the Valley, you know, right there. My Aroma Cafe, you know, whatever that area is called. Studio City.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And I just bought my first house and I was like, so excited. And I was like, oh, a brand new house, you know, one of those McMansions that they build there. And my wife hated it. And so we. We bought this little cabin, like 1200 square feet. She was very pregnant. No. We had Gus at the time. He had just been born. And we bought this little 1200 square foot cabin and lived there for. We never left. And we had this LA house. And when it was time to, you know, decide school shit, we had to decide we're gonna go back to la. Are we gonna stay here? And we decided to stay and I sold LA and we. We bought the farm, literally.

[Sufi]

That's amazing. So you. This is when you're not working, you're always there.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, yeah. Kind of wherever the family is. We have a place in the city, like I said, and we do spend time there, but kids go to school up here, so we spend most of our time here. And. And right now it's. It's. I'm looking out the window. It's. It's beautiful. You know, it's dead for so long, you know, winter, so everything's brown and there's no leaves on the trees. And then I go out of town for like two weeks. I come back and it's. It's. I remember why I live here, you know? Yeah. Because during the winter I just bitch about. I'm too old for this.

[Sufi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

This is the month. I would say this is the east coast month where there's been a lot of rain and just the GRE are popping.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Opened up my swimming pool and George and I were swimming this weekend and, and my month is fall. That's what I love the most. I'm there too. Yeah, that's, it's by far my favorite up here. But I'm a little worried about moving into the city full time. Yeah.

[Bashi]

Sounds like you definitely should.

[Sufi]

I'm interested, I'm interested to hear what your kids think because I would imagine maybe the 15 year old will appreciate like action. But I will say that my kids, you know, nine, seven and three, who are lucky enough to spend time out of the city as well, they don't care for New York at all. Oh, I think, yeah, they're just like, I mean they love, like, they like going to school in New York and stuff. But they're, you know, they, the, their very fair complaint is that it's loud and smells bad and you're like, well, I don't know what the counter argument is to that.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's true. I mean, the one thing is that they've been going to the city, you know, their whole lives. And I mean, really, the reason we're, we're leaving is the school lacks funding. They're getting rid of all the arts programs and athletics and it's changed drastically in the last how many months since November, you know what I mean? And in the stuff that he's interested in and the schools just aren't as good. They're passing everything off to AI now, which, which I think is crazy the way to teach your children. And so, you know, we did some research and I called a lot of friends in that have grown up and raised their kids in the city and figured out the schools we wanted to go to and took a lot of visits and, and I, I think we're really excited. In fact, I'm sure we probably will have kids, the younger ones in the same school where your kids are knowing where you are. So, yeah, I'm pumped. And they're excited about, you know, I dangle. Look, we can go to the farm on weekends. It's not going anywhere. My daughter really loves the animals. My son doesn't care.

[Sufi]

Do you still? I remember when you were on my show, you have a. Do you still have a donkey that thinks it's a dog?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, Paxton.

[Sufi]

Okay.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Paxton. Yeah, yeah, he's still around. He doesn't.

[Sufi]

He's still like, has he had any. Is it dawned on him that he's a donkey yet?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, no, he's like, why am I in with These donkeys. He just. Just every time I go down there, he runs to me like. Like, dude, look where I am. You forgot me here again.

[Bashi]

Was this always Paxton's way?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's. Oh, well, Paxton. Paxton was born here, and I helped birth him. He got stuck on his way out, and so it was sort of a lobby situation. I just happened to be there.

[Sufi]

Lobby donkey.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. So your kid probably loves the doorman. There's an inherent thing there. And so this donkey just thinks that I'm his dad or that he's a dog, Some combination of both. But he's a hoot. He's very funny. We got a weird array of animals here. It's just. They're all rescues, and so they're all kind of messy. They all have been, like, abused or something, so at any given moment, you could get killed because, you know, these animals all sort of hate humans. The only one that's really good with them is my daughter.

[Sufi]

Oh, wow.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

They. They all. She's like the animal whisperer. She can go up to, like, these bulls and stuff, and it scares the crap out of me, and I'm, like, sprinting square. Get away from the fence line. And. And the cow's just like, kiss her. It's like, crazy me. They'll like gore to death in a second.

[Sufi]

What a crazy thing. But good for her. Her life will be a lot fuller that.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I think so. I think so. But I. I'll be honest. I am going back to the original thing. The kid's gonna do okay in New York. I. He's going to do great. Gus is going to do fantastic. I'm a little bit. A little bit worried about George's reaction. And she's the. The. You know, the lippy, sassy one, too. So it'll be known to loop back.

[Sufi]

To your earlier life when you said you took the trip to Disneyland. What. What do you remember? How long of a drive is that from. From Seattle, I think.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It took us, you know, three days. And we would stop at, you know, world's biggest ball of yarn type stuff. You know, you just do those. But I. We never went on planes anywhere. I never went on a plane until I was an adult. It was always road trips. And I never realized that we didn't have a lot of money, which is. Now I look back at it, and I go, oh, man. We were just busted because other people would fly around, fly to Disneyland and not our family. But, yeah, it probably took three or four days. And then. And then you visit for, like, three or four days. And then the road trip back, which. That's the killer, always sucks. Yeah, that was. There's nothing to look forward to there. At least on the way, going somewhere, you're like, well, I'm gonna see Mickey and go on some rides. It's gonna be awesome.

[Sufi]

No one feels like healthier after four days at Disneyland.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No.

[Sufi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, that's brutal. It's brutal.

[Bashi]

Where would you stay in the camper when you got down there? Was that sort of transportation and lodging?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

My mom's brother had a house in San Bernardino in the mountains up by Arrowhead. And so we stayed with him and then, and then we'd go to Disneyland.

[Bashi]

It's not an easy commute.

[Sufi]

No, to Disney.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, no. But you know, because I spent like 20 years in LA, so, you know, this was probably. It was in the 70s, so it wasn't like it is now, you know.

[Bashi]

Right. But still though, it's not like you're 10 minutes from the park.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, no, you, you leave at 7, you get there at, you know, 9:30, you know, something like that. It was. But after doing the four day trip, I was like, two and a half hours is nothing.

[Sufi]

I mean, how was your. I'm always fascinated to know the dynamics. Was your. I'm assuming your dad was driving and was he a good sort of road trip captain?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, my dad was. He just passed away this July and there was such a change in him as I got older. I saw him in a completely different light as I got older. I really understood kind of who he was when I was younger. He was very, seemingly very strict when I was young. And I remember him being very serious about the driving and loud kids and I see these Instagram things or these posts sometimes about Gen X just being a different generation. You know, we didn't wear seatbelts and everybody was chain smoking in the cars. It didn't matter if there was kids. And. And that's very much how it was. And my dad was a no nonsense kind of guy. I just had to be in the back and relatively quiet. Not. Not because he would be the guy that just pulled over and whack you if you're messing around. And then, you know, to see him with Gus was a completely different guy. And I'm like, what? What happened?

[Bashi]

Yeah. Responsible for your Gus's well being that.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's true. He just gets to giggle at me now. Yeah, see?

[Sufi]

Yeah.

[Bashi]

So when you're driving and you have to sort of keep it together in the back, are you, you know, are you guys listening to Music. Are you reading? Like, what entertains you?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I think reading. And I remember playing cards a lot. I think my mom and I would play cards. She would come back there with us and play cards now and again.

[Sufi]

And that's also, like. I just feel like. Like, you know, like, again, the kind of cars we were driving around back then, like. Yeah. There was room for a table.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Well, I remember because, you know, my dad had retrofitted this van, and he was not a guy that really built things, but he had retrofitted it so the seat, you could pull it out into a bed, and then there was also a table. I mean, this. This van was used. My mom primarily drove it, unless we were on a family road trip and it was her car, but she lugged around soccer team and baseball teams and every kid I ever knew for decades, it seemed like. And everybody. All my friends that I know still from that time talk about that van, and they remember it very well.

[Bashi]

Sounds like your mom was the canary in the coal mine. For every parent driving their kids around, she was.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You know what I remember on those road trips is doing, like, the Slug Bug game and being able to pound on my sister. I remember every truck doing this. I mean, that was the. Yeah.

[Sufi]

We would hit. Dad would hit the roof of the car. Every time there was a. A car missing a headlight. A padiddle. A padiddle, yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

What happened then? Just. You just smash.

[Sufi]

No, you would just. It would. You just say paddle and you'd hit the roof. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

So that was a game that you all played.

[Sufi]

Yeah. You. I realize now it's just like, ocd, basically.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. Well, and it's a way to keep your kids quiet. Your kids are peeled. They're. They're looking at trying to beat dad.

[Sufi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

My one. My one truly vivid memory. And if you asked my mom or if my dad had passed away and you asked him, what do you remember from any road trip we ever went on? And I'll never forget it because I was. I was probably 10 or 11 years old. There was a construction crew out on the five. And I remember it was just before the grapevine. I don't know why I remember that. I didn't know what the grapevine was, but it was right, because we were really close to la, and I remember that bit. And there was a. It was probably 77, 78, construction crew, a lady out there with a safety vest on, but it was kind of the fishnet safety vest, nothing underneath. And it was my. It was my first look. And my mom's like, close your eyes. And my dad even had a big grin on his face.

[Sufi]

He was like, come on.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And I just had my face pressed against that glass. I'm like, slow it down, Pop. And I think he slowed it down. I'll never forget it as long as I live. I just want. Screw Disneyland. Let's just do a U turn and just do that.

[Sufi]

You know, there's a myriad of problems with how easily pornography can be accessed by young kids these days, right? Like, but I think one of the biggest ones is it, like, robs you of that being the first time you see a naked woman's body. It's like you had to, like, the amount of things that had to break right for you. You had to be on a road trip. Right. When that lady was in the road.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It was the sun with the clouds opened up and someone touched you just for a moment.

[Sufi]

Just for a moment. They're like, hey, where? They're like, I know your thighs are sticking to that polyester shoe. You need a break.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It didn't matter. That moment, I was like, I'm sticking.

[Sufi]

I'm not moving. You left out. You left out of the seat. Didn't matter.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Oh, man. You try to jump up and your. Your butt would just stick to the seat. The seat would move like, six inches. But, God, I remember that like, it was yesterday. I.

[Sufi]

It's also so funny to realize, like. Like, for everything a parent can put into a road trip and all the planning, and we're going to see the giant ball of yarn, and we're going to go to Disney World, and it's like, what was the best part? Yeah, you remember that lady with the. Your dad's got to pretend like, oh, I don't remember that part.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You know, almost. Almost 50 years later. What do I remember? I remember those boobs, man.

[Sufi]

Can we go back and see that again next year? It's like, what do you guys want to do for spring break? You think that lady stomach, If.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

If she was. I would have been. I think my dad would have been, like, up for it. He didn't like the road trip aspect, but I probably could have done that driving you.

[Sufi]

Yeah. So your kids have even a bit bigger gap than you and your sister. How are they? Do they get along?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

They do. I think that it was a happy accident. You know, we had tried to have kids much closer together in age and just. Just couldn't. It was. Just wasn't meant to be. And then about the time we gave up, you know, it stuck. We have George, but They are. You know, she's seven, he's 15. So they're eight years apart. And it's just enough where he's still, you know, she gets on his nerves occasionally, but he's such a good brother with her. I think she's kind of a novelty also for him and his friends because she's very. How do I say this? She's very unfiltered, you know, Covid. And spending too much time with her father changed her DNA forever. And so she talks a little bit like I do. I don't know how she holds it together. At school, I always expect to get a call from a teacher saying, you know, she threw out MF today, and. Oh, yeah. And. But she. She doesn't. She just saves that for, you know, home.

[Sufi]

What a doll.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. But they get along remarkably well.

[Sufi]

Yeah, it's weird. I bet, like, two. Like, two years is, you know, probably. I'm gonna say, like, ideal, and then, like, there's probably a middle where it actually gets a little weird, and then, like, it probably picks up again maybe at that point.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

What are you guys.

[Sufi]

We're two years. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Oh, that is. That's.

[Sufi]

And then our. My boys are two, and then our. Our daughter's three and a half after, you know, our second, and that's the same thing. Like, they have a real, like, affection for her as a little bit of a novelty. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors.

[Bashi]

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[Sufi]

Your son's name is Gus, and what's your daughter's name?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

George.

[Sufi]

George. Yeah. I kept. I keep double clutching and being like.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Wait, yeah, yeah, it's weird.

[Sufi]

Okay. It's a great name.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

George Virginia Morgan. We named gus after Augustus McCrae from Loving Lonesome Dove. Lonesome Dove, by the way.

[Sufi]

Lonesome Dove, Shout out to Lonesome Dove. Which I had seen the old. The first. I saw the miniseries.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sufi]

And then during the Pandemic, I read it and I remember picking it up and thinking, like, oh, am I gonna really start a, you know, 780 page book? Maybe read it in three days.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's an exciting.

[Bashi]

My wife's reading right now.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's so good. And it just ended up a happy accident that while we were in Santa Fe, I think Hillary and I were pregnant within a month of knowing each other.

[Sufi]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

So, I mean, the fact 16 years.

[Sufi]

Later, well, once you heard she also wanted to farm, you're like, I gotta put a baby in her.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, I was. I was all in.

[Sufi]

I'm in showbiz. I don't know when I'm gonna meet my next farm lady.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Well, and she is, too. I just. It was just.

[Sufi]

It's amazing.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

The fact that it worked out as well as it had is still surprising to me. We still look at her like, wow, wow. Yeah, that shit worked. But I remember in Santa Fe, watching Lonesome Dose, she's like, oh, it's one of my favorite shows. And we had just found out she was pregnant and we just kind of knew. And then with George, we could not settle on a name. And I remember, you know, I began being a 70s kid. My favorite show back then was Bonanza, and there was an episode called A Girl Named Jordan. And I threw it out. We were messing around here at the farm and just like doing chores or whatever, and we were throwing out baby names. And I'm like thinking, she's never gonna go for this, but I'll throw it out. I'm like, what about George? And that was it. She was like, that's it.

[Sufi]

Does George appreciate that she has a.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She loves her name.

[Sufi]

That's great. I mean, it does sound the way you. It's weird the way you've described her. It's almost like sometimes you wish you could give your kids a name when they were seven.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

You know, but it seems like you guys, I don't know, you nailed it with that.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Nailed it. She is. She's a perfect George.

[Sufi]

They're like, you know, George, like, which one's that? She's the one that bulls. Like who's always saying, motherfucker.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She is the. She's the funniest kid I've ever met in my life. And again, I think a lot of it has to do with being a Covid kid.

[Sufi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And spending so. My. Both of my kids are so. Are much more comfortable hanging out with adults than they are children.

[Sufi]

Right.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Gus. Gus will go hang out at events with all, like, the moms.

[Sufi]

Right.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You know, it's. Yeah, it's. It's. It's awesome. So, yeah, I think we lucked out. Both of them are great. Every now Gus is getting to the age now where he occasionally is like, you know, introduces himself and he'll say, it's Augustus Dean. I just. And I'm like, oh, shit, we took him. I just. We had a show premiere for the show I do in Cannes like two weeks ago.

[Sufi]

This is Destination X.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, this is the zombie thing.

[Sufi]

Okay, great.

[Bashi]

Walking Dead.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bashi]

Please tell me you know the name of it.

[Sufi]

After 10 years, for you to call the Walking Dead the zombie thing is beyond. You know, look, everybody agrees it's a bad name. Nobody can remember it.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You know, it's a zombie thing. Well, you know, who knows? You guys might not watch it. So I just say zombie thing. And then you're like, oh, yeah, that thing. So it premiered this year at Canneseries. And so I took the family because it's hard for us to leave our kids. I don't know about you guys, but it's just. It's just hard.

[Sufi]

And also, if it's a cool place and you think they're gonna enjoy it.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. And Gus is, you know, Gus is very interested and he's a very good actor. Unfortun, he does a lot of theater and he constantly amazes me, which is another reason why we have to be at a school that is offering that kind of opportunity. But he's now six feet tall and he's wearing my. He steals all my clothes. He was wearing my suits at Cannes and I took him to the premiere and I got my hands put in the cement, the walk of fame there, which was cool. And I was like, you know, this may never happen at any other time in my life and you guys should come. And they were like, sure. But I thought that Gus was gonna walk out of there with like a three picture deal. He was. He's such a good looking, like, cool dude that it's just. It's stupid. And I don't remember why I Even brought that. How we got to that. But I had somewhere I was going with it.

[Sufi]

Had you been to Cannes before?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I had. By myself. I'd never brought the clan with me. And then I was in. In Nice last year with Destination X.

[Sufi]

Okay.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And so. And get this. This is just excellent timing. I'm a big F1 guy.

[Sufi]

All right.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And so this weekend is Monaco. And for Christmas, my wife got me tickets and all the stuff to the Grand Prix there. Bringing everybody out. Gus and I will go to the. The car race, even though it's George that watches the car races with me generally. And. And we're. So we're going to Monaco, staying in Nice, and. And then going to the F.1 thing. And then we're taking the kids to. We should have done this podcast in like a week because I'll have some stories. And then we're taking a train from Nice to Paris because both the kids want to see Paris. I don't know what they think they're going to see. I. I already can hear George. Like, can we just go back to the hotel?

[Sufi]

I know, but you, ultimately, you can't deny it. If your kids actually want to see a city like Paris, you got to be like, great. Before they change their mind.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Let's do it. Gus is all in. Like, he's already, you know, he's got all of his, like, you know, France books out where the places he wants to go. Like, I'd be happy just staying in Nice at the beach for a week, but nope, we're going to get on a train and go to Paris and do all. It's going to be great. And we've never really gone anywhere like, like, cool as a family because it's always, you know, it's always work it. We just never. Whenever I'm off, the kids are in the middle of school.

[Sufi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's just how it's worked out. So summers, I'm always gone, so I can never, like, get away then. And. And then. And then the minute I get off and I'm home for two months, it's the middle of the school year, and so we just never have done anything. So this is a. This is a really big deal where.

[Sufi]

I apologize for not quite remembering, but how many seasons in Did Were you introduced in the Walking Dead? Because it wasn't the first season, right? No.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Okay. This is going to. Because it kills me. I've been there for 10 years. I've been on this show for 10 years. I came in in season six. Wow.

[Sufi]

That's really Something. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Isn't that crazy?

[Sufi]

I mean, first of all, it's crazy in this day and age. Right. Nothing lasts.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Nothing.

[Sufi]

So to be a part of a thing that both has endured and then has, you know, spinoffs that are multiple seasons, it's very cool.

[Bashi]

It's always great when Seth talks about nothing lasting. And he had one job on snl. How long were you there for Seth?

[Sufi]

I was there for 12 and a half years and then I had your show 11 years.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You've had some pretty good gigs. Although I have to say, your Gavin Newsom is one of my favorite characters on television right now.

[Sufi]

It is really exceptional.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Oh, my God. The first time I saw it, I thought it was Gavin Newsome.

[Sufi]

Well, when Josh goes out and shoots, that's an issue as well. Yeah.

[Bashi]

I do get people double clutching if I wear a suit somewhere. It's like there are eyes that are coming to me and I know they're not coming for me. They're coming because they think I'm Gavin Newsome.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's so good. Yeah. Between that and, you know, you're up close, that's. I get my news from Daily show and. And. And a closer look.

[Sufi]

Thank you, buddy.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's where I get my news from these days. I can't.

[Sufi]

I've decided. I was just saying to somebody last night, like, I feel like 10 years ago people would be like, I get my news from you. I'm like, don't get your news from me. And now I'm like, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, like, I don't blame you. It's too awful. Just listen to me.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Well, I just need the highlights and just the highlights.

[Sufi]

Just some jokes.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's the highlights. That's the way to do it. It's perfect. Because otherwise I would just be too overwhelmed.

[Sufi]

We're in a highlight era. So this is actually. I mean, we rarely have a guest who's got a show coming that is so tied to family trips. Although Destination X, this is not a Norma whole trip. No, but this is. This was a Belgian show.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It was a Belgium show, and it won all these crazy awards as being like the coolest reality show ever in Belgium. And so they had sent me the Belgian version, which didn't really help me because I don't speak Belgium. But I could see the idea was very interesting and fun. And I'd also never, you know, hosted a show or done anything like this. And really it was my wife who kind of comes from that world as being like, you know, a VJ on MTV 30 years ago. And, you know, doing that, she was like, you know what? You're not getting younger. Which is very true. I can't continue to. To kill zombies forever. It hurts. I'm sick of being sore. And she's like, you know, because I had just finished the season of Dead City and I was like, I need to be home. I'm exhausted. This offer came in to do this reality show and I was like, oh, man. And I remember telling NBC I had a meeting with NBC so they could kind of pitch the thing to me. And I'm like, you know, I'm not. Not. I'm not Chris Hardwick. I. I'm unpredictable. And I'm the last thing. I think that NBC, nothing against NBC, but I'm the last thing you guys are going to want. I'm a loose tanning. And they convinced me, no, no, this is. That we want you to be you. And I was like, well, you're stepping in it, but okay, let's. And I really. It took getting used to kind of doing this, the show, but the idea was so cool.

[Sufi]

So people go there. They basically are. They go on a road trip. They don't know where.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

They don't know where. They're in a. They're in Europe. We travel all over Europe. They are in a bus. No, it's a well appointed kind of rock star bus. Cameras everywhere, hidden everywhere. And they blacken the windows. I shouldn't say they're blackened. They are frosted, so you can't see out of them, but obscured.

[Sufi]

Light.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Obscured. You can see light. And so you realize very quickly that the smarter players are watching the sun and trying to figure out which direction we're going and all this. And so I will travel ahead and meet them at challenges. And then I do like the eliminations. And so I traveled Europe a little bit differently than they did, thank God, because I couldn't have done it.

[Sufi]

But you were like, when they complained, you're like, you ever take a camper from Seattle to Disneyland?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, that's exactly right. I could. Unless you saw boobs, forget it. But I would get. I could check in. I could do a live feed, check in when I was, you know, bored. I could do a live feed, check in. And then I'd get, you know, a. A printout of everything that took place on the bus that day. All the personal, crazy stuff that happens. It's like Big Brother house, only it's the size of this trailer with, you know, 10 people. And so it's. It's insanity. And then we would do challenges and NBC luckily would just kind of prod me to be an asshole, you know? I guess. Yeah. Kind of torture them a little bit and enjoy it. And I did and it was really fun. And then I just finished doing kind of the voiceover stuff for all the episodes. Just finished like last week. And so I had seen all the episodes now and it, it's, it's a really fun show and they have to.

[Bashi]

They have to figure out where they are.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. Okay. So the point of the show. Yeah, I probably should throw you that at least.

[Bashi]

Well, it's Destination X. A destination. And X is sort of a question mark.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's it. So. So at the end of every day, their job, after doing like a challenge and getting some clues and they can share the clues or not, they have to go into this called the map room that's on the bus. And then they put their ex where they think we are. And then the per. The first person that is furthest away from where we are, I throw them out. They're done. Bye. Walk home.

[Sufi]

Such a fun novel idea.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's really like. I wasn't sure. I'll be honest. I'm also not a guy that's real hip on the reality show stuff. I just don't, I don't watch it.

[Sufi]

It's almost for the best, I feel like. Then you make it your own.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's. It just the fact they kind of let me sort of have fun with it I thought was really cool. And. And at the same time it was a NBC BBC kind of team up production. And so the second I finished, Brits did a version of as well. And so we're kind of tag teaming and that's exactly exciting. Yeah.

[Sufi]

Well, I take it back, Posh. I've often said nothing good has ever come out of Belgium. And other than Tintin. Sorry, Tintin.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I didn't know Tintin came out of there.

[Bashi]

We, we lived in Amsterdam for a few years, Jeffrey. And they created Big Brother was a, was a Dutch creation.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

So. So all those good shows come out of that. Come out of there. I love Amsterdam. We were in Amsterdam as a matter of fact. Why did you guys live there? And how cool is that?

[Bashi]

That there was a comedy theater, an improv comedy theater that we both got hired out of college to go work for?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No. So you didn't do, you didn't do Second City? You did Amsterdam?

[Sufi]

Yeah, we did.

[Bashi]

We boom. Chicago.

[Sufi]

Second City is amazing. But doing Second City of Amsterdam is a lot.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Has a lot more did you guys ride bikes?

[Sufi]

Yeah, everywhere.

[Bashi]

Everywhere? Yeah, everywhere.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I love it because of all. I almost got killed there being run over by bikes. But it's a special city.

[Sufi]

I'm about. I've talked about this a lot on the podcast, but I'm about to bring my 9 year old and he's very excited about the bikes, but I'm like, it's like not the bikes, you think? You know what I mean? Like when everybody's on a bike and it's like commuters. Yeah, but I also. He's so clumsy, so, you know, he.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I feel like growing up in New York right now, you're already pretty. You know, you got the peripheral on the.

[Sufi]

He's got his head on a swivel. But he just. Sometimes he just kind of.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Sometimes.

[Sufi]

Sometimes he's in outer space, but hopefully he'll be.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That's my kids too. They're. They're not. They're not the athletic type, but they can fall down anywhere.

[Sufi]

I can't believe how often I just walk in, I'm like, all right, get dressed. And he's sitting in a chair and then I like come back 10 minutes later and it's like one pant leg is in.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, what?

[Sufi]

But like, what have you been doing? He's like, I don't know.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, that's. That's George. George is the same way. Unless she is really motivated to do something her way, that's. I can't tell you how many times I tell both kids still to brush their teeth. I'm like, it's been years.

[Bashi]

Also, it's so gross when you haven't brushed your teeth. Your mouth is gross.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's so gross.

[Bashi]

It feels better.

[Sufi]

Yeah, well.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And when you already have cavities as a seven year old, I'm like, get it together, man.

[Bashi]

Yeah, that's a girl named George for you.

[Sufi]

She's like, dad, this isn't gonna be my last.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She's got a friggin silver tooth already. She's like a pirate, man.

[Sufi]

The sun reflects off her mouth when she smiles blind.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She thinks she's cool. She's.

[Sufi]

She's out.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Wrong. Yeah, she's got.

[Sufi]

When you went.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

She's floppy. Yeah, go ahead.

[Bashi]

When you went to can, did you have. Was there any time to go do family stuff and explore or was it pretty much all.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I just worked the entire time?

[Sufi]

That festival life is not actually fun.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I mean, we also knew that we were coming back in like a couple weeks to actually have some family time. I mean, George, of course, if she Sees anything that's wet, she wants to jump in it. So there was a pool. So her and Hill. But also at that time, at can, you can't leave the hotel because there's paparazzi and fans.

[Bashi]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

At least that's my experience.

[Sufi]

She's like, seth, you'll be fine.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

We, one night, we walked down, like, whatever, I guess, the main street of Cannes, our last night there. And it's just like, restaurants with people eating outside. And then one whole block of gelato stands, or gelato not stands, they're storefronts, but like, 10 of them, like, on the same street. I'm like, what must the competition be here? You know? Yeah, who's got the coolest sandwich board and free samples? And so we just kind of hung out there and got free samples for a while. And then we were like. We're like, all right, we're gonna buy one. And I never felt like such a loser in my life. Cause of course they knew who we were. And then they wouldn't take American Express, and I didn't have any Euros with me. And so the next morning, I mean, it was like 11 o' clock at night. And so we were leaving the next day. So my wife gets up at eight exchanges, like a hundred dollars with the hotel, runs to the gelato stand, you know, a half mile away, pays him in cash. Cash. I'm like, just give them all of it. But they were like, just go away here.

[Sufi]

Yeah. No, but you don't want. You don't want word getting out in France that, no, Jeffrey Dean Morgan's the sample guy.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, especially when you're coming back in town. Gets ice cream for his whole family and then doesn't pay.

[Bashi]

Did you. Did you guys ever used to go into Seattle as a kid?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, I went there a lot. I remember taking the bus in as just. Just a little guy. I was a big basketball and football fan as a kid. And this is like. Yeah, I remember in 79, the Sonics won the world championship. And I was like, you know, what, 12? I was born in 66, 13, something like that. And I remember taking the bus across by myself. Did something you'd never allow a kid to do. Now, it was an hour bus ride into the big city. And I'd go there at night to get, like, players autographs. After games, we would sneak into the Kingdom. The Sonics actually played in the Kingdome, which is a football stadium, for two years. And we could sneak in and watch games for free. And so I used to go into town a Lot. And then I lived downtown through. I graduated 84, so like 85 through 90. I lived right by Pike Place Market and had like 100 jobs in Pike Place Market that I would have for like three days. And I, like. I worked at the very first Starbucks and that lasted like a minute. I worked at restaurants that last. I worked at a hat store, I worked at a shoe store. And I worked with a. It was just me and it was John Fluvogs. I don't know if you're familiar with John Flew Boggs, but they. They sold like the Beetle boots and you know, all the hip, you know, creepers, stuff like that that were cool like in the 80s. And. And it was me and this woman working there called Susan Silver, named Susan Silver, and she married Chris Cornell and became.

[Sufi]

I was going to ask, like, is that if you get out at 90, was there a sense of what the music scene was about to be?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I knew all. It was a very kind of small community of artists. And my best friend, guy named Billy Burke, who is an actor actually now, was a musician, but he's. He's been on like, Fire country for the last few years. And he. He was a musician and kind of of before grunge exploded, he was the guy that all these bands would open for. And he was the only guy that didn't get a record deal in Seattle at that time grunge exploded. He was doing kind of his own thing, which wasn't grunge. And so all the bands that opened for him, you know, the Mother Love Bones, the Sound Garden, the. Just Nirvana was, you know, up north a little bit, but they all got signed at the same time. And so he was like, well, this. I'm gonna. I guess I'm gonna try to be an actor. And I was like, I, yeah, I'll try to be an actor. I don't know what the I'm doing. And we moved. We drove down to la, there was a road trip, Drove down to la.

[Sufi]

And then we drove down.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

That was a road trip. We drove down to la, and Billy had a Hurst. Uhhuh. You heard that, right?

[Sufi]

And a hearse.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

And that was his car. And we drove a hearse from Seattle to la, moved to la and decided we'd be actors.

[Sufi]

Yeah, I can't believe it worked out so well based on what a bad omen that probably looked like.

[Bashi]

Would one person drive and the other one would just sleep in the coffin in the back?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, but see, before. Before that, you know, when he was a Musician. You'd carry all the band equipment in the back. Because I was kind of. I was kind of his roadie. And so it was super cool to pull up at a club in Seattle in the Hearst and unload your p. Your, you know, your music equipment, your drum kits and.

[Sufi]

And no, I. Yeah, I' like, most second uses for hearses are probably bands.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I didn't know you could buy those. I remember at the time you came home with it, we were roommates, and I'm like, what the fuck is that? How did you manage this little thing? And it was weird, but whatever. Yeah.

[Sufi]

This has been such a delight, and I'm so happy you did it. From New York.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Thank you for having me.

[Sufi]

But before you go, Josh is going to speed round you real quick. Jeffrey.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Okay.

[Bashi]

All right. Some quick questions. You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing, adventurous, or educational?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Relaxing. Great.

[Bashi]

What is your favorite means of transportation?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

The quickest? Private air. Private airplanes.

[Sufi]

Private airplane.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

You know what?

[Sufi]

You've earned that with your life on.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

The farm for saying that you got.

[Sufi]

Dirt on your fingernails. You want.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bashi]

I've worked hard for this one. Gets a little trickier. If you could take a vacation with any family, alive or dead, real or fictional, other than your own family, what family would you like to take a vacation with?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Oh, my God. The Waltons.

[Sufi]

Great.

[Bashi]

Lovely. Very wholesome.

[Sufi]

I do have terrible news. They don't fly private.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No. They're in a wagon with horses.

[Sufi]

I think maybe actually in the later seasons they did, and that's maybe.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I feel like John Boy's flying private.

[Sufi]

I don't know. It's not the same show anymore.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, it's not. It's not. Or Partridge Family would be my second. That's probably funner.

[Sufi]

You were worried the Waltons didn't date you enough.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I mean, I could have gone.

[Sufi]

Cartwrights or the Osmonds.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Places I could have gone, but for some reason, I. The Waltons popped in. There you go. Okay.

[Bashi]

If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would have be George.

[Sufi]

Yeah. All right.

[Bashi]

You are from Kirkland, Washington. Would you recommend Kirkland as a vacation destination?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's a really. It's. I haven't been there in a bit, but it's a really cute little town. But it's not that little anymore. After Microsoft and everybody kind of moved to that side of. It's really crowded, but it's a great look. It used to be really kind of small town, and now it's. It's not. It's a great place to be visit. I don't know that I'd vacation there.

[Sufi]

Sure.

[Bashi]

But maybe worth a stop. Worth a night or two.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. Swing by. It's right on. It's right on the lake, so it's very pretty and.

[Bashi]

Oh, great.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

It's completely different from when I grew up there.

[Bashi]

And then Seth has our final questions.

[Sufi]

Jeffrey, have you been to the Grand Canyon?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No.

[Sufi]

Oh, do you want to go?

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah.

[Sufi]

Yeah. I thought you did. All right.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Sufi]

I'm surprised you haven't been.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I am too because I've ridden motorcycles and stuff across the country and have always said, oh, we're going to go to the Grand Canyon. And then we never do.

[Sufi]

I would have put all my money on that. You've been. I would have kind of taken aback.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I'm sorry. I apologize. I let myself down there.

[Sufi]

I feel like right at the end I'm like, I don't think he's who he said he was.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

I feel like a fraud myself.

[Bashi]

Well, you should go because I mean little secret you let us in on but you're not getting any younger, so.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

No, thank you. Yes.

[Sufi]

It's not mean when he's quoting it back to you. It's not mean when to.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

He's going.

[Sufi]

I guess it's actually your wife's quote.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

A little bit dicky. A little bit dicky.

[Sufi]

A little bit dicky right there.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Way to end the interview on a good note.

[Sufi]

Yeah, well, the contestants on project X told us you were a little bit of a dick, so.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Yeah, well, I got paid for that.

[Sufi]

Great to see you, Jeffrey. Thank you for the time.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

So great to see you.

[Bashi]

What a delight. Have a great. Have a great trip with your family and thank you.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Thank you. I'll have stories for you next time we talk.

[Sufi]

We'll take. Take it.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

All right. Thank you guys. You're. I love you both.

[Sufi]

Thank you.

[Bashi]

Thanks. Bye. Bye.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

All right, bye.

[Bashi]

When the young Jeffrey Dean took a trip as every teen Disneyland was alright but it wasn't the highlight. Final seats sticking to one man on air construction crew casually waiting them through. Jeffrey Dean saw her boobs fishnet vest saw some breasts. It was the freaking best fishnet best saw some breasts, saw some breasts call them breasts, call them boobs. His father light him too to that crew. Hey, thank you. A big thank you. Fishman best was the best sauce and.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Bread fish and fresh oh hell yes.

[Bashi]

But his best friend.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

But they were the best.

[Bashi]

They were the fair.

[Jeffrey Dean Morgan]

Sam.