VINCENT D'ONOFRIO Loved Magic Shows at Disneyworld

Summary

Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers

Episode: VINCENT D'ONOFRIO Loved Magic Shows at Disneyworld
Date: March 24, 2026
Hosts: Seth Meyers and Josh Meyers
Guest: Vincent D’Onofrio

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Overview

This episode welcomes acclaimed actor Vincent D’Onofrio to recount his childhood adventures, family trips, and unexpected detours on the road to acting. The Meyers brothers guide Vincent through memories of split-up holidays between Hawaii and Brooklyn, running wild in Florida, formative summers with his Italian grandfather, formative jobs in New York nightlife, and the magic tricks (literally!) that built his confidence on stage. Along the way, we get a glimpse of family resilience, the hidden drama of club security, and why magic shops at Disney World can mean everything to a kid on the verge of finding where he belongs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Life: From Hawaii to Brooklyn via Florida

• Family Background

  • Vincent’s mother grew up in Hawaii, his father was in the Air Force stationed there. Maternal grandfather opened the first Italian restaurant in Honolulu in the 1940s—Rocco’s ([15:10], [23:36]).
  • Parents divorced; mother moved the family between Florida and Hawaii, before settling in Florida ([14:50], [15:10]).
  • Vincent spent every summer in Brooklyn with his grandfather, also named Vincent, which gave him a dual identity (New York and Florida) ([15:48], [16:53], [17:53]).

• Summers in Brooklyn

  • Helped at grandfather’s business, General Drapery – worked his way up from sweeping floors to driving delivery trucks and installing drapes, even worked on Broadway hotel jobs ([17:10]).
  • Describes the daily thrill of crossing the bridge into New York City as “the first impressive thing that happened to me in my life” ([17:53]).

Finding the Arts

• Family Influence

  • Real father exposed Vincent to arts, often dragging him to Broadway (e.g., “Man of La Mancha”) ([18:31]).
  • Father followed a pattern—losing jobs, then founding or joining a community theater in every new town, becoming his “Johnny Appleseed of community theater” ([19:42], [22:13]).
  • Worked backstage: building sets, running sound, hanging lights in Florida and Colorado ([19:42]).
  • Stepdad George was a key father figure ([16:07]).

• Turning Point

  • After high school, Vincent hitchhiked (after his car broke down in Texas) to San Francisco. His friend soon joined the Navy, so Vincent followed his sister to New York to study acting. He was struck by how accessible the world felt with bad actors onstage—“If I really put my mind to it, I could do better than what they're doing” ([21:07], [31:39]).

Road to New York: Jobs, Grit, and Surviving in the City

• Early Independence

  • After leaving home, he never really looked back – always eager to travel and live independently ([31:00]).
  • Squatted in a one-bedroom on Fulton Street, converting it into a four-bedroom for roommates with improvised carpentry ([39:13]).
  • Sometimes slept in Central Park with legs locked around his bike until taken in by a couple ([41:11]).

• Clubs and Door Work

  • Worked as a bodyguard/bouncer at iconic New York clubs: Studio 54, Xenon, Ritz (now Webster Hall), the Hard Rock Cafe ([41:11], [44:16]).
  • Saw and sometimes had to intervene in violence; “I still have flashbacks” from the rough nights, especially at the Ritz during a notorious Public Image Ltd. riot ([46:27], [47:29]).
  • Reflected on the surreal social world of NYC clubs (“The biggest story is that none of those stories can be told.” — [42:59]).
  • Later found himself acting on set with people he once ejected from nightclubs ([45:24], [45:31]).

Family Vacations: Disney Magic and Poolside Stunts

• Annual Pilgrimage to Disney World

  • His mother saved meticulously so they could go to Disney World once a year, which was a highlight of his childhood ([54:14]).
  • “My mom only saved for two things in her life. A swimming pool...and Disney World” ([54:26]).

• Magic Shop Obsession

  • The magic shop at Disney World was Vincent’s main draw. He’d save money from mowing lawns to buy tricks ([55:43]).
  • Learned magic at summer camp, then befriended Cuban immigrants who ran a magic shop in Hialeah—he’d build his own versions of tricks from borrowed instructions ([57:59], [59:53]).

• Becoming a Teenage Magician

  • Staged elaborate escapes—famously, he built and performed a Houdini mailbag escape in his backyard pool, with local police assisting and local news filming ([61:23]).
  • “My mom would sit with me...just on the cement next to the pool and watch me do this thing” ([62:19]).
  • Received early public attention as Florida’s youngest member of the “magician’s ring” ([63:07]).
  • Confidence and comfort on stage from magic carried over—“I never get butterflies in my stomach...because of those years of the pressure of a trick going bad on stage” ([56:35]).

Community, Roots, and Identity

• Strong Family Bonds

  • The men in Vincent’s life—his stepdad and grandfather—formed his support system, helping him compensate for a complicated relationship with his biological father ([32:55]).
  • Cooking and community: recalls prepping dinner with his grandfather in Brooklyn and being called home by the sound of the bell; now carries on similar rituals with his own family ([34:48], [35:01]).

• Heritage

  • Both sides of his family from Naples (“Everybody was from Napoli.” — [35:42]). He visited with his father and grandfather as an adult for a meaningful family reunion ([35:51]).
  • Reflected on how growing up outside traditional Italian American enclaves meant less flag-waving, but he came to appreciate his roots more as he aged ([37:56]).

Reflections on Acting and Performing

• Transition to Acting

  • Magic performances and years backstage gave him unusual stage comfort—“Stage was never a barrier” ([65:01]).
  • Early theater experiences taught him what not to do: “All I needed to learn was to be good and...never fall into the not so great category” ([32:39]).

• Memorable Roles

  • Josh calls out Vince’s iconic turn in Homicide: Life on the Street (“the subway episode”), and his role as Kingpin in Daredevil—Vincent remarks on how much he enjoys the pace and depth of TV storytelling compared to movies ([67:24], [68:27]).
  • Vincent on acting with “bad” actors: “They showed me how to be good and then not so great...so all I needed to learn was to be good” ([32:16]).

• Fascination With Comedy

  • Vincent expresses admiration for the Meyers brothers’ career in comedy and late night: “I’ve always been completely fascinated by what you do for a living...so foreign to me” ([68:48], [69:00]).
  • Never done a classic talk show—only some early Daily Show and Comedy Central appearances ([69:22]).

Family Today

• Grown Children
  • Four kids, some interested in acting (daughter Layla George is a working actress, son getting involved; youngest likely to take another path) ([70:47]).
  • Stays close with his family; daily orbits, shared values (“my wife” would be the person he’d bring to a desert island — [74:05]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the first impressive thing in life:
  “Crossing the bridge and heading for New York City every morning.”
  — Vincent D’Onofrio ([17:53])

• On magic as stage training:
  “I never get butterflies in my stomach...because of those years of the pressure of a trick going bad on stage.”
  — Vincent ([56:35])

• On nightlife security work in NYC:
  “I think the biggest story is that none of those stories can be told.”
  — Vincent ([42:59])

• On his father as Johnny Appleseed of community theater:
  “It's almost good for those communities that he can't stay in one place. He's like the Johnny Appleseed of community theaters.”
  — Josh Meyers ([21:55])

• On his favorite family trip destination:
  “Disney World.”
  — Vincent ([74:11])

• On the draw of the Grand Canyon:
  “I mean, I would probably get bored after a few minutes, but...at least people aren’t breathing down your neck about how you haven’t ever been.”
  — Vincent ([75:20])

• On the joy of simple fun with friends:
  “The way to have fun can be really simple sometimes...with all the right people, it's just 10 times more fun.”
  — Vincent, reflecting on the Bell family ([73:32])

• Vincent’s career advice from bad actors:
  “They showed me how to be good and then not so great.”
  — Vincent ([32:16])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Vincent’s Childhood Journey: Hawaii to Brooklyn ([14:50]–[16:53])
• Summers with Grandfather, General Drapery, and Identity ([17:09]–[18:07])
• Roots in Theater and Community Arts ([18:31]–[19:42])
• Epic Hitchhike to San Francisco, Pivot to Acting ([20:20]–[21:17])
• Building a Life in NYC, Early Independence ([31:00]–[32:46])
• Clubbing and Security in 80s New York ([41:11]–[48:29])
• The Ritz Concert Riot ([47:29])
• Family Disney World Trips & Magic Shop Obsession ([54:14]–[56:54])
• Mailbag Houdini Trick, Teenage Magic Shows ([61:23]–[63:07])
• Stage Confidence Through Magic ([65:01]–[65:33])
• Heritage, Visiting Italy, Embracing Roots ([35:42]–[37:56])
• Favorite Roles and Thoughts on Acting ([67:24]–[68:27])
• Speed Round (Favorites, Desert Island, etc.) ([72:25]–[74:07])
• Funny Reflection: Why He’s Never Done a Talk Show ([69:22])
• Grand Canyon: Would Vincent Go? ([75:10]–[75:41])

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Tone and Language

The conversation strikes a balance between affectionate nostalgia, dry humor, and honest reflection. Vincent’s voice is humble, unforced, and open, often punctuated by the brothers’ gentle ribbing. Even traumatic club stories are handled with decades-honed perspective, and childhood stories are told with a warmth and detail that makes childhood magic feel very real.

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For Listeners New and Old

If you’ve ever wondered where the confidence behind a classic tough-guy performance really comes from—or wanted to know how a neighborhood full of odd jobs, family kitchens, and backyard performances can make an artist—you’ll find Vincent’s journey as unpredictable, sincere, and satisfying as a true family trip. And you’ll never look at the Disney World magic shop quite the same way again.

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Listen for:

• The heartwarming poolside magic show with local cops
• The wild tales (and the untold ones) from nights at Studio 54 and the Ritz
• Why magic was stagecraft’s ultimate training ground
• A reminder that even the Kingpin of the Marvel universe can tear up remembering mom’s sacrifices for just a swimming pool and a trip to Disney

Standout Segment:
Vincent’s detailed retelling of his homebrewed Houdini mailbag escape—culminating with his mother, local police, and the news team all cheering by the pool—captures the essence of family, risk, and the small-town idiosyncrasies that forge a performer. ([61:23]–[62:36])

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Episode available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Tuesday.

Transcript

[Josh]

Hey, Pashi.

[Pashi]

Hey, Sufi.

[Josh]

Very exciting. We saw each other on the road.

[Pashi]

I know. It was a true family trip.

[Josh]

It's a family trip.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

I was doing standup in Scottsdale, Arizona. Mom and dad were about to go to golf school. Yeah.

[Pashi]

Which was your. Wasn't that your Christmas gift, Christmas present

[Josh]

to send them to golf school?

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And then my. The gift to mom was that they were supposed to keep dad there.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh. Yeah.

[Josh]

The whole thing was a trap. The whole trap to keep. They were gonna black bag him and then. But I was doing stand up and so they came down a little early. And you knew this plan and you decided to make a surprise trip.

[Pashi]

Yeah, I did a one day bounce out to Phoenix sky harbor, rendezvous with you guys at Talking Stick where you had a couple shows. One night, Talking Stick Casino.

[Josh]

And you showed up in again, the burden you carry. You went straight and golfed with him for God knows how many hours. It was a very hot day.

[Pashi]

It was a very hot day. 92. Something like that. Which isn't.

[Josh]

Which.

[Pashi]

It's so crazy for Arizona that you're like, it's not that bad.

[Josh]

No, it's not bad.

[Pashi]

But yeah, it was great. I found out that they sort of had a threesome with. Not that kind of threesome.

[Josh]

Yeah, no. God, that would be a horrible. And by the way, if that is how you found out, you said it very nonchalantly. Well, so this is the first I'm hearing and I'm like, what?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Huh?

[Josh]

Huh?

[Pashi]

No. So there was a spot to join their golf foursome. And so I grabbed a very early flight, showed up, mom and dad were having breakfast at the hotel. And I just showed up and said, hey, I heard you guys need a fourth. And hurry started crying. And I started crying and I was hugging her. And dad had to look around to other people having breakfast and say, it's a surprise. It's a surprise. Cause people thought something just awful had happened.

[Josh]

Very nice of you to. And by the way, like, it again, speaks to where I am on the pecking order, which is when she saw me totally dry eyes.

[Pashi]

Well, yeah, I had her cried out.

[Josh]

She was prepared. Yeah. You had her cried out.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

You classic P.A. she'd jump in, wring all the tears out before I get to see her. Yeah.

[Pashi]

But then I got to, you know, I got to spend four hours. Was around a golf. But I got to spend four hours in the cart with hurry chatting and

[Josh]

yeah, it was great. And by the way, this. You were not a. You know, you weren't snubbing. Dad. The fourth was one of his oldest friends.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

So I think John Granada.

[Pashi]

Johnny Granada.

[Josh]

Johnny Granada is good guy.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Who's crushing Scottsdale these days?

[Josh]

He's just crushing it.

[Pashi]

He's just doing.

[Josh]

Johnny granada is absolute 100% matches his name.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

You know what I mean? He's got real Johnny Granada vibes.

[Pashi]

Yeah. If there was a quote from Johnny Granada over the weekend, it's. Yeah, man. The number of times he'd say, yeah, man.

[Josh]

They met when they were really young and made a pact to have the same mustache for the rest of their lives.

[Pashi]

It's held.

[Josh]

It's held. Two guys with some real nice looking mustaches. Johnny and Laird.

[Pashi]

Yeah. So, yeah, it was really fun. And then they've got some other friends from college days who. Who rolled out to go to the. Go to the show. Their daughter, named after our mother, was also there.

[Josh]

Hilary Lace. Yeah. And. Oh, I don't know if that's her last name now, but that was certainly when I met her. Yeah. And then stand up had a couple new jokes about mom and dad not going to burn him here on the pod. But how are they receiving? You know, obviously I'm a little. I'm a very. As I'm sure you are. I'm hyper aware they're in the audience.

[Pashi]

Yeah. You know, well, and.

[Josh]

And that's because of like, you know, because I care what they think and it comes from a place of love, you know.

[Pashi]

Yeah. They. I will say each of them laughs at the jokes about them.

[Josh]

Oh, that's good.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

So that's good. Also, I don't know if this is intentional on your part or not, but Brooks Whelan, great guy, great comedian, opens for you.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

And Brooks goes at his parents so hard.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

And I feel like I don't know if it is to cover for how you're going to go at our parents, which is like so gentle compared. So maybe I feel like they're prepared to be, like, torched. And then it's like, oh, it's so.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Tame. When held.

[Josh]

Brooks torches his parents so hard that when he did it on my show, it, like, didn't work. My audience, like, oh, yeah. Oh, Brooks is great because Brooks a fantastic comedian and who we should really have on this podcast because. Yeah, I think he's. I think he could do, based on how much he travels, like five straight episodes. It could be like a five. It could be like one of those, like, history podcasts that does like 10 episodes on like Dunkirk. Yeah.

[Pashi]

But he.

[Josh]

He's the best. And dad has seen him a few times opening for me, and Brooks was spinning out. Cause after the show, dad came back into the dressing room. He was like, you were great, man. And then dad looked at me and goes, how good was Brooks? And it was just that way that it made it very clear that dad had been underwhelmed last time he saw Brooks. And then Brooks was like, oh, yeah, I guess it's been a while. Since. When was the last time you saw me and dad? It was, like, basically, like, four months ago. Also, Brooks's favorite story about dad is they came to see us. Brooks opened for me in Pittsburgh, and the next morning is when I was getting ready to shoot my first special. And the next morning, we all met for breakfast, and dad, no surprise here, was giving me notes on the things he didn't. The parts he didn't think were up to snuff.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

By the way, I appreciate that from dad. You know what I mean? But Brooks didn't realize the dynamic, and he kind of felt like he needed to step in.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And so at one point, Brooks goes, ah, I like that joke. And dad just turned to him and goes, I got notes for you, too.

[Pashi]

You know, we. We played golf, and then we were. You know, we were gonna see you and hang out with you a little bit before your first show.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

And we were going to dinner. They're coming back for the late show. And so we finished golf, and it was hot out there, and. And. But we had about an hour to sort of shower up, and then we were gonna come down and spend a half hour with you. But I went to mom and dad's room, and I had truly just seen them. We had, like, just left the golf course, and mom was in bed as if she was in a sarcophagus. Dad's on his phone in the chair in the hotel room, like, doing puzzles, which is not unsurprising at all. And I. Mom was really like, huh? She had to, like, knock cobwebs that had, like, somehow formed on her immediately.

[Josh]

Formed.

[Pashi]

Yeah. But, yeah, she gets. She gets the flux in the heat.

[Josh]

She does. Yeah. That's. Too much heat. Will knock mama out. Was it? Oh, I also, you know, one of the great things about traveling with Brooks is he's. He's a great wingman for, like, really good food. And so we were, like, leaving Palm Springs. We'd done a show there, and he found, like, a strip mall, like, Mexican restaurant, had outstanding breakfast burritos. We were eating in the car also. He Was a good dude. Cause he will, like. He was like, let me. Because he could tell I was trying to, like, get some hot sauce on my burrito. He's like. He's like, oh, I'll hot sauce that for you, buddy. Because I think also he didn't want me to, like, crash off the side of the road.

[Pashi]

Yeah, well, I'm, like, holding a burrito

[Josh]

between my knees and trying to get the hot sauce out of its little packet. But then he and John Oliver had been in Phoenix once. And Jimmy Kimmel has a really old friend named Chris Bianco, who has a place in Phoenix, A couple restaurants in Phoenix, and now one in la. I don't know which one is in la, but Pizza Bianco is this famous Arizona pizza place. And he's another guy from Brooklyn. And so I, you know, texted your buddy Kimmel, and he's like, great, just let me know what time you're showing up. Texted that guy. And so we just had fantastic Arizona pizza, which was very, very New York in its style. And so it was just great time, great weekend. Although I'm so tired. I did one show in Palm Springs. I did two shows in Arizona that night. And then had a Beacon show on Sunday.

[Pashi]

That's a lot.

[Josh]

I have shows coming up. I feel like I don't do a good enough job. Can I say some of my shows that are coming up posh?

[Pashi]

Yeah, sure.

[Josh]

Will you allow that?

[Pashi]

Yeah. All right, hold on real quick.

[Josh]

I'll.

[Pashi]

Before you get to.

[Josh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pashi]

You look at this. You buy me time after your show. Talking Stick is a casino.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

And Johnny Granada had valeted his car. Cause that's how he rolls. And he's like, you know, the valet line's gonna be long, so I'm gonna gamble for about a half hour and just let that line fade. You guys wanna play some cards? And dad definitely just wanted to go to bed and then hurry, hears there might be gambling to do. And she's like, ning, ning, ning, ning,

[Josh]

ning, ning, ning, ning.

[Pashi]

So we gotta go.

[Josh]

I didn't know this. Of course. This makes sense.

[Pashi]

Yeah. So we gotta go to an atm. Cause we didn't have cash. And then there's a line for the atm. And dad is doing this. Just because he's getting dragged along, doesn't want to do it. Right. And busy night at a casino Saturday night.

[Josh]

That place was packed.

[Pashi]

It was packed. And we somehow we find this blackjack table. A $25, you know, minimum bet table. We get four seats because some people are getting up. Maybe we sort of edged in front of. Or we got there at the same time as a couple of these girls. But I was like, I don't know. I'm here with my parents and Johnny Granada. I'm not going to feel bad about this. So we sit down. I got 200 bucks. Dad's got 200 bucks. Mom's got 200 bucks. Johnny's probably got 500 on the table. Maybe 20 minutes for me, mom and dad to all lose all of our money and were leaving in her. He's like, that was fun. And I was like. We said nothing to each other for the last 20 minutes. We lost $600. She's like, well, it could have been worse. We could have lost $2,000 each. I was like, yeah, I get. Okay. But truly, it was maybe my worst time at a blackjack table in my life just because the cards were so bad for us. And

[Josh]

I feel like I transitioned into a very healthy place, which is when I used to do shows at casinos. I would like for feel the pull of the tables right after the show.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And now I really am like, you know what? The casino has just given me money.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And I ain't giving it back.

[Pashi]

Yeah. I. Yeah. I mean, I didn't. I didn't enjoy it. I only went really, because mom wanted to go also. We sit down and Johnny's like, you guys want drinks? And like, talks to the pit boss who says they're sending, you know, a. A server over. We never saw a server. We didn't even get are round of free drinks that used to be.

[Josh]

Congratulations. The good people for the Talking Stick Casino, because they. They just made bags of money that night.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Yeah. Where are your shows? Sufi.

[Josh]

April 10th. I'm going to be in at the factory in chesterfield, Missouri, near St. Louis. April 11th, I got a couple of shows in Kansas City, Missouri. May 8th, I'm at the Paramount in Denver, Colorado. And May 9th, at the Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

[Pashi]

All right. Route 66.

[Josh]

Route 66.

[Pashi]

It's 100.

[Josh]

It's the Centennial Posh did a whole podcast about it. Check it out over in California. Here's my question. Would you do this Denver to Albuquerque, six and a half hours.

[Pashi]

Would I drive it?

[Josh]

Yeah. Or fly it. I don't know.

[Pashi]

It sounds like it's right.

[Josh]

Right at the cusp of maybe making more sense to fly.

[Pashi]

Yeah. You and Brooks have a good thing going on. But I would. I don't know. I'd look At I look at what you're driving through, I imagine. Yeah, that's pretty.

[Josh]

That was the Palm Springs to Arizona was beautiful. I will say Brooks also, he was like, hey, man, let's build a pre show playlist. Because a lot of times, you know, people are filing into your show. It's just whatever the venue's playing. And Brooks had a very good road trip game when you're with somebody, which is he's like, I'm gonna play a song. And while it's playing, you think of a song this reminds you of or like inspires. Yeah, we just went back and forth for like a four hour drive. Yeah. Really nice.

[Pashi]

Good game.

[Josh]

Coming up next, Posh. I mean, one of my favorite episodes. I'm just going to say it.

[Pashi]

Yeah, we were. Yeah, we were sort of.

[Josh]

We didn't know what to expect.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

I mean, I know what this guy's like on screen. And it was just fantastic to talk to Vincent d' Onofrio for the first time. Neither you or I had ever met him.

[Pashi]

Charming as all get out.

[Josh]

He's fantastic. In Daredevil plays kingpin Wilson Fisk, one of the great villains of the Marvel universe. And just buckle up.

[Pashi]

Yeah, this is for me. This is an early recording. We recorded this 6:30am my time. So I had to get up at 5:30 and I was happy to be awake the second he came on our screen.

[Josh]

Also, I don't ever like to give spoiler alerts, but no one has ever said this is gonna be boring and then told a better story.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

So please enjoy Vincent d'. Onofrio. And thanks for listening, everybody.

[Narrator]

Family chips with the Myest brothers.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Family chips with the my.

[Josh]

Here we go. Hello.

[Pashi]

All right.

[Josh]

Yes.

[Pashi]

How are you, man?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Look at these two brothers.

[Pashi]

It's morning. Morning.

[Josh]

I had to take my glasses off, Vincent, because we thought that was just too much for you.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It was. Thank you.

[Josh]

We want to give you some. Some way to just.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No, I actually. You put them on and I immediately broke a sweat. So I'm glad you took them up.

[Pashi]

I need them. I'm. I got to keep mine on whether you sweat or not.

[Josh]

It's so lovely to see you.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

We have never met. None of us have met before.

[Josh]

I know. This is so exciting for me and I wanna say, like, you give off such New York vibes to me. So I was shocked to see that you spent your early years, some of your early years in Hawaii.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, very, very early. Yeah. When my parents got divorced. So what happened was, is my. Both. My mom was Raised in Hawaii.

[Josh]

Gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And my dad was stationed in Hawaii in the Air Force. And she. My grandfather, believe it or not. Okay. Opened the first Italian restaurant in Honolulu.

[Josh]

It's unbelievable.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

In the 40s. And my mom was a waitress there. And my dad met. They met that way. And then years later, they got divorced. My mom, we were living in Florida. My mom took us back home to her home in Hawaii, and. And I went to part of my elementary school there. And then when she got her life together and saved some money, we went back to Florida. And I was raised in Florida, but I spent every. Literally every summer with my grandfather in Brooklyn.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And I was born in Brooklyn.

[Josh]

Got it, Got it.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. So that's.

[Josh]

What were those summers like? It was just understood that the minute school ended, you would go to Brooklyn for the summer.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh]

It's not a famous summer destination

[Pashi]

for children.

[Josh]

Do you summer in Brooklyn?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Huh? Yeah.

[Josh]

Do you summer in Brooklyn?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think it's because my mom had her hands full. She was a single mom with three kids. I have two older sisters. I had three older sisters when my mom remarried, which was when I was about 11, and that my stepdad was my father figure. He was an awesome dude, and his name was George. And, you know, so I was. I think she needed a break and she sent me. I was the easiest, but the girls, she had her handful with the girls. They were hippies and yippees and the whole deal. And so. Yeah.

[Josh]

Did they say, did the girls come with you? Or was it just Vincent would go to Brooklyn? No.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I mean, they would visit because we have. We had lots of relatives back then in Brooklyn, but I would spend, literally, and go to his workplace, and I eventually started working at his place. He. He had a place called General Drapery in New York. Did all the hotels and. And stuff, and.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

What would you do for General Drapery? What was. If you were working?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, first it was, like, sweeping floors and, you know, just doing the labor stuff. Got everybody. And then as I got older, I eventually, you know, started to go on the trucks and drive the trucks and deliver stuff and, you know, help the carpenters, help the guys who used to actually hang the drapes. It was also an upholstery shop, so there was always tons of things to be done. He even did things for the theaters on Broadway and most of the hotels. But in Brooklyn, you know, I have a whole other set of friends. I had a set of friends in Florida and a set. Little gang of friends in both places.

[Josh]

So this Was something. You look forward to going to Brooklyn for the summer.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Yeah. I always loved New York, and I loved going into the city. You know, it was the first impressive thing that happened to me in my life was crossing the bridge and heading for New York City every morning.

[Pashi]

I'll say, now, I don't drive in New York very often, but anytime I do, still to this day, driving across a bridge into New York City is a thing.

[Josh]

And then it's great because you have, like, this incredible feeling of, like, you're going into the city and then you just immediately traffic slows down and, like, goes. It very contradicts your energy. What was the first Broadway show you saw? Do you remember?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

That would have been my dad. My real dad was into the arts, like, the best. It's the only thing he ever really did for me was introduce me to the arts, which is a big thing.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And so I think it was like something like Mana La Mancha or something like that.

[Josh]

Wow.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. It would have been something that he liked, something that he wanted to see and would drag me along.

[Josh]

And was it. Did you feel like when you first saw a play that did, you know, right then, like, oh, this. I like this a lot.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I was attracted to it.

[Josh]

Yes.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I remember always being attracted to it, but not as an actor. Just getting involved in it somehow. And so everywhere my dad moved, because he was always getting fired from his jobs. He was. He went to Parsons School of Design. He was an interior designer. But, you know, he was. You know, he couldn't keep it in his pants.

[Josh]

And.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And. And so he was constantly, you know, moving.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Josh]

On. On the Lamb.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And everywhere he lived, he would start a community theater or join a community theater. And so I was building sets and hanging lights and running sound on shows every night in Coconut Grove, Florida, and all over in Colorado, like, many different places. He was. And yeah, so that's what was my involvement. It wasn't till after high school, I hitchhiked with my best friend across country to San Francisco. It wasn't the plan to hitchhike. We had a Toyota Corolla that we bought, and that broke down immediately on the way.

[Josh]

How far did the Corolla get?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh, Texas.

[Josh]

Oh, that's pretty good. That's decent.

[Pashi]

Halfway.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, halfway. And then so what happened was my sister, who always went to acting, always did acting in high school and stuff, she told me she was. We had. We were talking on the phone. She said, I'm going to New York to study and acting. I'm like, wow. When the Day after she told me that my. My friend Elio Medina that I traveled with walked into a. A Navy recruitment center and joined the Navy and left, like, disappeared. And so I got on a bus and went to New York and started studying acting with my sister.

[Josh]

That seems like a very. I don't know if that, like, feels like it breaks bro code to hitchhike across the country and then immediately join the Navy. Just like, hey, man, I thought we were doing this together.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, well, that's exactly what happened. Yeah, I think it was daunting. Yeah. The whole experience for him. You know, he was also a Cuban kid, and he, you know, he had. He had a lot of pressure from his parents. You know, they're very. They're helicopter parents, you know, and he. He was being. I wasn't being pressured at all. My, My. My mom and my stepdad trusted me completely.

[Josh]

So you never thought, like, oh, my God, I'm such a bad road trip companion that it's easier to join the Navy?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I did. I still believe that in myself, actually.

[Josh]

I will say about your dad, like, it's obviously funny. I mean, not funny, but interesting that he keeps losing jobs. But it's kind of nice that every place he lands, he starts community theater. It's almost good for those communities that he can't stay in one place. He's like the Johnny Appleseed of community theaters.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

You know, the truth is that he was. He wasn't definitely not the best father in the world, but he was full of arts and the arts. And still to this day, I have to, you know, he's the reason why I know anything about the arts.

[Josh]

Did he attend your stuff when you started doing things? Was he always there supporting that part?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, but he got dollar signs in his eyes from it.

[Josh]

Yeah. Interesting. That's not great.

[Pashi]

With his community theater, was he directing things, producing things, or was he like, I'm always the leading.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Acting, directing, producing. Yeah. Designing sets and doing the whole thing.

[Pashi]

Is there a performance of his that stands out to you?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

The Rainmaker.

[Josh]

Wow. It's really cool. Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I hope to someday maybe play that part just for the hell of it.

[Josh]

Was Hawaii a place that became a vacation destination? Like, would your mom take you and your siblings there?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Not a lot. We had very, you know, she didn't have any money, you know, to travel and stuff. So it was. We were. I mean, we did. They either came to us or we went to them maybe a couple of times, but. And. And we've always stayed in contact with the Hawaiian relatives, you know, but no, we didn't travel there a lot.

[Pashi]

Is the Italian restaurant still there?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It was called Rocco's. My. I'm named after both of my grandfathers. Vincent is my. Is my dad's father's name, and Philip is my. My mom's father's name. But like a lot of Italians coming through Ellis island, his. His name was. They wrote down Frank. So he was Frank Minicola. And then nobody called him Frank anyway. Or. Or nobody called him Philip, anyway. They called him Rocco. So he had, like, three names.

[Josh]

Yeah, yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

But it was named Rocco. And. No, it's not Stone.

[Pashi]

Okay.

[Josh]

Yeah. Meyer is actually like our. What is it? Our great, great grandfather's first name.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, but so George Meyer was my stepdad's name. Meyer was my stepdad's name.

[Josh]

Yeah. Gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And he. His family was from the Catskills.

[Josh]

Got it. Was. Did Rocco's do gangbuster business? I imagine, like, when you open the first Italian restaurant anywhere, all the celebrities.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh]

I mean, it must just be so exciting to have that cuisine. It's so. Obviously now it's impossible to imagine any community that doesn't have an Italian restaurant, but when one shows up, you must be like, whoa, how have we been missing out on this?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, but they had, like, you know, all the big stars when they were in Hawaii. This is what I heard about. I obviously don't know if it's a fact or not, because you know how Italian families can be.

[Pashi]

They can exaggerate, embellish.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

But supposedly Abbott and Costello used to go there, and people like that, you know.

[Pashi]

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

[Josh]

Support comes from Olipop. Can I tell you the fantastic story about Olipop and my family? What's that? My kids went out to dinner with another family, and everybody had Shirley Temples. So now they got in their head, they get a Shirley Temple at dinner. Right.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Right.

[Josh]

Now, you know, my family, we're not gonna be a Shirley Temple family. That's a big, sugary. That's basically just a soft drink.

[Pashi]

Right? Yeah.

[Josh]

So our solution has been to have Olipop Shirley Temples in the fridge at home, because this is a Shirley Temple that both delivers the nostalgic taste. And also, we feel good about our kids having.

[Pashi]

Yeah. I mean, I feel good about me having this cherry cola. Right. Right around now.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

It is a new kind of soda. Sufi. It's a new day in the soda marketplace, in the soda world.

[Josh]

Also, two out of three Americans say they suffer from digestive issues. 95% of Americans don't get the daily recommendation of fiber. Those two are connected, Pasci. Yeah, I don't have to tell you those two stats are connected.

[Pashi]

Alipop is tackling both of those issues, Sufi, with a drink that tastes just like soda.

[Josh]

Also, look at these beautiful cans.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Hey, sue, if you can get a free can of Olipop, just buy any two cans of Olipop in the store and we'll pay you back for one. Works on any flavor, any retailer.

[Josh]

Also, you get like six free cans if you have a podcast in there. Your sponsor.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Also, when I say we'll pay you back, I mean Olipop's gonna pay you back, obviously.

[Josh]

Yeah, we're not on the hook for that.

[Pashi]

Yeah, you just gotta go to drinkollipop.com

[Josh]

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[Pashi]

Hey, Sufi.

[Josh]

I don't want my personal data online. And it's not surveillance. No, I don't. And data breaches are common enough now to make everyone vulnerable and me included. Posh.

[Pashi]

Yeah. No, I think you maybe even more than some other people.

[Josh]

That's true. And you know what I want to do with my data? I want to make a profit off it. I don't want strangers, I don't want data brokers to be doing that. Because then all of a sudden, it's identity theft, it's phishing attempts, it's harassment. So I'm going to protect my privacy. I do protect my privacy with Delete Me.

[Pashi]

Yeah, you know, I. I do trust the good folks over at New York Times, Wirecutter. And Wirecutter has named Delete Me their top pick for data removal services. And that ain't nothing.

[Josh]

That ain't nothing. And you can add me to that. List me in the New York Times. And it saves you so much time. Using Delete Me is a much faster tool than actually going through and trying to remove your personal data from the web. I can tell you that from experience. So take control of your data. Keep your private life private by signing up for Deleteme now at a special discount for our listeners. Tell them about the discount, Pasci.

[Pashi]

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[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So good, so good, so good.

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[Josh]

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[Josh]

Here we go.

[Pashi]

When you were hitchhiking across the country, do you. Are you very conversational with the people that are driving you, or are you in the back of a truck? Like, do you go long stretches with certain people? Any memories of that trip when you were.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I mean, I remember meeting. I remember one couple and their kids. I think mostly the minute we got a ride from somebody, it was usually in the back of a pickup truck.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Or something that wasn't very comfortable, but we would immediately fall asleep.

[Josh]

Okay, gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

We were sleeping. Yeah. We weren't sleeping anywhere safe. Yeah. We ended up on. At one point, we ended up where the car broke down. We ended up on Stenson beach in San Francisco. I think we got a job there for a while at a gas station or something like that, and then we eventually moved on to San Francisco.

[Pashi]

What was. What was waiting for you in San Francisco or what was the goal for when you got there? There was no goal just to be in San Francisco.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Just to get as far away from Miami as we could, basically.

[Pashi]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, I'm actually from a small, smaller town, it's not so small anymore, called Hialeah in Florida.

[Josh]

Okay. Is that by. Do you feel like you still have that in your DNA, that wandering spirit? Or has for sure, just. Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And does that. I mean, I guess that makes acting A perfect job because I'm assuming you move all over. Yeah. Work.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. I'd never been afraid to travel. I, you know, I was one of those kids, like a lot of us, where once I left, I left. Once I left home, I never went back. Where my sisters revisited home a few times, you know, and stuff like that. Like, I was. The minute I was out the door, I was out the door, but I was still very close to my mom and my stepdad. Very, very close.

[Josh]

And did you go straight from, like, ultimately. So you take this road trip and then you end up in New York and you start studying acting. And is that basically that took right away? That was just it. From there on out, I sat in

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

on a couple of things and thought to myself, you know, I'll bet that if I really put my mind to it, I could do better than what they're doing. You know, I was lucky to see some really bad actors performing.

[Josh]

Interesting. It's so funny.

[Pashi]

It can be inspirational.

[Narrator]

Yeah.

[Josh]

You think you want to see good actors, but those sometimes can make you think, oh, I'm never going to hit those heights. You want to see some duds?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, but, yeah, you want to see some people that really blow it. Like, they're this far away from getting it, but just don't get it.

[Pashi]

And then if audiences are applauding for them, you're like, well, wait a minute.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, well, you kind of are, in a way applauding for them because you're like, God, they're really, really good. And then now they suck. You know what I mean? It's like, they're like, they. They showed me. It's like they did half of the work for me. Like, they showed me how to be good and then not so great.

[Josh]

Right.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So I. All I needed to learn to get to be good and then just keep being good and not never fall into the not so great category.

[Josh]

When you. Were you close with your grandfather? Brooklyn, obviously spent the summers with him. But was he a good hang? Was he like an important, like, father figure as well?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, yeah, he was a. You know, I needed somebody. It was in my. The fa. The father figures in my life were very important. Very, very important because my dad was the dark side of it and not a good father, and I really needed that kind of understanding. And so the men around me. I was very lucky to have adult men around me that acknowledged that I needed some help in that area.

[Josh]

And this was your paternal grandfather in Brooklyn or.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

Got it, got it. What was his name? He was Vincent.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Vincent Yeah.

[Josh]

Gotcha. All right, great.

[Pashi]

And I imagine you own a business. He probably works pretty hard, but when? On weekends or after work. What would leisure time be like with your grandfather?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It was a. It was a good question, actually. I haven't thought about that in a long time. It was. He was a really good cook. He cooked for my grandmother every night for dinner. So as soon as he would get home, he'd wake up in the morning and he would prep dinner before he went to work. So everything was laid out, Everything was ready. So when he came home, I would help him put everything together in the kitchen. And then he would tell me to go away. And then I would. On the stoop, I would hang out on the. Yeah. And then I would hang out on the front stoop until some of my friends passed by, and then we'd hang out. And then, like my mother did in Florida, he had a bell on a handle to ring outside the door, and I could hear it from wherever I was in Brooklyn. I had to come back. But my mom used to do that in Hialeah, too. She used to. For all of us kids. She had this big gold bell on the end of a wooden handle, and she'd step out the back door of the house and ring this bell, and we could hear it from blocks away.

[Pashi]

I bought a bell for Seth and his wife for a house that they have just because they've got three little kids. And if they're out, I was like, well, here, this is your dinner bell. I don't know how often it gets used, but I see it.

[Josh]

It's interesting because it does not work on my kids, but then they'll use it if they want to get my attention. Like, if they can't find me, they just start banging the bell, and I'm like, this has really backfired.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So when they hear the bell, they just go further away.

[Josh]

I don't think they even hear it, Vin. To hear them tell, they don't hear it at all.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Nice. Nice.

[Josh]

Are your grandparents from the same part of Italy?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Everybody was from Napoli.

[Josh]

Gotcha. So have you done Napoli?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And when was the first time you went there, and who did you go with?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

My dad and my grandfather.

[Josh]

Oh, great. Just the three of you?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

There were others with us, but, yeah, that was, like, the main reason, so that I could meet who was left.

[Josh]

And how old were you then? Do you remember?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I was older. I was probably 27, 28.

[Josh]

And now you're a professional actor at this point, right?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yes.

[Josh]

Gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. I started when I was 20.

[Josh]

How old were you? How old were you at full metal jacket?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

24.

[Josh]

Okay, gotcha. So are they. Is this a place where they can sort of show you off a little bit to enable Naples? Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah, that's very nice.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. I mean, they didn't know who I was or anything, but, you know, they

[Josh]

brought the poster along.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I mean, now when I go to Italy, it's. I rarely go, but if I have to go for press or if I just end up there with. While we're traveling in Europe or something, it's. I get treated so well there. It's so sweet. I mean, they're just amazing. Like, they love Americans that make it. You know, Italian Americans that make those, like, great.

[Josh]

Yeah. No, any. I would say, I bet any American whose name ends in an O, they don't even look. They don't even, like, do the work to check.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No, exactly. Exactly.

[Josh]

Well, just embrace it.

[Pashi]

With that trip to Naples, are you sort of just going to people's homes or.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No, we all met at a restaurant.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Pashi]

Yeah, that seems appropriate kind of a thing.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

And do you go see the sights? Are you a tourist as well, or. It's really just about the people.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

We did a little bit of that. It was the first time I'd ever seen Pompeii. We traveled to Pompeii. The first time I ever had a. You know, the. The main trade train station in Napoli is the best pizza you'll ever get in the world. Okay. You know, it's like. It is known as the place for pizza. The birth of pizza.

[Josh]

That's fantastic. Train station pizza feels like. I don't know. That's the dream. It's the dream.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

They served it on a plate. It was so good. It was a good trip. It made me feel more Italian than I've ever felt. Had ever felt previous. Because I don't really identify with my Italian heritage a lot, but especially when I was younger, I just grew up and, you know, raised in the south, and then my grandfather was. Was very, very Italian, but I just never. All of my friends and the culture that I was used to and the arts and stuff, the. I never really waved the Italian flag, you know, a lot when I was a kid. But then as I've gotten older, I've appreciated it more. I love Italy and I love the people there, but I'm sure I was a kid.

[Josh]

Yeah. I mean, I bet if you had been a kid in Brooklyn the whole time, it would have been different, but I guess probably being in Hawaii And Florida, there's less flag waving in general. When you were a young actor in New York, I'm assuming you were living in Manhattan? Is that a safe bet?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And would you see your. Would you go see your grandparents in Brooklyn ever, when you were there?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh, yeah, all the time.

[Josh]

That's great. For meals.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

For meals.

[Josh]

I would imagine as a. As a young actor in Manhattan, if you get a free meal in Brooklyn.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. And my grandfather Vincent, he used to. For me and my sister and my other. The roommates, we were all living on Fulton street in this. It was a one bedroom, but it was a big one bedroom on Fulton street, so I knew how to build sets and all that stuff already. So what I did is, without asking permission with the building, I brought in lumber and plywood and I sectioned off the apartment.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

Into how many rooms? How many people got their own private space?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I turned it into a four bedroom, one bath.

[Josh]

You turned a one into a four? That's a real. And did the other roommates? I mean, again, this is an incredible act of generosity on your part. Were they appreciative of this?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

They didn't give a fuck. They were like, where am I sleeping? Over there?

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Okay, great.

[Josh]

Do you have nostalgia for those early acting years of sleeping in a one that's been turned into a four?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, I do. I mean, it was rough. Sometimes we're rough, you know, it wasn't always that comfy. I remember.

[Josh]

It doesn't sound comfy, Vincent. Just fy.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, well, compared to what I'm about to tell you, it was pretty comfy. I remember there was this couple, this guy, Nigel Ballard, who was a photographer, and his girlfriend, Cheryl Rickson, who was, believe it or not, a playmate of the year.

[Josh]

Okay, woman.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And they were a couple in New York during the disco era, you know, Studio 54 and all that stuff. That was one of the places I actually had a job. I worked there, the back door for a while.

[Josh]

Wow.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

When I was a kid and. But they. I met them because they found me in the park. Central Park. I was sleeping on a bench. I had a 10 speed, and I would wrap my legs around my 10 speed and go to sleep in Central park some.

[Josh]

Now, wait, how old were you then?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I would have been 19, 20. Maybe. Maybe 18, 19, 20. Like right. Right after high school, right after I left San Francisco.

[Josh]

Gotcha. So they saw you with your legs wrapped around a bike, were charmed. They thought, this is just. This is just the roommate we're looking for.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Exactly. No, I think they Felt bad for me. It took them two days to decide. They met me, we had a conversation, and they sat, talked to me for about an hour, and then they came back the next day and they were leaving town and they said, hey, you know, we're willing to let you stay at our place. And I'm like, that'd be great.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. And I ended up staying there. You know, I had a job and everything, you know, like a job I used to do. I used to bodyguard sometimes and work at clubs at the door clubs like the Ritz and Xenon and Studio 54, all those places, you know.

[Josh]

Was it as I would imagine, you know, books could be written by somebody who worked the door at Studio 54? Was it as memorable as I want to believe it was?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yes. None of those stories can be told,

[Josh]

of course, but I just. I just want to know that you have those stories.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No, no, I am.

[Pashi]

Just.

[Josh]

Not that you'll tell them, but that.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I think the biggest story is that none of those stories can be told. Yeah, it is really the biggest story. It was. It was a crazy, crazy time. I was. I had no idea that things like that happened in the world.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And that people behaved like that.

[Pashi]

Well, they didn't. Those things didn't happen in the world. They only happened to happen there, nowhere else.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I think that's a good point. That's a very good point. Yeah.

[Josh]

You never. It wasn't like Planet Hollywood. They didn't open it. Other places did. It was also like, I feel like a shorter run than. Based on its cultural impact all these years later. Like, Studio 54 wasn't around for too long.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I mean, it had a re. It reopened for a little while and then closed again. Yeah, it was like a few years. That's it.

[Josh]

And when you bodyguard, who. Who were the. What sort of people would you bodyguard?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So, I mean, mainly it was like, I would get pulled in on, like, do. With, like, a bunch of other guys doing rock stars and. And mostly rock stars and some actors and. And stuff like that at what I was working. I got a job at the Hard Rock Cafe when it used to be on 57th street back in the day. You. You were in New York, right?

[Josh]

I was in New York not till 2001.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Okay. Okay. But anyway, Hard Rock is now on Broadway, but it used to be on 57th Street. There was this Cadillac coming out of the front. Back of a Cadillac coming out of the back of the building. And, you know, Ackroyd and. And a couple of other guys, you know, they owned. They owned it with.

[Josh]

Right.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

With the main owner. And so I got connections through them. And then when there would be events there, they would. I would work for them kind of a thing and stuff like that. And later. Later, Aykroyd and I ended up in the same movie together called Feeling Minnesota, where he played the. I played Keanu's brother and With Cameron Diaz and. And Ackroyd was the cop. The detective in the. In the movie. And so we were on set one day and got to, you know, together and got to talk about that, and it was nice.

[Josh]

I was gonna ask if you ended up ever working with somebody. Aykroyd, probably one of the better ones to work with, because that guy is a lovely person to have a conversation with.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, absolutely. No, but there were actors that I ended up in movies with that I used to. A couple that I threw out of clubs and stuff.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

I was gonna say. Did that come up again? Did it ever come up?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, I brought it up once. Yeah.

[Josh]

How did they respond? We're not gonna ask you to name names. How did they respond when you said, hey, I threw you out of a club once?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, I brought it up right as the camera was rolling

[Josh]

to help. To help with the dynamic in the scene.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Of course. Only to help.

[Josh]

Right. Of course. You would never undercut another actor.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No, I would never undercut anybody. I'm all for helping.

[Pashi]

It was all Stanislav. So it's part of the method.

[Josh]

He would famously say, if you know something they don't remember, bring it up right before they say it.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

In fact, that's the title of one of his handbooks, I think. Yeah.

[Pashi]

So would things get physical in those sort of bodyguarding or working the door years? Yeah. Did you throw punches? Did you get punches?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No. I mean, I don't want to get too dark about the whole thing, but. No. But I still have flashbacks.

[Josh]

Okay. Wow.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. We were. We were unfortunately involved in some,

[Josh]

you

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

know, bad nights, especially at the Ritz. The Ritz was.

[Josh]

Where was the Ritz?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

The ritz was on 11th, between third and fourth.

[Josh]

Gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It used to be Webster hall, which is Webster hall. Now they change it into the Ritz. It was Webster hall first, then the Ritz, and then Webster hall again. But you can hear this on YouTube actually. There's actually a live recording of one of the biggest riots that ever happened there. It's only audio, but Public Image limited pill. They pil. They did a concert there and they decided without telling anybody. The ritz had a 30 by 30 foot video screen that used to come down in front of the stage and they decided to play behind it in silhouette.

[Josh]

Yeah. And people weren't psyched.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Didn't go over very good. And the mosh pit turned into a few platoons of soldiers and they tore the screen down and jumped on the stage and it got very, very dangerous.

[Josh]

It's interesting, like sort of shame on me. But you know, I'm thinking bouncers. I'm always thinking like one trou, like one person causing trouble. But of course the bad nights are everybody causing trouble because then you're immediately outnumbered.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, no, it wasn't pretty. I mean, there's hospitalization and. Okay, yeah, like bad. Some bad stuff. And, and, and also, you know, people waiting for you outside because of a confrontation they got into and that they got thrown out or something. They would sometimes. Actually a lot of times people would wait for you afterwards and jump you and stuff like that.

[Josh]

I had a moment recently that was so depressing. Not depressing, it was nice. But I was walking and you know, obviously I'm a lot older now, but I used to go to nightclubs in New York City and there was a bouncer that used to work literally 25 years ago when I was going to nightclubs. And I walked by and we made eye contact. He's like, hey. And I was like, I was like, hey, man. I go, you're going to let me in? He goes, you're too old. And I'm like, ah,

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

what a coincidence. That's crazy.

[Josh]

It was great. It was great. I think he was like, I think he was a well known, to this day, very well known famous bouncer. But I was like, I'm really glad. At least he remembers me. He won't let me in.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. I always wonder if people have put two and two together when it comes to me, but I don't.

[Josh]

I mean I had like my, I had my NPR tote. I had a lot of things that would not. You wouldn't want in your nightclub. Hey. We're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by Pocket Hose, the world's number one expandable hose. Hey, Pashi. Hey. Sufi Pocket hose is fantastic. Old fashioned hoses get kinks, they get creases at the spigot. But the Copperheads pocket pivot swivels 360 degrees for full water flow and freedom to water with ease all around your home. When you're done, this rust proof anti burst hose shrinks back down to pocket size for Effortless handling and tidy storage.

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[Josh]

Yeah. It's so small. Cause I remember when I used to bring my old hose around in my pocket, people would say, is that a hose in your pocket? Are you just happy to see me? And I'm like, it's a hose.

[Pashi]

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[Josh]

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[Pashi]

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[Pashi]

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[Josh]

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[Narrator]

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[Josh]

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[Josh]

Here we go.

[Pashi]

Did you ever take sort of a classic vacation? Would you ever go anywhere just for vacation? It sounds like if you were with your grandfather back then. Back just. Yeah. I mean, as a child or in the early days.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Disney World.

[Pashi]

Okay.

[Josh]

All right.

[Pashi]

And that's with your sisters?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

With my mom and my sisters.

[Josh]

And would you do it many times or was it a one time only?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

One time a year.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. She would save up. My mom only saved for two things in her life. A swimming pool. And she eventually got a little kidney shaped swimming pool in the backyard.

[Josh]

Gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And I think she had to save

[Josh]

like $9,000 or something above ground or actually dug in.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, dug in like a cement pool for her. Yeah, she. It was her dream and she got it, which was very sweet. And then later I, when I became successful, I bought her a house in Cape Coral with a bigger pool and all that stuff. But she, she did all that on her own originally. And she was quite something, my mother. She was a real free spirit. She was awesome lady, actually.

[Josh]

Beautiful.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. And she would save for us to go to Disney World every Year.

[Josh]

And was that a drive there, go and drive home that night?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, no, it was like a stay over like two nights at like one of those hotels that are sort of in Disney but like far away. Yeah.

[Josh]

Right.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

And did you. Was that something you looked forward to, the yearly trip?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh my God, I still look forward to it. Yeah.

[Josh]

Yeah. And what were your. What was when you were thinking, when you're driving to Disney, what is the thing that you were most excited about?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

The magic shop.

[Josh]

Oh, interesting. And was that something that you had to save up money for if you wanted to buy something in the magic shop?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, I did. I mowed lawns. Yeah.

[Josh]

Great. And was it, was it actually when you would buy a magic thing at the magic shop, was that something that you would then show to your friends at school?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Yeah. So what happened was, do you really want. Magic is so boring.

[Josh]

I guess that's true. Like to see. It's great to talk about, but I

[Pashi]

mean, so many little kids.

[Josh]

Josh and I are going to do a new podcast called Magic Tricks where people just talk about what you see. We're doing an all audio magic show.

[Pashi]

I think a lot of young performers start with like magic shows at birthday parties.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It's exactly the way I started. It's exactly how I found my comfort on stage. Like, I stopped having like, I never get butterflies in my stomach like before performances or anything. Still to this day I never do. Because of those years of the pressure of a trick going bad on stage.

[Josh]

Right. Cause it's not just being in front of people. Like, that's. I think for a lot of people, you would think that's the hard thing to get over. But I would imagine doing a trick like in a weird way gets you. I don't know, does it get you out of your head as a performer because you're focusing so much on executing the.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, well, there's that. Right. And which is, which is you're spot on. It does preoccupy you, but it's similar to acting in a way because if you are the kind of actor that uses a technique, then that also is keeping your mind off worrying, judging yourself and all that stuff. Because you're just doing the work, you're struggling through the work and then afterwards you're like, you know, what just happened? You know, like whatever. But back then what happened was, I'm going to be brief because again, it's boring.

[Josh]

It hasn't been boring yet. Well, it has not been boring yet. It's been very interesting.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Okay. So my mom Only sent me to camp once in my life, and I went to camp.

[Josh]

Where was the camp?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

There was a camp in. I think it was in North Carolina.

[Josh]

Okay, gotcha.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It was somewhere in the Smoky Mountains somewhere.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

The second day, I was there on the bus. I was sitting next to a kid who had these sponge balls, and he was doing these tricks for everybody on the bus. And I was like. I wasn't really interested in the outcome of the trick. I was interested in how he was doing it. I could see he was doing something and that it was not easy to do, and I wanted to figure out what that was. So I had a few dollars on me and I bought it. I bought the trick from him right there on the bus. $2 for the sponge balls. And he gave me the instructions that he had. He had it in his little backpack.

[Josh]

And

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

so I got really good at that in camp. And then, just by coincidence, I was washing dishes at a diner where my mom used to work that was attached to, like, a grocery store and like this little outdoor mall thing in Hialeah. And I was riding home on my. On my bike one night one day after work. And in the same mall, there was this truck backed up to this store with these. With this Cuban couple unloading the back of this truck. And the boxes had, like, designs on them and things. And so I stopped and asked them what they were doing, and they told me that they were magic. And they had just come over from Cuba and they were opening a magic store and in the mall. And so I asked them if they needed any help, what they were doing, and they said sure. And so I went back to my mom and she was at the diner. She came over and met them. And then I helped them, you know, with what they were doing and befriended them and used to go there every day. And I didn't have any money, but what he did was he. He would lend me the instructions from tricks, and then I would take them home and I would build them myself or make them myself.

[Josh]

Wow.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. And so I started doing shows. And this is where it gets really

[Josh]

boring, by the way. This has been.

[Pashi]

It's not boring at all. Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So I started doing shows, and he gave me this book about Houdini. And I read this book from COVID to cover in one sitting. I read it outside in my shorts and got, like, second degree burns on my legs reading this book. I swear to you, this is all true.

[Josh]

Yeah, I believe it. Now, where would you do a show?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Parties, bar mitzvahs, like, the whole deal.

[Josh]

Oh, so this wasn't like you would set up a folding table in your backyard and have your friends come over. You would actually be for hijacking.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

This is what I did. This is what I did. I took one of the tricks, the mailbag trick that Houdini did.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Which is you get into a mailbag that a person can fit in, and it's got grommets around the top. Gold, Right. And the chain goes in and out of the grommets and pull tight. So they cuff you, you go inside, they pull the thing, they cut, they lock that. And he was pushed in the water. So in this book, it taught you how to do that. Exactly how to do it. So I had one neighbor that used to build billboards, and another neighbor worked for a boating company. So I had. I asked him for free if he would build me a sack out of. Out of what? They used the material they used for sales. Yeah, for boats. And asked the other guy if he would put the grommets in. And my other friend, not, you know, the sale guy, put the grommets in it and stuff. Then I asked the other guy to build me these shackles, the kind that Houdini used. And so with this trick and my mom's friends who were cops because she was a waitress, so she met firefighters. That's in fact, where she met my stepdad. The cops came over, they locked me in the thing, pushed me in the kidney shaped pool, and Live at five recorded me. And I was a working party magician.

[Pashi]

Oh, my gosh.

[Josh]

First of all, every mother's nightmare is you finally afford a pool and your son starts doing Houdini tricks in it.

[Pashi]

Put me in a bag, throw me in there.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

She was so awesome. She would sit with me there, I remember, just sitting on the cement next to the pool and watch me do this thing. And I explained the whole thing. I explained to her how I could never get hurt and stuff like that. But the fact is, in hindsight, I look back and I could have actually killed myself.

[Josh]

So wait, the local news came and filmed it. Is that a Live at five?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

So they. How old are you when you're doing your magic tricks?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

That would have been like 14.

[Josh]

Oh, my God. So you're 14. The local news does a story and then you just start getting hired to do magic shows.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, yeah. And. And I. I was so. I was doing so good that the. The magician's ring, it's like a union. International union of magicians. I don't know if it still Exists or anything. I'm not in that world, but.

[Josh]

And you stop paying your dues, obviously.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It's probably that. Yeah.

[Pashi]

You're in arrears.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

They invited me, and I got to be the youngest magician, I guess, in Florida at the time, I guess, to be in the studio. So I went there, and I even learned more, and I could actually borrow illusions from people and do them.

[Josh]

But then they were based in Florida.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

That's fantastic.

[Pashi]

What other boring stories do you have?

[Josh]

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, Vincent, that story might be my favorite movie of the year. The fact that the whole community pitched in. Cops came over.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It was pretty cool. It was pretty cool.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

But it was something that was normal because, you know, during the Vietnam War, my sisters, I took their lead. Of course, they were older than me, but we used to put on these shows in our backyard, and people from the neighborhood would bring canned food and stuff that we would then send to Vietnam and stuff like that.

[Josh]

Wow.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So we were used to, like. I was used to doing that kind of a thing.

[Josh]

And what kind of shows were those? Be that.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Variety. Variety shows.

[Josh]

Variety shows. That's great.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Yeah. Music, sketches.

[Josh]

Would you do. Would you write your own sketches, or would you like everything by us? Oh, my God.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Even the music. And, you know, my drum set was three garbage cans turned upside down and some buckets.

[Josh]

How many people. What's the most amount of people that showed up for a performance?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Like 10 or 12.

[Josh]

That's still pretty awesome. I mean, you were set to go as a performer. Like, it feels like these are incredible building blocks that you had. Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

You know, when you look back at it, it's definitely was in the cards, I guess, you know, some kind of version. Some kind of version of the arts, you know?

[Josh]

How many times did you perform the mailbag trick?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Once.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Just that time.

[Josh]

Oh, so you just did that. So then that got you into the game. Got it.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. That was the plan. Yeah.

[Josh]

Fantastic. Were you at all nervous during the execution of the mailbag trick when you were in the water? Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yes.

[Josh]

Which I assume is not what you want to be feeling.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No. I mean, if you knew how. If you knew how the trick worked.

[Josh]

Right.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

It's only dodgy for a few seconds.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

And if those few seconds pass by, you're good.

[Josh]

All right.

[Pashi]

Have you ever been to the Magic Castle in Los Angeles?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I have a couple of times. Yeah. Yeah.

[Pashi]

I mean, there's definitely still that society, but it's. Yeah, it's a fun night out, but,

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

you know, to get back to the point. The point is, is that by the time I was doing, helping my dad in community theater and stuff like that, I always felt comfortable on stage. I was never acting, but I was. The stage was just never seemed like a barrier, you know, Like, I, I, I remember the first time I did do a play, I couldn't believe, like, how comfortable I actually was.

[Josh]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

On stage, you know, I was uncomfortable with other things about it, but I was not comfortable. Uncomfortable being on stage, coming on in my queue, you know, the whole technical aspects of doing a play, I was always very comfortable with all that.

[Josh]

Did you, could you tell that that was unique, that there were other people in those productions that were nervous?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Which is why I was able to recognize something different in myself.

[Josh]

Yeah. That you were maybe wired for it.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, then I was that. I think I knew, I think I've always known that. Those early years of helping my dad on the stage and meeting all those actors and seeing a lot of bad acting, like I was saying, and then the magician, I think all of it, I think I've always been aware that all of it has been extremely helpful.

[Josh]

Yeah. I mean, I would imagine being in a mailbag, in a pool, you're like, how hard can the rest of it be? You mentioned, like, the trauma and nightmares of rough nights in New York. I both want to blame you and applaud you. One of my favorite episodes of television of all time is the subway. The homicide.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh, wow.

[Josh]

Life on the street. And because I live in New York City, I also think about it literally every single time I'm on a subway platform. I highly recommend one of the great episodes of all time.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Andre Braugher was amazing to work with, and what a piece. That was extraordinary. I think it, the script won like a Peabody Award.

[Josh]

Yeah. It's really, I mean, not for the faint of heart, but they, and they just started streaming that show for the first time, and it was. You couldn't get your hands on it, but it's on Peacock now, and it's one of my favorite shows of all time.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Cool to know. I didn't do that.

[Josh]

And you're just such a tremendous Wilson Fisk as the comic book fan. You don't like that. Comic book fan of the Miners.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

You don't watch that show.

[Josh]

I love that show. I love.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No, you don't watch it.

[Josh]

I love that show.

[Pashi]

He's, he's, he's very comic, forward.

[Josh]

And I like, I'm gonna say something. Just. You know what? I'll say it for you. Everybody All I, you know, I like the TV shows a little bit more than, than the movies in the current, you know.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh]

Marvel Universe.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, I think we have a long, we have a better shot at getting it right.

[Josh]

Well, because that's. Comic books are, you know, they have that, you know, sequential thing. So. Yeah, it's very nice.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, I'm glad you like it. I'm surprised that you watch it.

[Josh]

I do. I like that stuff. It's, you know, and also it's very fun now to, you know, I got boys who are into that kind of stuff and once you can find stuff to watch with them.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

So I've always, I've always been. And I truly mean this. This is not bullshit. Like, I've, I've always been completely fascinated by what, what you do for a living.

[Josh]

Oh, thank you. Like, it's a, I'm delighted to be doing it, I'll tell you that.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

You know, your whole trajectory and I just, it's so foreign to me. You know, it, it's. I, there's, there's a couple of things that, that confuse me about it. Like, I don't, I don't know why I've never done a talk show.

[Josh]

Have you never done a talk show?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

No.

[Pashi]

I'm sure they'd have.

[Josh]

Craziest thing I've ever. Yeah. By the way, get ready for a call now.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I did. You know, I see all my friends doing them and, you know, they actually have personalities.

[Josh]

I find that you do have one. You're being a little hard on yourself

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

and I find it. I just, I love when they succeed. I don't know, it's a crazy thing to think about, but. No, I think the closest, you know, who I did do back way long time ago was like one of the first Jon Stewart Comedy Central shows.

[Josh]

Right, right, right.

[Pashi]

He had lovely Daily Show. Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah. Like really, really early on when it wasn't quite the show it turned out to be later on when it first

[Josh]

started because it was more of a culture show with Craig Kilborne. And then John took a while to shape it.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, I did the Kilborn shows once too. And then I went back and did it for Jon Stewart. Yeah, that's the, that's the closest I've ever come.

[Josh]

Mind boggling.

[Pashi]

It really is. What is like when we, you know, when you pop up on the zoom. I was like, I don't know what his, like, vibe is going to be. And I think very friendly. Very, very.

[Josh]

For someone who can be very menacing on screen. How old are your children now,

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

so 30, gonna be 34. My daughter, I think my son 21, son 26 and the other 18.

[Josh]

And are they nearby you or they spread a field?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

They're all circle around me constantly, you know. My daughter's name is Layla George. She's a very successful actress right now.

[Josh]

Oh, that's great. That's very nice.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

She's doing really well. She's just doing job after a job. It's fantastic.

[Josh]

See, it's in your DNA from your dad on down.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I hope so.

[Josh]

It happens. It happens.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

My oldest son, the 25 year old's also getting into it now. Hopefully he'll get a shot like his, like his sister did. And I don't think my 18 year old, I don't think he's gonna, I don't think he's gonna do it. I think he's gonna do something different. I hope he does.

[Josh]

I had my, all three of my children as guests on my show for the Thanksgiving Day episode.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh, that's nice.

[Josh]

And they were nine. They're nine, seven and four.

[Pashi]

And it wasn't if they can do it, you can do it.

[Josh]

Yes.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Was that fun for you or nervous?

[Josh]

It was, it was ner. I was very nervous and I had not told them it was going to happen and. But it was, it turned out so wonderful. But also, like, I fully just gave them the bug, you know, like the minute it was over, they're like, we gotta do that again soon. Like, they just loved it. They loved it.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

But again, it looks like it's fun and it is. So when your kids are like, I think I want to do that, you're like, yeah, I can't blame you.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, exactly.

[Josh]

Yeah. This has been fantastic and thank you so much for being here. And now Josh, though, before you go, is going to ask our speed round questions.

[Pashi]

Oh, all right, here we go. You can only pick one of these. Is your ideal vacation relaxing Adventurous or educational?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Relaxing.

[Pashi]

What is your favorite means of transportation?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Oh, wow. Driving a truck.

[Pashi]

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?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Wow, that's cool. Other than my family?

[Pashi]

Yeah. Can't be your family.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Well, there's probably hundreds of them from history, but honestly, the first one that comes to mind is Dax and Kristen's family.

[Josh]

Oh, yeah. Great. Very good choice.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Good. They're friends of mine and I love them to death and I stay with them when I'm in la. Yeah.

[Josh]

Also I just feel like, it's a lot of, like, I don't know, like party boats. I just feel like they have like

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

a real, you know, they know how to have fun.

[Josh]

Yeah, they're like people of means who aren't fancy.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

That, that would be a good description.

[Josh]

Yeah, I like that.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

But they all, you know, the, the, the thing about the way I like to lead my life and, and I believe the way that they leave their life is that the, their, the way to have fun can be really simple sometimes, you know, and, and with all the right people, it's just 10 times more fun. But that's the answer to that question. Is that all of them or is there more?

[Pashi]

No, no, no, there's a couple more. If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one member of your family, who would it be?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Other than my wife?

[Pashi]

No, your wife works.

[Josh]

You can take your wife.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Pashi]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

My wife. Yeah.

[Pashi]

What is your dream destination for a family vacation?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Disney World.

[Pashi]

And then what's your hometown?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Hialeah.

[Josh]

Hialeah.

[Pashi]

If you had to get more families to come visit Hialeah, what would you tell them about the town?

[Josh]

This is the hardest question we've. Based on Vincent's reaction. This is the hardest question we've asked.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

There's really not much. There's just really not much.

[Josh]

There's at least one kidney shaped pool.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

There's a kidney shaped pool. This'll be very exciting for everybody. There's the old house that I, that I grew up in. Sure.

[Josh]

Okay.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

That we could drive by and look at. I don't think they would allow us in the yard or anything, but we could just sit in the street and look at it.

[Josh]

That's great.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I think that would draw. I think there's a draw there.

[Narrator]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh]

I'll just say, like, there's going to be a lot of traffic on the road to Hialeah now that this is out.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, 78th Street's going to be packed bumper to bumper.

[Pashi]

Then Seth has our final questions.

[Josh]

Vincent, have you been to the Grand Canyon?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I haven't.

[Josh]

Would you like to go?

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I would.

[Josh]

Okay. It seems like you're a guy who would enjoy the Grand Canyon based on everything we've heard so far.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

I mean, I would probably get bored after a few minutes, but that's what it's like. You can't really do anything, right. You can just look at it, right?

[Pashi]

Well, you can go. You could hike into it. You could camp. You can.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah.

[Josh]

But I think for people like you and I, Vincent, and you look and get bored. But then the rest of your life, at least people aren't breathing down your neck about how the fact you haven't never been.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Yeah, nobody's going to get me to hike into the Grand Cave.

[Josh]

I don't think anybody should try.

[Pashi]

They haven't yet. From the sounds of it, if I

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

ever get asked, I'm going to, you know, I'll give them your number.

[Josh]

Okay, good.

[Pashi]

Yeah.

[Josh]

I'm very excited about season two of Daredevil, Born Again, that premieres on March 24th. Thanks so much for being here, man. This has been just the best conversation.

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

All right, well, I appreciate it. It's so nice to meet both of you. Lovely to talk to two brothers. It's so awesome. Anyway, take care, you guys.

[Pashi]

Thank you so much.

[Josh]

Thanks, man.

[Narrator]

Summer he'd go to Brooklyn

[Josh]

hang out

[Narrator]

with his grandfather who was also Vincent. He worked at General drapery Started by sweeping up but as he got older got to drive the trucks and made a couple bucks Sometimes he worked the studio 54 turned a one bedroom into four but back when he was 10 summer he went to camp and then at Disneyland got into magic

[Vincent D'Onofrio]

Would buy

[Narrator]

some tricks was good and magic got good Houdini and he studied it they put him on the news he had a big plan with the mailbag trick he would become a magician and impress the chicks A neighbor built him a big sack Inside it he was stuffed a chain through the grommets Also he was cuffed into the pool Was shoved was filmed for live at 5 only had to survive and he he emerged alive so tight A new day it had dawned no more mowing lawns he had it going on Abracadabra Vincent did magic on stage he didn't panic A big debut Vincent did magic Vomits the magic Vincent did magic knew what to do Vincent did magic.