RE-RELEASE - Bryan Cranston

Summary

Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade

Episode: RE-RELEASE - Bryan Cranston (March 18, 2026)
Podcast Host: Audacy

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Episode Overview

This lively episode features award-winning actor Bryan Cranston joining comedians Dana Carvey and David Spade. Together, they dive deep into Cranston’s career—touching on his comedic roots, his legendary turn in "Breaking Bad," reflections on "Malcolm in the Middle," and his work with auteur directors like Wes Anderson. The episode is rich with advice for aspiring performers, hilarious personal anecdotes, and candid reflections on celebrity, craft, and the unpredictability of Hollywood life.

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Key Discussion Points & Highlights

Bryan Cranston’s Career Turning Points

• Recognition and "Making It"

  • Cranston shares his career trajectory from ambitious young actor scraping by, through steady work in soap operas, to TV stardom on "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Breaking Bad."
  • On achieving "I made it" status:

    “When you first start out, you have tremendous ambition, but low opportunity... If you get really lucky... the opportunities grow sometimes larger than the ambition.”
    —Bryan Cranston (06:21)

  • Cranston credits his soap opera gig at 25 as foundational, marking when he began acting full time.
  • He discusses the pivotal importance of being able to say no, trusting his agents to only forward compelling scripts.

• Pivot to Acting & Early Struggles

  • Considered a career in law enforcement, but a pivotal acting class and subsequent soul-searching road trip redirected his life (29:00–31:00).
  • His first gig delivering a hefty paycheck—joining SAG in 1979, working commercials, community and dinner theater (31:27).
  • On luck: “Luck has a weird way of working. So just when something happens that you think is bad luck, it may be putting you in a position to have better luck. You don’t know.” —Bryan Cranston (60:11)

Reflections on Comedy, Standup, and SNL

• Comedy Roots

  • Cranston dabbled in standup for nine months as a way to conquer fear, rising “from terrible to mediocre,” but realized his true passion was inhabiting characters (11:54–15:01).
  • Dana and David share their own early struggles—Carvey’s long grind to SNL, Spade’s slow progress from standup to sitcoms (08:40–10:52).

• Saturday Night Live (SNL) Memories

  • Cranston reminisces about hosting and the chaotic, surreal behind-the-scenes process, including fake pitch meetings and frenzied writing (47:21, 51:21).
  • On the SNL host’s experience: “That 90 minutes was over in... it felt like two seconds.” —Bryan Cranston (57:35)
  • Advice from Steve Higgins: “Trust the cards. Don’t think you can go off the cards... And second, don’t try to be perfect. Allow it to... just be wherever it’s going to go.” (56:32)
  • Monologue written by John Mulaney, inspired by public quasi-recognition (“Are you the guy from Malcolm in the Middle?”) (51:28–52:07).

• Imposter Syndrome & Success

  • Cranston humbly admits to lingering "imposter syndrome," never fully feeling like he belongs among his acting idols (16:23).
  • Dana jokes about the absurdity of being recognized and the cyclical journey of celebrity.

On "Breaking Bad," "Malcolm in the Middle," and Iconic Roles

• Transition from Comedy to Drama

  • Hosts marvel at Cranston’s rare range, flipping from goofball dad Hal in “Malcolm” to troubled antihero Walter White in “Breaking Bad” (03:23–04:28).
  • Cranston’s favorite line (“I am the danger”) and the lasting resonance of the show (58:27).

• Stories from Set and Industry Wisdom

  • Importance of welcoming guest actors and making newcomers comfortable:

    “I would always try to greet every co-star... number one, it’s the right thing to do... number two, it also helps your show.” —Bryan Cranston (23:34)

  • The philosophy shift: stop treating auditions like desperate job interviews; instead, “Go in there to do a job, not to get a job.” (24:44–27:33)

• Behind the Scenes: Malcolm In The Middle Reboot

  • Disney+ is reviving the series with four new episodes (43:51).
  • Cranston persistently lobbied creator Linwood Boomer for a decade before a reboot was greenlit (44:18–44:48).
  • Not all former cast return—Eric Per Sullivan (Dewey) opted out to pursue a master’s at Harvard (46:00).

Working with Wes Anderson & Movie Anecdotes

• The Artistry and Oddity of Anderson Sets

  • On “Phoenician Scheme” and “Asteroid City”:

    “Wes Anderson is probably the most un-Texan like Texan you’ve ever met... He’s very erudite and polite.” —Bryan Cranston (33:40)

  • Anderson’s sets have no traditional trailers, just communal tents, shared dinners, and shorter working hours, creating a unique, intimate cast experience (38:22–39:05).
  • Everyone is paid the same, fostering camaraderie and connection (38:04–38:11).

• Film-Set Camaraderie

  • Wes Anderson travels Europe by bus and prefers working on the continent to avoid flying (37:13–37:23).

• Screenwriting and Directing Styles

  • On working with exacting writer-directors:

    “You missed this one word here... but that’s the way I wrote it.”—David Spade (40:17)

Memorable Quotes

• On the "I Made It" Moment:

  “It was from that moment on, at 25, that I’ve only worked as an actor since.” —Bryan Cranston (07:47)

• On Comedy:

  “I rose from being terrible to being mediocre... That’s a big jump.” —Bryan Cranston (11:54)

• On Imposter Syndrome:

  “There is that imposter syndrome… I don’t always know what I’m doing, but people think I do.” —Bryan Cranston (16:23)

• On Taking Compliments:

  “What do you say now?” “Thank you.” —Dana Carvey & Bryan Cranston (22:03)

• On Auditions:

  “Go in there to do a job, not to get a job.” —Bryan Cranston (27:33)

• On Luck:

  “Luck has a weird way of working. Just because you think something’s bad luck, it may be putting you in a position to have better luck. You don’t know.” —Bryan Cranston (60:11)

Lighter Moments and Banter

• Club Official in "Clean Slate"

  • Cranston played a “very pivotal role of club official” in Dana Carvey’s post-SNL film "Clean Slate" (41:26–41:39).
  • Banter around embarrassing auditions, bombed readings (Dana in front of Paul Newman), and bizarre SNL fake pitches (e.g., endless “Trevor!” at Starbucks), which show the humility and humanity in show business (26:19–27:24, 48:18–48:56).

• Hosting SNL — Opening Nerves

  “I’m standing there going, oh my God. I’m about to host Saturday Night Live. Oh, my God.” —Bryan Cranston (57:50)

• Dana’s Dream About Henry Fonda

  • Dana gifts Bryan with a dream “endorsement” from Henry Fonda:

    “He’s as good as anybody’s ever been. He sure knows his way around a camera.” (61:01–61:42)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 06:21 — Cranston on career ambition and opportunity
• 08:40–10:52 — Dana & David recount their SNL breakthroughs
• 11:54 — Cranston on brief, brave standup career
• 16:23 — Imposter syndrome and acting heroes
• 23:34 — Importance of supporting guest actors on set
• 24:44–27:33 — Mindset shift about auditions and acting jobs
• 31:27 — Breaking into SAG and first real paychecks
• 33:40 — Working with Wes Anderson
• 43:51 — "Malcolm in the Middle" revival on Disney+
• 51:28 — SNL monologue and public recognition
• 56:32 — SNL advice: trust the cue cards and don’t seek perfection
• 57:50 — The surreal moment before stepping out as SNL host
• 58:27 — Legendary “I am the danger” line from Breaking Bad
• 60:11 — The role of luck in show business

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Final Takeaways

Bryan Cranston’s conversation with Dana Carvey and David Spade is a whirlwind of laughs, humility, and hard-earned wisdom. He encourages emerging artists to conquer their fears, become comfortable with uncertainty, and focus on the process over the outcome—while staying open to the serendipity that defines a life in entertainment. The playful dynamic between the three, laced with industry “war stories,” makes this episode a must-listen for aspiring performers and fans of Cranston’s eclectic, celebrated career.

Transcript

[David Spade]

I just have to tell you, Dana, there's something I'm excited about. Now, you remember we talked about Jury Duty, the show. Oh, season one. Yeah, yeah. And that one, I saw it on Tick Tock. And then it was kind of a word of mouth thing. It blew up. It was funny. And it actually all pulled together, which I was shocked. They pulled that thing together.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

And I was like, will they do it again? And they did.

[Dana Carvey]

Cool. I think that's very cool.

[David Spade]

It was set in the courtroom the first time. And this is going to be a company retreat. Yeah. Yeah. Jury Duty presents Company Retreat. It takes this groundbreaking social experiment out of the courthouse. Stay with me, Dana.

[Dana Carvey]

I got it.

[David Spade]

And drops it into the most relatable setting ever. Company corporate retreat. And if you've ever survived that awkward team building exercises or a trust fall with co workers, you. You know the vibe.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. I mean, this is an inspired idea, I gotta say. After Jury Duty to put it in a company retreat. This season follows Anthony, a real temp hired by Rock and Grandma's Hot Sauce for their annual retreat. Right there.

[David Spade]

They should figure it out. Rock and Grandma's Hot Sauce.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, I know, it's. Except he has no idea the entire thing is staged around him.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

It's a workplace comedy meets hidden camera. And it's unpredictable, it's authentic. It's so full of heart. The stakes are higher, the laughs are bigger, and it still celebrates the goodness in people. And here's the wild part. Rock and Grandma's Hot Sauce. They're actually making it.

[David Spade]

Okay.

[Dana Carvey]

And the flavors will be available on Amazon.

[David Spade]

Oh, my God. I wonder if they started that first or if they. They just made up that name and then it sounded funny. But it's going to get a lot of attention and. But you know, this thing. I'm kind of glad they didn't do it in the courtroom again because someone would figure that out, I would think.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, I don't think they could do it in the courtroom. I think the company retreat is the next best one. Yeah.

[David Spade]

It's hard to think of where to do it, but they did a good job. So looking forward to that.

[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

Brian Cranston.

[David Spade]

Wow. You know, it's very rare to have someone go from Malcolm in the Middle, which is a very funny show, very culty funny, and flip into Breaking Bad. I mean, a million things in between,

[Dana Carvey]

but the two that come and then. And now back to Malcolm.

[David Spade]

Yeah, back to Malcolm.

[Dana Carvey]

The show is back. I've seen some running around in his underpants. Yeah. So he's like, he's like a. He's totally like a regular guy. Like he doesn't wear Brian Krantz like any kind of ego. He just sort of. But man, Breaking Bad was, I mean, you know, arguably one of the best acting things has ever been recorded.

[David Spade]

I talked to someone yesterday who says they're re watching Breaking Bad for real.

[Dana Carvey]

That's something. Just kind of like the Sopranos, everyone. Yeah, you can re watch it if. But to be able to do broad comedy and get big laughs and then do Breaking Bad, which got so dark and so scary and weird is such a range. But yeah, he's a fun guy to talk to. He's very real smart guy.

[David Spade]

Yeah. Very light, likes to laugh, likes the comedian world and just wants to crack up. So we had a blast with them. And I think Malcolm in the Middle is on presently. So you can see him in that. Here he is, Brian Cranston.

[Dana Carvey]

Don't say anything. He can't hear us yet. He can't hear us yet.

[Bryan Cranston]

I can't hear anything.

[David Spade]

Not one thing.

[Dana Carvey]

This guy.

[David Spade]

Brian Cranston.

[Dana Carvey]

Brian Cranston is a name you want to say. It feels good to say it. Brian Cranstoun. Our whole goal is not to bore you. So how's it going so far? I think we're going.

[David Spade]

You know, I just watched your monologue of Brian Cramston. Oh, Brian Cranberry, the snl mano God.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, God. Thanks for coming on. You're a, you know, you're, you're, you're Brian Cranston. When did you first realize that? Like, I'm Brian Cranston.

[David Spade]

Yeah. When do you put fucking in it?

[Dana Carvey]

When did you kind of go, hey, I'm Bryan Cranston. I'm Brian Cranston. I'm Brian Cranston. Yeah, I want to know the moment, because we don't have real structure here. I'm assuming sometime during Breaking Bad. It must have hit you at some point. This is fantastic. This show's great. And I'm. I think I'm really killing it here. This is. This is. You know what I mean? You must have had a moment, or maybe it was a gradual series of moments. When I got an snl, it worked out for me. I was sort of like, oh, wow, I'm actually on snl, and it's doing pretty well for me. So the same kind of thing. Was that. Was it there or was it Malcolm in the Middle? Was it. Was it Seinfeld or, I assume Breaking Bad? I'll let you talk.

[David Spade]

There you go.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, you know, I mean, those elevations along the way when you're hoping that you have opportunity. I think I started to talk to some young actors a while ago and also those of us who have been around a while, and I said, I think I realized what it was. When you first start out, you have tremendous ambition, but low opportunity and. Right. It's like you want to conquer everything, but it's like the. You're struggling to find an audition, and then if you get really lucky, as we all have, I think the opportunities grow sometimes larger than the ambition. And that's where I find myself now, is putting out the same amount of energy but going, oh, my God, okay, yes, I will read that script. I will get to that at some point. I instruct my agents now. I said, listen, please don't send me anything that you don't really love. So, you know, let them do that work. To be able to say, no, this script is really, really great, so you should take a look at it. But I think it's a question I actually had for you, for both of you.

[David Spade]

Thank you.

[Bryan Cranston]

Can I do that? Can I?

[Dana Carvey]

We love. We love that.

[David Spade]

We like it better.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, it's better for us.

[Bryan Cranston]

You know the interesting thing of when you feel like you've. You've made it. When I was 25 years old, I got a job on a soap opera here in New York. And, you know, it's churn, man. You're just one script. You do the script, you throw it out, read so hard. Next day Next day, next day, next day. It's. It's a lot of churn that you're going through. But there was something about feeling like, oh, man, I could do this. I feel like I can do this. And it was from that moment on, at 25, that I've only worked as an actor since. And so I wanted to find out from you guys if that's the way you felt when you got on snl. Did something click? Did you cross over a threshold that you went, holy shit, this is it for me?

[Dana Carvey]

David?

[David Spade]

My answer would be, it was such a slow grind. I think Dana popped quicker on snl, but I was doing standup. Then I got on an HBO Young Comedians. Then I got on snl. Then I was a writer first. So it took me to getting through SNL and having to make one more jump to something that worked because I wasn't quite solidified yet. You can always make one misstep off SNL and you get one free pass. Hey, we'll give you a movie, we'll give you a TV show or something. And if that doesn't work, to generate that heat again is so hard. And so I got to a sitcom, and then when the sitcom started to work, that one old one just shoot me. It was probably on around one years or something. But when that got to, like, year three, I started to breathe again and go, okay, this might be what I do, you know, I don't think I'm going back now. But when was yours, Dana? Because that would have took that long, to be honest.

[Dana Carvey]

Um, I bombed a lot. You know, I just started doing standup. There wasn't Groundlings or theater groups up in San Francisco in those days, so I was doing standup. But I didn't find out until 10 years later, literally almost from my first set to getting snl, like, oh, this is where I belong. So when I got on SNL and I'd done these characters as a standup, and then I put the wig on and the dress with Church Lane stuff, it was like, this is. This is really fun. We'll talk about when you host it, but. And also your lbj, which is, I think, is extraordinary. I was watching you do one of

[David Spade]

the best LBJ's out there.

[Dana Carvey]

Well, the only one where you.

[David Spade]

You Fred Travelina, and, well, he was

[Dana Carvey]

doing it as an actor. I mean, I know. I know Hollywood wanted to use me. I. I screen tested for Amadeus, you know.

[David Spade]

For real?

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did a sitcom with Mickey Rooney Nathan Lane in New York City when I was 25 years of age at Studio 6A in Rockefeller Center. And then eight years later, I got on the there. So to answer your question shortly, it's like, once I got in snl, I felt like a fish in water, like I really belong here, you know? And so that was. That was it for me, you know?

[Bryan Cranston]

How old were you then, Dana?

[Dana Carvey]

I was 51. No, I was. I was 31. And my first set in a shitbox comedy club where these comedians came up, and I thought, well, they're not that great. It was a. No, it was in Berkeley, and I. And I. I scrolled on a nap and I do a Howard Cosell, I do John Wayne, you know, and then a guy came up and levitated the room, and it was Rob Williams. And then I crumpled the paper or the napkin, put it back in my pocket because I didn't know there was only one of him. But basically it was the classic 10 years of this. But the standups always have a baseline, like a band. You just go back to the clubs, go to the theaters, do stand up. So it's. It's a nice little side job.

[Bryan Cranston]

It is. It's foundational for you. I did stand up for about nine months back in 1980. 81. And I did it only because it scared the shit out of me.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

What you guys do was. Was something that terrified me. So I thought, wow, the only way I'm. I'm ever going to get over this fear of it is to dive in. So I rose from being terrible to being mediocre. In. In those.

[David Spade]

That's a big jump.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, it's a big jump. It is.

[David Spade]

And stand up.

[Dana Carvey]

It is big.

[David Spade]

Everyone do the job.

[Dana Carvey]

Get.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Consistent laughs.

[David Spade]

You know. Was it New York?

[Bryan Cranston]

It was in LA. Oh, in LA, back in 81, when they had. There were places like the Playboy Club was. Was there in Century City, the last stop, of course, the Comedy Store.

[David Spade]

And improv is laugh stop in Newport.

[Bryan Cranston]

There was.

[Dana Carvey]

It was.

[David Spade]

There was one in Newport right then

[Bryan Cranston]

there was one in the Valley, where I had a great night. My best night was in the Valley. I did. I love it, you know, about eight minutes or something. And killed. I got in my car, I drove to the improv. I begged the guy, you got to get me on oh, no, My fire.

[Dana Carvey]

Brian.

[Bryan Cranston]

He says, well, I could stick around because someone may not show up. And so.

[David Spade]

Come on, you're blowing it.

[Bryan Cranston]

I know.

[Dana Carvey]

So I.

[Bryan Cranston]

So he says, I think. I think. What's his name? He's not going to show up. So in about 45 minutes. You can go on. Okay, okay. 45 minutes. 45 minutes. I walked around the block in that neighborhood. I walked around the block in that neighborhood doing my set, just trying to recall it exactly as I did it. That got such a great reaction, and I felt great, and I got up. It wasn't the same. Not the same.

[David Spade]

Yes. It's so weird. Crowds are like fingerprints. They just, they're all a little bit different. And then you go, I just was on the road, and I'm like, one night, these three jokes work the best. The next thing, these three. So overall, it's about the same, but you go, why, why didn't they bite on that? Did I say it wrong? Is a different attitude, different something about it. It just, it didn't work.

[Bryan Cranston]

And you could, you could drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh.

[Bryan Cranston]

Anyway, and I started, I, I started turning down auditions because I was drinking too much. You know, I was in the clubs and. And if I had a good night, someone would offer me a drink. If I had a bad night, someone would offer me a drink.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, yeah.

[David Spade]

And they're all free, which is great.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah. And you're just going. And then sleeping until noon or one and turning down auditions. And finally I just went, wait a minute, wait a minute. What am I doing? And I realized that what you guys had innately was not me. It was not in my being. I was trying to overcome a fear, and all of a sudden I realized, wait a minute, I did that. Oh, let me go back to.

[David Spade]

That was the point. Yeah, you did that. Which is a huge thing I remember. Does it scare you with acting? Does it scare you? Or is it the fact you have a few takes so it's a little easier?

[Bryan Cranston]

Well, it's, it's just a different muscle, Right? You, you, and you, you're attracted to certain types of performing, and you find something that you do well, and it's, you know, inspiring. I, I, I didn't, I didn't wake up thinking, oh, I gotta get on stage and try to tell this joke. I, I love being different people and getting into their skin and doing the research and figuring out what made that guy tick and why was he important and all that.

[David Spade]

So, what, are the police coming to your house right now?

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, we, that's usually a, that's from our parent company. It's just saying, pick up the podcast a little bit. It's a little bit of.

[David Spade]

They put a siren in a little bit.

[Bryan Cranston]

Like, I gotta go.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm just curious for a second because you become one of our great actors. It sort of maybe happened secretly or whatever, but I know you would never put yourself, probably with your, your nature into the, the people you watch growing up, you know, and then you realize, you must realize at some point you're doing work as good or better than a lot of your heroes.

[David Spade]

Right?

[Dana Carvey]

I'm talking, I know what age group we're in. You know, there's, you're the people.

[David Spade]

Spencer Guy now in Spencer Tracy would have loved you.

[Dana Carvey]

Jimmy Stewart. I just. So that's kind of surreal, isn't it?

[Bryan Cranston]

To realize that I, I, I still don't feel that. I don't know, maybe it's just the way I was raised, but there is that imposter syndrome that I think many people go through, that you go, wait a minute. I don't, I don't always know what I'm doing, but people think I do.

[David Spade]

You can get away with a lot.

[Bryan Cranston]

Oh, my God.

[David Spade]

Your acting choices are, like, so genius. I forgot my line.

[Bryan Cranston]

It's throwing a dart. Yeah, that stutter you did. I was searching for the word I didn't remember.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, when you spaced out when you

[David Spade]

looked off, you know, so real. One of my favorite things we've ever created for this podcast was a set of custom T shirts for our team. Remember that? We had the hoodies. We had the sweats. When that arrived, I remember seeing everyone put it on, thinking, this is really happening. We're a small business now.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes, yes.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

Look at these.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

I've heard all my stuff.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

Oh, Brian, you're killing it.

[David Spade]

Oh, my God, that's so great.

[Dana Carvey]

People are gonna love it.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, that's funny.

[David Spade]

That's so funny.

[Bryan Cranston]

When he was hired for Breaking Bad, he hadn't seen the show yet, and I just ribbed him about that ago. So he got hired to be on a show and the episodes were readily available to you, but you chose readily. You chose not to be. So anyway, but he, he, he learned quickly. And boy, what a, what a lovely thing that's happened to him, you know?

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

And I, you know, when he, when he was offered Better Call Saul, he asked if he can go out to lunch with me. And I said, sure. And he said, I'm not that guy. I'm not the hey, follow me, I'll lead you to the promised land kind of guy. And I said, you know, I don't know that I was that either, but there is the need for that person to kind of take care, to kind of be the dad of a, of a company, of a show. You're number one on a call sheet. It's kind of saying, there it is for you to take.

[David Spade]

It's like quarterback.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Look up to you even. Whether you don't know you know it or not.

[Bryan Cranston]

Exactly. So I said there's, there's a, going to be a vacuum. If you don't take it, someone else will or it'll be taken up by someone who you don't necessarily think is, is the right person, you know, so it's, you know, just. I said when I, when I first started getting some comments of my work, I used to push back, hey, you're really good. No, no, no. I used to say that. Oh, you're a, you're a really becoming a television star. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm just an actor. Just. And I found it did terrible things. First of all, it made the person wrong, which is not a good thing, feel bad, force them to, to then continue the fight.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm being serious. So what do you say now?

[Bryan Cranston]

Thank you.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Yeah, thank you.

[Dana Carvey]

That's it.

[David Spade]

You don't want to go on a set and be run by number nine in the call sheet.

[Dana Carvey]

Let me ask you a question about the. And I don't know. I know the Malcolm in the Middle is in that, but was. You were the lead, lead in Breaking Bad and you were in the flow all day long. I mean, the, the pacing of yourself. But also when you're someone who comes in and does a guest spot or has one line, you're waiting all day. That's. I mean, you get into a flow, right, where you're just that character for so many hours. Is it harder? Better? Obviously it's. How do you hand. How do you handle the sheer exhaustion and do you get almost hypnotized even deeper into the, into the world because you're just doing so much of it?

[Bryan Cranston]

Well, as you guys know this, so for the listeners, it's, it's basically you, you find your rhythm when you're needed, when you can rest, you, you develop a system of how and when you're going to rise to an occasion and when you can shut down a little bit. But I always thought, and we've all been on shows where you have the, the person coming on the show who has one line and they know nobody and they have to come in and nail that line. And that's one of the hardest things to do.

[David Spade]

Yes.

[Bryan Cranston]

So I would always try to greet every co star.

[Dana Carvey]

Sabotage them. No, go ahead

[Bryan Cranston]

and, and just try to make them feel at ease because number one, it's the right thing to do to help this person. But number two, it also helps your

[David Spade]

show that they're very important. Those people that come in, it's really hard to get. They get it right and they're in a vibe that they don't know. They're just getting in the current going, are we playing everything like this? And you're like, no, no, no, no, no. We're all down here like, but they don't know. And then you're, okay, let's make it all the day.

[Dana Carvey]

All the makeup's kind of wearing down on the people have been filming all day long. The crew looks wasted. They're going to exhausted. They're coming in to land that line.

[David Spade]

Yeah, it's, it's, yeah, they bring them in, you're up. It's like, ah, right before we rap.

[Dana Carvey]

Now just relax.

[Bryan Cranston]

Okay.

[Dana Carvey]

Never thought of that.

[David Spade]

Great.

[Dana Carvey]

But so you, so how old were you when you really made it? Made it in your mind because you, you struggled for a while.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, you know, I, I, I, I expected to struggle, so I guess I didn't feel like I was struggling.

[David Spade]

So, but after the soap opera, were you saying like that that was 25, so you kind of consistently worked after that. So that's really making it right.

[Bryan Cranston]

Very consistent after that. I've never had to do anything but act after that point. And that kind of confidence going into whatever you're doing next is, is brilliant. And it was a savior. And then about 30, I guess, 35 years ago or so, I stumbled upon a philosophy that I realized, oh, I was doing everything wrong. I was thinking that an audition was a job interview and that because I'm an actor and they're casting for a movie or a TV show or that's, that's a job and I'm going to go in to try to get something. And I realized by doing that, you're putting, you're giving up your energy and you're, you're, you're sending it away from you. And so I thought, oh, whenever anybody wants or needs something, they don't have control, they're giving up control because they need something. They need a job, they need validation, they need something. So I thought, oh, I'm just going to hold on to that and I'm not going to want something. Going to give them something. I worked on this scene, I think I can do it. But, you know, it's their option. Here, here's an idea. You take it. If that, that works for you, fantastic. But it doesn't. We'll see you later.

[David Spade]

Oh, like we're 50. 50. I'm going in. This is good. You want my product? Take it.

[Bryan Cranston]

Exactly.

[David Spade]

Goodbye.

[Dana Carvey]

And in the modern era, I like that you can audition with your phone or With a friend, which is kind of nice. Like, here's how I'd play it. You can see me. You know, a lot of people get roles that way as well.

[David Spade]

You can tweak it a little bit. That helps.

[Dana Carvey]

I hated going to those rooms and I always bombed and it was horrible. I bombed in front of Paul Newman terribly. And Joanne Woodward, what did you do?

[David Spade]

Holy. Well, I, I had Paul Newman, the superstar, take a.

[Bryan Cranston]

In front of them or something.

[David Spade]

Were you there?

[Dana Carvey]

I think Robbie Benson got the part. I had no training. I, I, you know, at all. I was just a stand up and so acting terrified me. So I went in. They put us off in pairs. They auditioned. So I went with a lovely young woman. We read the scene. I was all over the place. I knew I was bombing. Joanne Wood was there with the dog. Paul Newman with red socks. Really tall red socks. And then Paul Newman was so sweet. We just bombed. And then he spent 10 minutes saying, well, I appreciated that. He was just so nice about it. But the air was thick. And so I walked out with my partner I just met and I said, well, that didn't go well. And she was like, yeah, yeah, it didn't go well, did it? You know, I mean, I really ruined her audition.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

So anyway, what you just said, I hope, I hope young actors listen to that, that you're just showing them something. You're not really trying to get a job.

[Bryan Cranston]

It's, it's, the, the difference is do not go in there to get a job. Go in there to do a job. Yeah, that's it. If you can just say, this is my job. I'm going to create something. It's either funny or it's, it's appropriate to this character. Here's my idea. There it is.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

If you like it, great. If you don't, that's.

[David Spade]

I like that. You don't look so desperate.

[Bryan Cranston]

There's desperation.

[David Spade]

That's my, my angle is desperate and thirsty. Because when I would go in, I would try to joke them. I didn't know what I was doing. So this is Dana probably does too. We spend eight minutes talking about the 405 and how the crazy drive. And then they're laughing and then I read it. And when it stops, laughing goes, oh,

[Dana Carvey]

forget oh, that happened to me.

[David Spade]

I'm trying to win him over with the meeting.

[Dana Carvey]

I made Suzanne Plechette laugh so hard. I had 15 minutes. I'm doing, boy, I'm doing everything. And well, let's. Oh, I'm excited to hear you read. And then it was just dead silence. And, you know, I mean, so I'm just curious. I thought, again, I'm curious about our guest today. I think I heard you say at one point that I'm just gonna do this show business. This is. You made a decision. Wherever it goes, I'm just gonna do this. And what, what was that after the soap opera went back?

[Bryan Cranston]

No, no, I was. I was actually going to a junior college in la. I had no money, so I was studying police science. I was going to become a cop and detective.

[Dana Carvey]

You look like you could play a detective.

[David Spade]

Yeah, you look pretty cool.

[Dana Carvey]

We'll get to that. You must have played a copper detective.

[Bryan Cranston]

Played lots of cop. And. And I, I didn't know what to do. So I was going to become a cop and transfer to a university to finish before I went into the lapd. That was the general plan. But my second year of this junior college, I took an acting class. And in the class my job was to kiss this really pretty girl. I am making out with this pretty girl and I'm thinking, oh my God, this is amazing. And so after, after that semester, now I'm 19, and I went, I have no idea what I want to do. That just spun me out of control. And so I hopped on a motorcycle and traveled around the country for a couple years, getting jobs and celebrating the kids. Yeah, just. Well, no, it's so confused. So in a way, at the time, I felt like I was running away. And I suppose I was because I didn't know what it was. I wanted to put all my energy in. And it wasn't until I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway of Virginia waiting out a rainstorm on my motorcycle underneath a picnic covered picnic bench with a slab of cement and me. And I stayed there for like five days because it just never stopped raining. And it was at that time I had this epiphany that, okay, I am going to go after something that I really feel I can be in love with, but I wasn't necessarily good at yet, as opposed to something I was good at, which was police work. But I didn't love it. And so that was the distinction to me. And I thought, okay, here it goes. I'm going all in. There's no God.

[David Spade]

That's ballsy too. One of them's like a set job job, and the other one is iffy. Very, very iffy.

[Bryan Cranston]

It will always remain that way.

[Dana Carvey]

When did you first get a. Without giving numbers, a check, where you kind of went, holy shit, you know, compared to regular, you know, I was a waiter, busboy, dishwasher, all the, all the rest. But you know, like, wow, that's amazing. They're actually. I love this. And they're paying me a lot of money to do it. It's very heady thing.

[Bryan Cranston]

Well, night. I was doing some community theater and some summer stock and dinner theater and stuff like that. But it was in 1979 is when I got my SAG card and started working and making a living and I did commercials and I did industrial films and whatever. It would pay the rent and all that stuff. That's, you know, it was fun.

[David Spade]

When did you get paid too much money?

[Dana Carvey]

When did you want to give some of it back? Because clearly this is wrong.

[Bryan Cranston]

There are some of those jobs now that you say no, no, no, wait. What you want to.

[Dana Carvey]

What did you get for Godzilla 2017? What did you get?

[David Spade]

We don't ask.

[Bryan Cranston]

No, we don't.

[Dana Carvey]

You don't answer that question. I'm sorry.

[Bryan Cranston]

I do know that, you know, I. I did. When I was coming up, I. I worked did voices for the Power Rangers. I did so many voices for the Power Rangers that they renamed. When they changed all the names from a Japanese name to Americanized sounding names, they said, why don't we name the Blue Power Ranger Cranston? Billy Cranston, Not Brian. Really, do you mind? And I said, I don't mind. We didn't think it was going to go anywhere and it goes there. So the Blue Power Ranger Billy Cranston is, is named after me because we did. I did so many of those. Those voices.

[David Spade]

Let's go team.

[Bryan Cranston]

Let's go.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, I love that show.

[Bryan Cranston]

Defeat me, I will kill you.

[David Spade]

Oh, I love it.

[Dana Carvey]

You've kind of done everything, haven't you? Voiceovers, sit, movies, theater, it's you.

[Bryan Cranston]

You have to expand your ability to work or else you're really narrowing the field, I think, man. Right.

[David Spade]

Well, I think you're in this new Phoenician.

[Dana Carvey]

Is that the Phoenician scheme?

[Bryan Cranston]

Phoenician.

[David Spade]

Phoenician scheme, which is very interesting movies which I will see this one because you're in it and we're buddies now. But also because it's just. Those are so cool those movies that he does.

[Bryan Cranston]

He is. Wes Anderson is probably the most un. Texan, like Texan you've ever met. Yeah, he's very Natalie dressed. He's very. He's very erudite and polite and, and worldly and he. He. It's not to say. Let me clarify. It's not to Say that Texans can't also be that. But the sensibility. Send all your letters to Zana and David. But, you know, so I've done. This is the third project I've done Wes Anderson and he's. It's brilliant. He's such an auteur. You cannot go into it thinking, oh, I know where he's going to twist this or turn that. It's. He blows your mind with bananas. Where he goes with stuff. Yeah, it's crazy.

[David Spade]

I think I saw that last one. Maybe Astro, something with Scarlett Johansson.

[Bryan Cranston]

Asteroid City.

[David Spade]

Yeah, yeah, Asteroid City. And went and saw the theater. It was so fun and so cool and it just like wakes you up, like, okay, here's a movie. Okay, pay attention. I was in that everything. Set dressings, everything. Very good. You did a great job. And I love Bonicio also. Bonicio in this one.

[Dana Carvey]

He's cool.

[David Spade]

What a cool guy. I've run into him along the way here and there.

[Dana Carvey]

But what are your, what are your thoughts on your co star?

[David Spade]

Yeah, so give us some Bonicio.

[Bryan Cranston]

So Tom Hanks and I played brothers. We play brothers in the Phoenician scheme. And we are shooting this in Germany and so we go over to Germany and we're in every scene together. So we're rehearsing together and stuff. And. And we had basically in this movie, Phoenician scheme. It's kind of light lift for us, but Benicio has a shit ton of dialogue. Very specific, very Wes Anderson. The way it's carved and moved, it's like, wow. And so I was just saying, if there's anything I could do for you, man, you let me know because you're carrying the load here. And he would just nod and look and he would cram. And so it's challenging work because of the fact that he is so specific and is in his shooting style and asymmetry of his, of his camera angles and everything, it's, it's, it's amazing. But the film works. Venetian scheme really does those things.

[David Spade]

I've already heard people that have seen it immediately, of course.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, you can tell it's. It's one person is making the movie. I mean, Sam, I know that he's. It just sort of hit me researching that sometimes he collaborates with Roman Coppola.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And I did a commercial with Chevy Chase and Molly Chan, whatever, for a phone company. And Roman was directing it and he had an immaculate suit on and he was such a gentleman. It was just very interesting to watch him do that. And so when I saw him connected to Wes Anderson. There is an eloquence about them that

[David Spade]

is a type of director out there also. It's nice to be in a movie, Brian, where they're not just like, who do we get to direct this? You know, because it's going to look so specific to a director when he does it. You just watch the trailer and you go, oh, that's okay. That's what that is, you know, and that's. That pulls people right in, I think. And to be an actor, to be in it would be what a blast.

[Bryan Cranston]

It's cool. I mean, there is some pressure behind it. Like when we were shooting Asteroid City in Spain.

[David Spade]

Oh, that was Spain.

[Bryan Cranston]

Shot in Spain for the California desert. Yeah, the California Nevada desert.

[David Spade]

But I believed it.

[Bryan Cranston]

He worked. He. Wes lives in Paris most of the time, so. And he doesn't like the Fly, so he takes his. His big bus coach that he has all decked out, and he travels that way. So he usually stays on the continent.

[Dana Carvey]

What a. What a life. He's in Paris with a bus and he has complete control over his work. And he gets like 10 superstars.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

So the budget for the acting. I heard Hank's got 20 million for this one. Or is that what.

[David Spade]

Interesting?

[Dana Carvey]

Well, but how does he manage? Because you're doing it for the love of the art. I mean. Right. And he gets just the greatest Bill Murray and you guys.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, we. We all make the same amount of money. And I honestly can't even tell you what that is, but I know it's not much.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, it's like.

[David Spade]

I believe it's just more like if he wants you and you do it,

[Dana Carvey]

that's such a great thing that he has. It obviously must be just a hell of a nice person to want to be around.

[Bryan Cranston]

And it's a great hang because there are no trailers. You all go and you're in one, like really souped up kind of tent with rugs and. And nice comfortable chairs and lamps and. And, you know, and. And everybody just kind of hangs out together. And you go in. You only work usually about eight hours or nine hours a day. That's it.

[David Spade]

And within reason, that's.

[Bryan Cranston]

And then at night, every night, there's a long rectangular table and all the actors and all the department heads and the writers and producers and Wes, we all have dinner together every single night with wine and.

[David Spade]

So where do you watch porn? That's my.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, where?

[Dana Carvey]

How?

[David Spade]

Why not where? How? Who has to ask someone? It's so embarrassing. Can we do it at dinner? Do we have to wait?

[Bryan Cranston]

I do.

[David Spade]

Anyway, I thought, yeah, you'll find, you know, you'll figure it out.

[Dana Carvey]

How do you personally, or I guess it's project like to be directed, you know, do you like a soft touch? You like someone in your face? Cranston, I don't believe a word you're saying. I don't get it. Or does Wes Anderson kind of just sort of wander around and sort of give you subtle notes or you like it all?

[Bryan Cranston]

I mean, the first. First day I worked on Asteroid City, I had a. Quite a. A large speech to give and. And I got through it in his tricky dialogue. And I thought I did pretty well. And he did too. He came to me and he said, yes, Brian, that was. That was very, very good. Now I just need it much, much, much, much faster. And it was like, oh, to hear that. Like, oh my God. So you're. You're going so fast, you don't even hear yourself. You don't even think you're thinking and you're. And getting it out. So the work is. The work is.

[David Spade]

It's hard with dialogue. People forget you're memorizing. It's so hard to get every word right. Especially if you're working for a writer, director. And you go, I've had one where he came back and he said, you were great. You missed this one word here. Let's go again. And I go, one word. It was like one word that didn't change anything. Yeah, but that's the way I wrote it. I go, got it.

[Bryan Cranston]

You said instead of.

[David Spade]

Exactly.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, I hate that. That's why I hated movies. Because you go in the morning for the master shot and then you're. You're in your closeup eight hours later and the script supervisor says, no, your elbow was on top of the chair. Oh, really? I mean, that's. Why have you done movies where it's like a moving master minimal shooting, that kind of freedom?

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, yeah. And you know, I don't know if you remember this, Dana, but we work together. Why? Whoa.

[Dana Carvey]

I remember running into. At Letterman.

[Bryan Cranston]

Right, well, we've done that. But no, like Dave said, Was I

[Dana Carvey]

first on the call sheet? Where was I?

[Bryan Cranston]

Sir? You were.

[Dana Carvey]

Was I nice? Wayne's Opportunity Knocks.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, kind of. No, it wasn't that.

[Dana Carvey]

Clean slate.

[Bryan Cranston]

Clean slate. Whoa.

[Dana Carvey]

You were in that, that movie. That's your probably your lowest grossing movie.

[David Spade]

No, that's crazy.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm so sorry. If I could write you a check X. I'm do a Venmo where you.

[Bryan Cranston]

I. I I played the very pivotal role of club official. Yeah.

[David Spade]

Dana, what would that be? Do you remember?

[Bryan Cranston]

We were at. We were in Santa Monica at. On the beach.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes, I remember that club.

[Bryan Cranston]

Right. And. And I don't remember anything else. Not a thing.

[David Spade]

Dana doesn't remember Santa Monica.

[Dana Carvey]

I don't remember a thing. So I play a character with amnesia. It was terrible. This acting coach, and his theory was, you don't. You don't have amnesia. Your character is pretending to have amnesia, but you don't. Your character does not have amnesia. He was that real. This is Roy London, God rest his soul. He's this great actor. So that was his way of getting you out of your own way. So then there was a guy playing a blind person. We were filming at the beach, and he had the stick and he's playing a blind person. And I say, I said to him, you know, I don't really have amnesia. I'm just pretending. And he goes, I'm not really blind. He'd gone to the same acting coach, you know, whatever. I just figured. But yeah, that was ridiculous. That was me making a foolish choice right off of snl. I had way too much heat, no experience, and I wish I could take it back. If we could have switched in that you became the lead and I was guard number one, it might have had a chance.

[Bryan Cranston]

No, I was club official.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, club official. God, Wikipedia sucks sometimes.

[David Spade]

Oh, my God.

[Bryan Cranston]

That was written by Robert King. Yeah, Robert King.

[Dana Carvey]

He's great.

[Bryan Cranston]

Worked with since. Yeah. I was partners with him on. On a series called your Honor. He's terrific.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, yeah. That's a great show. I've never seen. I've never seen you bad. I don't know if you like.

[David Spade]

Oh, you were kind of bad. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Let's see. What was.

[Bryan Cranston]

What was it?

[David Spade]

Was the one we circled. No, but by the way, when I heard a Malcolm in the Middle reboot. Is it.

[Dana Carvey]

That's right.

[David Spade]

What is it on? What is on Disney plus?

[Bryan Cranston]

It's going to be on Disney. Yeah. Since they bought out Fox. We were originally owned by Fox. Oh, yeah.

[David Spade]

How do they do that?

[Bryan Cranston]

So now we're owned by Disney and they bought four episodes of this reboot. I didn't think it. Reboot. It's. It's something I was trying. I was pushing for, for the last 10 years because I thought that that audience.

[David Spade]

That was that hard.

[Dana Carvey]

Wow.

[David Spade]

Well, fun.

[Bryan Cranston]

No. Linwood Boomer, who is the creator of the show, when I first pitched it to him, he said, no, I'm not interested. No. About a year And a half later, I said, what about it? He goes, no, I really don't think it's something I want to do. And I went, really starting to improve. And then the third time, three years after that, it was like, well, you know, if someone else wrote it, maybe I'll look at it. And I just started wearing him down until he said, I've got an idea. And I said, good.

[David Spade]

Love it.

[Bryan Cranston]

Go get it.

[David Spade]

Love it.

[Bryan Cranston]

So we just finished it. We shot that a month ago. And it's amazing how these boys, who were my boys on that show, are now around the same age I was when we first started.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, no.

[David Spade]

Really?

[Bryan Cranston]

They've got children of their own.

[David Spade]

There's a kid on their name.

[Bryan Cranston]

Eric.

[David Spade]

Is there?

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Eric Sullivan.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah. Eric Purr.

[David Spade]

Sullivan played Little Joe Dirt in an old movie.

[Bryan Cranston]

That's right.

[David Spade]

He played me as a kid.

[Bryan Cranston]

Now, David, did you remember that or now that you were doing the research?

[David Spade]

I didn't. I remembered he was on it. That back then, he's really cute and funny, and he walked around little cowboy boots and in the movie. But now that you say it again, I'm like, oh, that's right. He's probably, you know, older now, but

[Bryan Cranston]

he is the only one who's not. Who didn't come back to act in the show.

[David Spade]

Oh, for real?

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah. I talked to Eric and I. I said, hey, we got the show. It's going to come back. He goes, oh, that's fantastic. And I go, yeah, so we're looking forward to having you back. He goes, oh, no, no, I. I don't want to do it, but it's fantastic.

[Dana Carvey]

Really?

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, because he's. He's actually going to Harvard and he's

[David Spade]

a normal person now.

[Bryan Cranston]

Well, I don't think he's. He's not normal because he's really not my circle normal. He's. He's really, really smart, and he's getting. I think he's getting his master's at Harvard right now. He said, oh, God, no. I haven't acted since I was 9 or something, so I'm. I'm not into it. Yeah.

[David Spade]

Wow. Because he's like. It just makes us all feel so dumb that we're actors.

[Dana Carvey]

Like, I don't want to go do

[David Spade]

that stupid shit again. Like, no, it's pretty smart what we do.

[Dana Carvey]

And you're like, no, not really.

[David Spade]

It's not that hard. Oh, cool, though.

[Dana Carvey]

Okay. Snl, you hosted.

[Bryan Cranston]

Oh, God.

[Dana Carvey]

And. And just because it was all over the place a couple years ago during the strike that Just the idea of AI and robots integrating with our industry and where it seems to be going is fascinating to me because we keep seeing these digital short films by Alphabet, Google, where you're like, you know, what. What the hell? I mean, it's getting surreal. We are actually digital copies right now. I just wanted to be full disclosure, but it is kind of bizarre, isn't it? Just to watch the future, right?

[Bryan Cranston]

It is. It just feels like something a little impersonal. But, you know, I. I remember it so fondly and being invited to host at that time when Breaking Bad was at its, you know, peak. And I immediately said yes. And it's such a rush. I mean, I know you guys have talked about this on the podcast before and everyone's experience, but it was. It was incredible. And how. How deep dive involved you are in every moment of that and that, you know, from the. From the first time I'm sitting in. In Lauren's office in that chair in the middle, and everybody. All the writers are on the floor and behind the curtains and things, and. And every. I thought the pitches that were going on that first day, that Monday were actually supposed to be sincere. It was like, not.

[David Spade]

Some of them are.

[Dana Carvey]

Some. Most are fake pitches.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah. Most they go, I just want to say this because it'll be rejected and let it die a cold dead. Someone said, okay, so you're a barista at Starbucks and you finish your drink and you call out, trevor, Trevor. Ice mocha latte, Trevor, Trevor. And no one ever shows up. That's.

[Dana Carvey]

That.

[Bryan Cranston]

That was a spin.

[David Spade]

That's a whole pitch.

[Bryan Cranston]

That was the whole pitch. I went, huh? I bet this is gonna be a long week.

[David Spade]

Yeah. People think of that at Starbucks on the way to the meeting. They're like. Because they have. I think the problem is you end the show Saturday, you don't wake up until Sunday at three in the afternoon, you do your laundry, and then you're in front of Brian Cranston. So you're like, I haven't. I will think of something for him. I just have not.

[Dana Carvey]

I would say a guy walks up and says his name is Travu Trevous. No, not Trevor. Trevor. And then another guy walks up. Tanivan. No, Trevor. Trevor.

[David Spade]

I'm Tevver.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm just trying to complete this.

[David Spade]

We can write it.

[Dana Carvey]

We'll write it. Lauren will be listening to this. We'll have him back, you know, after, you know, the Wes Anderson kick. We'll get good numbers with the Malcolm Pete, will we? What do they have nicknames for Malcolm in the Middle of fanatics like Malka Knights or middlers.

[Bryan Cranston]

They probably do, but I, I don't.

[Dana Carvey]

Not aware.

[Bryan Cranston]

I don't know. I'm not aware of that stuff yet. I don't know.

[David Spade]

Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?

[Bryan Cranston]

Right?

[David Spade]

And the best part, they accept Discover. Except Discover in a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, yeah, huh?

[David Spade]

Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments.

[Bryan Cranston]

But that's weird.

[David Spade]

Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for

[Dana Carvey]

3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available,

[Bryan Cranston]

taxes and fees extra.

[Dana Carvey]

See full [e-mail] Spring starts at the

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[Dana Carvey]

So what were you, what, what was your monologue like? Did you when you were coming out there? I mean, did you have a strong one?

[Bryan Cranston]

I have, I did have some ideas and John Mulaney wrote it.

[Dana Carvey]

I remember that guy.

[David Spade]

He do that barbershop kind of quartet one or whatever. You did. Yes, the singing.

[Bryan Cranston]

That's right. The barbershop kind of. And he said, you know what if we take the point of view that people kind of know you but they don't really know you. Yeah. Okay. He's like. Because I was getting that. Are you the guy from Malcolm in the Mid? You're the dad. You're the guy. You're the guy. It wasn't associating name with face breaking

[Dana Carvey]

Bad was on at that time, right?

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

But still kind of going up.

[Bryan Cranston]

You're kind of that guy.

[David Spade]

Oh, you're the guy from Breaking Bad, right?

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

And it's not until someone actually knows your name connected to your face that you go, okay, things have changed. Which. Which goes back to your original question, Daniel, is that. That's when you go, oh, things have changed. But we did. Yeah, we did the monologue, and I just wanted to do anything. I had a couple pitches for them, which I pitched ideas which were almost immediately shut down.

[David Spade]

Shut down. Shot down, Shut down.

[Bryan Cranston]

I had a great pitch, which I think is still.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm a circus clown. And do you remember the pitch?

[Bryan Cranston]

I do remember the pitch, but let's

[Dana Carvey]

hear it, and let's see if it's really that bad. We'll grade it.

[Bryan Cranston]

Okay, so 1 to 10. So myself and a date and. And another couple. We can't believe we got reservations for this restaurant. It's supposed to be amazing. It's called in the Sauce, and it's like, wow. And this very snooty waiter comes in and says, are you ready? Can we see a menu? No, we don't give menus. We serve you food. You eat the food, you leave. You know, it's like, oh, okay. Yes, yes, yes. And he said, it's all about the sauce. So he puts down a crudite, and we dip it in the sauce, and it's like, oh, my God. Just amazing. Crudites. Take it away. Here comes the entree. You're eating the entree. We're eating. Oh, my God. This sauce is absolutely insane. We're overeating. We eat too much. We throw up. We dip the barf in the sauce. Oh, my God. Okay. It's all about the sauce. It's like, no matter. No matter what you're eating, as long as we know.

[Dana Carvey]

No, I like. It's in the sauce. It's in the sauce.

[David Spade]

What if it's Soylent Green at the end?

[Bryan Cranston]

It's. It's like you. You know, you have a severed finger and you dip it in the sauce.

[Dana Carvey]

Whatever. I. I got you.

[David Spade]

Yeah, still good.

[Bryan Cranston]

Still good.

[David Spade]

That didn't get past Monday. Meeting.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, it didn't get past Monday. Now, I truncated that pitch. Now it goes much longer.

[David Spade]

I can do a longer version.

[Dana Carvey]

Sauteed pig snout to take a bite. Oh, this is horrible. Dip in sauce.

[David Spade]

Yeah. Get everyone to come in with a funny accent. You're halfway there.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Did you get to play big, big broad accents Italian? Get that out of your System. And just because you have a great ear.

[Bryan Cranston]

I mean, you know, it's like that your, Your listeners know the system now. So, I mean, Tuesday is the big writing overnight. Right. And then Wednesday, the binder. The binder of 60 sketches.

[David Spade]

Terrifying.

[Bryan Cranston]

And each writer is. Can I talk to you a second? Okay, now, you're a pirate. You're a pirate. And you're.

[David Spade]

There's absolutely no system. They just grab you on the way to the bathroom.

[Bryan Cranston]

Just grab you, you know, and. And so you. You're just making big choices, you know, okay, I'm going to do a New York accent, a Southern accent, an English accent. I'm a pirate. I'm a baseball player.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

Just, you know, and so I don't know what I was doing. It was just one after another after another. And it's dizzying, as you know, and then. But. But, you know, he's weighing. Lauren kind of knows what he wants already. And then. And then I'm shuttled into the room. Shuttled. Seth. Yeah, kind of.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. Secret Lauren's office.

[Bryan Cranston]

Seth and Steve came in.

[Dana Carvey]

Steve Higgins. Seth Meyers.

[Bryan Cranston]

Steve Higgins. Yeah, and Seth. And we're. We're looking at the board and he. Lauren saying, well, is there any particular sketch that you felt connected to? And I said, yeah, that this other one is Laundryman one.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

That's not as strong as this one, though. You know,

[Dana Carvey]

he hoped. You agree?

[David Spade]

And then you're like, no, actually, you're wrong.

[Dana Carvey]

What you just picked would never work.

[David Spade]

Here's one better.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, you're a novice. It's not your fault. But we'll take care.

[David Spade]

Is there anyone you don't like?

[Dana Carvey]

That'll be the Marcy.

[David Spade]

Any more popcorn, Brian? He's starving. Help him.

[Dana Carvey]

But, yeah, I mean, it is. There's nothing like it. We've. It's been called an athletic event on the show by some people, like a sporting event. It's tactile. It's. It's high risk. I. I don't know. I mean, we got to get you back on. I want to co host with you and David.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, I would love to go back on, because it is, you know, Steve Higgins said there's two things, two pieces of advice I can give you. And I had known Steve before because I worked with his brothers Al Higgins and David Higgins, who were connected to Malcolm. Al was one of the writers of Malcolm. Dave Higgins was one of the actors on the show. So Steve says two things. First and foremost, trust the cards. Don't think you can go off the cards. And I got this. I know what it is. Because they're constantly changing. Cues are changing, lines are changing. Trust the cards. And second, don't try to be perfect. Allow it to not be perfect. Allow it to be wherever it's going to go.

[David Spade]

It's part of the fun. Yeah.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah. And so I took that advice, and I think by doing so, I mean, I had a blast. And, man, that 90 minutes was over in. It felt like two seconds. It felt like, you know, 85 minutes. It was amazing. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. The energy that comes because you. You're going. When you host that show, you're pretty wiped out by the time the dress and all this stuff and you're coming out and you're like, damn. And then, of course, it just. It just comes when you need it.

[David Spade]

As soon as you hear that and it's adrenaline.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah. And then to hear do. For the first time, I'm backstage at that door with the facade, and people are scribbling their names on the thing, and you're waiting behind the door, and I'm standing there going, oh, my God. I'm about to host Saturday Night Live. Oh, my God. And I just. I just took a couple deep breaths, and then I hear Don Pardo's voice going. And host Brian Cranston, you know, And I went, that freaked me out. And the door opens, and out we go.

[David Spade]

And it was fun.

[Bryan Cranston]

Oh, God. Like shot out of a cannon.

[David Spade]

Yeah. Well, Brian, before you go, I definitely want to tell you it's great, first of all, great to have you. And second of all, to have a line like, I won't get it exactly right. But that scene when you say, I am the danger. Everyone knows it, everyone talks about it. It's great to have a show. It's already. Everyone's all over it. But then to have such a cool thing, what a blast, man.

[Dana Carvey]

It possessed me. I was completely possessed by that show and the acting and Aaron Paul. All of it was just so new and different. I try to think, because I was talking to someone, I got Sopranos, Breaking Bad. When they say television's better than movies.

[David Spade]

To be up in that category, I

[Dana Carvey]

thought Ozarks was really good. There's been a lot of other shows, but I can for sure say Sopranos, Breaking Bad. Like, if you have people haven't seen Sopranos, you got to watch that. Haven't seen Breaking Bad, you got to watch that. And I think they're seminal. I think they're.

[Bryan Cranston]

The Wire also. Is the Wire.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

There are others where it's, like, not

[David Spade]

Arguable People like, okay, okay.

[Bryan Cranston]

It almost didn't happen for me either. We were finishing Malcolm in the Middle seventh season, and Fox said, keep all the sets up. We might pick it up for an eighth season. Then they turn around and a month later said In May of 06, now, we had a good pilot season. So we're done with Malcolm. Thank you very much. We're all a little disappointed. It would have been fun. But later that year is when Vince Gilligan wanted to see me for. For Breaking Bad. And we shot the pilot for Breaking Bad in February and March of 07. Had Malcolm in the Middle gone that eighth year, I'm not doing Breaking Bad. Someone else, wow. So it's. I try to tell that to young actors all the time to say, luck has a weird way of working. So just when something happens that you think is bad luck, it may be putting you in a position to have better luck. You don't know.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, that's. I love Paul Newman for a lot of reasons. You know, his charitable work. But he always. People would try to go, how great.

[Bryan Cranston]

Cool.

[Dana Carvey]

And Luke and how great you are. He goes, it comes down to one thing.

[Bryan Cranston]

Dumb luck.

[Dana Carvey]

You know, whether that's completely true or not. But, you know, there is whimsy, whimsy to this life. And whimsical things happen in show business. You never know.

[Bryan Cranston]

But you still should not have taken a shit on his Red Sox.

[David Spade]

No, that's crazy.

[Dana Carvey]

That was.

[Bryan Cranston]

That was a mistake.

[Dana Carvey]

I know. But I did have a dream last night. I'll leave you with this. I had a dream last night because I thought of you as, in a way, like, archetypal. Like, you could. You could have been an actor from the 40s and 50s or whatever, just because of who you. How you look. You're timeless, in a way. And Henry Fonda came to me in the dream, and I said, well, what do you think of these young actors? Brian Cranston? He said, well, he's as good as anybody's ever been. He sure knows his way around a camera. Would have loved to have done a movie with Bryan Cranston. And then I woke up, you know, I said to my wife, I just heard Henry Fonda talking about Bryan Cranston. So I just wanted to do that for you.

[Bryan Cranston]

Thank you.

[Dana Carvey]

No one asked me to do Henry Fonda anymore.

[Bryan Cranston]

No, that's a perfect Henry Fonda. Unfortunately, you got to be 60 to know who he is.

[Dana Carvey]

They only remember Jimmy Stewart. They don't remember Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant. It's Jimmy Stewart because of the Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life.

[David Spade]

Brian looks like a little bit like Springsteen today.

[Bryan Cranston]

Oh, don't you think?

[David Spade]

A little bit.

[Dana Carvey]

He does look a little bit. There's an underbod there.

[Bryan Cranston]

Yeah, he's got an underbo. Yeah, she's cool.

[David Spade]

We were all right. Thank you, buddy.

[Bryan Cranston]

All right. Thank you.

[Dana Carvey]

Just such a pleasure and good luck and everything. And I'm gonna go see this Wes Anderson pitcher. I'm gonna see this scheme, the Phoenician

[David Spade]

scheme, one nation scheme. And we got Malcolm coming out soon.

[Dana Carvey]

I love it all. Yep. Thanks, guys.

[David Spade]

Okay, bud.

[Dana Carvey]

Have a good day.

[David Spade]

Hey, guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app, Give us review 5 star rating and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend.

[Dana Carvey]

If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now.

[David Spade]

Fly on the walls Perspective presented by Odyssey and executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung Kaiser and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey.

[Dana Carvey]

Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet.

[David Spade]

Tech booking by Cultivated Entertainment.

[Dana Carvey]

Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Maura Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kirk Courtney and Lauren Vieira.

[David Spade]

Reach out with us. Any questions be asked and answered on the show? You can email [e-mail] that's a U-A C-Y dot com.