Once We Drove Cross-Country | Episode 27

Summary

Once We Were Spacemen

Episode 27: "Once We Drove Cross-Country"

Release Date: May 13, 2026
Hosts: Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk

---

Overview

In this rich and meandering episode, Alan Tudyk recounts his epic (and slightly disastrous) cross-country RV trip with his wife, three dogs, and a parade of mishaps. Nathan Fillion takes the co-pilot seat as interviewer, helping Alan unpack the eventful journey, the quirky culture of RV life, the frustrations, joys, and oddities of moving, and the peculiar flavor of being "perfect famous." The episode threads in classic banter, New York stories, and ends with each host sharing a quirky personal fact.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Alan’s Great RV Adventure

[02:00–11:27]

• Why RV, Not Plane?

  • Alan’s wife Carissa decided to drive cross-country due to their middle dog, Clara, having a bad heart and hating flying (03:33).
  • Alan: “If you don't want to do it, let's. I can get somebody else to do it with me, not you.” (03:16)
  • Alan doubles down on loyalty but privately admits he was only "hoping to hope" that it would be fun (03:50).

• The Awning Disaster & 90 Mile-an-hour Tape

  • Alan demolishes the RV’s awning before even leaving LA. Carissa manages to repeat the feat (05:11).
  • Advice from Gina Torres's husband Kevin: “Don’t call it duct tape, it’s called 90 mile an hour tape, and that's going to just work just fine.” (06:15)
  • Alan’s new RV is coined a "C minus" after the awning incident (06:04).

• Alan’s RV Journal

  • Begins trip keeping a journal: “Our trailer is like a cluttered submarine, but instead of a deep, unfathomable ocean, we have dusty interstate highways. Quite fathomable.” (07:55)
  • Alan admits writing kept him sane on the tough first day (08:41).

• RV Park Life, Camaraderie & Poop Politics

  • Encounter with RV blackwater (waste tank) is described in grim comic detail (11:27–12:22).
  • Tudyk family upholds a strict “number one only” rule in the RV toilet, both for marital privacy and to avoid traveling with “the ghost of meals past.” (11:27–12:29)
    • Alan: “My wife hasn’t ever farted. I don’t know how to respect her, if she's okay medically or if that's just something she keeps to herself. But I assume biologically that can't be true.” (10:56)

• Camping Glory: Arches State Park

  • Carissa secures a rare campsite at Arches; stunning nature, meeting quirky fellow campers (including a “sassy lesbian couple in their seventies”) and a park host who recognizes Alan from his acting (13:27–15:46).

Mishaps and Road Lore

[16:39–26:24]

• The Road Brenda & Unexpected Detours

  • Their RV is christened "Road Brenda" and endures a few bumps (literally), including a hit while parked at a grocery store (16:39).
  • Major schedule upset: their furniture arrives in New York way early, forcing Carissa to fly ahead and Alan to finish part of the journey solo (18:08–19:02).

• Solo Alan: Connecting with Americana

  • Alan meets an itinerant ER nurse and Moses, a “Resident Alien” superfan who greets him with a hug (19:09–20:06).
  • Culture shock: RV life immersed in Americana and the gun-toting subculture: “I’m sure you have to use your RV, because that way you can take all your guns.” (20:27)
  • Observations of the RV-park class system and semi-permanent residents: “The wheels had come off.” (21:06)

• Lessons

  • Alan’s big takeaway?** “Next time, I’m flying.”** (22:19)
  • The dog who hated flying also ended up hating driving; lesson learned (22:25).
  • Smuggling the third dog into dog-limited hotels is a highlight (22:40).

• Storms, Deadlines, and “Perfect Famous”

  • Alan braves tornado warnings and long driving stretches to make a con appearance (23:13–24:39).
  • Realization: future RV trips will be only for pure leisure, not under deadline pressure (24:39–25:06).
  • Another RV bump: Alan leaves a scratch along an entire side of the RV at a gas station (26:14), but insurance cushions the blow.

Memorable Quotes

• Alan (on RV damage):
  “I immediately turned it into a C minus.” (06:04)
• Nathan:
  “You said, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? And you called Kevin...” (06:35)
• Alan (on dumping blackwater):
  “It looked like like a piece of blood sausage that had been, like, run over and cooked on the highway. It was really crinkly and black and red.” (12:22)
• Alan (lesson learned):
  “Next time, I’m flying. That’s my... That’s what I learned. I’m flying, man.” (22:19)

---

Life in New York, Bodega Legends, and Urban Lore

[28:30–48:04]

• Settling into Harlem

  • Alan’s move to Harlem: “People are like, especially if they know you live there. Oh, you live up here?... They want to be your friend.” (38:11)
  • Coffee spots trump bodegas for Alan; Carissa collects phone numbers from neighborly baristas (38:20–39:02).

• Classic New York Stories

  • Alan’s epic tale: His bodega guy exposes his girlfriend’s infidelity ("She come in here two night ago... with a face like a mule! They buy condom... at 1:30 in the morning." (39:45–40:57).
  • Nathan’s trust-based bodega credit story:
    “Just take it. I see you around all the time. Pay me next time.” (41:30–42:12)

• Neighbors and Urban Community

  • Nathan befriends strangers waiting for a neighbor, plays Uno, and ends up invited to a star-studded wedding, Liza Minnelli at his table (!). (46:38–47:49)

• Pigeon Woman and Bodega Eavesdropping

  • Alan’s friend Jaman witnesses the “bird woman” in NY feed and then bag a pigeon, not to save it as a pet but likely for eating (43:51–44:06).

---

Fame, Cons, and Celebrity Encounters

[29:45–33:56]

• Post-move, Alan attends cons with Jewel Staite, Jonathan Frakes, Felicia Day, D. Snider (Twisted Sister), and others (30:23–31:44).

• The theme of "perfect famous" is recapped:

  • Alan: “You got to be perfect famous where you have enough fame that maybe you get a table here...But you don’t want to get too famous.” (32:57–33:31)

• Ted Danson Story

  • Nathan recounts meeting childhood idol Danson, who is revealed to be a fan of Castle: “My wife won’t let us miss it!” (35:09)
  • Reflection on how “stars are people too,” and the looping effect of fame (32:40–32:55).

---

Getting to Know the Hosts: Personal Quirks

[48:04–56:00]

Alan: The Roadkill Saint

• Personal ritual: Alan silently “releases” the souls of roadkill as he passes (49:05–49:17).
• Alan: “It’s like a little breath, like, be free.” (49:07)
• Possibly stems from childhood trauma of hitting a deer; “Just the smell of death. There’s certain meats I can’t eat now that I taste the death on them from that deer.” (50:33)

Nathan: OCD Fidget Collection

• Nathan has ~150 “fidgets” (not spinners) in organized display cases.
• His favorite aspect: re-organizing by tactile function, color, type (53:54).
• Fidgets are his tool for focus on set, in meetings, or on flights.
• Alan once minding a “fidget spinner” table in Union Square for a stranger:
  “Did you sell any?” “No, I wanted to. It was the end of the fad.” (55:43–55:54)

Notable Quotes on Fame & Friendship

• Alan: “A little friendliness in New York goes a long way.” (47:57)
• Nathan (paraphrasing Alan): “‘Don’t get high on your fidget supply, Alan. Words to live by.’” (56:07)

---

Notable Timestamps (for Especially Memorable Moments)

• The C Minus RV / Duct Tape Fix: [06:04]
• Road Brenda & Arches Park: [13:27]
• RV Toilet "Number One Only" Policy: [11:27–12:29]
• Fan Encounter in the Desert: [15:46]
• Fame & Celebrity Reflections: [32:40–33:56]
• Alan’s Bodega Girlfriend Story: [39:45–40:57]
• Nathan’s Bodega Trust Story: [41:30–42:12]
• Alan’s Roadkill Prayers: [49:05]
• Nathan’s Fidget Organizational Joy: [53:54]

---

Tone & Style

• Conversational: Both hosts riff off each other with improvisational humor, self-deprecation, and nostalgic warmth.
• Honest & Vulnerable: Alan openly shares anxiety, marriage teamwork, and minor humiliations; Nathan offers empathy and matching vulnerability.
• Anecdotal: Layered with personal stories; never just “about the move.”
• Affectionately Irreverent: Stories about bodily function, mishaps, and human quirks abound, capped with an “Alan Fact/Nathan Fact” tradition.

---

Final Thoughts

This is an episode about the joys and indignities of travel—a road trip that swiftly veers into a meditation on community, mishaps, moving, fame, and the weird ways friendship and home reveal themselves. For Firefly fans and newcomers alike, the rapport between Nathan and Alan is real, unguarded, and winningly nerdy.

---

“Next time, I’m flying.” — Alan Tudyk (22:19)

“A little friendliness in New York goes a long way.” — Nathan Fillion (47:57)

---

Listen if you love:
Story-driven podcasts, road trip stories, behind-the-celebrity glimpses, New York tales, or banter as an artform.

Transcript

[Alan Tudyk]

He said, there's a lot of damage. And I said, yeah, yeah, I am sorry about that. I'm so sorry about that. So I got all the insurance though, right? I got the highest time. So I got, I got everything goes. Oh yes, yes, yes you did. Okay, so I don't know. I don't owe any money. No, no, you paid a little over $400 for your insurance and it will cost us $6,000 to fix. Once we were space. I tend to play weird people. Usually aliens and robots and things that don't have romance.

[Nathan Fillion]

I once didn't get a job where they were looking for a Nathan Fillion type. Once We Were spacemen.

[Alan Tudyk]

Once We Were spacemen. Hey, Nathan.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan. Yes, I await the thing.

[Alan Tudyk]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Once We Were Spacemen. That was a time when we were on Firefly, Space manning about swishing over here and swanning over there. That's just how we did it on Firefly. And then I stayed in space and Nathan went to a castle. And then we're still those spacemen, cuz castles have a lot of space. I'm done.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't know where I go when I listen to this, but I'm think I, I'm shocked when I hear my name in there.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right? Is it maybe your safe space? You go there? What's a place away where you're protected?

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

You just had a tremendous adventure. You drove across the country in a motorhome.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh my God.

[Nathan Fillion]

With your lovely wife and your three dogs. You must have, you're wringing your face right now. You're just, you're rubbing your face with the shaking the head, the like you say, like, like you can't believe you survived. Let's, let's, let's go through this slowly. I'm going to guide you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

You had the keys in your hand. You've packed everything. Everything's gone now. You, you, you've, you've locked the door to the, the old home. You're saying goodbye, you're getting in the motorhome and you start to drive away. What is the feeling in your heart?

[Alan Tudyk]

Can I just start a little bit before that?

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

I, I, I want, I want to. You really set the table. It's very nice. But before that, I'd say probably three days before that I said, babe, why are we driving an RV across this fine country here instead of flying? Three days before. Yeah, three days. Three days before. And she said, because our middle dog, Clara, hates flying and she does hate flying. She's like. And she's got a bad heart. So it's like, well, we might kill her. So I said, okay, uh, you're right. We should do that for Clara. And I accepted it and said, I'm on board. She also said, if you don't want to do it, let's. I can get somebody else to do it with me, not you. And I'll drive, and you can fly and meet us there. I can't do that. No, I can't. I can't do that. I can't let her go. And, I mean, come on. So I was like, no, I will be here for you, dear. And I was meant it. And I said, let's do it together. It'll be fun. I echoed what she had been telling me. Yes, you're right. It will be fun. Then we had keys in our hand. Three days later, everything's moved.

[Nathan Fillion]

The feeling in your heart is of optimism, or when you said, it will be fun, were you convinced? Yeah, this will be great.

[Alan Tudyk]

No, not at all. I was hopeful. I guess I was hoping to hope. I don't say I was actually hoping, but I hoped I would start hoping at some point.

[Nathan Fillion]

And you were hoping once removed, yes. Gotcha.

[Alan Tudyk]

So at a distance, I was feeling a hope. I was, like, hoping at it. So we started driving. Carissa drove a lot in the beginning. I liked driving. I thought I was very good. Well, okay, I should say. I wrecked it. I wrecked it right away. Like, when we had. Before we got. Before we left, we were packing a bunch of stuff in the RV to take with us that the. The we didn't give to the movies. We were like, these would be good things that we should have in the rv. So we packed that all up. We had it in our little squirrely streets up in the hills of. Of la. As you know, these streets are not big streets.

[Nathan Fillion]

No, that's hard to drive the. A motorhome up there. That would be a challenge in itself.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. I think just driving normal cars, people have challenges. I have. I have a friend that won't even. Would never come to my house because she said, I don't like going up those streets. So I hit my tree out in front of my house, or I guess it was my people who bought my house's tree. I hit it, and there was this great awning that you could. It would. It would retract, and it would unfurl

[Nathan Fillion]

on the side of the motorhome.

[Alan Tudyk]

On the side of the motorhome with little motorized things. So when you parked, you give yourself a little shade. Never. Never got to use that feature because I wrecked it right in the front of the house. Crack. And I felt bad, but I didn't feel bad once. Carissa did the same thing. She. We had moved it, and then she tree again, and it really, really knocked it out of whack. And I had to duct tape it to the side of the rv.

[Nathan Fillion]

The tree?

[Alan Tudyk]

No, not the tree. The tree stayed. The tree survived so far as I know.

[Nathan Fillion]

But there was no shade to be had after that.

[Alan Tudyk]

There was no shade because the awning was busted at that point. And I duct taped it to the side. I was in contact with Gina Torres's man.

[Nathan Fillion]

Kevin.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. You know Kevin?

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

He's the type of guy I would want to drive. I go across the country in an rv.

[Nathan Fillion]

He.

[Alan Tudyk]

He makes me feel like we're going to be fine. And I would even.

[Nathan Fillion]

He's capable.

[Alan Tudyk]

He's very capable. Whatever comes up, he's. He's going to fix it. He might even say, you know what? We should get a bigger one. I feel comfortable driving the biggest version of this. I myself was driving a C Class, which I immediately turned into a C minus with the awning coming off like that. But Kevin said, duct tape it. He said, don't call it duct tape. It's called 90 mile an hour tape, and that's going to just work just fine. So I taped it up and I sent him a picture, and he said, you're good to go, buddy. So then we left.

[Nathan Fillion]

So you said, oh, my gosh, what am I going to do? And you called Kevin. You said, yeah, man.

[Alan Tudyk]

I texted Gina and Gina asked Kevin. So I was. It was Gina and Kevin and I sort of texting together throughout my entire journey.

[Nathan Fillion]

This is. I love that you went to them for support.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, he was. He was a huge support. He was always saying, you got this. Get out on the road, be free. He has a whole vi. You know, feeling this. His vibe is the road is. Is a place to. To find freedom. You can pick up and leave whenever you want. I felt like I was living out of my car. For me, I mean, sure, who doesn't want to live out of their car? Who hasn't at one point in their life thought, boy, I could get the freedom of just sleeping where I drive, you know, and with the rv, you have the opportunity to. To poop there, too, and then also sleep and then eat in. I mean, a lot of people eat in their cars, but I was sleeping, eating, pooping with dogs. So it was. It was pretty great. I. I did. I. I started to keep a journal right in the beginning. The first day was very hard. The first day was very hard. And I. Let me see. I can. I can maybe read that. I haven't read it.

[Nathan Fillion]

Let's go.

[Alan Tudyk]

Since I maybe should have. Okay, here we go. I mean, who hasn't always wanted to sleep in their car? There you go.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, it's right down to the. Oh.

[Alan Tudyk]

To approximate the life in a double wide. Double wide luxury. Oh, to dream. That's your line. Luxury for Monty Python. Our trailer is like a cluttered submarine, but instead of a deep, unfathomable ocean, we have dusty interstate highways. Quite fathomable. I'm not gonna bother anybody with all of my writing. This seems just too written. But I did mention here that it has the steady rumble of a rock polisher and feels like that's where we were living, because there was a lot of rumble.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm gonna say keep going because this is actually quite wonderful. This sounds like almost prosecutor. This is quite tidy. This is like a final draft.

[Alan Tudyk]

This was keeping me sane. This was just the morning because I thought I was going to scream.

[Nathan Fillion]

That is a large vehicle, Alan. That's a really big vehicle. Was there any training that they gave you when you rented such a vehicle? Did they say, hey, you want to look out for. Don't hit the awning on the side?

[Alan Tudyk]

No, no, no. He hit the guy who's just like kind of half. Half acid. He was very distracted by his phone, and he pointed at things and. And showed us where everything was and, you know, click, click here. But, you know, we had watched a YouTube video. Carissa More attentively than I, of course. So she was a little step ahead of the guy. Like, it's here and it's here. It is here. And so she knew where everything was. So, like, in a sense. And Curtis and I had discussed this where I had said, hey, I. You know, if Kevin was with us, I'd feel better. But Kevin said, no. And Gina said, hell no. And. And Carissa said, I'll be your Kevin, Alan. And it put a damper on our. Our love life for that time. But I did feel closer to hope at that point in time and especially going over it. Carissa was the one who shone in that setting. She knew what was going on.

[Nathan Fillion]

Give me one highlight where. Where the challenges faded away. And you said, oh, my God, look at that beautiful sunset. Perhaps this was a great. Was there a highlight?

[Alan Tudyk]

Right? Yes, absolutely. There was a guy with no Forget the guy. There was a park that we went to. We went to Arches, which is a state park. There's only a few campsites, so they're kind of like. Yeah, they're little. They're almost like parking spaces. And there's only a few campsites. You can't actually hook up into it. Like when you go to an RV park, you hook up into the water, you hook up into the city water, you hook up into the power and you can empty your shitter. Although we were, we had, we had made a number one rule just in our, in our toilet. So there was no number twos happening. Luckily there's plenty of truck stops.

[Nathan Fillion]

Where would you. Oh, I see, I see.

[Alan Tudyk]

There was, yeah, lots of truck stops and we had the dog. So we were, you know, stopping to let the dogs play at different, you know, side of the road places that had toilets and things.

[Nathan Fillion]

Was that for privacy or.

[Alan Tudyk]

Can be.

[Nathan Fillion]

You didn't want the. Was there a smell issue? Was there a shyness? Anyone? Poop shy.

[Alan Tudyk]

We just didn't like the idea of pooping. We're out of respect for one another. Didn't want. Yeah, I guess. Poop shy. My wife hasn't ever farted. I don't know how to respect her, if she's okay medically or if that's just something she keeps to herself. But I assume biologically that can't be true. But we both decided because you're going to have to look at it again. Usually when you go to the bathroom like that, that's the last. There's a send off. It's kind of like, you know, burial at sea. Goodbye. We'll, we'll, we'll remember you during the holidays.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, but in the motorhome, you take it with you.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's sloshing underneath your rock polisher of a vehicle. It's just carrying with you. It's haunting you. The ghost of Meals Past. You don't want that. You don't need that.

[Nathan Fillion]

I have never considered it like this. This is crazy. You're right.

[Alan Tudyk]

And then, and then you, when you, you have to put the, the tube, the crapper tube onto the thing, you hook it up on one side and you hook it up into the hole over there. And there's all different, there's all different levels of sanitary depending on the RV park that you're in. And then you, you let the thing go and it comes out and, and the last little piece on it, ours was black and crusty and it looked, it looked like, like a piece of Blood sausage that had been, like, run over and cooked on the highway. It was really crinkly and black and red.

[Nathan Fillion]

This is the condition of the pipe. You're saying the exit pipe, the black water tank?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, yeah, black water, exactly. Yeah. It, like, it had an accordion quality to it, but it was smushed in the middle and it. But the last little elbow that goes into the ground is clear for inquiring minds to see what's going by. Just to wave as you go. Oh, I remember that. And it goes in. So you don't want to. We just made that decision. We're like, look, we can. We can control ourselves. Number one's only in the toilet. And so we did that. That was good, but it was nasty. It always stunk. I think we eat too many vitamins. I don't know. It just. It's a lot of smell. It just didn't smell good. You know, it started out not smelling good. So it's like. There was one that was like a. Just a slab. This one RV park, it was just like this slab and then a hole in the middle of it where everything kind of sloped down to the hole. And the slab had been painted. I think it was painted. I have a picture. Maybe we can put this up on our. Something. And it's just like, everyone floats down here. That's all I could think of, because. Anyway, it was gross. It was gross. That.

[Nathan Fillion]

Was that. The highlight?

[Alan Tudyk]

No, no. Oh, right, right, right. The highlight. The highlight was Carissa was really good about checking. She would always check every morning to see if there were any availability spots at Arches. And people booked these years in advance or a year in advance, and somebody became available just, like, a day before we got there. Boom, she got it. So we had a spot in Arches. We pulled in there.

[Nathan Fillion]

What is Arches now again? Sorry.

[Alan Tudyk]

It is. It is a state park. And. And so it's. When you think of, like, coyote and the roadrunner and all those. All those orange and red. The mesas.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, yes, those. The balancing rocks.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, balancing rocks. And. And Arches. Like, big arches carved out by, you know, water over millennia. And we could hike there. There was lots of hikes. You couldn't take the dogs on a hike, which was a drag for them, but, um, not for us. We enjoyed it. Met some sassy lesbians who were in their 70s, who were very funny. Chris is like, do you want me to take a picture of you climbing this rock? And she's like, hell, no. She didn't sound so much like Yosemite Sam. But she was very funny. Please, if you took a picture, never show it to me. They were great. We. We had a great. We had a great time. It was beautiful. We were out in the middle of nowhere. You could see so many stars. You couldn't hook up to stuff. There was a guy who was like the host. He's the host of the site. He has like the energy of an. An RA at your. In your first year dorm. You know, he's got some authority and he's there to tell you, hey, keep those dogs on a leash. And I gotta tell you, don't take any wood if you're gonna start a fire. You know, make sure you bring your wood in. And he started his conversation off with, hey, did you up your. Oh, yeah. He goes, hey, hey, did you up the awning yourself? Or do they give. They rent you this piece of that? Ah, thank you. Thank you, sir. Nice to meet you. It was me. It was me who effed it up. And he's like, I know who you are. You're that alien. And he went and got his wife and she came back and he's like, see, I told you. He's like, she doesn't know who you are. I even showed her a picture and she said, I have no idea who he is. But I made her come because I want to get a picture with you too.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's a high quality fan interaction. She got no idea. Now pose for a picture. She looking right at your dumb mug. And she got no clue. I don't give a damn. Now smile.

[Alan Tudyk]

He does six months out there as a volunteer. Oh, and I guess the benefit is that he gets to live out in this place. But my sense was he was starved for company. Starved for it. And he had forgotten how to interact with other humans. Interesting, because that was bizarre.

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm curious where he spends his other six months. Yeah, probably a different RV camp, maybe

[Alan Tudyk]

finding a different wife. She didn't seem too happy with him. She's like, why'd you drag me over here?

[Nathan Fillion]

I'm imagining like there's a little kitchen in that little motor home or. Or maybe a barbecue on the outside of it that you pull out and you start. Were you having like fantastic meals on the road? Was it there. There's some sort of con. At least there was some convenience to driving your house.

[Alan Tudyk]

We did have one meal at. We didn't have a grill in our C minus rv. It was. But we did go to a camp that had grill. That was one of the benefits of it. Hey, there's a Grill you can use. And we got there, we had stopped at a grocery store on the way in, and somebody hit it when we weren't in it. So bent up the front bumper. Yeah, we didn't do that, but it got bent. It was okay. It could take it as far as I was concerned. You got this. We named her the Road Brenda. She was a. A good beast of a thing, but she, you know, she got us where we needed to go, really. Road Brenda. So the Road Brenda. And we stopped at a grocery store. We got some fish, mushrooms, I forget, just some. Oh, some peppers. Did it real quick. It tasted amazing because we had made it ourselves. We grabbed like one all spice kind of thing like this. We'll just put this on everything. It tasted great. That was a high point. That was a high point. Now, it was right about at this high point that our furniture arrived in New York and they needed to offload it into our house in New York or else it was going to cost us $5,000 for a re. Warehouse DSP. So Carissa's like, drop me off. I got to go to New York, and I'm going to go be the traffic cop for all of our furniture coming in.

[Nathan Fillion]

So you were. You were mid journey how. We were two days in and the furniture already arrived.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, they were maybe.

[Nathan Fillion]

Was that ahead of schedule?

[Alan Tudyk]

It was. It was. They took speed or something, so no

[Nathan Fillion]

one was there to accept the furniture. So she had to fly into New York to make sure that she could be there to. For the offload.

[Alan Tudyk]

And her mom came too, which was very nice to help.

[Nathan Fillion]

Well, that's nice.

[Alan Tudyk]

She's always good. Yeah, she's. She's really good with that kind of thing.

[Nathan Fillion]

Organizational.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, yeah. And people listen to her. She just has authority. She helped with our renovations in our house when we weren't there. They were naturally, you know, big construction course coming there. They were afraid of Roz, as they should be, because she's. She'll. She'll hit you. Respectfully, Roz, if you're listening, you know, you'll hit me. She'll. She's friendly. She'll hit you on the arm, but she'll. She'll hit you.

[Nathan Fillion]

To wind up two days in, she left. How many more days?

[Alan Tudyk]

I think it was three. I'm going to go with three. So we had another. I had three days, just me.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, solo.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, solo. And the dogs. Me and the dogs. And, you know, that was. There was some. Here's the highlights of that. I met a lot of people. Like, it wasn't just Karis and I together. You know, like, when we're together, we kind of just huddle up, and it's just the two of us. And you go to the little dog parks in the RV parks and stuff like that. There's. And. And so I would go to the dog parks, and I meet people, and I met a nurse who, like, goes from place to place to place, town to town, and she hires out. They need somebody. They need under their. Understaffed, in their er. And so she comes in and she fills in at the er. So we were talking. She's like, all right, I'm about to head to my midnight shift. And then I saw her in the morning when I woke up, she just come off her shift, and we got to talking. It was great. Like, I got to meet her. And Moses, who worked out at that RV park, he just came up and hugged me. He liked resident alien, and he just. I've never had that before. He just, like, walked up and hugged me like, you're here.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Alan Tudyk]

I finally. You've arrived. It was the neatest thing. And I think I met his wife and his kids, and so I had great. I got to meet people. I met a woman at another one who was. I don't know. We were very different people. I did learn from her that one of the benefits of. Of people moving with Arby's, because, you know, she was moving as well, and I was saying, you know, we're headed to New York. And she's like, yeah, I'm sure you have to use your rv, because that way you can take all of your guns. Yes, all the guns. So. And I get. You know, there are a lot of, like, you know, people. They park their RV and the first thing they do is put up their American flag. It's a lot of that, you know, like, it's the freedom of the road, freedom of America, Heavily armed America.

[Nathan Fillion]

Well, Kevin got the freedom part right, then.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, definitely. Yeah. And. And it can do kind of, you know, outlook, like, I don't need anybody's help. I got this.

[Nathan Fillion]

Did you kind of look around and spy and look at other people's awnings to see if they wrecked up their.

[Alan Tudyk]

Everybody. No, they. Everybody was doing pretty good, some of them. I went to one RV park that was pretty jank, and it had people who had been there for a long time. Like, you could see, like, they were. Like, the wheels had come off. Like, they weren't. It was more of an RV park that was double wides and stuff like that.

[Nathan Fillion]

One had.

[Alan Tudyk]

There was like a bus, like a. A kid's bus, like school bus. But instead of, like that long row of windows, it had been boarded up and painted, and then they put two house windows in it. It didn't. I mean, it's just, you know, different strokes.

[Nathan Fillion]

They were probably pulling in for the evening and then got a call that their furniture was arriving, and so the wife had to take off. And then he's like. And I've been. Vince, that was 28 years ago.

[Alan Tudyk]

She ever comes back, I've got plenty of guns. Have a word with her. We don't condone violence on this. On this podcast.

[Nathan Fillion]

Not on this one. There's another podcast. We'll do that.

[Alan Tudyk]

That's the other one. That's violence against all. Once we were overly violent. Yes. Go on.

[Nathan Fillion]

Was there a lesson that you think you pulled from all this? This journey, this experience, this. This. This trial, this tribulation?

[Alan Tudyk]

Next time, I'm flying. That's. That's my. That's. That's what I learned. I'm flying, man.

[Nathan Fillion]

Take to the friendly skies.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. Because the dog who hates flying, guess what? She also hates driving. So. Flying for five hours or driving for six days? Because Carissa flew back. She didn't. She just wasn't gone. She came back. Oh.

[Nathan Fillion]

She wasn't used, so.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, totally. No, I picked her up outside of Pittsburgh. She landed outside of Pittsburgh and we met her somewhere along the way. Oh, she. We. I decided not to pick her up at the airport. Although that would be funny to drive up in an RV at the airport. She took a taxi from there to a hotel. Oh, we stayed in a hotel. And that was so great. I was so happy to stay in the hotel. We just parked our RV out back. We'd have to always smuggle in one dog because we have too many dogs. Hotels are like two dogs maximum, and we have a three dog minimum. So we'd. We'd park out back and we'd sneak our dogs in, our extra dog in through the side door, and we stayed at a. I don't know, a Courtyard Marriott. It was very comfortable. I can't tell you, man. There's no reason. Don't, Don't. Look, I know there's people who do this RV thing. I get it. I think I would do it. I would do it again if I was going to more places, like Arches. Like, we weren't trying to get somewhere, because I was also. I had a con that I. I had a deadline that I was leaving from New York, so I Had to get to my airport by a certain time. So there were a couple of days that I drove. 10 hours, 10 hours driving, two days of that one at once. The, the woman who had all the guns said, so what is your plan? You know there's a storm coming, right? Said, no. And she's like, don't you listen to this weatherman? He's on YouTube. All the truckers listen to him. And there's a hail storm coming, and if you're heading to Pittsburgh, you better get out of here now. And so I emptied the, pulled up stakes and drove and I was, I, I hit a little rain, but it, it stayed behind me. And it was, it's the first time I ever on my map app said, I'm going to here. And it said, tornado warnings in the area. You may not make it. Basically, you may be diverted before you get to your, your final destination.

[Nathan Fillion]

It sounds like there was a lot of details that you gleaned along the way. Perhaps for your next adventure, you might have first of all a different destination kind of, or it's not, it's not like there's no time limit. I'm here for the actual journey, not the destination. And also look out for the awning. And when you maybe bring some rubber gloves for the Blackwater evacuation, maybe, you know, like, you might have some different.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, I definitely, I thought before, like a day before I turned in the, the rv, Gina had texted and said, so what do you think? Would you ever do this again? And I was like, absolutely. That's where I was really. But I would want a bigger one and a big. I figured a bigger one, I would have less of the, the rock tumbler, bone shaken experience. And it would maybe even it out a little bit and we'd have a

[Nathan Fillion]

little bit more room. Harder to drive, a bigger challenge to

[Alan Tudyk]

drive, harder to drive. But I felt very confident at that point that I was, I was disappointed in myself that I had hit the awning so early because I become such a very comfortable driver over time. Now maybe a little too comfortable because right before I turned it in, oh, I went to get gas, you know, that last gas up before you turn in a rental to say, hey, I filled it up like you said. Well, I don't know if you've noticed that gas, when you go to gas station, they've got the pumps and then they've got these little like columns, small balusters, I don't know what to call them, balustrade, to make sure you don't

[Nathan Fillion]

hit the gas pumps. Right.

[Alan Tudyk]

Which I totally would not have hit because these were three feet away anyway. And the one that I hit, it was so marked up by all these different paints. I mean, this thing had been stealing paint off of so many cars. A lot of people hit this thing. Anyway, I tore up the whole back. Well, about halfway down on the driver's side. All the way back, because I hit it, and it just kept hitting it. Anyway, when I turned in the rv, the guy who checked me and was so pissed. Oh, my God. And I. He was German, which was great, because it really accentuated his anger in a nice smoldering kind of just precise.

[Nathan Fillion]

And you were thinking, I'm gonna do a great impression of this guy when I tell this story.

[Alan Tudyk]

I just was so. I was like. So I got all the insurance, right? He said, there's a lot of damage. And I said, yeah, yeah, I am sorry about that. I'm so sorry about that. So I got all the insurance, though, right? I got the. I got the. The highest kind. So I got. I got everything. Oh, yes, yes, yes, you did. Okay, so I don't know. I don't owe any money. No, no. You paid a little over $400 for your insurance, and it will cost us $6,000 to fix. I don't know how he figured it so fast, but he had a number in his head, and there was a guy in there, and he goes, hey, man, I know you. I love your work. And I said, are you talking about my work wrecking your RV or my acting work? And he goes, nah, don't worry about. Everybody wrecks. And the guy goes, not like this. He wasn't gonna allow him to let me. You can't let him off the hook, this prick. He was. He was mad at me, so I don't know that I'll ever do it again. I think you're. I think it is flying. You know, Clara hated driving as well. I think we just load her up with some pills and some. Make sure she's on her heart meds, and she's just a little scrambled eggs, you know? Product of incest. Product of incest. That's how you know you're gonna get different things. And that's what Clara, God bless her, She's. She's got some challenges.

[Nathan Fillion]

What an adventure, my friend. I'm glad you made it.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, me too.

[Nathan Fillion]

Glad you survived this. This. And so how. How's New York? I look. I see. I see in this room behind you. I can tell you've just moved, because what I see behind you Is a. Is a K2. So figurine with his gun from the final scene of Rogue One. And then I can see also a cardboard box with tentacles sticking out of it.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

Some kind of red octopus tentacles.

[Alan Tudyk]

It's like an artist who does. It's like a. It looks like taxidermy. Like a tentacle coming out of taxidermy was a gift that I got from. For one of my birthdays. Yeah, I don't think I can do real taxidermy anymore. You know, I think that's what those days are done.

[Nathan Fillion]

Where are you in the move now? Are you. Are you unpacked yet?

[Alan Tudyk]

No.

[Nathan Fillion]

No essentials. Are you essentially unpacked?

[Alan Tudyk]

We're essentially unpacked. There's still many things that we're like. I don't know where that is. We still. So we moved in. Even when we finally got here, after I went to the con, it was a good time. And I got back.

[Nathan Fillion]

Where was it able?

[Alan Tudyk]

It was in dc.

[Nathan Fillion]

Was it with Jules?

[Alan Tudyk]

We went to.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wait, no, that was The Firefly announcement 1. You were in the mid. Middle of your. Your journey at that point.

[Alan Tudyk]

I made it all the way to New Jersey. I didn't make it into New York. I got to New Jersey in the. In the rv.

[Nathan Fillion]

Chris said, get out.

[Alan Tudyk]

And I went into. There's like a New York Penn Station or New Jersey Penn Station that takes you to the New York Penn Station. It's confusing, but you get on the PATH train. I took the PATH train into Manhattan off of the rv and I then got in, got out of Penn Station, got in a cab. It took me. They took me to the airport, and I showed up. I. I was. I was rough. I was. Rough trade coming into that.

[Nathan Fillion]

I had no idea that that's what you were coming off of in Washington. I was almost. Almost present for that bit. So Washington was kind of a relaxed experience for you at that point. You were just somewhere, though, with Jewel and Jonathan Frakes?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, I was just at another con.

[Nathan Fillion]

Who? And Felicia.

[Alan Tudyk]

Felicia and D. Snider, man.

[Nathan Fillion]

D. Snider also, I think you ran into my friend David Hater. Somebody went to a con and ran into David Hater. And he was full of compliments.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, I did. I ran into him at the restaurant when we just got done eating with Jonathan then and Brent Spiner and Jewel and. Oh, but Tyler Lean was there as well, but he didn't come to dinner.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, Tyler. Did you tell him that? I remember him. And. Because you were supposed to tell him that whole thing. Because I had Forgotten one time and I felt terrible.

[Alan Tudyk]

He'll never forgive you. I don't. I forgot to tell him that. But we were out to dinner and then we ran into your friend David. Not Bill. Not Bill Hader, but David Hayter. And. Yeah, he was at another table with some people. And yeah, it was great. It was a fantastic time. Did you hear me say D. Snider?

[Nathan Fillion]

I did.

[Alan Tudyk]

Do you know who that is?

[Nathan Fillion]

I do.

[Alan Tudyk]

Twisted sister.

[Nathan Fillion]

The. The twisted sister. He. He led a you revolt. What do you want to do with your life? That. Yeah. He was pop culture icon.

[Alan Tudyk]

I want to rock is what he wants to do. And he looks exactly the same. He looks fantastic. And he's a huge fan of the. Of the Alien.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, that's so good to hear.

[Alan Tudyk]

Crazy for me to be like, you want to meet me like you're Dee Snyder. And we chatted for a long time there. That's. Yeah. I'm always blown away by that. It was a good time.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan, here's the thing. You. You're an entertainer. You've trained your entire life to do these things, tell stories, understand what the path of a character that, you know, you. To impart onto other people an emotional state. You make people feel something. And sometimes, you know, and people out there. You're in a bubble, entertaining. You're making shows and stuff that you're in a bit of a bubble. You forget that there's people out there who are affected by your work. And then there are people out there like Dee Snider, who although is a pop culture icon and I can remember him from the 80s. Like, I can't believe he was such a staple. He's just people too. And he's some of the people that you are entertaining and affecting with your stories.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right. It's so wild. It's true. It's true. And it always feels a little like, huh. You know, we. Yeah. We've always said, Nathan, there's something. We've always said how famous you want to be, which is you perfect famous.

[Nathan Fillion]

You coined the term perfect famous.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. You got to be perfect famous where you have enough fame that maybe you get a table here. A good. A good table away from the kitchen.

[Nathan Fillion]

Lineup. Mr. Alan Tudor. Come over here. Don't. Don't wait.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

You come this way.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. You get some. Some of those, like, extra benefits that you don't. The unexpected moments of just someone super

[Nathan Fillion]

pleased to see you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. They. They give you a VIP status out of nowhere. Yeah. And. But you don't want to get too famous. This would Be imperfect. Famous. Where you can't go places, you can't

[Nathan Fillion]

go to a movie without people hounding you with a. Shoving a camera in your face and trying to entice you to say something terrible or. Right.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, there's that, too. The people who want something from you literally stalking you.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes. Yes. It's awful.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. That's bad. Famous.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

Well, I. I've. I think, you know, D. Snyder. I guess that's still within the perfect famous, because we were within a setting. It was okay. It was. It was very cool. It was very cool.

[Nathan Fillion]

I had an experience one time. I was at a film and television festival in Monaco. And that's so cool. I was being.

[Alan Tudyk]

That sounds James Bondi.

[Nathan Fillion]

It really does. It really does. I was being interviewed. They said, next up, we have Ted Danson. And I went, oh, my gosh. Dad dancing. I, first of all, number one, enormous fan since I was a child. Cheers was our family show. We watched together, and we. We taped it on VHS tapes. And, you know, you try to pause out all the commercials. So you had all the episodes, and my dad had them labeled and. And inventoried, you know, and. And then I got the chance to work with him on Saving Private Ryan. I did a scene, and he was my commanding officer in Saving Private Ryan. He. Oh, yes. So, yes, I rushed over to where I saw him standing, and I said, hey, you're not gonna remember this, but back in 1997, you. I did a scene with you in Saving Private Ryan, and you were extremely kind to me. And he gave me a kind of a confused look, but I said I was the wrong Ryan. And he said, that was you,

[Alan Tudyk]

Nathan.

[Nathan Fillion]

I watch Castle every week. My wife won't let us miss it. We can't record it and watch it later. We have to be home Monday nights. We have to be watching the thing with all the commercials. We have to. I had. I was floored. I was floored that this guy had any idea who I was.

[Alan Tudyk]

I can't remember if you told. I feel like you've told that story.

[Nathan Fillion]

There's. That's. That's very possible, Allan. I'm an old man, and I don't remember the stories I've told. I think you're right, Allan. I think I have told the story before. That's. That's. That's 55, Allan. That's where I am. 55.

[Alan Tudyk]

We're not. You're 54, aren't you?

[Nathan Fillion]

Are we 55 or 55 now, buddy?

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, I called myself 55 that. I was like, Alan, stop it. You're only 54.

[Nathan Fillion]

You turned 55 when we were in Washington. You were just ready. Right. You were right there.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it was very nice. It was very nice. Very nice. Well, it was. It was great. It was. Yeah, Fantastic. So I. I feel like I've maintained perfect famous pretty well. There's a little moments where I'm like, oh, today I went to go look at a new gym here in my neighborhood, and a few too many people were looking at me walking through. So I think I might go to a private gym. So what are you gonna do? You know where you get a private. You can go to these, like, small. They're like a small gym. And you just have a trainer, and it's just you and a trainer.

[Nathan Fillion]

So when people are looking at you, you're not going, yeah, all right. That's right. It's me. You're going, hey, man, What. Why you gotta it. Was it, like, uncomfortable? Was it uncomfortable staring? Was it.

[Alan Tudyk]

No, I say, hi. I just was clocking how many people were noticing me, like, double taking me and going, oh. And I. To think, oh, if I come here to work out, people might come up and say, hey, can you take a picture with me or something? I don't want to do that.

[Nathan Fillion]

No, you're not ready for that.

[Alan Tudyk]

Not at the gym. I don't look, you know, you don't want to. I'm always, you know, I wear a halter top.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

And there's the leg warmers. Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

And those little satin shorts with the white trim. I thought you were being ironic when I first saw you wearing that stuff, but that was pretty consistent.

[Alan Tudyk]

I feel free. I feel free. But today I felt a little imperfect. But other than that moment, New York is great. New York has been fantastic.

[Nathan Fillion]

Are you back in the New York groove?

[Alan Tudyk]

I'm not. I want to be. Great song.

[Nathan Fillion]

I love that song. Ace Freely, everybody. Look it up.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, it's got a good stomp. It's a good. It's a good song to stomp to. You know, if you've got. If you've got those big Kiss boots on, you're going to stomp back. Back in the New York. Yep.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's a great walking through New York song on your headphones.

[Alan Tudyk]

I am getting there. You know, I'm. I'm still a little too cheery, a little too Vancouver. I was in Vancouver for so long that I'm. I'm super nice. And people are a little bit like, get up. What the hell? The people are nice in my Neighborhood. It's a very neighborhoody feel in Harlem. People are like, especially if they know you live there. Oh, you live up here?

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, where?

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, God. And they're like, immediately, they. They want to be your friend.

[Nathan Fillion]

You go from stranger to neighbor. That's nice. Do you have a local bodega? Do you have a little deli on the corner that you're going to frequent?

[Alan Tudyk]

I don't, but I have a coffee spot, and that's going to be just fine.

[Nathan Fillion]

Does the door open outwards in your coffee?

[Alan Tudyk]

Does not. Oh, in coffee. Yes, it. Yes, it does. Thank you very much for remembering that. It's. It does. And thank goodness, because there's only one coffee spot up here that is close.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, I think about that all the time now. When I go get coffee. That's all I can think about.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes, it does. It's. It perfectly does. And they're very nice there. Yeah. Carissa had to give her phone number. There's been a lot of people who've gotten Carissa's phone number. And that was one of the places where the woman was like, give me your phone number, because I know where you live now. You need to talk to me. And so she gives out. Yes. The people will be like, where.

[Nathan Fillion]

Where do you live?

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, I live over here on this street. They're like, oh, take my number. Call me, call me. Get out your phone. Call me, call me. All right. Because you need to know me because I'm around.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's very neighborly. That's. That's fantastic.

[Alan Tudyk]

I never had that in Hell's Kitchen, for sure. Back in the 90s, there was never that people, you know, even the guy who was at my bodega, I would talk to every once in a while. All right, you know, you get to know your bodega guy. Sandwich guys, you get to. You see them a lot. Although, did I ever tell you that time that I came in, I was on vacation, I was living with a girlfriend. It was right after college. This is a great story, y'. All. This is getting to know you. Alan, what is there something like. Allen, Facts.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah, we got Alan, Facts. Let's go, Allan. Facts, Alan, Facts.

[Alan Tudyk]

So I was living on. When I was living on 10th Avenue, above that bar that I bartended at one time, but before that time, I was living with an. A girlfriend, an on again, off again girlfriend for years. And I had gone out of town. She was living with me in my apartment there. I came home, got a sandwich, and the guy goes, listen to me. Your girlfriend, she's the little girl with the dark hair and the small haircut? Yes. She cheating on you? She come in here two night ago. Were you here? I was like. I was out of town. He's like, exactly. She come in here with this man with a face like a mule. His face like a donkey. He come in here and they buy condom at 1:30 in the morning. Oh, Christ, William. Oh, cancel the turkey sandwich. I've lost my appetite. She looks so ugly. And she's doing this to you and you're so nice to her. I always see you like. Yeah, yeah. That's so loud. Quit talking. I'm gonna go. Was he.

[Nathan Fillion]

Was he right?

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, my goodness, Alan. That's a New York story right there. I never had anything like that happen to me.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, I did. This girl, she loved to cheat on me. She loved to cheat on me. This is the girl I'd mentioned before who liked to cheat on me.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Alan Tudyk]

Like to.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's quite a bodega story. I had a. I have. I have a New York bodega story where I was going to have a little party at my house. So I, like. I slapped up all the. Had some. Some beers and some wines and some snacks and, you know, some people to eat some stuff. It was like about $230 worth of groceries right there on the.

[Alan Tudyk]

On the Cajun. Sour cream or cream cheese? Yes.

[Nathan Fillion]

I had a very nice little bodega on the corner. I really liked mine. It was really nice. But I put down like 230 bucks worth of stuff, and I go in my pockets and I don't have my wallet. And he goes, just take it. I said, what? He goes, yeah, yeah, I see you around all the time. Pay me next time. $230 worth of. Holy. Just take it. I mean, granted, I lived there for about two years. I was there all the time in that little place. But I. That's. That was a first for me. That was very unusual.

[Alan Tudyk]

I thought, wow. Yeah. And where. This is Upper west side.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. I never went back.

[Alan Tudyk]

In your face.

[Nathan Fillion]

I moved to la.

[Alan Tudyk]

No.

[Nathan Fillion]

Find me. No, of course not. I went home. I went straight home. I literally lived down the block. So I. I went. Went home, dropped off all the stuff, grabbed my money, came back and went, bam. There you go. He's like, hey, good man.

[Alan Tudyk]

I have another story from my little time over at that apartment. Go, please.

[Nathan Fillion]

I want this. This is a New York episode.

[Alan Tudyk]

New York stories. I was living with my buddy Jaman, and he was in my class at school, and he Came home. There was. And he came home and he looked shaken. He just was. He was pale and he's black. So I knew something was up, something's wrong. I was like, buddy, what. What happened? He sat down, he goes, you know the bird woman. And there's a pigeon lady who. Yeah, sure, you're always right by the amp that used to be up there, which is a grocery store and York used to be. I don't see them anymore in new. In Manhattan, I haven't seen one. So at the mp, she would have a bread bag full of birds to eat. And she, this old, like, bent lady should feed all the pigeons. And all these pigeons would come around her. And like, even in that one spot by the building, there was more pigeon crap there than any other place because it was such a spot where she would just come and feed these pigeons. He said, so she's feeding the pigeons. And he was coming back out of the A and P to come home, and she didn't see him. Her back was to him. She finished the bag, finished, poured out the rest of the seeds, reached down, grabbed a big pigeon, put it in the bag, wrapped it up, and started walking. Whoa.

[Nathan Fillion]

Wow.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, no. We thought you were the pigeon's friends. No, she's fattening them up.

[Nathan Fillion]

Issue. Plumping them up. Wow. That's not where I thought that story was going.

[Alan Tudyk]

Here, my pretties don't eat garbage. Eat this good food. You taste better. What? I'm sorry.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's garlic bread.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, right. Cornbread. He's getting a piece of cornbread bread crumbs to get a nice. For Thanksgiving. Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, my goodness.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. I don't know what she was feeding the rats. Hey ho. The rats in the neighborhood were the size of cats, man.

[Nathan Fillion]

I lived in. I lived. This is another New York story. I lived in a little brownstone. I mean, little brownstone. Brownstones are all the same size. I live in a brownstone at the back apartment on. On the first. On the. On as you go up the stoop towards the back.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

There was two girls living in a studio in the front apartment.

[Alan Tudyk]

So this is like a brownstone that's

[Nathan Fillion]

all cut up exactly the way they chop them all up. So two apartments per floor. So I had a one bedroom at the back, and these two girls were sharing a studio at the front. So there was a little loft above the kitchen. And then one of them would sleep on the couch in the living room. And that's. That's how they functioned as a living cheap. They were Broadway dancers. These girls. And wow, twice a month, beep. They'd ring my doorbell, hey, we blew our fuse again. Because you'd be using the microwave and a hairdryer at the same time and it would just pop a fuse. So I just go over there and I go, okay, remember girls, just don't use those two things at the same time. And just, just flip this switch when you're done. And sure enough, two weeks later, beep. We popped it again. And I'm trying to, you know, and every time, by the way, every time I go over there and fix something for them, they would make me dinner. They would cook me like a home cooked meal. They were excellent at preparing food. That was wonderful. And this little tiny kitchen of theirs, they prepared me a meal. And I stopped trying to explain how to fix it after a while. I'm not going to walk you through how to fix this on your own. I'm going to get a free meal out of this.

[Alan Tudyk]

So I think you could have gotten more than a meal, buddy. They seem to be friendly. These, these women seem to be.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, they were just very, very sweet. There was nothing in proprietories. There was, it was, there was. Yeah, just. I loved having neighbors in New York. Most of my neighbors were really fantastic. I came home one day on a super hot. You know, those New York days, they're just so incredibly hot in the summertime. There's about five people on my stoop just sitting, baking in the sun, looking like they just get the life sucked out of them. I was kind of going past and going, oh, that's unusual. And I really, really see five strangers on my stoop. But all right, so I go to the back of my house. It's nice and cold in my apartment. I grab a beer and I haven't been. I go, those poor people out there. Hang on a second. I grab some beers. I go back out to the porch. I go, you guys like a. Could you do for a cold drink? And they're really, oh, my God, yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, please.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, my God. So I handed out some beers. I said, what are you guys doing here? And they said, we're waiting for our friend. And the friend that they were describing was my upstairs neighbor. She lived in the building right up the stairs from me. I said, oh, well, come on in. We'll leave my apartment door open and you'll be able to see her when she comes in. She's going up the stairs right here. So I invited these five people into my house. We had beer, we played Uno. And until my neighbor Came home and I already had a great relationship with my neighbor. Now, she loved me, and I made some great friends out of that little group of five people sitting on my stoop that one day I got invited to one one of their weddings. And it turns out, like, he married into this family that was big on, like a Broadway composer of some kind. She. They had an apartment on. In the Dakota, right on the park.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, Dakota is where John Lennon.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's the John Lennon building. Yes, indeed. So they lived in that building. They had a library in their apartment. Like, they had a huge apartment. It was incredible. I got invited to their wedding. Liza Minnelli was at my table. Like, it was. These were New Yorkers.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, that's more than New Yorkers. Those are connected. Eliza Minnelli.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

That is. That's. That's royalty.

[Nathan Fillion]

It was quite a. It was. It was quite a little.

[Alan Tudyk]

What?

[Nathan Fillion]

And that. That was my. This. Just being friendly to the New York neighbors.

[Alan Tudyk]

My God. A little friendliness in New York goes a long way. I'm going to remember that. I'm going to see. I'm going to see what it gets me.

[Nathan Fillion]

Alan.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Let's get to know you better. Okay.

[Alan Tudyk]

I know you and you know me. Let's get to know you better.

[Nathan Fillion]

What do you got for me?

[Alan Tudyk]

Okay, I realized this one when I was driving across the country, so it's appropriate that I share it now.

[Nathan Fillion]

Excellent.

[Alan Tudyk]

It goes along with sort of your. When we got to know you a little bit better and you told us about how when you're on the phone and when you walk, you imagine, you know, you're stepping in it.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yes.

[Alan Tudyk]

If you want to hear more of this story, refer to episode seven. Once we had a point. This is something I have done for a very long time. I don't know how long I was trying to think of it, but whenever I see roadkill and I'm driving near roadkill, it's like a little prayer, a wordless prayer that I say that I try. It's like I send their souls to heaven. This makes no sense. I'm aware. This makes no sense. I am the roadkill saint.

[Nathan Fillion]

Like, is it a bit of a eulogy? Is it.

[Alan Tudyk]

As I see them, I go. It's like a little breath, like, be free.

[Nathan Fillion]

I release you, and you may now.

[Alan Tudyk]

I release you. A little prayer for you all. You're dead.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, you may now transcend.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah. And it's. It's. And I don't. You know, I don't drive that much, especially now. That I'm going to be in the city. There's going to be so many trapped dead animal souls if. If the. If the roadkill saint isn't moving around. But I'm sure there's lots of roadkill saints. But for me, when I see them, I have like a little silent prayer that sort of lets them let some. That. I'm just saying. Ah, you were. You had a decent life. It sucks. You're dead on the road. Your guts. Look at. Oh, look at you. You're a mess.

[Nathan Fillion]

What a way to go.

[Alan Tudyk]

Hey, I think it was better maybe.

[Nathan Fillion]

Your troubles are over.

[Alan Tudyk]

Enjoy your afterlife. Yeah, your troubles are over.

[Nathan Fillion]

That's interesting.

[Alan Tudyk]

A little.

[Nathan Fillion]

A little drive by eulogist.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. Yes. I'm sort of fast. Dear Lord. Oh, it's a past. Yeah, I. I don't. I don't. I can't make sense of it. It's a compulsion.

[Nathan Fillion]

What's the youngest you remember doing this? What's the youngest age that you remember?

[Alan Tudyk]

I wonder. I wonder if it has anything to do with killing that deer.

[Nathan Fillion]

Probably. Probably a lot of stuff in your life has to do with killing that deer. That was traumatic. I'm gonna tell you right now. That thing twisted you up.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, I think I gotta. I'm gonna peg it to that. I'm gonna put it on that event. Just the smell of death. There's certain meats I can't eat now that I taste the death on them from that deer anyway. Once you get it in your nose, you know it forever. But it has something to do with that. Just sort of just let them go. Let them go. It's just an awareness. I don't want to just drive over them as if they're nothing, as if they're a speed bump, as if they're just part of the casualties.

[Nathan Fillion]

You want to acknowledge the doing business, their life. You want to acknowledge their contribution to the. The circle of life.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yes. And to the buzzards stomachs that are going to come and eat them. Depending on where you are in the country. Yes. Well, in Texas, there's some buzzards that'll. Oh, I'm sure buzzards do a good job because there's a lot of deer on the side of the road.

[Nathan Fillion]

Yeah.

[Alan Tudyk]

People just crack those.

[Nathan Fillion]

Just.

[Alan Tudyk]

I mean, I don't know how you can get a big wreck that way, but it's a bigger wreck for the deer. But yeah, so that I do that. I do that. It's weird. And when I was driving across country, that's when I noticed. I'm like, oh, Wow. I did this a lot because there's a lot of dead animals on the road. Yeah. I think, you know, there's ways to get around that. You can build these land bridges and things that, you know, like city planners, if they want to do that, but in rural settings, nobody really cares that much about animals. I feel like that they want to spend, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a land bridge for animals to cross. They don't, they don't.

[Nathan Fillion]

See, I did not know that about you.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, thanks.

[Nathan Fillion]

Thanks, man.

[Alan Tudyk]

Now you, now you know.

[Nathan Fillion]

Now I know what, what, what?

[Alan Tudyk]

Nathan, what about you? Don't I know?

[Nathan Fillion]

Allan, as you know, I like to collect things. I have, I have collections here and there. Right. There's, there's. I kind of been looking around my house going, boy, I sure have a lot of X, Y, Z, whatever it might be. This, this one I'm going to share with you. I collect fidgets now. You do? I do. I collect these things now. There's like fidget spinners. I'm not a fan. Yes. Like, don't. If you're out there thinking, oh, Nathan collects fidgets, I'm going to send him a fidget. Don't send me a fidget. I'm really, I'm. First of all, I have, I have probably about 150 of them. So don't send me. Any second. I have these like, these display cases with kind of like a clear top. And then inside there's like 24 little pockets, little velvet lined boxes, you know, inside little sections like little jewelry cases. And then each one has one to five fidgets in it. And you know, when people come over, sometimes I'll set them out and go, here you go, try these out. And people like, what are these? And now they're exploring them and one of them in some way will scratch an itch in somebody's brain. Oh, this one, you can see it kind of a light on their face. They'll pick one up and go, oh, that's great. Oh, this is great. Pick one up and go, oh, I like this. And you can see how it kind of lights people up in a way. This tactile, whatever it is. Some of them click, some of them are silent, some of them slide. They're magnetic or mechanical. But I think one of my favorite things to do is, you know, when I show people and they pull them all out, they never put them back in the right order. Putting them back like in an ocd. Like all the ones that slide go here. And the magnetic ones are here and the blue ones here. Reorganizing my fidgets is probably one of my greatest joys.

[Alan Tudyk]

That's the best fidget of all.

[Nathan Fillion]

I am very organized and it all makes sense to me. And I almost always have one in my pocket when I'm on set. When I'm on a flight, I have a little pack that I travel with. Yeah. When TSA is always like, what's in here? Just toys. Just. They just keep my. I. If. When I'm in a meeting, I have a quiet one that I can kind of do under the table. No one has any idea that I'm kind of. It might look like I'm ringing my. What? I'm ringing my fingers.

[Alan Tudyk]

Right.

[Nathan Fillion]

But it's.

[Alan Tudyk]

I like that term, bringing your fingers.

[Nathan Fillion]

It's rather than ringing my hands together. It's a. I'm just right. Doing it like single handedly. But it's. I find it difficult to focus sometimes. If I'm in a meeting and I can doodle or I can do something else, it quiets my mind enough to pay attention. If that makes sense.

[Alan Tudyk]

I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. I got.

[Nathan Fillion]

I got a fidget. Alan, I'm gonna send you a fidget with a box that's clear with 24 different Fidget super selection. That's.

[Alan Tudyk]

I know. Cultivated just for you. Distraction. I know. I know of distraction, my friend. I'm in constant distraction. That's. That's, that's great. I did not. I did not know that about you. Did you know. And this isn't just an extra one, but I. When I was in New York again, a New York story. A New York. I got a story for you. I was out right by Union Square park and there was a guy with one of those folding tables with a bunch of fidget spinners. The lesser fidget tool. A bunch of fidget spinners out on the table. And he was like, hey, could you watch my table? I gotta go to the bedroom. Yeah. Took off and went to a bathroom and I sat behind his little folding table and I was like, get your fidget spin off.

[Nathan Fillion]

Did you sell any? Did you. Did you make.

[Alan Tudyk]

No, I really wanted to. I wanted to. I wanted for him to come back and be like, I collected 40 bucks, buddy. But it was at the end of the fad and he was. It was an uphill battle for him.

[Nathan Fillion]

Somebody walking by and said, that guy looks like Alan Tudyk.

[Alan Tudyk]

Too bad.

[Nathan Fillion]

Or someone said, that's Altic selling fidgets in Union Square Park. How far they fallen. Okay. Yeah. Acting is a tough gig.

[Alan Tudyk]

Yeah, Meth gets everybody at some point.

[Nathan Fillion]

Do you think a meth addict would have the wherewithal to start a fidget business? And you need to screw with a table and a proper. I mean, you got to be a 10 to run a business like that.

[Alan Tudyk]

You're right. That was. That was actually my front. And then the rest was meth sales.

[Nathan Fillion]

Oh, I.

[Alan Tudyk]

Selling meth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nathan Fillion]

Don't get high on your fidget supply, Alan. Words to live by.

[Alan Tudyk]

All right, Nathan.

[Nathan Fillion]

Until next time, Alan, but a lovely chat.

[Alan Tudyk]

Brilliant, Sarah.

[Nathan Fillion]

I don't know what that was, and good night.

[Alan Tudyk]

Well, you made it all the way

[Nathan Fillion]

to the end credits. Thank you you for listening to Once We Were Spaceman. Remember, you can always head over to our Patreon for bonus content, longer episodes, and a chance to take home some incredible crap.

[Alan Tudyk]

If you love the show, please leave

[Nathan Fillion]

us a review and tell your friends. If you didn't love the show, keep it to yourself. This podcast is a collision 33 production. Specifically, we are produced by Michelle Chapman, Siobhan Homan, and Josh Levy. All the recording and post services are handled by Rabid Grin Productions, and our theme music is by the brilliant Carlos Sosa and Joshua Moore. And as always, our artwork was created by Lou Jensen. We'll see you next time.

[Alan Tudyk]

Oh, no. We thought you were the pigeon's friends. No, she's fattening them up.