Once We Were Fake Private Eyes with Eric Winter | Episode 32

Summary

Once We Were Fake Private Eyes with Eric Winter | Once We Were Spacemen Episode 32

Podcast Hosts: Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk
Guest: Eric Winter
Release Date: June 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively and deeply personal episode, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk welcome their "Rookie" co-star and long-time friend, Eric Winter. Through candid anecdotes and plenty of laughter, the trio explores Eric's winding career path—from his unexpected start in modeling, to breaking into acting (from soaps to network hits), mastering social media, and even launching a premium rum brand. Along the way, listeners are treated to stories about family (including a wild saga of fake private investigators), facing rejection and setbacks in Hollywood, the rewards and pressures of long-running TV success, and ghostly experiences. The episode is rich with insights on resilience, reinvention, and finding joy both at work and in life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Eric’s Family Adventure: The Fake Private Eyes

• [00:00] Eric recounts how his father and a friend staged themselves as private investigators in the 1970s:
  • Inspired by an ad for PI badges, they created new identities (“Johnny Apollo!”).
  • They rigged up a fake car phone and spent years on the road, hustling pool and getting tangled in real PI cases.
  • Memorable line: “My dad grew up in Pasadena… working at a vacuum cleaner shop… high out of their minds… let’s escape Pasadena… let’s be private eyes.” (Eric, 00:00–00:40)
  • The resulting antics included jail time, real investigations, and one of the friends legally changing his name.

2. On-Screen Personas vs. Real Life

• [01:26] The hosts discuss how Eric is nothing like his “hard ass” character, Tim Bradford, from “The Rookie.”
• Nathan highlights the contrast:
  • “He is a real hard ass, cranky SOB on the show. But the man is kind and sweet and gentle and funny as hell.” (Nathan, 01:52)

3. Breaking Past Typecasting—The “Rookie” Casting Story

• [05:32]–[18:49]
  • Eric reveals superstitions about seeing people connected to auditions—how seeing Nathan in his Arcimoto car made him think he’d lost the role.
  • Roadblocks from producers (“Eric’s too nice!”) forced him to approach his audition with no stress, leading to an honest, powerful performance.
  • Memorable moment: “I took my sides and I threw them in the trash right in front of everybody. I said, have a break.” (Eric, 17:14)
  • Hosts reflect on the power of just letting go and leaving it “all out on the field.” (Nathan, 17:58)

4. Career Ups and Downs: From Soaps to Primetime

• [09:49]–[32:59]
  • Eric’s first “lightning in a bottle” job: being cast by Hugh Jackman for CBS’ “Viva Laughlin” (despite not fitting the age/type description).
  • The heartbreak of network expectations—shows considered “failures” even with 11–15 million viewers.
  • Sliding door moments: He nearly quit acting after missing a spot on “Dawson’s Creek” and almost became a paramedic.
  • Soaps as a proving ground: He landed “Days of Our Lives” and traces his break—and how sliding doors changed not just his life, but Justin Hartley’s (now of “This is Us”).

5. The Joy and Growth of a Long-Running Series

• [18:18]–[22:14]
  • Reflections on nine seasons of “The Rookie,” Eric's gratitude for creative evolution, and the importance of enjoying the work environment.
  • “If you’re not happy going to work, it’s tough after eight seasons to do a grind on any show.” (Eric, 21:21)
  • On “shipping” and fan analytics—how the “Tim and Lucy” relationship (Toosy) became a fandom driver.
  • “Oh yeah, they got a shipper name. People go nuts for that stuff.” (Nathan, 22:08)

6. Origins: From Modeling to Acting (Thanks to Underwear Pics & “Rackets”)

• [24:40]–[30:01]
  • Eric describes falling into modeling after a college girlfriend’s encouragement and the “camp” that helped both him and Jaime Pressly.
  • “No story that starts like this ends up well… I know a guy, give me some pictures of you in your underwear.” (Alan, 25:51)
  • Breakthrough with Tommy Hilfiger and how it led him to acting classes, eventually landing his first acting gigs.

7. Facing Industry Burnout—and the Soap Rescue

• [30:39]–[32:59]
  • Burnout and “quitting”: Eric almost walked away, but a last-minute call led to simultaneous soap auditions.
  • The ripple effect: His path changed others’ (e.g., Justin Hartley’s).
  • Surreal daytime TV plotlines: genetically engineered humans, aliens, and soap-fan athletes.
  • “We had an underground civilization, a city called Eterna… that was before my time.” (Nathan, 13:21)

8. Making It—Defining Success

• [35:07]–[36:05]
  • For Eric, “making it” meant supporting his family, not chasing fame.
    • “As long as I could support myself as an actor… that was my job, I was very content.” (Eric, 35:19)
  • A highlight? Doing a commercial with Britney Spears, getting the gig thanks to her brother’s sizing-up during the audition.

9. Diversification: Rum Business & Podcasting

• [44:27]–[48:49]
  • Eric discusses his premium sipping rum, Palm Republic, inspired by Puerto Rican culture and a desire to elevate the U.S. rum market.
    • Key focus: Less sugar, modern bottle design, designed to stand with bourbon and tequila.
    • “We wanted to bring a premium rum to market that could not only stand up with its taste… but [also] the bottle.” (Eric, 45:33)

10. Social Media: Viral Pranks, Quality Control, and Family

• [49:01]–[54:23]
  • Eric has over 7 million TikTok followers, collaborating with his kids on viral content—often taking many takes for perfection.
    • Quality matters: “I’m not posting it. Just does not… Didn’t cut money.” (Eric, 50:19)
  • Legendary prank: “Chicken Dance Lady” video with Lizeth, 245M views.
    • “She went so hard on this chicken dance with her eyes closed... and it just ran.” (Eric, 51:27)

11. Spooky Stuff: The Paranormal and Family Life

• [54:27]–[59:09]
  • Family life: Eric cherishes being a dad, is heavily involved in his kids’ lives (tennis, soccer), and views parenthood as his proudest role.
    • “Being a dad is probably my most cherished thing in the world.” (Eric, 55:22)
  • Ghost stories: Eric and wife have had ghostly experiences—including unsettling signs and an experience with a medium after his father’s passing:
    • “Impossible to know the things that this person said… Impossible.” (Eric, 57:02)

12. Rapid-Fire: “Let’s Get to Know You Better” Segment

• [62:15]–[68:19]
  • Hosts and Eric reveal facts not widely known:
    • Nathan: Obsessed with futuristic vehicles—places deposits on unusual cars like the solar Aptera and self-balancing motorcycles.
    • Alan: Once dated someone with songs written about her by Jason Mraz—“one time I dated a girl who came with the soundtrack.” (Alan, 66:01)
    • Eric: “Adrenaline junkie”—skydiving, bungee, swimming with sharks, with “great white cage diving” on the bucket list.

13. Conventions and Fandom

• [70:00]–[72:50]
  • Experiencing “The Rookie” fandom at conventions—including seeing a five-year-old dressed as his character.
  • Fans share how the show inspired them to pursue law enforcement; cast honored by LAPD for representing the profession positively.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I took my sides and I threw them in the trash right in front of everybody.” (Eric, 17:14)
• “Let’s order these badges… and then he’s like, ‘my name is Wayne Winter… but you’re Leon Carrera… you should be Johnny Apollo!’” (Eric describes his dad’s friend becoming Johnny Apollo, 39:03)
• “We had an underground civilization, the city called Eterna.” (Nathan, 13:21, on soap opera absurdity)
• “Being a dad is probably my most cherished thing in the world.” (Eric, 55:22)
• “I’m not posting it. It’s over. I’m not going to negotiate.” (Eric, 50:19)
• “As long as I could support myself as an actor… that was my job, I was very content.” (Eric, 35:19)
• “She went so hard on this chicken dance… and she was so committed… by the end of the day it had 20 million views.” (Eric, 51:27)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–00:51: Eric’s father's fake private eye adventure
• 05:32: The audition superstition & “The Rookie” casting
• 09:49: Early career, Hugh Jackman story, “Viva Laughlin”
• 13:04: Network TV: expectations, heartbreak, cancellation
• 18:18: Nine seasons of “The Rookie”—gratitude and creative fulfillment
• 21:02: Character evolution and fan engagement
• 24:52–30:01: Modeling beginnings & first acting gigs
• 30:39: Burnout, quitting acting, and the lifeline of soaps
• 35:19: Defining “making it”
• 36:05: Working with Britney Spears
• 39:05–43:00: The “private eye” saga, dad as Johnny Apollo
• 44:27: Diversifying: premium rum business (Palm Republic)
• 49:01: Social media: TikTok, pranks, children’s involvement
• 54:27: Parenting, kids, and feeling proud
• 56:50: Ghost stories and mediums
• 62:15: “Let’s Get to Know You Better”—surprising host/guest facts
• 70:00: Conventions, meeting fans, impact on law enforcement recruitment

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Tone & Vibe

The episode is high-energy, self-deprecating, affectionate, and full of industry wisdom. The trio rib each other frequently, but also delve into genuine, sometimes vulnerable territory about ambition, resilience, creativity, and family. There is a sense of warm camaraderie and a genuine curiosity about each other’s pasts and present endeavors.

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Episode Takeaways

• Resilience and Reinvention: Eric’s trajectory—marked by detours, rejections, and pivots—offers a blueprint for longevity in a fickle business.
• Family Legends: Sometimes, your family stories could be a movie—and, in Eric’s case, probably should be.
• Passion Projects: Whether rum-making or podcasting, creative people are always looking for new outlets.
• Owning Your Narrative: Eric’s social media presence, parenting, fandom at conventions—all reflect a comfort with authenticity and self-expression.
• The Unexpected Path: From “underwear pics in the backyard” to primetime TV, sometimes the journey is as wild as any story Hollywood can invent.
• The Power of Team: Joy at work, mutual respect, and the lasting impact of ensemble casts—especially when the job “has come this far as a team, as a unit.” (Eric, 20:23)

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For New Listeners or Fans

This episode is a must-listen for fans of “The Rookie,” aspiring actors, or anyone fascinated by the zigzag of creative careers. It’s equal parts inspiring, hilarious, and unexpectedly poignant—a perfect reflection of the hosts and their guest.

Transcript

[Eric]

My dad grew up in Pasadena and was a big stoner at the time. And his in his twenties and was working at a vacuum cleaner shop. And he was the salesman and his buddy was the repairman. And his buddy, his name was Leon

Carrera at the time. And they were high out of their minds one day, like, how do we meet girls? How do we get out there and just let's do something and escape Pasadena? And they decided, well, they were, we'll

be played by photographers.

That's a great way to meet women. And they're like, that's too, the equipment's too expensive. There's no way we can afford all these cameras. And like, how can, how can we

pretend to do that? So they see a little ad in the back of a magazine with private eye badges and my dad goes, that's it.

We're going to be private eyes.

[Alan]

Once we were spacemen. Spacemen. I tend to play weird people, usually aliens and robots and things that don't have romance.

[Nathan]

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

[Alan]

Once we were spacemen.

[Nathan]

Alan.

[Alan]

Hey, Nathan.

[Nathan]

You have been on the Rookie. You've seen the Rookie? Yeah, this. Eric is on the Rookie with me.

[Alan]

I've seen him. I've met him briefly. We didn't have any scenes together.

[Nathan]

Right.

[Alan]

It was always just us. And then he was off doing his stuff.

[Nathan]

Eric is one of those guys where if you, if you watch him on tv you'll still have no idea in any way what he's actually like because his character is so different from who he is in, in reality. Wow.

[Alan]

I'm getting like when I, I see him. Yeah. Because when I see him, he's kind of. He's a luptied on the show. So that's.

[Nathan]

He's a hard ass.

[Alan]

Not that he's a hard ass.

[Nathan]

He is a real hard ass, cranky SOB on the show. But the, the man is kind and sweet and gentle and funny as hell. Boy. He loves to laugh. He loves to make jokes. And he's funny. He's a funny guy.

[Alan]

Great. I love those types of guys.

[Nathan]

Yeah, I think, I think we're gonna enjoy getting to know him a little better. It's. It's always a pleasure for me to bring some of my favorite people onto our little program here and, and let people get to know them.

[Alan]

We got another rookie coming on. Although he was never a rookie, but a rookie. He's a, he's a, he's, he's One of our rookie. He's one of the confectionaries from the Rookie. He's a rookie cookie. That's what I. I hear he likes to be called.

[Nathan]

It was a bit of a walk to get there, but you got.

[Eric]

Let's do this.

[Nathan]

Why don't you start us off?

[Alan]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Once We Were Spacemen. Because once we were spacemen, twice we were carpenters, thrice. We were X ray consultants, quadruplets. We were assisting people who handed out flyers in front of Whole foods back in 1997. Five times a lady.

[Nathan]

It really impresses.

[Alan]

I did. I feel like I didn't pronounce your name right.

[Nathan]

You wouldn't have been the first. Yeah, it really garbled at the very end.

[Alan]

Yeah, yeah, that was a. That was a little off. Sometimes when you're in space too long, you can't enunciate as well. That's one of the things.

[Nathan]

It had a lot of spirit.

[Alan]

Yeah, yeah. Space spirit. Brilliant. Well, let's. I. I'm anxious to meet him. Is he here? Can we let him into the. To the. To the room. One, two, three, blast off.

[Nathan]

Okay. We got so much cut to cover. Today. We have acting the rookie daytime dramas, family rum, podcasting, just to name a few.

[Alan]

Rum is a good table of contents.

[Nathan]

Yes.

[Eric]

This is.

[Nathan]

This is all going to fall under the category of diversification. Eric, thank you for doing this.

[Eric]

Thank you for having me.

[Nathan]

Guys, this is. You're no stranger to podcasting. I've asked you many questions about podcasting. You have a podcast. You and your. Your wife have a podcast. He said what?

[Eric]

We did.

Yeah, we did. We actually have paused it, but we do.

Yeah, for years. Few years.

[Nathan]

How many episodes have you squeezed out of that thing?

[Eric]

Oh, we did three years worth. And it rotated the format. You know, it used to be once

a week for an hour. Then it dropped down to like half hour episodes that it was going to twice a week.

It was just. There were different formats that iheart was playing with.

Who are our partners at the time.

But it was a great. It was like a therapy session for us.

It was. It was a very fun experience.

[Alan]

That's what it is for Nathan and I. Yeah, we need a lot of therapy section. Yeah, our therapy session. And then you said you got out of it because too many heels got into the game. That's the quote that I have. Where's my.

[Eric]

Wow, that's a great quote. Wish I would come up with that. We'll be going back into the space likely we just wanted to change a bit of the. The format and style that we were presented with the heels.

[Alan]

Right.

[Nathan]

Eric, do you remember when we first met?

[Eric]

Vividly. Well, the first time we. Actually, the first time I saw you, I remember that crystal clear because it was the curse.

[Nathan]

Start, start then with the story of the curse.

[Eric]

Yeah. So I used to.

I'm a very superstitious person. Maybe comes from a sports background. I don't know why, but everything. The superstition based when it came to acting.

And for years, if I was close on a job or right in the mix on something, anytime, let's just say.

I'll give you an example. I. I was in the mix on something that Halle Berry was in. And the next day I was on a flight and I opened a magazine and there was a picture of Halle Berry in an ad. I was like, oh, there we go. Not getting that one.

So anytime I would be in the mix on something, if an actor or somebody, a part of that project appeared in my life in some way, whether it was on tv, a billboard, whatever it was, I never got the job. So, yeah, so it just became this known curse in my mind. And I remember being very much in the mix on the Rookie. And I pulled into the farmer's market

one day and my son goes, dad,

look at that car.

And it's like this space.

Was that the Arcimoto? Is that what that one was?

Or is that the other one?

You had two spaceship kind of cars.

[Nathan]

That's the Arcimoto.

[Eric]

Okay. So I pull into Trader Joe's and my son goes, look. And I want to say it was you and Michelle, now that I look back on it in that thing together,

potentially going to farmers. I don't know if that's possible.

And I turn and look and I go, this.

That can't be Nathan Fillion.

Oh, God, there goes the rookie. I like, I'm not getting that job. And I think.

[Nathan]

And then you look at his son and said, you happy now?

[Eric]

Yeah, yeah. It's a stupid car, Dylan. Look at that thing. You just lost your dad a job pointing that out. And that was the first time I saw you. And then I met you officially after

that for the test over at abc. And you broke the curse.

[Nathan]

I. You broke the curse, mister.

[Eric]

No, man, you broke it.

[Nathan]

That was nice. Alan, have you ever been on the other side of an audition? Have you ever been in the room whilst people auditioned?

[Alan]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, I've had that.

[Nathan]

So there's that experience of everyone wants to find the person, right? You want the search to be over.

[Eric]

Yes.

[Nathan]

Eric did one of those things where the room was one way before he came in, where it's, you know, it's all up in the air. I wonder if he can do it. And then left the room where everybody's looking at each other going, oh, my God.

[Eric]

Right?

[Nathan]

Oh, my God. Where everybody's like, did that kind of celebratory, oh, it's over. We can scratch that one off. We're done. That's our job. Is that much more done. So, Eric, that was. This was the first jerk I think you've played. The first kind of starkly crisp a hole.

[Eric]

Yeah. In this way.

I always played the douchebag. Many times I played a douche. Like in Harold and Kumar, I was the douche. I've done douchey roles as the jerk. I was a bad guy and a

couple other things, but not quite like this.

[Nathan]

I would say there's a sincerity to this one. The douche is there to laugh at.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Nathan]

I would say Tim Bradford is not the laughable type.

[Alan]

I don't think of him as a douche. I just think of him as somebody who's.

[Nathan]

Who's.

[Alan]

Who's like a. He's just. He. This is how he looks at his job and how. How he gets his job done.

[Nathan]

And, you know, I think we're all on the same page. I think we're trying to get to the idea that this is the. A first for Eric to be playing this sort of a role.

[Eric]

Yeah. And I would say to the point that I had everything stacked against me,

funny enough, I. I've talked about this audition journey a bit, and I've had

two that we've shared a lot of

stories, like in the industry, as we've gone through our journeys, whether starting out or whatever.

I've had two moments in my career

where I felt the air sort of

come out of the room or a lightning in a bottle type moment.

And the first moment was my very first pilot I ever got, which was called Viva Laughlin for CBS years ago. And Hugh Jackman was in it, Melanie Griffith was in it. And it was first time a big

movie star had ever done tv. I mean, this was Hugh Jackman agreeing

to eight episodes of CBS network television

before streamers, all that stuff. And I won't bore you with, like a super long, detailed, drawn out part of this, but it was essentially a job they kept wanting to see me

for, wanting to see me for. I said, no, no, no, no, I'm not right for this guy. I'm in my 30s. This guy's written in his 40s. What, doing. No, I'm not this guy. It was a take of this format out of the UK called Viva Blackpool.

And I. I finally passed on it

enough times and tested four or five times that season. Didn't get anything. And I said it, I'll go back in. Because I got. I don't have a job, so why not?

And it was the director of Pursuit

of Happiness, Gabrielle Muccino. So he had just come off of Pursuit of Happiness. So it was a big, big property.

And I go in, I read, get a call back to meet with Gabrielle.

I read.

And he's like the most blunt person

I've ever worked with.

Like, you do the scene, he goes, horrible, horrible. Let's try this. That would be the way.

[Alan]

And I'm just talking about your shoes.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Nathan]

Yes.

[Eric]

So I do it. I get a test offer. I'm like, how do I get a test offer?

I never thought I'd get this job.

And I show up and it's just

me at the test.

They've already started production.

Hughes already filming with a couple other people. And I walk into the room and he's.

He's off filming for the day and

he came in for the test.

[Nathan]

So it's the old relax things for you, or does that up the stakes for you?

[Eric]

Well, it's the old school test too, Nathan. Remember, you guys know with the stadium in a room, CBS Underground. This is all of cbs, all of Sony, all of Hugh Jackman's company. Massive group of people. Nina Tassler at the time, is the head of the.

The network.

And I go, and I have to sing and I have to act. I'm not a singer, so I had to sing a scene, a whole scene with singing and a whole scene with acting. And I. You already, you know, too.

Sometimes you audition if it's just you.

It's usually not a good thing. Like, they often want choices. They don't want just that guy. Some are like, here we go. I'm set up to fail again. And I go in, do my audition, I exit. They go, can you wait outside, please?

Just let me go talk about me.

It's just me. You're not bringing somebody else in. They call me back in the room, Hugh Jackman jumps up and says, I couldn't have done it better myself, mate. And runs down the steps, gives me a big bear hug. He's like, you got the job. And I'm like, wow. Hell, my first pilot ever. It's like, it was all downhill from there. And I'm calling my agents and I'm like, I got the job. Like, what do you mean, you got the job? I'm like, Hugh Jackman told me in the room, I got the job. Unless he's lying. I don't know. I got the job. So that was like my one. The way I kicked off my career

of like, this is a big lightning bottle moment.

And then cut to years down the road, after ups and downs, many, many.

[Alan]

Wait, what happened to that pilot? Did the pilot go?

[Eric]

Did it?

We were picked up for 13. This is. Again, back in the day, we did. We were seven episodes in. We debuted to 15 million viewers. And they considered it a failure.

[Nathan]

Right?

[Eric]

We failed because we came after CSI and they were doing 22 million viewers. So we dropped to 15. They had a huge problem. We did the second episode. It aired DirecTV Blue. It was. Had a problem. Nationwide lost all TV. Like, it was out for that network. We competed against the World Series, and we still did 11 million viewers. And they canceled us the next day. So I was off work that day. I'm at home, and my friend calls me from work. He's like, you're not gonna believe this. We just got canceled. I'm like, what do you mean we got canceled? She goes, I was in makeup. They did half my face. They came in and said, everybody can pack up and go home because half my face was done. I had tissue in my shirt and I had to leave work. We were canceled.

[Nathan]

Oh.

[Eric]

So, I mean. And Millie. I mean, we had shot a lot, and there was. It was great people. Anyways, so that failed. And then I'd say, go back to a lightning in a bottle moment that I cut. Two years later, I. I'm reading for

another show that Ulrich Dawson is casting at the time, and the Rookie's about to come up for auditions.

And I had just done a pilot

with ABC and Liz Friedlander, who is directing the Rookie. I did a pilot that shot in

Miami, didn't get picked up, and it was Mark Gordon as well. And I'm reading for this other show. And Dean. Liz, Dean says who I.

Who had cast another project I was in and was like, you'd be great for the Rookie. Da da da da. And it shoots in la, Nathan, Philly. And I'm like, wait, this is.

[Alan]

This is amazing.

[Eric]

And it's Mark Gordon and it's Liz Freelander directing.

[Nathan]

And Mark Gordon at the time was the head of E1, which was the studio that made the Rookie just for the. Just For a little tidbit. Yeah.

[Eric]

And I go to my team.

I'm like, you guys have to get

me an offer, something. Like, you got to get me into test, whatever. Like, I know every player involved except for Nathan and Alexi. But, I mean, I. I still know

a lot of people.

Can you at least get me straight to test something? And they call Mark Gordon's company and.

And the executive at the time was like, nah, Eric's too nice. I know Eric. He's. He's just not this guy.

He can come in, but he's probably not that. Can I say the names on the podcast?

I don't mean I should say the name on the podcast.

[Nathan]

Oh, yeah, don't. Yeah, we don't want Burning Bridges, but go ahead.

[Eric]

Yeah. No, that was what he said.

[Alan]

Someone in production said, who was involved in the audition process said, no, he

[Eric]

was the head of the production company

at the time that was doing that. The rookie.

[Nathan]

He's too nice to act mean.

[Eric]

Yeah. He's like, he's not gonna play this role. He's not.

[Alan]

He could come in.

[Eric]

I'd love to see him.

He's. He's a great guy.

I love Eric.

He's just too nice. I don't see him as. As Bradford. As Tim Bradford.

[Alan]

Wow.

[Eric]

And I remember being so hurt. Like, you know, you go in this business, you try to build as much as you can, you try to make relationships, you try to make good first impressions. You have a resume, you think you're doing all the right things, and then flat out, you just said, you can't

act like this person.

[Alan]

That is. Yeah, that is. And that is a very Hollywood thing. They're like, somebody says, you're too nice.

[Eric]

God damn it. Yeah, fuck everybody. That's why I'm not being nice anymore.

[Alan]

Son of a bitch.

[Eric]

And yeah, so lo and behold, I get the audition finally, and I'm already thinking, I don't have a shot. Like, this is never. I'm never going to get it. And I went in there so free of stress because I just never thought it was mine. And I was able to really let my emotions go and just be in the moment and be a complete ass. And then I got one note on an emotional scene with my ex wife and from Liz in the room, and God bless. I was reading opposite a reader and I was able to just connect. Like, there was just a moment where everything left. Like, you just feel, like, out of body in a way. I was just in this moment bawling, super emotional. And I got done with the scene, I said, are you guys good? Do you have any questions? And they said. They were like, just kind of. Everybody's quiet. And I said, great.

I took my sides and I threw

them in the trash right in front of everybody.

And I said, have a break.

And I walked out. And I'm not lying. There was tons of people in the hallway waiting to go read. They stopped the session, and I think it was the exec, if I remember

correctly, came out and was like, eric, are you okay? And I went, yeah, it's called acting, bitch.

[Nathan]

Snap, snap, snap.

[Eric]

And I left and got great feedback and got a test.

[Nathan]

Did you drive home saying, I nailed it, or did you drive home saying, I hope that went well?

[Eric]

I. I knew I had left it

all out on the field. Right.

Like, I did everything I could do, and it's not for me. It's not for me, but I have.

That's what you want, regrets, right?

[Alan]

Yeah, no regrets.

[Nathan]

Alan and I have talked a lot about auditions and the feeling and what can you do possibly. You control everything in your control, but. But that's it. Like. Like you said, leave everything on the field. Everything you could possibly do, you've done. It's out of your hands.

[Eric]

It's so hard. One of the best things I think

an actor can ever.

[Nathan]

How did it turn out? I'm dying to know.

[Eric]

God, it worked out good that Nathan Filling was at the farmer's market that day to break my curse. Yeah. I would say if you could sit in an audition room as an actor,

it is such a great experience, I think, to see how much is really not in your control and you can just be your.

You can just be the best you can be.

[Alan]

I did. Yeah. I think I mentioned on here, I shot a commercial, small little commercial, and we were seeing young men, and I was like, that guy can do it. That guy can do it. And then a guy walked in and went, that guy's it. And everybody said it the same thing, like, oh, he's it.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Alan]

There was no question about it. And I don't know what was different. It was just. He was it. It was. It was bizarre.

[Eric]

It's a very weird thing to explain.

[Alan]

And I had to fire him. No, no, it was. It all went very well.

[Nathan]

Eric, congratulations. Season nine pickup, by the way. You as well.

[Eric]

You as well.

[Alan]

Thank you.

[Nathan]

That's a. I used to, you know, kind of hold it over a bit. Everybody's head saying, yeah, well, until this season's over the record for the most seasons on a TV show, now I'M tied with everybody.

[Eric]

Let's say you broke your own record.

[Nathan]

We're all in the same boat now. We're all, we're all level ground for holding records. Congratulations. Nine seasons. It's a short list.

[Alan]

I think you can overtake him, just so you know. Don't give up. Don't take your foot off the gas now.

[Nathan]

It's true. I'm not long for this world, Eric.

[Alan]

Just keep going. How do you feel?

[Nathan]

I, I, I, I'll say. Tim Bradford, breakout character. You and Melissa with the Tim and Lucy storyline stuff. Super well tracked. People love it. People love it. How do you feel?

[Eric]

It's great, man. And, and I tell you, and I, I reflecting back on the story I

just shared with you, I, I kind of, it feels great to know that we've come this far as a team, as a unit.

It's the best job ever. Being in town working with people that

you have such a blast with and you can laugh with all day and

it's just a joy to go to work and then, you know.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

As an actor, to be, you know, it's funny because people have asked me, you know, is it hard after eight seasons to play the same character? And I feel so fortunate to, especially

with Bradford and the way that his storyline has been shaped. It's like he's been through such an evolution for eight seasons. I always mean it when I say I don't know what I'm going to get every year.

So it keeps me excited as an

actor because every year I'm surprised with what Alexi comes up with in the

storyline, how we're going to build the

steps forward, the steps back. It's, it's a very, very fun character to play.

But, you know, as you know, Nathan and both of you know, Alan, just experience in the business, if you're not happy going to work, it's also very tough after eight seasons to do a

grind or nine seasons to do a grind on any show, especially if you're not stimulated creatively.

So the fact that to have the creative fun and also have the personal

fun and the joy, it just makes it that much easier to pinch yourself and go, oh, my God, I'm in this.

[Nathan]

Yeah.

[Alan]

I'm so glad you're having fun. Can I ask, Nathan, you said that their characters track, is that like the, like you guys, the, the audience responds to them. Is there actual tracking for that shit? As a producer, Nathan, do you guys like, is there like, how do you know?

[Nathan]

Oh, yeah, you can, you can look at the analytics like the. All the hashtags of Tim and Lucy or Toosy as they called as the ship name.

[Alan]

Oh, you've got a name. Y. Oh, wow.

[Nathan]

Oh, yeah, yeah, they got a shipper name. Yeah. Oh, yeah. People. Yeah, people go nuts for that stuff. The will they, won't they?

[Eric]

The.

[Nathan]

The star crossed. You know, just getting frustrated. Just please just get together and then something happens to throw a monkey wrench in the. In the works and you know, it just. It's just stuff that's not beyond realism. It's stuff that people. But as a. As an audience member as you know, being led along the path of a story, it's very rewarding. It's a lot of fun to cheer and laugh and sit in judgment. And a journey for the character is a journey for the actor. He gets. Eric gets to have this incredible experience of an actor going through what. What this. This character means to people. Oh, there you go.

[Alan]

Yeah. And, but. And then. And the audience is there for it and they're talking about it and so you're able to. Oh, that's great. That's fantastic.

[Nathan]

Yeah, it's fun. That's. Yeah. Again, Eric was acting always in the cards. When. When did. From the beginning. From the get go. Were you going to be pro athlete?

[Eric]

You know, that was my dream. I realized that was not going to happen.

[Alan]

Can I guess? Can I guess? Can I guess? Golf.

[Eric]

That's it. Terrible. Golfer. No, I, you know, I want sports was everything to me. I thought that would definitely be the

path I go down.

[Alan]

Baseball?

[Eric]

No, I played football. I was about football230 when I graduated

high school and I was a defensive lineman, believe it or not.

[Alan]

Holy. What?

[Eric]

Yeah, you were one of the old pictures, Nathan. I haven't turned my pictures in his house now a bald. No neck full of pad like just

[Nathan]

so you need to see these photos. I think the earliest photo I've seen of you is when you did your stint on daytime with your silver underwear.

[Eric]

Oh, those are the days.

[Alan]

I. I think all of this needs to end up on the rookie somehow. I

[Eric]

was an alien, Alan. Once I. Once I was a spaceman.

[Nathan]

Another shared experience, the two of you being aliens.

[Alan]

Oh, really? You were an alien?

[Eric]

Yeah, yeah. But then I turned out to be

a genetically engineered human being and the alien theory went out the window. And that's daytime television, man.

[Alan]

That is one step away from a robot. So I feel you there too. We're living in the same world. That's. Yeah, that's a tribe. That's our tribe.

[Nathan]

What's What's. What's the. What's the. The thing that says, maybe I'll try acting or maybe I'll be good at this. And when does that start?

[Eric]

It was a combination. It was a girl I dated in college, so I'm from la, but I wasn't a guy always wanting to act. You know, I. I went to UCLA to be a. I was a pre

med student, wanted to be a. Wanted to go into sports medicine.

[Nathan]

Cool.

[Eric]

And started dating a girl. Also needed an elective in school, and

I was like, oh, I could take the drama class. It can't be that hard to probably get an A and like, something else

I can, you know, just do. And took a drama class for fun. Started dating this girl and she said, why?

[Alan]

That's why you took the class? Because of that. Because the girls go on.

[Eric]

I did it to meet. Yeah, yeah. And started dating this one girl and

she's like, why aren't you acting or, like, modeling, doing something in this business?

You're in la.

And I was like, you know, I grew up here. Never even crossed my mind, really.

And she goes, look, you got to just give me some photos. Give me some photos.

Let me give them to a guy I know who's a manager, and I bet you he could help you out. And I was thinking to myself, okay, whatever, I got nothing to lose. I'm not even still taking it serious.

And those photos are priceless. That's just like me in my backyard

in my underwear, taking pictures next to

[Alan]

a no story that starts like this ends up, well, man, this is amazing. I know a guy, give me some pictures of you in your underwear.

[Eric]

Yeah, that's exactly how it started.

[Nathan]

Humble beginnings.

[Eric]

What? And yeah, she plays me with a guy who I think, you know, he

had one of these camps, and I think it was kind of a bit of a racket.

Never asked me for any money. And there's only two people that I know of to this date that he

helped break, and it was Jamie Presley

before me and then me.

[Alan]

Now, when you say break, what does that mean? Is that just get a real job. In prison, that means one thing. Break free. Here, it means something else. I think he helped you get a job. Got it.

[Eric]

To clarify.

[Alan]

Got it.

[Nathan]

You know, you know, if that camp is still going, you and Jamie's photos are still up, you know, for his success stories. They never stop hearing about Jamie and Eric. Oh, here's another story about these guys.

[Alan]

You're in your underwear, in a backyard, up there looking, standing, facing away from the camera. Looking over at your shoulder.

[Nathan]

He got you a gig. What was the first gig?

[Eric]

Well, he put me with an agency.

I. I didn't stay with him for long, funny enough.

He put. Put me with an agency for modeling.

And I remember getting like a. I think it was a Nike gig in. In cool modeling. And I was like, I'm making more money right now than I ever thought I'd make in just this one job.

I was. I was working at a daycare before that.

I was. I was in college and I would. I would go to a daycare after. After school, and I would.

[Alan]

To do sports medicine.

[Eric]

Yes, to do sports medicine. Help at this. Help at this daycare. Make sure no injuries.

I'm like, damn, this is quite a bit of money.

And I. I got very lucky, probably a year and a half in, and

got a Tommy Hilfiger campaign with Reg Romaine. And it was a complete open call, pure luck.

[Alan]

Wow.

[Eric]

And, I mean, one of these really

weird experiences where they recast their. This white guy and a black guy, and my friend got the guy, the

black guy, the white guy, so they recast him. When they come to la, they're shooting the Wiltern Theater with Rebecca, and they

have to cast last minute.

And I go to the audition once.

It's just a walkthrough.

They look at your book.

Not. You're not right. I leave. I don't get it.

Another friend of mine gets it. They start shooting.

I'm at another audition or, you know, whatever interview, right?

And I get a call to say, oh, they got rid of Mark. He's too young, next to Rebecca.

They're.

They're seeing people. They want people to go back. And everybody's leaving this. A lot of us, you know, it is like, in the acting, any business,

you run into people, you know, all the time.

And I'm. I'm leaving this Fruit of the Loom underwear commercial. I'm leaving that. Seeing my friends come in and I'm

like, did you hear? They. They didn't. They. Mark, they let him go. They're seeing people back in Tommy.

Everybody's getting the same messages. I happen to get there first. I get there, Tommy himself walks in, goes like this to my book. Doesn't even look at it. Like, just scans through it so fast. He goes, you got the job. Go.

[Nathan]

Oh, wow.

[Eric]

And that led to five campaigns with Tommy that bled into sportswear, eyewear, sleepwear, me and Rebecca. And I was their guy for, like, couple years. And that changed the trajectory of my course as a model to where it wasn't just a I got a job here or there. It was like, we need you on a plane to Europe. You got to go fly and shoot for Mustang.

You got to go this genie, go to there.

You need to go back to school. And I had to tell my professors

I need to drop out of school because I'm missing all of my labs. My grades just plummeted.

And I had to have that conversation

with my mom saying, what do I do?

And they supported me. I. I. Upton, left, started modeling for

a while and then started studying acting

on the side doing commercials. I started going to classes. I was meeting guys like, you know, it's funny, Josh Duhamel and I met modeling in Milan, and I told him, you need to leave San Francisco, man.

I think you do all right in la. Come down

comes a freaking movie star. And I was just taking classes, learning,

learning, learning, you know, trying, you know,

many different scenes, all these different things.

[Nathan]

Where's the break in? Where's the break into here?

[Alan]

Can I just say, also, I've never heard a story that more echoes my own. This is wild for me to hear.

[Nathan]

It's a campaign.

[Alan]

I was. Tommy Prada came in. It's. It's Tommy. Tommy Prada to his friend. Most people don't know his first name, but yeah, same, same, same, same. Go on. So you were taking classes, and then there was at some point, some kind of break in your acting career.

[Eric]

You were saying, maybe I got little jobs here and there. You know, I went from Tommy Bahama to. I went from, you know, getting a

guest spot here, there, blah, blah, blah, things happening. And then I remember getting super, super frustrated with the business and quitting for, like, two years and just drop to

do what Said, I'm done. I got so frustrated with the fact

of, like, you work so hard at something, you think it's all gonna pan out and you're just working, working. Nothing's geared down in this business. And I don't come from that mindset of a creative. Like, I know hard work usually leads to an A, leads to B, you

[Nathan]

know what I mean?

[Eric]

And I couldn't wrap my head around it, where I'd be so close, so

close, and just not getting it. And I remember the job that broke me was a Dawson's Creek gig to be a regular on there.

I didn't get. Get it.

And I was like, I'm done. I'm done.

And I. I was married once before, and I again.

Medicine was always something I gravitated towards.

I went into the the fire academy

to become a paramedic. I was about, about.

I was one step away from being sent to the academy officially, like, literally waiting for the call. And what. My. My old agent called me and said,

hey, would you read for a soap?

And I was like, ah, I never wanted to do a soap.

I told you I wasn't going to do a soap. And I, I was just like, you know what?

Sure.

[Alan]

It's either soap opera or Burn victims. Yeah, soap opera.

[Eric]

And I, I got. It's funny. I got the. I read for Passions and Days of Our Lives tested, I should say, for

both of them simultaneously.

And this is a funny story because

another friend of mine, Justin Hartley, who's done very well, I got an offer for Passions first.

Days of Our Lives. Actually, Days of Our Lives was in first position.

Passions was in second. Days said, yes. I could have fought to go to Passions. I chose to go to Days because I did that. They cast a different guy in Passions at the time and brought in Justin to be that guy's brother. But had I probably taken that role, they were not going to open that role for Justin.

And I went to Days. Justin ends up getting this part on Passions, which sets his career off and

he sense, obviously had a great career,

but it's just so weird how things can ebb and flow and play in

someone's journey in this business.

[Nathan]

Yeah. There's a couple of key, key, key, key moments where you've played a little role in other people's paths. I can see.

[Alan]

And it was in days. Days of Our Lives. Is that Days?

[Eric]

Days, yeah, yeah.

[Alan]

Days of Our Lives where you played a genetically modified, almost alien. Yes.

[Nathan]

Perfect human in every way.

[Alan]

Know that they went crazy. Crazy like that. I thought it was.

[Nathan]

The thing about daytime, Alan, you're telling a one hour story every day. You start to run out of stuff to talk about. We had an underground civilization, the city called Eterna or something like that.

[Eric]

What?

[Nathan]

Yeah. That was before my time. I was on the soap and you

[Alan]

were on the one. That's Sansa the Hourglass. No, no, you were Sansa the Hourglass.

[Eric]

That's it.

[Alan]

You were One Life to Live.

[Nathan]

I was One Life to Live

[Eric]

On.

He was One Life to Live.

[Nathan]

Yeah.

[Alan]

My God, I've watched both of them. When I was sick as a child. That's what would be on when you were sitting at home and couldn't be in school. I'm. I'm much younger than both of you, so I didn't. I remember watching you.

[Eric]

Did you ever get this when you were on the soap about, like, athletes that watch the show, like, we would have, like, Shaq come by. Peyton Manning. They were obsessed with the soap. Because you're Shaq. Why are you watching Days of Our Lives?

Like, that's what we do during the day.

[Alan]

We're.

[Nathan]

Do you remember the theme cafes were all the rage. There was Hard Rock Cafe, there was Planet Hollywood, and then there was the All Star Cafe. I got invited to, like, a big grand opening, and me and a bunch of my soap buddies, we're all laughing and chatting, and my friend Kamar, who came in later, did the. The Rookie with us. He played a homicide detective on the Rookie. He was my. We shared a dressing room on One Life to Live. There was, like, a cramped little space in a basement. So we were buddies back in New York. We couldn't find him for a good hour. And he comes through the crowd with a big cigar in his hand. He goes, nathan, where are you from again? I said, edmonton. He turns around, he goes, yeah, yeah, it was Edmonton. And he's talking to Wayne Gretzky. And Wayne Gretzky introduces me to all these guys, and they're all like, oh, my God, you're Joey Buchanan. My mind is blown right now because that's. They get up first thing in the morning, they train like crazy, they play hockey, they practice, and they're all done. They go home, and the only thing on TV is soap operas.

[Eric]

Yep.

[Alan]

They watch their stories.

[Nathan]

They watch their stories.

[Eric]

Oh, wow.

[Nathan]

Yeah, that's absolutely true. Eric, when did you think. When did you say, oh, my God, I've made it?

[Eric]

I. You know, for me, made. It was always like, a relative thing. It's like, as long as I could

support myself as an actor and that was my job then, I was. I was very content.

You know what I mean? I was never a person sort of chasing. I know a lot of people that fame was a big part of what

made them very happy.

And for me, it was just, I

want to be able to support my family, make a living, and as long as I'm not struggling, I've made it.

It's my job as an actor, you know, Definitely. There's been nothing bigger than the Rookie

as far as the career goes.

[Nathan]

It's.

[Eric]

You know, I. I've never seen anything like it. It's crazy, especially with these young kids.

[Nathan]

You did a project with Britney Spears. So when you're saying, nothing's been bigger than the Rookie, that's. You're saying something. What was the Britney Spears thing? I was looking at your IMDb page, I'm going, we did a commercial.

[Eric]

She had a refragrance deal with Elizabeth Arden at the time. And this is before she had shaved her head and all that stuff happened. And they, they reduced it to one fragrance after all that stuff took place.

But that's a funny audition story, by the way. I remember going in for that. And this guy, Dave Myers is a

good friend of mine. Fantastic music video director, Big, does everything

that's ever been successful, and he's directing this and Brittany's brother is casting. And I go through it and they're

like, it's, you know, these commercials. It's. Your shirt's off in this thing. So, like, okay, do this whole thing like you're locking. You're listening to her in a door.

Now take your shirt off and do

the same thing like listening to the door. And I'm. This is so awkward, right?

And I get done, and I'm having lunch with her brother after I get the job. And he goes, you know, the reason you got the job is like, you took his shirt off. And I was like, I could take that guy. He picked me. That's why he picked me.

[Nathan]

What, so you beat him up?

[Eric]

It was so funny.

[Nathan]

I was laughing.

[Eric]

He was like, ah, bigger than that guy. That's so weird. And I, we joked about it and I was like, well, thank you. I'm so glad that you thought that way. I got this, this gig. It was fun.

[Nathan]

Let's talk about family, about your dad. Yeah, that sounds like a TV series for hbo. Like a really wonky, quirky series. I'm just going to hit some bullet points for you to start off with. Your dad grabbed a buddy of his and said, hey, I know a great way we can meet girls.

[Alan]

Quit your job.

[Nathan]

Let's get in the car. Let's fake a car phone and pretend that we're PIs. Get some fake IDs and pretend we're private investigators and change your name because your name's not cool. Cool enough.

[Eric]

Yeah, no, real, real deal. My dad grew up in Pasadena and was a big stoner at the time and in his 20s and was working at a vacuum cleaner shop. And he was the salesman and his buddy was the repairman man. And what my dad is, if, if you were to combine Vince Vaughn with Tom Selleck.

That's my dad, all right.

And his buddy, his name was Leon

Carrera at the time. And they were high out of their minds one day, like, how do we meet girls? How do we get out there and just let's do something and escape Pasadena. And they decided, well, they were.

We'll be Playboy photographers.

That's a great way to meet women. And they're like, that's too. The equipment's too expensive. There's no way we could afford all these cameras.

And like, how, how can we pretend to do that? So they see a little ad in the back of a magazine with private eye badges. And my dad goes, that's it.

We're going to be private eyes. Let's order these badges.

And they did.

And then he's like, my name is Wayne Winter. I think it works. But you're Leon Carrera. It's like, no one's. No, no, no.

I think you should be Johnny Apollo

after my favorite movie.

And his lady was like, yeah, all right, cool. I'll be Johnny Apollo. You're Wayne Winter. Let's do this. And his buddy rigged. Took a house phone and rigged it in the center console of the car with a button on the floor. And they're like, we, we'll just say our home office was in Beverly Hills,

and anytime we're with anybody, you just push that button. And we'll get him out of the car and say, I got to take a call from the office.

And they put a tape recorder under their dash so they could record any conversations with anybody they had in the

car to understand the town they were in.

And they. And my dad had just got a brand new Buick Riviera at the time

where the lights popped up in the front. And because he got it in a car accident and this was his insurance money. So, like, we got a sweet ride, we got a game plan.

We'll never tell people we're privatized.

We will only just casually pay for something or open our wallets, and they'll see a badge and we downplay everything. That was the whole thing.

And I stayed at campsites for like a quarter a day, and anytime they meet a woman, they'd be like, oh,

yeah, we're watching this guy over here at this campsite.

Sleeping in their car. Sleeping in their car. And it led to a two and

a half year road trip across the country. And they went to every state and

they ended up getting wrapped up in real PI cases. And they were thrown in jail three or four times.

[Nathan]

Wow.

[Eric]

Wild. And ultimately, my dad was like the serial dater. And his. His buddy was the serial monogamist. And he'd always get wrapped up in a. In a relationship. It's like, dad, like, no, man, we gotta go. We gotta go. And his buddy fell in love with a woman that he met in Odessa, Texas, and they're still married today. And he legally changed his name to Johnny Apollo. So all his family are Apollo's. What the hell?

[Alan]

And what the hell? That's amazing.

[Eric]

Yeah. They traveled all over the country meeting women.

[Nathan]

I am really enjoying Alan's face during this story, which was exactly my face the first time I heard this story. I'm going, what?

[Eric]

What?

[Alan]

What?

[Nathan]

I couldn't. The balls on your dad.

[Eric]

With no money, they barely made. They hustled in pool, which is what got him thrown in jail a few times, because it led to fights and things like that. They weren't fighters. They were complete talkers.

Right.

They just try to work their way

out of every situation.

And they made some money hustling pool. They found a little job here and there in a collection agency, and they would post up for a few weeks

and make some money on commissions and then take off again.

Again, just faking being somebody else at a collection agency. And they. Ultimately, the whole thing ended because his buddy fell in love and married the.

Married the lady.

[Alan]

Wow. Johnny Apollo. My God, that. I mean, that. That has to teach you to dream.

[Nathan]

Is it a movie, Alan? Is it. Is it a short series? Is it two seasons? What is this, Alan?

[Alan]

I think it's a movie. I think it's a movie. I mean, you can. You know, you. Because then you only have to get on one big. You only have to accidentally get on one big case. Crime. Yeah, one big case. And then you can do sequels because people will be wanting more of that.

[Eric]

Yeah, it's a wild.

It's a wild story.

[Alan]

Johnny Apollo's got to come out of Odessa at some point. And.

[Eric]

Do they have old Super 8 footage, by the way, like, where they were filming a lot?

They were like early influencers.

You know, they had Super 8 players. They're just going through filming random. Nothing makes sense. But if you think about everybody today with their cameras. I do. I cut together a little sizzle. I cut together a little sizzle. And it's. I mean, again, there's no storytelling to it.

It's just boobs.

But car. Street sign, fashion show, or like a bikini show. The firecracker, bikini show, whatever. It's like random stuff, but it's really fun to think that they did that.

[Nathan]

That story is just a life of adventure. That's just.

[Alan]

How old was. How old was your father?

[Eric]

They were in their 20s.

And this is like, you know, if you think about it, this most. One of the most Pivotal times in this country's history.

Right. It's like late 60s into the 70s. You're going from yeah beaver to sex, drugs, rock and roll, you know, riots, movements.

They were seeing it all at these

two just bright eyed bushy tail kids out of Pasadena.

[Alan]

They weren't in Vietnam which is good.

[Eric]

No. And it was interesting. They were. They didn't draft dodge which was you know as I shocking gone through. Yeah. You would think that these guys would have been perfect for that. They. Johnny got hurt in for some in some way. I don't remember what the story was but he has some.

He had a. A metal pin or something in his knee.

I don't know what it was but they. He went through the physical.

[Alan]

I'm surprised they led him in to be a detective.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Alan]

With that pin.

[Eric]

It's amazing they got off.

[Nathan]

Now here's another thing that I am very interested in is diversification. You're. You've been acting some time modeling first acting sometime. But now you've started to diversify. You did the podcast for a little while. Also a rum company and a very tasty rum and I'm a rum guy. I like rum but if it's too sweet it just. I'll have a headache before I go to bed. I'll be hungover before I leave the party. But yours is very clean. It'd be like a nice. It's like a sipping rum.

[Eric]

No, you nailed it. I fell in love with rum about 20 years ago. My wife's Puerto Rican as you you know and it's a big rum rum community. Went to Puerto Rico for the first

time to meet my. My father in law or soon to be father in law and he sat me down with an eight year aged rum and said let's, let's chat.

And I thought to myself I am

not a rum drinker. This is going to go sideways. How am I going to get through it?

But I had no choice and I started sipping on it and going this is a way different experience than I

thought it would sipped like a bourbon or a whiskey.

And so for years I would travel around, I would.

I would explore tasting different rums from different regions as we'd be on vacations and such.

Some in great cocktails and some obviously

just trying to sip on them.

And a few years ago I was doing research and you know we were talking about the premium rum market and I really saw a white space of. In the US rum is behind the

curve in Europe and India is one

of the largest rum markets in the

World, world, Southeast Asia, Europe. It's huge.

And I, I wanted to bring a premium rum to the market that could

not only stand up with its taste and thankfully we've won a bunch of

awards with the, with the liquid. But the bottle, you know, we redesigned our bottle recently. We wanted to jump out and change

the look and feel the way tequila and gin and bourbon have done in these categories. Rum has always been dusty and, and it's dark bottles and usually spice, sugary.

It's just got this feeling of it that's heritage and old school. It doesn't feel hip and cool and that, you know, if you think about it, that's where tequila was 20 plus years ago. Tequila was garbage. You know, it was Cuervo shot, salt, lime and you just got it down and it was a terror. Slushy margaritas. It wasn't good. Now it's sophisticated and snobby and people love a good tequila, but that's not where the market was. And you're seeing that even with gin and everything else, it's evolved into a

space where it's cool to sip on these things.

And so that was our mission with Palm Republic.

[Alan]

Can I guess what the bottle is? Because you said you got a bottle. Did you want a class? I'm going to say it's shaped like a banana with boobs.

[Nathan]

Close.

[Eric]

Very close.

[Alan]

Very close. And the name of it is Mama's Fruit. That's maybe not. How would you say that in Puerto Rican Mama?

[Nathan]

It's Palm Republic is what it's called now. I have, I have a set of bottles of this rum. Has it changed? The bottle changed?

[Eric]

I think you have our old bottles. Oh, yeah. No, our new ones are out. I mean, they're, they're, we're, they're out now. They're on our website. We're putting them in total, putting them in spec. You know, we've expanded a ton this past year. I'm going to show you a picture

just on here so you can see it.

[Nathan]

But the one I have is like a fat. With a nice little nozzle with a cork. A glass topped cork. It's like a, it's like a brandy bottle or like a nice, it's like a whiskey, like a nice whiskey bottle.

[Eric]

Yeah, the, these ones we elevated to a whole new level and they stand out. Those ones did a nice job of popping in the rum category. The new one pops in its own. It could be in any category. It looks like a.

Here's a, here's a. I don't know if you guys can see it on the screen. But that's.

[Nathan]

Oh, yeah, class.

[Alan]

Okay, that's better than what I was thinking.

[Eric]

So it's classy, whole new vibe.

[Alan]

And oh, yeah, it looks like a decanter.

[Nathan]

Yeah, it looks like a crystal decanter you find on a mirrored tray in the side of a fancy office with an oak desk.

[Eric]

So that's been the new look.

[Alan]

When I think of people who get into rum, I think of aa, but this is something else. You've gotten into rum in a different way, and it seems to be good and positive.

[Eric]

Yeah. You know, Nathan made a good point. You know, he thought of. When you think of rum a lot, it's like if it's too sugar or too sweet, you can get this hangover.

Or if the drinks are too sugary or sweet.

And that's not just rum.

That's any spirit, to be. To be honest. Sugar is what gives you the hangover.

Sugar is what kills you and makes

you feel like crap afterwards.

A good spirit. And people think, oh, a rum comes from sugar cane. It's so sugary. No, when you distill a rum, you're burning a lot of that sugar out. The same way tequila comes from agave, it's still a starch. So you're burning, burning those sugars out. So when you mix it, if you

do a lower sugar cocktail, you're far better off with a hangover. Or if you just neat or rocks, you're not going to have it.

[Alan]

What's the name? I don't think I've heard the name. What's the name?

[Eric]

Palm Republic.

[Alan]

Palm Republic class. That sounds very classy.

[Nathan]

I have another question. We're gonna shift again. You're very much on top of social media. I've something I've admired about you. I ask your advice about it all the time. I was chatting with my niece earlier. I'm gonna call this segment Things My Niece Wants to Know. She says, Eric does a lot of social media with his kids. Who decides on that content? And how many takes does it take so often?

[Eric]

My daughter, because she doesn't have social media, so. But her friends, a lot of her friends do. So she'll come up with ideas and

she'll say, oh, what do you think about this one? And I'll be down to have fun, do something cute with her. The takes, it becomes a. I think

we should do it this way.

[Nathan]

Oh, my God.

[Eric]

And then kind of like what happened at work the other time, Nathan, where I said I posted it, it's not right.

[Nathan]

Alan, we did a bit at work. It included, I think, like, upwards of seven to eight people to make this thing work. And we did a take or two, and Eric takes a look at it and goes, no. And, you know, other people are like, well, it's good enough. We just posted it.

[Eric]

It's really great.

[Nathan]

Super cute. He's like, no, it's not good. We don't have the look, this is wrong. And people are trying to convince him, and he goes, I'm not posting it. It's over. There's no argument. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna negotiate. I'm not posting it. Just does not. Didn't cut money.

[Alan]

Nice.

[Nathan]

So, yeah, so that's a. That's a famous quote around. We don't want to do something at work. Now that's a thing. Yeah, I'm not posting it.

[Alan]

Please don't look at my Instagram. You'll be like, God, what I post.

[Nathan]

But that's quality control. That's part of what I think you're. You're. You're doing. Clearly you're doing something right. How many followers do you have on your Tik Tok right now?

[Eric]

A little over 7 million on Tik Tok. Yeah.

[Nathan]

Holy cow.

[Eric]

I don't know exactly. Let me see if it's.

I think it's like seven. I have.

[Alan]

Zero.

[Nathan]

I don't have.

[Alan]

I haven't done Tik Tok yet.

[Eric]

You know, we have a TikTok that we did where we embarrass, you know, pranks. Nathan, we love you, and I obviously have teamed up on some pranks, and there's nobody better than getting, you know, rich.

[Alan]

Really?

[Eric]

Her favorites to do. But I did a prank, a chicken dance prank with Lizeth.

[Nathan]

Yes.

[Eric]

And it has 245 million views, and she's been recognized as the chicken dance girl when she's gone.

[Nathan]

Thanks. Do you feel any guilt about that?

[Eric]

Zero.

It was so good.

[Nathan]

I'm just gonna say God bless Liz. She's such a wonderful human being. And she's such a sparkler.

[Alan]

What is this prank?

[Nathan]

Well, go ahead, Eric.

[Eric]

That particular prank, I had to convince her that we're all going to compete with another TV show that's trying to do the chicken dance. And we all have to do this close our eyes and do the chicken dance, but we can't bump into each other. And we're going to be in a line. And I said, you know, Liz, we're going to go just, you know, shortest to tallest. So why don't you go in the front, and we'll tear it up. And so as soon as the music, we all moved away. And she went so hard on this chicken dance with her eyes closed, and it just ran. And she was so committed. And, I mean, who knew? We woke up. I think by the end of the day, it had 20 million views. Like, it was insane. How.

[Nathan]

I'm just gonna say, if ever you make me the chicken dance lady, we're gonna have words. I'm gonna do something.

[Eric]

Well, I don't know what we're gonna do. I just involved you in getting people pranked.

[Alan]

Shouldn't have posted it.

[Nathan]

I'm not posting it.

[Alan]

Wow. And did you explain in the. In the thing, like, she's been pranked and she doesn't know what's going on or just her.

[Nathan]

Oh, it's apparent right off the bat. And it's a trend, is it not? It was a trend.

[Eric]

It was a trend. It was already going around. So I. I saw it and grabbed it. Did a couple like that where I

nailed Richard as well. And he got recognized for being part of that prank. And it was. That's great.

He's like, I walked in the Starbucks and they call me the Bugatti guy. So I don't know why I'm laughing.

[Nathan]

I'm not encouraging you in any way, Eric.

[Alan]

Oh, my God. I'm watching it right now. Oh, she is it. She's in it. Oh, my God.

[Eric]

You're all there.

[Alan]

Oh, and you got. Oh, my God. Well, she's.

[Eric]

Wow.

[Alan]

Wow. I've never seen it done so well. Oh, now you're all laughing at her. So we get to see the ridicule. That's great. So you don't just get just your own personal ridicule. You get to see others ridiculing her as well.

[Nathan]

I will murder you. Just so we're all clear, if there's an online prank on me and I'm a chicken dance lady, and then suddenly Eric meets with a demise, I have murdered him. I'm just gonna say right now, Bradford's

[Eric]

no longer on the show.

[Alan]

I have to say that respect to her. Huge respect. Because she does go all out. And you really can only laugh at a person so much when they're truly just giving it, you know? So it is a laugh at her because of the situation. But she comes out of this good because she sees a fun, big heart person who's got a big heart.

[Nathan]

Yeah. Who's willing to go the extra mile for their friends.

[Alan]

I know, I know from chickens. She's Got skills.

[Nathan]

Now you are a dad. You have two kids. Here's a question I'm going to ask for. Alan, when your kids were little, did they ever look at you and say, I was born in Russia. I can speak all these different language. Like, did they ever have like a past life experience? Yeah, we talked about crazy kids with that have clearly been reincarnated speaking languages they don't know.

[Alan]

Have your children ever yet spoken of their past lives?

[Eric]

No, I can't say I've crossed.

[Nathan]

Never happened. Okay, just check it. I just wanted to check that off the family chat checklist. Do you also like to ask you. Oh, have you ever seen a ghost?

[Alan]

Wait a second. I need to know. Do you like your children?

[Nathan]

Oh.

[Alan]

Do you like children? Yes.

[Nathan]

Oh, okay.

[Eric]

You know, this is a great thing.

I love them all the time. Sometimes I don't like it.

[Alan]

No, I got it.

[Eric]

Yeah. No, they're incredible.

I'm very, very blessed. And I, I, being a dad is probably my most cherished thing in the world, so. Oh, that's, I love beautiful.

They're incredible.

[Alan]

They're incredible. That's beautiful. I, I, I'm amazed by a parent. I think it is such a huge sacrifice. I think I, I know I wanted to be a parent for a long time, but I had a lot of respect, reservations and too many and it didn't work out for me. Nathan, I have discussed. I went to the doctor. I'm not, I don't, I can't have, I don't have a uterus. That's what those are the words.

[Nathan]

He's mentally unfit is what they say.

[Alan]

Yeah, mentally unfit. I don't lack of uterus. And he just said, get out of my office. And he canceled my prescriptions that he had been giving me because I was evidently abusing them. But that's, that's, that's beautiful that you like your children.

[Nathan]

Very supportive of. Your daughter's an excellent tennis player.

[Alan]

Oh, wow.

[Eric]

Yeah, she's, she's working hard. She's, it's, it's all consuming.

She's in tennis.

My son's eight. He's playing a lot of soccer. I wouldn't, you know, he's still young. Figuring out.

[Alan]

So. They're young. Yeah.

[Eric]

I'm happy. But she's 14 and she's, I'm in the teenage years. That's, that's a whole nother ball game. Let me just.

[Alan]

Yeah, that's supposed to be the change.

[Nathan]

God bless you.

[Alan]

I remember it as a change for me and my whole family.

[Eric]

It's Wild.

[Alan]

It was a change. And then. Ghosts.

[Nathan]

Yeah. Sorry, have you interrupt. That's all right. I always try to get around to this one. Have you ever seen a ghost? Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen a ghost?

[Eric]

100% believe in them. I've had, I would say, ghostly experiences where they're not major, but my wife is.

Yeah. Like, she's. I've seen a ghost. There's ghosts here. There's spirits that have come in, and I've.

She's.

[Alan]

Oh, she's got that thing.

[Eric]

She's very into that thing, like, as

far as what she can see and feel and.

[Nathan]

And.

[Eric]

And know.

But I've had things that someone might

classify as, like, oh, you know, that was the spirit, you know, coming through or a sign.

[Nathan]

What are we talking about? In the hallway? A chair rocking on its own, that.

[Eric]

Signs of certain things that weren't there, but then all of a sudden, was it really there?

Or.

Or someone.

How do you say, you. I've been in. In bed, you feel a certain sort

of like, nobody's in bed with me, and somebody's putting. You feel, like a pressure or somebody's lean.

[Alan]

What?

[Eric]

Yeah. Like grabbing onto you or something.

[Alan]

That's a lot.

[Eric]

So things like that. I was never a believer in mediums

until someone finally said, you got to go to one.

[Alan]

And.

[Eric]

And when my dad passed and impossible to know the things that the person said. Impossible.

[Nathan]

Wow. You've had one of those experiences?

[Eric]

Yeah.

I mean, just.

Yeah, in many different ways.

[Alan]

About dead people or about.

[Eric]

No, just like my dad communicate. I mean, I went to them about.

[Alan]

Oh, I see.

[Eric]

About my dad in particular, you know, and. And they were answering things that this medium could never know.

I mean, we had a.

We produced a movie, a TV movie a while back, my wife and I, that was based on a piece of IP of this dancer that was murdered in Vegas. She was a dancer for Cirque Love, and. All right, so I'm sorry. Her.

Her boyfriend that killed her was part of Cirque Love.

She was part of another Cirque show.

And my wife saw Tyler Henry. You know, the Hollywood medium guy.

[Nathan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Has his own show.

[Nathan]

Yes.

[Eric]

And that was insane because he would never know we were producing this movie. He would never know we were fully in legal contract contracts. And he spoke to that woman and knew everything about her death and brought it up to Rosalind. Wow.

That she's here and she knows you're

doing this movie, and she's so sad that she died on Christmas. And her. She thinks about her Family. She's dead. She was a dancer. She's dancing on her grave right now.

And the fact knew everything.

We'd never even spoken about the movie.

[Nathan]

Wow.

[Alan]

Oh, creepy.

[Eric]

Because we've had a bunch of those experiences.

[Nathan]

I.

[Alan]

Last night, Nathan, in the middle of the night, woke up to those footsteps again. I'm in a new house.

[Nathan]

Alan moved to New York recently.

[Eric]

Yes.

[Alan]

And I'm in a new house, and there's stairs in the place. And I thought I heard my wife on the stairs, but it wasn't her. And then I'm not. Well, right now. I go into a Comic Con and I got concret, and it's really hanging on. So I am sleeping in a different room in the house because I snore when I can't breathe through my nose. And so I heard. I was by a window and I heard these. So it has to be something with the house, because it was like a heavy footstep. It was like the step again, but it was more like. And I'm sitting there thinking about Nathan, and the last time we talked about it, he's like, oh, did you go check? And so now I'm in my bed thinking, I don't want to go check. Shit. I'm not checking anything. But you know why? Because there was a dog in the bed with me, and he's a little puppy. I didn't want to wake him up. That's why it wasn't so scared, because I want to wake up the puppy. And then I heard, and he wasn't reacting because I did think about. You asked me that question before. He wasn't reacting to the sound. And then there was a sound. But this also could have been right out the window. It was like a. Like that. And the dog reacted to that. And that could have been outside my window because I was on the bottom floor. Not to say I have multiple floors in my house.

[Nathan]

An investigation. No.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Nathan]

Eric, would you investigate?

[Eric]

Yeah. My wife would be the first one to tell you, you got to sage your apartment. You have to get the sage.

[Alan]

Oh, we haven't done that.

[Nathan]

Grab a flashlight and look around and go, who's out there? Like, that's the first step one. You probably get out of bed, look around, carry a baseball bat and a flashlight.

[Alan]

After my first cup of coffee, I looked out front and went, I don't see anything.

[Eric]

That was.

[Alan]

That was my investigation. From a closed front door, looking out.

[Nathan]

See my. If I heard footsteps in my house, I wouldn't say, it's probably a ghost. I'm not going to investigate because I won't like what I find. I'm going to. My first thing is there's footsteps in my house. Someone's probably in my house. Like that's something I want to see.

[Alan]

Very large. He sounded large, so I felt it sounded like. Not unless somebody stuck in my house and was like stomping around. Now if those steps get fast and go, I'm okay. That's trouble. Right now I feel like I can outrun this thing and I'm not concerned. I'm going to stay in bed. I lock the door. It can't get in quite.

[Eric]

You're by yourself. So where is your wife?

[Alan]

She's up. Up in her room, which is my room, which is over here.

[Eric]

I locked the door. My wife's fine. She's on her own.

[Alan]

I'm yo. Yeah, she's locked her door though, to keep me out, which is rude. It's very. I mean, I'm gonna left you out

[Nathan]

there for bait, Alan. I'm.

[Alan]

I'm hoping in a couple of days this thing should pass. It's been a week. It's not fair.

[Nathan]

Before we lose you, Eric, we have a segment of our show that Alan invented. I think it's a brilliant idea called let's get to know you better.

[Alan]

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

[Nathan]

At this point, we want you to tell us something that we don't know about you.

[Alan]

Would you like one of us to go first so you can have some time?

[Eric]

I can process.

[Alan]

Nathan, would you like to go first? Would you like me to go first?

[Nathan]

I'll go first. I'll keep it really, really quick. We mentioned this already in the story where Eric saw me before the audition for the rookie. He saw me in an arcimoto, if you're curious. It's a little electric car. It's three wheels, two in front, one in back. Tandem. Kind of open air has doors, but it's a little more open air has a windshield. It's like a concept car of the future. They don't make them anymore. But I have a real interest in the future of automotive industries. I really like the idea of cars that don't look like every single other car on the on the road. And I'm the guy who will read about a company and then put a deposit down on one of the new vehicles. There's one coming out called the Aptera.

[Eric]

Oh yeah, you sent that one to me.

[Nathan]

I think I've showed you that they've

[Alan]

been Making that one for a while.

[Nathan]

It started, it went away, it came back again. Now it has solar panels on it. It's got, there's one with like a thousand mile range. It's super solar slippery. When it comes to being an airfoil. It's, it's a beautiful shape. It looks like a little Cessna airplane. And then I put what, there's another company called Lit Motors, they're making the C1 and it's a fully enclosed, self balancing motorcycle. You get in it like a car, it's got a steering wheel like a car, but it's a motorcycle that balances itself.

[Eric]

Very cool.

[Alan]

Nice.

[Nathan]

Yeah. You like that?

[Alan]

Those are supposed to be a lot of fun. I saw the, I saw something like that on the road show when it was in development, it was in Europe and everybody who drove was like, that was the most fun I've ever had,

[Nathan]

that kind of thing. So I'm very excited about the future of automotives to the point that I don't know if you know this about me, when a new car company like that comes up, I will go and put a deposit down something like that. Wow.

[Alan]

I'm looking. I can't wait to see you in your flying car. I won't get in it with you, but I'm sure there's going to be money down on a flying car at some point. But I'll, I'll look at you from the, from the ground at a safe distance and I'll say, I'll meet you there, Alan. Right, right, right, right. And I'll make sure you don't crash on me because things I've seen, the ones that they're putting out, that they're basically drone technology and it's the flying

[Eric]

taxes coming for the Olympics.

[Nathan]

There you, there you go. That's actually happening. This is the future I'm excited about.

[Alan]

The only way that LA will work for the Olympics is if you can actually go over the traffic because what the hell is that going to work anyway?

[Nathan]

Exactly. Alan, do you have one?

[Alan]

I one time dated a girl who came with the soundtrack. Yeah, yeah, she was date. She had dated this musician right before me and we would go see him in la, Jason Mraz. And yeah, he became, you know, people know Jason, he's a sweet guy and she was still friends with him. And we go check him out at this place on Sunset that like served coffee and food and there was like kind of a small stage space that he would come up from San Diego and play there. And she's like, you gotta listen to my friend Play and I'd be listening. And we saw him a couple times before I started. His songs were about this girl, and they just described her to a T.

[Nathan]

I was like, wait a minute.

[Alan]

You guys dated? This song's about you, isn't it? She's like, yeah. She was also beaming. But, yeah. So one time I dated a girl who came with the soundtrack, and it was great. Some of that one song ended up on his first album, his big album. He used to sell albums, you know, just there. You could buy him at his concerts or his show. They weren't concerts so much as shows and. But I remember one, the Curbside Prophet, was. Was his first big album, you and I Both, which was a huge hit for him. Off of that album, was a big popular song of that album was about her, and it was great. I got to hang out with Jason, and she was cool, too. But it was. I used to know Jason. I've seen him.

[Nathan]

Were you able to listen to some songs and. And know what was coming for you in the relationship later? Like, oh, I just learned something about you.

[Alan]

Yeah, I could tell it wasn't gonna work. You know, I could tell she's a little.

[Nathan]

Because of. Which song

[Alan]

bit you crazy? You can't hear it. It isn't on the. You didn't make the cut. But I think it was called. It was either that. It was either. God damn you crazy. I can't remember. You can just kind of imagine it sung to an acoustic thing with a. With a little drum in the background and a really clear, high, beautiful voice.

[Nathan]

Gotcha. Right, Eric, I think you have the swing of it now. Let's get to know you better.

[Eric]

I would say, top of my head, I'm. I've always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie.

I used to love to. I've done skydiving. I've done bungee. I've done this whole thing.

Not shot out of a cannon, but you're shot out of a slingshot. Oh, I've seen bungees.

I've.

I've always wanted to do great whites.

Yeah. Something I'm gonna do a bucket very soon.

Like when you go in a cage.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Go down with the great whites. I've swam with sharks before out in

the wild blacktip reef. Sharks all surrounding the boat.

So I'm a bit of an adrenaline

junkie when it comes to that.

[Nathan]

Wow.

[Alan]

Well, you can do this white tip. You can do the. A great white tip in. There's a place in Australia. There's also in South Africa, I think, is the only other place you can do that that I've. I've heard of.

[Eric]

I would definitely be experiencing that at some point.

[Nathan]

I'm good with my brother because that's something he wants to do. And I'm. I'm like, I'm good.

[Alan]

They jump the water.

[Nathan]

They get them all riled up. No, I've seen too many videos where the shark gets in the cage. Yeah, I'm good.

[Eric]

Yeah.

Why?

One time I. When I swam with the reef sharks, it's. We went on a boat, and it was in. Or a bore, I want to say it was. And they started throwing. Jump. Just throwing all this blood and the fish, and you just see fins start popping up all around the boat.

And I see the guys driving the boat just jump in, and I'm going with nothing. Nothing. Just jumped right in the center of it. And then we went down the ladder and explored out.

[Alan]

Yeah. That's so fun.

[Nathan]

I've been on, I think, exactly what you're talking about. I think I have experienced exactly that in the. Probably the exact same area.

[Eric]

It's so cool, though.

[Nathan]

So neat. Well done. Well, my friend, thank you very much for participating in our podcast. How much. How much did it differ from one of your episodes?

[Eric]

This is great.

No, this is very similar.

Just like, I. I love these kinds of.

I love getting to know about, you know, people's past and experiences, especially in this business or. Or any business, by the way. I just find it. Everybody's path and journey is so unique. So it's. It's.

[Nathan]

Yeah.

[Eric]

Reminds me of doing the podcast. Makes me miss it.

[Nathan]

It.

[Alan]

It's nice to meet an actor who actually went through the process of quitting and that, like. Because every actor has a moment where they're like, I'm gonna quit. I can't take it. I'm sick of it. I'm done. And that you went through the process, were ready to move on, and then it pulled you back in and you. Wow, you've made it, man. That is meant to be shit. That's great. That's great. Yeah.

[Nathan]

I think we learned a lot about you today, Eric.

[Eric]

Thank you, guys.

Appreciate it, buddy.

[Nathan]

Thanks for doing this. I'll see you. Yeah, well, I won't see you for a minute, but you. Oh, you know, we didn't even get to talk about conventions because this is another shared experience. We're. Eric's starting to do conventions now with the rookie and getting it.

[Alan]

There's rookie conventions.

[Nathan]

You bet there is, man. We're.

[Eric]

We're yes.

Pretty crazy.

[Alan]

Well, I know you're well liked, but you're. Is it like a specialized convention like some people? There's like different kinds of conventions.

[Nathan]

Rookie rookie convention. Solid is rookie top to bottom or.

[Eric]

There's been a couple rookie cons. There's been a couple like first responder type conventions and then there's been just

giant comic conventions where it's everybody. But there's a handful of other, you know, genres crossing over.

[Alan]

I hope they call one of the rookie only ones a rook off. Come to the weekend rook off because it's, it's playing on cook off there and I see. Yeah, okay, maybe not.

[Nathan]

How do you feel you're received at these conventions? How has your experience been so far?

[Alan]

He's got traction, buddy. Don't. It's been great to ask that question.

[Eric]

Yeah, everybody's been, been lovely.

It's been, it's been fun getting all the, you know, just seeing the different types of people and how many, how many lives and ages we touch. It's, it's. I had a kid dressed up, I was in Belgium a couple weeks ago and this think she was a five year old girl dressed up as Bradford.

[Nathan]

Wow.

[Eric]

And I was like, why are you even watching the show? You're five.

[Nathan]

We're in such a bubble at work and it's easy to forget sometimes that, you know, people are out there watching and consuming the show. And then you get to these conventions and you see just how people are affected by what it is you do for a living.

[Alan]

Yeah, it's the best part.

[Eric]

Pretty cool.

[Alan]

It's the only formalized way to meet your fans. It's the only way to, to do it. Otherwise it's just rando people. Rando. Like you kind of just bump into folks and like, oh, hi, let's take a picture. Hi, let's meet.

[Eric]

But. And they share their experience and you, you know, Nathan as well. I mean people have like chose the path of law enforcement now because of our show or if what.

You know, and like I said, this is a little, this was just a

little girl with a Bradford here and a little bath.

Like you see these, the path that they're on.

I was just at a lunch. Lunch this past weekend and they asked if I could call somebody at the lunch on a FaceTime of a girl who's now going into law enforcement, wants to work in.

I forgot what it was, what, what area of it.

But she's graduating high school and that's where she wants to go because of the show.

[Nathan]

We were at to an event hosted by the lapd. A little fundraiser of sorts. They honored Lexi and I with some awards. It's a very, very kind things about what an incredible recruitment tool the show is, has had. Because it shows this job for what it can be. Something that's really aspirational and shows it in a positive light.

[Eric]

We're doing something right.

[Nathan]

Well, well done, Eric. You did not blow it. I don't know what I was expecting, but you did a great job.

[Eric]

Yeah, thanks, guys.

I appreciate it. It was fun.

Yeah.

[Alan]

From everything Nathan said, I'm blown away.

[Eric]

Good. I'm glad it changed your perspective.

[Alan]

So positive what I was expecting.

[Eric]

Can't wait to have you back on set and prank you, Alan.

[Alan]

Oh,

[Nathan]

Dustin off my hands.

[Alan]

Yeah.

[Nathan]

Another job well done.

[Alan]

I think that he liked you genuinely.

[Nathan]

Why do you sound surprised?

[Alan]

I just, I, I'm, it's one of the things I noticed. It seems to be the forefront sticking in my mind.

[Nathan]

I really enjoyed your face through some of his stories.

[Alan]

That should 100% be a movie because you can't guess at that. That is like, that's one of those things that when you're watching, you're like, I never would have thought of that. And somehow I believe it. It's just wild. That is, that's, that, you know, I couldn't come up with that crap.

[Nathan]

Everybody's got a story and he could

[Alan]

use, he could make it and then use it. Sounds like he can produce. So he's producing with his wife. This is just something they need to make. And he would, you know, I would

[Nathan]

not put it past him. He's extremely well rounded. And you'd be wrong to underestimate Eric. I think, I think he's just, he's just very capable. Like he said he believes in hard work. You do hard work and you get a result. Like, it's, it's that. I think that's just his work ethic in general.

[Alan]

That's as being a former model. That's just the model ethic. Hard work pays off. That's how we get the abs.

[Nathan]

Dude, you, you were a former model, Is that what you're saying? Yes.

[Alan]

You.

[Nathan]

You.

[Alan]

I said yes.

[Nathan]

Yeah. Some of your modeling experience, Tommy.

[Alan]

Pr.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Nathan]

All the big tommies.

[Alan]

All the big tommies. Bahama. Bahama. Tommy. Tommy Boss or Boss Tommy.

[Nathan]

Whatever.

[Alan]

I, I, I just call him Tom. But yeah, good times. Traveling Europe, taking snaps.

[Nathan]

I think we should. I would love to see some more people on our show from the rookie.

[Alan]

Yeah, I think, you know, let's, let's let's see how it tracks. I just want to see the tracking on this.

[Nathan]

Oh, yeah, I want to see how it tracks.

[Alan]

It's.

[Eric]

It's.

[Nathan]

It's a very. It's a. It's a very. It's. First of all, it's very nearby and very easy. Well, to draw from for us right now, I think.

[Alan]

Yes. And I think probably there's a lot of people who are listening right now who are fans of the rookie that they. So they are already invested.

[Nathan]

All right, Alan, why don't you wrap it up for us right now? Let's hear your farewell.

[Alan]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, goodbye. Well, you made it all the way

[Nathan]

to the end credits. Thank 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. If you love the show, please leave 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 Carlo Sosa and Joshua Moore. And as always, our artwork was created by Louis Jensen. We'll see you next time.

[Alan]

And the name of it is Mama's Fruit.