Danny Strong Meets World

Summary

Pod Meets World – “Danny Strong Meets World”

Podcast: Pod Meets World (iHeartPodcasts)
Date: July 6, 2026
Guests: Danny Strong, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, Ryder Strong

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Episode Overview

This episode of Pod Meets World celebrates the remarkable journey of Danny Strong, a “Boy Meets World” guest star whose career since then has soared — as an actor, Emmy/Peabody Award-winning screenwriter, showrunner, and Broadway musical writer. The hosts (Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Ryder Strong) take listeners through Danny’s time on their set, his career pivots, his close encounters with Hollywood greats, and the art of surviving in show business. The conversation is lively, nostalgic, and insightful, peppered with behind-the-scenes stories and advice for creative professionals.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Danny Strong’s Boy Meets World Beginnings

[15:55–20:28]

• Danny shares that “Boy Meets World” was one of his first real jobs as an actor:
  • He was about 21 or 22 at the time, playing a high schooler.
  • It was booked the same week as his “first-ever” TV part on “Minor Adjustments,” after years of auditioning with little payoff.
• Breakthrough Mindset:
  • Danny credits booking three jobs in one week (after nearly seven years of auditioning without regular success) to his new approach — ignoring “what they’re looking for” and simply doing “what [he] wanted to do” and found funny.
  • Quote at [19:19]:

    “That was my big life moment, which was...not what they’re looking for, just bring what you want to bring.” — Danny Strong

• The cast reflects on the awkwardness and excitement of those early days, remembering the thrill of working on “Boy Meets World.”

2. Growing Up at the Video Store with Quentin Tarantino

[24:42–29:36]

• Danny’s film education began at a Manhattan Beach video store called Video Archives, where the clerk happened to be Quentin Tarantino.
  • “He thinks I’m cool. Finally, someone is talking to me about movies.” — Danny Strong [26:44]
  • “They would call me ‘Little Quentin.’” [26:51]
• Years later, after Danny’s HBO film “Recount,” Quentin invited him to dinner, gave a speech about him, and said:
  • “Thank god I did something with my life, because if Little Quentin was successful and I wasn't, I would blow my... Thank you and goodnight.” [29:27–29:36]
• The hosts are amazed by this serendipitous meeting of two Hollywood storytellers.

3. The Real Story Behind “Recount” and the 2000 Election

[29:36–34:37]

• Danny details the murky reality of the Bush v. Gore saga and how his film “Recount” captured one of America’s most controversial presidential elections:
  • “If they were counting the undervotes and the overvotes, which is the true total number of votes in the state of Florida, Al Gore wins the election... It was sort of a comedy of errors, a perfect storm of disaster for Al Gore.” [30:09ff]
• Danny was deeply affected by the Iraq war and wanted to write something impactful, leading to “Recount.”
• How “Recount” became the launchpad for his screenwriting career after years of writing spec scripts.

4. On Making the Leap from Acting to Writing

[51:04–52:30]

• Danny discusses the industry’s perception of actors-turned-writers:
  • “It took me seven years from writing my first script to selling that pitch for Recount... But I realized it doesn’t matter what you’ve done. They’re going to sit down and read a script, and that’s all that matters.” [52:30]
• He found “liberation” in writing:
  • “My DNA is not being judged. It’s just the page.” [54:48]

5. From “Game Change” to “The Butler”

[56:06–73:20]

• “Game Change”:
  • Initially reluctant, Danny was persuaded to write about Sarah Palin and the changing GOP (“canary in the coal mine” moment).
  • “It’s sort of terrifying. ... You see the birth of the MAGA movement in this story.” [56:36]
• “The Butler”:
  • Spielberg’s early interest made the script hot property; Lee Daniels ultimately directed.
  • “Nothing’s fast in this town, is it?” — Will Friedle [72:12]

6. Breaking Down the Creative Process

[73:27–77:36]

• Danny describes switching between genres and projects (“three or four different things at one time”), which helps maintain “fresh eyes.”
• On writing for “The Hunger Games”:
  • “It was, in some ways, one of the more simple jobs ... They just wanted to stick really close to the books.” [75:10]
  • “It was an editing job.” [76:54]

7. Personal Touchstones and What Art Should Do

[78:05–80:03]

• Most proud of projects with “societal, cultural impact.”
  • “For me, that’s what art is for.” [78:05]
• Dopesick as a deeply meaningful project:
  • “…I felt like it was a massive piece of muckraking that I was exposing the actions of Purdue Pharma…a story the general public didn’t fully understand.” [80:05]
  • “It was such an incredible experience for me.” [81:12]

8. On the Runaway Success of “Empire”

[82:35–87:18]

• The inspiration for “Empire” came from hearing Puffy/Sean Combs on the radio and fusing it with Shakespearean family drama (“Lion in Winter in a hip hop empire”).
• Initial skepticism:
  • “Never thought it would get on the air... I think this is a real long shot to get on the air because I don’t think there had been a mainstream Black soap opera [since the] 1970s.” [85:43]
• Season 1 tackled homophobia, mental illness, and other social issues within a dazzling musical/soap format.

9. Stage & Musicals: The Long Road to “Galileo”

[91:21–93:20]

• Danny started out in theater, and despite a self-proclaimed “terrible singing voice,” has a deep passion for musicals.
• He’s spent 14 years developing the musical “Galileo,” debuting on Broadway.
• “It’s a powerful show because it’s a powerful story. I mean, the story of Galileo is a really epic, powerful tale.” [93:20]

10. Philosophy, Disappointments, and What’s Next

[94:29–97:24]

• Danny admits even “success” in Hollywood doesn’t guarantee projects will get made — recounts heartbreak when a film with Scorsese fell apart at the last minute.
• On choosing new projects:
  • “I’m trying to be more laser focused on trying to do projects that I think I really love that are really ambitious.” [94:33]
  • “I’m writing a movie for Spielberg right now...” [96:02]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Not what they’re looking for. Just bring what you want to bring.” — Danny Strong [19:19]
• “They would call me Little Quentin.” — Danny Strong recounting Tarantino at the video store [26:51]
• “If Little Quentin was successful and I wasn’t, I would blow my... Thank you and goodnight.” — Quentin Tarantino (via Danny) [29:27]
• “My DNA is not being judged. It’s just the page.” — Danny Strong on screenwriting [54:48]
• “You see sort of the birth of the MAGA movement in this story.” — Danny on “Game Change” [56:36]
• “Yeah, I mean, I think [Spielberg and Scorsese] can [always get something made]... That was one of the bigger sucker punches I’ve had in a while.” — Danny Strong [96:43]
• “I’m writing a movie for Spielberg right now, which I love the project and I love working with Stephen, and so that’s exciting.” [96:02]
• “It’s hard to get anything made except for a few people.” — Danny Strong [94:33]
• “Please, anyone listening or watching, please go see Galileo.” — Danny Strong [93:09]

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Timestamps for Significant Segments

• Danny’s Boy Meets World Audition / Breakthrough: [15:55–20:28]
• Video Store/Tarantino Era: [24:42–29:36]
• 2000 Election “Recount” Deep Dive: [29:36–34:37]
• On Writing vs. Acting: [51:04–52:30]
• Game Change origins: [56:06–61:43]
• On The Butler’s Hollywood Journey: [69:27–73:20]
• How “Empire” Was Conceived: [82:35–87:18]
• Stage/Broadway—Galileo: [91:21–93:20]
• Philosophy on Projects/What’s Next: [94:29–97:24]

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Tone and Atmosphere

The tone is jovial, warm, a mix of admiration and friendly teasing. Danny Strong is self-deprecating and honest, while the hosts are enthusiastic, probing, and full of late-‘90s/early-2000s nostalgia.

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For New Listeners

If you missed the episode:

• Get ready for a whirlwind tour of Hollywood, politics, TV, movies, and theater from the inside out.
• Learn how “Little Quentin” (Danny Strong) became one of TV and film’s most versatile storytellers, and why “just bringing yourself” to every opportunity can sometimes yield the best results.
• Enjoy “Boy Meets World” alumni reflecting on how their guest cast has taken over the world, and sharing personal insights into the highs and lows of the entertainment industry.

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Summary compiled by Pod Meets World – all important topics, quotes, and moments highlighted above. For questions or feedback, email podmeetsworldshowmail.com or follow @podmeetsworldshow on Instagram.

Transcript

[Danny Strong]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Will Friedle]

Ryder, what's your favorite thing about summer?

[Ryder Strong]

Well, as you know, we are a big camping family, and even though it's wildly difficult to take a whole family on the road, I absolutely love it.

[Will Friedle]

Well, what if I told you there was a way to manage the chaos?

[Ryder Strong]

Go on.

[Will Friedle]

Every member knows Walmart plus is summer's greatest shortcut. With free same day delivery on groceries and more, you could save yourself an errand run or a sleepless night under the stars.

[Ryder Strong]

Who knew?

[Will Friedle]

And that's not all, my friend. Walmart plus members also get a choice of Peacock or Paramount plus included at no additional cost.

[Ryder Strong]

Perfect for the kiddos in the backseat. Just wanting to know when we arrive at the next campsite.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Join Walmart Plus. It's worth it.

[Ryder Strong]

$35 minimum for free delivery. Separate registration required for video streaming. Choice terms apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

One thing I never expected to be passionate about was a toilet.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, we're a big toilet household. It's more important than your bed.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, when I saw the Kohler Smart Toilet collection, it completely changed how I think about using the bathroom.

[Ryder Strong]

The Kohler Vail Smart toilet, especially feels more like a beautifully designed piece of the room than something purely functional. It's sleek, modern, understated, and it really makes you realize how much thoughtful design can transform everyday routines.

[Will Friedle]

Well, that's what I love about Kohler. They've been redefining bathroom design for more than 150 years, and their smart toilets really show how innovation can work in a way that feels elevated, not overdone.

[Danielle Fishel]

A cleaner routine and a cleaner space can just about change everything.

[Ryder Strong]

Experience the difference of Kohler Smart toilets. Find out [e-mail] Guys, summer is here

[Danielle Fishel]

and I'm throwing parties.

[Ryder Strong]

You are?

[Will Friedle]

Like, voluntarily?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I want to give off that party at my place Energy with my barbecues and my kids friends in the pool.

[Will Friedle]

Well, then might I suggest Lowe's for their incredible July 4th deals?

[Ryder Strong]

You can save up to 45% off select major appliances with an additional 25% off when bundling. Select major appliances and save $80 on a select Char Broil Performance series gas grill. Now just $299.

[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect. I already love these Lowe's July 4th savings because you guys know I have

[Will Friedle]

Hardy at my place energy valid through July 8, while supplies last selection varies by location season. See lowe's.com for more details. Maintenance fee, Overdraft fee, Minimum balance fee. Maximum balance fee. Banking fees are just part of modern life. Or are they?

[Ryder Strong]

They're not at Ally Bank. At Ally bank, there are no tricks, no hidden fine print or jumping through hoops for better rates.

[Will Friedle]

They just want to help you save automatically while you spend with spending accounts and savings tools with great rates.

[Ryder Strong]

No tricks, no hidden fees. Banking built for life today. Learn [e-mail] Ally bank member FDIC.

[Danny Strong]

We know that weeknights are not for

[Danielle Fishel]

the week, but are you gonna throw in the kitchen towel and order takeout? No way.

[Danny Strong]

You've got Land O' Lakes butter, a skillet and a plan. Land O' Lakes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Eat it like you own.

[Will Friedle]

So I'm wondering if this has happened

[Danny Strong]

to either of you.

[Will Friedle]

I got a letter in the mail.

[Ryder Strong]

I have gotten a letter.

[Danielle Fishel]

I have, too.

[Ryder Strong]

That has happened.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you.

[Danielle Fishel]

Recently.

[Ryder Strong]

That was a good talk.

[Danny Strong]

Bring us in, Danielle.

[Danielle Fishel]

Welcome to Pop Meets Worse.

[Will Friedle]

It was a bill.

[Danny Strong]

Oh.

[Will Friedle]

For $7.25 for me going through the tunnel in Virginia in May.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh.

[Will Friedle]

So apparently a car that had a license plate that looked like the plate of my new car, which, again, I had already had, was ticketed. Not ticketed, but, like, gone through a tunnel in Virginia, and now they were trying to bill me.

[Ryder Strong]

Hold on. So it wasn't. I thought you meant, like, you were in a rental car.

[Will Friedle]

No, no, this was not. I wasn't in for. No, I wasn't there. I have no idea. So I'm like, okay. My first instinct. What do you think nowadays? First instinct? This is a scam.

[Danielle Fishel]

This is a scam.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah. Like, they. They want me, and there's like a QR code. I'm like, all right. So I scan the QR code and they, you know, now my genetic material, they clone me. And then I see myself all over the country, something.

[Ryder Strong]

So I'm like, they get you.

[Danny Strong]

That's how they get you.

[Will Friedle]

They're not going to do it. So I'm Googling like, is this a scam? And then turns out to not be. And so I have to. I'm on the phone for, like, 25 minutes this morning going, I'm in Los Angeles.

[Ryder Strong]

See, that's what I'm like, $7, 25.

[Will Friedle]

Like, damn right. Well, here's the thing.

[Ryder Strong]

And I'm the cheapskate of all of us.

[Will Friedle]

No, if you don't pay it, which I'm not going to pay it. I wasn't there.

[Danny Strong]

And they start to compound it.

[Will Friedle]

You would have just paid even though you weren't there. I like the idea of.

[Ryder Strong]

I hate the phone so much. The idea of calling and having to explain things to people over and over again.

[Danny Strong]

Oh, My God.

[Will Friedle]

I'm going to just start billing you for.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, it's going to be great.

[Danielle Fishel]

For $7.25. I also would have just paid.

[Will Friedle]

You would have just paid even though you know it was.

[Ryder Strong]

I won't pay for parking in Mount Rushmore because that's, that's ridiculous.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, that's.

[Danny Strong]

That was how they get you.

[Ryder Strong]

But this like having to be on the phone like for 45 minutes and then when they transfer to the next person, you have to re.

[Danny Strong]

Explain the situation.

[Will Friedle]

That wasn't me. I wasn't in Virginia. I'm not paying $7.25to say I was in Virginia.

[Danny Strong]

Not a chance.

[Danielle Fishel]

But I. For $7, I probably just to get it off my plate, I would have paid it. I did. I'm. It's funny you're bringing this up. I just got a notification that I had a parking ticket. And did you guys know that in LA now they don't often leave the ticket on your window? You just.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, you just get it in the mail.

[Will Friedle]

You just get it in the mail. Then how do you actually legally parked?

[Danielle Fishel]

Correct? I didn't know I was.

[Ryder Strong]

How do you argue with the meter mate?

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, exactly. I had parked in a place in downtown LA and I was kind of confused if it was a parking space or not. I was like, is this a parking space? I think it looks like it's a parking space. There was a car parked directly behind where I was parked. So I was like, this car is, is parked in a parking space and

[Will Friedle]

they make the signs needlessly confusing.

[Danielle Fishel]

And I was like, I, I'm pretty sure this is fine. And I thought, I'm also only going to be in this place that I'm in for no more than like 15 or 20 minutes. So if it's not a parking space, what are the odds they're going to come by in those in that short amount of time? Anyway, so I got a parking ticket, no ticket on my car. Just sent to my house. They ticketed me twice within 15 minutes.

[Advertiser Voice]

What?

[Danielle Fishel]

So I.

[Ryder Strong]

Right, because there's no ticket, so they can't.

[Danielle Fishel]

There's no ticket. So it must have been two different people.

[Will Friedle]

Are you going to call and complain or are you going to pay it?

[Danielle Fishel]

Both of them complain because one they're. One of them's like $100.

[Ryder Strong]

I was going to say, yeah, parking tickets get high, but $7 for a toll? I would just be like across the

[Will Friedle]

country when I wasn't there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, it's actually your license SP plate,

[Will Friedle]

like so there was a picture of a license plate that then was for my new car, which I. I already had in California. So it's like, well, it couldn't have been that. So I'm on the phone, they send me to somebody else who's like, oh, the cameras get weird in the tunnels. And what happened is one of the letters of your license plate, like it looks like your license plate. But when we made it clearer on the picture, what we thought was an L is actually an I. Totally our fault. Ignore it, you're good to go. Not your license plate. But all of a sudden it was like, I just got a bill for something. Like you, you just get. It's like, what? Wait, this is.

[Ryder Strong]

I think this is the beginning of a cool scary story where it's like you were there. Like, then they zoom in and it was like you see yourself driving and you're like, wait a minute, how was that? And you have to go back and figure out like what alternate universe double you have in the world. That's great.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

Yeah, well.

[Will Friedle]

Well, you know, there's a new kind of. I hate AI obviously, but there's this new kind of thing where apparently it's a prank going around on the TikTok machine where you can make it look like it's an actual newscast about like a local robbery or something. But then when they put up the picture of the suspect, it's like someone in your family, right? So it's people filming like, like they think you're watching the local news.

[Advertiser Voice]

And it's like, and here's what the

[Will Friedle]

person who lit the fire looks like. And it's like the, the nine year old kid and it's like kids freaking out, like, I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. So, yeah, that's it'. I never know what's a scam anymore. I don't know what's real and what's not in this world.

[Ryder Strong]

I was teaching at indie school and his buddy, his best friend Zev was part of the thing that I was, you know, running the program I was running. And then he offered, he was so nice because I was starving, I hadn't eaten any lunch. And he was like, do you want any of my lunch? And he handed me like some carrots from his lunch. I was like, thank you so much, that's so sweet. And then after the whole program was done, it was the screenplayers thing that you did before Danielle. And so after that was all done, we were clearing out the room and I see his lunchbox.

[Danny Strong]

I'm like, oh my God.

[Ryder Strong]

So I grab it and I take it home and I'm like, we'll just give it to him. So then I text his mom. I'm like, oh, we've got Zev's lunchbox. She's like, he's eating out of his lunchbox right now in the car next to me. I was like, why does this feel

[Danny Strong]

like a horror film?

[Ryder Strong]

The call is coming from within the lunchbox. I was like, whose lunchbox do I have? Of course, then I check and it has like Hardy Zev in a hand that's in the lunchbox.

[Kal Penn]

Oh God.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's a horror movie.

[Ryder Strong]

Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a horror movie? By the way, Zev was so kind. He gave me some lunch and I have his lunch box.

[Danielle Fishel]

But he's.

[Will Friedle]

Who's Zev? I didn't pay the bill.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

Just.

[Danny Strong]

That's it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Welcome to pod meats world. I'm danielle fishel.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm ryder strong.

[Will Friedle]

And I wasn't in virginia.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm will friedle.

[Danielle Fishel]

When looking back on the show and recapping all seven seasons, we spent the beginning of each recap detailing new guest stars. We gave listeners their names, what other projects you might know them from, and when applicable, a little life update. Some of the more interesting check ins we heard over the last few months. Actually, Dr. Forbes Riley has sold $2.5 billion worth of infomercial products and has a buff husband. Andrew Levitas is an acclaimed artist. Marisol Nichols poses as young women on the Internet to bus sexual predators. And Glenn Merser thought our show was at least better than Facts of Life, which was important. But it's hard not to wonder who exactly became the most successful member of our alumni. There's Bill Lawrence, a Hollywood powerhouse whose first script was an episode of Boy Meets World. And now he has an Emmy filled resume that includes Scrubs, Ted Lasso, Shrinking and Cougar Town. You've got Adam Scott, one of television's biggest stars in 2026, arguably making the best work of his long career in Apple's Severance and the critically acclaimed horror movie Hokum. Linda Cardellini has been a mainstay in Hollywood since childhood. She went from Velma and Scooby Doo to shows like Freaks and Geeks, er, Mad Men and Dead to Me, while appearing in other movies like Legally Blonde, Endgame, Brokeback Mountain and the Founder. And she will soon star in the new Friday the 13th TV show called Crystal Lake. There's Keri Russell, Ethan Suplee, Mena, Suvari, Marla. Sokoloff Emmy winning writer Barbie Adler. The list goes on and on, but this week we are talking to a guest star who, in any debate, would find himself somewhere atop that list. He was a child actor whose career began on Saved by the the New Class, where he appeared in five episodes credited as both Stanley and Noogie. And soon after, he would join us for season three's the Heart is a Lonely Hunter, where he played Arthur Eric's overly qualified competition for the newscaster internship. He'd have other stops on shows like Third Rock, from the Sun, Seinfeld, and Gilmore Girls, but it was as Jonathan levinson on almost 30 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that most of our listeners would recognize him from. And though he never fully gave up on acting, with appearances on Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men, and Billions, it was behind the scenes that he solidified his Hollywood legacy. Hoping to write material for himself as a leading man, he opened his laptop and started writing screenplays. And his first successful foray into the profession was HBO's political drama recount, which he may not have ended up starring in, but instead found himself nominated for 11 Emmys and five Golden Globes. He followed that up with Game Change, another fascinating look into American elections. But this time, not only was it nominated, he won the Emmy for outstanding writing for a miniseries, movie or drama and also a Peabody. He'd go on to write the box office smash the Butler for Lee Daniels and Oprah Winfrey, both parts of the final Hunger Games movie. He co created the TV series Empire, created, wrote and directed Hulu's Dopesick, that was nominated for 14 Emmys and won him another Peabody, all while he wrote two musicals, Chess and Galileo, for Broadway. And yet today he is joining us to talk about the one week he spent on the set of Boy Meets World, the true crowning achievement of his prolific career, I'm sure. So, welcome to the podcast, the very talented and not related to writer Danny Strong.

[Danny Strong]

Hey, how's it going?

[Ryder Strong]

Hi. How are you?

[Danny Strong]

Good. How you guys doing? Good.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you so much. We know you do not have much free time and we are so honored that you gave us some of your time today because we claim you as alumni and now we're happy today to be able to prove it.

[Danny Strong]

That's right. I'm an alumni.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes, you are.

[Danny Strong]

So I'm so excited. Congratulations on your massive success and this massive hit of a podcast. It's so cool. I've been hearing about it for pretty much since it launched, obviously, but I mean, it's just amazing. What you guys have all achieved here. So thank you. Kudos to you.

[Danielle Fishel]

We have harassed you a few times about coming on the pod, and it did take some convincing.

[Danny Strong]

I'm also, you know, I'm so all in when I'm. When I'm promoting projects that I kind of feel like when I'm not, I should just kind of disappear.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

So I usually. And then I don't know, because I'm not promoting anything right now. And I was like. And I think Adam Bush brought it up again. I'm like, oh, I should go do that. I'm just gonna go do it. He's like, do it. So here we go.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, thank you. Thank you for joining us. I know you were a Manhattan beach kid, which, despite the first part of its name, is not thought of as a big city hub for the entertainment industry. This dream of becoming a child actor, how did you convince your parents to do it?

[Danny Strong]

Well, you know, I don't. I don't really view myself as a child actor because I didn't have any success as a child. I wasn't, you know, and I wasn't really auditioning. It was really. I was able to get an agent in high school, and it. But I never booked anything. I booked one commercial, and then. And then I was a theater major in college and had similar lack of success.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

Although I did book a few episodes of Saved by the Bell. The new class.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

Was very exciting. And then it wasn't until I graduated or I was about to graduate, I actually finished a semester early at college.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

So. And then it was in that window, you know, before the official graduation, that I started to book a few jobs. Boy Meets World being one of them.

[Ryder Strong]

So how old were you when you were on boy then?

[Danny Strong]

21, 22.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

We were still in high school. So you were playing a high schooler.

[Danny Strong]

I was playing a high school till, you know, a few weeks ago. I mean, literally, I was playing College into my mid-30s.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

So. Yeah. But I actually had an interesting, you know, for me, booking Boy Meets World was sort of a big life moment for me, which I'm happy to explain. Yes, please. So I basically, I had been auditioning. Like I said, I had an agent in high school and went on, but I didn't regularly go on auditions. You know, it was maybe once a month I'd get an audition for something, but I never booked anything. And then I was a theater major in college, and I never really booked anything, as I just said. So then when I was about to graduate, And I was in that period where I wasn't. I hadn't graduated, but I wasn't in school anymore. Right. I started to rethink what I was going to do with my life. And I got an internship for these producers, and they actually offered me a job. So I thought, you know what? I think I'm going to quit acting. And then I went on this. What I viewed as my last audition was for a show called Minor Adjustments. Do you guys remember that show?

[Will Friedle]

I remember Minor Adjustments.

[Danny Strong]

Yes. Minor Adjustments. Who doesn't remember? So I went in for Minor Adjustments, and there was the audition sides, and I guess I didn't get them until I got to the audition. And then I thought what I had always thought whenever I was auditioning. And I don't know if this ever. If you guys ever thought this, which was, what are they looking for? You know, what are they looking for? Right. And then I thought, wait, it's my last audition. Because I was told myself this was gonna be my last audition. And I thought, well, I don't care what they're looking for. This is my last audition, so I'm gonna do whatever I want. And I read the material and I thought, oh, this kid's weird. I should play him. Sort of like Kramer from Seinfeld. So then I walked into the room and I did the audition, and I walked in the room, sort of my version of Kramer. And they just started laughing the second I walked in. And then after all those years of auditioning, I booked the job.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

And so then my agent called me and said, look, you book the job and you have an audition for Boy Meets World tomorrow. And I was like. And Boy Meets World, Minor Adjustments hadn't aired. I hadn't heard of it. Boy Meets World, that was a big deal, you know? I mean, I'm like, wow, this is. That's a really cool.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's a real show.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, that's a real show. That's a famous show. Right? So I went into the audition, and then. And again, I didn't get the sides till I got to the audition. And I thought, oh, what are they looking for? And then I thought, wait a second. I ignored that yesterday. So I'm not. I don't care what they're looking for. I'm just gonna do what I think is funny with the material. And I thought, oh, I'm gonna make the character very arrogant. I'm just gonna be very arrogant. So then I walked in and I did the audition, and then I got the job.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

And then the same thing happened a few days later, and I booked three jobs in one week after having not worked for almost seven years of auditioning. So to me, and Boy Meets World was in the other show I actually hadn't heard of either. So the. So it was literally. But booking Boy Meets World was like, oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't quit. Maybe I should do this.

[Kal Penn]

It's working.

[Danny Strong]

So that was my big life moment, which was. And it was a huge turning point for me, not just as an act, but just in life. Right. Not what they're looking for, but just bring what you want to bring.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay, so here, here's my follow up question then.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Did that play out in the. In working on the job? Like, did you get to. Did you get to keep doing what you wanted to do on the set of Boy Meets World? Or were you then immediately told, now here's what we're looking for?

[Danny Strong]

No, no, no. Kind of did what I did.

[Will Friedle]

Good, good, I'm glad.

[Danny Strong]

And everyone was, you know, they really liked it. It was, you know, and then I have to say, the three of you and everyone was so nice to me and it was so memorable because, you know, you're all very famous. I've barely done anything except for this episode of Minor Adjustments, which I actually ended up shooting the day before I came to see.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow, really?

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, because it was all booked at the same time. Right. And it was, you know, and I was all starstruck by the three of you and by Ben Savage, and it was just, you know, very exciting to be there. And you guys were all so nice. So it's very memorable to me. Very memorable sort of life moment.

[Advertiser Voice 2]

Wow.

[Will Friedle]

Ryder, what's your favorite thing about Summer?

[Ryder Strong]

Well, as you know, we are a big camping family. And even though it's wildly difficult to take a whole family on the road, I absolutely love it.

[Will Friedle]

Well, what if I told you there was a way to manage the chaos?

[Ryder Strong]

Go on.

[Will Friedle]

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[Ryder Strong]

Who knew?

[Will Friedle]

And that's not all, my friend. Walmart plus members also get a choice of Peacock or Paramount plus included at no additional cost.

[Ryder Strong]

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[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Join Walmart Plus. It's worth it.

[Ryder Strong]

35 minimum for free delivery. Separate registration required for video streaming. Choice terms apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

Guys, Summer is here and I'm throwing

[Ryder Strong]

parties you are like voluntarily?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I want to give off that party at my place Energy with my barbecues and my kids friends in the pool.

[Will Friedle]

Well then might I suggest Lowe's for their incredible July 4th deals.

[Ryder Strong]

You can save up to 45% off select major appliances with an additional 25%

[Will Friedle]

off when bundling select major appliances and

[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect. I already love these Lowes July 4th savings because you guys know

[Ryder Strong]

hardy at

[Will Friedle]

my place Energy valid through July 8th while supplies last selection varies by location. See lowe's.com for more details.

[Kal Penn]

Hey everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary, massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections. And it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo. Is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that that deeply, emotionally affected me and I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah, dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Hearsay the Audible and iHeart audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Awkward time to ask this, but hey, did you download the trail map?

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, I know. I don't need to.

[Will Friedle]

I don't understand.

[Danny Strong]

You're trusting your signal out here?

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm trusting T Mobile. They have the best network.

[Danny Strong]

And if we end up in bumtots

[Danielle Fishel]

nowhere, well, we've got T Satellite for backup.

[Danny Strong]

Whoa.

[Will Friedle]

I don't trust my carrier that much.

[Danielle Fishel]

We'll just use your phone as a flashlight.

[Will Friedle]

With America's best network and T Satellite, we're keeping you connected in places you never thought possible.

[Danny Strong]

And if you switch today, you get free phones for zero down and only 25 bucks a month per line for OR lines. Find out more@t mobile.com or visit your local store.

[Advertiser Voice 2]

Best Mobile Network Based on analysis by Ooklab Speed Test Intelligence data 2H 2025 with 24 monthly bill credits and 4 eligible port ins on essentials for well qualified customers with auto pay taxes fees and 35 connection charge per line credits and imbalance to if you pay off earlier. Cancel Contact Us Finance Agreement example 299.99 Moto Edge 5G required T Satellite available with compatible device in most outdoor areas in the US where you can see the sky included with experience beyond $10 a month. However news monthly cancel anytime visit t

[Advertiser Voice]

mobile.com it's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one. You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day. And with Discover you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. Seriously, all of it. And we trust you to make smart decisions. I mean, after all, you listen to this show. See [e-mail] credit card.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, at this point, Quentin Tarantino's employment at your local video store, Video Archives, has become folklore in film history.

[Danny Strong]

Sure.

[Danielle Fishel]

You as a young person befriended this clerk and talked movies all day with him. Tell me what that was like and how his passion affected the way you looked at movies.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, so there was this avant garde video store called Video Archives where I grew up in Manhattan beach and I was sort of a movie buff since I was 5, 6 years old. I was watching grown up movies. I used to say adult movies and people are like, you're watching? No, no, I was watching rated R movies way too young. But nonetheless I was just sort of what I was into. Right. I wasn't into kids movies and my mom fully embraced what I wanted to watch. Right. So they opened this avant garde video store that assorted the films by director. So there were sections that was this director, this director, you know. And so I started going there and I, and this was when I was 9 or 10, you know, 11ish. Right. But I look really young. And there was this video store clerk that just was so much fun and just wanted to talk movies with me. And he was in his mid-20s, I guess, and it was Quentin Tarantino. And I would just go and talk movies with him and you know, he fully embraced my, the films that I was watching at that age recommending nothing but, you know, adult grown up, R rated 70s exploitation films, all the above, you know. And so, but I spent so much time in there, they would call me Little Quentin. And so they'd be like, quentin, little Quentin's here. And then I'd like, go. And I just loved Quentin because he wanted to spend so much time talking to me. And my mom thought it was strange. She was like, why does this guy talk to you so much? Because he's my friend, Mom.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay? He thinks I'm cool.

[Danny Strong]

He thinks I'm cool. Finally, someone is talking to me about movies because it's not as if I was having these conversations with my friends at school.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, Your other nine and ten year old friends. Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

They weren't watching Chinatown. Right, Right. So that was, you know, sort of the. I don't know. I guess the start of my film education was with professor video store clerk, Quentin Tarantino.

[Ryder Strong]

So cool, man.

[Will Friedle]

Whatever happened to him?

[Danny Strong]

I don't know. I don't know what's going on with him.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, yeah. We're just hoping he hangs in there.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, It's a tough business.

[Danny Strong]

It's tough business. Look, it's a tough racket. We can all light a candle for cool tonight.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you ever keep in touch with him over the years? Have you ever run into him again?

[Danny Strong]

So I didn't see him for many, many years. And then the first movie I wrote that got made was a movie called Recount, about the Florida recount.

[Will Friedle]

Great movie.

[Danny Strong]

Oh, thank you. Thank you. And then out of the blue, I got message from his assistant, and the film hadn't even come out yet, but it was on the brink of coming out. It was getting a lot of press, and. And she said, hey, Quentin is having some people over to. It was this Mexican restaurant, and he just wants to know if you want to stop by. So I came by and he had watched the movie already because he had gotten an advanced screener on DVD when people used to have those things.

[Danielle Fishel]

Sure.

[Danny Strong]

And he just was so amazing to me. And he gave a whole speech to. He had, you know, 10 people there, and he gave a whole speech to everyone. He was like, you guys don't understand. This is little Quentin. Okay. He used to come to him and he told him the whole story about.

[Will Friedle]

He's like.

[Danny Strong]

And he's got a movie coming out. And so then over the years, you know, I would see him from time to time. And then he was. He won an award from the video store, Cork Association International, some video store. It wasn't Quarks, but it was, you know, video. I. I don't know even know what it was, but it was in a big ballroom. And he invited me and he gave this whole speech at the end. And then at the end of the speech, he's like, there's someone here you all gotta meet. And then he introduced me. He had me stand up, and he said, okay, this is little Quentin. Okay? And at the time, I had this movie, the Butler, that had just come out, and there were billboards everywhere. And my name was actually on the billboard written by. Which was very unusual at that time, but they've been doing that more since. And he's like, his name's on billboards. And he goes. He goes. He used to come into the store. And years later, I found out that he had become a screenwriter and that he was successful. And I thought to myself, thank God I did something with my life, because if little Quentin was successful and I wasn't, I would blow my. Thank you and good night. That's awesome. Yeah, it was. It was unbelievable and hilarious.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, I have a. I have a question then, because I loved Recount.

[Danny Strong]

Great movie. Thank you.

[Will Friedle]

Obviously, had to do a ton of research. So did George Bush win that election?

[Danny Strong]

Oh. So I can tell you, because they did. They did an entire recount of the state of Florida that took place over 18 months. And. And the results of that. That recount exist. And I can tell you that it's incredibly confusing still.

[Will Friedle]

Huh? This is all the hanging chads and

[Danny Strong]

all this stuff like that.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, it's.

[Danny Strong]

It's. It's really confusing. But basically, when they were counting. So the Supreme Court famously shut the recount down when finally, after 34 days, 35 days of battle, the entire state of Florida was finally doing the right thing and counting all of the votes in the state of Florida. Okay. And no one was doing the right thing. At the start of this process, Al Gore had only requested recounts in four counties. Not doing the right thing. He should have been requesting them in the entire state. Why didn't he? It's actually pretty complicated. But the fast answer is there was no mechanism to ask. So you had to go to every single county. He thought that counties would start to say no, and it would become a big disaster for him. Right. Bush was trying to count zero votes in the entire state of Florida. One candidate, four counties. The other candidate, zero counties. Finally, they're counting votes in the entire state. The Supreme Court shuts it down. They have a hearing, and they basically run the clock out. But the Supreme Court rules against starting the recount over, and thus, George Bush becomes president, United States. So what was happening on that final day? They were not counting certain types of votes called overvotes. I told you this was confusing. But they weren't counting those votes. They were just counting undervotes and all the other votes. I'm not gonna explain what an undervote and overvote is, however. So when they did the final recount that took place over 18 months, it was determined that if you had just recount in the undervotes, which was what they were counting on that day, George W. Bush would have won the election by any counting standard, I. E. Hanging chads or not hanging chads, by something like 100 to 300 votes. It was, it was, it was that small. Okay, okay. However, if you included the overvotes. So they were. If they were counting the undervotes and the overvotes, which is the true total number of votes in the state of Florida, Al Gore wins the election by any voting standard. And it's. And it's even smaller margin. I believe. I believe it was like 90 to 180 votes. Al Gore wins. So you could say, well, they weren't counting the overvotes that day. So had they had gone further, Bush would have won the election, right? No. When the Supreme Court, right before they shut it down, a hearing was called to as the Democrats were trying to get them to count the overvotes. And the judge was on the way to the hearing when the Supreme Court shut the recount down. And he was asked later, you know, when this, all this information came out, would you have allowed overvotes to be counted on the day? And he said, oh, yeah, absolutely, of course I would have, because that would have been the true determination. So final, final recap. If, if that had happened and this and the Supreme Court had allowed this process to move further, would Al Gore have been elected on that day? The margin is so small. Yeah, who knows? Because that, those numbers, I was telling you, that was an 18 month methodical recount that was done by media organizations on the day. Who knows? With margins that small, my gut, Gore probably would have pulled it out. But the truth is, thousands of more people on election day went to vote for Al Gore over George W. Bush, but he ended up losing thousands of votes in three different counties, the most famous being in Palm beach county because of the butterfly ballot. It was so confusing that Pat Buchanan got, you know, something like six or seven thousand votes for people that meant to vote for Al Gore. Because the. The ballot itself was very confusing. It was sort of a comedy of heirs. You know, it was a complete sort of perfect storm of disaster for Al Gore, who more people on election day went to vote for him than George W. Bush, for sure.

[Will Friedle]

God, that's crazy.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, it's a crazy story.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

It is.

[Danny Strong]

And anyone watching or listening to this, go rent Recount.

[Will Friedle]

It's phenomenal.

[Ryder Strong]

It's so good.

[Will Friedle]

But I want to.

[Ryder Strong]

I want to dive into it from your. Like, the personal part, because you did all this research, because Recount was. You had written scripts, but Recount was the one that, you know, really moved you from being an actor to being a writer, director. So what was that process like? I mean, because I've heard about it secondhand from Adam Bush, that you were just, like, so angry about the election that you were like, I'm gonna go down there and do all my own research and write a movie about that. Is that true? Is that what happened?

[Danny Strong]

It wasn't that dramatic, no. I mean, I was very. I was. I was very angry about the election at the time, but I actually. I didn't even follow the recount when it was happening because I was so enraged, I couldn't watch. I just could not watch the recount. And then my anger, you know, grew. During the Iraq war, that was very, you know, a sort of big life moment for me because I felt like. I don't really. I'm not an expert on politics, but I know Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9 11. Yeah. And yet, you know, the President of the United States and his entire party is saying he is, and the media seems to be kind of going along with it. So that kind of. I don't want to say it radicalized me, but it definitely, you know, inflamed me. Right. So then I was trying to figure out what I wanted to write next. And I'd been writing these comedies that weren't selling. And I saw this play called Stuff Happens that was about the buildup to the Iraq war, which I had read a lot about, because I had read a lot of books about it. And I saw how David Hare, the famous playwright, had turned all this research that I was familiar with into this stunning piece of drama that was electric. I mean, the audience was booing the actors. They were booing each other on certain lines of dialogue. And I was in the last seat of the theater because that was all I could afford with, like, eating Grin so wide. Because I just was just. This was just sort of everything I was about as an artist and, you know, as just a citizen of the country. Right, right. So then I walked out of the theater thinking, oh, that's what I need to write next. I need to write something like Stuff happens. And within 30 seconds, the idea of the Florida recount popped into My head, which is weird because I hadn't really followed the Florida recount. And this was six years later, five years later. So it's not as if the recount had been on my mind for all these years. So that's how it came about, was that it popped into my head, and I called my agent for my manager, and I said, you know, I know what I want to write next. I want to write the story of the Florida recount. And he said, well, no one will buy that except for hbo, and HBO won't buy it from you because they only buy stuff from, literally, Tony Kushner and David Hare. They were, at the time, in this very kind of elite, sort of overly snobby stage. And I said, yeah, I know, but it's so good because I'd already bought in a book and had done some research at this point. And I said, but the story is so amazing, I don't really care. I just want to do this. And then he said, okay. I mean, it was like, literally, all right, well, if. That's.

[Danielle Fishel]

If you don't care about selling it,

[Ryder Strong]

you want to waste your time.

[Danny Strong]

Well, it's like I told you, you know, buy it, and you really want to do it. And it was actually good managing because he had a client who was passionate about a story, and so he just said, go for it. And then it was a long, sort of windy road, but I ended up several months later in the office of HBO to pitch the movie recount. And I couldn't believe it. To me, that was the victory that I had just made it to that point, because I never sold anything. I wasn't in the writer's guild. And I turned to the producer that I was with, Len Amato, and I said, I can't believe I'm sitting in HBO about to pitch this movie. And he said, well, it's a better story if you sell it, so. And luckily, it turned into a better story because. Because I did sell it. And it took them a few weeks to give me an answer. And when he called me and he said, well, they bought it, I was terrified. I just was scared. I was like, oh, my God, I finally sold something. First thing I'd ever sold was a pitch, and now I have to write it. And I just thought, well, you know, this is my big shot. What if I blow it? And so that was. That's. But that's how that. That's how it came together.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Will Friedle]

Wow. Vaguely was great, that movie.

[Danny Strong]

Fantastic.

[Will Friedle]

He was one of those guys that. I remember his his performance. I've always loved him, but his performance so stuck out to me in that film where I was like, man, he's re. He's like an underrated actor for me. Yeah, he was really good in that movie.

[Danny Strong]

He was wonderful. And when he. When they, you know, his name came up for the part, I was like, Ed Begley Jr. Because I thought of him as this comedic actor.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Danny Strong]

And. And then they showed me a scene from. I think it was an episode of West Wing. It was a dramatic scene, and he just tore it apart. And it was. He was clearly perfect casting for David Boies.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

And I thought, oh, that's perfect. That's. You know, and I. You know, and it wasn't my choice. It was the director's choice. But, you know, the director was Jay Roach, who's a wonderful person, really listened to me too, you know, on my input. And so. And I just said, you know, I. I just think he's perfect. And Jay was like, well, good, because that's who I want to cast, so. Oh, that's cool.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, he was.

[Danny Strong]

And then. And then Ed was fantastic in it. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, he's such a cool guy, too. Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Sweet guy.

[Will Friedle]

Super nice guy.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Really wonderful.

[Will Friedle]

Ryder, what's your favorite thing about Summer?

[Ryder Strong]

Well, as you know, we are a big camping family. And even though it's wildly difficult to take a whole family on the road, I Absolutely.

[Will Friedle]

Well, what if I told you there was a way to manage the chaos?

[Ryder Strong]

Go on.

[Will Friedle]

Every member knows Walmart plus is summer's greatest shortcut. With free same day delivery on groceries and more. You could save yourself an errand run or a sleepless night under the stars.

[Ryder Strong]

Who knew?

[Will Friedle]

And that's not all, my friend. Walmart plus members also get a choice of Peacock or Paramount plus included at no additional cost.

[Ryder Strong]

Perfect for the kiddos in the backseat just wanting to know when we arrive at the next campsite.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Join Walmart Plus. It's worth it.

[Ryder Strong]

$35 minimum for free delivery. Separate registration required for video streaming. Choice terms apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

Guys, Summer is here and I'm throwing parties.

[Ryder Strong]

You are?

[Will Friedle]

Like, voluntarily?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I want to give off that party at my place Energy with my barbecues and my kids friends in the pool.

[Will Friedle]

Well, then might I suggest Lowe's for their incredible July 4th deals, you can

[Ryder Strong]

save up to 45% off. Select major appliances with an additional 25% off when bundling. Select major appliances and save $80 on a select Char Broil performance series gas grill. Now just $299.

[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect. I already love these Lowes July 4th savings because you guys know I have

[Will Friedle]

hearty at my place. Energy valid through July 8th while supplies last selection varies by location. See Lowes.com for more details.

[Kal Penn]

Hey everyone, it's Kal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

I really had to make it a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo yo, yo, is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that that deeply emotionally affected me and I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Irsay the Audible and iHeart audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Awkward time to ask this, but hey, did you download the trail map?

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, no, I don't need to.

[Will Friedle]

I. I don't understand.

[Danny Strong]

You're trusting your signal out here.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm trusting T Mobile. They have the best network and if

[Danny Strong]

we end up in bumtots nowhere, well, we've got T satellite for backup. Whoa.

[Will Friedle]

I don't trust my carrier that much.

[Danielle Fishel]

We'll just use your phone as a flashlight.

[Will Friedle]

With America's best network and T Satellite, we're keeping you connected in places you never thought possible.

[Danny Strong]

And if you switch today, you get free phones for zero down and only 25 bucks a month per line for four lines. Find out more@t mobile.com or visit your local store.

[Advertiser Voice 2]

Best Mobile Network Based on analysis by Ooklev Speed Test Intelligence Data to age 2025 with 24 monthly bill credits and 4 eligible pour ins on essentials for well qualified customers with autopay plus taxes, fees and $35 connection charge per line credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Contact Us Finance Agreement example $299.99 MotoEdge 5G required T Satellite available with compatible device in most outdoor areas in the US where you can see the sky included with experience beyond your $10 a month. However, news monthly. Cancel anytime.

[Advertiser Voice]

Visit t mobile.com it's smart to always have a few financial goals and a really smart one. You can set earning cash back on what you buy every day. And with Discover, you can get this. Discover automatically matches all the cash back you've earned at the end of your first year. Seriously, all of it. And we trust you to make smart decisions. I mean, after all, you listen to this show. See termsiscover.com Credit card.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know you and Ryder have kept in touch a little bit over the years. Is Boy Meets World the first place you met?

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were in a radio show, sort of a live radio show. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

The Thrilling Adventure Hour.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, this is Acker and Blacker.

[Ryder Strong]

Acker and Blacker. So that brought us back. That brought us together. I mean, that's really when we hung out. I mean, I, you know, Boy Meets World, like, that was such a blip. And the rear view mirror, by the time. Because you had already done Buffy and. And so they brought us on to host together, actually, because normally they had, like, two actors that were always doing the hosting duties for the Thrilling Adventure Hour and they couldn't do it one week or whatever. And we had both guest starred on different shows, so they decided to have the strong brothers and they created characters for us to go and do it. And that was like when we first hung out. And I think at that point. Had you even written Recount yet? I think you were writing, but I don't think you had.

[Danny Strong]

I don't think so, no.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. I think you were still primarily, like, I thought of you as an actor at that point, you know.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And I remember we talked a little bit about writing, but that was.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And then it was watching the recount thing happen. It was like, oh, my God, Danny's doing so well.

[Will Friedle]

I don't think I'm wrong. Do you recall the last time you and I ran into each other?

[Danny Strong]

I mean, I don't. I sort of feel like it was on set on Boy Meets World. Is there another. Is there a story here?

[Will Friedle]

I could be wrong. Did we run into each other in the streets of Amsterdam?

[Danny Strong]

Whoa. When was that? I mean, I've been to Amsterdam, but

[Will Friedle]

once, I'm pretty sure I rounded a corner and you rounded a corner, and I was with Jason Marsden, and we stood in front of each other, went, oh, my God.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And we just ran into each other

[Danny Strong]

in the red light district.

[Ryder Strong]

Would have been 98 would have been late 90s.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, late 90s. Yeah, late nineties. So that was. I think the last time I saw you was on the streets of Amsterdam.

[Danny Strong]

Yes. And. And I was never in the red light district. Anyone that claimed I am this tribunal was a false tribunal.

[Will Friedle]

Excuse me. You can walk through and not partake. It is something that must be seen

[Danny Strong]

to be still pretty filthy just walking through it. I'm still showering from. Just to walk through the red light district. If I'd ever been there, which I wasn't. I was never there. Let me make these very clear.

[Will Friedle]

That was the last time I saw you. Just rounded the corner. We were both like, oh, my God. Cause I think it was the year you were on Boy Meets World. And so we just ended up just kind of there at the same time. Yeah. Really strange.

[Danny Strong]

I think it was a few years later, but was it okay?

[Will Friedle]

It seemed like it wasn't too much.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Maybe it was just a year and a half later or something like that. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

But it was like, oh, my God, Stani.

[Advertiser Voice]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah. Wild.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you have, like, a young actor crew back then? Like, were all your friends, other young performers? We realize we've all had little posses of other actors who've lived in and out of the oak woods. And.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, you know, I was never. I was never sort of that much of an insider. I always felt kind of like I was kind of on the outside a little bit. But I was really close friends with Michael Bacall. I don't know if you know Michael Bacall. He was an actor. He was in tons of stuff. And we often would. Would come down to me or him for parts. We became friends because we exchanged info to let each other know who got it because. Oh, of course.

[Will Friedle]

Of course I recognize him.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He worked a lot. And. And I started writing because Michael started writing and he sold a script. And I was so jealous of him. That. And he was encouraging me, too. He was like, you should write, too. You should really do this. That. That was partly how I started writing. And he's gone on to have a very successful writing career. He just wrote the Running Man. The Edgar Wright movie. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Scott Pilgrim versus the world. The 21 Jump Street 22 Jump street yeah, he's done some stuff.

[Danny Strong]

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's all Michael. So Michael and I were really close. I had another buddy named Blaine Weaver who I just saw recently for the first time in years, but it wasn't, you know, me and Adam Bush became really good friends. And Tom Link we were sort of this trio on Bucky the Vampire Slayer. But I didn't sort of roll in a. In a young Hollywood kind of crowd.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah. I was a little awkward. I always felt a little awkward.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, I was gonna say Manhattan beach will kind of alienate you from. You know, it's. I lived in Manhattan beach for a while. I love it there. But, boy, is it hard to get to Burbank from Manhattan Beach.

[Danny Strong]

Well, I wish that was my excuse, but the truth was, I grew up there, but then. And then when I went to college, I never went back, so I was in Hollywood, you know, just right on. You know, Stanley, just right there. Right across the street from Halfway House where I lived for a decade and.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, Halfway House.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, across the street from it. So it's called Villa Stanley. And there's another Villa Stanley on Melroseville. Stanley Number two. So. But, yeah, I. I. Yeah, I just never. I don't know. I never. I never kind of got super inside.

[Danielle Fishel]

You also appeared on. We've mentioned Buffy now, but you also appeared on another cult classic, who fans will never let die, and that's Gilmore Girls. Between Gilmore Girls, Buffy, I mean, and Boy Meets World, you're sort of in the holy trinity of fandoms.

[Kal Penn]

Pretty good.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. Yeah. What do you get recognized from the most?

[Danny Strong]

Gilmore Girls all the time. I mean, they have rabid fans.

[Will Friedle]

They have, like, rabid.

[Danny Strong]

I don't even know if you would call them rabid fans at this point. It's. It's like. It's just everywhere. People are just watching that show, you know, mothers and their daughters. You know, it is. It's bigger than it ever was. And when it went off the air, it didn't, you know, you didn't feel that at all. And then when it started airing on Netflix is when there was this massive cultural shift. Gilmore Girls, in some ways, it's like Friends, where it's, you know, it's sort of that big. So I get that all the time. I was also. Even though I'd stopped acting, I kind of kept acting. Things would just pop up, and I ended up on a TV show called Billions. For six seasons.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's right.

[Danny Strong]

Which is crazy. And that. And so Billions. You did that billions a lot, huh?

[Ryder Strong]

You did six seasons of Billions?

[Danny Strong]

I did six episodes.

[Ryder Strong]

I have no idea.

[Danny Strong]

It was supposed to be two episodes, and then I ended up doing three or four a year from season two through seven.

[Danielle Fishel]

And I.

[Danny Strong]

Best time. The part was so much fun. And it was shot in New York, where I lived. So I could just kind of run down there and shoot the scenes and

[Will Friedle]

go, so yeah, well, which one do you prefer? I mean, now that you've got this incredible writing career, I mean, but you were also. Your acting career took off the second you decided you didn't want to, to be an actor anymore. Which is, seems to be the way it works is like we always joke, if you want the audition, you book a non refundable plane ticket somewhere on the same day. So the second you went, I'm done, your career kind of took off. Is there something you enjoy more than the other? Do you enjoy writing more than acting or acting writing?

[Danny Strong]

I don't really, you know, like I said, I don't pursue acting. So it's not even something where I'm actively trying to do it. Right. It's fun. When I do do it, I really enjoy it. But it's, it's, you know, I have a full writing, producing, directing career that is, consumes my days, you know, every day. And it's, and that's what I'm steeped in. But, but you know, when I, when I am lucky enough to be on set, you know, acting in something and I only do it now if it's something I really want to do. But it's not like the phone's ringing off the hook either. I mean, it's just kind of every once in a while it was me from something, I guess, and then they, they reach out. So, so it is, it is. You know, I do enjoy it, but, but I'm, you know, fully immersed in a very high stress writing, producing career.

[Danielle Fishel]

Were you afraid that people wouldn't take you seriously as a writer because they knew you as an actor?

[Danny Strong]

You know, it really. I didn't, I wasn't. Because it seemed common for actors to become writers. And what was great about it, because it took me seven years from writing my first script to selling that pitch for Recount. Right. So that's a long time to do something. But the first script I wrote, a few producers read it and they loved it and I realized it doesn't matter what you've done. They're going to sit down and read a script and that's all that matters is the script. And I guess a lot of scripts are pretty tough to read. So when they read one that they really like, they're very excited and they're very excited to meet you. And I, and I've never experienced within the industry any bias from being an actor on the writing front. In fact, it's sort of the opposite, where people in development that do this for a living of reading scripts, you know, have a long sort of history of knowing that when actors can write, the scripts can often be really quite good. And I've had a number of friends have their lives changed by writing a script, right. And it's just they have a whole new career from it. And, you know, as an actor, you're boxed in by your DNA to a certain extent, you know, and it's. And you could be, you know, the greatest actor in the world, and a lot of times the material doesn't call for it. Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

So it's sort of like. And I know now from casting being on the other side of it, you know, I'm just trying to find the person, Person who's right for the part that does that sort of does the scene right. The best or. Well, who's also right for the part. You know, there's that element which is right for the part, the right type of whatever that character is, right. And that all goes away on the writing. It's just. Doesn't matter what you look like, it's just the page. And I found that, you know, very liberating. To this day, I find it very liberating that my DNA is not. Is not being judged.

[Kal Penn]

It's just.

[Ryder Strong]

It's just totally.

[Will Friedle]

When you, you said it took seven years from when you started writing to recount, then recount comes out now, you know, your career has taken off in the writing, writing and directing and producing kind of aspect. Do you get to now go back to the scripts that maybe you didn't sell in those seven years and go, okay, now I'm going to go back and do some of the ones that I originally wrote that I wanted to do.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, that's a really good question because that came up, you know, hey, go. Go to your old scripts and sell them. Make some dough, you know, and I, I went and read a few of them to see how I felt about it. And I thought, you know, this script belongs in this drawer. Even if I can monetize it, I don't want to monetize it because I feel that I, you know, that my writing has grown. And when I wrote Recount, it was the first drama I'd ever written, the first true story I'd ever written. And it. And it was much more natural for me than any of the comedies that I had written up till that point. And I just felt, oh, I've, you know, maybe I've grown as an artist or I found my voice as a writer or I just felt that the work was much stronger than the work had been before. And I thought, why don't we just leave this why don't we just leave this where it is?

[Danielle Fishel]

How long was it between Recount and then Game Change?

[Danny Strong]

Well, they were. It was four years from when. When it came out, when Game Change came out. But I think it was maybe two years, two and a half years when I started writing it. And it was really interesting. When we had finished Recount, the director of it immediately thought there was a movie in Sarah Palin. And for those of you who don't know Game Change, it's the story of John McCain picking Sarah Palin, scared that

[Will Friedle]

the out of me. That movie, that movie scared the out of me.

[Danny Strong]

It is. It is kind of terrifying. And it's the. And very much kind of the canary of the coal mine. Of canary. The coal mine of where we are today. Right? You know, you see sort of the birth of the MAGA movement in this story and, and Jay Roach was all over it as it was happening in real time. He said, I want to be in the rooms where they decided to pick Sarah Palin. And I said, that's the last thing I want to do. I really don't want to do another true life, modern day political story. You're a little handcuffed. You can't make stuff up. It's got to be super buttoned down. And I was so attacked on recount. And recount was very accurate, impeccably researched, but it didn't matter. They just attack, attack, attack. And so I, I was a little gun shy. Then the book Game Change came out. And by the way, I had been offered the book before they had written a script. I'd been offered it a year earlier. And I passed and the book came out and it was a sensation. And I read it and I felt like such a fool that I had, that I had said no to it. I just loved reading it. And Jay Roach, by the way, in that time period, kept calling me every six months about doing the Sarah Palin story. And I kept saying no. So when I read the book recount, when I got to the Sarah Palin chapters, I immediately saw what the movie would be like. And I immediately thought, Jay Roach was right, there's a great movie in here. And then I forgot about it. Then about six months later, he called me and because they were developing an Obama vs. Hillary movie, that's what they were trying to do. So Jay called me and he said, I've taken over Game change the book. I'm throwing out their Obama, Hillary script, and I'm going to do Sarah Palin. And you've said no to me four times, but I'm going to ask you one more time, do you want to do it? And I said in the phone call, I said, I read the book. You're absolutely right. Yes, I'm doing it. Yes. So I said it. So I said yes right there. And then there was this tricky moment where we actually had a small window to write the script and get it greenlit, because in order to get it out, you know, six months before the election, which is when they wanted to get it out, they didn't want it too close to the election to make it look like we were interfering. And then after the election, there was a sense of no one may care anymore. So I had this kind of about two months to write a first draft to get them excited about it. And it was wild because I hadn't had a movie made since Recount, and I thought, okay, I got two months. Maybe I could. Maybe this will get. You know. And then, sure enough, I wrote it, turned it in, and then it started to get all this momentum and ended up getting made. So that's how that one came together.

[Will Friedle]

Another phenomenal cast. I mean, the Cat, Woody Harrelson and everybody in that movie were just. They were so good. But that movie scared the hell out of me. I mean, it really did. Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Ed Harris as John McCain. I remember watching it with them because I had on Recount, I had gotten to know a lot of Democratic and Republican operatives that work on these elections, and I've become very friendly with people in both parties. I really enjoy, you know, I enjoyed them all, you know, not. Well, not all of them, but, you know, people that I became friends with, you know, in any party. And so there was one guy who was a Republican operative, and I invited him to one of our screenings of Game Change to kind of test, you know, how are Republicans operatives going to feel about this movie? And the movie ended, and he turned to me and he said, that was amazing. I loved it. And, boy, that is terrifying. So, yeah, the same response. You as a political insider.

[Will Friedle]

Well, because they had the Republicans in the movie, a lot of the Republicans were going like, this is not. This is not okay. Like, this is. And even John McCain saying things like, you got to be really careful what the future is going to hold for our party. I mean, it was. It seemed very balanced, which is the thing that I liked about it. But, man, it did. It scared the hell out of me.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah. You know, I interviewed so many people in the McCain campaign for that film, and they were, you know, and they sort of fit into three different categories of they really despised Sarah Palin. They really liked her and thought she was treated unfairly, and then people that sort of kind of understood, you know, both sides of it. And I tried to represent, you know, all the different points of views in the film. And what I loved about doing game change versus recount is there wasn't two parties represented, so I didn't have to, you know, be, you know, enough time to the Democrats and the Republicans and make it feel the balance that way. It was literally no Democrats are being consulted in the making of this movie. This is just the Republicans. It's their story. It's what they live through. And how can I make it sort of as honest and rich and full as possible? And I felt like I wanted to show Sarah Palin's experience in a way that was honest. And at times, at times, just in the research, I felt really sympathetic to her and I felt like she was in, you know, positions that weren't fair to her or that were just so much pressure for her life experience. Yeah. And I wanted to, to, to. To make sure I dramatized all that.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, it was great.

[Danielle Fishel]

I would love to sit in on one of your pitches and I wonder, do you think your acting skills help you in pitch meetings?

[Danny Strong]

Definitely, yeah. Yeah, 100%. Because I'm just very comfortable pitching. In fact, I enjoy it because it's sort of a one man show. It's just me and I've written the script and then I go and I do, and it's usually, it's actually quite a bit of fun for me and a lot of writers who don't have an acting background. The pitch is terrifying. Exactly.

[Will Friedle]

It's the worst part.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah. They're like, I hate this. And they just kind of, you know, just kind of read the pitch, which, by the way, totally fine. If you're a writer watching this, you don't have to have an acting background. People just want to hear what, what your pitch is, you know, at the end of the day. And I tell. Because some, when I produce and, and I'm working with writers, I tell them like, don't worry about it. Just read, read it. You don't, you know, it's, it's the, you know, the story's great that you've constructed and that'll come through. So.

[Will Friedle]

It's summer vacation. And by vacation I mean, I'll be barbecuing until my fingertips are numb and my belly is filled with people.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, my summer involves a little more relaxing than that.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, I'm relaxed because I'm a Walmart plus member with free same day delivery on groceries, prescriptions, and more. That means I can just chill out and more. Barbecue time, baby.

[Ryder Strong]

Who knew?

[Will Friedle]

Every Walmart plus member knows it's the secret to bringing vacation back to summer.

[Ryder Strong]

Now, how about you throw a turkey burger on the grill for me?

[Will Friedle]

Ryder, for you, anything.

[Ryder Strong]

Ah, now that's vacation.

[Will Friedle]

Membership pays for itself.

[Ryder Strong]

Join Walmart plus and see the difference.

[Will Friedle]

Subject to availability, $35. Minimum restrictions apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

Guys, summer is here and I'm throwing parties.

[Ryder Strong]

You are?

[Will Friedle]

Like, voluntarily?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I want to give off that party at my place energy with my barbecues and my kids friends in the pool.

[Will Friedle]

Well, then might I suggest Lowe's for their incredible July 4th deals?

[Ryder Strong]

You can save up to 45% off select major appliances with an additional 25% off when bundling. Select major appliances and save $80 on a select Char Broil performance series gas grill. Now just $299.

[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect. I already love these Lowes July 4th savings because you guys know I have

[Will Friedle]

hearty at my place. Energy valid through July 8th while supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowes.com for more details.

[Kal Penn]

Hey, everyone, it's Kal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project, Hail Mary, Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

I really had to make a decision decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections. And it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo, is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that that deeply, emotionally affected me. And I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah, dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Irsay the Audible and iHeart audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Awkward time to ask this, but hey, did you download the trail map?

[Advertiser Voice 2]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

No, I don't need to.

[Will Friedle]

I don't understand.

[Danny Strong]

You're trusting your signal out here.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm trusting T Mobile. They have the best network.

[Danny Strong]

And if we end up in bumtots

[Danielle Fishel]

nowhere, well, we've got T Satellite for backup.

[Danny Strong]

Whoa.

[Will Friedle]

I don't trust my carrier that much.

[Danielle Fishel]

We'll just use your phone as a flashlight.

[Will Friedle]

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[Danny Strong]

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[Advertiser Voice 2]

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[Advertiser Voice]

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[Danielle Fishel]

So recount goes on to become a massive critical hit. Game Change wins a Peabody and you get an Emmy. Were you at that point just like, okay, that's it. I'm a full time screenwriter now. Or did you still think that you were going to have one foot in the acting world?

[Danny Strong]

No, I had. After Recount, I hadn't been in LA for a long time.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

Because I was. Well, I was in a movie before Recount went into production called Sidney White with Amanda Bynes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Danny Strong]

That's when I was 33. We were 32 playing a college student. So I. And then I. We did recount. So I actually was gone from LA for nine months, you know, for. I was gone for a long time. Came back and then I moved to New York. And I moved to New York for. For three months as a trial. And then two weeks into the trial, I Said, the trial is officially over. I'm staying here. I love. Right. And part of me moving to New York was, and I don't want to act anymore. So I stopped auditioning. And for two years, I didn't go on audition. I had this really neat manager who I'd been with for years, who's still my manager, and he kept calling me with stuff over the years, saying, hey, will you go in for this? That? And I kept saying no. And then finally he called and said, there's this role on Nadmin. Do you want to audition for Mad Men? And that was my favorite show. I went, okay, okay, I'll do that one. I'll do that one. And then I booked it. So then I booked the part, and I end up doing a recurring on Mad Men. And I actually think all the acting work I've gotten since has been because people love Mad Men. And, you know, some of the. I know billions for sure was. Was from that. But. But. So that's when. And that was. So that's after not auditioning for a few years. I have to say, the two years I wasn't auditioning when I moved to New York may have been the happiest. Two years

[Will Friedle]

auditioning is the worst, isn't it? It's just the worst.

[Danny Strong]

Not having four months of pilot season. Will this audition change my life for 12 years? And it never did. I never booked a pilot, but every pilot season was torture for me. And so to have that go away, and I'm living in New York City, and it's amazing. And, you know, I was writing the Butler and Game Change. Those were the first two movies I wrote there, you know, so I just was having sort of just, you know, a wonderful experience. And that was associated. Tied into not auditioning anymore. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

How did you connect with Lee Daniels for the Butler?

[Danny Strong]

So I wrote the Butler. I was hired to write the Butler, which would never happen today, but it was. They had this idea that they thought I would be the right writer for it. I loved the material right away. And then I wrote the movie. And this was all for Sony Pictures and a producer named Laura Ziskin, who's a real legend, she passed away very tragically from cancer. But before she passed away, she started Stand up to Cancer. So then I wrote the Butler and then turned it into my agent. And then my agent called me, so I turned it in. I don't know, maybe on a Thursday. And then to my agent and to Sony. So Monday morning I get a call from my agent, and she said, hey, So I don't know what's going on with Sony. If they've read it. I don't think they have, because it was not a high priority project for Sony, he said, but I gave it to Steven Spielberg, and he read it, and he thinks he might want to do it. Because one of the reasons of all, you know, Steven Spielberg is the king of Hollywood for a thousand different reasons. But he also wants to know what's going on with scripts before anybody else. So if there's a hot script that the agency thinks is a hot script, they give it to him first, and he reads it immediately. So Sony gets the phone call, hey, have you guys read the Butler yet? Oh, because Steven Spielberg has read it, and he thinks he wants to do it. So now this script that's super low priority becomes their big priority. Right. And then I guess people in Hollywood all found out that Steven Spielberg maybe wants to do the bout or next, and. And so it was instantly a hot script. And then Lee Daniels read it during that period, and he basically was waiting in the wings for Steven to pass. And so. And then it was about four or five months later. And then one of the reasons why Steven backed off the project was he decided to do the movie Warhorse first, which was within his own film studio, DreamWorks. And he didn't want to slow the project down because he knew Laura Ziskin had cancer and he knew how important it was to her because normally he might have hung onto it longer to maybe do it now Next. Right. So he backs off the project, you know, very generously. And then the next day, Lee Daniels was waiting in the wings to do it. And so that's how. That's how that all began, was that was on the Butler, and so then Lee was on the project, and it took four years to get the movie made. Wow.

[Will Friedle]

Nothing's fast in this town, is it?

[Ryder Strong]

No, filmmaking's hard.

[Danny Strong]

It's a tough racket. Yeah, it's really a tough racket.

[Danielle Fishel]

You also have such a diverse range of genres that you have done. You also did Hunger Games.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

How do you. How do you switch gears to be able to kind of go back to back to back with such different genres?

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, it's a goofy career. Right. You know, I mean, because I do film, tv, and I do stage musicals. Right. So it's sort of all. It's kind of all over the place. And it's. It's literally. It's just whatever I'm into. You know, there's not a big sort of master game plan at all. It's. It's literally just, oh, that's that, you know, And I'm always guided by the same sentence. Oh, that could be really good. You know, I'm like. I just get excited about something. I think, oh, that could be really good. You know, so. And then whatever I'm working on that day is just what I'm working on. You know, it's not a big. It's not a big emotional shifting gears. I try to stick within one project for whatever phase I happen to be in on that project.

[Kal Penn]

Right.

[Danny Strong]

So if I'm outlining something, I try to finish the outline before I get pulled off onto something else.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

I'm usually writing three or four different things at one time in every different, you know, genre. And so I just try to complete whatever task it is. But I find working on multiple things is really helpful because then I set something down, I go on to something else, and it makes me completely forget about that other project. So when I come back to it,

[Danielle Fishel]

it's like, fresh eyes. Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

And that's huge because part of the biggest challenge for me is not being able to sort of know what to do with it at a certain point, because it's stale. So the more that the fresh I can keep fresh eyes, the less. But then at a certain point, something just becomes stale. And that's. And that's when I know it's time to hand it to some people, get some reads.

[Will Friedle]

Did you. Did you have any trouble with Hunger Games? Especially when it's something like, okay, we have to do a PG13 version of kids slaughtering each other.

[Danny Strong]

Well, like, how do you do that? Really? On me, you know, they. So I did Mockingjay Part one and two.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Danny Strong]

They had already done two movies. Right. You know, so they'd already done the first Hunger Games, which I loved. And I hadn't read the book. I had just seen the first movie and thought, fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I did eventually read them when they. When they approached me, but. But so they. They approached me for it, and I was incredibly flattered just to get to ask to pitch on it. And they told me, we're going to 10 writers. They were sort of very open. We're going to 10 writers. We're trying to find one writer to do, you know, part one and Part two. And they were in the middle of shooting Catching Fire at the time, or were just about to. I don't totally remember.

[Kal Penn]

But.

[Danny Strong]

So that was. So as far as the tone of it, it had already been set, and it was one of those jobs where every job, every script has its own set of rules, creatively, politics surrounding the production. You know, there are all of them that are their own ecosystem with their own sets of issues. And in the case of Hunger Games, it was the. It was an adaptation in which everyone, rightfully so, wanted to stick as close to the book as possible. Because the book was so. The books were so widely popular, they were so beloved. They were super hot in that moment. It wasn't as if they'd come out a decade earlier. Right. They just were red hot, you know, with this passionate fan base. And Suzanne Collins, who wrote them, was a big part of the team making the movies. So it wasn't as if she wasn't. She was in the swimming pool and was a key collaborator with them. So it was, in some ways, one of the more simpler jobs I've ever had, because they didn't want. They didn't want anyone to come create a lot of stuff. They just wanted to stick really close to the books.

[Will Friedle]

That's why I'm asking, how do you pitch that? Isn't it just 10 people holding up the book going, I want to write this?

[Danny Strong]

What you're asking is exactly what I went through, and I was asked to pitch. I thought, well, how do you pitch this? Yeah, I really know how to pitch this, but I'll just. I think I need to pitch it out completely. That was. That was what I said was I need to pitch this out completely. I'm just going to pitch them exactly what I'm going to do with the first movie, beat by beat. And that's what I did. And it was all straight from the book, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Sort of like an editing job. I mean, in some ways, that's what that job was. It was an editing job. It was a paring down. And then, sure enough, they, you know, maybe other people weren't doing that. Maybe my skills as an actor helped, you know, with the same process as we were talking about earlier. But it was me and one other writer that were the final two. I actually don't even remember who it was. And. And then we flew to Atlanta because that's where they were shooting the movie. So I flew to Atlanta. I did the pitch. They said, wait here. And then. And then the producer walked out, and she said, you got the job. I was like, this is crazy. Yeah, it was. It was. It was wild. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm so curious, Danny, because you've had such an amazing career and, like. But I also feel like every. Everybody in Hollywood like, you get. You end up having huge successes for stuff that you kind of, like, don't care that much about or, you know, like, your. Your own version of success is often different than, like, the world's version of success. So I'm curious, like, what are you most proud of? Is it Spielberg reading your script and liking it? Is it. Is there, like, a moment that you can say, like, oh, this is. This is my personal accomplishment that makes me feel great?

[Danny Strong]

You know, I don't know. It's sort of tough to answer. I mean, I try to, for the most part, work on projects that I feel have some sort of societal, cultural impact, you know, that have something to say on a big macro level about something, you know, where I want to talk about something that I think is important to talk about. And. And, you know, for a few reasons. One, it's just as hard to write something that doesn't do that as it is to write something that does do that. So I find it a better use of my time to be working on something that I feel like is saying something important. For me, that's what I feel like what art is for. Although I think that there's lots of art that. That I enjoy that doesn't do that, and that's fine too. You know, some of it's just pure entertainment, and it's funny and, you know, scary, and there's not a big metaphor or something being told at the heart of it. But for me, that's what I personally really like to do. But I think there's something else at play, too, which is. I think it makes it. It a better movie or a better TV show or a better stage musical. I think it adds a level of depth and power to it that. That increases the entertainment value as well. So it's not just altruistic, but I. But for me, it's what I like. I just like art that does that as an audience member too. You know, my favorite movies are, you know, like when I mentioned Chinatown, that's one of my favorite movies of all time. Right. You know, yeah, it's about corruption. You know, all the President's Men, it's about corruption. I guess I like things about corruption. You know, these are just the different. So. So one of the projects that I guess, you know, that I just had such a wonderful experience making, which is weird because it was so dark, but I had so much joy in making it, was I did a limited series called Dopesick.

[Will Friedle]

Michael Keaton.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

Michael Keaton, Yeah. I did a few of them and so, So I was incredibly kind of micromanaging hands on. On that one. And I felt like it was a. It was a massive piece of muckraking that I was exposing the actions of Purdue Pharma that was micromanaged, known, you know, it was owned by the Sackler family.

[Will Friedle]

Right, It's a Sackler Families of Connecticut. Yeah, that's.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, right. And it told the story of what happened beat by beat in a way that the general public, you know, that had been in books, but that the general public didn't fully understand how the opioid crisis happened. And then it was truly manufactured by this company seeking profit. So that was, that was, that was a project I really loved making and to be honest with you, was sort of, you know, a little gun shy after it of what to do next. Although I have written several things since then. But. But, you know, it was very much, you know, what do I do next? Because it was such an incredible experience for me.

[Ryder Strong]

Poured all of it in there.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Making that show. I really loved it. And we shot it in the height of the pandemic, pre vaccine, you know, no vaccine in sight. So it was. That was just an ex, you know, there. So there were no executives there. The producers didn't come out. You know, one of our producers just came out for a few days and he was like, I'm out. So it was me and this line producer, Jane Bartleme, and we were just all alone on this set on a very, very complicated production because it wasn't a bubble set. We had hundreds of principals, thousands of extras. So it was a very intense, very intense process as well.

[Will Friedle]

Any chance of going back to comedy?

[Danny Strong]

I try and infuse comedy in some of my dramas. You know, I don't know about doing a straight up comedy. Also. They're tough to get made now. It's a really challenging genre. I mean, Scary Movie had a huge opening weekend, so. And it's doing really well. So maybe, you know, and Judd Apatow is making a big comedy with Gwen Powell right now. So, you know, and I hope that's really successful. So. But comedy has been a tough racket for the last, you know, four or five years. And so you've seen huge comedy figures are just, you know, streaming TV and they're killing it and doing wonderful work. So.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, well, I want. I can't. We can't let this interview go without me mentioning that you collaborated with Lee Daniels again for a little show called Empire, which obviously became a phenomenon. Where did the idea of writing about the music industry come from.

[Will Friedle]

So.

[Danny Strong]

So that came from. I was driving around Los Angeles

[Danielle Fishel]

and

[Danny Strong]

so I was back in la and I was listening to the radio, which I never do in New York, because you don't listen to the radio in New York. You know, you just listen to Spotify. And there was this news piece on the radio about Puffy, Sean Combs closing some huge deal. And I just thought, God, why isn't there some huge piece on hip hop? Hip hop is so dynamic, you know, it's such a fascinating cultural force. And so that's how that started. I'm like, what about. And then I thought, what would I do in. If I were to do a hip hop story? And then, you know, like sort of the recount, you know, anecdote I told you where the idea instantly came to my head. The same thing happened with Empire where I instantly thought, when I asked myself, what would I do? Oh, what about the Line in Winter In a hip hop empire? So the Line of Winter is a play that's also a movie that's about King Henry II and his three sons all battling who's going to take over his empire. And the whole play takes place when his wife that he keeps in prison, Eleanor of Aquitaine, he lets her out for Christmas once a year. Yeah. He was such a good husband. Let's start for Christmas. And she just wrecks havoc. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

As women do.

[Danny Strong]

As women do. Is that one of the. And so literally I thought, oh, what about the wine in Winter In a hip hop empire. Okay, so. And then I just broke it down. I'm like, okay, so let's say you have Jay Z. He's a little older, he has three sons, and his ex wife is in prison for selling drugs. But the drug money is what started the empire. And the movie would open with her getting out of prison. And that was literally what I thought. And then I thought, oh, that's kind of cool. You know? Yeah, I should. I should tell Lee Daniels about this because we were in post on the Butler post production. And all through post production, Lee just kept saying, danny, we're magic together. We're magic.

[Kal Penn]

Let's.

[Danny Strong]

What are we doing next? What are we doing next? And here I had an idea. So I went and I worked out a little bit more. And then I met with him and I pitched him, you know, this idea for a movie. And he called me a week later and he said, I can't stop thinking about it, but what if we did it as a TV show instead? And I said, you're absolutely right because it's about a family at war with itself. Sounds like a TV show to me. And I said, this could be historic. It could be like Black Dynasty. And he started screaming, yes, darling. Black Dynasty, darling. Yes, darling. And so that was the beginning of a. That was the beginning of Empire.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah. And I never, I never thought it would get on the air. You know, the show, the movie, the Butler came out and it was a really big hit and I thought, oh, well, we could probably sell this. But I think this is a real long shot to get on the air because I don't think there had been a mainstream black Soap Opera.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Danny Strong]

1970s.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

You know, so I. So, you know, we just, we just took the project out and then sure enough, it actually came together very quickly and got, you know, it was one of those things where it was the opposite of making the Butler, which took four years. It just, it just happened really fast. And that was one where Lee and I were sort of kindred spirits and that we liked to, you know, entertaining projects that also were infused with social issues that had something to say. And so Empire, particularly season one, was all about homophobia. It was all about mental illness. There were so many elements of the story that were really provocative subject matter for a broadcast soap opera. And we just leaned into it and I think it really elevated the show. I think it's partly what made the show entertaining because we had this bombastic hip hop musical. But also that was really in your face and social issues and it added this sort of base of drama to it that I think, you know, just elevated the whole, the whole thing.

[Will Friedle]

It's summer vacation. And by vacation, I mean I'll be barbecuing until my fingertips are numb and my belly is filled with beef.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, my summer involves a little more relaxing than that.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, I'm relaxed because I'm a Walmart plus member with free same day delivery on groceries, prescriptions and more. That means I can just chill out and more Barbecue time, baby.

[Ryder Strong]

Who knew?

[Will Friedle]

Every Walmart plus member knows it's the secret to bringing vacation back to summer.

[Ryder Strong]

Now, how about you throw a turkey

[Will Friedle]

burger on the grill for me, Ryder, for you, anything.

[Ryder Strong]

Ah, now that's vacation.

[Will Friedle]

Membership pays for itself.

[Ryder Strong]

Join Walmart plus and see the difference.

[Will Friedle]

Subject to availability. $35 minimum restrictions apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

Guys, summer is here and I'm throwing parties.

[Ryder Strong]

You are?

[Will Friedle]

Like, voluntarily?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I want to give off that party at my place energy with my barbecues and my kids friends in the pool.

[Will Friedle]

Well, then might I suggest Lowe's for their incredible July 4th deals.

[Ryder Strong]

You can save up to 45% off

[Will Friedle]

select major appliances with an additional 25% off when bundling.

[Ryder Strong]

Select major appliances and save $80 on a select Char Broil Performance Series gas grill. Now just $299.

[Danielle Fishel]

Perfect. I already love these Lowe's July 4th savings because you guys know I have

[Will Friedle]

Hardy at my place. Energy valid through July 8th while supplies last selection varies by location. See Lowes.com for more details.

[Kal Penn]

Hey everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Narrator/Guest Voice]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo. Is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that deeply, emotionally affected me and I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah, dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Will Friedle]

Awkward time to ask this, but. Hey, did you download the trail map?

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, no, I don't need to.

[Will Friedle]

I. I don't understand.

[Danny Strong]

You're trusting your signal out here?

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm trusting T Mobile. They have the best network.

[Danny Strong]

And if we end up in bumtots

[Danielle Fishel]

nowhere, well, we've got T Satellite for backup.

[Danny Strong]

Whoa.

[Will Friedle]

I don't trust my carrier that much.

[Danny Strong]

We'll just use your phone as a flashlight.

[Will Friedle]

With America's best network and T Satellite, we're keeping you connected in places you never thought possible.

[Danny Strong]

And if you switch today, you get free phones for zero down and only 25 bucks a month per line for four lines. Find out more@t mobile.com or visit your local store.

[Advertiser Voice 2]

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[Advertiser Voice]

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[Danielle Fishel]

You are now focused on Broadway and musicals, another medium for you to conquer. What made you look to the stage? I mean, you've mentioned plays, so you've obviously loved it your whole life.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, so I had been. I started as a stage actor, so I had been in 50, you know, plays and musicals. And what's impressive about all the musicals I've been in is I have a terrible singing voice. A disaster. I can dance a little bit. I'm what you call who moves, you know. So I was. Although now I can't do any of the above. But so I, but I just. So I love theater. I mean, that was sort of that. That's how I, I, that's where it all started for me. So when I moved to New York, I wanted to see if I could get into the theater community and write a stage musical. And I was. So it was something I was actively pursuing when I moved to New York. And then a friend of mine who was a composer, lyricist, he was a songwriter, he said, I have this idea about a musical about Galileo. And I knew a bit about Galileo because I'd looked into doing a movie about Galileo. And I instantly thought, when he said, I want to do a musical about Galileo, I just thought, well, that's a great idea. It should be a musical. It shouldn't be a movie. And I said, well, can I write it? And he went, oh, you. You want to write it? And I said, yeah. I said, I haven't written a musical before, but I'm such a fan of the genre and I've been in several. I think I might be able to do it. And he said, okay. And that was 14 years ago, and it's going to Broadway this November.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Danny Strong]

14 years to get Galileo to Broadway.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, my God.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Danny Strong]

So please, anyone listening or watching, please go see Galileo.

[Danielle Fishel]

Galileo on Broadway.

[Danny Strong]

It's just called Galileo.

[Ryder Strong]

Galileo. Oh, my God. That's so.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah. And the music's great. It's sort of a rock score, but not purely a rock score. And it's a powerful show because it's a powerful story. I mean, the story of Galileo is a really epic, powerful tale.

[Will Friedle]

Well, you said you couldn't sing, but were you a musician at all? Do you play instruments?

[Advertiser Voice 2]

Do you?

[Danny Strong]

But I'm an anti musician. I have no musical ability whatsoever. When I was in musicals, I couldn't stay on pitch unless they plunked out my melody.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

In the song. And even then, I could barely stay on pitch. You know, I just had no feel for it. And then I took singing lessons for two years because I was so into it, and. And just, you know, you gotta. At certain point. You know what? I don't think I'm gonna play for the NBA.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Danny Strong]

I don't think. I don't think I got it right. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, you have entered such a cool phase of your career where you've been very successful in a lot of different fields and genres, and now you have complete control to pick and choose what comes next. So what is left? Is there anything haunting you that you still want to get done?

[Danny Strong]

Just this podcast.

[Danielle Fishel]

This one.

[Advertiser Voice 2]

This one.

[Danielle Fishel]

You just want this to be a podcast.

[Will Friedle]

Well, you're welcome.

[Danny Strong]

I'm being haunted. No, this has been awesome, by the way. You know, there's so many. It's kind of an endless list of things. And it's funny because I certainly can kind of pick or choose what I want to write. That doesn't always mean someone's going to buy it, which sometimes they don't. But it does not mean it's going to get made. It is so hard to get anything made except for a few people in the industry. And it's just an uphill battle. But I make it harder for myself by the things that I choose to. To do. You know, I sort of. I've. Because I've gotten, you know, a number of cool things made. I'm sort of now at a point, and there have been times when I've worked on things for the paycheck, right. Where I thought, okay, I'm going to do that one for the money. And I'm really trying to not do that anymore. You know, I feel like I'm getting older and I have less time to spend on. I don't know, you know, maybe I'm being silly about it, but I. But nonetheless, I'm just trying to be more, really more laser focused on trying to do projects that I think I really love that are really ambitious. And so that's what I'm doing. I mean, my. The stuff I'm writing, it's just a great slate of projects. I love them all. I think they're so cool and they're so hard to get made.

[Will Friedle]

Can you tell us about your favorite one? Like the. What's the one that right now, like, you're all you're focused on and it's, man, this. I need to get this, this movie made.

[Danny Strong]

You know, I don't really have a favorite one. I'm just sort of whatever I'm working on that day. I'm writing a movie for Spielberg right now, which I love the project and I love working with Stephen, and so that's exciting. Yeah, that's.

[Danielle Fishel]

Hopefully we'll see that one someday. Hopefully that makes it too.

[Danny Strong]

I wrote a movie for Scorsese a few years ago that was in pre production, and then it didn't go, oh, no. And it was. I mean, we were deep in prep, and all of a sudden it just didn't happen. I mean, that's. That's just how hard this business is, right?

[Ryder Strong]

That's crazy to me. Like, those are the two people that I. When you said, like, there are some people who can just get things made, I'm like, well, those are the two that I would have thought, oh, my God.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah, I mean, I think. I think they can. The reason why. And I'm. I can't go into the details on why the Scorsese movie didn't happen, but it just. It was a real. That was one of the bigger sucker punches I've had in a while, you know, and it's, as we all know, right. It's nothing but disappointment in this business. And that was. That was up there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, that's very high up there. I mean, you're deep in prep.

[Danny Strong]

And Marty called me, you know, and was like, hey, come to my office. And then. And then, you know, he told me he doesn't think it's happening. And I just. Yeah, I just couldn't believe it. Oh, that's so wild. It was a big bummer. But. But an amazing life experience just getting to spend time with these guys.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Danny Strong]

A true, true honor.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, Danny, that's very much how we feel about spending time with you today on this podcast. Thank you so much for taking so much time out of your very busy schedule. Your career and your success is so admirable. And, yeah, thank you for giving us all this education today and telling us about what your life is like.

[Danny Strong]

Oh, my God. It was a pleasure. And by the way, incredibly well researched. You hit all the. All the. All the. All the top ones.

[Danielle Fishel]

We have great producers.

[Danny Strong]

Well, they're very good. They're very good. And congrats again on your huge success of a podcast. And thank you again for being so nice to me when I did Boy Meets World. I mean, that's not a small deal to be an actor on basically your third show ever, and to have the stars of the show be so lovely to you. And, Will, all my scenes were with you. So cool. And I was just like, well, great guy. I just got.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

[Danny Strong]

Absolutely, absolutely. So anytime you want to write, like,

[Will Friedle]

a Spielberg kind of film for me,

[Danny Strong]

we got to do this. Please feel.

[Will Friedle]

Please feel free.

[Danny Strong]

Danny, come to buddy comedy, me and you. I think you should do comedy. I think you should do comedy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Red light district.

[Will Friedle]

Bring comedy back.

[Danny Strong]

I was never there. I was never in the red light district. I don't know what Will is talking

[Danielle Fishel]

about the first time.

[Danny Strong]

He's thinking of Seth Green. That was Seth Green. That wasn't me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you so much, Danny.

[Will Friedle]

Bye.

[Danny Strong]

Oh, my gosh.

[Will Friedle]

Is he the most successful.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Guest star that has ever been on board? Well, I mean, you got Adam Scott.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know.

[Will Friedle]

I mean, there's a lot of. A lot of different people that in their field.

[Ryder Strong]

Spielberg and Marty Scorsese. It's like. And he's like, Stephen and Marty. Stephen, Marty.

[Will Friedle]

Working with.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm like, that's, I think, as good as.

[Danielle Fishel]

On top of that, like, you talk about, you know, he's had that level of success directing. He's had that level of success writing, and he's had that level of success acting.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's like, oh, so you're just the top at everything you do. It's unbelievable. Very cool. Just very cool. What a great conversation. I could literally talk to him.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

For many more hours, learn a lot.

[Will Friedle]

I love that he was. He started just talking to Quentin Tarantino about movies.

[Ryder Strong]

That's amazing.

[Will Friedle]

At nine years old, just gonna sit there and just have conversations with Quentin Tarantino about movies.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love thinking about a kid, a little kid who is like, after school, like, mom, I'm going to the video store. And imagine the mom. Cause he's like, my mom thought it was weird. Imagine if Adler was like, mom, I'm going to the video store because this guy in his mid-20s likes talking to me about movies. I'd be like, okay, I'm gonna go there with you, then I'm gonna be involved in this conversation. Just, I don't know, it's just what a cool.

[Danny Strong]

Cool.

[Ryder Strong]

That's a cool meeting of the minds, right? Like, I mean that, because neither of them were successful at that point, obviously, so they're just like. But clearly there's something there. Like there's some sort of passion for film that they both are exhibiting on at different ages and to connect and it's so cool.

[Danny Strong]

So cool.

[Will Friedle]

Really amazing.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you all for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram Pod meets World show. You can send us your emails. Pod meets worldshowmail.com and we've got merch.

[Will Friedle]

If this woman being one 72 year old heartbeats away from the presidency doesn't make you want to buy merch, it should. Now, most of you won't get that, but that's a line taken directly from Danny Strong. There you go.

[Danny Strong]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Pod meets World show dot com.

[Danny Strong]

What.

[Danielle Fishel]

What line was that? Is that from.

[Will Friedle]

It's from Game Changers. There's.

[Danny Strong]

There's a.

[Will Friedle]

One of the. One of the guys. It's one of the. An actual footage of one of the biggest political analysts at the time saying, if this woman being one 72 year old heartbeat away from presidency doesn't scare you, well, it should. And it's like you remember watching the movie just like, oh my God.

[Danny Strong]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Crazy.

[Danny Strong]

Oh, man.

[Danielle Fishel]

Will send us out.

[Will Friedle]

We love you all. Pod dismissed. Ryder, what's your favorite thing about Summer?

[Ryder Strong]

Well, as you know, we are a big camping family. And even though it's wildly difficult to take a whole family on the road, I absolutely love it.

[Will Friedle]

Well, what if I told you there was a way to manage the chaos?

[Ryder Strong]

Go on.

[Will Friedle]

Every member knows Walmart plus is Summer's greatest shortcut. With free same day delivery on groceries and more, you could save yourself an errand run or a sleepless night under the stars.

[Ryder Strong]

Who knew?

[Will Friedle]

And that's not all, my friend. Walmart plus members also get a choice of Peacock or Paramount plus included at no additional cost.

[Ryder Strong]

Perfect for the kiddos in the backseat just wanting to know when we arrive at the next campsite.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Join Walmart Plus. It's worth it.

[Ryder Strong]

$35 minimum for free delivery. Separate registration required for video streaming. Choice terms apply.

[Danielle Fishel]

One thing I never expected to be passionate about was a toilet.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, we're a big toilet household, it's more important than your bed.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, when I saw the Kohler Smart Toilet collection, it completely changed how I think about using the bathroom.

[Ryder Strong]

The Kohler Vale Smart Toilet especially feels more like a beautifully designed piece of the room than something purely functional. It's sleek, modern, understated, and it really makes you realize how much thoughtful design can transform everyday routines.

[Will Friedle]

Well, that's what I love about Kohler. They've been redefining bathroom design for more than 150 years, and their smart toilets really show how innovation can work in a way that feels elevated, not overdone.

[Danielle Fishel]

A cleaner routine and a cleaner space can just about change everything.

[Ryder Strong]

Experience the difference of Kohler Smart Toilets. Find out [e-mail] this is an ad

[Will Friedle]

for the Active Cash credit card from Wells Fargo.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's a mouthful, but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small.

[Ryder Strong]

So whether it's buying tickets to the game or grabbing a coffee, it earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.

[Will Friedle]

Say it with me. The Active Cash Credit card from Wells Fargo. Be a 2 percenter.

[Danielle Fishel]

Learn more at Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply.

[Danny Strong]

This is Matt Altmix from How to Money and We are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life.

[Will Friedle]

So why wouldn't you compare prices for your next ride share?

[Kal Penn]

Taking a few seconds to check Lyft

[Danny Strong]

can save you real money on your next ride. And I did this last time I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel.

[Will Friedle]

And guess who came out on top?

[Kal Penn]

Lyft.

[Advertiser Voice]

So don't just price check with flights

[Will Friedle]

and phone plans and your groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to

[Danny Strong]

save money every time you ride.

[Kal Penn]

Save money.

[Danny Strong]

Check Lyft

[Kal Penn]

hey everyone, it's Kalpen. I'm inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast, Hearsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. Every episode, I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiobooks available on Audible. It's the book club for your ears. Listen to Earsay, the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Book Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Danny Strong]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.