Glen Merzer Meets World

Summary

Pod Meets World – “Glenn Merzer Meets World”

Host(s): Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, Ryder Strong
Guest: Glenn Merzer (Writer/Producer)
Release Date: May 4, 2026
Podcast: Pod Meets World (iHeartPodcasts)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the brief but memorable tenure of writer, playwright, and activist Glenn Merzer on Boy Meets World. The hosts reconnect with Merzer to revisit legendary set stories (including the infamous “KooKooRoo Chicken” protest), unpack his eclectic Hollywood journey from stand-up to sitcoms, and explore his latest creative projects and advocacy for veganism. Witty, candid, and brimming with behind-the-scenes revelations, the conversation celebrates Merzer’s unique imprint on the Boy Meets World family.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Glenn Merzer’s Unforgettable "Chicken Protest" on Set

[14:07–17:09]

• The episode opens with an origin story behind one of the show’s most talked-about behind-the-scenes moments: Glenn Merzer showing up in a chicken costume to protest the production staff’s lunch spot of choice.

  • Glenn explains:

    “I made a sign at home that said, ‘Chickens are people too.’ And I wore the chicken costume, and I held that sign.” ([15:38])

  • The protest was in response to the Boy Meets World crew’s relentless love of rotisserie chicken from KooKooRoo, which appalled the vegan Merzer.
  • The protest coincided with a taping attended by the CEO of KooKooRoo. Glenn jokes,

    “I have not been on the Christmas list of the CEO of Kukaroo ever since.” ([16:12])

  • The hosts crack up at the story, and Glenn wryly notes his possible blacklisting:

    “All I know is I wasn’t writing for Boy Meets World the next few years.” ([17:07])

---

Life in the Writers Room: Culture, Titles & Departures

[17:19–21:21]

• Glenn reminisces about his short stint on staff (“only there for a half year”), noting:
  • His camaraderie with the two Jeffs (Jeff Mennell and Jeff McCracken) and Howard Busgang.
  • An amusing anecdote about writers’ titles:

    “Writers are fairly intelligent people...so to keep their parents happy, their parents don't want to say, ‘My son is a writer on a TV show.’ My son is supervising producer. So that's what the titles are for. It's for the parents.” ([19:51])

• On being let go mid-season, Merzer recounts confusion with studio feedback about “production side” duties, given they hadn’t yet started taping episodes.

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From Stand-up to Hollywood: Merzer’s Origin Story

[21:21–32:06]

• Glenn charts his path: from emcee at San Francisco open mic nights to an award-winning playwright (twice winning a national student drama prize).

• The pivotal moment: a disappointing but career-launching experience writing (and accidentally mishandling) a script for Facts of Life.

  “I figured, how long could it take to write an outline? A half hour, right?...So I decided I’ll impress them, I’ll write the whole episode...I handed it in...and [they] scowl at me and say, ‘Where’s the story?’” ([26:32])

• He eventually lands an episode of St. Elsewhere thanks to Buffalo’s famous Tom Fontana connection, even though his plot was largely replaced with “a sheep heart transplant.”

  “You didn’t tell me to write sheep. I can write sheep!” ([32:01])

---

Blossom, Parenthood & The Problem of “Low Energy”

[37:05–42:09]

• Glenn’s agent repeatedly told him he was being passed over for jobs for being “too low energy,” even after caffeinating for an interview on a pilot about a woman in a coma.

  “I was too low energy for a coma show!” ([40:57])

• Ultimately, Don Reo of Blossom hired him after Glenn openly acknowledged his “low energy” style, leading to three fruitful years on the show—“the best gig” of his Hollywood run.

---

Glenn’s Boy Meets World Episodes: Memories & (Mostly) Kukaroo

[46:09–52:01]

• Glenn penned three episodes: "Pairing Off," "Wake Up, Little Cory," and "Danger Boy" (S2).
• On being the “sex guy”:

  “Apparently, they went to me as the sex guy. Yeah, you know, when you’re in Hollywood, you get a reputation.” ([48:36])

• He admits to remembering Kukaroo more than story details, prompting much laughter from the hosts.
• Hosts highlight the cultural impact of "Danger Boy" with fans often cosplaying it at live shows.

---

Veganism, Advocacy, and the Genesis of Buddhist Blues

[52:16–58:39]

• Glenn has been a vegetarian since age 17 and a vegan since the Blossom days, inspired in part by family health history.

  “I haven’t had meat for the 50-plus years since.” ([53:16])

• He discusses his indie film Buddhist Blues ([55:14]):
  • “It’s the story of two Jewish cousins in St. Louis in 1998... a family drama, but somehow there’s a little bit of comedy.”
  • The protagonist is a vegan, inspired by the normalization of gay characters leading up to marriage equality:

    “When was the last time you saw a movie and there was a character who was a vegan, and the vegan was just like everybody else?” ([58:13])

• How to watch: Visit buddhistblues.com for release info or to leave an email for updates.

---

Lightning Round: LA’s Best Vegan Food and Favorite Coworkers

[58:45–60:10]

• Glenn gives a shoutout to Sun Cafe and Cafe Gratitude for vegan dining in LA.
• Affirms his culinary vegan triumph:

  “That’s because I turned the world [vegan].” ([59:30])

• On his Boy Meets World legacy:

  “Boy Meets World, better than Facts of Life.” ([60:04])

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I made a sign at home that said, ‘Chickens are people too.’ And I wore the chicken costume, and I held that sign.” – Glenn Merzer ([15:38])
• “So I went to that guy’s office... and I said, 'We’re not in production.'” – Glenn Merzer ([19:23])
• “Writers' titles... It’s for the parents.” – Glenn Merzer ([19:51])
• “I was too low energy for a coma show!” – Glenn Merzer ([40:57])
• “Apparently, they went to me as the sex guy. Yeah, you know, when you’re in Hollywood, you get a reputation.” – Glenn Merzer ([48:36])
• “I remember Kukuroo.” – Glenn Merzer (multiple times)
• “That’s because I turned the world [vegan].” — Glenn Merzer ([59:30])
• “Boy Meets World. Better than Facts of Life.” — Glenn Merzer ([60:04])

---

Important Timestamps

• Chicken costume protest story: [14:07–17:09]
• Writers' titles explained: [19:51]
• From stand-up to Facts of Life: [21:25–27:28]
• Buffalo to St. Elsewhere: [28:09–32:06]
• Low energy saga & Blossom: [37:05–42:09]
• Switching to vegetarian/vegan: [52:16–53:36]
• Buddhist Blues pitch: [55:14–58:39]
• Vegan LA food picks: [58:45–59:49]
• Summary & Farewells: [59:49–60:10]

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Episode Tone & Dynamic

• Witty storytelling: Glenn’s understated humor and self-deprecation dominate the episode, matched by the hosts’ playful banter.
• Nostalgic and candid: The reminiscences are honest, with Merzer both celebrating and poking gentle fun at the industry’s quirks.
• Revelatory for fans: Viewers get a rare sense of writers’ room culture, the politics of TV production, and the persistence required to survive “the revolving door” of sitcom writing.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Glenn Merzer’s legacy on Boy Meets World goes beyond scripts: his principles (and pranks) shaped the set culture and left a mythic mark.
• The episode is a hilarious reminder that “low energy” creatives can still make a huge impact (sometimes dressed as chickens).
• For fans of Hollywood history, vegan advocacy, and underdog success stories, Merzer’s journey is both entertaining and unexpectedly inspiring.

---

For more:

• Glenn Merzer’s film: buddhistblues.com
• For episode recaps and merch: podmeetsworldshow.com

---

Final Word:

“Boy Meets World—better than Facts of Life.” – Glenn Merzer ([60:04])

Transcript

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New customers only. Service renews monthly unless canceled. Credit card required conditions apply to apps HBO Max Basic with ads begins after DIRECTV five day trial. Learn more at directtv.com, restrictions apply.

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[Will Friedle]

Summertime is here and you know what that means.

[Danielle Fishel]

Beach trips?

[Ryder Strong]

Family vacations?

[Will Friedle]

Nope. It means it's time to find your next obsession on Prime Video.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh yes, we do love a good obsession here. Especially when you could talk about for years and suggest to everyone you know.

[Ryder Strong]

Steamy romance, addictive love stories and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

[Danielle Fishel]

Because when a story hits, it really hits off campus.

[Will Friedle]

L the Love hypothesis and much, much more.

[Ryder Strong]

Slow burns, second chances chemistry. You can feel through the screen the

[Danielle Fishel]

type of binge worthy shows and can't miss movies where you're fully invested, staying up all night just to finish it. Just one more Ooh, all Right. One more. You know the feeling.

[Will Friedle]

The kind of stories that pull you in and don't let go in the best way.

[Ryder Strong]

Your next obsession is waiting.

[Danielle Fishel]

Watch only on Prime.

[Ryder Strong]

So I turned a corner with Indy. It's. It's. It's very specific. For the first time, he introduced me to something that I think is culturally so freaking cool and sophisticated. And because, you know, like, you're always introducing stuff to your kid, and Indy's always introducing stuff to me. And most of the time I'm like, yeah, that's cool for a kid. Like, whatever he's into. I'm like, yeah, whatever, or I freaking hate it because it's mind numbing and it's meme culture, which is mostly what he introduces me to, and I can't stand it. But this last week, he was like, will you watch this YouTube show with me? And I'm like, no. I freaking hate YouTube. Like, we have a. We've had a no YouTube rule in our house. I just don't let him go down those rabbit holes. But you can't avoid it. There's just too much of it. So he was like, trust me, I think you're. You know, he kept fighting for this. Alex was out of town. It was just the two of us. So I finally was like, okay, fine, let's watch this thing. He puts on this show called the Amazing Digital Circus. It starts off, it's all CGI animation. It's insanity. It's visually chaotic. It's very hard to keep up with. There's a lot of, like, eyeball stuff, like characters messing with their eyeballs. That makes me very uncomfortable. My skin starts crawling just looking at it. It's super fast. Like. Like a lot of the YouTubey meme culture stuff where it's like, you know, like, characters, and there's like 15 characters introduced right away. I don't know what's happening. It makes me uncomfortable in ways that, like, Ren and Stimpy used to make me uncomfortable. I have come to love this show so much. By the end of the season. There's only been eight episodes. They are now getting a theatrical release. Because it is so.

[Will Friedle]

It's all animated, dude.

[Ryder Strong]

It is. You have to watch the show. This is the most sophisticated, incredible writing I've encountered in so long. And it took, like, by episode three, I was like, actually, Indy, I think this is awesome. And I'm. And he's like, see? And I'm so proud of him for, like, love it because it's actually very adult. It's not a Kid's show. It looks like a kid's show.

[Glenn Mercer]

It's very.

[Ryder Strong]

But it is super dramatic. It is very heavy and psychologically dark.

[Danielle Fishel]

What are. What is it about?

[Ryder Strong]

So it's basically. And this is. This goes back to like, you know, when I tried to show Indy the Matrix, he was like, this is the most boring thing in the world.

[Glenn Mercer]

Like.

[Ryder Strong]

Cause the idea of, like being an avatar, right? The idea of like being inside of a virtual world is so basic for kids now. Like, that's Free Guy, That's Avatar. That's like the Matrix is like, like the idea of you living in a simulation. This takes that to the next level. So it's a character of a human. Presumably you never see them because you're in the.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, it's first person.

[Ryder Strong]

No. Oh, she just shows up as a character with a body that she did not choose. And she is trapped inside a virtual circus where anything's possible. And she's being held captive by an AI. And this AI is this scary looking, crazy character named Kane who is somehow capturing people. The only thing you know is that at one point these people who you very Drips and drabs get their backstory, at some point they put on a virtual headset and they can't take it off.

[Danielle Fishel]

So, you know, but AI, but against their will.

[Ryder Strong]

And they're being held captive by an AI, and I am not. By the. By the third or fourth episode, you will start going like, oh, my God, they have planted seeds. It's written by somebody who is remaining anonymous. It's a woman who goes by Goose Works. It's an Australian show. It is genius. So.

[Will Friedle]

Wait, you didn't answer me. It is. It's all animation.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, cool. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And it's. Dude, it's like. It's like, basically, I haven't. Like, Rick and Morty is like the closest to the sort of self conscious, incredible storytelling that you get from this thing. But it's dark and like, like I said, like, it still doesn't make me super comfortable with some of the animation choices. But it's all in the service of like, I'm just so happy that now Indy's introducing me to stuff. And like, I totally trust his taste now because he was like, insistent. He's, dad, you're going to like this. And I was so happy that I'm like, dude, you're right, I love this. Like, I am so. Yeah. So I feel like we're at that age now where he's going to just be introducing me to stuff and I'M going to like trust him because it's worth it. Like.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

But anyway, check out the show. It's incredible.

[Danielle Fishel]

Digital animal circus.

[Ryder Strong]

No, the Amazing Digital Circus.

[Danielle Fishel]

The Amazing Digital Circus.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. The humor is there. Like it is. It's so funny. It's dark.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is it inappropriate for my 6 year old?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

It's pretty much inappropriate for 11 year olds. It's really like, it looks and feels like some of the best adult cartoons. Right? It looks and feels like a kids show and there's elements of it. Like basically Kane the AI is saying he's trying to keep them entertained by giving them adventures every week. And each adventure is like some crazy out there thing that he's come up with to like keep them occupied and they're just trying to escape the whole time. But man, it is.

[Danielle Fishel]

So he's the one who's entertained.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes. Oh, you guys gotta check it out.

[Will Friedle]

All right, I'm down for that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm Danielle Fishel.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm Ryder Strong.

[Will Friedle]

And I'm Will Friedle. Summertime is here and you know what that means.

[Ryder Strong]

Beach trips, family vacations?

[Will Friedle]

Nope. It means it's time to find your next obsession on Prime Video.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, yes, we do love a good obsession here. Especially when you could talk about for years and suggest to everyone you know,

[Ryder Strong]

steamy romance, addictive love stories and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

[Danielle Fishel]

Because when a story hits, it really hits off campus.

[Will Friedle]

L the Love hypothesis and much, much more.

[Ryder Strong]

Slow burns, second chances chemistry you can feel through the screen the type of

[Danielle Fishel]

binge worthy shows and can't miss movies where you're fully invested, staying up all night just to finish it. Just one more. Oh, all right, one more. You know the feeling.

[Will Friedle]

The kind of stories that pull you in and don't let go in the best way.

[Ryder Strong]

Your next obsession is waiting.

[Danielle Fishel]

Watch only on Prime.

[Will Friedle]

Hey, it's Will Friedle from Pod Meets World. It's hard to believe that the first phone call ever happened over 150 years ago. Just think about that. Over the last hundred and fifty years, so many special moments have happened with a phone call. I think back to the phone call I had to make on Hollywood Boulevard, back to my agents in New York who told me that I booked the role of Eric Matthews on Boy Meets World. And it's one of the greatest phone calls I ever had in my life. I mean, hey, I even remember the phone call with Danielle and Ryder when we decided to start a podcast. That one wasn't as Good. Almost four years later, here we are. And you know, over all these years and phone calls, AT&T has been there connecting people in meaningful ways. This is more than a story of technological innovation. It's a story of human connection.

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Glenn Mercer]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Danielle Fishel]

Over the past three years of the podcast, when booking from Boy Meets World past, we will take guests however they come. There were obviously writers, producers and guest stars that we've kept in touch with. The Blutmans, the McCrackens, the Matt Lawrences, the Deedees. There were those that were just an email away. The David trainors, the Danny McNulties, the Lee Norris's. There were people we personally hunted down. The Dusties, the Julie Yang Silvers, the cow pens. We had people pitch themselves. We hounded publicists. We signed up for LinkedIn for Christ's sakes. But this week we have a new way through the praise of Jeff Mennell. When we asked him the writer he was saddest to see leave through the show's always revolving door. He answered with a name we had never focused on before. Even though we had obviously recapped his episodes by that point, the name just didn't ring a bell. Jeff explained, this guy just never really got a chance to shine on staff. But more importantly, the staunch vegetarian once dressed as a chicken to protest the crew's incessant desire to order Kukaroo for lunch every day.

[Ryder Strong]

What?

[Commercial Announcer]

And.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, then we knew we had to bring him onto Pod Meat's world. He's a playwright, screenwriter, director and author who has written or co written more than a dozen books advocating a diet of whole plant foods. Books like Food is Climate and America Goes Vegan started with just an online guide to vegan restaurants in the late 90s and a website, happycow.com but in Hollywood, he began his career on St. Elsewhere, China beach, and the TV adaptation of Parenthood before landing on Blossom, where he wrote nine episodes and functioned as a supervising producer for seasons two through four. And he recently wrote and directed a movie, Buddhist Blues, which we will hear all about. But today we are forcing him to focus on the one year he worked on Boy Meets World, penning a few bangers, pairing off Wake Up Little Corey and Danger Boy for season two. And yes, also the time he dressed as a chicken to make sure everyone knew how he felt about the constantly devoured rotisserie combo from Kukuroo. Welcome to Pod Meets World, writer, producer and activist, Glenn Merzur.

[Ryder Strong]

Hi, how are you?

[Danielle Fishel]

Good.

[Glenn Mercer]

Do any of you actually remember me?

[Will Friedle]

Yes, I do. Yes, of course. How are you now that we, of course, do.

[Glenn Mercer]

You were kids. Yeah, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So were you.

[Glenn Mercer]

I was in my 30s. You were kids.

[Danielle Fishel]

Glenn, thank you so much for joining us. As you know, our pal Jeff Mannell, name dropped you as the writer he missed the most through the seven seasons we worked on the show and we became instantly intrigued. So we're not going to bury the lead here. We want to see what you remember from the infamous Cuckooroo incident where you dressed as a chicken. My first question is, did you own the chicken outfit or was it a rental?

[Glenn Mercer]

I asked somebody in the costume department to help me out. Yes.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

What did you say? I want to know. I want to know what set this off. What sparked the kernel of an idea in your mind?

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, I am a vegan.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes.

[Glenn Mercer]

And in fact, in the 32 years, I think since I Worked on Boy Meets World. I have turned the world vegan. I don't know if you ever wondered who turned the world vegan. That was me.

[Commercial Announcer]

I was.

[Glenn Mercer]

You okay? Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Congratulations.

[Glenn Mercer]

And so the staff seemed to love the fried chicken from this place called Kukaroo. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, we remember it well.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah. I was appalled. So when they said they're going to have the CEO of Kukaroo come visit and watch the show, I snuck down to the costume department and asked them to help me out, give me a chicken outfit. And I made a sign at home that said, chickens are people, too. And I wore the chicken costume, and I held that sign. And I have not been on the Christmas list of the CEO of Kukaroo ever since.

[Danielle Fishel]

Was that on a tape night or did he come for rehearsal? I don't think we knew the information about the CEO.

[Glenn Mercer]

I'm guessing he came on a tape night. He wanted to see the show.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

How did we not get to know

[Glenn Mercer]

the CEO of Kukaroo? I don't know. You know, when you got a top show in show business, you just meet all kinds of people.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love that. That is the. Our writers were like, which CEO can we get down here?

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, that's the important one.

[Will Friedle]

We want the guy from Cuckoo. Well, he was Gettable. Let's be honest. The CEO of Cuckoo is Gettable.

[Danielle Fishel]

Glenn, did any of the other writers know you were going to do this? Was it a secret you kept?

[Glenn Mercer]

Oh, sure. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, how did it go over? Did it upset anybody, or was it just.

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, I think the Kukaroo guy was upset.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

But that I don't know about anyone else. All I know is I wasn't writing for Boy Meets World the next few years.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

They were like, I can't believe he pissed off the CEO of our favorite lunch place.

[Will Friedle]

And then it chucked him out. And Cooper. And then Cooper left. But I.

[Ryder Strong]

This is. Gets to my. My big question. Like, what was your relationship like with the writers? Like what? Oh, yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

I mean, because I was very fond of the two Jeffs.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, sure.

[Glenn Mercer]

I was very fond of a guy named Howard. Bus gang.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Howard is great.

[Glenn Mercer]

You know, and I thought I got along okay, but, you know, I was only there for a half year, so. Really, was that not with everybody?

[Will Friedle]

Wait, so you were only there for half a season?

[Glenn Mercer]

Only there for half. I wrote three episodes in a half season.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow. Which is actually a lot for only being there for half a. Yeah, I

[Danielle Fishel]

mean, obviously everyone thought you were funny.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Were you originally hired for the full season and Then they just came to

[Glenn Mercer]

you and said, well, now when you get hired in television, you get a deal that says you will, you know, this will be your pay, and the company has the option to pick you up or not at a certain point.

[Will Friedle]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you. So how soon after the Cuckooroo incident were you let go?

[Glenn Mercer]

Oh, that I don't remember. But I do remember this. There was when. When I had written my first couple of episodes, which was during the summer, you know, before you guys came in. The staff was writing, and my agent did what agents do. He called up one of the. One of my bosses and I had a few and said, how's Glenn doing? And the person apparently said, glenn's writing is very good, but he's not doing as much as we would expect on the production side for a supervising producer. So I said to my agent, well, thanks for letting me know. And I went to that guy's office, no names, and I said, I understand that you told my agent that I'm not doing as much on the production side as expected. And he said, yeah. And I said, we're not in production.

[Danielle Fishel]

What do you want from me?

[Glenn Mercer]

So I had a feeling that something was in for me at that point. And so I wasn't. I wasn't too shocked when they let me go at mid season.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Glenn Mercer]

And even when we went into production, was I supposed to hang the lights? I don't know. What, I was supposed to sew the costumes. I don't know. You know they give writers titles.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes, exactly.

[Glenn Mercer]

I was going to say executive producer, supervising producer, producer, co producer. And I'm sure the public wonders, what are all these titles? What does it mean? So let me finally explain it for the listening public. So they know, very often, surprisingly enough, writers are fairly intelligent people. They could have gone out into the real world and gotten real jobs. So to keep their parents happy, their parents don't want to say, my son. My daughter is a writer on a TV show. My son is supervising producer. So that's what the titles are for. It's for the parents.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. And doesn't it also have something to do with the guilds?

[Glenn Mercer]

Maybe, but, you know, there are parents in the guilds.

[Danielle Fishel]

That makes sense. The parents in the guilds. Yeah, you're right.

[Will Friedle]

So you came on in season two. Had you. Were you familiar with Boy Meets World when you got the job?

[Ryder Strong]

Or had you.

[Glenn Mercer]

No.

[Will Friedle]

No. You didn't know the show at all?

[Glenn Mercer]

No, I had written for Blossom, and I guess somebody figured it's A natural segue from Blossom to Boy Meets World.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense.

[Will Friedle]

They're in the same kind of vein. Young family sitcom, teenage or young teenage protagonist. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Danielle Fishel]

But I want to get in a little bit to your origin story, because you actually started in Stand Up.

[Glenn Mercer]

Right, Right, Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, so your first television credits are then St. Elsewhere and China Beach.

[Glenn Mercer]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

Which hardly funny material. Right. How did that come about? How did you go from Stand up to St. Elsewhere?

[Glenn Mercer]

I went from stand up to writing stage plays. I did Stand up in San Francisco. In the heyday of San Francisco, it was Dana Carvey and Robin Williams had just left town and gotten discovered, and it was a Whitney Brown and a lot of great comics. So there were actually three levels of comedians in San Francisco when I was there in the early 80s. There were the headliners, like Dana Carvey. There were the Open, and that was the top level. The. The third level, the bottom level, was the open micrs. And the middle level consisted of me. I emceed the open mics. Okay. That was the middle level of. And once in a while, I would open for somebody like Dana. So I did. I did stand up for about two years in San Francisco, and I could not take the cigarette smoke. You know, in those days, they smoked in the clubs, and I just couldn't take it. So I thought, I'll write plays. And I got a fellowship to Indiana University to be a playwright. And there was something called the American College Theater Festival. I don't know if that probably still exists, where they would send judges around the country to see productions, and then the winning play would go to. In those days, it was called the Kennedy center for the Performing Arts. Sure.

[Will Friedle]

It still is.

[Glenn Mercer]

It didn't have any other presidents on it. So I wrote a play called the Cashier, and it won. And it went to the Kennedy Center. Wow. And I said to myself, what if I switch schools and I go to another school and I do another play and I win again? Then maybe somebody will notice. So I went to the University of Alabama. I wrote a play called Amorphous George, and I entered it in the festival, and I won again.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

Jeez.

[Glenn Mercer]

And it went to the Kennedy center. And I was wrong. Nobody noticed. So. But this time, the prize was not for the best play. It was for the best comedy. And the prize was to go to Hollywood and write the stupidest sitcom. So that's what brought me to Hollywood. I wrote an episode of something called the Facts of Life.

[Will Friedle]

Are you kidding? We take the good we take the bad, we take them all, and then we have the facts of life. Come on.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you meet David Kendall there? He worked on that show, right?

[Glenn Mercer]

I did not meet him there. I don't know if George Clooney was. He was in the cast at one point. He was in the cast when I was there. I didn't know to meet him. You know, I should have been paying attention. So. So I tried to pitch an episode because I was the prize winning writer. They had to give me an episode, but they didn't necessarily have to air it, they just had to pay me for it and get me into the writer's guild. So the problem was the show had been on the air for seven years and they couldn't do sex, drugs or rock and roll. And they had done everything else. So I would pitch ideas and they'd say, no, we did that. No, we did that. I mean, it was much, much easier for Shakespeare to write Hamlet.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Than Giraffe season seven.

[Glenn Mercer]

Blair, get an episode past the staff.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Mercer]

It was just, it was impossible. So finally I came up with an idea and they said yes. And it was around Christmas time of that year. This is sometime in like the mid-80s. And they all had lives, this staff, they had families and they had their job. And I was this prize winning writer who came in and I had nothing to do. So they said, okay, go home during the Christmas break and write an outline and come back. Now, I didn't know that under the rules of the writer's guild, you get paid in three stages. You get paid for the outline, which they call the story, then you get paid for the first draft and then the second draft. Nobody had explained this to me, so they tell me to write the outline. I'd never written an outline before, but I figured, how long could it take to write an outline? A half hour, right?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

So I decided I'll impress them, I'll write the whole episode. I got two weeks off with nothing to do. I'm in la, I don't know anyone, I'll write the episode. So I wrote the 50 page episode, very proudly, typed it up. It was probably typewriter days. Typed it up, handed it in on the first day back, proudly handed in to one of the producers of what was the show called again? Acts of Life. Yeah. And the, the producer looks at it and scowls at me and says, what's this? And I said, it's my episode. And he says, where's the story? Now? This was the stupidest question I'd ever heard in my life. I said, it's in there. Where else is it going to be? And they just paid me off and sent me home.

[Will Friedle]

Did they, did they ever shoot your episode?

[Glenn Mercer]

No, they were annoyed that I had written the episode instead of the outline.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh, my God.

[Glenn Mercer]

So when I. Then I got an agent, I don't know, within a year after that, and I showed him what I wrote and throughout my 10 year writing career in Hollywood, he said, you know, I could end your career anytime I want by distributing your Facts of life at the episode.

[Ryder Strong]

Because it was actually bad is what he was saying.

[Glenn Mercer]

It was terrible, I'm sure, but I thought terrible was the idea. It was the Facts of Life. What did I know?

[Danielle Fishel]

So how do you end up on St. Elsewhere?

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, I wasn't on the staff of St. Elsewhere. I got an episode and I think just my agent had sent in one of my plays. Yes, I remember now. Yes, there's a story there. Okay, great. Okay, there. One of the.

[Will Friedle]

Just write the story, don't write the whole episode.

[Glenn Mercer]

Glenn. Yeah. One of the producers of Sane Elsewhere was a wonderful guy named Tom Fontana. Now, I had written my play, Amorphous George that had won me the prize that got me the Facts of Life, right? And there was a theater in Buffalo, the Buffalo Stage Theater or something, Arena Stage in Buffalo or something. They had, they had called me up, they were interested, interested in doing my play, Amorphous George. And they said, we want to do a reading of it. Will you come to Buffalo? And this was right before my move to LA to write for television because of the Facts of Life. And I said, well, I'm about to do a trip to la, so just do the reading and I hope you like it. Produce the play. And they said, no, we're not going to do the reading unless you come. You have to be there. And I said, well, when are you going to do this? I had just a narrow window of time to go to Buffalo, come back and then fly to la. So I said, okay, I'll be there. And I said, just for a day or two. And they said, no, for a week. How long are you going to rehearse for a reading? A week? We want to get this reading, right? So I go to Buffalo. And they had the worst actors I've ever dealt with. These were not professional actors. They were. I don't know why it's a professional equity theater, but they had community stage actors ruining my play for a week and listening to these terrible rehearsals. And I just want to go home. But everyone I meet in Buffalo, says, oh, you're moving to la? Call Tom Fontana. I don't know why they all knew this guy, but everyone says, you gotta call Tom Fontana. He's a great guy. So he's in la. Call Tom Fontana. I took a bus from Buffalo back to New York, as I recall. And on the bus, I'm sitting next to a middle aged woman and she starts talking to me and I say, yeah, I'm moving to la. She says, call Tom Fontana. Everybody said, call. So I'm in la. I had screwed up on the Facts of Life, you know, I didn't know anyone, the phone wasn't ringing and I thought, I'll call Tom Fontana.

[Danielle Fishel]

What else do I have to do?

[Glenn Mercer]

So I had a phone number everyone had given me and I get St. Elsewhere, Tom Fontana's office. I said, okay, well, please tell Tom that Glenn called everybody in Buffalo, wants me to speak with him, and he calls me back like on a Sunday morning and talks with me for an hour and says, send in a play. Well, to. Fontana was a playwright working in television and he respected the fact that I was a playwright. When I sent in a play, he read it and he gave me an episode. Wow. Saying elsewhere, bless his heart.

[Will Friedle]

Did you actually go to the set or did you just write it and send it in?

[Glenn Mercer]

I wrote it. I met, in it was Bruce Paltrow's office. He was not there, but the Gwyneth's father's office. And there were two wonderful guys there named John Tinker and Channing Gibson. And they gave me the story. They said, just write these four stories. It's like they gave me the outline. Write these four stories. Just don't integrate them. Just write them one after the other and we'll integrate them for you.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, interesting.

[Glenn Mercer]

So I wrote those four stories and, and handed it in and I came back and they, they gave me notes and I did it again and, and they were apparently very happy with what I wrote. And they went on to recommend me to other. You know, I did a show for David Milch and other people, they recommended me. So that was nice. But then when I tune in, the episode that I wrote, I'm going to see now my episode on television, and I was supposed to like, write a love story between a nurse and a doctor and write about a guy with a heart attack or something. I tune in to see my episode and there's a transplant of a heart from a sheep. And I call up Tinker. I said, you didn't tell me to write sheep. I can write sheep. You didn't want to. Why didn't you tell me to write the sheep? I can write sheep. And he said, you know, I'm sorry, but you know, when we do the whole arc of the storyline for the year, we changed everything and that was that. So they recommended me, but they changed everything and they put in a sheep. Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

Just add sheep.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah. Wow.

[Will Friedle]

Summertime is here. And you know what that means.

[Danielle Fishel]

Beach trips?

[Ryder Strong]

Family vacations?

[Will Friedle]

Nope. It means it's time to find your next obsession on Prime Video.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh yes, we do love a good obsession here. Especially when you could talk about for years and suggest to everyone you know,

[Ryder Strong]

steamy romance, addictive love stories and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

[Danielle Fishel]

Because when a story hits, it really hits off campus.

[Will Friedle]

L the love hypothesis and much, much more.

[Ryder Strong]

Slow burns, second chances chemistry. You can feel through the screen the

[Danielle Fishel]

type of binge worthy shows and can't miss movies where you're fully invested, staying up all night just to finish it. Just one more. Ooh, all right, one more. You know the feeling, the kind of

[Will Friedle]

stories that pull you in and don't let go in the best way.

[Ryder Strong]

Your next obsession is waiting.

[Danielle Fishel]

Watch only on Prime. You know that moment when your kid asks for your phone and you're already bracing yourself for whatever random video they'll disappear into? That's why I started handing them lingokids instead. It's still screen time, but not that kind of screen time. With lingokids, they're actually playing, singing, tapping, exploring stories they're learning without the need to complain about it. And I love that it's colorful, high energy, and designed so kids stay curious instead of just turning into media zombies. They think they're getting a treat, but I know I'm giving them something special built just for them. Lingokids Everything kids love. Download the Lingokids app now on your phone or tablet. It's free.

[Commercial Announcer]

Dry eyes still feel gritty, rough or tired. With mibo, eyes can feel Maibo.

[Glenn Mercer]

Oh yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Meibo Perfluorohexaloctane ophthalmic solution is used to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. It's the only prescription dry eye drop that forms a protective layer for the number one cause too much tear evaporation so eyes can find relief.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's Maipoboo.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Don't use if allergic to meibo. Remove contacts before using and wait at least 30 minutes before putting them back in. Eye redness and blurred vision may occur. For more info, talk to your eye doctor call 1-844-MEIBO yeah or visit meibo.com.

[Ryder Strong]

Alright, important question. If you saw a sandwich on a deli menu called the Feeney, what's on it?

[Danielle Fishel]

Obviously something wise. I'm thinking Dietz and Watson Oven Classic Turkey because it's classic, dependable and it makes you feel like you should have studied harder before lunch.

[Will Friedle]

I'm adding the Black Forest uncured ham smoked the old world way with cracked pepper and sea salt. And when the sandwich arrives, it has to yell Mr. Matthews at the table.

[Danielle Fishel]

And Dietzen Watson does not cut corners. They've been handcrafting premium deli meats and artisan cheeses for over 85, five years. Just like Feeny had been with us since sixth grade.

[Will Friedle]

They're family owned, always doing things the right way, even when it's the hard way.

[Ryder Strong]

They actually sent us some of their stuff. And I've been loving the flavored cheddar cheeses. Real New York state cheddar, small batch, super creamy. It's dangerous how fast it disappears.

[Will Friedle]

In my house, I've been making breakfast with their chicken sausage. No antibiotics ever, no nitrates or nitrites added. It is so good, I'm thinking of opening a diner or something to just eat them there.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's the whole point. They know good taste doesn't need a long list of ingredients, simply made. Simple as that.

[Will Friedle]

Visit dietzenwatson.com the right way to learn more about the Deetz difference.

[Danielle Fishel]

So how long after that, how long do you. Because then you end up on Blossom and that's like, you know, you're kind of living the comedy writer's dream at that point, I would imagine. When do you join Blossom?

[Glenn Mercer]

What happened was after I did, I freelanced for a couple of years. I had one year when I freelanced like eight or ten scripts probably. Now there's nobody in Hollywood who's freelancing eight scripts a year. Because in those days they use freelancers. They don't now. And it was a lot of scripts. But after that I got Parenthood with my friend Ed Begley Jr. Also with Allison Gibson.

[Will Friedle]

We just talked to her about this. So Allison wrote on Parenthood as well. Okay.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah. So I got and Josh, Joss Whedon who went on to do a few other things, one or two. Joss was there. So, yeah, I work with Joss and Allison and a guy named Ty King. So I did Parenthood for a year and then. And Parenthood actually they let go after a half year.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

So then my agent said, oh, you're you're hot. Everybody wants to work with you. We should have no problem. I got so many showrunners interested in hiring you. You'll get a job this year, no problem. And he gets me, like, eight interviews, Interviews with showrunners who were apparently all interested in hiring. And with every showrunner. I went into the interview and I did my best, you know, but I'm not, like a natural high energy guy. And I would come back and call my agent and say, did you speak to the showrunner? And my agent would say, yeah, he said he liked you very much and he likes your writing, but you're too low energy. And my agent told me that eight times in a row.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, geez.

[Glenn Mercer]

The eighth time, he suggested coffee, and he kept telling me I'm too low energy. He said, now eight of them have turned you down for being too low energy. I got one more for you now. Oh, I hope I could remember her name. I don't think I can remember her name, but there was a. A woman who had a pilot, I think it was going to be for cbs. You're going to think I'm making this up. I am not making this up. It was a pilot that had been ordered. I guess, not picked up yet for the season, but it was a pilot that had been ordered about a woman in a coma. I swear. And we were going to somehow see her thoughts, and then the. We would hear the dialogue of the people in the house who were not in a coma.

[Danielle Fishel]

You have the perfect energy for that.

[Glenn Mercer]

I go in for the. Janice Hirsch. Janice. Oh, my God.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay, sure.

[Will Friedle]

Yay.

[Ryder Strong]

Of course.

[Glenn Mercer]

Good writer.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, great writer.

[Glenn Mercer]

So I go in for this meeting with Janice Hirsch, and I had coffee that morning.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Glenn Mercer]

And I'd never had coffee before. And I. I did everything I could, and I went back and I called my agent and I said, what did Janice say? And he said, she says, you're too low energy. Oh, my God. I was too low energy for a coma show. Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

Thank God they didn't ask you to do coke.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah, I was ready to give it up. And then my agent calls and says, all right, I got you one more. Don Rio, who runs Blossom, he's willing to meet you. He hasn't heard yet about your energy. Do what you can.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

So I meet with Don, and I was very tired that morning. I didn't sleep well knowing that I just blown nine interviews in a row, and I'm trying to keep my eyes open. Asking questions about Blossom and answering Don's Questions. Don's a great guy, by the way. And I'm just. I know I'm blowing it. This was my worst interview of all time. And finally I said, don, I'm gonna stop the interview right here. I'm stopping it. I've just blown eight interviews. And I tell him my low energy problem. And I told him I was too low energy for a coma show, and he hired me.

[Ryder Strong]

Amazing.

[Glenn Mercer]

The other eight shows were all off the air within six weeks, and Blossom was three years.

[Will Friedle]

Wow.

[Danielle Fishel]

There you go.

[Will Friedle]

Awesome.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow.

[Ryder Strong]

Too old, too low energy for a coma show.

[Danielle Fishel]

And so how does Boy Meets World enter your life? Did you meet with Bob Tischler? Did you meet with Michael? What was that first intro to Boy Meets World?

[Glenn Mercer]

You know, I don't remember. I don't remember if I had a meeting with Michael or. They just hired me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Glenn Mercer]

I don't remember.

[Danielle Fishel]

What memories do you have from that? That writer's room. Your half a season in the writer's room that don't involve a chicken suit.

[Glenn Mercer]

I remember Howard Bus Gang, who now apparently has a deli.

[Will Friedle]

He does.

[Glenn Mercer]

He does.

[Will Friedle]

He does.

[Danielle Fishel]

In Canada.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, we want to go.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah. And you know, I'm gonna have to talk with him for the first time in 30 years because there's nothing vegan on the menu.

[Will Friedle]

So there's water.

[Glenn Mercer]

I think it has some corned beef flavoring.

[Will Friedle]

Yes.

[Glenn Mercer]

So the staff went. You know, the writing staff went out for lunch, or a group of us did, and we're walking back in. And, you know, people may not realize this, but when you're doing a show at Disney and you're walking back to your office, you're making a left turn at Mickey Mouse Mouse Avenue and a right turn on Donald Duck Lane. And it's very hard to feel like an adult.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

But we go into the office, and let's say it was a group of five of us, and four of us walk in the door and start walking up the stairs to our office. And Howard, busking, just stays in the lobby. And he's staring at a photograph. And I said, howard, come on, we gotta work. And he's just staring at a photograph, saying, this is wrong. This is wrong. So I go over to him. It's a photograph of Walt Disney. And I say, what's wrong? He says, oh, this is wrong. What? What's wrong? He says, somebody drew a Hitler mustache on him. And I say, howard, that's Walt Disney's mustache. No, that's Adolph's mustache. No, Howard, that's Walt Disney. Oh, My gosh. Oh, my God. All right,

[Danielle Fishel]

are you the first person to compare Walt Disney and.

[Glenn Mercer]

Unfortunately, no, it's Howard Busket.

[Ryder Strong]

He's just relaying the story.

[Glenn Mercer]

Oh, God.

[Ryder Strong]

Did you.

[Will Friedle]

So question. Did you like working on Boy Meets World? Did you like the show when you were there? Or was this kind of like. Oh, my God, it's like Facts of Life again.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah, well, it was better than Facts of Life. Okay, look, I was lucky. I was getting overpaid to write a sitcom.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Glenn Mercer]

Would I have stayed home and watched the show? Honestly, no. I didn't watch a lot of television. And, you know, it was a show for teenagers.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Glenn Mercer]

You know, so. But it was, you know, it was a pleasant enough environment. And I like some people on the staff. And, you know, I didn't hang out with the actors, so I didn't know any of you guys.

[Danielle Fishel]

I hope we can use your quote, boy Meets World, better than Facts of Life in our upcoming book.

[Will Friedle]

And I also like. I like some people on the staff.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, they were pleasant enough.

[Will Friedle]

This is a glowing review from Glenn Mercer.

[Glenn Mercer]

Thank you very much.

[Ryder Strong]

It's that infamous low energy.

[Glenn Mercer]

It is.

[Ryder Strong]

It is Glenn Mercer energy that we're getting. Guys,

[Danielle Fishel]

your first episode is Pairing off, which is an investigation of sorts into young hormones. And it includes our own Will Friedel here getting to second base with Marguerite Moreau in his. Is the Matthew's parents bedroom.

[Glenn Mercer]

You're kidding me. I wrote that.

[Will Friedle]

You did.

[Glenn Mercer]

Wow.

[Ryder Strong]

Or maybe you were told to write that and you wrote the outline.

[Glenn Mercer]

That's what it was. Yeah. I thought I wrote episodes about humanity's search for meaning in the existential void.

[Danielle Fishel]

No, that was later. When you got the world to be vegan.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, that was Facts of Life that was missing.

[Ryder Strong]

Maybe.

[Glenn Mercer]

That was.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah, Girls, girls, girls.

[Will Friedle]

That's what I was exactly.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you remember that story coming together at all or any memories from set that week?

[Glenn Mercer]

I remember Kukuroo.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, okay. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

That's what everybody remembers after that.

[Glenn Mercer]

I haven't remembered anything.

[Will Friedle]

Wow, man.

[Danielle Fishel]

So that episode was written alongside, apparently your biggest fan, Jeff Minnell. Had you known him before you guys were paired up on script?

[Glenn Mercer]

No.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Now, curiously, so we. The show had a big shift between season one and season two. So for us, because they were, we've been told, trying to age up the show, we got rid of one of the characters who they thought was too young, and they're, you know, clearly, in pairing off, trying to show that Eric is. Is more of an adult. Were you privy to any of those conversations or Were they, like, don't even. Let's pretend season one never happened for you, Glenn, and we're just moving on from here.

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, I remember being told that they were doing that. I remember being told that they were, you know, trying to make the show less of a little kids show. Right.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Glenn Mercer]

That's all I learned.

[Danielle Fishel]

So then your next script is Wake Up, Little Cory, an episode we love where Cory and Topanga fall asleep while working on a project so the entire school thinks that they slept together again. You did this episode with Minnell, and this one is nuanced and funny and a larger establishment for what the show thinks of love. Do you have any memory of writing that script?

[Glenn Mercer]

I remember Cookaroo.

[Ryder Strong]

Lots of kukaroo that week.

[Will Friedle]

Well, it seems like, you know, if there's anything that has to involve sex, you're the guy.

[Glenn Mercer]

Apparently. They went to me as the sex guy. Yeah. You know, when you're in Hollywood, you get a reputation.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, right.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly.

[Danielle Fishel]

Can't break out of it.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly.

[Danielle Fishel]

Pigeonhole.

[Ryder Strong]

You know, as long as it's.

[Will Friedle]

That's not one of your lovers saying, you know, very low energy, Glenn. Very low energy.

[Ryder Strong]

Have you tried coffee?

[Glenn Mercer]

Have you tried coffee? You know, actually, can I tell you about coffee, Please? I had never. I never drank coffee as a kid because I was a kid.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, okay. That. Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

So I go to visit my college where I was going to go to college school called New College in Sarasota, Florida. So I visit there when I was 17 to check it out, to see if I want to go there. And they tell me there's going to be a coffee clatch at the home of Professor Bates. You could meet the students and the professor. So I thought, I'll go. I'll be with the adults. So I go there and. And Professor Bates says across the room, glenn, would you like. Do you like coffee? And I say, I don't know. So she says, would you like to try a cup? So I say, sure. I'm going to be a grown up now. So they give me a cup of coffee, and it tasted like mud. It was the worst thing I ever tasted in my. I couldn't get through the cup. Right. So I just never drank coffee again until my agent made me do it one. Yeah. So 20 years later, I go back to New College to talk at the retirement of my lit professor. And I'm walking around campus, and I meet a young woman. I say, what do you study here? And she says, I study international relations with Professor Bates. And I say, she's still here. How's she doing? She says great. She is great. She's just the. The best professor. But she makes the worst friggin coffee. She turned you off, but I'm grateful.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. You've never had to deal with it. Never had to deal with waking up and the first thing you think about is coffee. That's my life.

[Glenn Mercer]

So now I'm gonna make a prediction. I think Danielle is gonna ask me about the third episode that I don't remember.

[Will Friedle]

Do you remember Kukuroo?

[Glenn Mercer]

I remember Kukur. What's the third episode?

[Danielle Fishel]

It's a classic.

[Glenn Mercer]

It's a classic.

[Danielle Fishel]

Danger Boy.

[Glenn Mercer]

Oh.

[Danielle Fishel]

Has Corey and Mr. Feeny riding a dangerous rollercoaster after being seen as safe and boring. And we have seen dozens of people dress up as the Danger Boy. Cory and Feeny at our live shows. It is a beloved episode. Was it as fun to write as it was?

[Glenn Mercer]

I'm gonna go with yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, good.

[Will Friedle]

Do you remember? So this was also a big week for us on the show because we had the roller coaster built. Ben actually got hurt the first day in the rehearsal in the roller coaster.

[Glenn Mercer]

Somebody got hurt?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, he was. He wasn't strapped in properly. And the thing came to an abrupt stop and there was a board right between his legs and he slid right into the board. It was not pleasant. So no memory of that?

[Glenn Mercer]

No. But you know, I didn't do as much on the production side as I was supposed.

[Ryder Strong]

If you had only been there. Yes, some injuries.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, so let's talk about something else other than Boy Meets World. Have you always been a vegan or.

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, no, I grew up like a normal American eating hamburgers.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Glenn Mercer]

And in my family, everybody was starting to get heart attacks. So at 17, I became a vegetarian. Okay. I had decided to do it first day of summer vacation when I was 17. And so I got up that morning, I had an English muffin with jam for breakfast, and my old buddy Dave called.

[Danielle Fishel]

You remember that, huh?

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah, yeah, I remember that. And my old buddy Dave called and said. And I said, hey, congratulate me, I became a vegetarian. And he said, hey, great, since when? And I said, well, you know, since breakfast. And he laughed at me. And I haven't had meat for the 50 plus years since. So it was a good thing he laughed.

[Ryder Strong]

Wow.

[Will Friedle]

You never once slipped and woke up just covered in cheese sauce with a burger next to you? Never happened.

[Glenn Mercer]

No. Wow. No.

[Ryder Strong]

That's impressive.

[Glenn Mercer]

But at that point, I was just a vegetarian While I was writing Blossom, I went vegan. And I've Been vegan ever since. And I forget what year it was that I turned the whole world vegan.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't forget to.

[Glenn Mercer]

So I have that.

[Will Friedle]

So then you just hunt for sport. Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

No, I don't. Don't get me in trouble. Don't get me in trouble with my people.

[Will Friedle]

What was the favorite show that you ever worked on?

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, the best gig was Blossom. It was three years. Don Rio was a wonderful boss. The show was so well run that one year we had all 22 episodes written the before the actors showed up.

[Ryder Strong]

That's incredible.

[Will Friedle]

Wow.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah. So you could imagine how easy that gig was when then week after week, you just have to do some rewrites and you're not under the pressure to create the episodes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Did that producer and showrunner kind of ruin it for you? Because sometimes, I know we talk about how much we enjoyed being on the set of Boy Meets World to where when we went off to other shows after, it was kind of like. Like you have that expectation. You think everything's going to be like that, and then it's not. I mean, was that the same kind of experience you had?

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, you know, like I say, Don Rio was probably the most efficient showrunner in Hollywood and great guy to work for. And, you know, so that I was very lucky to have that gig. And that was three years. And, you know, it was kind of hard to top a show running that well. Right.

[Will Friedle]

Man, 22 episodes written before the actors ever show up. That's insane.

[Danielle Fishel]

I want to talk to you about Buddhist Blues. This is a movie you wrote and directed. Please tell us all about it.

[Glenn Mercer]

Okay, well, Buddhist Blues, the website is buddhistblues.com it's an indie film, low budget, and it is the story of two Jewish cousins in St. Louis in 1998. Three. And one of them has been estranged from the family, and the other one is trying to get him back into the family. So it's a drama. It's a family drama, but somehow there's a little bit of comedy that comes in here and there. Great.

[Danielle Fishel]

Writing and directing a movie is obviously a big undertaking. Did you enjoy being in charge of everything, handling your own work?

[Glenn Mercer]

Work, yeah. And. And I did a lot of the producing of it, too. So, you know, my wife was the production designer and she painted oil paintings for the background. You could see that at the website of buddhistblues.com and, you know, I did the casting and the staging of it, but it, you know, it was a lot of work and it was. But that's the Kind of work that I'm happy to do. And, you know, I'm pretty proud of it. We don't have any stars in it. All you guys turn me down. I don't know why exactly.

[Will Friedle]

We didn't get calls. Glenn, you used the entire cast of the Buffalo Playhouse. You just put them all in it.

[Danielle Fishel]

So how will people be able to see it?

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, we're going to probably release it one way or another this summer, depending. You know, people are going to be listening to this podcast for decades and maybe centuries to come.

[Danielle Fishel]

They are.

[Will Friedle]

That's the plan.

[Glenn Mercer]

So depending upon when they listen to it, it will either have already been released or if it's. If. If this podcast airs soon and the movie has not yet been released, you could just leave your email address at the website and we will let you know when the movie is released. Perfect.

[Danielle Fishel]

Buddhistblues.com Is there a vegan in the movie?

[Glenn Mercer]

There is. The protagonist is a vegan. Thank you for asking.

[Danielle Fishel]

I love it. I love it.

[Glenn Mercer]

And, you know, there's a point to that, actually, Danielle. And the point is this. We didn't have gay marriage in the country till 2015, and when Barack Obama first ran for president, he didn't announce that he was supporting gay marriage. So what happened in the interim? What happened in the interim was we had TV shows like Ellen and Will and Grace, and the episodes weren't about being gay, but the episodes had gay characters. Gay people are like everybody else.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Glenn Mercer]

And so when was the last time you saw a movie and there was a character who was a vegan, and the vegan was just like everybody else Else?

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Glenn Mercer]

So that's a little. It's not the main point of the movie, but it's a little bit of what I'm trying to do here. Why can't we have a movie with the protagonist who's a vegan?

[Will Friedle]

That's great. And when I go see it in the theater, I'll just stick to popcorn. I won't have a hot dog. How about that?

[Glenn Mercer]

Please, please. No hot dog.

[Ryder Strong]

And no butter. No butter on the popcorn.

[Glenn Mercer]

No butter on the popcorn.

[Will Friedle]

It's not real putter anyway. Put real butter on the popcorn.

[Danielle Fishel]

Glenn, we have one more question for you. Where can we get the best vegan food in la?

[Glenn Mercer]

The Sun Cafe. I think the Sun Cafe is still there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Glenn Mercer]

That was a really good restaurant, the Sun Cafe.

[Danielle Fishel]

What do you like to get there?

[Ryder Strong]

Oh,

[Danielle Fishel]

coffee.

[Glenn Mercer]

And besides coffee,

[Ryder Strong]

I don't.

[Glenn Mercer]

You know, I don't remember. I remember they had some raw dishes that oh, Cafe Gratitude is very good.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, I love Cafe Gratitude.

[Glenn Mercer]

Cafe Gratitude.

[Will Friedle]

We're near a good one in our town too, Danielle. Apparently the vegan joint.

[Danielle Fishel]

The vegan joint is very good. It is, yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

My neighborhood in LA has become all vegan highlands.

[Glenn Mercer]

Vegan. Well, that's because I turned the world.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, you turned the world, so you're the one to blame.

[Glenn Mercer]

Hey, celebrate.

[Danielle Fishel]

Glenn, thank you so much for joining us. We see why you are so beloved by especially Jeff Monnell. But thank you. You have really given us a good laugh this morning.

[Glenn Mercer]

Well, I'm gonna use that blurb beloved by Jeff Manell as long as we can. I can go through life with that

[Will Friedle]

if we can use yours. I got along with some people.

[Ryder Strong]

I liked some people. At least it wasn't Facts of Life.

[Danielle Fishel]

Boy Meets World. Better than Facts of Life.

[Will Friedle]

Facts of Life.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you, Glenn. This was such a joy. We love you. Thank you.

[Glenn Mercer]

Thank you, Danielle Ryder. And bye.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh.

[Will Friedle]

Funny, Hysterical, Hilarious.

[Glenn Mercer]

Yeah, that guy is hysterical. Oh, my gosh.

[Danielle Fishel]

Jensen is writing me off chain going. Do you think he'd be my second dad?

[Will Friedle]

He is so funny, that guy.

[Ryder Strong]

So understated. It's just absolutely.

[Will Friedle]

See why the Boy Meets Worldwide's room in the sitcom world wasn't for him. I can see that a thousand percent.

[Ryder Strong]

Cause all you have to do is pitch yourself like that's the job is like you're having to sell your jokes. And if you don't have that aggressive energy, a lot of people just might not notice.

[Will Friedle]

You know who he reminded me so much of, story wise, and the way he's talking and just himself is Larry David, where it's like he's going to be fired from every show that he's on until he goes, I'm the smartest

[Ryder Strong]

person in the room.

[Will Friedle]

I'm going to go do my own thing. And then he'll blow up. Yeah, exactly. Because he's so. I would kill to see his standup because I bet you I would be laughing hysterically and no one else would get it. And that's like my favorite kind of standup in the world, right? God, that guy was funny.

[Glenn Mercer]

He's funny.

[Danielle Fishel]

So funny. Well, 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 podmeetsworldshowmail.com and we've got merch.

[Will Friedle]

I'm just gonna straight up say it because we have to do a shirt. Boy Meets World.

[Danielle Fishel]

Better than Facts of Life merch podmeetsworldshow.com writer send us out.

[Ryder Strong]

We love you all. Pod Dismissed Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fishel, Wilfred L And Ryder Strong, executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, executive in charge of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Sugbash, producer Matty Moore, engineer and Boy Meets World Superman Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram @odmeatsworldshow or email us at podbeatsworldshowmail.com

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Will Friedle]

Okay, quick question. How long is too long to leave laundry in the washer?

[Danielle Fishel]

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Will Friedle]

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[Danielle Fishel]

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[Will Friedle]

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