Howard Busgang Meets World

Summary

Pod Meets World: Howard Busgang Meets World – Episode Summary

Release Date: March 10, 2025

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Introduction

In this special episode of Pod Meets World, hosted by Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle, and Ryder Strong, the hosts delve deep into the behind-the-scenes magic of the beloved sitcom Boy Meets World. The episode features an exclusive interview with Howard Buskin, one half of the prolific writing duo responsible for shaping some of the show's most memorable episodes. Together, Danielle, Will, Ryder, and Howard reminisce about their experiences, creative processes, and the enduring legacy of Boy Meets World.

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Guest Introduction: Howard Buskin

Howard Buskin joins the podcast as a seasoned writer who, alongside his partner Mark Blutman, contributed significantly to Boy Meets World. Known for his wit and insightful storytelling, Howard provides listeners with an insider's perspective on the show's development and his personal journey in television writing.

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Exploring Howard Buskin’s Journey

Early Career and Transition to Writing

Howard shares his transition from various creative endeavors to television writing. He discusses the challenges and triumphs he faced while adapting his skills to fit the sitcom format of Boy Meets World.

Howard Buskin [10:43]: "When you're on an American sitcom, your life is the show. You really give up your life for the show."

Camaraderie in the Writer's Room

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the camaraderie among the writers and cast members. Howard emphasizes the importance of teamwork and the bonds formed during intense writing and production schedules.

Will Friedle [13:41]: "I was in total awe of the whole thing. And I just loved being in the writer's room. That was my safe space."

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Memorable Episodes and Writing Insights

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Howard reminisces about crafting the episode titled "Who's Afraid of Corey Wolfe?" highlighting the creative brainstorming and execution that made it a standout.

Will Friedle [37:27]: "I remember pitching it. It's the magazine when you got to seas. It's the magazine Chester for People named Chester."

"Band on the Run"

The duo discusses the challenges of writing "Band on the Run," an episode featuring a slew of guest stars and the logistical complexities of shooting on location.

Will Friedle [40:07]: "My memory is really just it's a challenge. And I actually, I hope the episode turned out. I'm not that familiar. I haven't watched it."

"B&B's"

"Breaking up is really, really hard to do," affectionately referred to as "B&B's," is highlighted as one of their favorite scripts. The episode features memorable moments that resonate with fans to this day.

Will Friedle [56:11]: "Now that I've heard the story, it's the B and B's... I already love the setup."

"Happiest Show on Earth"

Shooting at Disney World posed unique challenges, which Howard recalls with a mix of nostalgia and amusement.

Will Friedle [44:20]: "My memory is really just it's a challenge. And I actually, I hope the episode turned out. I'm not that familiar. I haven't watched it."

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Behind-the-Scenes Anecdotes

The Writing Process and Episode Development

Howard provides a glimpse into their writing process, discussing how they often tackled high-concept stories that set Boy Meets World apart from other sitcoms of its time.

Danielle Fishel [48:35]: "You guys really take some big swings. There was never kind of like Cory and Topanga just get into a fight. You have to deal with the consequences."

Interactions with Cast and Crew

The conversation touches on the collaborative environment between writers and actors, highlighting instances where script ideas seamlessly meshed with on-screen performances.

Howard Buskin [65:16]: "Howard Buskin was very unassuming, especially compared to Blutman... I'd love to get up there and have a sandwich at his deli and talk to him."

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Reflections on Legacy and Impact

Enduring Relevance of Boy Meets World

Howard reflects on the show's lasting impact, both personally and culturally. He expresses surprise and gratitude that the series continues to resonate with audiences decades later.

Will Friedle [64:13]: "No, I do not realize at the time, you know, we're making a show. Right. So, but... it's really nice to see that it holds up and it's... it's funny and it's emotional."

Personal Growth and Future Endeavors

The episode concludes with Howard and Will discussing their post-Boy Meets World careers, including ventures like opening a deli and exploring new creative opportunities.

Will Friedle [26:25]: "We opened a place called Buzzies... It's a Montreal Jewish deli on an island with more bears than Jews."

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Notable Quotes

1. Will Friedle [10:43]: "When you're on an American sitcom, your life is the show. You really give up your life for the show."
2. Howard Buskin [37:27]: "It's the magazine Chester for People named Chester."
3. Danielle Fishel [48:35]: "You guys really take some big swings."
4. Will Friedle [56:11]: "It's the B and B's... I already love the setup."
5. Will Friedle [64:13]: "It's really nice to see that it holds up and it's... it's funny and it's emotional."
6. Will Friedle [26:25]: "We opened a place called Buzzies... It's a Montreal Jewish deli on an island with more bears than Jews."

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Conclusion

Howard Busgang Meets World offers fans an intimate look into the creative minds behind some of Boy Meets World's most cherished episodes. Through heartfelt stories and candid reflections, Howard Buskin and Will Friedle illuminate the dedication, humor, and ingenuity that fueled the show's success. This episode serves as a nostalgic tribute, celebrating the enduring friendships and the timeless lessons that continue to inspire new generations of fans.

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Stay Connected

For more insights and behind-the-scenes stories from Boy Meets World, follow Pod Meets World on Instagram at @podmeatsworldshow or reach out via email at podmeatsworldshowmail.com. Don’t forget to check out their exclusive merchandise to celebrate your love for the iconic series.

Transcript

[Danielle Fishel]

For the past 10 years, a lot has come and gone in my life, but one thing that stayed consistent, a Samsung phone. You couldn't get me to change even if you tried. And trust me, many have. And now with my newest phone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra from Samsung, I have a true AI companion, making life easier and more efficient. And for years people have asked how my photos look so good and I can't yell it loud enough. It's because I have a Samsung and with the new 50 megapixel ultra wide lens, it's even better for beautiful scenic views and a little extra room for a few more family members to fit in the frame. You're welcome. Uncle Pete, are you ready to let this mind blowing new phone do more for you? So you can do you Then trust me and get your Galaxy S25 Ultra [e-mail] this segment is brought to you by Samsung. Gentlemen, it's finally happened. My, my manifesting. My, my my Dr. Have, have come true. Well, one of them has come true. As you guys know, we regularly write down lists of things that we love that we would hope to eventually have as a sponsor of our podcast. And one of the things I have written down for two and a half years is something I am a giant fan of, have been an exclusive user of for 10 plus years. And that thing is a Samsung phone.

[Will Friedle]

Wow.

[Ryder Strong]

So it happened. So it's happened. You're excited.

[Danielle Fishel]

Samsung is officially a sponsor come true. Guys, I know my dreams are, you know, my dreams are real manageable. They're not like I'm not asking for.

[Howard Buskin]

In bed by 8:00pm, you know, with.

[Danielle Fishel]

Your Samsung phone scrolling mindlessly while nobody talks to me, just leaving me alone.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh man.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, I'm, I'm really excited about it. I always have just sang the praises of my Samsung phone every time I've ever taken a picture in any setting. Yes, people always say, yeah, it's true, it's true.

[Ryder Strong]

They look great. Yeah, they look great.

[Danielle Fishel]

Photos are incredible. It was my favorite thing that on tour. Two things that would happen that always made me laugh. One is that when we would take photos with people in the meet and greets, we usually get the, you know, someone turns around the photo for us to see, for us to give like photo approval for to make sure that the guest is happy with their picture.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

And every time there was a Samsung photo, Ryder and Will would go, wow, look at that camera. And I'd go, Samsung.

[Will Friedle]

It started with Jensen.

[Howard Buskin]

Actually Jensen was the one because he remember like one of our first Meet and greets. He was taking the photos. I just kept seeing his face go, wow, okay, nice. We're like, what is, what is the deal? What's going on? So he explained it.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

The second thing that happened was one night I said, let's try to get a group selfie of the entire audience and the three of us on stage. And I, we all turned around and I held up my phone and I was able to get every single person in there. And now with the new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is the one I have and I love it, is an updated camera. There's now 50 megapixels. So the detail of a group like ultra wide lens photo is truly remarkable. So anyway, I just.

[Will Friedle]

That's great.

[Ryder Strong]

I remember that night a little differently. I remember you saying, hey, Will, can you take a picture of Ryder and I and the entire audience? But it's nice that you thought I was in that photo as well, so that's really sweet. Hey, can you step back up for sure and just take a picture of Ryder and I and the entire. My friend Ryder and our big audience? That'd be great. Thanks. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

My gosh, Ryder, I also, there's a feature that I think you might appreciate because I appreciate it. They have something called audio Eraser. You can record like say Indy is in a play and you want to record indie in the play, but somebody next to you is playing with their keys or there's a baby crying. There's like six different sounds.

[Howard Buskin]

It like filters them out.

[Danielle Fishel]

They're all on their own channel. You can then select the one you want to erase and it will remove the background noise. So it's actually just the pure audio of indie on stage in the play.

[Ryder Strong]

Pretty crazy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Isn't that crazy?

[Ryder Strong]

That's pretty great.

[Danielle Fishel]

Science, science, science, man. Anyway, I thought you might appreciate that. And from here on out, I would like to be referred to as the Queen of Samsung. Is that a problem?

[Ryder Strong]

How many things can you be queen of at one time is my question.

[Howard Buskin]

Her Highness of Samsung.

[Danielle Fishel]

Welcome to pond meets world. I'm Queen of Samsung.

[Will Friedle]

No, don't do it.

[Howard Buskin]

I'm Rider Strong.

[Ryder Strong]

And I'm Topanga.

[Danielle Fishel]

Audio Eraser is compatible with common video formats. Accessible in gallery. Helps minimize six select sounds. Results vary. Galaxy AI features by Samsung are free through 2025 and require Samsung account login. Get your Galaxy S25 Ultra [e-mail] Anyone who knows me knows I am a Samsung phone. Girly, tried and true over 10 plus years and you could never convince me leave. And now I'm excited to tell you about my newest phone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra from Samsung. Just when I thought they couldn't improve perfection, along came this game changer. It's a true AI companion that can evolve with you shaping to your everyday, making life easier and more efficient. And let's talk pictures. Samsung has always been a step above its competitors and now with the new 50 megapixel ultra wide lens, they've taken it a step further. Perfect for when you need that extra scenic touch or a little more room to get your whole family in the shot. And Audio Eraser with Galaxy AI. With its help you can isolate and reduce unwanted sounds including wind, crowd noise or voices and videos. So if I'm filming my kid at the park and there's a dog barking nearby ruining the shot, I can easily remove it. So instead you'll just hear my child repeatedly asking me for a new toy. You can decide what's better. Are you ready to let this mind blowing new phone do more for you? So you can do you? Then trust me and get your Galaxy S25 Ultra now at samsung.com Audio Eraser is compatible with common video formats, accessible in gallery helps minimize six select sounds. Results vary. Galaxy AI features by Samsung free through 2025 and require Samsung account Login There are very few crew members names we have said more times over the first five seasons of recaps than Mark Blutman and Howard Busking, a writing team who joined the staff for season two in the big April Kelly mixup. This pair traveled to Hollywood from the Great White north and conquered Boy Meets World unlike any writers before them or after 16 episodes, the most from any writer during the run of the show and over only three and a half seasons, is the type of output people fear when they talk about AI. And yet these two humans somehow made it happen and crafted some classic scripts in the process. We've spoken to Blutman on Pod Meets World already, so today we have the honor of completing the one two punch as we finally sit down with the other B in BNB's B and B. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Band on the Run Breaking up is really, really hard to do. What I meant to say this little piggy Happiest show on Earth. Long Walk to Pittsburgh Part 2. And that is only half of the scripts Howard wrote.

[Howard Buskin]

You said who's afraid of Corey Wolf, right?

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh yeah, it says Virginia on my page. Whatever's in front of me.

[Ryder Strong]

Bus Gang.

[Howard Buskin]

He's Pulitzer Prize winning play. Incredibly amazing. Great Film, too.

[Ryder Strong]

Romeo and Juliet. He's got some great stuff.

[Howard Buskin]

The Bible, the Communist Manifesto.

[Ryder Strong]

He's done some great stuff.

[Will Friedle]

By Mao.

[Ryder Strong]

Tse Tung and Howard Bus Gang. That would be a great cover.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, let me do that again.

[Howard Buskin]

I think we got it.

[Will Friedle]

Come on.

[Ryder Strong]

The Art of War.

[Howard Buskin]

The Tao Te Ching.

[Danielle Fishel]

I can say this with all the confidence in the world. Boy Meets World is not the show you love without the contributions of this writer. Welcome to the podcast, one of the two most prolific writers in Boy Meets World history. It's Howard Busking. Yay.

[Will Friedle]

There you are.

[Ryder Strong]

We had you and then we lost you.

[Danielle Fishel]

There you are, Guys, did you see that?

[Will Friedle]

Glasses?

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you see that? He's got the glasses.

[Howard Buskin]

He's got the cool glasses. The peel apart.

[Will Friedle]

I. I am so much cooler now than when you knew me.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow.

[Will Friedle]

I know. We.

[Danielle Fishel]

We have talked about that. This is my. These are my dream. And when I need glasses, that's what I'm doing.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, man, that's something. Our lives are so different than they used to be. When. Now that we were all like, he's got the pull apart glasses.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. So I'm selling these on my website. That's.

[Danielle Fishel]

What are you grab. I'm in. It is such a treat to see you again, Howard. Thank you so much for being here.

[Will Friedle]

Well, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be the 756 guests.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's a very honored position.

[Will Friedle]

I know, I know. Listen, listen. If I was you, I'd be doing the same thing. I wouldn't have had me on for the first six years either. So I totally get it. I think craft service needed to be on first. I get it. Oh, my God.

[Ryder Strong]

We had more interaction with craft service.

[Will Friedle]

I'm with you guys.

[Howard Buskin]

I got to know Craig better. I mean, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

I do. To start with one question, the amount of scripts you wrote, did you sleep at any point between 1994 and 1996?

[Will Friedle]

Well, that's great. It's. It's. First of all, this is. This has been this little journey. Like, being invited on the show has been terrific for me because, to be honest, I don't really live in the. Like, I don't visit the past that often. I live in the immediate future. Like 10 minutes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. It's great.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. So I. I've gotten to. I didn't even realize how many we did. Like, I had no idea until I kind of looked it up and I listed all the shows. I watched a bunch of the shows, and I'm not going to lie. I Became very impressed with myself. Yes. I was. I was like, really, like. I, you know, I just didn't know that the output. I didn't realize how much output we did.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And I'm going, this is funny. This is great.

[Howard Buskin]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. Unbelievable. More than any other writers on. On Boy Meets world history. Like 16 episodes in only three and a half seasons.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. We were cut short in the. In the. In the youth of our life. At the knees. No, it's. I. I'm so proud of it. And again, watching it again and seeing that it holds up and it's. It's funny and it's emotional. All the things I'm sure you've talked about with the previous 746 guests.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, we've talked about all those things.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, all those things.

[Danielle Fishel]

So you don't need to cover those again.

[Will Friedle]

No, I don't.

[Howard Buskin]

Great avenue.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you so much for being here.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. We did a deep dive of all your episodes with the craft service guy.

[Howard Buskin]

So we already covered.

[Ryder Strong]

We really covered. It was great.

[Danielle Fishel]

So I did ask if you slept at all. But on a more serious note, did you have much of a personal life during those seasons of Boy Meets World, or were you just in the room all the time?

[Will Friedle]

You know, when you're on an American sitcom. Because I worked a lot in Canada after that. But when you're on American sitcom, your life is the show.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

You really give up your life for the show. And I think. And for me, what made it really wonderful was the camaraderie. I mean, you say, you know, in the room and with these. These. These fellow writers and. And everyone on the show, many of which are still in my life. Right. Yeah. We used to say. Matt Nelson used to say, you know, every day we go to war, and if we only get. We. We're in a minefield, and if we only get our leg blown up. Up, it's been a great day. So, you know, and you're making a sitcom. Right. You're making a sit. But. But you. You know what it's like to make it stressful. There's a lot of. A lot of moving parts. So the fact that we bonded as a. As a group and as a team and we stayed friends, I think what makes the it extra special for me, you know? Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, I have to ask, as a. As a. A television aficionado and sitcom fan, how does that differ from a Canadian sitcom? Is a Canadian sitcom just much more polite?

[Will Friedle]

Much more polite. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

You can't write.

[Will Friedle]

We have no conflict. So how was your Day. Wonderful.

[Ryder Strong]

And they should walk in if anyone disagrees or.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, is it.

[Will Friedle]

That.

[Ryder Strong]

Is an American sitcom that different from a Canadian sitcom?

[Will Friedle]

Well, you know, here's the. Yes. The Canadian sitcom is more like the British sitcom system. You know, you do eight. Right. You know, you have five writers, that kind of thing. And you have 14 to make the show, so.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

And it's Canadian dollars.

[Will Friedle]

So that's Canadian dollars.

[Ryder Strong]

That maple syrup thing is real. I'm sorry. For the 20 bill. That is a real thing. So do you guys know about this?

[Danielle Fishel]

No.

[Ryder Strong]

The Canadian maple. The Canadian 20 bill smells like maple syrup. And there's a.

[Will Friedle]

There.

[Ryder Strong]

People are saying, oh, that's, that's not true. Or it wasn't done on purpose. It absolutely smells like maple syrup.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. I'm not here to disagree with you.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. Because I'm Canadian. Because I'm Canadian.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, let's start with your origins back in Canada. Most of your early work on TV was actually in front of the camera. Is that true?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I was a. I was a stand up for about 20 years, so I did that. I never had a job. I mean, that was in, in college. I started doing stand up and started in Montreal, moved to Toronto and actually in Montreal is where I met Mark Blepman, who became my writing partner.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And moved to Toronto. You know, I had a very, a very respectable career, I'm gonna say. And that's what brought me to Los Angeles to be a sick. To be a comic.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Yeah. And I, I did that. I love that. But it was one of those things where at the time, even then, I'm like an old Jew. I was like, already at 20, I'm going, I don't want to do this when I'm 40 already. I couldn't. It was already too much.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Was this the eight? Was this the eighties? I'm just curious, is this the eighties in la? Like, that's that whole kind of stand up scene.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, Yeah. I moved in 88 to Los Angeles.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Howard Buskin]

Wow. Could you describe what your character was or what your angle? Did you have like an approach or was it just kind of you being you as a standup?

[Will Friedle]

Is this not good enough?

[Howard Buskin]

It might be.

[Will Friedle]

Is this not. I feel like.

[Howard Buskin]

Well, I know Blutman had like a wrestling going and like. So I'm very curious how you got like where you were coming from, because I can't imagine you being in a wrestling mask or anything of that ilk, so.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, no, but there is, there is A. There was a moment when he was first doing the wrestling thing, and I thought, oh, it would be fun. I'll play the manager. And I, you know, whatever a manager wears, you know, a bad suit and a big gold chain with a. Probably a high on it, you know, something like. And somebody gave me a cigar, and I, he put the cigar in my mouth. I didn't know you're not supposed to inhale cigars.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, Jesus.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. No, you know where this is going. So I, I, I was inhaling the scar and I passed out. So that was, that was my manager role. That was it. No, I, I did not. I was the, I was the. I'm the lonely Jew, I guess, as well.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, that was good.

[Danielle Fishel]

So you co created We Don't Knock, which is a prank show for the cbc. And Canadians are known, as we talked about, for being wildly polite. So I need to know two things. One, what is the craziest prank that you pulled off? And did everyone just say, sorry, sorry, sorry, once the cameras were revealed?

[Will Friedle]

Okay, no, that's great question. So two things. First of all, it was an incredibly critically acclaimed show for its time, and it was a precursor to kind of, you know, kind of these, yeah, these barge. And shows that came later.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

But it was two things that happened. One thing was it got, it was incredibly acclaimed, but it also got pulled off because CBC didn't like the fact that we were barging in homes, even though the name of the show was We Don't Knock.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. So they didn't quite get that. But we did the title, guys. Wow. The best one, which was actually the most heartfelt. I went to a high school reunion in somewhere in Manitoba, and everybody who is like their 60th reunion, and they were all, you know, 80 years old, 70 years old, and I was 30 years old, and I walked in and I pretended to be one of the people who was Reunion.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, that's kind of great.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, God, that is so sweet. You know? Bob, how are you? It's been so long. My God. Is this Irma you guys were dating? This is beautiful.

[Howard Buskin]

Oh, my God. Did you do research ahead of time so you would know, like, how, who they were and how they were related?

[Will Friedle]

No, unlike you, I'm not professional. So I did not do research. I just went. And they had name tags, so that helped. It was just, it was beautiful. So that was probably my, you know, that was kind of a special moment that.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, that's.

[Will Friedle]

We all posed for a class photo at the end. Oh, my gosh. It was really.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did anyone say to you, you look amazing, or did anyone say, I don't remember you?

[Will Friedle]

Sadly, I think they thought I fit in, so. I don't know. I told you, I'm an old one of those faces. Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, my gosh. So you mentioned that at 20, being a comic just felt already like, I don't want to be doing this when I'm 40. When did writing become your goal?

[Will Friedle]

We. We. I, I went to do a, A showcase, a stand up showcase at the Laugh Factory, and it was a good showcase, but Navy's executive saw it and said, you know, this guy would make a good writer. Wow. I didn't, you know, I didn't know that. You know, I didn't know how to be writer. I knew how to write jokes, but I wrote a quickly. I wrote a script for an episode of Coach. I don't know if you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes. I loved that show.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was a fun show to write, but, you know, not knowing how to be a writer, I probably wrote it in six hours. You know, like, you don't. Well, you just start going, oh, my God, this is the funniest thing ever. And abc, you know, whatever, they, it was fine. But actually, Mark read it, Mark Blutman, and he said, this is, this is really good. Why don't we write together? And that's what got us on track to writing. We. We then somehow got on a show called Good Advice with Shelley Long, which was her first show after Cheers.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

And we got on that show, which was amazing for me, it was. I mean, this was a dream come true. A Canadian guy. You're on a sitcom in la. At the time, I only had one car, which my wife and I split. So I had to take the bus down Ventura Boulevard to where Mark would pick me up and take me down to the studio in Culver City. I was probably the only sitcom writer on a bus in la.

[Howard Buskin]

Amazing.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wow. Mark wouldn't come pick you up?

[Will Friedle]

No, he would not. Okay, that's nice. Which is probably the reason we still don't write. Okay. We don't write. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

I, I, again, I have to ask, as, as the television guy. So there's famous stories, obviously, about Shelley Long leaving Cheers, how she left everything behind her leaving. What was it like working with her on her first show after leaving a show like Cheers?

[Will Friedle]

Okay. So in 12 months, we did nine episodes. Oh, okay. They fired everybody. Several times. They kept us because we were too. We would. Didn't cost them anything. They called us the Cockroaches.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh.

[Howard Buskin]

Oh, my God. To your face.

[Will Friedle]

No, no. But they didn't call us to our face. But it was. We had. We had a. You know, we had an office. I can't believe I'm talking about this. We had an office with an adjoining room next to whoever was the executive producer. And we. Okay, this. I shouldn't. This is horrible.

[Howard Buskin]

Oh, please.

[Will Friedle]

No, he would kind of lie on the floor under the crack and listen to what was going on so we could hear them talking about us, you know, Cockroaches. But the thing is, they were all fired and we stained.

[Howard Buskin]

Yeah, cockroaches.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. They don't die. They don't die.

[Howard Buskin]

They're always there and they're low to the ground.

[Ryder Strong]

So that was an experience. The Shelley Long show.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. We stayed on that show, you know, the whole time, even when they were.

[Danielle Fishel]

Off the whole nine episodes.

[Will Friedle]

It's funny, the one time we went out, like, somebody said, why are you staying in your office? No one's there. Go out. We went to a. Like, we went to a movie in Santa Monica, and I think at the movie, we ran into the casting director. What? Why? What are you guys doing here? You should be at. You know, I don't know what the casting director was doing. Yeah, exactly. So that was our first experience. And then we went and did a show in Canada for a year, and then we got. We. We got a call from Michael Jacobs and met him and. And he seemed somewhat impressed. He clearly had very low standards, and he brought us in.

[Howard Buskin]

So what was the connection to Michael? Was it just an agent or a manager call, or was there some.

[Will Friedle]

I think. I don't know. Mark would. Mark. Mark would know better. He's our. He's our. He's the historian. He's the. The historian of the show.

[Ryder Strong]

He lives 10 minutes in the past.

[Will Friedle]

He lives 10 minutes.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, right, exactly.

[Will Friedle]

Nice callback.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, yeah, thank you.

[Danielle Fishel]

He's the king of them.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he. He knew someone at. At. At Sony, and. And we. We had the meeting and. And Michael was impressed somehow and brought us on, and we came in. In season two. Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

I'm assuming you didn't tell him the story about being called the cockroaches at your previous job. No.

[Will Friedle]

I'd like no one to speak of this anymore.

[Danielle Fishel]

Sorry, we'll drop now.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

Now, if. If memory serves, Mark told us that you were actually asked to be on season one of Boy, but decided against it because you thought it was too young a show. Am I. Am I misremembering? That.

[Will Friedle]

I don't think you're misremembering it, because I listen to that podcast. I miss. I do not. I'm not. I don't want to be contradictory, but I do not remember that. Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

I do not. Perhaps he was offered the show, so he kindly turned down because he was waiting for me to show up.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right. He wanted to be a partner with you first.

[Will Friedle]

That's a nice thing. That's totally.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay. So what then? When you get your start with Boy Meets World in season two, Michael hires you. First of all, what was that meeting like? Michael seemed impressed with you. What else do you remember from the meeting? Was it a. Did it feel positive?

[Will Friedle]

It was very positive. In fact, I think again, I think I brought my daughter at the time, who was like 5 years old, to the meeting because I didn't have a babysitter. I don't know. My wife wasn't. I don't know. She didn't want a babysitter. I don't remember. But I brought her. And I think Bonnie, who was working outside, watched Alexandra for the meeting. But we went in the meeting. It was. Bob Young was there. Michael was there. And I remember the one thing I remember, he said, you guys are very facile.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh.

[Will Friedle]

And I remember thinking, what is facile?

[Ryder Strong]

Click.

[Danielle Fishel]

Give me a dictionary.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, give me a dictionary. But you don't want to say when.

[Howard Buskin]

You couldn't just do it.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. When you're going for a writing job, you don't really want to say what. Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't know what that means. Explain fast, sir. Are lugubrious.

[Will Friedle]

And. No, it was. No, in so many respects. I mean, it was obviously a dream come true, and it remains to this day. Which. Which. A dream come true. Which I can. You know, it's coming back into my life in many ways because of what I'm doing now. And. And. And the. The people. Should I just jump in to tell you why it's come into my life?

[Ryder Strong]

Yes, please.

[Danielle Fishel]

Sure.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, okay. Okay. So, you know, I'm. I'm. I. Eight years ago, I moved away from Los Angeles. So I moved to a small island in British.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Called Salt Spring. And I still write. And my wife and I were looking around. We didn't really have a plan. And we saw a little shop that was available for a tiny little place, and she said, why don't we open a little deli here? And if it doesn't work, he'll have a office to write in. So we opened a place called Buzzies oh, my gosh. So it's a Montreal Jewish deli on an island with more bears than Jews.

[Howard Buskin]

Yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

How's it going?

[Will Friedle]

No, it's. Truly, I'm blessed. I'm blessed because we've become this destination because people go, what? Like, they. They just cannot believe we're here.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

You know, we do. I'm probably one of the few restaurateurs who had their menu punched up. I had writers come in. We punched up the menu. Yeah, yeah. You know, I have sandwiches.

[Ryder Strong]

Can we beat roast beef? Can we eat roast beef if we try?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. You know, we have sandwiches. Like, we. You know, we. I make my own Montreal Smok meat, which is a version of pastrami. It's. So our sandwiches, you know, we have the hungry Jew. We have the. The. The root. The. The Reuben is called the Rabinowitz. So. But. But here's the beautiful thing about it. I have. You know, it's a good place to put stuff that my wife doesn't want in the house. So I have Boy Meets World signs a few things over, and this is what. Amazing. What's just.

[Ryder Strong]

Just.

[Will Friedle]

It's a beautiful thing. I cannot believe how many people come in and they look around, they look at the sign, they go, boy Meets World. What. What did you do? And I. You're working on the show. And they tell me this was not only their favorite show. They tell me how important it was to them growing up.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

You know, I mean, this. No, this happens every day. Like, it's truly. I didn't realize at the time, you know, we're making a show. Right.

[Howard Buskin]

None of us did.

[Will Friedle]

No.

[Danielle Fishel]

None of us did.

[Will Friedle]

No. So.

[Danielle Fishel]

But we know you're telling the truth because we experience it every day as well.

[Will Friedle]

Every day. Right. And it's just beautiful. And I had. One of my favorite lines from the show is that I. I put in every script I've ever written, ever was. Matt wrote a line called. Which, you know, I'm sure Life's tough. Wear a helmet.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Which I love. And I would put that. I would. With his permission, Matt, the writer, I would put. I'd say, I got to put this line in a show. So I had someone bring me in a poster they made that said, life's tough. Wear Life's tough. Eat a latke. Yeah, I have that at the shop. Somebody. I'm sure you get this. Also, somebody just texted me a picture of them and their cat, George Feeny.

[Howard Buskin]

Oh, my gosh, that's great. I love that.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

We got A lot of dogs named Topanga. We got a lot of babies named Topanga. Cats named Feeny. We hear some strange stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So it's, it's, it's a gift that just keeps on giving. It's really tr. So kudos to all of us. Little pat on the back, right?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes, absolutely. That's so great. Well, I, you know, we need to plan a trip to go visit you.

[Ryder Strong]

Hell yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

A modern day. Well, the Reuben.

[Ryder Strong]

The Reuben sandwich is my favorite sandwich ever. Look at that.

[Danielle Fishel]

Fuzzy.

[Ryder Strong]

I gotta try your rubber Ruben, because.

[Howard Buskin]

I thought it was clutching pickles.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is that what you see the picture again? It is, it is, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

He's got a tiny, he's got a tiny little yarmulke on the top, just.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, I see that.

[Will Friedle]

I, you know, we still live on an island. I didn't want them to row me out and throw me off the island.

[Ryder Strong]

So how far are you from Vancouver Island?

[Will Friedle]

We're an hour and a half by ferry from Vancouver and 30 minutes from Victoria.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, you're on an island, right?

[Ryder Strong]

We're on an island.

[Will Friedle]

Salt Lake Island. And you can find us at Buzzies Ca.

[Danielle Fishel]

Okay, that's all I have, Buzzies Ca. Okay, great.

[Ryder Strong]

I can't wait to go.

[Danielle Fishel]

So when you start on Boy Meets World in season two, did you catch up by watching season one? And if so, what were your thoughts of the first season?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, no, of course we watched the show and I think Mark talked about this for us and this sounds terrible. Time. It felt younger than what we were used to writing.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, it felt younger and I feel like part of our job and I think he may have talked about it, was to, I don't know, words, age up the show. I don't know if I like that word. But I will say, watching the episodes of season two now, like watching what we did, I, I, I, the, the, the, it didn't feel young to me. Like it felt the time, the character, everything felt right for the time and the place. So, you know, I don't know if we're there to, I hate to say the word be funny, but I, I, I, listen, I was watching it detached, but as a fan now, and I, I, I just got a big kick out of it. Yeah, I can't wait to show my kids who have not watched my career. So, kids, if you're listening, it's hurtful.

[Danielle Fishel]

It's time. It's time.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

You can also find your dad at Buzzies Ca.

[Howard Buskin]

Please call, please call.

[Will Friedle]

Well, we always need someone on the meat slicer. So, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Are you kidding? You put me in a deli. I am all. I've. My life, I've all. I want a sandwich named after me. Eventually I want one that's.

[Will Friedle]

That.

[Ryder Strong]

That lasts, that's named after me. The Friedel. The Friedel, whatever. The Wilfred something. Phil Friedel. But I need a sandwich named after me. It's kind of what I'm. I'm going for.

[Howard Buskin]

You're talking to the right guy.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Let me get my team to punch that up. I'm not.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, that's right. Please, please do. I'd love that. And I don't know what's in the sandwich, but there's got to be ham. That's all I can say.

[Danielle Fishel]

Because it's got to eat the scenery, my friend.

[Ryder Strong]

That's right. That's what's going to happen.

[Will Friedle]

Ham at a Jewish deli. Okay, I'm not sure this is going to fly, but listen.

[Ryder Strong]

And bacon. Bacon wrapped ham at a Jewish deli.

[Will Friedle]

You're really pushing it here. Okay. Bacon, ham.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

You joined season two. Boy Meets World was kind of right after a. A big shakeup creatively as April Kelly left after season one and her team, and they didn't return for season two. Was there any talk of that at all? Did you. Were you aware of any of that going into season two or not at all?

[Will Friedle]

All I know is I kept asking, who's April?

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you?

[Howard Buskin]

Yeah, yeah, she was gone.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

No, I know you're wondering, who's this April? And it's like the person whose name shall not be spoken. Okay. Like, I have nothing. No, I. No one ever. Who's April? Why isn't she here? So I, you know, I'm sure she's a fabulous, creative, wonderful human being. I. I have no. I've never met her. I don't know anything.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

And no one would tell you who she was.

[Will Friedle]

That's the story I'm sticking to. Yeah. No, no one. They. She just left. I don't know under what circumstances. I really don't know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you remember your first impressions of us?

[Will Friedle]

Well, you know, I think. I think that it's funny because now, even now, you know, I. I say the kids, right. I talk about. And clearly you've grown up and I've grown down, so I don't. Well, obviously very impressed. But I think at the time, again, this was such a learning experience for me and being on a real show, you know, big American sitcom I had, I think that a little bit of that Canadian inferiority complex. And I'm sure, I know, I'm sure I was more scared of you than you were of me.

[Ryder Strong]

Like bears.

[Will Friedle]

Like bears. Hence buzzies. Ca. I was just in total awe of the whole thing. And I, I, I, you know, occasionally overwhelmed by it. Right. Because it all moves so fast. It all was happening so fast. And I'm a little slow and laborious sometimes, but where, where I love to be at was I just love being in the writer's room. I wasn't so much somebody who loved the stage as much because it was hard for me to, to work that fast and figure out, no, don't do this, do this. That wasn't that guy. So I just loved it. Being in that room. That was my safe space.

[Ryder Strong]

When, when you came to the show, did you come to a show that was in transition or did you come to a show and help with the transition? Was it kind of. Because we, we noticed such big changes from season one to season two, especially when we go back and watch them now after. We're now up to about to start season six. You know, Lee Norris is no longer there. We're clearly going into high school. There was obviously some kind of, of, of order from somewhere that they wanted to age the show up. Was that something that you and Mark were responsible for or did you kind of come into it as it was happening?

[Will Friedle]

Well, I don't hate to use the word responsible, it sounds, because it's such a team effort, but I'd like to think that we were integral part of that discussion. You know, we certainly involved in that discussion. And so I know that we, I know there was, there certainly was that conscious effort. Listen, you were, you. The, the fact is you are getting older every year, so every year there's a transition to be made.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, right.

[Will Friedle]

And, and that's interesting to watch even, even now as you go back on the episodes, if you're, if, if you're binging them and you start watching, I'm like season, season three and then season four, and all of a sudden, you know, someone's got a beard. Like, it's, yeah, right. It's, you know, it's really interesting to watch. And every year was handled, you know, very delicately. What are we going to do? These questions were always asked. So I think we were, we were in an integral part of it. And, and it was a great, amazing, you know, it was a great learning experience. I lot, I obviously learned so much from that show and, But I was not, I was not the guy who was great on the floor, you know, and Mike would say, you know, when we shoot, and Mike would say, we need a line. We need a line. We'd all just kind of yell lines. It, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's just, it's a very intimidating experience because you desperately want to, you know, get in there, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Howard Buskin]

Jump in on that. I want to know, do you have a favorite line that you pitched, whether it made it to the show or not? Do you have a favorite, a moment where you're most proud of throwing something out?

[Will Friedle]

Well, okay, you know, I'm sure other writers have told you this. We don't like to talk about what, what lines that we, we came up with. But I will tell you things that still make me laugh. And I go, oh, my God, that was mine. And this is not a great line. It's not a great line at all. But I was watching the episode where Will is trying to win Publishers Clearinghouse.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, yes.

[Howard Buskin]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

I'm still laughing at it. And you know, you pull out the magazine. This is not the best line by any means, but I just loved it because I remember pitching it. It's the magazine when you got to seas. It's the magazine Chester for People named Chester. And I actually have that magazine at home. I got to keep it. You know, it's so dumb and so right. But just, I can't help but smile because it's so stupid, you know, and which Will delivered brilliantly.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, thank you. So another question I, I have, I think we all have because we've noticed in some seasons, it clearly seems like before the season started, there was an arc of where the, the season was going to go. You could clearly see it was going to happen. Okay, we're starting here. We're ending here. As we're getting a little bit later in the seasons, it seems a little less like maybe there was an overall plan. Did you always. Right at the beginning, before we even got there, before the, you know, our first script was put in our hand, did you all sit down and, and arc out an entire season? Here's where we're going to start. Here's we're going to end and here's how we're going to get to that point. Or was it more just week by week?

[Will Friedle]

So this is, this is a situation. It's like the best laid plans of Mice and men.

[Ryder Strong]

Right?

[Will Friedle]

You know, you would, you would argue, would see how the season would go. But as you all know, by, you know, episode 19 or something, you know. Yeah, we're just so struggling just to stay awake and survive and get through and that we need a script tomorrow. And so that's, that's, and that's no one's fault. It's just the nature of the beast. So that's what, what, why things can get a little messy at the end because you just, just don't have the time to do it. Yeah, right, yeah, it's, you know, it's nature and listen, I'm just shocked that anyone's able to do this. I can't imagine the old days when they did what, 39 episodes of a show, like really old days. So yeah, we just some, you know, by the end we were just, just, just struggling to just get to, you know, get, get those scripts out. So I, I, I, I think, you know, best intentions sometimes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, well, you had five episodes in season two. Who's afraid of Corey Wolfe? Band on the Run Breaking up is really, really hard to do on the Infilla. Band on the Run was a favorite one of ours to talk about. Do you remember the background on this episode at all? Like it had a slew of rock stars, Mickey Dolan's Ricky Nielsen, Billy Vera. Like, how did this idea for you, how did the script idea come to you? Was it you and Blutman or was it handed to you?

[Will Friedle]

I hate to tell you this, I actually don't, do not remember how that one came about.

[Danielle Fishel]

I know it's terrible, it's terrible.

[Will Friedle]

But we can make something up. Let's make something up.

[Danielle Fishel]

Sure, whatever you want.

[Will Friedle]

Let's make something up. I know I, you know, I don't, I don't recall how that, that one came, how that came about. And it's funny again. Watching, watching them and I'm seeing these moments and suddenly they, they come alive to me again. Like they're, you know, and I, you know, I think Mark talked about this in, in, I think it's breaking up is really, really hard to do. Yeah, watching like Ryder and Ben play their 90 year old selves.

[Danielle Fishel]

So fun.

[Ryder Strong]

Genius.

[Will Friedle]

I, I, I'm not gonna like, I mean that actually, you know, I don't, I don't look back. Like I said a lot, I had a big smile from Grint. Irv.

[Howard Buskin]

Oh my God, it's so fun.

[Will Friedle]

And you guys were so funny. It was so funny. And I, I just, I, I, I was very, I, yeah, like I said, I, I walked away going, okay, that's not, that, that's, that wasn't, that's not too horrible. This Is really good. It's beautiful.

[Danielle Fishel]

So great.

[Ryder Strong]

It was great.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, that's where we brought ourselves, like, again, you know, I know how we wrote, you know, that that scene feels very authentic to who I am, but stealing the roles, but.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, that's okay. So that's a good question then, because one thing I remember is anytime I. Well, most of the time, when we got a script that we saw your names on, I knew it was probably going to be a Corey. Sean, buddy episode.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

So which one? Between you and Blutman. Which one was Cory and which one was Sean?

[Will Friedle]

I will tell you this. Between. Okay. I don't know that we did. We were each that character. I think we, you know, you kind of tend to write in your own voice for both, and then the actor kind of finds. Puts their voice on it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I will say for, for you, Will. I felt that I had the Will character.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, okay. So you were Eric. Oh, that's great.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I, I felt I had the Eric character down. And I, you know, everybody was so great, but I, I, I used to say, you know, Eric is our. Well, Will is our Tom Hanks. And that you will give you. And sometimes overboard. We went overboard a little bit occasionally. But what I loved is that you would commit to it no matter what, and just. You would. You would do it. Even if you hated it. You would do it. And for, for us, that, that just meant the world. That just, just. I love that.

[Howard Buskin]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And, you know, that's sweet.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you.

[Will Friedle]

You said something sweet to you.

[Ryder Strong]

You did. You did.

[Danielle Fishel]

You called him Tom Hanks.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, my God. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. I'll find a way to take it back. Don't worry.

[Ryder Strong]

You can't.

[Will Friedle]

Well, you'll.

[Ryder Strong]

You'll make my sandwich and you'll call it the Tom Hanks. That'll. That'll get.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, it's not. And there's no bacon. There's no ham. Okay, that's not happening.

[Ryder Strong]

It is a veggie sandwich called the Tom Hanks Sandwich.

[Will Friedle]

And I'm kind of offended that you actually would suggest.

[Danielle Fishel]

So then in season three, you somehow have five more scripts, including the iconic Happiest show on Earth, which we shot at Disney World. And we noticed you and Mark in line as a cameo. What was your memory of taping in Orlando like that week?

[Will Friedle]

Tough.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. No, only because of where you're shooting and, you know, you think you're going on a vacation.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. You're all excited.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Howard Buskin]

I'm sure you shoot it on location.

[Will Friedle]

We're going on vacation. How much fun is this? And then you get there, you have crowds and you have. You have characters. And so it's, it's. It just. My memory is really just. It's. It was a. It was a challenge and I actually, I. I hope the episode turned out. I'm not that familiar. I haven't watched it. Did it turn out okay?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, it turned out great.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

I mean, it's not an episode in a sec.

[Will Friedle]

We're not all on the same page.

[Danielle Fishel]

Talked about was that it. It felt like it needed to be two episodes. The idea of. Of Topanga winning this trip and there being a guy, the. And Corey being jealous and then the girl interfering. All of it felt like it could have used a two parter, especially because it's such a big thing to go to Florida. But we understand, of course, it was one night where all the shows did an episode where they were taking place in Florida. And so, you know, it felt like a lot of story for our show to fit into one episode. But of course we understand why it had that constraint of it needing to be one episode. But so it turned out well. Like, as far as getting the shots, the shots are all great. I mean, Jeff McCracken was incredible. We got. We also felt like there was an opportunity to use more of the park.

[Ryder Strong]

But instead of just the dolphin, the behind the scenes of the dolphin, which could have been shot anywhere.

[Will Friedle]

Anywhere. Anywhere. Okay, so you're saying I could put it on my reel. It's okay?

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, I would. I would. Yes, I would.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, good.

[Danielle Fishel]

In season four, you wrote a real sleeper hit for us. One of our less predictable favorites, BNB's. BNB.

[Ryder Strong]

Great episode.

[Danielle Fishel]

Love that episode.

[Will Friedle]

Tell me about it. Tell me you didn't.

[Howard Buskin]

Where we take over Feeny's. I didn't get there.

[Will Friedle]

I remember so much about. I remember moments, but I. Oh, my God.

[Danielle Fishel]

Feeny is leaving and he asks Corey to water the plants and Sean steals the key and takes over. He. He needs to make money. And so he. We. You guys, they hatched this plan of using Feeny's house like a bnb. And it's so good. It's really, it's really. It was a really great episode that we enjoyed. We enjoyed many moments in it.

[Ryder Strong]

That's what Len Lesser was in this one from Seinfeld. He was. Remember?

[Will Friedle]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God.

[Ryder Strong]

He plays the uncle. Yeah. And he's singing and all that kind of.

[Will Friedle]

I actually can't wait to watch that episode.

[Ryder Strong]

You should. This is sad. When we're the ones who remember stuff, by the way.

[Will Friedle]

I know.

[Howard Buskin]

Well, because we just watched it, you know, a year ago. We would never remember because this is episode 756 of the.

[Will Friedle]

You know, the craft service guy could probably talk about this episode.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, he could tell. Craig remembered this right away.

[Will Friedle]

Greg was great in this episode. I love that. What was Eric doing in that episode in B? And what is the one?

[Ryder Strong]

What was.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, you see. Not so fast.

[Ryder Strong]

He was overshadowed by the great A story is what he was doing. I, I don't remember what Eric was doing in BNB's. BNB. And we've got people yelling at their, their radios right now because they remember, but we don't. We'll Google. Yeah, but something not as funny as the A story because the A story was hysterically funny.

[Howard Buskin]

And again, that's when you go to Boston with Phoenix.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's when you invite John.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

We love that.

[Ryder Strong]

That's a great B story too.

[Howard Buskin]

That's great B story.

[Ryder Strong]

That's great B story too. Where Eric's about to get married and.

[Danielle Fishel]

You guys become friends.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. Instead he becomes friends with Feeny.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is that the one where you eat dinner twice or Feeny eats dinner twice?

[Howard Buskin]

Feeny.

[Ryder Strong]

Feeny eats dinner twice, goes to dinner with his.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

His special lady friend, and then he blocks Eric with the bartender and goes to a.

[Howard Buskin]

Which is inappropriate to begin with. Let's be honest.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's.

[Ryder Strong]

He was, you know.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

She knew he was too young to serve him alcohol, but apparently not too young to take him home. So. Yeah, it was in. It was, it was a great episode, though. And it was, it was proud of it.

[Will Friedle]

I'm so proud of it. I just love that episode.

[Danielle Fishel]

Watch it. Watch it. You're gonna, you're gonna enjoy it.

[Ryder Strong]

Another Sean Corey caper. That was, that was. You saw.

[Will Friedle]

I just love those caper. Like, I just love, you know, I love. Again, you talked about band on the run or on the air. I just love. I, I, I, I. We love the caper. We love putting you guys in situations that were totally above your head.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah. I mean, looking at your list of episodes, you guys tackled very high concepts. There was never kind of like Cory and Topanga just get into a fight. You have to. Then we have to deal with the consequences. Like it was. Corey thinks he's a werewolf. The boys get a pig. The show travels to Disney World. Sean's ex girlfriends kidnap him and plan on killing him in revenge. It's. You guys really take some big swings.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, my God. You got to be careful because, you know, I'm married. I'm not used to compliments, so this.

[Ryder Strong]

She didn't say they were good. She said you took big swings.

[Will Friedle]

Thanks for keeping me grounded.

[Howard Buskin]

Clarification.

[Will Friedle]

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you.

[Howard Buskin]

Amazing.

[Danielle Fishel]

Will's also married. He knows.

[Will Friedle]

Did anyone ever talk about, by the way, the Boy Meets World baseball team?

[Danielle Fishel]

Let's talk about it, please. Please. I know Danielle's dad was on it.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, your dad was a beast. That's what I remember. Your dad was like.

[Danielle Fishel]

He would get the ball, and it was like, scary.

[Ryder Strong]

He frozen rope from the warning.

[Howard Buskin]

What shows did you guys play?

[Ryder Strong]

Home improvement. Was the. Was the. The final. I remember because I was there.

[Will Friedle]

Were you there? So.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I only mention it because I talk about the camaraderie of the room. The baseball team was just a. Like for us. This was more fun and brought us together in. In the best way possible because it. We called ourselves the Bad News Bears.

[Danielle Fishel]

Right, Right, right.

[Will Friedle]

Half of us didn't. Half of them. I could say I could. They. They. They looked at me. I wasn't ahead. There was no expectation that I could play or hit. So when I did, you were. Yeah, I. They were all like, oh, my. Like, it was just that, good job, Good job.

[Danielle Fishel]

Good job, honey.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, exactly. And there were people who couldn't hit or, you know, and then there was. There were guys like. Like Mark or Matt who were exceptional and always upset about. At the people who couldn't pitch or hit or do anything. But we call each other Bad News Bears. We had no uniforms. We played. We played Frasier. Yeah, yeah. And Home Improvement. And they were all in beautiful. You know, they had the money to spend. I mean, they came out all right. You know, there was. There was music playing when they came.

[Danielle Fishel]

Out, you know, entrance music.

[Howard Buskin]

So we were just like the scrappy kids.

[Will Friedle]

We were totally the scrappy kids. And somehow. And Barry Safcik was our manager.

[Ryder Strong]

Barry was Walter Matthau. Nice.

[Will Friedle]

Barry was Walter Matthau. And we get, you know, we get those. Those speeches, you know, how we're going to do this game. And somehow we just kept winning. Right. And after every game, they put on a newsletter about how everyone did, you know, and somehow we just. We just kept on winning and winning, and those days were so much fun. And then we went to the finals and played home improvement. We're playing for the fight. It was like we were playing, you know, for the.

[Howard Buskin]

The World Series.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, it's game seven.

[Will Friedle]

It was so important to us, and I was I remember one time in that last game, and they put me. Where do they put the guy they think can't play? Although I could.

[Danielle Fishel]

In the outfield.

[Will Friedle]

In the outfield. Where in the outfield?

[Danielle Fishel]

Right field.

[Ryder Strong]

Right field?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, Right field. Right field. And I remember a ball is hit to right field, and I could feel the gasps. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, not to Howard.

[Danielle Fishel]

No, Anyone but to Howard.

[Will Friedle]

Anyone but Howard. And going back to the fans, and I can't say my eyes were open or closed, but the ball plopped in it. It. I caught it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And this is, sadly, one of the great moments of my life.

[Ryder Strong]

Sadly. I remember this game.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you win?

[Ryder Strong]

I. Yeah, you did, didn't, didn't you? No. You lost.

[Will Friedle]

That's. No, that's right.

[Ryder Strong]

But I remember going there like, okay, it's the. It's the finals. We're playing Home Improvement. I was like, okay, I'm gonna go see a nice softball game.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And then I remember people from Home Improvement striking out and, like, throwing the bat on the ground and kicking dirt. And I was like, oh, God, they're. Everybody's taking this really seriously. Like, it was.

[Danielle Fishel]

What year was this? Was this 94. No, no, you weren't there the first season, so.

[Ryder Strong]

96. Ish. 96. 97. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So, yeah. Wow. This is a very special time. And it was. It was. It was so much fun. So years later, somebody said to me, did you write for. It's Adam Sandler. Did you write for Adam Sandler? And I go, no. Why? What are you talking about? He said, there's a. There's a disc that he put out, a cd.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

That's called left field, and you're listed as a writer on this thing. And I go, what? I don't. You know, I don't. I didn't write it. I don't know Adam Sandler. I don't know him. We crossed paths as comics. Anyways, long story short, I listen to cd, and he's playing a character in left field that's standing out there going, please don't hit to me. Please don't hit.

[Danielle Fishel]

So funny.

[Will Friedle]

It's the. If anyone knows Adam Sandler, tell me. I want to know. I'm listed as a writer, and I don't. Unless he was at that game and he saw that moment.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's so funny. He may have been at that game.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, he may have been at that game. That's horror on my face.

[Danielle Fishel]

That's unbelievable.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

I want to talk about Long Walk to Pittsburgh, Part two. It's Another big script where Topanga returns to the Matthews house after walking in the rain.

[Will Friedle]

In the rain.

[Danielle Fishel]

Do you remember that tape night and all the secrecy around the reveal of Topanga in front of the audience?

[Will Friedle]

You know, I don't. I know. I don't. I, I.

[Ryder Strong]

This is why Craig came on before you.

[Will Friedle]

I know, right? What. What did he say about it? Tell me more.

[Ryder Strong]

He was amazing. He said it was the biggest. The biggest audience reaction we'd had till that point. And it was, you know, it was a. An episode that we all thought was interesting because it's. It was also. What's her name who came back, who just unfortunately passed away. Olivia Hussey, who came on, who was Topanga's aunt. It was a big, very big episode. It's also kind of the thing that amazed all of us as we did the rewatch is the fact that the writers, very subtly and yet abruptly, if that's possible, went from not using Topanga enough to her being integral to the show within episodes. So that was one of. The long walk to Pittsburgh might be one of the ones that really sealed it as Topanga being as important, if not more important, than most of the other characters on the show.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, so I've got to put that on my watch list, too.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yep. There you go.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I, I, I, I did not get to that episode. You have the advantage of having seen it in the last. We did.

[Ryder Strong]

We just. We just watched them. That's why we're just watching them again.

[Howard Buskin]

So what is your favorite episode? Do you have one that you remember?

[Will Friedle]

Well, now that I. The. Now that I've heard the story. It's the B and B's.

[Danielle Fishel]

B and B's.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Yeah, I know. I already love the setup. I love, I love. I'm sure it was great. Came home too early.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yep, he did.

[Will Friedle]

I'm sure. You know, I'm already so excited about watching it.

[Danielle Fishel]

There's also a very touching.

[Howard Buskin]

What we should do is we should tell Howard one of his own episodes and have him pitch us plots, like scenes, and see how much they end up being exactly what they actually were, because he does remember.

[Ryder Strong]

That's pretty great.

[Will Friedle]

That's funny. I did love. Breaking up. Is really, really hard to do, too.

[Danielle Fishel]

We loved that episode.

[Howard Buskin]

That's one of the best.

[Danielle Fishel]

It is one of the best.

[Ryder Strong]

Which one is that?

[Howard Buskin]

It's the one with the other girl, Cory and Wendy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Wendy, right.

[Ryder Strong]

Gotcha.

[Danielle Fishel]

Gotcha.

[Ryder Strong]

That's. That's the. That's.

[Danielle Fishel]

We love that episode.

[Ryder Strong]

That's you as the old men. Yeah, yeah. Which is, I mean, you could argue is the best scene in the history of the show. I mean, there really is an argument.

[Howard Buskin]

History of the show, season two.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, but it's just, it's so iconic and so good. And you and Ben were just so great in it.

[Howard Buskin]

We were having so much fun.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, it could, you could really say that that was arguably the best scene we've ever done.

[Will Friedle]

But you know, I, I, and I love Wendy and that's. I, I loved it. But there were moments, you know, there's a couple of cringe worthy moments, you know, when they're talking about her. She's, she's crazy.

[Danielle Fishel]

Oh, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

That's where I'm like, okay, maybe we could have been a little more delicate about that. Yeah, I'm not sure I would do that the same way right now. But, but I just can't. I also couldn't believe we went there too. Like, I can't believe we actually went to this, to this place of, of pushing Wende that far.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes, she was great too. The actress that played her was, was wonderful.

[Will Friedle]

Wonderful, right?

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Do you remember.

[Danielle Fishel]

I don't remember her name.

[Will Friedle]

Now I'm gonna ask you questions that you don't know.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, I don't, I don't remember. We'll find out.

[Howard Buskin]

She played my girlfriend on Home Improvement before one episode of Home Improvement I had done written by Susan Estelle Jensen.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

So I, how many of, or did any of the episodes you write, did any of the stories that you pitched that made it in, did any of them come from your real life experiences? Did any, did you have a Wendy or did any of this stuff actually happen to you guys?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I don't know if you know me, I don't have any real life experiences.

[Ryder Strong]

I don't think that's accurate.

[Will Friedle]

I don't live in the real world. Right.

[Danielle Fishel]

You live in the future.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I live in the future.

[Danielle Fishel]

Jessica Wesson is, but I couldn't remember her last name.

[Will Friedle]

I actually looked at when I watched the episode, I went, is that Elle Fanning? Like I thought she.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, yeah, she's really good.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. I, I, here's, here's what, what I do know that we love, we love coming up with like the BNB episode or like we love coming up with Corey Sean Capers. That's was the fun part. And you know, I'm sorry, at the time I probably wasn't the best person to write Topanga, you know?

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, that's okay. I appreciate you recognizing that, that, you know.

[Will Friedle]

I know. And, and I'm sure my wife would tell you that you're, I'm not the guy to write.

[Danielle Fishel]

If you wrote Topanga anything like Wendy, we'd be having a different conversation. You know.

[Will Friedle]

We love, we love the capers, so that's where you would find those. And you know, I, I'd like to, I'd like someone to tell me I don't remember the origination of the piggy story, which is insane. But I just, you know, again, that's a little, that's a buddy between, you know, a man, a man and a four legged animal. And it's beautiful.

[Howard Buskin]

Somebody did tell us, Did Blutman tell us the origin of that? There was an origin. Somebody, Yeah, I swear. We did one of our interviews.

[Danielle Fishel]

Is it the one where Michael went to go pitch a pilot? Did Jeff McCracken tell us it then.

[Howard Buskin]

Went, no, no, no. That's a hysterical story.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah, that's a hysterical story.

[Howard Buskin]

No, I feel like Blutman had a story. There was somebody who had a potbelly pig. And that's why, I don't know, our listeners probably will remember everyone's yelling at.

[Danielle Fishel]

Us in the, everyone's yelling at us in their car by.

[Will Friedle]

I, I, I just want to. The pig has been on before me too, right? Yes.

[Howard Buskin]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

As our third guest three times, we.

[Danielle Fishel]

Didn'T have much time with the pig and so we thought, let's have him on very early.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Danielle Fishel]

Amazing. He lived 30 years.

[Will Friedle]

You know, I'm gonna have the pig on at my deli.

[Danielle Fishel]

So for the opening of Will's sandwich.

[Will Friedle]

Excellent.

[Ryder Strong]

For the Tom Hanks veggie sandwich with ham.

[Danielle Fishel]

I wanna, I wanna talk a little bit about your memories of when you guys left. So from what we've, from what we've gathered, you guys were taking over the room in season five. But then Michael's other show got canceled and he returned and you two were interested in staying head writers and so you basically left. Is that the gist?

[Will Friedle]

It was, you know, Michael gave us, was very generous, gave us our start, did so many great things for him. But, you know, I, I think I could feel there was an expiration date to how long, you know, you want to, you want to move on and do other things.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, sure.

[Will Friedle]

And he, he was very, he was very generous and I'm very grateful for the opportunity. But I, you know, when, when he came back, I think we both felt that it was time to kind of just explore what else we could do a little bit. You know, we Got an offer to do. And this sounds horrible now because as I look back, it was probably the dumbest thing that we could do. We got an opportunity to be on a Tom Selleck pilot to do a show with Tom Selleck that was created and.

[Howard Buskin]

But you never know with television. That makes process that move, you know. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

But on paper, it sounded like this was going to be.

[Howard Buskin]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

You know, and huge actor. With all due respect, Tom Selleck, maybe not the funniest man. Does a lot of things great.

[Ryder Strong]

An awesome Tom Selleck. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Maybe not. The lead in a sitcom is right. You know, as I look back. Right. So. But you're. At the time you're offered the show. It's. It's. It's an adult show, so to speak. You know, it's. It's the version of, oh, a pretty girl just walked by, you know, know, kind of thing. Horrible. Again, looking back, but it just looked like an amazing opportunity for us and it all happened very quickly. That was part of the thing. It was like I felt like we were there and then we weren't there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Howard Buskin]

It was midweek. I remember saying goodbye to you guys. I think it was during the. The ski lodge episode, which is why.

[Ryder Strong]

I didn't get a chance to say goodbye because I wasn't in that episode. And I just came back to do the next episode and they're like, oh, Mark and Howard are gone. Like, wait.

[Will Friedle]

You know, I wondered why you didn't say goodbye. And it's bothered me.

[Ryder Strong]

It's still because you didn't say goodbye.

[Will Friedle]

No, I'm not sure about that. It stayed with me a long time because I was.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, that's. I. That week I was hanging out with Tom Selleck and. Yeah, no, I had pictures.

[Will Friedle]

I have pictures, but it was you.

[Ryder Strong]

I just came back and you guys were gone.

[Will Friedle]

That was it. What? It happened too abruptly. And it's one of those. It's, you know, I'm. I don't want to say a regret. It wasn't. Wasn't maybe a. Well, as well thought out a decision as maybe looking back, I would have liked. Although, you know, again, you did the.

[Danielle Fishel]

Best you could with the best at the time.

[Will Friedle]

We did the best we could, but it all happened too quickly for. For us. For being on a show for three years, four years, and suddenly leaving like that. So, you know, I guess, you know.

[Danielle Fishel]

The baseball team was never the same without you.

[Will Friedle]

Baseball team wasn't the same. Yeah, I guarded that. I guarded that fence.

[Danielle Fishel]

You did.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

Golden Glove. Golden Glove.

[Will Friedle]

Golden Glove. Eyes Closed, eyes, open. I was there.

[Danielle Fishel]

Did you ever think at the time that you were on Boy meets world that 30 years later we would still be talking about it and it would still be relevant?

[Will Friedle]

No.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

That's the beauty of this. That's the same thing. And that's the lesson for, you know, know, for people out there. It's just. It's just, you know, we all did our best, and it was special because of the emotional element, the dramatic element. So we knew. We knew it was special. And I'm not gonna lie, I don't know that I appreciated that part of it.

[Ryder Strong]

I don't think any of us did, to be honest with you.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you.

[Ryder Strong]

But it's true. We talk about that all the time. We didn't. None of us knew what we had. None of us appreciated it as much as we should have. But that's also just being young. When do you appreciate anything when you're that age?

[Howard Buskin]

Well, Howard wasn't that young.

[Will Friedle]

Let's be honest. I've always been this. This always.

[Danielle Fishel]

You kind of have. That's the thing.

[Ryder Strong]

You look the same.

[Will Friedle]

Look the same. I look like this. I've grown into this a little bit more. You know, for those who can't see, it's the silver fox thing is kind of almost me. Yeah, it's.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, I like it.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, Howard, thank you. Thank you so much for being our 765th guest.

[Will Friedle]

You know what?

[Danielle Fishel]

It's an honor you lived up to it.

[Will Friedle]

I mean. Yeah, it's worth. I've been sitting at the Zoom for three years, and you finally, with your.

[Howard Buskin]

Love, just waiting for the ball to come, sadly, just waiting for the ball to come.

[Will Friedle]

Being the little pig. And when the little pig got called, it hurt a little bit. I'm here, and I appreciate this so much. And, you know, if you ever hear little bells going off, it's people talking about you and our little deli.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, my God.

[Danielle Fishel]

Can we please come visit you in Buzzies?

[Will Friedle]

Yes.

[Danielle Fishel]

Yes, of course we'd like to come visit.

[Will Friedle]

They'll be lining up. Are you kidding?

[Danielle Fishel]

It'll be on the front page of Buzzies.

[Will Friedle]

Ca. It will be.

[Danielle Fishel]

Meet and greet.

[Ryder Strong]

M E A T. Meet and greet.

[Will Friedle]

Meet and greet. Thank you.

[Danielle Fishel]

There you go.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you guys so much.

[Danielle Fishel]

I really appreciate it.

[Ryder Strong]

I appreciate you.

[Will Friedle]

This was a lot of fun and continued, obviously, success. You guys are great and so much fun to listen to. So thank you.

[Danielle Fishel]

Thank you so much. Howard, it was great to see you. We'll see you at Buzzy's, man. He's funny.

[Ryder Strong]

He is funny.

[Howard Buskin]

So funny.

[Ryder Strong]

He's got that kind of dry self deprecating thing that I love. Same same kind of thing.

[Danielle Fishel]

Self deprecating. But he's also deprecating.

[Howard Buskin]

But he's one of those guys like I love, I love it when he's like, I was more about the room. Cause he did not speak up that much. He was very unassuming, especially compared to Blutman because Blutman was like always hanging out with me, talking to me and just one of us in a way. And Howard was always there but I didn't connect with him. And now I'm like, man, I would love to hang out with Howard because I totally missed you went especially at that age is 15. I went to whoever was the biggest personality talking.

[Danielle Fishel]

Totally.

[Howard Buskin]

Do you know what I mean? And so somebody like Howard who's wit and and, and intelligence was sort of more backgrounded. I wouldn't have leaned into because I you just didn't think like that. It was just like, oh, I just listened to whoever's talking to me. So yeah, I'd love to get up there and have a, have a sandwich at his deli and talk to him.

[Danielle Fishel]

That really would be so fun.

[Howard Buskin]

So funny. Jeez.

[Danielle Fishel]

Well, thank you all for listening to this episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on Instagram Pod Meets World show. You can send us your emails podmeatsworldshowmail.com and we have got merchandise.

[Ryder Strong]

Tom Hanks doesn't need a sandwich merch.

[Danielle Fishel]

I.com will send us out.

[Ryder Strong]

We love you all. Pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle and Ryder Strong, executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman, executive in charge of production Danielle Romo, producer and editor Tara Sudbaksh, producer Matty Molly, engineer and Boy Meets World superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon and you can follow us on Instagram odmeatsworldshow or email us at podmeatsworldshowmail.com for the past 10 years, a.

[Danielle Fishel]

Lot has come and gone in my life, but one thing that stayed consistent, a Samsung phone. You couldn't get me to change even if you tried. And trust me, many have. And now with my newest phone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra from Samsung, I have a true AI companion, making life easier and more efficient. And for years, people have asked how my photos look so good and I can't yell it loud enough. It's because I have a Samsung. And with the new 50 megapixel ultra wide lens. It's even better for beautiful scenic views and a little extra room for a few more family members to fit in the frame. You're welcome. Uncle Pete, are you ready to let this mind blowing new phone do more for you? So you can do you you then trust me and get your Galaxy S25 Ultra now at Samsung. Com.