← Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)
Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)
Jack and Michael Whitehall
01:06:50
Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson are across the pond with English comedian Jack Whitehall and his father, Michael Whitehall! The pair talk with Ted and Woody about how their father-son dynamic developed, the process of making “Travels with my Father” on Netflix, the time when Michael represented Daniel Day-Lewis, dealing with hecklers, and much more. Like watching your podcasts? Visit http://youtube.com/teamcoco to see full episodes.
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- [00:00]
Ted Danson
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- [00:51]
Jack Whitehall
Do shows on stage and I'd look out and I'd see my dad, he would always have arresting bitch face.
- [01:07]
Ted Danson
Welcome back to where everybody knows your name with me and Woody Harrelson sometimes. Last year Woody was doing a play in London and I was going to be in town. So we thought, why not do a podcast while we're here and talk to someone we'd otherwise might not be able to. So for this episode we're joined by British comedian Jack Whitehall and his father, author and producer Michael Whitehall. I know a bunch of you will know Jack from shows like Fresh Meat and Bad Education. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Travels with My Father on Netflix in which both Jack and Michael take trips to foreign lands in an attempt to strengthen their bond. Meet Jack and Michael Whitehall. I tried to think, is there another father, son, comedian team? Not that you're both whatever, but is there anyone else who acts with their father with such regularity or vice versa?
- [02:06]
Jack Whitehall
I don't think so. I mean, there've been a couple of comedians over here in the UK that have done shows mainly with their mothers, actually. But yeah, me and Dad, I think, were one of the first to do anything together. And we started actually doing a stage show first. Cause I talked about him in my standup so much and he'd been the butt of a lot of jokes. And, you know, I felt like I'd maybe exhausted that avenue. And then a friend of mine who was producing the show said, why don't you just get him up on stage with you? So then we were doing the Edinburgh Festival and for three nights we did this little show where I would interview guests that were performing at the festival. And Michael was meant to sit on stage in a chair and sort of be like a prop, like Madge in.
- [02:48]
Michael Whitehall
Madge in Barry Humphries, you know, the Barry Humphreys.
- [02:53]
Ted Danson
I don't.
- [02:53]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, Madge just sits in a chair just in front of the.
- [02:58]
Jack Whitehall
She's a little old lady She's a little old speak. And that's the joke.
- [03:01]
Michael Whitehall
And he used to talk to her and then she'd just sit there nodding and she had no choice. So do you. Do you agree with that, Madge? Oh, yes, dear, of course you do. You know, so that was the part.
- [03:14]
Jack Whitehall
And that was the role. And then, obviously, when it happened, that is not what came to pass. And Michael was getting in here and there and everywhere and undermining me and telling me that I was a terrible interviewer and asking very indiscreet questions to all of the guests and basically completely stealing the show. And we did it for, like, three nights in this small venue, and it just so happened that, like, someone from the BBC had been in and they were like, oh, we'd love to do this on television. So then we ended up doing a chat show for three seasons on the BBC where, again, Michael was sitting there and essentially upstaging me.
- [03:47]
Woody Harrelson
What was that one called?
- [03:48]
Jack Whitehall
That was called Back Chat, which we actually recorded at the Riverside Studios where you're doing your play at the moment. And we interviewed people like Joan Collins and Bear Grylls and Gary Lineker and.
- [04:00]
Michael Whitehall
And you sat up at that desk being a sort of interviewer. Yeah, and then I sat in an.
- [04:06]
Jack Whitehall
Armchair, basically, and kept trying to butt in and tell the story of my conception to every guest that we had on.
- [04:15]
Ted Danson
Could we get just a taste of that?
- [04:19]
Jack Whitehall
That story's been retired a long time ago. And then, yeah, from that, we ended up doing our travel show because people liked the sort of dynamic of us working together.
- [04:31]
Michael Whitehall
But you got bored, to be honest, with that other show because you got bored with interviewing people, because you were saying, this is my show, I'm the talent. I do not want to sit here interviewing Joan Collins.
- [04:51]
Ted Danson
Any truth in that, Joan?
- [04:53]
Jack Whitehall
I mean, I do find interview, the interview format quite hard because I do think I like the sound of my own voice too much. And I'm always trying to, like, not tell jokes and not butt in and try to be a proper conversationalist, but I don't think I necessarily, back then, had the skill set. I just wanted to top everything that anyone said.
- [05:09]
Michael Whitehall
And although Jan Collins did, if you remember on that particular show, she stood up, walked up, she walked off because.
- [05:19]
Jack Whitehall
No, no, not because she was upset, but she was just bored.
- [05:23]
Michael Whitehall
It's quite boring, this show. What's it called? I said Bachelor. Well, there's not much chance for Bachelor, because I can't get a word in edgeways.
- [05:30]
Jack Whitehall
First break of filming and she tried to walk off the set. And I was like, where's she going? Does she think it's over? And I was like, joan. I had to run after her and be like, no, no, we've still got, like, three more sections of the show. She was like, well, I can't stay and sit here. I have dinner reservations.
- [05:43]
Michael Whitehall
Yes, I have dinner reservations.
- [05:45]
Jack Whitehall
We were like, well, good. And off she works the dinner reservations, and she walked off. And then the only way we could get her back was by literally luring her back onto the set with champagne. So someone had to run out into the bar at the Riverside studios, buy some, like, moe. And then we literally, like, had to coax her back into the studio with the champagne. And once she was, you know, imbibed, she was then willing to sit through the next three parts of the show.
- [06:06]
Ted Danson
This is why Woody and I, sitting where we are, you guys can't scoot out whenever you want.
- [06:12]
Jack Whitehall
She also told the most staggering story, which I don't think ended up in the show where she told me, because I said, it must have been exhausting to have been as famous as you are for so long. And, like, you know, for so long, really? That was the moment when she got up and walked off. She went, how dare you? And no, she said, yes. I had an experience there recently where I was like, I wish I could remember what it was like to be anonymous. And I thought to myself, I'm going to send my assistant out to purchase me one of those burqas that the ladies wear in the Arab world. And I will wear this, and I will be able to walk around. And I did for the afternoon. I walked around Harrods in a burqa, and no one stopped me. No one came up and asked me for any selfies. And it was just this wonderful experience of knowing what it's like to not be Joan Collins for a day. I thought that is a very extreme measure to go to, to have that experience. And it's also meant that ever since she told me that story, anytime I see anyone in a burqa in Harrods, I look and I'm like, that might be Jen Collins.
- [07:16]
Ted Danson
I loved the masks that we had to all wear for a while there. And when anyone recognized me when I was wearing the mask, it was like, well, fucked. A lot of good the mask does, you know, it had nothing to do with COVID It was like, I'd like.
- [07:30]
Woody Harrelson
To see you in a burka, though, daddy.
- [07:32]
Ted Danson
I would too.
- [07:33]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah.
- [07:34]
Jack Whitehall
Because I'd say you're very recognizable from the from the nose up, your hair is so distinctive.
- [07:40]
Ted Danson
The mask does you no favors. And the ball spot in the back, because I will get people go, I think that's him. And then I'll walk by them and I'll realize that they're looking at the back of me now going, yeah, that's him, that's him. I know that ball spot.
- [07:53]
Woody Harrelson
Anyway, I don't know how my bald spot spread to the front.
- [08:00]
Ted Danson
I was so happy when you started to lose hair. It just made me.
- [08:04]
Woody Harrelson
I know things like that are happy.
- [08:07]
Ted Danson
Just love it with his follicles.
- [08:12]
Jack Whitehall
They always refer to it as a receding hairline. I've never heard it referred to as an advancing bald spot.
- [08:18]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah, that's what mine was, an advancing bald spot. But, you know, bald is beautiful, so that's what I'm going for.
- [08:26]
Ted Danson
Who did that first? Athletes. Right. Didn't athletes first just say, fucking shave.
- [08:31]
Woody Harrelson
Their head like Michael Jordan?
- [08:34]
Ted Danson
Yeah, and it made it very cool.
- [08:35]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah, made it cool for the rest of us anyway.
- [08:39]
Michael Whitehall
So what do you think of Jack's hair? I mean, I think that is fine.
- [08:43]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, that is too long. I'm actually getting it.
- [08:44]
Michael Whitehall
And his mother doesn't like it. Your mother doesn't like it?
- [08:47]
Woody Harrelson
No, I like it.
- [08:49]
Michael Whitehall
It's too.
- [08:49]
Ted Danson
How come Hillary got a free pass here? He's not sitting around the table. I know that ain't right.
- [08:57]
Jack Whitehall
When he walks off, when he does a Joan Collins. Yeah. It's like tag team podcasting.
- [09:03]
Michael Whitehall
Although you're right, I'm a bit trapped for a walk. And I couldn't get down to go under. Oh, there isn't an under solid under there.
- [09:13]
Ted Danson
Yeah.
- [09:14]
Woody Harrelson
This is a true prison for you. But I wanted to ask you, because I was, like, interested in this, that you attended a school with Jesuit monks, like a Catholic school, some of that Yorkshire or something?
- [09:32]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, Yorkshires rise. Yeah, monks is right.
- [09:37]
Woody Harrelson
Benedictine.
- [09:38]
Michael Whitehall
Benedictine monks. Yeah, I did. My mother was very Catholic. My father was very not Catholic. I mean, sort of almost anti Catholic. But as always in families, my mother won the day. And so I was sent away to a boarding school when I was nine and a half in Yorkshire called Ampleforth, run by Benedictine monks. I mean, there were 400. There was a community of 400 monks up there, of which a hundred were involved with teaching at the school. And I went there when I was. And I left when I was 17 and a half, 18.
- [10:30]
Ted Danson
Were you surrounded by people your age who are also being sent away to school at that age?
- [10:36]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, yeah. And for the first year or maybe yeah, the first year I wasn't happy, but after that I just settled in and made lots of friends. I still have a lot of the people I met there then who I still know and I'm friends with. And it had a lot of comedy potential. And I basically wasted my time showing off, doing jokes on monks very often. In fact, I'll tell you a little story about the French teacher at Ampleforth who was called Father Basil. Father Basil Hume was a great favorite of mine, and I used to play jokes on him, which he loved because he was a very jokey guy himself. And one day I went into York and I bought something called a dirty fido, which was like a poo, a dog poo plastic, you know, from a joke shop. I brought that back to school and I showed it to him. They said, oh, why's all that so good? It was so funny and what are you going to do with it? And I said, well, I'm just thinking about it. And then I had the idea of when Father Basil, because he was the nicest of the monks and the one that I thought would have a sense of humor, when he came into the classroom, he went, this makes it sound like I'm about 100, because they had these big desks with steps up to the desk. So you came into the room, you went up three or four steps, sat then in your looking at the classroom like that. So I put the dirty fido just on the side of one of the steps. And I thought, clever. And all the boys were going, oh, you know, I want more ashore, Stanis. Anyway, so Father Basil comes in and says, bonjour. And we say bonjour, because he was the French teacher and got up, sat in the desk at the top of the steps, started talking to the kids and talked to me and everything. And I thought, I mean, he's just ignored the whole thing. I mean, that didn't work at all, surely. Maybe I put it too far to one side. Anyway, he finished the class, came down the steps, and as he turned to go out of the room, he bent down, picked it up, walked to the back of the class where I was and said, whitehall, I think this is yours, and put it in front of me. So dissolve. And 60 years later, I think it was 60, it might have been 50. Certainly 50 years later, he has become the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. So he is the top, top dog in the Catholic Church in England, and he's a cardinal and all that. And the school decide that it would be nice to have an event in London. Like a drinks party. And he was going to come to the party and just say hello to all the kids that were amberful. So he arrives and there he is. And of course, he's got an assistant man with him, and he's all dripping in sort of robes and rings and all that sort of stuff. Very different to what he was in the classroom. And somebody there said, michael, would you like to meet Father Basil? Because they still called him Father Basil. He wasn't actually Father Basil. He was the cardinal. And I said, yes, I'd love to see him again. So we formed a queue and I got to the front of the queue and there he was, and he smiled at me and I thought, he won't remember me. And he smiled and he said, whitehall? And I said, yes, Father Basil. And he said, how are you? And I said, I'm very well. And he said that we had a little chat and then they'd warn me that you must kiss his ring, because now that he's cardinal. So when you finish talking to him, you go down one knee and kiss his ring. So at the end, I said, well, thank you so much. It's really nice to see you again, Father Basil. And I go down on one knee, I kiss his ring, I get up, he looks at me and says, I hope you haven't put down one of those dirty poos down there. And I said, no, Father B. He said, I'll never forget that moment.
- [15:42]
Woody Harrelson
Holy moly.
- [15:44]
Michael Whitehall
That's amazing. Pretty impressive.
- [15:51]
Ted Danson
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- [19:14]
Michael Whitehall
No, I got away with it. Well, one or two people got a bit scarred.
- [19:19]
Jack Whitehall
You can't swim as a result?
- [19:20]
Michael Whitehall
No, can't swim because the monks used to teach swimming, but they didn't get into the pool with you because they weren't allowed to take their robes off. So they'd shout at the side of the pool on the swimming lessons. Well, I just walked along the bottom of the pool doing all this and that seemed to be good enough. So I thought, I'm not going to bother with all this. My parents didn't swim. So yeah, swimming never came and it still hasn't.
- [19:54]
Ted Danson
Hence that when you. What was the segment where you went in the coldest water ever and with some women and you stuffed socks in your breeze?
- [20:05]
Jack Whitehall
Windermere. Yeah.
- [20:07]
Ted Danson
You didn't There was no thought of you getting in the water.
- [20:12]
Jack Whitehall
That would have been the end of the show.
- [20:13]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, definitely.
- [20:14]
Ted Danson
Let me. Let me ask you, is scripted travels with my father?
- [20:21]
Jack Whitehall
I mean, sometimes we attempt to have little moments that are scripted, but Michael's not great at retaining much script in his head if I do try to give him lines. So we sort of muddle through it and, you know, we have an idea of what some of the scenes are going to be. But yeah, it's mostly improvised.
- [20:40]
Ted Danson
Totally works, by the way. It's very funny.
- [20:42]
Woody Harrelson
So good.
- [20:43]
Jack Whitehall
Oh, thank you.
- [20:44]
Ted Danson
You can also see when it's like you surprise each other and it goes off in some tangent, like you. You in the water was. I think that was totally off book.
- [20:56]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, that was definitely off book. And you can only plan it so much. And yeah, some of the best moments are obviously when it goes off in a completely different tangent to what you're expecting.
- [21:07]
Michael Whitehall
And.
- [21:08]
Jack Whitehall
And I love cracking Michael up as well because he's the hardest person to make laugh in the world and always has been, which obviously, as a comedian growing up was very challenging. And whenever I do shows on stage and I'd look out and I'd see my dad, he would always have a resting bitch face and it would be the only face that I can see. In fact, a reviewer once mentioned it didn't. It came to the show and gave.
- [21:31]
Michael Whitehall
Me quite a behind me, this guy who I knew. I mean, having been an agent all my life, I've been to see millions of plays and I know all the critics and bluh. So this guy comes and it was the night the critics weren't allowed in. I mean, it was before previews. Yeah, the preview. Yeah. So this guy walks up the aisle and waves at me and I say, oh, hello, how are you? And then he goes and he's in the seat behind me and I thought, sweet old thing. And then I. The following day or the day after, I read the review of your new show and it said I was sitting behind Michael. I was sitting behind Jack Weithall's father, and he didn't laugh once.
- [22:21]
Ted Danson
Did he go on to make a point out of that?
- [22:23]
Michael Whitehall
No. Just say it wasn't really very false.
- [22:27]
Ted Danson
Yeah, it wasn't your committee.
- [22:28]
Michael Whitehall
Michael Whitehall didn't laugh once. That's because I don't laugh. I cannot laugh. I don't do laugh. I do smiling. But I. If I went.
- [22:39]
Jack Whitehall
Doesn't sound genuine.
- [22:41]
Michael Whitehall
So phony.
- [22:42]
Ted Danson
Does your mind go, oh, that. Oh, that's funny.
- [22:45]
Jack Whitehall
Oh, that's a good Joke inside laugher. We don't like those, do we? The person that laughs on the inside, no use to us, no good to us at all.
- [22:54]
Woody Harrelson
You want an external laugh?
- [22:56]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah. A big loud, humor, hearty laugh, a cackler. But him, it's like. And I always put it down to the fact that some of my material was maybe a little bit pural and beneath him. But now I've heard about this dirty Fido joke that he's been peddling. I'm like laughing at a. That's all I needed to do all these years is just put a little fake doctor on the corner of the stage and he would have got howling.
- [23:18]
Woody Harrelson
So what you, so you. When did you realize, were you like the class clown or how. How did you realize, you know, maybe I could do this?
- [23:29]
Jack Whitehall
I mean, I. Yeah, I loved kind of showing off and performing at school and, you know, did little sketches with friends and was always kind of like trying to make people laugh. But I wanted to become an actor and wanted to go into that world. But because Michael had been an agent, he was very strict with me that I. That I wasn't to become an actor because he'd looked after some very successful actors, but he'd also looked after a lot of actors that had been out of work and knew how tough the industry could be. So he said, you need to go to university and you need to go and study. And so my way into ending up doing comedy was going and starting to do standup comedy. So his plan completely backfired because I went into an even more like, cutthroat industry and, you know, with very little sort of security. So I ended up doing it in an about way by going and doing stand up comedy when I was doing a university degree for about five minutes, which I sort of dropped out of after six months because I'd love doing stuff on stage. Yeah, up in Manchester, you didn't like that.
- [24:29]
Woody Harrelson
The school.
- [24:30]
Jack Whitehall
I loved being in Manchester and I loved living away with all of my mates and being in a student house and like living that lifestyle. The actual study, working part. Oh, yeah. I was done with it because the minute I stepped on stage and the minute I did stand up for the first time, which was when I was 18, I loved it and it was like an instant hit. And I was like, this is what I want to do and I feel so at home on stage and I love this. So I knew then that I was going to do that come what may, but then had to go and sort of go through the motions of Applying to universities and, you know, pursuing my studies, even though I knew full well that I'd found my sort of calling.
- [25:05]
Ted Danson
Do you, do you still go out and test material by just showing up somewhere unbeknownst to anyone else, just to see how it's working?
- [25:14]
Jack Whitehall
And I love doing that. I love that process of it. I actually think that's sometimes the most exciting bit is when you're building the hour for the first time and you're going up and you're trying out like half baked bits in a comedy club and no one knows that you're going to be turning up on stage and it's really always quite electric in the room. Especially if, you know, I do a comedy club in London. And then that feeling of doing a new joke for the first time and like putting something out there into the world and even getting half a laugh is just so fantastic.
- [25:43]
Ted Danson
Can you get away with it now? I mean, oh, there's Jack and so he's funny and we will laugh. Or can you tell whether you're getting an honest read?
- [25:51]
Jack Whitehall
Do you know what I think actually that's something that's very good about English people and English audiences, is that you definitely get like five minutes at the beginning where they're just excited because someone, you know, famous is on, on stage, but after that five minutes grace period, they're like, oh, yeah, come on, you think you're funny, do you? And it's straight back to like having to like work for it. And I do think you get like a pretty honest reaction from audiences, especially if you're outside of like. I mean, for me, when I first started, like doing it outside of London was so good. And that's why I started in Manchester, which is, you know, definitely like a slightly tougher place to go and do stand up, especially if you sound like me. And so I had to work that much harder, I think, to make sure that the material was strong enough to elicit a reaction from the crowd.
- [26:36]
Ted Danson
That's what it's like walking around being me. People go, oh, Ted Danson. And in about 30 seconds I can see their eyes wandering and looking for a back door, But I get 30 seconds of adoration.
- [26:55]
Jack Whitehall
But also your public Persona is one of someone that's, I think, quite friendly and which must be trying because you're probably not all of the time, you are.
- [27:04]
Ted Danson
What you see is what you get. It's really. It takes a moment to piss me off.
- [27:08]
Jack Whitehall
It really does.
- [27:09]
Ted Danson
Well, ask Woody.
- [27:10]
Woody Harrelson
No, yeah, no, I tried.
- [27:14]
Jack Whitehall
That's why Michael's so Lucky, because he's his. His screen Persona is, you know, cantankerous and dismissive. And so when he is cantankerous and dismissive in real life, when someone comes up to him, they love it. And it's so annoying because he can be so rude to people and they're like, oh, he's doing his bit.
- [27:32]
Ted Danson
It's Larry David.
- [27:33]
Jack Whitehall
Yes, it is. Exactly. It's Larry David.
- [27:35]
Ted Danson
And in success, it's even worse because they get away with it even more because people love it and expect it's no fun.
- [27:43]
Michael Whitehall
This little girl came up to me. She was on her way back from school, so she came up to me and she said, would it be possible to have a selfie? And I said, yes, absolutely. I just love your show and I love Jack. And then as she was about to take the picture. This is getting technical for me now because I'm doing that like I'm stopping.
- [28:11]
Jack Whitehall
Is that the phone? That's her phone. Okay.
- [28:14]
Michael Whitehall
As she was about to take the picture, she suddenly said, oh, I know what would be so, so funny. And my dad would love it. And I said, yes. And she said, as I take the picture, will you just tell me to fuck off? And I said, I don't think. No, I don't think I'd really want it. Oh, but my dad would love it. I said, I'm not sure how much your dad would love it. I think we'll just leave the fuck off.
- [28:46]
Ted Danson
Wow. See, that's smart.
- [28:48]
Woody Harrelson
Wow.
- [28:49]
Michael Whitehall
Because that has become, I mean, the third person to have that catchphrase. Because, of course.
- [28:55]
Jack Whitehall
Brian Cox in succession.
- [28:56]
Michael Whitehall
Brian Cox in succession.
- [28:58]
Ted Danson
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [28:58]
Michael Whitehall
We went up to. I went up to Brian at Fulham and said, can we. So we had a really good picture of him telling me to off and me telling him to. Not that funny, but sort of quite funny.
- [29:10]
Jack Whitehall
But it's great catchphrase to have.
- [29:12]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah. And I'm always very charming to people when they come up and speak to me. You're not. But I have spent my entire life representing actors and actresses and enjoying it and never ever wanting to be any kind of performer. And that has forced me into doing it. Jack, so reluctant because he wanted to be a double act and I was the only person he could think of.
- [29:38]
Woody Harrelson
Backing into the spotlight.
- [29:41]
Michael Whitehall
Yes.
- [29:42]
Ted Danson
Over and over and over and over into the spotlight.
- [29:45]
Jack Whitehall
Crowbarring his way into the spotlight, Crawling over his son to get into this fault.
- [29:51]
Ted Danson
Let's talk about cannabis, shall we?
- [29:53]
Jack Whitehall
Yes, please.
- [29:54]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, please.
- [29:56]
Ted Danson
Did you get busted on the way back into Britain?
- [29:59]
Woody Harrelson
Really?
- [30:00]
Jack Whitehall
No. No souvenirs were purchased.
- [30:04]
Ted Danson
Even though you went to Woody's.
- [30:05]
Jack Whitehall
We went to Woody's dispensary, which was incredible. I mean, it's like an oasis in the middle of the. The chaos of Los Angeles and.
- [30:15]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah, well, you know, the idea was like, at least no matter what, you can't accomplish everything, but let it be the most beautiful. You were the agent to some really incredible people like Dame Judi Dench and such. So who was your favorite client?
- [30:38]
Michael Whitehall
Difficult.
- [30:39]
Jack Whitehall
Kenneth Moore.
- [30:40]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, I suppose Kenny Moore was, but I mean, that was a long time ago. He was.
- [30:47]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, you know, Reach for.
- [30:49]
Michael Whitehall
The sky, all those films.
- [30:52]
Jack Whitehall
Legs in the War.
- [30:53]
Michael Whitehall
He was my first sort of big client. And I had such a good time with him. I had a very good time with him in Berlin with David Bowie. But I think that's for. If you're ever doing a special where you can talk. The guests can talk for half an hour. I think I'd have to do that then. But no Kenneth Moore, great.
- [31:16]
Jack Whitehall
He was. Used to go out for Judy. Boozy lunches.
- [31:20]
Michael Whitehall
Bench. Lovely. I think Daniel Day Lewis was probably my favorite. I just had a Colin Firth.
- [31:31]
Ted Danson
Oh, God, I love.
- [31:32]
Michael Whitehall
The reason I love Daniel Day Lewis is because. And he won't mind me saying this, is that he was mad in the sweetest possible way. I mean, I took him on from drama school, the Bristol Auvik.
- [31:50]
Woody Harrelson
And had you seen him in something? Did they do like a workshop or something?
- [31:55]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, well, I went to the Bristol Olive Drama School to see him do something and then went down again when he was playing Dracula there just to see him actually performing. And then we met him afterwards and had chats with him. And he was just very sweet, very nice sense of humor. Very interesting looking, you know, this very tall, slightly stooped, but great sense of humor. So I was thrilled. And he came to me and we got him various jobs and he built up his career. But the things I had to put up with was. I mean, I just tell you one little story about talking to Danny in the evening was that we were having dinner, having a dinner party in our house. We used to have regular, as Jack will say, dinner parties. You used to come in and tell James, stand behind the curtain and go, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And then start and then draw the curtain. Sometimes we'd forget you were there.
- [33:14]
Jack Whitehall
Just stay behind the curtain all evening. Can I come out now?
- [33:18]
Michael Whitehall
Can I come out now?
- [33:21]
Jack Whitehall
The guests had gone home and I burst through the curtain. It was very sad.
- [33:26]
Michael Whitehall
So you're sitting around the table and the PHONE RINGS Right. So I picked the phone up and say, hello. And he said, oh, hello, Michael. Is that Michael? And I say, yes, who is this? Sorry, it's not a terribly convenient time. I'm just having a. Oh, just want to see. Hello, how are you? And I said, who is this? Danny Stani. I said, Barry? No, Danny. Danny Day Lewis. And I said, why are you talking like that? He said, cause I'm doing the film. You know, I'm doing the film. I'm in Ireland, I'm playing. And that was when he was making that.
- [34:04]
Jack Whitehall
In the name of the Father.
- [34:05]
Michael Whitehall
In the name of the Father. And I thought, this boy is raving mad. Why is he? But no, he stayed in character. And I just find that bit. You went slightly off.
- [34:18]
Jack Whitehall
You went for lunch with him on set, didn't you?
- [34:20]
Michael Whitehall
I did.
- [34:21]
Jack Whitehall
I knew he was doing my left foot.
- [34:22]
Michael Whitehall
That's right.
- [34:22]
Jack Whitehall
And he ate the lunch with his leg.
- [34:24]
Michael Whitehall
With his foot. He put his foot up on the table. But he was quite normal. I mean, he was talking to me completely normally. Never talked about his work or anything. It was all kind of social chitchat and how's Hillary? And all that sort of stuff. There was no. He wasn't intense, but it was just this remaining in character that was so weird. But then there were several other actors who remained in character, which I thought was even. I mean, David Suchet, who. I adore David Suchet, and he's a great friend and he's a terrific actor. But David wouldn't come out of Poirot until the mustache came off. So if he was wearing the massage during the day as filming, he would continue in character over there with, you know, Michael, would you like another glass of water? And I'd say, sorry.
- [35:26]
Ted Danson
It'S me.
- [35:28]
Michael Whitehall
I'm saying it. Hercule Powell is saying it. Of course he is. David, yes. You just go on being Hercule Poirot. There you are. Good boy.
- [35:40]
Ted Danson
I tend to take a much shallower cut on my profession. Yeah.
- [35:47]
Michael Whitehall
Would either of you stay in caring?
- [35:51]
Ted Danson
If I had one, I probably would, but I don't. You don't want to compromise on your vacation. In fact, you deserve more on vacation. Experience more with Norwegian Cruise Line. Find more amazing places to explore, more unique and longer itineraries, more time in port and more entertainment and restaurant options on board NCL ships. Enjoy perks like unlimited open bars, specialty dining, free airfare for second guests and excursion credits, too. There's more to a vacation with Norwegian. More to see, more to do, more to enjoy. Visit ncl.com call your travel advisor or 1-888-NCL cruise restrictions apply. Okay, I'm starting to take a look at who I need to buy gifts for for the family. So this is kind of perfect. Quince. They have winter stuff coming up now and I have experienced how good they are because I got a Mongolian cashmere zip up sweater that is actually stunning and ridiculously inexpensive. I mean, almost hard to believe.
- [37:11]
Michael Whitehall
Quince.
- [37:12]
Ted Danson
It lets you treat your loved ones and yourself to everyday luxury at an affordable price. That's true. They're super soft fleece sweatpants. I have not tried them, but I'm going to after reading this. Are a major upgrade to whatever you're lounging in right now. And they're packable puffer jackets. You live in la, you're going to New York and you don't have that much room in your suitcase. It's a packable winter jacket, perfect for anyone who's traveling for the holidays. Gift luxury this holiday season without the luxury price tag. Go to quints.com Ted and Woody for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com Ted and Woody to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Ted and Woody what's it like to be very famous here and then go to America? Was it like, oh, here we go, starting over or were you welcomed with open arms?
- [38:16]
Jack Whitehall
I mean, yeah, I think it has advantages. It's quite nice to have a bit of a clean slate because I think over here sometimes I'm so much in one bracket that it's hard to be seen as anything else because I've been sort of doing it for so long. So certainly in terms of like going and trying to reinvent yourself a bit and try and do some more interesting things and play some different types of characters, it's quite useful. I mean, it's also strange not, not only maybe not being recognized as much in America compared to England, but also now when I go to America, the vast majority of people that would recognize me there is from this show with dad. So a lot of them would be coming up to me and saying, oh, I love your show on Netflix. Your dad is hilarious. And I'm like, that's not a compliment that I want. And the worst one, this was 100% the worst one was when we went to America and we were together and we were in a hotel walking through the hotel lobby and these two American guys walked past and they recognized Michael. And then they carried on walking past, and they didn't recognize me. And so I then not only didn't get recognized, the final sort of just like, kick in the bollocks was overhearing their conversation, and they were going, oh, yeah, that's the guy from Travels with my father. And the other guy was like, oh, what's that? And he goes, oh, it's this great show on Netflix. It's about an esteemed elderly English gentleman that travels the world with his doofus son. And I was like, that's not the show. That's not the pitch. I was like, that's what I've been reduced to now. I'm just the doofus son, the hanger on.
- [39:51]
Ted Danson
I hope you took it out on your father, Covert.
- [39:54]
Jack Whitehall
Oh, no, he was. Yeah, he was definitely not told about that comment because I didn't want to feed the ego. But, yeah, that's. That's pretty crushing.
- [40:02]
Michael Whitehall
Oh, my God.
- [40:04]
Ted Danson
You were great in Jungle Book. I know. It's a. It's a terrible title because it was actually kind of brilliant. I loved it. You worked with my friend Emily.
- [40:12]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, yeah. Emily Blunt. Yeah, she's. She's incredible. And she's from, like, exactly the same part of London as me. So, like, our schools were, like, you know, a road apart. We grew up going to all of the same shops and pubs and bars and stuff. And so the minute I met her, like, we instantly bonded. And she was. She was so nice and so fun and, like, made that a really, really wonderful experience. And, like, Dwayne, I don't think knew what hit him when he first walked onto the set and was sort of working with Emily because she's just got this, like, wicked sense of humor, as, you know. She just, like, has no filter whatsoever. Yeah. So funny. It was, like, one of the first days on set was awful because I'd. I've been a big fan of Dwayne Johnson growing up because I was. I'm massively into wrestling, and I used to love watching wrestling as a kid and right at the era when he was in his pomp. And I said, just don't turn yourself into a fan, and make sure you act with some, like, professionalism when you meet him because, you know, you want to be seen as his equal rather than, like, fangirling on him. So I managed to get through, like, my first conversation with him and not say anything stupid. And I was like, I think I've acquitted myself correctly there. And then a couple of hours later, I was there With Emily, and she's obviously, like, fooling around. She's like, I don't even get what. He was a wrestler, was he? And I was like, yeah, he was amazing. One of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He had this move called the rock bottom. She's like, the rock bottom? That sounds sordid. I was like, oh, no, it's not sorted at all. It's just a finishing move. She's like, well, what was it? And then I end up trying to explain the rock bottom to her, and then I can't explain it physically. So I was like, well, let me sort of show you. So if you put your arm over my shoulder, he would, like, grab the other wrestler. It would normally be, like, stone cold Steve Austin. And then he'd hoist them up like this. And I'm then performing the rock bottom on Emily Blunt. At which point Dwayne goes, jack, are you. Is that. Are you trying to do my move? And then he turned around and he was watching this whole thing, like, play out. And I was like, oh, God, this is absolutely awful. I'm like, rock bottoming Mary in front of Dwayne. And now the cat is out the bag. I bet he loves it about him.
- [42:18]
Ted Danson
Yeah, I bet he loved it.
- [42:19]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah.
- [42:19]
Jack Whitehall
I also showed him because I was. I did a lot of art when I was younger, and I'd found an old sketchbook, and in the sketchbook, I'd sketched Dwayne. I mean, obviously, when he was the rock. And there were all of these sketches of him, and I had them on my phone, and I showed Emily. Obviously, she yanked the phone out of my hand, and that was taken straight over to Dwayne. Did you know that Jack used to draw you when he was younger? And I was like, okay, well, on a mission of not turning. Turning myself into a weird, creepy fangirl, I've failed.
- [42:48]
Ted Danson
You're now the stalker.
- [42:49]
Jack Whitehall
I'm now the stalker. I'm now being asked to leave set because I've been drawing my co star. I'm sure that is an HR issue.
- [42:58]
Ted Danson
Where did you guys shoot that?
- [42:59]
Jack Whitehall
We shot it in Hawaii and Atlanta. And, yeah, it was. I'd never, like. I'd gone from doing, like, you know, BBC sitcoms and stuff on a shoestring budget, which are all shot on, like, an iPhone, to suddenly be on, like, one of those big Disney behemoth movie sets. And it was all very overwhelming, but kind of lovely just because it. You know, Emily and him were very nice and were very kind of.
- [43:24]
Ted Danson
Did you meet John and family. He flew there to be with her.
- [43:28]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, he's amazing as well. So it's like, that's such a wonderful partnership. So. Yeah, no, that was really, really fun to have an experience like that. Very difficult to then go and do a film like that and then sort of go back to doing.
- [43:41]
Ted Danson
And you got away from it?
- [43:43]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah. You didn't make a set visit to that one in Hawaii?
- [43:47]
Michael Whitehall
No, I think I just got busy. I got lots of stuff on.
- [43:51]
Jack Whitehall
A lot of monks to see other monks to catch up with cardinals. Cardinals, yeah. He doesn't deal with monks now.
- [43:58]
Michael Whitehall
Catching up with cardinals. That could be my next book.
- [44:02]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, well, that's the series that you do now that you've got rid of the doofus son. That's your solo project. It's just you interviewing a load of cardinals and kissing their rings.
- [44:13]
Michael Whitehall
You know, when I was a agent, I used to think I got the best job in the world. I worked for the agency that became icm. It was then called London International. And I worked for a guy called Robin Fox. What year is this, roughly? 1940.
- [44:34]
Jack Whitehall
1930. David Garrick. He was your first client, wasn't he?
- [44:39]
Michael Whitehall
19.
- [44:41]
Jack Whitehall
Had the speakeas come in.
- [44:44]
Michael Whitehall
1969. 1969. Thank you.
- [44:49]
Ted Danson
Sorry.
- [44:50]
Michael Whitehall
And Robin Fox, who was James and Edward Fox's father, I worked for him and he was amazing. As my granddaughter would say, amazing. And I had, first of all, some of his clients helped him with some of his clients. And then he retired and I took on some of his clients. And some of them I didn't take on because I didn't fancy them. I don't mean fancy them in that respect. I mean fancy.
- [45:24]
Ted Danson
Sure, sure, we understand.
- [45:25]
Woody Harrelson
It's good.
- [45:28]
Michael Whitehall
But whenever I went to see a client, either of a new client of mine or established person in the theater, I would go to the theater, I would see the play. I would see them afterwards, either for a drink or maybe sometimes dinner, and on my way home, I would think, thank God I'm not an actor. I mean, those poor buggers, they're going to have to do it again tomorrow night, and then the night after and the night after that. Week after week, month after month.
- [46:11]
Woody Harrelson
In some cases, that's hitting close to home.
- [46:13]
Ted Danson
Yeah.
- [46:16]
Jack Whitehall
In the trenches.
- [46:16]
Michael Whitehall
And all I've got to do is just go home, come into the office the following morning, and check that the commission's coming in nice and smooth. That's the job for me. I am never, ever gonna go anywhere near performing. And I even invented a phrase that I used to say to my clients when I went to see them in the play backstage, there was all that lovely. You were darling. You were wonderful. Best player I've ever seen, best actor. All absolute bullshit that Asians do. But it was the one where the play came off so the gnosis went up at the end of the first week. I mean, that kind of thing where the reviews were terrible and the actor would then be ringing me up and saying, oh, my God, what am I gonna do? Oh, it's all such a nightmare. Can you give me any. Try and cheer me up a bit. I said, I don't need to cheer you up, because the news from my point of view is all good. And the actor would say, why is that, Michael? I said, because up to this moment, you weren't available to me. You were doing this play.
- [47:30]
Ted Danson
I've heard it's just from my age.
- [47:33]
Michael Whitehall
It'S going to go on and on and on, month after month. I just cross you out of my thoughts and my book. Now your play is coming off.
- [47:42]
Ted Danson
Good one.
- [47:43]
Michael Whitehall
I can start working for you and getting the big jobs. The play was always shit. It should never have been even put off. Now I'm taking over and I will get you some fantastic TV movies, all that. They said, oh, Michael, I feel so much better having spoken to you. And I said, that's why I'm here.
- [48:09]
Ted Danson
My first and only Broadway play, it came out of Chicago and it was really well produced and directed, but very kind of lightweight material. So opening night in New York, the rim shots were so good with the jokes that everyone would burst out with huge laughter. And then you could hear them go, wait, what? You know, each laugh was that way. We went to Sardis, where you go in New York to celebrate, and they were famous people around, and it was so rock and roll and so exciting. I was upstairs in the bar, upstairs, and Rex Reed came. And then the reviews. The New York Times came out and people had rushed out to get it. And Clive Barnes back then was the person who could kill, make or break a show. And Rex Reed hated Clive Barnes. So Rex Reed grabbed the paper and read Clive Barnes review of us, and he ridiculed and mocked Clive Barnes's words while we listened to Clive Barnes just raking us over the coals. But we had to laugh at Rex Reed as we're hearing our demise. And I turned around to get my drink and the cage came down over the bar and the party was over. Next day I went to say goodbye to my parents who had come in from Arizona, and I put them in a cab and then went to do the matinee. And I walked in the stage door, and the stage door guy said, well, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you going? And I said, I work here, thank you. And he went, not anymore you don't. And he pointed, closing notice. There's a one night stand on Broadway. Oh. So I became a TV actor.
- [50:11]
Michael Whitehall
That's.
- [50:12]
Woody Harrelson
That's.
- [50:12]
Ted Danson
That's harsh.
- [50:13]
Michael Whitehall
That is harsh.
- [50:15]
Ted Danson
Not anymore you don't, pal.
- [50:17]
Woody Harrelson
You know, I was. So we had our opening the night before last Wednesday night, the. The play Ulster American. And anyway, I was talking afterwards, Stanley Tucci, and he goes, you know how you can tell that this plays a hit? And I go, how? And he goes, because people are still here at the party.
- [50:44]
Ted Danson
That's true.
- [50:45]
Woody Harrelson
And it was just like, literally, if people didn't like the play. Well, you don't know how at that point, how the critics are reacting. But the fact that people stayed and it was a bubbling party and went on few hours, you know, was like. I was like, that is so insightful, you know, to think of it that way.
- [51:06]
Ted Danson
Like, when was the last time you did a play, Woody?
- [51:09]
Woody Harrelson
Before 18 years ago?
- [51:11]
Ted Danson
Woof.
- [51:12]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah.
- [51:12]
Ted Danson
You got balls, man. You have balls.
- [51:14]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah, it's. It's a ballsy endeavor. Especially like last night. You know, they always say second night blues, but like, last night, like, literally within the first five minutes, I think I told you that I went up three times. What do they call it here?
- [51:29]
Jack Whitehall
They call it drying.
- [51:30]
Woody Harrelson
Drying. I dried three times in five minutes. Yeah, well, once the first one happens, you're like, whoa. You know, you're on your heels.
- [51:38]
Ted Danson
Adrenaline.
- [51:39]
Woody Harrelson
Second one. Oh, my freaking Jesus. I'm on my. I'm back. I mean, I'm against the wall now. And then the third time happens, I look at Andy Serkis's face looking at me like, are you just gonna implode here on the stage tonight? You know, I mean, I don't know what happened. It just literally, because we always.
- [52:01]
Jack Whitehall
We.
- [52:02]
Woody Harrelson
He and I hit ping pong before. We just, you know, and we're just going back and forth. Gaddick, Gaddock, Gaddick Gaddock, as George used to say. And we're. And we're playing and I'm drying there. Like, there's no pressure yet. We're not even on stage. And I'm. I can't think of the. It was something and I don't know. It wasn't like I smoked pot the night before. I didn't do the normal things that Inhibit the memory.
- [52:32]
Jack Whitehall
The first one you can probably pass off as a dramatic pause, Right? But by the third time, please. Holy God, this is not a choice.
- [52:41]
Woody Harrelson
And then how many years.
- [52:42]
Ted Danson
What.
- [52:42]
Woody Harrelson
We got 90 more minutes of this Anyway. But I was thinking when you said that about how, you know, like, I'm going on tonight and two tomorrow, you know, like, it's like you. It's. It's one of those things where you think to yourself, well, I mean, there's gotta be some genuine respite. And, like, they do it weird here because it's eight shows like America, but, you know, here you get one day off. You just get the Sunday and you're back at it Monday. And it's like, you know. You know how in America we have the thing where you get the Sunday matinee and then Tuesday or. Yeah, you're back Tuesday evening, and it's like, that's. That's a much more understandable schedule because this thing of, like, having, you know, just the one day, you can't go.
- [53:40]
Ted Danson
Out that night, you know, blow it out.
- [53:42]
Woody Harrelson
You get Saturday night, you can blow it out a little bit, but you don't want to over blow because, you know.
- [53:48]
Ted Danson
Yeah. Did your body fill with adrenaline when you went up?
- [53:54]
Michael Whitehall
Oh.
- [53:55]
Woody Harrelson
Oh, yeah, man. You flush like you're. You just feel the heat rising. Sweat, like, trickling down, like.
- [54:04]
Ted Danson
I don't know how to say. I wish I'd been there. I know you would love it.
- [54:09]
Woody Harrelson
He celebrates my demise, you know, whatever.
- [54:13]
Jack Whitehall
Trying to guess the line, shouting it out.
- [54:16]
Ted Danson
Just anything, throw him off. Do you have to deal with Heckle the Hecklers?
- [54:20]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, I had a few. Few hecklers. I mean, it's. I've had, like, crazy stuff happen on stage. I had someone ring, bring and inflate a sex doll and chuck it onto the stage. So that meant they smuggled it in and inflated it without me realizing. And then I was in the middle of a routine and got hit on the side of the head by one of those big inflatable sex dolls with the mouth and that got chucked up onto the stage. I was like, what. What do you want me to do with this? It's a hard heckle to put down.
- [54:52]
Ted Danson
Did you ever have any sense of what the fuck that was about?
- [54:55]
Jack Whitehall
No, it's just someone that wanted to kind of, you know, get their own. Get their own laugh. Yeah, but you often. Yeah, I mean, you get people that obviously brought their own jokes along as well. I had it. I was doing a routine. This was on the most recent tour Where I start talking about my poodle. And it's a lot of very light hearted jokes about having a quite emasculating dog. But all, you know, it's very, very light hearted. And I start this routine about my dog. And I was in Halifax in the north of England and a guy shouted out, my dog's just died. And I was like, why would you profit that information? And then it was horrendous because I had. Then I knew I had like 15 minutes of dog material. And every single joke that I said was like, well, that would have been a lot funnier. Were we not all thinking about the fact that your dog has just died? Why would you say that out loud? And he completely, like, destroyed the gig for me because he thought that that was an outside. That was a sort of. Yeah, an external thought that he should share with the rest of the room. But that was one of the worst.
- [55:59]
Ted Danson
And do you have to, like, have set things to shut the heckler up or not?
- [56:06]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, I mean, I try to rattle through it and try, if it's like quite a boisterous audience, just to like, you know, have enough sort of force of energy on stage that I don't allow much space for heckling. But when something like that happens, you have no choice. You literally cannot, you cannot continue with the. You have to address it. And then that has to become a part of the show.
- [56:26]
Woody Harrelson
But I bet you got jokes based on the fact that. Well, yeah, that would have been funny if his dog weren't presently dead.
- [56:34]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah. And then the next night when you're doing the routine and you're just back to doing it the old way, you're like, maybe I should build that into the show. It's actually quite enjoyable by the end. In a kind of thing you said.
- [56:45]
Michael Whitehall
To me, which I thought was absolutely amazing, is I said to you, because I've seen your tour show, the current one a few times, I said to you, you finish this show for the interval at the end. Exactly the same moment. I mean, the same. If it's 29 minutes, it's 29 minutes. There's no fucking around. It's exactly the same. And my question to you was, how do you manage to do that when you've got heckles, for example, or even just, I don't know, something minor, somebody says something to you or whatever, how do you still manage to come out of that time? And you said, well, I do what you do. Daddy. Daddy. Do you still call your father Daddy? What's that?
- [57:41]
Jack Whitehall
Steven Seagal.
- [57:43]
Michael Whitehall
Steven Seagal. Great laugh.
- [57:47]
Jack Whitehall
I called you dad just now because I was growing up.
- [57:50]
Michael Whitehall
You call your father daddy and you said to me, I said, what about the hecklers and all that? And you said, well, I just do what you do, Daddy. You read a lot. And I just bookmark it. I said, what do you mean bookmark it? He said, well, you put a bookmark in your book and then you know where you've got to. And I said, but it's not a book. And he said, no, I put a bookmark in my head. I said, what do you mean in your head? What you mean stick it in your head? He said, no, no, I just have a mental bookmark. And then I do the heck of a. And then I come back and I pick it up where I left it off in my head and that's. That's it. And I said that sounds so easy to do that I thought, unbelievable that you can do that.
- [58:39]
Ted Danson
Unbelievable. Seriously, that. That's.
- [58:42]
Jack Whitehall
Well, yeah, you have to. And you, you like. That's what's so great. That's what I was always be worried about with a play is that you. There's no leeway to go off and improvise or if you do end up missing a bit or skipping a bit, then you're. It's such a kind of intricate dance in involving other people as well. Like I. I think that. That I would find that quite terrifying having only ever experienced stand that where it's, you know, you're in complete control and it can change or you can drop something or it can, you know, deviate from whatever script that you have in your head. But yeah, that I. I'm lucky that I've never really had any like too soul crushing. A heckling experience. The best one I've ever heard was a friend of mine called Joe who was doing a gig in a pub sort of upstairs room and not particularly well attended. It was like 15 people or whatever, so you could hear everything in the room. And he said he was doing his shtick and it was not landing particularly well. There's not a lot of laughs. So he does this joke and it plays to absolutely nothing and then he hears a sigh at the back of the room, which is never a good sign when you can hear one of your audience members just sigh. And he goes, there used to be a pool table in here.
- [59:57]
Michael Whitehall
Oh.
- [59:58]
Ted Danson
Oh, God. Also hard to come back from.
- [60:02]
Jack Whitehall
That is. That is crushing.
- [60:05]
Ted Danson
That is just.
- [60:07]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah.
- [60:08]
Ted Danson
In New York, when he was starting out. Have you heard this? That he would. Would step out on the stage, and within 20, 30 seconds, if he didn't like the crowd, he'd say, oh, off and leave. Literally his set would just decide that these people weren't worth it, or they weren't laughing hard enough, and he would just dismiss them and walk out. That's Larry David.
- [60:32]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah. Yeah.
- [60:33]
Ted Danson
In a nutshell.
- [60:34]
Woody Harrelson
Incredible.
- [60:35]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, I might do that.
- [60:37]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, you would do that.
- [60:37]
Ted Danson
I should see you doing that.
- [60:39]
Michael Whitehall
If I ever did something, things like that, I would definitely do that.
- [60:43]
Ted Danson
Michael, do you ever have an actor knew and you brought them up and then they got their first big job, huge job, became famous and they left you?
- [60:53]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah.
- [60:54]
Jack Whitehall
Yep.
- [60:54]
Ted Danson
Yeah. That's one of my big regrets in life. I had this wonderful agent that for years. Well, for about 10 years. And then. And Cheers hit and I moved on. And I felt like such a kind of shabby, typical Hollywood actor.
- [61:14]
Woody Harrelson
And you should.
- [61:16]
Ted Danson
I am the typical, shabby Hollywood actor.
- [61:20]
Woody Harrelson
I confess, Walking away from.
- [61:23]
Ted Danson
Did you try to talk him out of it or did you just say, buzz off?
- [61:28]
Michael Whitehall
What happened is, actually I rang an agent in LA who I was very fond of and told him what had happened about this actor and he said, ah, they come, they go, who called? That's all you need to go. When you come into your office, just say, they come, they go, who called? Because the next phone call could be you. Like my American accent incident?
- [61:57]
Jack Whitehall
It's better than your Irish one earlier.
- [61:58]
Michael Whitehall
Yes. So this guy, I got him a job in a film that Daniel Day Lewis was going to be playing the part, and then he decided that he didn't want to do the part, he wanted to do something else. Why am I keeping all this anonymous?
- [62:20]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, you literally banged on about him.
- [62:22]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah.
- [62:23]
Ted Danson
Slap down.
- [62:25]
Michael Whitehall
The guy's called Richard E. Grant.
- [62:30]
Woody Harrelson
The film with nail and I. With nail and I. Oh, my God, my favorite.
- [62:36]
Jack Whitehall
I love that film.
- [62:37]
Michael Whitehall
Daniel Day Lewis was going to do with Oi. And then he was offered a film in England, in America. He was then offered a film in America and he said, I'd really rather do the film in America, if that's all right. And I said, no, it's fine. I mean, I've only said yes very recently. So I'll get on to Bruce. Bruce Robinson and just say that you've had a. Well, Bruce Robinson didn't take it well. No, I mean, talk about the C word. I mean, I've never heard it used more often towards me, Daniel Day Lewis and everybody else. He was absolutely furious. Anyway, dissolve. And a couple of weeks later, he was auditioning people and I Met this guy called Richard E. Grant who had not done anything and I just thought he was quite interesting looking. So I rang Bruce and said how it's going with the recasting? And Bruce says, I'm never going to talk to you again. What you did to me, what you did to me with Danny Day Lewis. I know, he just talked him out of it. You wanted to make more money, more commission in America. You're just a fucking asshole. And I said, look, I'm just ringing to try and be helpful to you, Bruce. I've got this actor. And he said, so what's his name? And I said, richard E. Grant. He said, richard E. Grant. You made that fucking name up, haven't you? Just to get me annoyed. Richard E. Krant. It should probably be his name. You bastard. And I know what this is all about. It's Colin Firth free. I said, colin Firth is completely wrong for the part in Withnall I and you know it. And he's not available. Oh, typical of you. Now, what about Daniel Day Lewis? I said, no, don't go down. What about Daniel Day Lewis again? He's doing another meeting. He's actually working on it now. Now, will you see Richard E. Grant? He said, all right, I will, and slammed the phone down. Then Richard went, met them, had did four, five auditions and recalls and everything. And then finally he was off of the part. And then of course, Bruce was all, oh, Michael, thank you so much. And I think this boy is wonderful and blah, blah, blah. And I thought, here I am, I'm going to get a huge amount of satisfaction. Thanks. Everything from Richard for having got him the part. No, he moved almost straight away. Yeah.
- [65:27]
Woody Harrelson
Wow.
- [65:29]
Jack Whitehall
But it's fine. He's out.
- [65:31]
Michael Whitehall
But by the way, I'm so psyched.
- [65:33]
Woody Harrelson
To hear that you were the one who had the idea of Richard E. Grant, because I can't imagine anyone else doing that part.
- [65:41]
Jack Whitehall
He's amazing in that part. And you think about Daniel Day Lewis, who is an incredible actor, but you can't even picture him doing that. Picture him.
- [65:46]
Michael Whitehall
And with nail, Richard Griffith was saying that.
- [65:52]
Woody Harrelson
I was going to bring it.
- [65:53]
Michael Whitehall
Up earlier because of that.
- [65:55]
Woody Harrelson
That's one of my favorite comedies of all time. Even, you know, Sorry about you and Bruce.
- [66:01]
Michael Whitehall
Not me. No, it was, it was a fantastic. It wasn't hugely successful at the time, but has just become cult classic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [66:13]
Jack Whitehall
It's the perfect acid test as well. Whenever I show it to someone, I'm like, if you like with Nell and I, then we can be friends. It's like the movie I go to.
- [66:21]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah. Conversely, if you don't like it, I don't think.
- [66:26]
Jack Whitehall
Exactly.
- [66:27]
Woody Harrelson
I want to ask you because you.
- [66:29]
Michael Whitehall
Are a podcaster, so I didn't know what a podcast was. I know a lot of people will say that's made up, but I promise you it wasn't. A year ago, we were asked to do a podcast, my charming wife Hillary and I. And I said, what the fuck is a podcast? And they told me, and I thought, I don't want to do that. I mean, what, are people listening? Are they. And they said, yeah, of course they're listening. I said, what do they listen on? They're not on the radio? No. On their phones. On their phones.
- [67:03]
Ted Danson
Ridiculous.
- [67:04]
Michael Whitehall
And I said, I promise you. And anyway, so then this company called. It's a little company in Leicester Square Global. Yes. Used to be next door to the. Well, it still is next. Sort of the OD in Leicester Square, which was the place to go for the big movies. I mean, I've seen a lot of both of your movies premiere.
- [67:30]
Ted Danson
That was sweet. Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.
- [67:34]
Michael Whitehall
And so we said, yes, we do it. And it's basically just Hillary and me whittering with each other. I can't remember half of my stories. I don't even know most of the time where I am or what I'm doing. So she drives the thing along and has got all these followers now. And we even did one in very near your charming club in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago. So, yeah, it's doing very well.
- [68:12]
Ted Danson
So you do them live?
- [68:14]
Michael Whitehall
No, it's just us. It's just literally Hilary and I chatting.
- [68:18]
Ted Danson
Oh, so you were in a studio near the.
- [68:20]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, that's right. We went to a studio.
- [68:22]
Jack Whitehall
But there's a lot of very indiscreet stories. And now I will sometimes be made aware of the stories that you've been telling on your podcast because it will end up in newspapers and you get Google alerts.
- [68:34]
Michael Whitehall
I would never.
- [68:35]
Jack Whitehall
Airing our dirty laundry in public. In my conception, like the explosive nappies that I used to have as a child. There was one used to put tape. Yeah, okay. No, we've heard that story that so many times. You were talking about how I got busted watching pornography on the Sky Television device, and I'd left it on. And then I tried to blame my brother. And you were talking about all of this on the podcast. And then I discover. Because then there's like a news story about me, my parents, talking about the time that I watch porn at Home. And I'm like, nothing is sacred now.
- [69:09]
Ted Danson
And Because I like the way you phrase that. The time.
- [69:14]
Woody Harrelson
The time. You got five.
- [69:15]
Jack Whitehall
The time. Exactly. I was normally so careful. Such a stealthy masturbator one time.
- [69:28]
Michael Whitehall
There are other topics.
- [69:31]
Jack Whitehall
There are other topics.
- [69:32]
Michael Whitehall
I think you're slightly over cooking. It's very sweet.
- [69:37]
Ted Danson
Are you enjoying doing a podcast?
- [69:39]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah, it's great. Yeah, me too, because Hillary does all the work. She's got all the stuff.
- [69:44]
Jack Whitehall
I can tell. That's how this dynamic works. Ted's there, like, studious, prepping for every single show, doing the research, and then.
- [69:53]
Ted Danson
He sweeps in, sweeps in.
- [69:57]
Jack Whitehall
Who's this? We're talking to you today? Some guy with his doofus son. Yeah, I'll be able to wing it.
- [70:04]
Michael Whitehall
No, we're loving doing it. We like podcasts, and someone else around this table did a podcast for a bit, but. But they seem to run out of steam rather quickly because, well, how could.
- [70:17]
Ted Danson
You fit anything more in? It seems like you have your hands in every pot.
- [70:21]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, I did a bit of podcasting. I enjoy podcasting, but, yeah, it's great. It's that you forget that you're being recorded, as I think we've proven in the last hour.
- [70:33]
Ted Danson
And as long as you don't listen back to. You're fine.
- [70:35]
Jack Whitehall
Absolutely fine.
- [70:36]
Ted Danson
You guys are so sweet to come in. Who asked you? Did you ask?
- [70:41]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah.
- [70:41]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah.
- [70:42]
Ted Danson
Well, thank you.
- [70:42]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah, thank you so much.
- [70:43]
Ted Danson
Thank you. This is a pleasure to meet you.
- [70:46]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah. Really huge.
- [70:47]
Woody Harrelson
So cool, you guys.
- [70:48]
Ted Danson
Thank you very much at you. You're a delight. You really are.
- [70:52]
Michael Whitehall
Well, he's cool. Thank you. Lovely meet you.
- [70:56]
Jack Whitehall
And when we head to LA next, heading to the woods, you know.
- [71:00]
Woody Harrelson
You got it.
- [71:00]
Ted Danson
Call me.
- [71:01]
Jack Whitehall
Yeah. Are you up for that?
- [71:02]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah.
- [71:03]
Jack Whitehall
Visiting Woody's dispensary.
- [71:06]
Ted Danson
Gummies? You don't have gummies Or CBD or any of that. Nothing for your aches and pains?
- [71:12]
Michael Whitehall
No.
- [71:13]
Jack Whitehall
You serve tea at the woods?
- [71:15]
Michael Whitehall
I don't.
- [71:16]
Woody Harrelson
Yeah, yeah, just a little tea.
- [71:17]
Michael Whitehall
Little tea.
- [71:18]
Woody Harrelson
Tea at the woods.
- [71:19]
Jack Whitehall
It's like a tea room.
- [71:20]
Michael Whitehall
Oh, really?
- [71:21]
Ted Danson
Yeah.
- [71:21]
Michael Whitehall
Oh, yeah, the place I went to. Yes, it was very nice.
- [71:24]
Ted Danson
Yeah.
- [71:25]
Michael Whitehall
See? Yeah, it was sweet.
- [71:27]
Ted Danson
I met Paul McCartney there.
- [71:29]
Michael Whitehall
Yeah.
- [71:31]
Jack Whitehall
Amazing.
- [71:31]
Ted Danson
Bye, you guys. Thank you so much.
- [71:34]
Michael Whitehall
Bye.
- [71:42]
Ted Danson
That was Jack and Michael Whitehall talking with me and Woody in London last year. Check out all five seasons of Travels with my father on Netflix. You will love them, I guarantee it. Special thanks to voxpod Studios in London for hosting our podcast and to our friends at Team Coco, if you haven't already, please subscribe on your favorite podcast app and give us a great rating and review on Apple Podcasts. If you have a mind to means a lot. We'll have more for you next week. Where everybody knows your name. Happy Holidays.
- [72:20]
Michael Whitehall
You've been listening to Where Everybody Knows.
- [72:21]
Ted Danson
Yous Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson Sometimes.
- [72:25]
Michael Whitehall
The show is produced by me, Nick Leo.
- [72:28]
Ted Danson
Executive producers are Adam Sachs, Colin Anderson.
- [72:30]
Jack Whitehall
Jeff Ross and myself.
- [72:32]
Ted Danson
Sarah Fedorovich is our supervising Producer.
- [72:35]
Michael Whitehall
Our Senior Producer is Matt Apodaca.
- [72:37]
Ted Danson
Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with.
- [72:39]
Michael Whitehall
Support from Eduardo Perez, research by Alyssa.
- [72:41]
Ted Danson
Grohl Talent booking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista.
- [72:45]
Michael Whitehall
Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson.
- [72:47]
Ted Danson
Antony Genn, Mary Steenburgen and John Osborne. Special thanks thanks to Willy Navarre. We'll have more for you next time. Where everybody knows your name Hell's gates are open. Get ready to save humanity in Diablo, Vessel of Hatred. Continue the saga and carve your own path through Sanctuary's cursed lands with massive updates to character progression difficulties and loot systems for powerful demon slaying action. Unleash fierce skills as you embark on an immersive campaign. Tackle new co op dungeons and team up with allies using the new party finder. Hell awaits you. Save 35% off Diablo 4 and Vessel of Hatred today in the Diablo 4 expansion bundle. Rated M for Mature.
- [73:32]
Jack Whitehall
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Michael Whitehall
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Jack Whitehall
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Michael Whitehall
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Jack Whitehall
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Michael Whitehall
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