Kelsey Grammer

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson (sometimes)" – Episode Featuring Kelsey Grammer

Release Date: October 23, 2024

---

Introduction

In this heartfelt episode of "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", hosts Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson reunite with their longtime friend and esteemed colleague, Kelsey Grammer. The trio delves deep into their shared past on the iconic sitcom "Cheers", explores Grammer's illustrious career, and navigates through personal stories that have shaped their lives over the decades.

---

Revisiting "Cheers" and Early Careers

The conversation kicks off with nostalgic reflections on their time together on "Cheers", a show that not only defined their early careers but also cemented an unbreakable bond among them.

• Ted Danson reminisces:
  "The bond is so thick that as soon as you sit down, you know, it's like 40 years ago and like we hadn't missed a beat." [02:54]

• Kelsey Grammer adds humorously about the dynamics:
  "We came here, we were basketball players or so we thought." [31:57]

Kelsey Grammer's Career Journey

Grammer shares insights into his expansive career, highlighting his work in theater, film, and literature. The discussion touches upon his dedication to his craft and the versatility that has made his body of work so remarkable.

• Ted Danson acknowledges Grammer's versatility:
  "Compared to the body of your work is just astounding." [02:28]

Personal Anecdotes and Stories

The trio engages in a series of entertaining and poignant stories from their past, illustrating the depth of their friendship and the myriad experiences they've shared.

• Kelsey Grammer recounts a memorable sailboat incident:
  "I just froze. And I thought, what could I possibly say? I had the boat for 25 years. So I just bit it and turned around and looked her in the eye and I said, yes." [04:17]

• Woody Harrelson shares a humorous encounter:
  "I saved his life the other day. Came in wounded from a... I heard something about this." [32:54]

Family, Tragedies, and Resilience

Grammer opens up about significant personal tragedies, including the loss of his father and sister, and how these events influenced his life and work. He discusses the healing power of creativity and his upcoming book, "Karen", which delves into his family history and personal struggles.

• Grammer reflects on his father's tragic death:
  "He taught a lot of fairly famous reggae guys and calypso music... he was killed by a taxi cab driver." [13:51]

• Ted Danson questions the impact of these losses:
  "Do you think there's any sense of finding harbor in creativity because of having to deal with...?" [12:14]

Faith, Spirituality, and Healing

A profound segment of the podcast is dedicated to discussing faith and spirituality. Grammer's upbringing in Christian Science and his transformative spiritual experiences are explored, highlighting how they provided solace during his darkest times.

• Grammer shares a pivotal spiritual moment:
  "I had this wild moment on a plane where Jesus is sitting down right next to me and talking to me. It was undeniably true and real and reassuring and uplifting." [59:35]

• Woody Harrelson connects his own spiritual journey:
  "I read Autobiography of a Yogi and I was like, Paravana Yogananda is either a fraud and a total fake, or he's exactly what he appears to me." [67:32]

Current Projects and Future Endeavors

The discussion shifts to Grammer's current work, including the "Frasier" reboot, where he continues to portray his beloved character with the same brilliance that fans have adored for decades. The hosts commend his ability to adapt and thrive in new projects.

• Grammer expresses enthusiasm for the "Frasier" reboot:
  "We've hit some stuff that I thought we might hit, but it happened faster than I anticipated." [44:09]

Reflections on Friendship and Legacy

As the episode draws to a close, the trio reflects on the enduring nature of their friendship and the legacy of "Cheers". They express gratitude for the opportunities the show provided and the lasting impact it has had on their lives and careers.

• Grammer encapsulates their bond:
  "It was such an amazing platform for us to jump off into life and it was fun to reminisce." [74:13]

• Ted Danson shares a heartfelt thank you:
  "I had the best hour and a half that I've had in weeks. It was just so sweet." [73:18]

---

Conclusion

This episode serves as a touching reunion of three iconic figures in television history. Through candid conversations and shared memories, Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, and Kelsey Grammer offer listeners an intimate glimpse into their lives beyond the spotlight. The discussions underscore the importance of friendship, resilience, and the enduring power of shared experiences.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Ted Danson:
  "The bond is so thick that as soon as you sit down, you know, it's like 40 years ago and like we hadn't missed a beat." [02:54]

• Kelsey Grammer:
  "How did you do that, man? I don't know. You know what? I was just. That beachcomber thing." [32:28]

• Woody Harrelson:
  "I read Autobiography of a Yogi and I was like, Paravana Yogananda is either a fraud and a total fake, or he's exactly what he appears to me." [67:32]

• Kelsey Grammer:
  "I was thrown out for a reason, though. I think it was because I wasn't going to acting class." [18:26]

• Ted Danson:
  "I wish I feel like I got stuck a little bit with you during the Cheers years." [41:46]

---

This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting the key discussions, personal stories, and emotional revelations shared by the hosts and their guest, Kelsey Grammer. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to their work, this episode offers valuable insights into the lives of three beloved actors.

Transcript

[Ted Danson]

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 guest, 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 1888 NCL cruise restrictions apply.

[Woody Harrelson]

I certainly used to love partying with you.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, yeah, we had some fun.

[Ted Danson]

I was way too chicken. Welcome back to where everybody knows your name. Today on the show, Woody and I had the joy of speaking with a beloved colleague, Kelsey Grammer. Haven't sat down and talked to him for years. And Woody's in Budapest at the moment shooting a film, but he was able to zoom in. I mean, that's the amazing thing about Cheers. It was so much fun to do and it was, you know, the beginning of our careers, basically, all of us. And we shared so many experiences and so many laughs. The bond is so thick that as soon as you sit down, you know, it's like 40 years ago and like we hadn't missed a beat. So I've had the best day talking to them. Frasier fans rejoice. Season two of the Frasier reboot is streaming now on Paramount. Here they are, Woody Harrelson and Kelsey Grammer. It's so strange. Here we are, we, the three of us, spent what, eight, at least eight years together.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. I was on the show for nine. Woods came in the third year. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And every day making each other giggle, laugh, sharing our lives and. I know. What about you? Really? Well, I mean.

[Kelsey Grammer]

No, I mean, but I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Compared to the body of your work is just astounding.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

Theater, films, the work.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, all that. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Books.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, Books. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Anyway, we should reminisce first.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, we should. I mean, I remember. Well, you were a theater guy.

[Ted Danson]

No.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Weren't you?

[Ted Danson]

I tried to be a theater guy.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Wasn't. Didn't Kathy McGrath do cheers once? And weren't you in a production with her previously? I remember that because I'd done some Shakespeare with her. So we were old pals when she came and did Cheers. But it was just so funny. We had a, you know, we had a bit of a relationship on and off again. But just recently we watched the rerun and Kate said, you know, how do you know her? Here we go again. You know, indictment, 35 years before, it just never goes away.

[Ted Danson]

And my go to is to immediately get embarrassed and lie.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I just. I realized that wasn't gonna do me any good, you know, it just never does. Oh, I'm just riffing out. It's a similar story. You know, I used to have a sailboat. I used to have it during Cheers and definitely during Fraser, and went sailing all the time. I'd go twice a week when we were in the beginning years of Fraser. And when I met Kate, I finally said, you gotta come see the boat. It's my pride and joy. And so I took her down to the marina and stepped aboard, and I said, come on, babe. You know, step on board. And I helped her up. I went and pulled the hatch open and slid it forward and went down the ladder and stepped into the cockpit or down below in the galley. And from behind me, I hear a voice that says, have you ever had sex on this boat? I just froze. And I thought, what could I possibly say? I had the boat for 25 years. So I just bit it and turned around and looked her in the eye and I said, yes. And she said, well, then I'm not going out on it.

[Ted Danson]

Hey.

[Kelsey Grammer]

So I sold the boat. But, you know, more power to her. Yeah, it was the right thing.

[Ted Danson]

You guys are together and having many kids for a good reason.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yes, exactly.

[Ted Danson]

She sets some boundaries.

[Kelsey Grammer]

She's the sacred relationship I was looking for.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, it is great. I will say about Kate, it's like. It's like finding the holy grail. Just like Teddy. It's like Jimmy. Like you guys, you know, you had some. Oh, yeah, sometimes as well. And then you just hit the jackpots, you know, Debbie and Mary and.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks, buddy.

[Ted Danson]

Laura in there.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And Laura, too. We watched. We watched Back to the Future 3 last night at home with the kids. Ah, yeah. Saw Mary, of course.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You know, hanging off of a steam engine.

[Ted Danson]

She was so proud of that moment because she did all of the stunt right up until the transfer.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

Smart. Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You know, it's like, you know, that would have been foolish.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That's good. She's lovely in it. She's so good in it. They're wonderful in that movie, you know, the two of them. The love is really something. It's really wonderful to see.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, he's. And just because you didn't say his name, I just totally blanked on his name. Lloyd. Lloyd.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Christopher. Lloyd. Christopher. Lloyd.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. That's so funny. We should Just talk about co stars and see if all three of us have worked with them.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, you know what? Actually that's not a bad idea. I bet we cross in quite a few places, but Christopher Lloyd and I are actually related.

[Ted Danson]

Did you do follow your roots, Find your roots?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Kate punches it in once in a while, you know, people who are related to other people. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And because I did do that show who do youo Think youk Are?

[Ted Danson]

Right. With Lisa.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, yeah. They got my 23. You know, they got em right. So it. It keeps coming up. It goes all the way back. Christopher Lloyd's in there. Meghan Markle's in there. Henry VIII is in there. It's pretty funny. It goes way back. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

You and I, once you connect into either church or royalty, the paper trail goes forever.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, it's huge. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That's our latest.

[Ted Danson]

If you're like Mary, who's. She did find your roots. And her big thing wasn't, God, I hope we don't have slavery in our family. Which was at that time was a. People were ducking that like crazy. But hers was, oh, dear God, don't let me be boring. And the first thing, first thing came out was, do you know what your great grandfather did?

[Kelsey Grammer]

No.

[Ted Danson]

No. And you're on camera, so you have to get excited. No, what? He was a woodchopper.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Ah, that's about it.

[Ted Danson]

She's going, shoot me now.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That's pretty good.

[Ted Danson]

It got better. It got better. That's funny. Yeah. Woody, what are you eating, buddy? You're on camera. You know, we can see you.

[Woody Harrelson]

Just go see that? I'll stop right now. Stopping right now, Daddy.

[Kelsey Grammer]

So do you enjoy paprikash over there? You enjoying the paprika? I mean, the Hungarians are really good at it.

[Woody Harrelson]

The paprika.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. You know, Hungarian paprikash is, you know, it's paprika. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

But it's mostly on meat.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Red pepper. Yeah, mostly on meat. Oh, that's right. He's doing the raw. Well, you should still use the spice, buddy. You know, it's local spots.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, I'm. I can't wait to get some of that straight away.

[Ted Danson]

All right.

[Woody Harrelson]

Just for fun, because people together. I wish I was there.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I wish you were too.

[Woody Harrelson]

Hey, can I. Can I go back to. Because, you know, I didn't know until I was researching that you went to this, this preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, and that's where you started singing and dancing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That's right. Pine Crest. Yeah. Pine Crest Preparatory School.

[Ted Danson]

At age. At age what, 14?

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. So tell me about it. What was it? How was it? And, I mean, was it, like, hard to get in And.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I don't. I don't actually know. I was used to. I was a smart kid when I was little. You know, when I was younger, I, you know, put that to rest after I reached adulthood. But my grades were always good. I was always in the honor roll when I was a boy, so it was easy for me to get into those kind of places. And I had a pretty good record. In fact, when I came from New Jersey, I went to sixth grade in New Jersey at a place called Rumson Country Day School, and that was a year ahead of Pine Crest. So when I got to seventh grade, I basically coasted for a year. And that may have been a mistake, but in eighth grade, a guy came to school named Richard Mitten was his name. Fabulous guy. He's no longer with us, but he walked into every classroom and he said, I want every boy in here to come and audition for a choir. So we all thought, well, what the hell, okay? And went in, and most of the boys sang yesterday. All my trouble seems so far away. And we'd come out and he said, what's your voice? And he said, oh, you're a lyric tenor or you're this. And I was a bass baritone. So that was when I started singing. And we started a thing. There was a thing called the Singing Pines because of Pine Crest. So we wore tuxedos and roughly, you know, frilly little shirts and stuff. And at one point, they. They. We rescinded the hair code because I was on the 10th grade student council, and we. We got rid of the hair coat, so we all grew our hair out. But then the next year, a new guy came in and said the hair coat was reinstated. So I asked if they would mind if I wore a wig, and they said, well, no, as long as the collar. You know, the hair doesn't go over the collar. So I bought. I went down and bought a Jane Fonda wig, which was basically the haircut from Barbarella. And I took it home, and I cut off the back of it, and I wore it over my. Over my hair. I put it in a ponytail and put it on top of my head, stick the wig on top of that. And they weren't embarrassed to have me walking around looking like that. So I wasn't embarrassed either. It was pretty awful.

[Ted Danson]

You came from music, right? I mean, your mom.

[Kelsey Grammer]

My mom and dad were musicians.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, and your father was a musician. So Was that not foreign to you? Were you around that? Did you.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, you know, my mom had us play, do some piano lessons when we were pretty young. Took us to tennis lessons, swimming. We used to swim a lot. Pinecrest was a big swimming school, and I started swimming there, and I did the diving team for a while, but it was a huge school. It was a school where the coach of the women's Olympic team was the coach there. And he was. He was a big deal. Jack Nelson. We had a kid there, Andy something, who was the first swimmer to prove that the butterfly was actually faster than the crawl, which was amazing. And he set, like, state and world records for a while. So it was a school of overachievers. It was a great place to go to school, honestly. And then I got, you know, I went to Juilliard, out of there, and they were all very impressed at that. And of course, I got thrown out, and they were all very sad about that.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, you got thrown out for a reason, though. Can we back up just a little bit?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

I know you're writing a book about some of the tragedy in your life, in your family, which we can talk about or not later, but you had a lot going on as a kid in your family.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Did. Well, do you think there's any sense of finding harbor in creativity because of having to deal with.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Good question.

[Ted Danson]

Divorce and death and all of that?

[Kelsey Grammer]

What's great is, I mean, I did finish the book on my sister. It's just called Karen, and it'll be published pretty soon. We're working on the final draft and some pictures now.

[Ted Danson]

Well, Manchin, do you want to talk about it now, or is that all right? Sure.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So I stepped away from that. Right now I just have to do some notes that they're going to try to give me. But, I mean, I'm pretty, you know, recalcitrant. I'm not going to really change the book a lot at this point, but it does cover most of the stuff that you're asking about. And so in the early days, yeah, my mom and dad divorced when I was two and a half. Basically, I moved in with my grandfather, Gordon. He was my light in the book. I actually discover, as I've never really quite enumerated it. I've never really said that. I actually came here, I think, for my grandfather to be his son. And I was. And that was great. But then, of course, he died when I was 12, and that was a. That was a big, big hit that. That took the air right out of us. And then a couple of years later, that was the year we actually started at Pine Crest. And then a couple years later, my dad got shot. And I didn't really know him very well. I'd gotten to know him a little.

[Ted Danson]

Bit as a young adult or. When you.

[Kelsey Grammer]

When I was 12. When I was 12, just after Gordon died. Gordon's my granddad. My dad got.

[Woody Harrelson]

Was that political? That was a political. I always thought that, you know what it was, honestly, insufficient government.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, he was. He was a bit of a loudmouth, I guess you could say. He had a radio show down in the Virgin Islands and he taught a lot of fairly famous reggae guys and calypso music. Guys gave him music lessons. But he was killed by a taxi cab driver who. It was a couple days after Martin Luther King was shot. And so there was a political overtone to it. Where are we?

[Ted Danson]

What's the good target?

[Kelsey Grammer]

St. Thomas, U.S. virgin Islands. But I heard years later that they actually drew straws who was going to kill him. It was that sort of a strange, you know, grouping there. There's a. There's a. They, they. I don't know the full story of it. There's the Arawaks and the Caribs down in. Down in the Virgin Islands and in the. In that Caribbean area, some are. One side apparently was always very violent, and the other side was always very peaceful. But so once in a while, every few years, there's kind of like a surge in whatever it is. I mean, maybe it's bigger than us. Maybe it's some sort of rhythmic tide that comes into people's beings and then they. They go on a bit of a rampage and maybe he got swept off some of that. My buddy John Miller's dad was shot in St. Croix one year on a golf course. It was a famous incident, but, you know, they took a machine gun and killed, like three golfers. It was just, you know, it's just odd stuff.

[Ted Danson]

Right? Wow. So you were with your mom at that point?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Mom and Gam and Karen? Yeah, yeah, my three. The three women.

[Ted Danson]

And even though you had just kind of reunited with your dad.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. It was really only the one meeting. We saw him for one dinner just about six months before he was killed.

[Ted Danson]

Can you think back to that? 12 year old, 13 year old. I mean, I put my adult brain and go, oh, my God, what a hit to my life. Who I am, or what does this mean about life? Was there. Did you put weight other than the tragedy of losing your father? Did it start to inform you in some way, or did you?

[Kelsey Grammer]

No, no. You know, what did happen was I was a math student. I was really good at math. And then the death of Gordon and the subsequent loss of my dad and stuff like that. It just seemed like those were the turning points for me to start moving toward art. I do think that happened as a result of that. Let me turn that off.

[Ted Danson]

Is that another job?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, just bad news. More bad news. Never stop. But it was. That turned me toward art. Shakespeare turned me toward art. The first time I read Julius Caesar. Turned me toward the idea that, you know, there's a way to sort of endure the whips and scorns of time, you know, and. And do it with dignity. And that was, you know, whatever. Digging. Whatever dignity I've been able to muster.

[Ted Danson]

But tons, my friend.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thank you. But woods knows. Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, I mean, it just seemed like an unnatural amount of calamity, you know?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

Between.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

There.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Was that.

[Woody Harrelson]

Your half brothers.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Early death. Yeah. My half brother's in a shark attack. That was strange. Yeah. That was in the Virgin Islands, too. And they. Of course, the city. They went and caught a bunch of sharks after that. And there was one of them they caught that actually fit the bite marks, fit the scarring on their diving equipment. And they didn't want to know about it, so they covered it up, you know. They didn't because it's tourism, you know, but I've got a letter about that.

[Ted Danson]

And. Were you close with them?

[Kelsey Grammer]

No, no, no. I hardly knew them. I got to know them a little bit when. When Gordon died. Afterward. When. During that visit. And then they came up and visited once after dad was gone.

[Ted Danson]

Right.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And I was the oldest child, so I sort of. Sort of filled in a little bit of a male presence thing for them a little bit, but not really.

[Ted Danson]

And your sister was alive when you're. When you're.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Karen was with us. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

She died just before she turned 19.

[Ted Danson]

And you were how.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I was 20.

[Ted Danson]

So you were Juilliard or.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I've been a Julia. Just got thrown out.

[Ted Danson]

Now, but. All right. Before we get to Karen, if that's okay. Yeah, that's fine. You say that with a good laugh. So why did you get thrown out?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I'm still trying to figure it out. I think it was because I wasn't going to acting class.

[Ted Danson]

Being in acting school maybe, though. Why. Why weren't you?

[Kelsey Grammer]

I didn't really like the guy that was teaching the class because it seemed to me he was a lot more interested in the girls in the Class than the boys. And I thought, well, you know what? Okay, I'm not going to cast its versions past that. I've actually talked about this in the book some. He taught me a couple of things, quite by chance, that stayed with me, which is kind of fascinating. And I've written about that in the book. So the book about Karen is basically about me as well. Our time, sort of our corresponding time together and in the same lane and in our different lanes until, of course, she was taken, but. And how I have carried her ever since. And that's really what the book is about. I discovered a lot of things I.

[Ted Danson]

Didn'T know but say more about carried her.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Carried her with me. She's been with me in my heart ever since then. Always. All things were about Karen in a lot of ways. My ability to move on in life was hindered by the loss of her. But also my sense of sticking with things was also colored by the fact that Karen had been taken and that I wasn't going to quit. It was due in large part to some of her. Some of our story together. We were really close. We were a close brother and sister, maybe made closer by the fact that Gordon died so young. I didn't. Half the things I got to discover in writing the book was. And it was a great. It's been two and a half years I wrote, I worked on. It was how connected she was to other people in the family. And I had actually had the, you know, the arrogance of my own story. You know, it was always like, oh, I. I lost Gordon. And I realized for the first time, well, so did she. And that was a. That was a great discovery for me because they were closer than any two people I've ever seen in my life. And that was a. It was a beautiful thing to see. And then it was a. It was also beautiful to understand that it must have really, really broken her, too. And that was a. That was a hard time for both of us.

[Ted Danson]

What's the name of the book? Do you have one yet? Karen?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Just Karen.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. And that's. I don't know, months before it's ready to publish.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Honestly, I don't know what they're waiting for.

[Ted Danson]

Writing. It's.

[Woody Harrelson]

It's like. It's really cool that you taken this journey because I know for myself, I tend to anything that's, you know, too hot an issue. I just try to avoid it at all costs.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

I admire you for.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks, buddy. Thanks, man.

[Woody Harrelson]

Just doing this, dude. It's amazing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks, man. Thanks. It was a Great experience for me. It was really wonderful and my wife was really supportive of it. You know, I'd walk in, I mean, for a while I was like, not available. I mean, through some of it. And she'd say, what are you doing? I said, you know, and she'd say, okay, you do what you gotta do.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And. But I could always pull myself out a couple hours a day was what I was doing. And then I'd be with the kids and working some.

[Ted Danson]

Right. Well, you amaze me because not everybody gets hit in life with as many really earth shattering stuff that you have. And I know you went through a period where we all knew you, where I guess it was, you could say, or is it trite to say self medicating?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, I think that's probably right. I think it's just a selfish. I was engineering escape is really what it was. I mean, medicating. Yeah, it was more, it was more radical than medicating.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was radical.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And listen, some of the stories are great stories. I mean, I had a wonderful time in the midst of it, which is kind of extraordinary because that sort of lust for life thing is part of what drove it as well. But you know, then you realize, well, there's only so many of these you can keep doing without just, finally just collapsing. And yeah, I got pretty close on a collapse.

[Ted Danson]

That's how we grew to know and love you partly during that period, which when you say it wasn't all bad or whatever, it was magnificent from my vantage point, you know, speaking.

[Woody Harrelson]

And I used to, I certainly used to love partying with you.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh yeah, we had some fun.

[Ted Danson]

I was way too chicken.

[Woody Harrelson]

But you know, I remember. Do you remember that time we went to Idaho?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Absolutely. I was just thinking about it. No, because I was in, I was in, I went, I relieved myself just before I came in. And honestly, as I was sitting there, I thought to myself, I remember that time in the men's room in McCall, Idaho with Woody. And I was talking about how beautiful America is and how wonderful Americans are and how they embrace the extraordinary. We are a group of people that love exceptional behavior and that's who we are. I mean, and I was, I remember talking about Olga Corbett, this little kid from Romania, wherever she was from, comes in and blows people against the first 10 in the history of the Olympics in gymnastics. And America loved her.

[Woody Harrelson]

What was her name? Nadia Kamanich.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, comin was it? Comin was first.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Okay. But yeah, anyway, it was the first.

[Woody Harrelson]

One to get the 10, but it.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Was just amazing, you know, And I. And I realized this. This. This sort of monologue that I delivered from. From the Throne on this day with. With Woods. We were in some club somewhere and it was just. It was just a magnificent memory for me. And then, you know, you. I mean, just the greatest time.

[Woody Harrelson]

So it was so fun.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

We were actually gone, Teddy, I don't know if you remember, because there was someone connected to Cheers, the sound guy.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Cheers, yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

And he was doing a radio station and he said, we come do an interview and blah, blah, blah. Of course we come guns blazing, barreled into Idaho. We were going hard. And. And they know how to go hard in Idaho. But I do remember that in the bathroom so well, because I remember at the time I was so upset about America and all the. I mean, you gotta separate America, the people from America, the government, which. The government's properties. They never cease to amaze me. But then, you know, when we were there, you know, I was conflating everything and you were like, no, America, Americans. You know, and that speech had a huge impact on me.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I still believe that about us, you know, I really do.

[Ted Danson]

Me too.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And I just. I just. I follow the goodness. I've been doing this sort of. He's called an angel healer, this guy. And just recently in one of our sessions, he. He said, well, I asked the angels one time, I asked him, you know, what's the ratio and of really, really crappy people.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

To really good people. And he said, Honestly, it's about 70, 30, which is, you know, 70 is good. That sounds about right. And we both sort of laughed a little bit and said, I've spent a lot of time with the 30s. It's because 30s are drawn to people of great passion and success. And, you know, and we arguably have all sustained that, you know, or achieve that. And the 30s are around in these areas and they're often.

[Woody Harrelson]

You used to hang out. Very questionable fuss.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I had a good bastard. Yeah, I had a good batch. Just about two steps ahead of the law.

[Ted Danson]

And, you know, I'm listening to you and I feel like people can see that I'm actually wearing a nun's habit because I am so. I am so safe in my world. I go, oh, no, no, no, no, thanks. I'll catch up with you later. I'll meet you in Idaho. But I won't actually get on the plane.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, I always thought you should have been on the plane once in a while.

[Ted Danson]

No, I should have.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I've heard some good things in the world, you know.

[Ted Danson]

Good.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Some good stuff, you know. Yeah, yeah. And met great people too. But that's. I always believed in the 70. I always thought the 70 were.

[Ted Danson]

And you know, we are because the. Who you are is you're a flood comes through and. Or you're. No, you're having an argument about whether there's climate change or not. And then a flood comes through and everybody drops their point of view and rescues each other and has so human their bounty of love and caring and nurturing and they pull people out of the water. Don't ask each other what your politics are or what your belief system is.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Not at that time.

[Ted Danson]

But, you know, maybe we're getting there.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Maybe we're getting to where. Like, excuse me, before I pull you out of there, who'd you vote for? Oops, sorry. Let him go.

[Ted Danson]

When you're hiring for your small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just a job board. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching. 70% of users don't visit other leading job sites. If you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. LinkedIn knows that small businesses might not have the time or resources, so they're constantly finding ways to make the process easier. 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. They even just launched a feature that helps you write job descriptions, making the process even easier and quicker. Post your job for [e-mail] TedAndWoody that's LinkedIn.com TedAndWoody to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply for most of you in the country. The weather outside is getting a little bit chilly. Fall's coming. But I live in Southern California, so that's not really true. But I'll tell you something where I do this podcast. The little studio is freezing and I have found the solution. Quince has saved me. They have a cashmere sweater, a zip up cashmere sweater that is warm and cozy, beautiful to look at, and cost like about 50 to 80% less than similar products. I cannot wait to tell you about it. Okay, so Quint offers affordable, high quality essentials for any wardrobe. That's the copy. But once again, I can't tell you how excited I am with my Mongolian cashmere sweater. Zip up it's from $60. I'm going back for the pants anyway. Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices along with premium fabrics and finishes. And they partner with them directly, cutting out the cost of the middleman. So you can update your look without breaking the bank. Upgrade your wardrobe with pieces made to last with quince. Go to quince.com TedAndWoodie for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I N C E.com TedAndWoodie to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com TedAndWoody when you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, like Aloe or Allbirds or Skims or, I don't know, old DVDs of Cheers, you think about a great product, a cool brand and brilliant marketing. But an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business. That business is Shopify. All right, I'm going to make this sound like I know exactly what I'm saying, even though I may not know exactly what I'm saying. It is the home of the number one checkout on the planet with shop pay that boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts going abandoned and way more sales. So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell whenever your customers are scrolling or strolling. Businesses that want to grow grow with Shopify. Upgrade your business and get the same checkout we use with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial [e-mail] TedAndWoody all lowercase. Go to shopify.com TedAndWoody to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com TedAndWoody you know, one of my first going back a little bit to reminisce about Cheers, you showed up full blown as you know, Frasier Crane and you were just magnificent. Always were. But you walked in kind of like Woody. You both walked in and hit a home run the first time we saw you, you know, first time in the audience. But my personal memory of that time, those first we were basketball players or so we thought.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh yeah, I know, right?

[Ted Danson]

Perhaps Woody was. But we all, you know, thought of ourselves and we would play vicious basketball with each other right before we were supposed to run and start performing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

But you on this asphalt plain basketball court were barefoot.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

You played barefoot.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I grew up in Florida with the.

[Ted Danson]

Flattest shoes of feet I've ever seen in my life.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I still have them.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah, dead flat.

[Ted Danson]

Flat.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Suction on wet Floors?

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

How did you do that, man?

[Kelsey Grammer]

I don't know. You know what? I was just. That beachcomber thing. Yeah. I mean, my feet were really tough back then. I mean, I'm still. I'm talking to a guy like, on Monday about getting my feet fixed. Finally.

[Ted Danson]

Here's another example of you two renegades. Renegades is your motorcycles. Oh, yeah, Both of you. Woody, who. I saved his life the other day. Came in wounded from a. I heard something about this. Very serious.

[Kelsey Grammer]

What the hell?

[Ted Danson]

But you.

[Woody Harrelson]

The last. The last vestige. Oh, there it is.

[Kelsey Grammer]

So did you land on your hand? Is that what happened? Did you just.

[Woody Harrelson]

I landed on this hand?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, man, that's tough.

[Ted Danson]

It would have been much worse.

[Woody Harrelson]

No, I tell you, I ended up very, very lucky, so I got it.

[Ted Danson]

But speaking of luck, you used to jump on your motorcycle, if I remember correctly, in shorts, a T shirt, and flip flops, absolutely no helmet, and roar off to work, where we were always about 15 minutes late.

[Kelsey Grammer]

About 15, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

But didn't you get run off the road once by somebody, was pissed off?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, God. Yeah. In New York City that happened. It happened a couple times around the country. I mean, across country a couple of times. There was one. One trucker I was drafting off of him. He didn't like me doing that, so he would. He would. He'd drive off into the. Into the shoulder a little bit and spray pebbles on my face, you know, 100 miles an hour. I thought, oh, this is fun. I actually. I actually saw him pull into a truck stop. I followed him. I walked up to him at the. At the. At the counter where he was having breakfast. Excuse me. I understand that you have an issue about this. I said, honestly, I'm trying to make the next couple hundred miles in as little stress as possible. Drafting off of you was really helping me. Would you mind if maybe we arranged this so we're both happy about it? And he said, no, okay, I'd be. I'd be glad to help you.

[Ted Danson]

Damn.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, that's that good part about Americans. That's what's in there.

[Woody Harrelson]

But by the way, yeah, that's good part about Americans. And you as an American, like, you know me, I just would have walked up and shout the guy, you know, or worse. And, you know, like, I love how you can. It's amazing how you can do that.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I love people a lot, and I love Americans. You know, this is the thing I really do love.

[Ted Danson]

That's the right way. I don't think maybe Woody's is The right way and mine certainly isn't. I would have gone up and apologized for getting the way of his gravel or something.

[Kelsey Grammer]

One time, Woody and I. Woody and I were in London. We went to some club. What was it called? Was it called the Palladium?

[Woody Harrelson]

No, it was the Hippodrome.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Hippodrome. Okay, so the Hippodrome. So woods and I are kind of trying to get in, and this girl says something about, I don't know what happened to. Sort of lit her off a little bit. But, you know, English people and Americans, we're still having trouble with that. But she looked at Woody and said, well, that's rude. And he said, oh, yeah? How's this for rude? And he grabs a handful of candies right in front of her and sort of throws them. And I said, oh, shit. And I saw these two huge, like, cockney guys start moving toward woods. And I said, we're out of here. Let's go. We gotta get down. Just decked them.

[Ted Danson]

What you didn't know is I was there and I came in after you guys and picked up all the candy and bought them some more and apologized for a few days.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It was lovely.

[Ted Danson]

I'm so fucked.

[Kelsey Grammer]

But we had fun there, too. I mean.

[Ted Danson]

All right, here's another. This is all things Kels, Okay? Here's one of the things about you that I hope is not as incredible as it used to be, because it would still piss me off. Your photographic memory of you would walk through rehearsals at Cheers with a script in your hand because you genuinely didn't know the lines up until then. You would go have dinner and you'd come back and we'd start performing, and it would be word, comma, perfect. And we all kind of marveled. How the fuck did you do that? And you would do it also when, if I might say, under the influence during that period. And you look like you couldn't possibly get through a performance. You turn around and come back and be astoundingly brilliant.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

But what is that brain thing? Are you. Photographic memory?

[Kelsey Grammer]

What is that? It's probably just a muscle that approximates photographic, but it's not. If I have to, I can get it in there. I still do it. I do it at Frasier now because, you know, you play the same character for so long like I have, and I just find it kind of more exciting to not be on book, to not know it, to sort of have a general idea. And because I played the role for so long now, I mean, I pick better words than Most of the guys can. And I trust that the process is going to actually spill out. The best result. If it's a really good joke and it's written really well, I'll remember it. If it's one that is, I can trust to approximation and then sort of wait for the creative spirit to strike in the midst of it. I do that. So it's a kind of improvisational memorization, but it does unnerve people. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

My definition of a well written joke is one that I can totally fuck up. And it's still funny.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It's still funny. That's actually good. That's about it. Yeah, that's a good definition.

[Woody Harrelson]

It was wild. How. I mean, I guess it's okay we broach the subject, but like, you used to be under the influence of all these things and still. And, and you know, you know how it would kind of get you in a high state of.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

And energized. Just nail it. Yeah, Energize.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, let's say energize and then you nail.

[Woody Harrelson]

It was like that's what he just did was actually impossible. Like, I don't, I don't understand how he could do that, you know, because.

[Ted Danson]

You didn't have this.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Huh.

[Ted Danson]

Teddy? We. Woody and I had the slow dumb joke. We were the slow dumb funny joke.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, yeah, that's true. No, Frazier had to have the.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, you were saying paragraphs of complicated shit and nailing it. You really were amazing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I like language, you know, that was always a strong point for me. So. Yeah, I guess. I mean, honestly, I did cocaine and booze, those are the two things I did. I never did anything else really. I mean, I was never into marijuana or, you know, some of the other stuff. So cocaine would jack you up, booze and slow you down. Somewhere in the middle is where I'd end up. But I always would go to bed. There were a couple of times when I stayed up all a couple nights and. But mostly I had. There was some sort of a governor that was saying, you gotta go to bed now, you gotta go to sleep, you gotta catch up, you gotta. I was still working out most of the time, so I stayed fairly robust even during a time of great sort of, you know, self. Self destruction.

[Woody Harrelson]

I have to, in fairness. In fairness, when you say you had this governor inside you saying, go to bed. You'd go to bed at 6:30 in the morning.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Dude, get a couple hours and go.

[Woody Harrelson]

Get a couple hours in and that's it.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Boom.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

It's funny, a lot of People who can get away with what you did have the constitution of an ox.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

I mean, your body. I know you had a moment where your body went, yo, you guys go calm down. No more.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You're right. Right? Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

But by and large, I mean, how old are you now?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Strong. 69.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah. I mean, you're a magnificent beast.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thank you, sir. Thank you. You really are.

[Woody Harrelson]

Do. Do you think it also had to do with.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I.

[Woody Harrelson]

Because I've always credited the way you would eat like you would. It would take you, you know, you'd be. Still be on your first, you know, first morsel when we were done with our food.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, that's true.

[Woody Harrelson]

Remember that, Teddy?

[Ted Danson]

I do, I do.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I always savored food.

[Woody Harrelson]

He used to eat so slow, no rush. And I just felt like that kind of helped you.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It probably did as well. It's a very good. Very, very observant. That's. I think that may actually be something. You may be onto something there. Yeah, I mean, I've. I've gone up and down with weight a little bit, but I think. I think mostly that was probably booze, actually. I think that was probably, you know, when my weight would balloon a little bit. It was like during a. I was on a traveling kind of spree. I was going to New York City a lot or whatever. I was in Manhattan. A little bit of debauchery, a little bit of food, maybe a little over indulgence in that kind of stuff as well. And then I picked up some weight and I finally thought, no, I'm gonna. So I weigh around 210 most of the time now. That's about where I like to be.

[Ted Danson]

So whatever it is, it's working.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks, buddy.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, I wish I make jokes and I swore to myself that I would not be the self deprecating guy, which is a problem I have. And I notice it on podcasts. It's like they spend hours trying to cut it out. But I. This isn't self deprecating, but it's. I wish I feel like I got stuck a little bit with you during the Cheers years. I have a memory of getting angry at you once.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, you came and told me that one day and it was good.

[Ted Danson]

Stuck in both of our memories. But I feel like. I don't know, I feel like a. I missed out on the last 30 years of Kelsey Grammer and I feel like it's my bad, my doing, and I almost feel like apologizing to you. No, I don't feel like I apologize to you and me. I Wish we'd sat back and didn't. And I really do apologize.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You said something wonderful to me though, too, that I quote to other people. When I turned 40, you came up and he said, you know what it means, don't you, now that you're 40? Means you're finally worth having a conversation with. That was fucking brilliant. I always loved that. And I thought. And I've repeated it, and my love for you has always been as easy as the day, as easy as the sunroof.

[Ted Danson]

Mine to you.

[Kelsey Grammer]

So whatever.

[Ted Danson]

What an amazing thing, that time we all spent together. You can go off in different directions. You can have different lives, but that bond, that love of making something really funny and really good and cracking each other up and going through life and still showing up. Like Jimmy said, I don't care what you crazy people do during the week, just show up on shoot night and be funny just once. That's all I need.

[Kelsey Grammer]

He recently said we were doing an interview together and he said I always had the. You got to have an ore in the water. I'd never heard him express this before, but he said, yeah, as long as everybody's got their ore in the water and they're pulling, then I'm happy. I thought, yeah, makes a lot of sense. And that's. We're still working together. I mean, we. He's done, you know, he does four shows of the last bunch and it's been. It's been great working with.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, yeah. He's like my daddy. Show business, really. Probably all of ours to some extent.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Good question.

[Woody Harrelson]

Well, my God, what a man. What a fucking guy.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Amazing.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah. So. So how many have you started on your second season?

[Kelsey Grammer]

We finished the second. We're, you know, so we've got 20 shows. I mean, it's so weird, this new sort of model of, you know, the streaming thing. 10 shows is all they kind of do.

[Woody Harrelson]

Oh, oh, you already did.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, we're finished.

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah, we finished second season. They're just 10 shows.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, yeah, it's a little. So it's kind of like finish in the first season. So what's been fun about it is I've gotten to stand back and watch a little bit and that cast is really coming together. They're really fun to watch. We've hit some stuff that I thought we might hit, but it happened faster than I anticipated. And the shows have been as good as anything I've ever done.

[Ted Danson]

What's that like? I mean, you have this template, two or three different templates for frasier Is it hard to let go of your expectations or memories of what it, you know, and compare it to others and let it be what it is?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, that's been easy for me.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, good.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. Cause this one, you know, I was, I was in the birthing room for this one, you know, I was, I was pulling the baby out of the.

[Ted Danson]

You know, so literally in the writer's room.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. So it's been really good. It's been really, really fun. And I still leave the writers mostly alone. But in the very first draft of the pilot, we did a lot of back and forth for that.

[Ted Danson]

Speaking of kids.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Spencer. Spencer, yeah, we all met. Spencer.

[Kelsey Grammer]

41 years old now. Kate.

[Ted Danson]

You remember my daughter Kate?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Of course.

[Ted Danson]

She's 44.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Same boat, right? Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

About to have a baby.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, good.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, good for her. Is this the first one?

[Woody Harrelson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, no kidding. Wow.

[Ted Danson]

Very exciting.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Oh, that's great. Well, it's great that people can have babies, you know, a little bit further along now. It's really lovely. And we had, honestly, Kate and I, we were pregnant three times before we had a baby that were just, you know, it was natural. And then we started to lose. We lost a couple babies and we thought, boy, this is tough. This is not good. So. But then, you know, God smiled on us and we had a beautiful girl named Faith, which is fantastic. You know, what did it. And then the two boys came along and the second, the second boy came along. We were twins originally with Faith. And then we lost the boy when he was like 14 weeks. And we had to do some stuff that was not a good thing for us. But when Kate was pregnant the second time, I was kind of proud. I kind of got her. I said, so what do you think we're having? And she said, if we're not having a boy, then everything I believe is bullshit. We had a boy.

[Ted Danson]

Nice.

[Kelsey Grammer]

So, and, and that's Gabriel.

[Ted Danson]

You had seven kids, right?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Seven total now.

[Ted Danson]

So really lockdown was just like normal life. You had people around.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, yeah, pretty much. It was. Yeah. You know, some were, some were coming and going, but yeah, our house is still full of kids. I mean, I got, I got my, my second child, Greer is in the home with us. Jude's with us some of the time. He's 19 now. He's going off to Emerson College in a couple of weeks. I'm going to drive him up Mason's now here, my 23 year old. I think she's 23. I always add a year. They always get pissed off at me. But I think she's 23 and she's starting to work at the company now. So it's kind of like an apprentice kind of stuff, doing production.

[Ted Danson]

I love that you said when you were describing your life, the ups, downs, but you're never happier than when you have all of your kids in the same room. And it's the truth. When we're surrounded by. We're 13 to table. When you count spouses and grandkids and everything, it's the best.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I don't do so well with the ex spouse thing. We haven't really tried to curry that.

[Ted Danson]

Oh, we nailed it.

[Kelsey Grammer]

But you guys did great. Well, I remember your vows with Mary. I mean, we're like, everybody's involved. I was so impressed by that. We loved it. Yeah. You're our family, too. Wow, that's great.

[Ted Danson]

Were you part of the chairlift that Jimmy Burroughs started for us?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Both you guys were there. I remember it was one of the best moments, Mary said, in the entire wedding, was when, I guess it's a Jewish tradition.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It's a Jewish tradition. Yeah. Where they lifting you up in a chair.

[Ted Danson]

But it was so tangibly. Being supported, literally, by people you love and who love you in that moment was so symbolic. Yeah, it's a wonderful.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, that was a great event. Martha's Vein. It was a lovely, lovely event.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You guys put on and it worked. Yeah, I know, I know. It's fantastic.

[Ted Danson]

We met on a movie.

[Woody Harrelson]

You could be rare. You get the president as your best man or whatever.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, yeah, there was all that going on.

[Ted Danson]

It cut down on paparazzi, cruise missiles around.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Pretty amazing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That was a good weekend. Are you guys living in Nashville?

[Ted Danson]

No. Used to have a place there because Mary's writing music.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That's what I thought. Yeah. That's a great story.

[Ted Danson]

How'd you meet Kate?

[Kelsey Grammer]

We met on a flight to England. She was a flight crew for Virgin Atlantic. And did you make the move? Yeah. Let me tell you, it was pretty great.

[Ted Danson]

Then what?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, we were talking and we just ended up sort of chatting. I said, you know, what do you. She made me a drink, you know, and I thought, boy, I'm in the mood for a B52. Do you guys ever remember a B52? Well, they didn't have those ingredients on the plane, so. But they did have Benedictine and brandy. And I thought, well, okay, that's a B and B, they call it. And I thought, yeah, put a little cream in that, a little bit of Kahlua. I think that's going to be a great drink. So we started with that and then we started talking. I got up to. Went to the bar on the plane and we talked through the night and arranged to, you know, have a coffee maybe a few days after I got there, because I was going to see if I wanted to do La Cage A Fault on Broadway, take the production from London to New York, and I had to rehearse a little bit. We were going to do kind of a weird little commercial thing that, of course, I never saw. It just seemed like a very odd thing to do. But so I was busy for a couple of days. And then I got a message at the hotel. Give Kate a call. So I gave her a call. And.

[Ted Danson]

What year is this?

[Kelsey Grammer]

This is 2009.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, I think so. I think I was 54. It was great. It was just great. And, you know. You know, I was in. My previous relationship had gone kind of belly up, you know, I mean, there were. There were some issues. There was some. There was some stuff going on. It wasn't really fun or good or.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And I knew that it was probably going to have to end. I'd had a heart attack. That was not a great experience, but it was actually a very positive experience in the end because it made me realize what I wanted. And I was doing a show called Hank at the time, not very funny, and I knew it. And so we'd finished shooting the. I think I even directed it. I think it was the ninth episode, and it just wasn't funny. A terrific writer named Cawley had come from Everybody Loves Raymond. His rhythms and stuff like that were not mine. And there was just no way for us to gel. I couldn't make his stuff funny. He couldn't write funny for me. So that's what happened. And I called Peter over at Warner Brothers. We were at Warner Brothers at the time. And I said, peter, you got to put a bullet in this show. I mean, I'm sorry, man. It's not funny. We got to end this. He says, I have obligations. I got to shoot. I got to shoot at least the third verse, 13, and see what happens. Because I've got foreign. I've sold it to, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he says, I'm sorry, I wish I could help you out. Literally, the next morning, the head of ABC at the time called and put a bullet in it.

[Ted Danson]

Wow.

[Kelsey Grammer]

And one hour later, I got a call from Barry Weissler in New York City. He says, what are you doing? Are you busy? I said, as it turns out, I'm not busy. And he said, I want you to fly to London and see this as this production for me. So in about eight hours, my whole life was going to change. And I knew it was. And I knew when I got on that plane that I was going to a new life. And I met Kate.

[Ted Danson]

Wow. Yeah, I love that.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It was pretty cool. It was pretty great. Oh, and I'll go even further. This is fantastic. So what happened was we go for this cup of coffee and I'm in a bar, I'm at a hotel. At the time, it used to be the Park. It was the Mandarin Oriental. It had been something the Hyde park or something before that. And it used to have a great restaurant in it. That was gone. All that was over. It had been shifted into a kind of a new kind of Mandarin hipster kind of place. I walked in, when I checked in, the concierge looks at me and there's about a 6 foot 8 Russian girl with hardly any clothing on. And he looked at me and said, Mr. Grandma, you know, anything you'd like, anything at all. I was like, oh, dear, this is. This is not going to go well if I accept this guy's offer. So I said, thank you very much. That's very kind of you. No, thank you. And I just headed up to my little room. So as I came down to meet Kate for our drink, I looked in the bar and it was just loaded with what clearly was a professional group.

[Ted Danson]

Hard working. Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I thought, there is no way I'm going to meet this girl here, right? So I walked down on the street and I just waited for her. I knew she'd be getting out of the tube stop right up right below Harvey Nichols. So I'm sitting there, or standing there rather, in the little median between the hotel and Harvey Nichols. And sure enough, she comes up and I see her and she stops and reapplies her lipstick. Then as she's doing that, she notices I'm standing there and she's like, oh, shit. And I said, listen, I don't want to take you for a drink in there. Let's go take a walk. And it was just before Christmas, so they had the winter wonderland thing that they do in Hyde park. And we started walking toward the park and the snow started to fall.

[Ted Danson]

Ooh.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I looked at her and said, this is just. This is too perfect. And we had our first kiss. And, you know, we got together a while later.

[Ted Danson]

I don't really know her, but she looks beautiful. I love her smile.

[Kelsey Grammer]

She was a great girl. Yeah, she's a great. Great.

[Ted Danson]

That's so cool. Well done.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thank you.

[Ted Danson]

And I love the stepping on the boat story. And you know what? It's nice to have your mate care that much about you. No, I don't want to lose you to you. So here are the rules.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It was great. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That was really great. Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

I ran into you then, Kelse, and you were just about ready to start that. I remember. I was in London.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right.

[Woody Harrelson]

But I. I had a sense that I met Kate then.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You might have. You might have said hello then. Yeah, I think. Did we go.

[Woody Harrelson]

Have.

[Kelsey Grammer]

We had a martini at the American Bar, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

How am I gonna.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Okay. I think we did. If not, we did it later at the same time. Yeah, she probably.

[Woody Harrelson]

But I didn't know she. I didn't know she. You guys had just started that.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, we. We actually. That was the. That was the. The prologue. And then I. We actually waited about seven or eight months, almost a full year before, you know, things really shifted. But by then, you know, my previous wife had gone off to, you know, she was involved with somebody else, and that was fine. You know, that's what happened. That's okay. But I needed to make sure we did it as possibly as best as I could, because, as I said to Kate when I first met her, you're too important to be somebody's secret, and I don't want to do that to you. So we're going to have to play this above board and take our time. So we did. It was a long time before we got actually. I guess the best word is consummated. But when we did, it was finally. That was a good thing, you know, it wasn't anything we had to, like, hang our heads about or even dodge in a way. Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

So you, like. You had this discipline about this. You wanted to make sure about that other.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, the other head. You know, the other. The other a man. A man of two minds.

[Woody Harrelson]

I never would have guessed that happened that way. I mean, maybe you're just now telling it this way because you have to officially. I don't know.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I think it was Robin Williams dancing.

[Woody Harrelson]

On the street and the snow's coming down.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It was amazing. That was amazing. But that's where it ended that night. I think Rob Williamson's one that said, a man doesn't have enough blood flow for two heads at the same time. Yeah, that's exactly right.

[Ted Danson]

The nun over here is blushing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Well, I remember some stories that were so nun.

[Ted Danson]

Like, I'm trying to Push. I'm trying to push the nun story.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Okay.

[Ted Danson]

They're bad nuns. They're bad nuns. Nuns who go wrong.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Bad habit. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Do you like podcasts, music and audiobooks? Because when you subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited, you get all three in one app. Imagine listening to your favorite podcasts and music on the go to work, school, to gym, or better yet, vacation. Now imagine being on vacation with your favorite audiobook from Audible and then listening to a new one every month from a huge selection of popular titles. That sounds like a pretty good vacation, right? Audible is now included on Amazon Music Unlimited. Download the Amazon Music app now to start listening terms. Apply. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app. And it's a great way to truly immerse yourself in the language you want to learn. Rosetta Stone immerses you for fast language acquisition. Designed for long term retention, their intuitive process allows you to pick up a language naturally. Learn on the go with the mobile app or at your desktop on your schedule. The lifetime membership has access to all 25 language courses. An amazing value for 50% off. It's a steal. It's funny, when I did a film in Mexico, the first thing the crew taught me how to say was, yo soy un gran pinchi ve aktor. Which means I'm basically the lowest of the lowest of actors. Anyway, if I had had Rosetta Stone at my disposal, I would have. That wouldn't have happened to me. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started where everybody knows your name. Listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com tedandwoody that's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50% [e-mail] Ted and Woody today. Hey, you, I this. We're talking about all those things that, you know, you're not supposed to talk about. We did a little bit of politics, not much, but you. I notice credit, not credit, but religion as part of what enabled you to put it all together or move on or heal. Heal yourself.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, I had a.

[Ted Danson]

Is that anything to talk about?

[Kelsey Grammer]

An abiding sense of faith. It was an interesting thing. It was. It was like sort of a wrestling match, you know, that was like, oh, I still hear you over there. But I grew up in Christian Science and as a little boy. As a little boy, yeah. Sunday school. And maintained it and my grandmother or her aunt, my grandmother's aunt actually kind of knew Mary Baker Eddy, who was, you know, the progenitor of that discipline of examining, you know, the miracles of Jesus through this lens of science and faith at the same time, which is pretty fascinating and very metaphysical and the kind of stuff that appeals to my head anyway. And so I was brought up in that I hung onto it. I mean, I read it every day almost even through the bad times. Sin, disease and death are not real. All is infinite. Mind and its infinite manifestations, stuff like that just kept me alive, you know, it kept me connected.

[Ted Danson]

It was very empowering.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, it really was. And so I maintained that now my active faith, my relationship with Jesus, if you will, was not something I was even comfortable declaring. It wasn't something we did. That's not the way we talk, basically, the Christian Scientists. And so it always seemed a little odd to me. And then when I was writing the book about Karen, I had this wild moment on a plane where Jesus is sitting down right next to me and talking to me. And it was undeniably true and real and reassuring and uplifting. And I got to surrender and I started. Tears were just dripping down my face on a plane, all by myself. Well, I mean, there was. You know, people are around, but it was an extraordinary moment. And it just was that thing, that thing that happens, you know, and suddenly it was revealed to me and there I was, and I guess I was saved. But he'd been there all along, right? And that was. That was the real trick. Because I'd been. I'd been fighting the fight of like, well, I've got this, I got this. And then, of course, he was basically saying, no, I got it, because I can. And that was great. It was fantastic. And at the same time, I did that movie Jesus Revolution, which got a lot of response and a lot of good feedback. But I was having a kind of a meditative evening in my home one night in my living room about 3am and I thought to myself, I want to do something that's important. Something important. I don't know what it is, but I just sort of just gave up and said, you know, guide me. This is before I had sort of the moment with Jesus on the plane. And the next morning, the Jesus Revolution script came to the door. I sat down and read it and said, hey, I'm doing it. And it was a big thing for me.

[Ted Danson]

Wow, I have to see that. I haven't.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It's a good movie. And it's actually. What's funny is that It's a time in our lives that we would. You'd probably remember because it was 72. And I remember in Florida there was. Oh, God, these girls. I just came off the beach. I'm just standing there one night just watching the waves because I was surfing then. And these two magnificent women come out of the. Off the. Off the beach and say, hi, have you met Jesus? Well, I'd like to. I'm ready. Where are we going? Which one?

[Ted Danson]

Which one?

[Kelsey Grammer]

It was close here. But what was funny was because I had that sort of ongoing relationship with Christian Science at the time, and I was always still reading it. I said to them, well, honestly, I think I have, but. And they said, well, we're going to go to a service right now. We're going to, you know, just praise the Lord, blah, blah, blah, we're born again. And I thought, well, good for you. You know, that's great. But I said, honestly, I'm okay. I'm sure. I sure was tempted. But that was what it was about, that whole movement, all those young people getting baptized and looking for meaning in a. In a world where, you know, everything had sort of taken a spiral into hallucinogenics and stuff like that. You know, that was. That was pretty popular then.

[Ted Danson]

So I don't think I use the same words, you know, but who does as you. But I have the same exact feeling. One of my moments that was really kind of quite lovely for me was being on a small aircraft. It was a twin prop, Cape Air, you know, those things. And they were expanding into Indiana and we had. We were campaigning for. And we. We got the VIP treatment where the pilot came running out and said, we're going to beat the storm. Come on. Come on, Mary. And so we, you know, the VIP treatment always.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, sucks a little questionable.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, right. I know. Don't do it.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Don't be making mistakes.

[Ted Danson]

And we got on the plane and it was massive storm system that was sweeping the entire north south of the United States. And we flew smack dab into it. And it was. You couldn't see out the airplane. It was pure white. It was thunderous from the rain. Mary cracked two ribs from the turbulence and the bouncing. You had to hold on as if you were riding a. I've never ridden one but a bull. It was that kind of bouncy. And usually when you're with your mate, one of you will be in fear and maybe the other one isn't. So the one who isn't can go. It's okay.

[Kelsey Grammer]

We're going to make it.

[Ted Danson]

That's right. We looked at each other and neither one of us could say, we're going to make it. And I remember, you know, it's not that I only pray in scary situations, but we tend to. Turbulence brings out Jesus very quickly. But I remember saying, you know, putting myself in your hands, Lord.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right.

[Ted Danson]

And, you know, and. And, you know, or please watch after. And then. Or whatever. How I phrase it in my head. And then the next thought was, you've always been in his hands, her hands. Whatever.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Whatever you want to call it.

[Ted Danson]

Whatever you want to call it.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Father, Mother.

[Ted Danson]

And it relaxed me so much. It's brilliant that it wasn't, you know.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Anyway, yeah, that thing again, you know, there it is.

[Ted Danson]

Mortality is not a bad thing.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Gravity is not a bad thing. If it weren't for gravity and mortality, we'd all be partying like crazy and we wouldn't have a spiritual thought in our head.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Exactly.

[Ted Danson]

But, yeah, are we lucky? Aren't we lucky, really? Yeah.

[Woody Harrelson]

You know, it's interesting because I grew up quite, you know, religious and. Quite, quite. You know, I was Christian and then.

[Ted Danson]

But you even trained. Sorry, Woody, I don't know if Kelsey knows this, that you trained to be a priest. Is that not right? Or. Started. Started it.

[Woody Harrelson]

I was thinking about becoming a minister. Yeah, well, I'm not a priest. We weren't Catholic. But, you know, I had given some. A couple of sermons up to when I was in my early 20s and. But then just before I moved to New York, I suddenly found a new religion, Hedonism, and that. It was just right on time.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right.

[Woody Harrelson]

But anyway, I had a long time where I just wasn't sure, you know, I don't know that I've ever talked with you guys about religion or Christianity, but I really. I had a long time where I was just like, I don't know what the situation is. So, you know, I'm just gonna. Just. I'm just gonna say, I don't know, you know, and I'm gonna back off from my whole rather, you know, religious mentality. And then I read, ironically, I read Autobiography of a Yogi. And I was like, okay, Paravana Yogananda is either a fraud and a total fake, or he's exactly what he appears to me. Deeply spiritual man who is telling the truth, which means there is a God.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ted Danson]

And.

[Woody Harrelson]

And. And so that's why I don't discount what you're saying, like, but to say you were sitting on a plane and then Jesus was next to you. I. I really need you to kind of did. I mean, you felt like you physically saw him sitting in the seat next.

[Kelsey Grammer]

No. I guess I could have, but, you know, that wasn't. That wasn't what I needed at the time. It was clearly in my head, but it was unmistakably the voice of something other than in my head or me. And that was. That was the end.

[Woody Harrelson]

You're hearing the voice of.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah. It was a conversation, you know, that was not being dictated by me.

[Ted Danson]

Right, right. Just.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It was just there.

[Woody Harrelson]

Wow.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Let me have it. Yeah. It was remarkable. And then, of course, I look back to all the other things that have happened in my life and, you know, recognize it. I see the footsteps, you know, the fingerprints, and they go. Oh, okay.

[Ted Danson]

Because it is a miracle that all three of us are here.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Ted Danson]

Truly.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Absolutely.

[Ted Danson]

I mean, not in a silly way. It's America. No, I remember what my specially. Kels. Yeah. Special Kels.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thanks. Bless you.

[Ted Danson]

We're still working on you. W. I. My mother came home to die. She had a choice of going into a hospital. She had really bad pneumonia, and she went, no, no. You know, I wanted to come home.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Good for her.

[Ted Danson]

And for two weeks, she had the most am. She had the. The passing. The last weeks of her. You know, this is how she wanted to go. There were nuns that she knew from Colorado who came down and sang evening prayers every night with her and hung out with her people, hoping Navajos would come say goodbye to her who knew her. It was like the perfect passing for her. And I remember I had the night shift. My sister did the days, and. And she lived next door, and I would be there after. She had really, kind of could no longer be really present, but her body was still going. And I remember looking at her and realizing that moment of. I don't know, all of my readings, my teachings, my philosophy, all the things that mentors have told me, all the things that I've used to heal over the years went flying out the window. And I went. I don't know. She may. Or she may be about to, but I don't. I really, truly don't know. And it boiled down for me to kind of. Ted, try to do the best you can in every moment. Because you do know what the best choice is in every moment.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, you do.

[Ted Danson]

You really do. And if you just, you know, slow down and listen and try to do the best thing, that's as much as I know. Try to be a little better every day.

[Kelsey Grammer]

You know, that's good.

[Ted Danson]

And that, to me, I can Wrap my brain about.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Around. But I know there's.

[Kelsey Grammer]

There's something.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I mean, even though you try to.

[Ted Danson]

Explain how this planet and this universe could possibly be if you didn't put something higher than ourselves, it's.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It's really funny. I mean, of course. I mean, bless your mom. I was just thinking about your mom. That's a beautiful story, actually. But even the most advanced string theory guys that exist say, oh, no, there's something, you know. Yeah, yeah, of course there is.

[Ted Danson]

Here's what I. Why I love that we're all kind of in the business of making people laugh, you know, or find something witty or, you know, ironic or something in life that we all hearing that story and then I walk out the door and I think I'm in control of my day and I actually know, you know, so. No.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Right, right. But I do think we're meant to enjoy the ride and we're supposed to have free will. We are definitely here for free will. And then so we get to make a choice. Yeah. Some of us are maybe not going to choose wisely, you know, and.

[Ted Danson]

And some of us are lucky enough.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Some of us are lucky enough to, you know, turn around, to be around long enough to get to make the right choice. Yeah, that's. That's my story.

[Ted Danson]

What a great life you have.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Kelsey Grammar. Really?

[Kelsey Grammer]

Thank you. You too.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, yeah, us too.

[Woody Harrelson]

What a wonderful thing to be. Just to spend time with you, Kelsey, I don't get to see you enough, man. Every time I see you is great.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It's always a real occasion when we get together. I always love it. I love seeing you. You always got something going on. Your brain's always thinking some way that most people's don't. And it is a joy to know you and it always has been. And the feeling is mutual.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, you too, Kel. You too. I love you very much.

[Kelsey Grammer]

I love you, too.

[Ted Danson]

Yeah, that's good. You know what? We should just do a little moment of thank you, Jimmy, Les and Glenn.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Ted Danson]

You know, we've all gone on and done many other amazing things, and our life isn't only cheers, but without cheers, I would not have been sitting here talking to you guys. I would not be pretty much doing anything in my career. It was such an amazing platform for us to jump off of.

[Kelsey Grammer]

That's what the everybody knows your name thing.

[Woody Harrelson]

They burned our careers.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Yeah, they did. They did. Yeah.

[Ted Danson]

Kelsey Grammar, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed it. I had the best hour and a half that I've had in weeks. It was just so sweet. Cheers gave us such a platform to jump off into life and it was fun to reminisce. Anyway, that's it for this week's show. Special thanks to our friends at Team Coco. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to a friend. Subscribe rate and if you're in a good mood, review and you can always watch full episodes of this podcast on Team Coco's YouTube channel if that's your thing. I'll be right back here next week where everybody knows your name. You've been listening to where everybody knows your name with Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson Sometimes. The show is produced by me, Nick Liao. Executive producers are Adam Sacks, Colin and Anderson, Jeff Ross and myself. Sarah Fedorovich is our supervising producer. Our senior producer is Matt Apodaca. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel with support from Eduardo Perez. Research by Alyssa Grohl. Talent cooking by Paula Davis and Gina Bautista. Our theme music is by Woody Harrelson, Antony again, Mary Steenburgen and John Osborne. Special thanks to Willie Nadery. We'll have more for you next time.

[Kelsey Grammer]

Where everybody knows your name the kind of burgers you get today tells you a lot about yourself. You're either someone who settles for sad, same old same old burgers or you're at a Carl's Jr obsessed with a tangy OG Western bacon cheeseburger, demanding a house made guacamole, loaded guac, bacon fired up for the insanely hot El Diablo or craving a classic char world famous star. Give into your flavor cravings. Get your mouth to Carl's Jr. Big Burger Good Burger. At AMA Insurance, we know it's more.

[Ted Danson]

Than just a house.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It's your home.

[Ted Danson]

The place that's filled with memories. The early days of figuring it out to the later years of still figuring.

[Kelsey Grammer]

It out for the place you've put down roots. Trust Amica Home Insurance Amica Empathy is our best policy.