Josh Robert Thompson is much more than a Gay Robot Skeleton Sidekick to Craig Ferguson, but that part was indeed a lot of fun none the less

you're watching The Lettermen podcast with Mike Chisholm endorsed by the hello Deli yeah welcome once again to the Lettermen podcast my name is Mike Chisholm this is a bonus episode uh we've been doing a couple of bonus episodes uh lately uh coinciding with uh Dave's exit from The Late Show anniversary which just passed we had Morty and then we had Rob Stover and then Morty part two uh so we had a little bonus episode there with Rob that was a great episode um we're doing another bonus episode here because we frankly we got lots in the can right now so and when we have lots in the can I have a a a a rule an Unwritten rule I have no written rules uh I'm flying by the seat of my pants um I really don't understand that phrase I mean who flies by the seat of their pants uh I wish I could do that imagine if we could fly it doesn't matter um so when I I have this I have this thing in my head where it's like if I have too many in the can it's like great I can start putting out uh two per week my goal always is not to have 52 of these things uh when we started this thing my goal was to have 60 per year and um now that we're kind of we hit our anniversary on April 20th we're into year two I'm already trying to get some of these bonus episodes out there and uh and and get more content it's just so much fun and it's a good problem to have where I have stuff in the can ready to come out and I can't think of a more perfect episode of one that we've shot to come out as a bonus episode than this one Josh Robert Thompson I am so excited to have him uh did he work for David Letterman no yo yeah technically he did actually technically he worked for worldwide pants because he was a gigantic part of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson um and those of you who have uh reached out to me or know me or or watch the show was there any degree of regularity might have uh picked up on the fact that I really loved Craig in fact I would say some of my favorite one of my favorite eras in late night television uh was the Golden Age of late night television as Dave jokingly put it to Conan O'Brien once uh during the years where uh Conan had moved from late night to The Tonight Show over to Conan on TBS I loved everything Conan was putting out at that point um and for years it was just me watching Dave Van Conan I that was my viewing habit uh but then the Late Show with Craig Ferguson started and that got to the point where my DVR started filling up and thank goodness uh because I would literally be watching three late night shows a night uh including one with the namesake late night um but Craig Ferguson The Late Late Show was an absolute Delight for me and in the evolution of that show Josh Robert Thompson came on as from a bit player all the way to an essential part of that amazing in my mind uh groundbreaking in many ways uh production uh one of the reasons that people like late nights so much Late Night with David Letterman I should say a lot of late night stuff going on here is it the era is it the show we don't know but it doesn't matter a lot of people think that the Late Night show um one of the monikers or descriptors of it is that uh they deconstructed late night I would submit in the Modern Age The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson did the same thing and the idea of a sidekick uh was evolved because it wasn't just a sidekick it was a gay robot skeleton I think Jeffrey Peterson gay robot skeleton um and and and and that evolved within the show and it was so fun to watch that Secretariat the horse who would run around and and and Craig uh you know you know he really took the monologue back to the idea of opening remarks and and and and and and played with that as well there were so many little deconstructions of the modern talk show uh in in in in in the project that was The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Josh Robert Thompson a key key ingredient to that um comedian artist voice act amazing voice actor uh impressionist and um and creative uh Josh Robert Thompson in my viewpoint um you know equally as important to the success of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as Craig himself was uh Josh is just an awesome awesome guy we bond in so many ways including being a gigantic Star Wars fans fans of of many things um you know that gen xers you know found commonality with growing up and this episode um you know we did no pre-interview for this uh you know and I thought it was an absolutely incredible conversation I'll cherish it always um there's some personal stuff in there too I have my best friend uh who's who's going through cancer right now um and and was a huge huge fan of not just Craig Ferguson but Josh Robert Thompson he's actually the guy uh who who went down the rabbit hole about Josh back in the day real time when when Josh was his role with the show was evolving and having Mike here with me to watch this with him um it was a it was a a flat out say it was a dream come true for for my best friend who's going through some stuff right now um that was a that was a that was a real cool thing and and uh It All Happened organically I adore Josh I adore everything that he's doing if you look at some of the Antics that he's doing during the writer strike right now which is as we're recording this um yeah he's he's extremely funny um I implore everybody who is watching or listening to this episode to go on to YouTube and to watch the entire episode of the Josh Robert Thompson show it was a something that he created um after uh Late Late Show ended its run and it never got picked up but boy is it good uh combination of characters that he created uh puppets and things so so if you like The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson you will love this because it's it's certainly not foreign by any stretch of the imagination but it is certainly as unique and creative as Josh is I highly recommend it um I'll put a link to it everywhere we've already put a link to it I think in the in the Letterman podcast Facebook group and things but we'll we'll do it again as this episode uh comes out and also uh we've put a link out to the fact that Josh is doing a signing for charity um and he's actually got like personalizations of of of of Jeffrey Peterson stuff and Josh Robert Thompson stuff that he has signed training um and and sending to people or personalized stuff that's happening June 9th and uh there's information about that within this uh Behemoth of an episode but also uh We've isolated the video and put it out there as well with the links um so I highly highly recommend anybody who is an Enthusiast of The Late Late Show to take advantage of this um opportunity to interact with a piece of yesteryear um it's neat that it's coming out because the Late Late Show just finished its run James Corden who's the successor to Craig Ferguson and Company uh just finished their run and something different is going to happen at at CBS let's see if uh how successful that is you know but um The Late Late Show a worldwide pants creation and um they did some damn fine work and all the incarnations from Tom Snyder uh to Kilbourne and then Craig Ferguson was just an absolute that show was just so good it was magic um and that is very evident in this app episode of The Lettermen podcast uh featuring Josh Robert Thompson please enjoy Josh I'm so excited to have you here this is um it's an honor for me that that you would take time out of your your your Crazy Life and it is it just the things that you have done just makes it a crazy life it's so unique uh the life that you've lived up to this point professionally I can't wait to talk a little bit more about that personally and see uh where they converge uh I'm gonna say this first and foremost for those of our viewers and listeners who haven't watched uh the Josh Robert Thompson special the unaired comedy special that he built that you could tell he put his heart and soul into please go watch it you think Jeffrey Peterson uh and and all those Antics on Late Late Show was awesome they were a rabbit hole into the mind of this amazing Entertainer uh broadcaster um all of these things Josh thank you so much for taking time out of your day to be part of Letterman podcast what an introduction that's thanks for that introduction it was really good uh it's the truth man okay so how at the time of this recording um we are at the the point where the successor of The Late Late Show James Corden and Company are about to wrap things up and yeah it's a good time to kind of wax philosophical about um about you know just life in general you think about in 2014 when you guys wrapped up your run by the way the the wrap up to that run was legendary as well I just um do you still every day have memories of The Late Late Show yeah I mean uh I I do mostly because you know the followers and and fans out there uh share such wonderful stories I I think especially during the uh the lockdown and when the pandemic began there were a whole new group of people uh around the world that started finding the Late Late Show on YouTube uh people that had never heard of it before um and it just kind of opened opened the floodgates and I think um a video that I had posted over I think 11 years ago now a video that I posted on my own YouTube channel which is entitled Jeff Peterson makes Craig Ferguson cry uh which has gotten millions and millions and millions of views um suddenly uh everybody found that video again so it opened the floodgates of these wonderful warm memories that people had and and would share with me and I think it really wasn't until the last couple of years that I realized oh wow this is uh this is like a really important show for people like it really meant a lot of people people that watched it um when they were kids people that watched it going to college or high school or watched it with their parents or grandparents who have since passed on or whatever it got them through difficult times um it's really amazing so yeah that that's that's when I really do think about it when I'm reminded of it um you know the Ray Summers podcast that you were on I've I've ingested that three or four times in the last week in preparation Mark Summers or Mark sorry Mark's number sorry uh uh I've ingested that podcast a couple of times here and and talking about this with you is surreal to me because listening to you and Mark talk about the Nostalgia of broadcasting like you have this nostalgia in your head about all these very cool things you're a 75 baby I'm a 76 baby um and and you have this Nostalgia about broadcasting about entertainment and all of these things and you can tell that they come out in the art that you create um I love getting nostalgic about this Late Late Show to me with Craig Ferguson to me was an echo to the original Late Night with David Letterman in so many ways where they talked about how you know Letterman's show deconstructed the talk show well Late Late Show took that concept I thought and evolved it even further the idea of the you know the introduction of puppets and and all of these um you know the sidekick to the was it was it was a was a machine um a very very well crafted machine that evolved over time um do you see like and I know you're a nostalgic guy when it comes to this stuff do you see yourself in this place of history and how how cool and how important it was to so many people or do you mean I I guess just now maybe J only just now uh when you sit just now when you said it J in this moment only now did I really no really I just just recently really yeah I um because I you know I had a different experience I I was I was on the show I had a different perspective uh of things I had a great time doing that show and you talk about classic television you know our show really afforded me the opportunity and a lot of us that worked on the show to meet a lot of these legendary people uh like Dick Van Dyke and uh you know Bob Newhart and um I mean you know Carol Burnett Carol Burnett yeah who came and wanted to meet me when I was doing the show and Don Rickles was another person who talked to me after anyway so it it really I think it was the last Bastion um sort of for that Golden Era you know because a lot of those folks are you know you're getting up there some of them have you know we they've left us but CBS also itself CBS Television City that building is steeped in TV history so I remember the first time I walked into that building um I mean there are these murals on the uh in the hallways on the walls of Carol Burnett and Archie Bunker and um you know Red Skelton and all of these shows I think Judy Garland and it goes on and on and on so it's really something to be a part of that show but also to have our show taped in that really historical uh place so in that sense yeah I mean I guess I really didn't realize it even as Carol Burnett you know is giving me a hug and telling me you welcome to the club essentially um or Richard Lewis too God bless him uh Richard Lewis um going through some health issues right now um but he's such a funny legendary comedian who again met me casually backstage you know doing the Richard Lewis mannerisms oh let me guess you're like uh what do you like a Groundlings uh you just uh and I said no Richard I didn't go to Groundlings I didn't do I didn't do any of this improv training oh Sue you like well you like just some kind of some genius see what in your basement and I go well I don't know about genius but yes in my basement in Cleveland so to to be around those people uh for me was the best part of The Late Late Show I loved performing with Craig and and making up night after night yeah but meeting those people I mean talking to Don Rickles and having Don Rickles apologized to me because he didn't understand that that Jeff was voiced and operated by a real person and he said something to me like you're a nice young man I apologize I got confused it's nice to see a dummy operating a dummy how do you like that I'm glad you got the insult as well oh that's fantastic kind of a beautiful thing so so that that really yeah so I mean that's that is what it was it was it to me I had such a reverence for it that uh every day that I went and went to work uh you know I did not take it for granted it was very special to me uh I'm I'm so glad to hear that um that and it makes perfect sense again you know getting getting to know you uh through some of the interviews and things that that have been put out there when you talk about you growing up and and just wanting you know the influences that you clearly clearly had uh variety show influences and again when you watch and I I cannot Rave enough about your special uh that you crowdfunded and had made it was such a beautiful beautiful piece you can tell where all these influences came from yeah um I want to talk about that I want to talk about George Lucas I want to talk about all these sorts of things that you do that are just hysterical uh but I want to talk about you as well because at the same time here we are waxing philosophical about these cool things that happened and and you were part of broadcasting history I want to go back into that of course talking about the pants of it all the worldwide pants of it all and yes but I want to ask about you before we get into any of that because I'm fascinated by it um do you have like where you're at now seven and a half years later eight years later um talking about where things are at in your career right now number one what are you doing number two uh are you at a Crossroads of sorts as to where you're at and and how are you dealing with that yeah wow that's how much time do you got we got time as much as you want any this is going to be the longest to be our longest show uh no I am at a Crossroads and um I think it's a pretty normal thing that happens with any uh well with all people really but with particularly if you're a creative person if you're an artist of some sort uh you do come to that point where you start to think like is this is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life um and I I love doing voice over stuff I mean don't get me wrong as Mark Summers said uh it sure beats working for a living uh but you know and I kind of fell into it you know I I did do voices a lot when I was a kid and I did uh record voices into my Fisher Price tape recorder and I did make radio plays and things with my friends so this is something that I've been doing my entire life and I did build Talk Show sets The Tonight Show a version of The Tonight Show Out of You Know refrigerator boxes in my basement so so I have been doing all this but I think I kind of fell into the voiceover thing um what I really wanted to do was make films and uh and and write you you know write write books and um and so that's what I am first and foremost to me because I know who I am I I've been me for 48 years I I always see myself as a writer and uh and a filmmaker um but I kind of ended up in these other things but the nice thing is I've done okay at those things and so that affords me the time to then work on those other things so um but that's kind of where I'm at because you know I I don't wanna you know I don't I'm not complaining about it I always have to preface this because there'll always be somebody there's always going to be somebody on Twitter or something that will say you know I heard that interview and you really should be grateful calm down Grandma I'm very grateful for the things I have it's gonna be okay but you know I don't necessarily want to do uh impressions of other people for the rest of my life like I don't think of myself as an impressionist you're not rich little right I don't that's not me like I grew up watching Rich Little yeah speaking of variety shows I mean that guy was all over every variety show during during the day you know when we were growing up but there are other people uh that I know um Jeff Richards is one of them Joe goddatt piatt Michael there are these other people um Christina Bianco Rachel Butera there are all these people that do Impressions and they're really good at it Melissa via Senor um yeah and that's what they do that's like that's their thing their their uh very skilled at it and and they do other things but they really focus on that and I realized maybe in the last three years or so just wasn't that exciting to me anymore it just wasn't like I love doing Family Guy I've been doing Family Guy for 13 Seasons now and anytime they want something like hey can you do it could be you know hey can you do a Tom Selleck sure I'll figure it out yep because it's because of it's because of the people I work with it's because I respect them and I enjoy working with them and it doesn't feel like uh it doesn't feel like a dance for us Monkey kind of thing anyway I you know so I I started to think like okay it's just not really what I want to do it's not the number one thing I should say it's like maybe not in the top five and I've learned to sort of keep that to myself because weirdly when you tell followers or fans that that's the truth of your own life uh people sometimes people get very upset and uh you know listen uh if if Craig called me and was like Josh listen so we're gonna get the band back together and you're going to be Jeff uh and we're gonna get the horse I'd say sure man sure however how much how much are we how much money are we talking no um but uh you know because I'm a different person now right I mean that that show our show ended was it eight eight years ago eight years ago now yeah I've you know I've done other things since then I have a different perspective on who I am I have different concepts of like what I want now in my own career and I think for a while it was in my mind it was well you you're that you go behind the wall and you're the guy and we don't nobody wants to see you you know I think when that when that TV special I made didn't sell I mean for a while I was like okay well I guess I guess maybe that's it for me you know you kind of go through that but but that's where I'm at now in a more positive sense now I'm I'm working on other projects uh and I don't feel that desperation that I think a lot of young performers have and I had it especially with social media where you feel this need to post all the time every day constantly or else there's this fear that you're going to just float away Into The Ether and no one will care I like the old school idea of I'm gonna go away for a while yeah you guys all think I'm dead which a lot of people do apparently especially on Facebook they always go are you still working which I love but it's fine because because I like that because actually I can go and do these things and then when I'm ready I will you know present those things whether it's a book or a film or whatever but that's the stuff that really excites me now that's the stuff that gets me I mean this whole room is these are all you know horror films and uh you know classic movies and over here I've got all my VHS tapes and my King Kong poster my gorilla at large with uh Ann Bancroft you know I got all this stuff in here this is my this you're inside my mind right now this is it you know and um but boy I really love that uh people remember this show and God it's it's it's incredible it really is so you know you can do both I was just gonna say I love the mixture of of both and and it's so funny like like you talk about with you know with Dave for example I use that as the as the barometer for for everything because it is the Letterman podcast I mean uh there are some pure you know folks who would consider themselves purists uh they only liked late night and and when it got the late show and it went real big and all that stuff there are some people who like the entire body but then when he moved to my next guest doing long form you know it took them a while to kind of get used to something new and I think that that's a human condition many times um you know it takes it takes a moment uh it takes a beater to to get used to something new for some from something that's familiar uh you know music any music fan will tell you that yeah when it you know when when an act that you love decides to go in a New Direction um you know you got to come in there with an open mind but many times that open mind will be rewarded with an extension of the love of that person's body of work again I go back to your to your special because I want to ask you about that um to me when I look at the transitions between all of the different things the character you created uh of of of Josh Robert Thompson in the ship um and and and all of the different uh you know muscles that you flexed in that and I'm talking not just in front of the camera but it seems like behind the camera as well um did you did you birth that thing like was it really really personal in that time and place when it came out of your mind you know I talk about how my wife cooks with love all the time this thing felt like it was built with love um is that what that was for you definitely yeah I mean I'm glad you said in that time and place because when I look at it now I mean like anything it's like anything you look at something you did years ago and you go well I don't know if I would have done this this and this and oh yeah I've since I've since recut it uh thankfully uh I cut some things out before I Unleashed it uh onto the world because I can't imagine what would happen now but um you know I I that was all that was that was just this thing that um The Late Late Show was about to end yep Craig called me personally um to tell me that uh he was making the decision to step down and I believe he was on the set of the show Hot in Cleveland I think he was he was getting his makeup done and he thought I'll give Joshy a call and see what happens he called me Joshy and um so listen man I've decided that you know the show is going to be over but you know you're going to be fine man don't worry so that was very nice of him so when he called me to say that I thought okay I'm gonna I'm gonna do something here I'm gonna I'm gonna make something that um you know is a showcase Aurelia I call it now the world's most expensive um demo reel uh it is a very good demo reel it certainly is if you got 20 minutes please but um yeah yeah that's what it was it was it really was as you said earlier it was my um sort of tribute to all the variety shows that I grew up with as a kid and also maybe even some of the kids shows like Mr Rogers I was a big Fred Rogers fan me too Fred Rogers was really one of those I wish I could have met him and uh he was he was a you know broadcasting Pioneer really I mean this guy was a Presbyterian Minister who also studied child psychology and had figured out for 30 years how to do this show that never changed once never deviated from its style through all those very significant eras when TV was changing very rapidly um and Jim Henson as well you know my love of uh The Muppets and particularly the weirder you know Dark Crystal and the Jim Henson hour and uh Labyrinth and all of that yep yeah very strange really dark um groundbreaking technology pushing stuff and of course George Lucas and um so we kind of you know that whole show for what that show cost uh we probably we probably if I did it again we would probably write a script of some sort but all we had was an outline and a couple bucks and um and an incredible team of people that I worked with years prior in uh Public Access or local TV yeah and so I just gathered this kind of Motley Crew of very talented people and we just threw stuff at the wall and saw what stuck and uh and that became the show the concept of the show was um not even figured out until until the editing stage we uh we came up with this idea that maybe they were flying through space in this ship the conceit was that uh my my character a very uh well it was kind of me at the time yeah I had I had been uh drinking quite a bit at the time so if you go back and watch the show uh old joshy's face is a little uh little puppy yeah uh you know but I it was like an angrier darker version of me and uh but as Mr Rogers like if you were an alcoholic uh or Dean Martin you know oh yeah there was a really nice little layer of pretentiousness that you had uh in alongside the goofiness it was fantastic yeah yeah very very very good and there were scenes we cut out where I was very mean to my puppet friends on board there were a couple scenes I think where I was like poking them and really giving them and even my director camel Alloway he's like yeah maybe let's do another one and maybe you know be a little Kinder nicer and I was like right nice right because I was not in that space at that time but um the conceit was that uh that uh I was some guy who'd got tired of Life on planet Earth very timely and um I hijacked I hijacked um a European a famous gangster it was Gary the ogre was this Intergalactic European gangster and I stole his ship and so the whole plot was Gary with this ogre character with these horns that you know look like penises on his head he talks like this hey guys and he he was chasing me through outer space but along the way we would pick up friends um we were trying to do more episodes and like Craig Ferguson would have been um an astronaut who was lost he was adrift and we picked him up so we just pick up stragglers celebrities perfect and uh that was gonna be the show so you know we we and we shot it like in a couple like a week yeah uh and boy I I'm so proud of it I'm proud of it because the people that came together to make that thing this was the second pilot I made this was I had made another one a year before that and I I was not very happy with that but this one I just love I mean the word this guy's Sam Barnett um it was a stop-motion animator and he did some incredible stop-motion stuff in there he did the taco then he did the taco yeah he did Taco the Talking Taco yeah um which you know when we shot it there was nothing there yeah we had to just pretend and then my friend John chefsky uh did the voice of Taco um the Carl Sagan stuff you know so good really proud of that we had an incredible makeup team that you know really that got the hair and everything I think was uh Cara Cara lead lick was the the one who did the the hair and everything and even this little appliance that sort of gave me this Carl Sagan brow I mean that stuff I just love it's so weird and yeah so when Late Late Show fans saw that um especially the preacher character um which is my it's just my favorite yeah um they really didn't know they didn't know what to do with any of that you know and I understand you know but I don't know man I I watched it again today um and and and like I look at what's on Netflix these days and when I see like yeah I think you should leave when I see that it's like okay imagine that with some production value and some some some real creative directions and it's like oh my gosh I want to see this today now this is the question I have for you this is something that you shot a long time ago where your mind was in a different place somebody discovers this today and says hey jrt let's make this happen uh do you say yes or are you like no I'm past that now I'm in a different spot yeah I don't know that's a good question I I would say let's take I would say let's take some things from that show okay um like I had a whole uh Joseph boulter who was the the front of the horse who was Secretariat yeah and also a great writer and went on to um produce Craig's last Netflix or it was like a comedy special um slash documentary yep um he he and I you know I was working on a show that was a a pilot for the Reverend Apostle BG and it was uh I was and I still would love to do it but what happened was um and this is an example of how ridiculous this business is and you should really never listen to anybody unless it's like Steven Spielberg you know because I had a lot of people telling me no one's gonna go for a show about a televangelist and nobody is gonna buy that and that's a passe idea and it's very 80s and then um as we're through the middle of writing this pilot uh Danny McBride uh on HBO right says gemstones and so we I put that away and sort of slinked away into the darkness but um but I love the the Reverend Apostle BG comes out of Public Access TV based on um he was based on an old a boss of mine uh that I worked for at the cable company when it was Adelphia cable um my friend Raymond Chavez Jr the late Raymond Chavez Jr and I uh worked for Public Access TV yeah and our boss was this guy named Bill Green and he said hey man what's up man and he was always rubbing his hands together hey dude get in here man you're in big trouble Man close the door man and then you close the door and he'd say that was pretty good man did you buy it do you think they bought it man out man how you been man he was he was the greatest supervisor I ever had in my life I love that guy and so we for our company meetings these quarterly meetings we had to our task was to come up with orderly meeting presentations yeah basically it was always at like seven in the morning this is out in Ontario California which is just like in the middle of nowhere it's in a place called the Inland Empire and home of the LA Kings Farm team the Ontario Reign by the way is that right the Ontario yeah I didn't know the Canadian right big hockey fan I'm a Big King fan yeah Ontario Rain Go rain nice man uh well we had the what was the the Earth the Quakes I think there was the the ranch Quakes or something like that anyway yeah but but we uh way to do these meetings at seven o'clock in the morning out in the middle of nowhere and basically it was a meeting room a giant meeting room with very depressing fluorescent lighting and about you know 300 very tired and disgruntled uh cable installer people these guys just wanted to get to work get through their day got all of our equipment and we got our trucks outside and we're ready to go and you guys are here putting on a little dog and pony show so we would so what we you know we Raymond and I love those guys we were friends with all those guys and we decided to make it fun for them because you know these meetings were very stuffy and very boring and it was a lot of like let's take a look at the quarterly numbers uh not doing so well DirecTV is really clobbering us and the uh you know this was like this was like 2004 you know 2003.

so we started just doing these videos uh where I would play Bill Green and I put on a bald skull cap because she had like wispy hair and he'd look he'd look at my version of him he'd watch the video and say that's cold man that's cold you guys you guys suck man that's funny though but that's cold man so it would be Bill Green in these quarterly meeting videos played by me walking around just kind of interviewing different employees in their cubicles um and eventually Raymond and I came up with this idea of uh what if Bill all of a sudden uh calls us into his office for a meeting and uh uh decides to pull a Bible out of his desk out of his desk drawer yep and it would but it was called scripture quoting green so it was such a stupid idea but it was like no matter what the problem was he'd say well wait a second now did you say now what did you say how many miles did you put on the company van well I think it was probably uh you know about 150 150 miles okay you know what let's let's see what scripture says about that and it and then he would go no it's right here oh Leviticus and Leviticus says any employee of Adelphia who drives 150 miles has to pay and then and I'd say wait where is that in Leviticus and he'd close the book oh oh I lost the page I lost the page but it's in there but it's in there and that's and that's how uh this preacher came to be the Reverend Apostle BG was was my old boss and also Robert Duvall in the movie The Apostle absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time yep and also I grew up uh in Cleveland I grew up in a uh my grandmother would take me to her uh church on Sundays if you spent the day with Grandma you could go to Chuck E cheese and you definitely would go to McDonald's and you definitely go to Malley's Chocolates and have a giant you know ice cream sundae after church after church you're gonna have to go to church and it was a Pentecostal church so like they spoke in tongues you know they they gave out little Thimbles of wine and these tiny Wafers and the preacher uh this guy passed away many years ago now and I all respect to this guy pastor Pastor Canfield we used to call him Castor panfield of course I don't know we're a bunch of idiots but I used to call George Lucas Lords jukis there we go that makes sense you know Caster pan field there it is yeah well but that you know that watch it so to me the whole point of this is that preaching I think preaching is the most uh the oldest and most purest um most pure form of improv that there is yes you know and when I saw that I didn't think I didn't want to I didn't want to become a man of God I wanted to you know tell jokes and make up on stage but but the way that this guy did it was so impressive and he would just hold the audience the congregation in the palm of his hand you could take one line one sentence from the Bible and Spin A Yarn for an hour and they'd be captivated so so that that would be the show I would do that would that would be the show I would do I'm in take my money um my my favorite part of of his because you know in the in the in the um uh in the special uh you interlace him throughout throughout the show and and my favorite part uh was when he had his arm on the guy and he was making him uncomfortable and he understood he understood there was a power struggle happening right now and yeah he's not his arm and he's like you only get that office authenticity from actually experiencing and seeing that there's a power shift there's a like you encapsulated it perfectly and comedically um I want to go to the timeline here because you know that's o4 ish um when you're in the studio doing this and and these things are kind of bubbling up to the surface us oh seven you're at Craig Ferguson like it's not that long between those times now there's a period of time where you're calling into the Howard Stern Show as uh as as then Governor Schwarzenegger yeah that's and that's before that that would have started yeah that would have started around well whatever the first the their first day on Sirius XM or their second day on siriusx and when Howard made the switch I felt like that was 0506 but anyway yeah it was six oh maybe you're right you're right no the first time I started the Stern show was probably 2002.

yeah because I they had flown me out there to do a uh segment of the show called win a date with Tabitha Stevens an adult film star Tabitha Stevens who was a very sweet woman and um it was me on the panel as fake Arnold because I had I had been calling into the show as fake Arnold right um doing little bits here and there I don't remember what the first bit was but um Tim Conway Jr um I had been doing Tim Conway Jr and Doug steckler's radio show on LA radio 97.1 FM was a was the LA talk station that's what they call themselves talk radio on FM and Doug Steckler you know was a writer for SCTV which is one of my favorite shows in the world absolutely so now I'm a Canadian they make us watch it in elementary school as we grow that's that's that's uh required watching absolutely yeah the kids in the hall and SCTV absolutely you've got to have that I uh no that that was the show I always gravitated toward more so than SNL yeah um but but when I met Doug Steckler I was just beside myself because I had the SCTV book that um Dave Thomas had written years ago and so I had him autograph it and uh you know there's a little picture of him in there and so these guys had this kind of old school show a radio show and one day I decided to just call in as Arnold um hey guys how are you it's Arnold how are you doing you know because he was running you know he's running for governor well actually it was before that and then he ran for governor and it was like the most amazing thing that could have ever happened um because suddenly I was doing all these radio shows but Tim Conway Jr is the guy who recommended me to Gary bababui de la bate over at the Howard Stern Show because I I cut my teeth I did the Conway sucker show I cut my teeth on that for like like a year I I was calling in almost every other night doing bits as Arnold Schwarzenegger had no idea what I was doing I had note cards that I would spread out on my desk that had different phrases and different jokes and different words that Arnold would say because I just I was so nervous I didn't know what the hell I was doing I really wanted to impress these guys and um and but out of that came the you know the Stern Show so that was uh that was kind of an amazing thing man the thing that I want to talk about here is like uh like I'm a personal development guy I love I love this that kind of stuff and and I think I think I'm a bit of a you know a result of personal development Jim Rohn used to say you feed your family during the day and you work on your fortune at night and I love the idea that you're doing these you know cable access show stuff and these things but then you're also making the steps to do something bigger that is more close to the calling of your heart yeah I love that um and and you just see where it goes um I didn't know I had no I like when I was doing Conway and Steckler I was yes I so I had quit I was working I went to uh Cal State uh Fullerton yep and got my useless degree in TV radio and film and by the way it was a communications degree but when it came to graduation this they they somebody asked me what do you want it to say on your diploma it can say Communications or it could say TV radio and film I said yeah that sounds better so that's what's on my diploma I didn't take a film class I think I walked out of the guy's film class because he was an a-hole and uh I never took a radio course either so sure by the way David Letterman Communications student as well there you go see yeah and they went on to be weatherman and you know so it all worked out it all worked out you know but that but to me um I learned more uh about television and production by just volunteering at this TV studio this is when I moved from Cleveland I moved from Cleveland to LA um it was 1995 lately and that was fortuitous right like your parents made that move this wasn't you striking out on your own going there you moved with the family right yeah my dad had gotten a um you know promotion that required him to move to California he was going to be the regional manager of this company and how fortuitous was that I said well yeah I don't want to be in Cleveland no all due respect Cleveland relax I love you guys but yeah you guys rock yeah I mean honestly I I if it if it weren't for for Cleveland television I don't think that I would have gotten into the stuff I did because you know Cleveland I think at one time we had like five or six late night uh horror movie posts you know we yeah that was our thing right so we had gulardi Ernie Anderson in the 60s father of Paul Thomas Anderson whose film company is gulardi films yeah and so my parents had gulardi and then when I grew up I had the ghoul son of ghoul uh Frank and Drac big Chuck and little John uh Elvira was syndicated and super host so it was like God that was like the greatest thing in the world to watch those late night shows and those crappy horror movies and of course thanks to them I probably have every one of the films that I watched as a kid that's I spend the rest of my adult life tracking those things down and going what was that what was the movie I know there was a movie about a guy that when he shouted it would make everything die around him I know there was a movie about a guy he he would scream what was it called what was it oh it was called the shout oh that's right and it's like this well-respected film that stars John Hurt and Alan Bates and it's a masterpiece and here it is on Criterion Channel like six months ago and I'm like this is the movie that big truck a little hey gang we got a real Corker for you it's this crappy movie called the shout but I only saw it one time I only saw it once when I was 11 years old only one time at my friend Jack's house I remember we were sitting there I remember this because his dad was laid up his dad was in a lazy boy the recliner he he had cast on his arms and legs because his dad had gotten in like a horrible um snow snowmobile uh accident right so his dad's sitting there propped up hey let's watch the little uh big Chuck A Little John and so it's like you know midnight and I'm sitting there with Jack it's probably summer of 86 and these yahoos are playing uh this movie the shout and I was like this movie's weird it's boring but something about it and I never forgot about it because I have like three versions of it and the poster somewhere around here so that's a scene out of a Coen Brothers movie right there um yeah that's just amazing but that's what I owe it but that's you know that that local TV spirit yep I I miss it so much and that's probably why I gravitated toward Public Access so when I moved we moved to Chino which by the way folks again all due respect to Chino it's in the middle of nowhere it's not Los Angeles okay it's cows and then there's the Men's prison okay it went up to Chino that's like you know in a song so so the cable Studio the public access Studio was like a Wayne's World uh or or UHF it was like it was like the TV studio out of UHF the Weird Al movie right oh absolutely yeah yep and I mean it was in this cul-de-sac that was tucked away in in the middle of this barren field which was just littered with radio towers as far as the eye could see wow and and it was this magical place in the middle of nowhere and that's where um I learned how to use all this equipment that at that point was already you know 15 20 years old all the cameras and the the you know the three-quarter inch decks and the the control room everything and I made my own late night horror show I hosted a late night monster movie show for a while in Chino that maybe five people watched but that's how uh that's how the Late Late Show found me um one of the writers of The Late Late Show was you know watched me do my Apostle and uh emailed me it was like what else do you do when I'm like yeah well it's funny you mentioned that so then we started doing the Schwarzenegger stuff so so really I guess the point what we're saying here is none of this was by Design This was kind of the important thing like just dude and stuff happens yeah because but it's got to be it has to be because you enjoy it yes that's why to be very honest with you that is why I stopped I mean I haven't done like Reverend Apostle BG it's it's been it's been about four years um I I was I was doing all these live shows and a podcast and I was just I was I was desperate I was doing it for all the wrong reasons I was trying to get views and I was trying to get followers and it just wasn't working and I was very unhappy and I was you know very taken it all very personally when like the pilot didn't sell and when you know righteous gemstone came so um but now the stuff I'm working on which which will be out at some point um you know I I enjoy it a lot you you have you have to just enjoy what you're doing you do you really do and and my dream is to someday in in the alternate dream future I would have enough money to buy that warehouse that's now empty where the TV studio once was in Chino I would I would buy that place and I would make it into a studio again and I would drive I would be up every day if that was my if I could just do that for the rest of my life and sustain myself I would get up every morning and drive out to Chino and I would just make with my friends I would rent it out for people to use you know because local TV is very important man you just gave me goosebumps oh yeah no no seriously Josh I swear to God um and okay we're gonna get to some Letterman stuff we're gonna get to some pastors yeah worldwide I don't know Letterman worldwide no we will we will but but this after you when you and I started corresponding and I started you know kind of prepping for this um what you just said right there is exactly what I was hoping this conversation would lead to I want to know what you would love to do now and I love that it's create I love that it's on a bigger scale a different scale and it's a bigger scale in your mind because of it's what's important to you not what's important to the demo or where where things are going when it comes to these things I love that and um you know it's got to be you got to do that because it's um it's beautiful you know it's just like I can see it I can see it oh because I because like I said earlier when we started talking yeah at the top of the conversation I I already know who I am I already know the things I like and if you said to me all right it's either doing impressions for the rest of your life or it's making less money but working in this studio or making of making films I'd say well I'm gonna take that one because I have to if I may just like you talked about learning all uh uh becoming an expert on all of this Antiquated gear right that's a tool that you have in your tool belt in your mental tool belt The Impressions also a tool that you have in your your tool belt but that's not what you do for a living they're just things that contribute to the greater picture of art that you want to create and then that drives you from from inside the thing that really gets you going and gets you excited um if you don't mind is that is that an accurate absolutely yeah in fact I was just talking to talking with Craig about this is something that Craig had actually said to me when we were on tour many years ago because even then I was starting to feel like I don't really want to be the Morgan Freeman guy you came to my town I was at that I was at that show with my best friend who's sitting here watching happier than a pig and watching us right now you guys were awesome and you were a fantastic opening act for Craig Ferguson on stage just so you know here are some people who really appreciated that tour so thank you for doing it when was that where where was that I I it would have been I I would Kelowna British Columbia oh yeah okay that's that's where we're from oh that was a great show yeah I remember that I do remember that you know what we shouted out of the audience um we actually shouted right before Craig told the golf joke at the end um we actually shouted out of the audience to him and we said hey Craig if Jeffrey Peterson uh was hanging on the side of a cliff and Secretariat was hanging on the side of a cliff and you could only save one which one would it be and the whole audience went and Craig disarmed it so quickly what the are you guys talking about it's a show yeah this is that it was he went down a great direction to answer the question but but it was you know we just oh Kelowna yeah I remember no it was a great great no I do I actually was it a theater it was a theater right yeah Community Theater right I remember that very well I really did crap yeah because because I remember the vibe uh the vibe there was I felt like uh uh rock star I felt like uh oh wow they actually get they're actually under they're getting My Weirder espec I think I did probably did some Apostle stuff I don't remember if I did or not but um do you still have videos of any of that much oh God no okay well I think we got some video of it we'll we'll send it to you yeah because I think I think when we were sort of the Canada portion of the tour um I that's when I started thinking and also when I worked in the UK I did some uh commercials in the UK and uh I remember really appreciate we were talking about SCTV we're talking about you know that I go oh oh this is this is more these are my people this is more I think comedy wise I think oh they really get it in a way that maybe and obviously there were certain portions of Canada where uh you know is a bit more uh uptight and uh which was also hilarious they weren't going for any of that but but yeah it's interesting the the sensibilities the comedic sensibilities uh are very are vastly different and very much so we talked about that with Paul a little bit too like the idea of of of Canada we've got this unique uh set of circumstances up here where we're the little brother uh to the north um you know so there's the inferiority complex the weather is different so many times we're inside and we're like there's a strangeness I don't know if you've watched letter Kenny or some of these different things that are coming out of Canada now but yeah I and I there's a sensibility that seems to do really well when it goes down south and it clicks in the right place Saturday Night Live being uh yeah you know being being or the early version of Saturday Night Live yeah I think it extends to films as well because I do have um back there somewhere I have a number of um shot on video films that are part of a collection of uh now this is what they call it uh Canucks can exploitation is that right there's let's get t-shirts that sounds great I mean it is a whole era of film from the late 80s early 90s shot on video Canadian horror films and they are just Exquisite they make me so happy because because that was you know that's what I was doing too in in the late 80s um I started making uh horror movies I started making monster movies in my backyard in Cleveland and uh my mom was the was the camera person on two of those epic films and um there was something in the air at that time there were a lot of people the Polonia Brothers uh John and Mark Polonia that you know they have a they they make all these Amityville uh sequels now that you can readily find on Amazon Prime and any Stark versus movie is mostly going to be Mark Polonia um but they made a movie called feeders back in 1996 that came out I believe one week before a little movie called Independence Day and I know this because I was working at Blockbuster video at the time and I remember putting this movie on the Shelf I have it now here on VHS it's one of my my proudest possessions and um I watched that movie and I went okay wow so there's other people there's other people out there just grabbing a camera and making a movie and yeah and that really is what we're talking about you don't worry about what anybody thinks because my God that's really all it's sort of become at least to me the social media thing is just constantly like seeking approval and taking polls and what are you guys thinking how do you think my movie should look all due respect I don't really give a if what you think or how my movie you know let me let me do it the way I want to do it because if we didn't we never would have George Lucas or David Lynch or you know any of these people really I mean yep so so that's kind of uh that's kind of a beautiful thing man yeah connect exploitation I'll have to take up to find the box and show you oh we're I'm I'm going to uh you know insist or even demand that we're gonna to be continue this are we good for a little more time can we have of course yeah awesome amazing um that's great you know um I said that to Jeff Martin he was an original Late Night writer and went to The Simpsons and all sorts of stuff since then and uh and we ended up going three hours like like I love going deep on this stuff you are a brother from another mother I mean just the George Lucas rabbit hole we could go down oh my God you impersonating George Lucas at the Star Wars celebration with the grito shot first but I love something that you said about Phantom Menace um or the prequels uh but Phantom Menace being one of them you said it recently how how those films like experimental George Lucas basically get himself a bankroll enough where he could go I'm gonna make Star Wars into experimental movies and yeah I'm gonna push technological boundaries like we did back in the 70s and and and and stories and things like that and and and people might not get it now but it doesn't matter I'm going to make what I want to make yeah you know you dressed as George Lucas screaming to a crowd these are my movies yeah such a good parodied version of that by the way by the way George um uh a guy I know that works for lucasfilm uh uh Denver about a year ago he told me that oh George had seen it um his son his George's son jet yep showed his dad um that's so funny showed his dad some of the deep fake stuff that I had done for collider and he said that he just loved it you know oh I love hearing that because I was basically saying it was basically saying things that George probably uh thinks yeah well Martin said he would love Mark Hamill had tweeted to me too Mark Hamill had tweeted and said that is like the best Jordan he's like uh I can't speak on the material I can't speak on what you're saying but I can tell you that the impression is very good which is such an awesome Mark Hamill thing to say wink wink yeah exactly with what you're saying exactly um well okay so and I you know I had read that Ben Bert you you mixed it at Skywalker which is yeah that was amazing my direct my friend Camille allaway who was the director had a buddy that was a you know sound editor um at Skywalker sound yeah and uh camel said hey would you be would would you would you be interested in having the audio mixed yeah I think so yeah as your mind is falling out of your ear yeah yeah okay there they have these like cottages that when you're up there you stay at so I was there for two nights I had a loss I lost my mind man I mean I I mean so yeah I mean George Lucas is probably the filmmaker that I admire the most he's certainly almost right at the very top and um you know to be there uh at the at the ranch to see the the house where he sat and wrote these movies longhand on yellow legal pad uh you know I and but then to have been Rick where's Rick Rick McCallum walking around we have this yeah this is Rick McCallum and uh we had this this great character called the yasm and we just wanted to animate him so we have this new dance number uh where the band is playing but now the yasm sings the song all right Rick that's enough now I just thought it'd be really fun it was a stupid puppet that did nothing all right George you don't have to insult the guy well it's just this dumb puppet that just kind of went like that right but I mean there's a guy under there yeah well the hell with that so now we make the lips go like this whoa like that you know okay make sure it's tongue make sure his tongue shakes and you can see the vocal cords in the back yeah let's yeah there's like uh yeah there's like uh saliva dripping off the teeth that's George by the way I mean that's pure George Lucas like I was watching the Mandalorian uh with the episode everybody was talking about this episode with lizzo and uh Jack Black yeah so I was watching it uh I mean look I I guess I have to keep my opinions to myself about Mandalorian or else I get canceled I don't know what happened I don't know how this works anymore I don't have a blue check mark anymore so I'm not allowed to see it no it's fine it's fine that's my opinion it's fine but that that whatever World they were on with lizzo and Jack Black and the magistrates of Doc Brown yeah yeah yeah I was like Jordan that was my favorite part see him doctor george lucas would love like this is pure George Lucas there are like these crazy creatures in the background that they never focused you just saw these crazy tall things walking yep well George is probably like oh that's good I like this this is really good you know and I remember I do remember um sorry folks we're going to talk about Star Wars for a second I do remember in that episode they were playing some weird game where like these sentient slime ball things would jump through hoops yeah but I remember reading that uh one of the novels there was a series of Lando Calrissian novels it was a Trilogy yep and that was that was the exact game that Lando was betting on I remember he was sitting in the stands betting and they were the writer was describing it it might have been Kevin J Anderson who wrote it I I couldn't wrap my head around what the hell he was talking about but then when I saw it I went oh that's that's what it was I love that they're doing I know Star Wars feloni and felony and favro are playing in the toy box and they're picking and choosing things whether they're uh in Canon or not they're taking things that weren't Canon and making one Canon and they're doing I think they're doing right by the Star Wars fans especially with moments like that like what you're talking about there's no there's always a campiness to Star Wars go back to 77 the original the mouse droid is campy you know and and and many many others the dianoga putting its head up and doing its little Periscope thing going down absolutely and and I think would it help would it help if I got out and pushed right might it might uh and also the the reverence for the prequels I always get very excited when uh they go to Coruscant or there's some kind of you know pre or if you know like when Jimmy Smits shows up in uh anytime Jimmy Smith shows up I always it brings warm feelings to my heart to quote Master Yoda but um Andrew's my favorite Andor is my favorite because of the mon mothma like like seeing the rise of mon mothma is like to me yeah I am Spellbound I'm like a little kid like I love Andor a lot yeah and and seeing her backstory because you know in Jedi you see this woman clothed in white you know she is the exact uh antithesis of the of of Palpatine but you don't know anything about her so seeing that in Andor is is but I was she's great but I want to show about the other guy the guy with the really bad I don't know what his name is can we give him his own show let's call it Nadine is it Nadine I don't know what his name is I like Nadine but make him a woman you know we gotta change it to a woman make it Nadine just have at it look I will say this though I prefer the sillier like I loved the book of Boba Fett especially the episode I love the one episode that Robert Robert Rodriguez just went all out and the rancor is hanging off of a building Godzilla I mean King Kong 1933 Style I actually like the idea of people that were uh rebuilt partially with Droid I love that yep because that comes from there's a whole series of uh the Marvel comics from the late 80s and I don't remember their names but it was a it was a female writing team that had these uh fascinating characters that were part they were part Droid there was one there was like a woman that had a it was a lightsaber but it was a whip and she fought Luke and she was so cool and badass this is in 1985.

absolutely the old Marvel series was really Fantastical but then but also but also they had telekinetic uh bunny rabbits so yes you know but my point of all this is if you criticize that stuff the silly stuff then you don't you really don't know Star Wars and you certainly don't know who George Lucas is because George Lucas is a goof I mean this guy you can't he you know what would be kind of funny is if we had like a I like this sort of floppiered character that you know these kind of sillier maybe bumps into things sure George how can you get mad at that stop getting mad about Jar Jar Binks it's fine anyway I uh well I could not agree more and we could do an entire show on this um I'll come back we'll do the Star Wars show okay good oh awesome okay uh that you just said the magic words I'll come back that makes me so happy and uh okay so hey do you know who Ralph Garman is I do know Ralph Garman yeah okay do you know him personally uh yeah we've met a few times because of Family Guy so something that you two have in common other than Family Guy is your impressions have gotten you to uh a little bit of mischief and and a little bit of uh I don't know if it was trouble but definitely Mischief his Jerry Lewis is incredible one time calling the uh the French Embassy or or calling France calling the palace I don't know what he was doing the Prime Minister actually got through because they love Jerry Lewis so much right you're Schwarzenegger was actually caused a little bit of disruption to the point where a news anchor had to apologize uh because you seemingly uh perfectly convinced him that Arnold Schwarzenegger had a plan to blow up the moon um yeah like how cool is it that your impressions have actually created these kinds of yeah that was pretty great man that was back in the that was in a time when people had a little more fun yeah or so oh I let me I will most people are not uptight I think if you are if you're on Twitter all day you would be convinced thoroughly you'll become every Everything has gone to complete but then you go outside and people are like yeah we don't care nobody cares no one can no one cares nobody cares no one cares I'm take it from me they go like when you do stand up yeah everybody everybody insults each other equally nobody cares everything's fine but um you know when we would be doing prank phone calls and things back then was like an art I mean the first one was oh yeah when I pranked uh Fox and Friends on the air as Arnold and I have to think again that was um that was Larry Larry wax he was the host uh of a show the regular guys it was a radio show out of Atlanta and um I think Tim Conway Jr had sort of made the connection with those guys as well and those guys had brass balls I mean they were you know they were like hey uh let's just call Fox News and tell them that it's Arnold Schwarzenegger and somehow whoever was screening the calls was like oh okay yeah yes I want to talk to them because uh I'm in town you know talking about the education all that it was better back then but you know but um I was on the air for like five minutes or something and they they believed it so that was that was the call that I think also caught the attention of the Stern show but then um the the one you're talking about is on MSNBC there was a guy named Joe Scarborough yes who had a show called Scarborough country or Scarborough County Scarborough it says country Scarborough County sounds like a CBS uh television series that's been done for like 15 years and you've never seen it but it's still on yeah it's right after Dr Quinn that's right after Quinn if like if like Richard Crenna was still alive he would probably be the star of it that's a great poll you know you'd be like oh what's Crenna doing oh he's still doing Scarborough County nominated for an Emmy in the third season really oh how many they've been on for 25 years now wow I've never seen it's like Blue Bloods exactly hi I'm Tom Selleck I'm on Blue Bloods you know I never saw it God bless he's right you know I see his poster every day I walk into CBS CBS was also just posters of new shows that I've never seen yeah anyway but uh so Scarborough I call he heard the prank that I did on the Howard Stern Show so the bit that I did on stern was we're going to blow up the moon we have to get rid of the Moon the Moon is useless you know but the thing I said was the the moon regulates the menstrual cycle of the women if we get rid of this Moon no more PMS no more bitching and whining that's what I said so which is a great you know so this guy was livid like we way to lose half your uh your voter base Arnold and then he had to come back the next day on air and apologize that the information they were given was erroneous but but here's the thing and this is my entire career in a nutshell this this is what I got tired of I wish that in that moment it was a David Letterman yeah oh yeah and now now uh uh I wish that they had said my freaking name yes can you just say who the guy is that did the yeah you know that was the only thing about all of these things that I've done mostly the Schwarzenegger though was you know each never knew who it was they just they had I've heard you say this I've heard you say this the sentiment uh Express the sentiment a few times on a few different uh Outlets one of the reasons that I'm not just going to hey so did you ever meet Peter LaSalle I'm not going to that right now because I know that that sentiment exists and if we can do something to kind of get that out there and go okay like okay Jeffrey Peterson was genius he was awesome his improv was incredible which we all agree and we all know uh there is going to be t-shirts available we want to make sure that we all get that out there okay but I would really like to get out there again that's why we talked about the Specialists why we talk about the Arnold prank some of these things because you have have in the shadows done some really awesome things that you shouldn't be in the shadows there should be a spotlight showing that that you did this stuff and you know I would say the same thing about Ralph Garmin like like when he got let go from K-Rock I'm like oh my God like he's done so many cool things and and I'm glad you know he's kind of attached himself to Kevin Smith and they're doing some cool stuff and he's got a yeah I would I want to get you that warehouse man because I want to see what you'd create out of it like like you've got this amazing creative mind and and this is the stuff that I wanted to unearth today a little bit um for our viewers let's go Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of got that attention Stern um at that point they were doing evil David Letterman we'll we'll talk about that stuff later on but yeah you know you get this attention you move over 07 you show up uh I believe your first appearance on Late Late Show was in an Arnold bodysuit or something or at least what was one of the first ones and then the first one yeah the first one was a phone call it was voice only okay yeah I remember that one because I was doing it from the booth that shadow Stevens uh would do his voice over you know the Late Late Show brought to you by Addison brought to you by Bisquick and um so they were like okay it's gonna be fine uh just read the script don't deviate from the script and um and of course the first thing I did was I deviated from the script and yeah flex your muscles yeah and Craig was like well who's what's this guy doing man what is this you know like don't deviate from the script don't don't look him in the eyes when he comes walking down the hall don't stare at him don't you know I did all those I did everything I looked at him I addressed him it was all the wrong things and um yeah so then I think it was about a month after that Joe strasullo who's the guy that wrote mostly all those Schwarzenegger sketches and the guy that saw me doing my preacher character on public access he uh he said uh what do you think about putting on a suit like you have any objections to doing the muscle suit and putting on like some I said great I'll do it yep let's go for it so yeah it was like a two hour makeup every time I go in there they would put these appliances on me uh this guy uh Trent Trent Cotner was a really great guy very sweet guy great makeup artist but the funny thing about Trent is uh halfway through him uh in the middle of applying my makeup he says you know I can't tell if the I'm colorblind so I don't know it's like oh my God because I don't I'm not sure I think that's probably fine I mean he was messing with me but but it was it was amazing and and so that's how CR that's how and that's I'm glad you brought it up because that is I was doing The Late Late Show so 2007 yeah uh and then it just you know it was only it was once every couple of months three months would go by hey let's do another Arnold then that became more frequent and then I did a couple dineros uh and then I started doing bits where I was sitting across from Craig like he was Larry King and I was Arnold or he was the queen and that was De Niro that's a really old one I don't even know if that's out there anymore or or he was Pacino when I was De Niro and we were doing a scene from like uh our movie and you know I we would just make each other laugh I mean I would I would make him laugh before we'd go out but I was so nervous I was so intimidated and so nervous he's a very he's a tall guy and I'm like this dude that was working a Blockbuster Video and now all of a sudden I'm here and it's like one thing to be doing shows in Chino by yourself for an audience of five farmers and now you're or one prisoner and you're and now you know I'm like oh my God but um you know it was an incredible experience I think it helped that the first Studio we were in or where I started was the very a very small Studio yeah the original Studio I think where uh Kilbourne had been yep and there was a I mean a very you talk about public access Vibes that was it I mean which is great the original Late Night by the way had the same Vibe yeah you know you know they they and don't get me wrong I loved I again you talk about these Ferguson purists oh I liked it before they got the new studio I liked it before they you know people who talk about that through that it was so the progression was what was awesome but I don't think the new studio would have been as awesome if it didn't start in the old Studio like the progression is necessary I remember that I remember when Letterman went to well I remember when a letterman went to CBS I mean literally that was a I remember that that was very strange even to me and I was uh you know 18 17 18 years old yup I was like what is what is that seems this doesn't seem right like who cares what network you're on but it just felt like you know NBC and Letterman it was just ingrained it was there was no separating the two I mean he's not gonna make fun of the what was it was that was that the Tiffany Network or was it CBS PBS the Tiffany Network NBC was owned by GE and that's where he scored all the points on yeah yes yeah yeah so but but I I remember watching his the first version of that show when I was a kid and yeah marveling at the audience Cam and all these but I didn't realize that all of that had come from um uh was inspired by you know Steve Allen I mean Steve Allen was really the guy that was jumping into giant teacups and doing all these big sort of stunts on his version of The Tonight Show and um so but Steve Allen it's Steve Allen in the cable let's see with Steve Allen it was still big in Showbiz and all that right but imagine the Steve Allen Antics in the in the uh cable access exactly environment right and and Letterman had that that Letterman's which is what we've embraced as well I mean obviously 100 to tie it in for you folks that are upset that we haven't mentioned uh worldwide pants yet worldwide pants produced The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson there we've done it we've found there we go we're there what okay was that as a performer um as you know the crew people like that would they have known that this show was different than any other late night show uh out on at the time because you know Dave moves over to CBS part of what he got was basically the Carson deal extended he got he basically Johnny Carson worked 30 years to get this amazing uh you know contract where he owned 12 30 and that's where Late Night with David Letterman came from or part of 12 30.

Letterman moves over to CBS and they're like well if you can build us a franchise you can also have the 12 30 and have ownership of that unique will probably never be seen again in entertainment in this sort of fashion where where worldwide pants owns two hours of network TV every single night um you as a performer your Vantage Point did you see that at all or as far as you're concerned is you could have been working for CBS or worldwide pants it made no difference whatsoever in your day-to-day stuff yeah I don't think I mean I think I think we you know I don't yeah I wasn't really privy to any of those sort of goings-on with with with that that aspect of the of the business but yep because I would you know but toward the end I would roll in about an hour if that before show time and just turn on the robot and let's go you know uh and I think Craig probably did the same thing as well all right yeah let's go a little bit of makeup all right let's go here we go you know but it was so good because it was so loose yeah like that's the thing that was so different about you guys is how loose it was Craig shows up and he starts tearing up the blue card the moment the guest comes out there and you guys could riff back and forth you could get involved with the guests I mean the joke was that you know no one really cared about us but also that was kind of true like we were sort of left alone to play in the sandbox and um and that's pants in my opinion that's pants doing that yeah if you have a bunch of network CBS network Executives around picking everything apart right it feels that way many times I think in the in the final product I think maybe I don't know like if CBS had produced our show outright would there have been more money to do things ah there you go yeah it's possible because uh I just went to a taping of um you know one of James corden's final shows yeah by the way he's a lovely guy it's so funny how uh I mean I've met him twice he came to the Late Late Show before Craig's version of the show ended and it was it was very nice and then I saw him again uh at this taping really amazing to be back at CBS I had not been back there on the lot since our show ended yeah and I and I got a parking spot for the first time wow they actually had my name on a can you imagine that uh that's a true story I'll put that on my book how I think only the last six months of my time on The Late Late Show did I have a parking space they stenciled my name on one of those concrete blocks but almost every time that I would show up somebody else would be parked there so you know folks if you have any Illusions about showbiz no but I but it was a great experience the show was very funny my friend Tim mancinelli yep has directed all all versions of The Late Late Show he's been a part of in some way since Snyder yeah uh after sniper so kilborn kilborn okay I'm gonna ask for okay you know that I'm gonna ask if there's anybody that's a guy that I would love to talk to yeah you should talk to him boy the incarnations that he has seen because he went he actually transitioned from pants to CBS I would love to okay anyway yeah yeah but so do you think they got you in this last week right he was yeah he got me you know I said you know I want to come see the show buddy and support you guys and it was wonderful it gave me the full tour I went there with my girlfriend and I was like you know honey over here is Where I Stood as uh Jeff Peterson and uh here's my Nook where the horse was yeah this is where I was and that's where Jeff was and there's the fireplace over there and um but yeah no Tim um was uh I think he was like an assistant director and then became the official director full-time during our run and then directed I mean he won a bunch of Emmys for The Late Late Show with James Corden I mean you know it's funny like not a a number of Late Late Show fans uh speak very ill of James Corden I get that you guys were sad that the show ended sure like I have never responded or participated to those kind of comments um I mean it's just the way things go you know I I could have done the show for three four more years I think I felt like we were just hitting our stride yes um you know it also wasn't my name underneath the Late Late Show title and you do a show for that long you know you get burned out it's enough already so um yeah so but but you know then it's I mean Snyder and then it was Kilbourne and it just goes on and on you know now it's over now there's no more Late Late Show but uh it was a great experience it was great to be there and I really enjoyed it I gotta ask um you know you're friends with Craig you know this announcement of the idea of a syndicated Craig Ferguson entry into back into the talk show world again are you allowed to talk about any of that are you involved in it at all other than just cheering them on you know I I honestly I don't know too much about it um so we'll see I I know I just know I will tell you that we we did something like this right when the Late Late Show ended I we did we did shoot a pilot of some sort that uh had Jeff and the horse and um but I think that maybe I don't know I feel like the the 90s kind of TV sensibility has returned there's some kind of uh a hunger for that kind of variety show style thing whereas there wasn't at that time so we'll see I don't know all I know is um that he and his team were shopping something around I was not a part of that pilot um but he and I have talked about stuff so that's all I can tell you yeah I I appreciate you expertly negotiating the Minefield on that um that is all I don't really know too much to be honest with you you know and so that's the other thing the other thing is Craig he is who he is and I am who I am you know that's folks I just I love you people out there but I just want you to know we're different people we have our own we go off and do our own things you know we're not uh I think people know that intrinsically like when you say it like that I think people are like okay oh yeah but you guys made such a yeah that's a good team together like like again like Mike and I you know seeing when we came and saw you guys it was the perfect one-two punch yeah you complimented each other perfectly on the show you complimented each other perfectly and people hunger for that we talked about Nostalgia at the beginning of this episode there's no question that there's a Nostalgia there to see if what you two would do together um you know and and I mean I don't know what direction he wants to go in but when you read what was in the trades it's like oh man it would be really cool to see some sort of incarnation that gives a nod to the past I've got two more kind of questions here about that um now the pants of it all uh you know I know that I want to talk about the t-shirts and all that kind of stuff here because you know you got a couple of people who are going to purchase them right here uh but and I want everyone to know about this stuff uh but when it comes to the rights of you Jeffrey notice I haven't asked you to say balls once I don't know if you're allowed to say balls anymore if it's stricken from your vocabulary or not um are you does pants own that property and are you allowed to uh play in that swimming pool at all um or you know like are you allowed to be Jeffrey Peterson if you want to be Yeah It's Tricky uh I'm not sure that is one of the things I talked with Craig about um a little while ago when I did a uh t-shirt fundraiser um my my best buddy at the time was uh fighting cancer my buddy Matt Lodi and um uh so we had a fundraiser and I thought well let's you know I go hey man let's you know let's let's do something with Jeff you know it's for charity so that so I got the thumbs up on that because it was for charity and that would have been that thumbs up would have come from the high up in the up in the high reaches yeah worldwide pants I think I think yes it was Craig and and you know the feeling was it's fine because it's because it's for this thing but if it's but if it's for your own personal profit um we have to kind of figure something out it's weird though because you know it's it's a bummer because there's so many people that have made their own Jeff shirts yes I always see people wearing them and I go no that's not the one you know it'll be like yeah like some I don't know some guy in a big band recently was wearing this ass mode shirt and everyone's like look dude cool and I was like nah man that's not one of ours no but you know but it's but it's so it's I don't really understand how that works because I don't know like if it's I if I did it I'd probably get in trouble but we're working it out my point is we're working it out but yes worldwide pants I don't think that they really care I don't think anybody's gonna lose any sleep over it until I make like you know a hundred thousand dollars it's like hey let's renegotiate this now wait a second now hold on but um that would be a good problem to have though if that if that were to happen that would be a really good problem to have because it would mean like we're living in this time of nostalgic Resurgence in so many different ways uh I I personally now you do have a signing of some sort coming up right I do yeah um do we have a date on it yet or is it is it still something that you're working on it's going to be June 9th okay um that's June 9th 2023 depending on when you're watching or listening to this so it may have already had it's over folks um but it's cool before then for sure it is through an organization called streamily these these names man they're they're good people but all these names sure extremely stramblam I don't know extremely anyway so they do they do signings they do virtual uh signings of things so I'm going to have they're they're putting together my store right now um so if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you know just look at Twitter's Josh R Thompson if you just follow me on Twitter or Instagram you will definitely know ahead of time uh the the exact time for this but it will be June 9th and I will be signing um a lot of stuff there's gonna be a lot of Jeff Peterson um rare photographs and behind the scenes things and sign photographs like one that we could pop right on that wall there we can we'll make that happen What basically you would purchase whatever you want yep and then uh during the live broadcast uh in their Studio or here uh I will hold it up I'll say who it's for and then you can also tell me you know what to write on there and I'll be doing a q a as well I'll be doing a q a and answering some of the like most popular burning questions about Jeff Peterson and The Late Late Show how did it work how did it come to be we'll talk about Grant Imahara we'll talk about all kinds of stuff but I thought it would be a good way to take care of both things and um so and I think the charity some of the portions of the the proceeds will go to a charity I haven't figured out which one yet I'm leaning toward the Starlight uh Children's Foundation but it may also be something for uh you know autism because I'm starting to do work with you know uh autistic uh children which is stuff that I also really love and so but yeah but I want to say thanks to everybody that did help out with the fundraiser for my friend Matt Lodi you know um uh he was a great great guy I I knew him he was a great he was such a great guy he was a very great guy he was a wonder he was the best guy there's no better guy than him uh but he didn't make it he didn't make it oh please Trump well he's he's gone he couldn't do it he um he loves you for that right now I swear to God energetically I just feel the need to tell you that he loves you for that right now yeah he was a legend he really was he was uh it's very strange still to speak of him in the past tense I will tell you that um but I grew up with him he was my best buddy all through junior high high school forever and ever and uh but thanks to everyone who helped with that fundraiser because it really helped them out a lot um he was a big um speaking of Cleveland and local TV and radio he was um a sports reporter in Cleveland um who famously was a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan so God bless you buddy I'm glad you got a chance to say that here um again I don't know if we're finishing on this or not uh I guess it depends on your answer I guess but uh Peter LaSalle um legendary yeah late night producer Carson uh ended up being picked up by Letterman and mentored by Letterman and all of that stuff um Le Sally when when uh Mr Kilbourne uh was gonna be moving on the idea of replacing him Mr LaSalle essentially heading up that committee uh you know doing the the um uh the tryout for four or five different people Craig Ferguson ends up doing it and then LaSalle you know the the story is takes Craig under his wing in so many ways and it's such a part of that show um did you have any interactions with Peter that uh are kind of notable yeah oh yeah yeah kind man loved his wife Alice very very much and I just think of Peter right now um you know he'd be a dream guest for this program if we could make that ever happen but I don't think it's going to and so I I love talking to people who worked with Peter um as I say that what pops into your head Josh yeah he was well Peter was a direct link to to Johnny right I mean so I had um occasionally I would go up to Peter's office and and hang out and you know talk about Johnny and The Tonight Show I like to hear his stories about that show and um you know it's it's still very surreal to sit across from a guy that was really there and I really did speak with and know Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon uh and Doc and everybody over there so um but I had um gotten a a record in the 70s in the late 70s there was a record put out that was The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and as this double album a very curious mix of bits from the show but Audio Only which is very weird um getting into the comedy the comedy record craze yeah Nigel could take part yeah that makes sense yeah and so I had Peter um autographed that for me and he you know oh he'd written something like you know well you really know the good stuff uh Peter you know something you know because he was like he was like I don't even know what this album is I don't even know I don't even know if uh they were given authorization to make this and I was like Peter I mean it's 1978 I know well maybe we could look into this and no no I started a lawsuit here but Peter was you know old school legendary yeah to be revered um I had nothing but respect for him uh and and the two things I remember sometimes I would get called in I would see I was in a very unusual position as the disembodied voice of this character because what made Jeff Peterson work to some degree and by work I mean the fact that it stuck around as long as it did was that I physically was not out there on camera the idea that it was a robot sidekick I think they made everything go down a little bit easier it was a little more palatable for everybody you know because you could slip some things in no pun intended well that but also like sharing the stage really with another person is you know it's a tricky thing especially if it's your show and suddenly there's this other guy yep who's this guy and also I mean again all credit to Craig for saying well let's give it a try and see what happens you know and I remember he said yes you know take it easy like don't and I was like don't worry man I'm not gonna you know just don't like just wait until I look at you well then it was like well I don't know when you're looking at me because left is right and right is left like when when I'm looking at my monitor backstage and sometimes he doesn't say Jeff what do you think he'll say what do you think and I would go oh he's talking to me and then we had to cut a hole in the side of the audience wall Where I Stood so that I could physically see what Craig was doing so once we figured all that out somehow it worked but it could have gone really badly it could have like been could have been cut in the first week I mean because Craig got bored with things very quickly yeah I thought it was going to last really truly like a couple of weeks and that would be it oh that was fun take care yeah um but what would happen occasionally is I would get a hand slap from The Producers or the sensors because like if Craig said vagina Josh you can't say vagina again it was like okay so so you have to understand that when I was doing the show almost every night Michael nadis the producer would walk past me and go okay Josh uh the audience is very tired uh Craig is in a bad mood so it's all up to you have a good show and then you know so so you have to understand like break a leg buddy yeah it's like and don't say this and make sure that you're not like he's gonna say nasty things we want to try to steer him away from oh you you want me to try to steer him away so what happened was um one time I got in a little trouble I don't remember what for so silly thinking about now is so so silly yep we have editors it's not live I know it's a shock but so okay Peter Peter and Michael want to talk to you oh my god uh they want you to go up to Mike when you go up to Peter's office oh boy so what what I love about this moment is this is the most old-school Hollywood moment you could ever this is what happened hey come up so Peter's sitting at his desk with all these you know Emmys and awards and photographs behind him and he's got his sweater on with his collared shirt underneath come on in how are you have a have a seat and then following close behind me is Michael nadis he suddenly appears out of somewhere a trapdoor I don't know I'm like oh well and he comes in he follows me and and we sit down in front of you know this throne and then all of a sudden Peter reaches down under his desk and presses a button and it makes the door makes the door close to the office that is old school Hollywood oh my God because these guys they they all had this this was a thing oh it wasn't it was just a thing that you had it was this power thing and it was the most now that I mean it's the coolest thing ever sure but but in that moment I was terrified because the door closes and it's like hey uh hold all calls for about five minutes I'm like am I gonna get beaten is he gonna pull a belt out like what's gonna happen here and I mean in the serious talk the most serious tone uh he says now you know we've talked to you a couple of times uh first of all I think you're doing a great job oh boy you're wonderful there you go although this is not this is a sandwich coming okay yeah but we well Michael maybe you can take it you know and then that now they're now we're gonna do a little back and forth and whatever it was it was like well we just feel that you know if Craig says these words that you can't say those words okay sure thing no problem you got it yes sir can I get out is the door open can I get out of here please yeah so but um but it's important to understand that that I no I was back there making stuff up but then all of a sudden there was this thing in the back of my head now where I was holding I was holding back and there are some shows where you can see Craig look over at Jeff but really he's looking at me yeah and he'd be like well what's cool what the hell's going on man you all right man I'm fine man everything's fine and any time that like Jeff would be Surly or pissed off it was probably because I was really pissed off he's like what are you doing man you seem like you're not yourself man no it's just I don't know man I'm having trouble at home and I don't know it's what what are you talking about someone got to you didn't they meant no it's fine man So eventually I went to Craig's off I just I directly went to his office and I knocked on the door which everyone told me not to do they're like don't no he's don't disturb Craig he's in his you know meditation chamber whatever the hell like his door's open he's fine Mr Ferguson Solitude yeah now I need to talk to you for a minute I got these fellas over here pushing me around I don't care for it and uh he's like yeah don't don't listen to them man listen just do what you do man don't worry about it and I'll tell you that was the greatest thing he could have said because the last year of that show anybody who watched that show yeah um boy oh boy it's not like I wanted to say anything that was offensive it's not like we were trying it's just that you gotta You Gotta Give me a little room to play because if he's throwing me a softball I I have to I have to swing for it I can't like keep going oh I don't know if I because it's only gonna make him unhappy so so there was there was some of that stuff going on which I respected because I wanted to be a team player and I have nothing but respect for all of the people all the producers especially with Sally I mean I'm not gonna but at the same time I think there was a little push and pull of old school new school but I also think LaSalle was very important because he was the key to a lot of those great guests that we got from that golden era oh yeah you know but that's what that's what was kind of going on back there man and you know puppeteering this robot which a lot of people surprisingly still weren't aware that like I physically yep moved Jeff The Voice the mouth was not voice activated there was a switch that I had to press every time that Jeff talked so I just sort of got used to doing that and didn't really think about it and it made them out do that and the head swivel and the eyes blink and of course Grant yamahara the late great genius Grant yamahara is the guy who built Jeff and showed me how to operate it and um so that was happening and then I took over doing the Rhino head and then I'm doing all these musical instruments you know so yes I think I think then when somebody comes in and goes right but if if you could just not look man I mean to their credit they never made me wear a headset uh there was talk of giving me an earpiece oh no producers could tell you no said no no way no yeah the organic stuff was the gold and the tension that you're talking about here was the mining of that gold in my opinion the tension's not a bad thing like it's it's it the push pull is actually what stretches and that gets you and Craig to have these conversations that you're talking about here to me but the the the earpiece being produced I I to me that's just not no no no you know yeah no no Craig put a stop to that and I I that's one of the things I went to him immediately with and I go look dude I I am not gonna sit there and have five people no telling me what to do um and maybe there was listen maybe there was some method to the madness maybe you know Le Sally listen he's a legend so maybe he you know I wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised if he knew that that was what was going to happen like yeah let's let's see if we can because Craig you know we talked recently and he was like you know we used to derive Glee it's very mean but he said sometimes you know if we found out like if you were going through like a bad breakup you know some of the writers told me that you were going through a bad breakup and I knew that and so I knew that you were going to be really funny that week man because that Jeff was really bitter and angry and so he would just he would poke and that's when we would have the oh shut up man you know oh you know kiss my ass you know a lot of that stuff was was that was really happening in my life and that's when Jeff became interesting because in the beginning it was pre-recorded phrases which were great Tom straw and Bob o'shack were the guys who wrote A lot of those you know in your pants and bowls and there I said it there it is I got it thank you all right all right Put the gun down that's that's a little excessive that's a little excessive uh sex party that was another one but um Craig did the voice in the beginning so Craig did The Voice and it sounded like this hello Craig haha you're the man which was a great bit it was the idea of your own sidekick that'll kiss your ass that I could see him getting tired of by the way and he did there's a good yeah there you go yeah because there you go you know it was like I get it's like look man I just want to come in and talk to people I don't want to have to record this man and I'm now I'm talking to myself and I'm like yeah so thankfully you know again to his credit he said you want to give it you want to give it a world man's come up with a voice or something man Tom straw who has since is gone on to be he's an incredible novelist he writes these incredible novels uh Tom straw um was the writer at the time who wrote The Jeff phrases and he was the one that was pushing for this kind of uh George Takei oh oh my so in the beginning it was very hello Craig how are you who it was very like that but you can only do that for so long before your voice is completely ruined you know hello how are you yes and I and George is a perfect Testament to that no I'm just kidding I'm just it's true oh how dare you yes I was very I was not really a fan of that yeah I pushed back on that my original idea was well Jeff is a robot so in his programming he would be able to do other voices no no no no one's gonna go for that no one's gonna go for that okay but I but I understand now because it was like let's just slowly introduce this thing evolve it yeah let's not make this the Josh Robert Thompson show I get that you're excited and I wasn't trying to do that it was like I just want to make it funny yeah yeah I get it but let's relax and then I was trying to pitch we should do it every night I should be there live doing it well let's just we'll see so for the first year uh I would just come in now and again and pre-record phrases that would then be loaded up onto an iPad which one of the writers would just press a different button and he would say one of my phrases so I wasn't I wasn't there um yeah but then when we decided to do that I mean that was it you know that was the best idea possible you're okay for another five minutes we're okay sure yeah okay so that's finally quieted down so we're okay which is too bad an appearance of a kitten would just have a seed make some make him coffee will you yeah they'll be fine um the uh the desert is the car in the desert is that the first time is that the inaugural uh bit where you become became animated and and I'm pretty yeah I think that's that's the first one I remember that was the Vegas uh that was The Hangover parody yes it was a hangover parody yes yes yes yes yes yes okay and I was like oh uh okay we're gonna we're gonna be in this 57 Chevy we're gonna be on a camera truck yeah we're gonna be going down Las Vegas Boulevard uh it's gonna look like Jeff is driving Josh you're gonna lie down in the back seat we're gonna cover you with a blanket and then this little person Brad lace is going to be dressed as a leprechaun he's going to be sitting on you by the way that's a clue to what the rest of your career is gonna be like buddy okay stay behind the seat with the right lines that is also a David Lynch movie by the way oh it is 100 I was like what what is happening here hey Brad how are you man but I remember um being stuck we got you know Las Vegas Boulevard notorious traffic stop and go stop and go so there's Craig Ferguson in a 57 Chevy with Jeff Peterson and suddenly We're stopped in front of who knows what casino and all these people start coming over I bet everyone's in the camera truck so it just looks like Craig the robot and the leprechaun are sitting in a red right so a lot of flip phones out a lot of flip bad pictures being taken at that point and so I have the headset on I can hear the director and I can hear Craig and he goes uh uh get us the out of here man all right I don't care how you do it man turn this thing around right now man so what I I remember what I did as Jeff Peterson and I I do in the moment I was I thought I debated with myself for one second I said should I should I do this am I gonna I'm gonna go ahead and do this so I made Jeff's head swivel to Craig and I said something like oh does the does the big late night talk show host want to go home oh is this this is too hard for you and he just started crying laughing and I think I think that may have been it I think that may have been the moment light bulb moment thing there it is because I could hear people go what is it what is he doing what is he doing oh is it oh you don't want to talk to the people you want to go and have a nap whatever whatever it was I was saying the idea of Jeff that I think appealed to Craig the most is when I as Jeff would uh would rib Craig and would give him a hard time about you know just his position on that show and how it really wasn't that hard and that's those are the things that I think would make him laugh the most you know uh someone gently not calling him on his but just really really calling out the absurdity of this whole thing which is what the puppets on set and Secretariat and all the things that yes that that is what that is in my opinion that is the theme of the show and that is why it's the direct throwback to the original late night that's why I love your show so much uh yes that this is exactly what you know what's funny when you when you when you talk to somebody and you're like okay I'm pretty sure that this is how it is and then you talk to them and it's like completely different this is one of those ones where it's like okay I feel like a mine meld here I there's so many people that are going to be happy about this I'll tell you this even um when we saw you guys live and Craig actually expressed this sentiment a couple other times I I can't off the top of my head think of it but he it definitely expressed it that night in the uh the Kelowna Community Theater shout out uh to Kelowna um you know he talked about because you guys had announced the show was ending and and he you know dismissed all almost his position in late night history he hated the idea that it was a fraternity the you know that he's a part of this thing which is kind of the attitude that Dave had originally Dave doesn't like schmoozing around you know the uh doing the Hollywood thing the Showbiz thing does not like that almost presents it almost as bitter towards it by this point all the late night hosts didn't want the late shift debacle of when we were 18 of what happened and so you know the jimmies and all these people are being nice to each other and everybody's happy and all that stuff Craig went out of his way to say I am not part of this fraternity I don't want to be a part of this which I also believe it's along the same lines of what you're talking about it's another one of those ingredients that made your show so good is that you know you were able to make fun of the entire genre but be entertaining in doing it like the puppets didn't mock it it made it cooler in my opinion right you uh you know I I I'm certain people would ask you oh did you ever you know study Paul Schaefer or some of these other Sidekicks probably not I I don't think you beat you're that guy I think you're you're doing something much cooler that happens to be the same thing right these other people in history have done but I don't know if any of that makes sense to you or not because no it does yeah it's absolutely true and but I also think they're the key for me was there was still a reverence and a knowledge of all those shows that had come before um there's a respect there yeah I have a deep respect even before Johnny um of uh Steve Allen and you know all these other car and all those guys yeah exactly I I sort of sort of gravitated toward that at a very young age I didn't understand what it was but I knew that it was something that I that appealed to me me too you know watching I even remember when Tim Conway um had his had a show he had you know it's one of the Tim Conway went through this too because Tim Conway you know of course was on Carol Burnett and friends and one of the greatest comedy shows ever on television of that era and but then you know he he then went to do his own show and I don't know that it did particularly well I mean it was on it was very short-lived but I remember it as a kid because I remember the opening of the show it had his name it was these giant letters they made Tim Conway and I think he came out of the letter I like a giant letter I and Tim was a door and he would come out and go hey everybody and it was like and you know I think that um I always had a respect for that and I'd always jokingly call uh uh Jeff Peterson because he's a skeleton you know dead dead McMahon that was that was the that's who he was yeah you know but he was not a yes man in fact that was the beauty of Jeff yes and also Ed McMahon because Ed was also the kind of person that would uh depending on how much he had to drink that evening would uh challenge Johnny and Johnny really liked that um it was very funny those those are the moments to me that I loved so I always liked that Craig had this robot on his hands that would do anything but kiss his ass and um you know just didn't care I don't know and somewhere along the line Jeff was he was a gay robot I don't he was a gay robot skeleton but then anytime there was like a beautiful uh uh you know actress that was on I would would be you know flirting with her uh and then he said I thought you were gay man not not today not tonight not not right now no no no no no I think uh but yeah so yeah there is a reverence but also we're just gonna do what we do the way that we do it but there was it was never planned there was only one time when uh I would walk with Bob o'shack writer Bob oshak I would walk to Craig's dressing room we only did this one time what Bob would do is sit and run through the monologue there was a monologue and there were great writers it was an incredible group of writers um but what started to happen was because Jeff was there Craig would get like halfway through you know page two of the monologue and go yeah who cares man so what would you do this weekend Jeff yeah love that you go well so I I there was a point where I had to I don't think they were really mad and I don't think they care actually my friend Joe told me he's like we didn't care we were getting paid no matter what I don't give a if they didn't read our words you know oh right but there was a point where I sort of like fellas you know I apologize uh I you know I got when he says hello to me I gotta say hello back I don't know they're like oh God continue fill your boots yeah you know because the beauty was there'd be a monologue and uh you know you'd get to like page two and then the next day you'd see the pages that he didn't get to they would they would now appear in that day's monologue and then he would do one of those pages and then the next day you'd see the pages he didn't get to in that monologue and they just kind of keep it in there for a while and he played this game where I'm just never gonna get to it man I'm just never gonna get to it it's passe now yeah it was really fun so and we weren't yeah it was just kind of all over the place I mean really the sketches and things that we came up I mean the sketches were written right so the Schwarzenegger stuff and Craig did Craig did a lot of sketches before I came around uh it was very sketch heavy um and musical numbers and things like that puppets of course yeah yep and then we started coming up with our own like GP in the fergs like so we we started like making up what would be our what would be our uh you know our police our cop show man oh GP in the fergs yeah and then all of a sudden the next thing you know the props props department has a you know a gun holster right now now we got uh hey can you guys make a logo and a little bit of a music for that yeah and then I and then I'm doing the voiceover going it's GP and the fergs and so it was it was the idea of something out of nothing and um but just just a little bit like not in other words like we didn't go overboard and like okay let's shoot full episodes of GP in the fergs we're gonna go and again to their credit The Late Late Show with James Corden Embrace that beautifully I mean for sure Gordon's bit where he uh is training with Tom Cruise to do skydiving and flying in the chat is so brilliant and carpool karaoke was a brilliant conceit I mean it's incredible but we but that's a different show it's absolutely or bad we just the idea that was funny of our show was it was just enough because I had pitched an idea where we were going to do different eras of our version of the show so we were going to do like a black and white 1950s show it's a great idea in the 70s and Craig was like that's great man and we did one time we did one where I appeared on camera it was supposed to be the very first episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson I love okay thank you thank you for calling this back this is awesome yep yep and I'm wearing I'm actually physically at the lectern yeah with a plaid suit coat and it's just me going oh and um Craig says something like uh something about Steve Gutenberg and I go oh Steve Gutenberg is the biggest star in the world his star will never fade and uh and then he says so what are you doing this weekend Jeff oh I'm going skydiving skydiving yes but it will be very safe or something like I'm sure nothing will happen so the other idea was that Jeff had these multiple stories about how he came to be how he died you know one of them was he's skydiving and he plummeted to his death because the parachute didn't work yeah the other one was that he got into a fight with um was it like Burl Ives or something something he got into a fight with it was like Burl Ives or Wilford Brimley somehow he got into a bar fight and that's how he died and and so that that was never acted by you that was the only time at the podium there that bit you're talking about was the only time that you ever was were you before Jeff right that was that was a I love that moment because I was on camera as Arnold and De Niro and some other characters yeah but that was Jeff that was Jeff In the Flesh yes and um so yeah I always found it kind of weird I think I think it the only the when I went through kind of a you know a dark a dark just it was a sad time for me because you know talking about all these bits and all these things that were going on behind that wall there was this assumption or feeling that well once this show's over I mean Hollywood I'm talking about yeah Mr Hollywood's gonna present me with the key to the city and go we know all about your work son welcome aboard and the crazy thing is that just never happened like there was no there was a little to no knowledge yeah at this guy had been doing all those things back there and so now of course you know it's fine I know that I did it we as we're talking you know it's very clear it's part of this Legacy of this amazing thing but yeah I mean it's a is a weird position for me to be in I think the most unusual and very specific job description that anyone's ever had in late night television is being the robot sidekick because the character is so well loved but the person behind it is not necessarily as well known I think that's changed but I've also come to realize that it just it's not that important I mean it isn't it is important for a performer you would like people to know you know and I do think that I do think that CBS not CBI I think they I think they handled things a little bit differently I've told the story before about Comic-Con when we had Jeff Peterson there two years in a row at the CBS Booth which I always jokingly say you know the first booth that anybody who's going to Comic-Con races to you know the the number one on the list hey you got you guys want to see what's popping at the CBS Booth this year the Tiffany Network's here let's go my God Walker Texas Ranger I think but so they had Jeff Peterson there um and I mean there were hundreds of people the that lined up to talk to him and take pictures with him so I was hidden away puppeteering I could see people through this camera and I was talking to everybody and the weird and so for for some reason they would not let me come out and talk to everybody and I very calmly said you see Comic-Con is where you meet the people behind these things well you know next year next year so next year came same thing well Rob Paulson The Great Rob Paulson great voice actor wonderful human being I got a knock on the CBS booth at Comic-Con and I opened the door and it's Rob Paulson and he says I just had to come over here and say how much I love what you do and I'm like oh my God you know pinky in the brain teenager yeah Turtles you're Rob Paulson you know and Beyond and um and he go rob Paul's the nicest guy in the world he goes why the hell they got you in here and I was like thank you Rob Paulson so this is not to complain this is no story I always tell the story to illustrate for you exactly kind of what I was sort of dealing with and why my feelings about it were very mixed when the show ended because I feel like I did a lot on that show and I had such a good time and uh My Hope Is that someday maybe soon uh we there'll be a documentary or some kind of an inch because I have a lot of you know behind the scenes stuff um so I'd love for people to see that and that is some of the things we'll be talking about you know during that signing as well specific questions we'll be answering and some of the photos that you can purchase will be you know of the controller or the props and things like that because you know people are people just didn't know it's not it's not that they didn't want to know they just didn't know it just wasn't you know I think I think if we did the show now or if it was done by CBS or if it was in a different period of time I think there would be a whole other channel devoted to just you know uh Instagram it would be like what's Josh doing today there'd be a spin-off there'd be yeah absolutely blown wide open like Kelly Clarkson the Kelly Clarkson show I've been doing for three seasons now uh doing the voice of God for Kelly's game show segments amazing crew wonderful people Kelly is such a sweetheart and she loves this voice of God and I'm there almost every week and um but they do a lot of you know they've embraced social media but our show was was going off the air right as that stuff was kind of getting popular so well it's it's it's uh you know it's one of those things where I wish they would have just given you the deed to the warehouse uh at that point so you could just be doing what you're doing and then also have this there's lore in what you're talking about yeah and and and that what you're talking about here is actually kind of charming as well you know that that is the story like I appreciate that story I just want you to be kicking as much ass as you are as a result of that as you could be as a result of that story so that's kind of the yin and yin and yang to it for me and my opinion because that is that is a Charming uh part of of late night folklore to me um now you mentioned earlier something about a book is that true or is that just something you were saying yeah I don't want to say too much because it's one of those things where I think if you start talking about this stuff okay in too much detail then you end up not doing it okay um so I won't say what it is okay um there are there are two different books that I'm working on right now you know uh one of them probably autobiographical oh there's that uh and then the other is a story that uh has I have not been able to get out of my head for the last 20 years and um you know it's it is horror it is a it is a you know it is fiction and um but I uh it's something I want to make into a film I want to make it into a short film but for me I'm just going to write it first as a as a story awesome uh and I'm really excited about that and that is the one um that I want to shoot as a film probably shoot it back in in Cleveland um I got the cast in mind I I nothing would make me happier uh the moment that I'm on set shooting that because I can see it I can just see it very clearly in my head and it's very exciting to me and I get very inspired by um filmmakers uh especially guys like you know M Night M Night shy Milan who there's a guy that just it's such an incredible trajectory like to watch his journey um like there and back again like but this guy like rediscovered his love of filmmaking he went through the whole I mean Alex can't speak for him but he went through the whole Hollywood system came got spit out the other end yep and then just grabbed a you know DV Cam and just shot this amazing horror movie the visit yep and it's just been it's like watching somebody like that and also now his family's involved his daughter is a director and his incredible show servant that's the other thing an Apple TV uh plus uh quietly Apple TV is like making the they're just green lighting the craziest shows and I'm so um I did admire it so much it's such an inspiring thing to watch there's optimism whenever somebody lets somebody be a creative and we've seen it so many we've seen the Ebbs and flows of it so many times in our uh you know pop culture lives where where you know we watched Indie music become the thing indie film same thing um you know when you get your Tarantino's near Kevin Smith and your Robert Rodriguez has come up and all that and every once in a while then it shifts back to okay we got to make a bunch of money but then watching the pendulum swing back to the Creator side of things yeah and somebody with money allowing that to happen God damn I just wanna it's always been this way you know like in the even to this guy let Josh Robert Thompson's voice get out there I've got so much to say the 80s the 80s was it's it's all it's not a cycle it's the same absolutely the 80s you know there were suddenly it was big budget yep giant adventure films then the horror movies and then the 90s the early 90s was a reaction against that and then that was the Indie movement again you know now we've got a24 which is essentially the Miramax yeah uh although in a lot of ways taking bigger swings and bigger chances yes and our ariaster you know is a guy like I'm not the biggest ariaster fan but what I love is that a guy like that has been given a platform to make his three-hour film which was a short film that he made one of his first films was a film called bow it's the same story and now he was able to which is what I'm trying to do is make the short film and then make this feature film and you know but but my I guess what I'm saying is you can have both you know you can but it's okay if you don't want to do that thing anymore like one of my favorite uh bands uh is uh Tangerine Dream yeah and over the years I've collected I mean there's hundreds of albums it started in high school I have them all got the vinyl I've got everything yeah and you want to talk about a band that you know every couple of years they would throw out all of their equipment and get new stuff then in the 90s they went through like using Atari software and it sounded like video game music and people were like the hell with this and then they started doing Opera stuff and but the beauty of Tangerine Dream and Edgar Frozen who was the the front man I mean he just was this writer artist poet guy musician who just did what he did you just yeah you can't you can't you can't worry about what everybody's telling you you know unless you know you're on the set and Disney's paying the bill and they go look you need for you to have and then I go okay but you know we're tired of it I'm tired of it I get it I understand when I'm watching a Disney Plus show that it's a TV show but you know let's take some chances let's yeah do something interesting you know like anyway and apple is doing no I agree they're Apple's doing that apple is and there are other examples you talked about that aren't doing that um that's where I hope I hope you run you know right into the headlights of one of these one of these people because you have a lot to say and again I I go back we'll we'll it will kind of you know move towards the end the way that we started it again I look at I look at the Josh Reimer Thompson show that you put out that special you put out and again I just the voice that you had then well the voice that you've had now is that but evolved and evolved and evolved you've had all this time to think about this and you've got these projects on the go I'm so excited about it I'm so excited that we've connected because I want to be part of the promotion machine for for whatever it is that you put out moving forward I want to reminisce more I want to do this I want to do more of this um I can't thank you enough for doing this today um now Mike do you have any questions for Josh no I was going to but then when I heard you got what you okay I got what I needed today Mike is Mike is my best friend and we um can I can I talk a little bit about okay so so uh Lodi yeah not Lodi yeah not Lodi yeah okay um Mike is my best friend um we've been best friends uh for a long long time and there he is right there um he's got he's got the cancer too he's got the cancer right now and so we're it's not bringing it down this is not about that but but we're both living life very presently yeah you know Kevin Smith comes to Vancouver Mike and I go down there and we go hang out with them and we hang out with him and Jay for a little while to you know say hey at the at the meet and greet and all that kind of stuff cool the moment I started talking to you I knew your name because like I was always the big Letterman guy and Mike was a letterman guy too but we would in the in the mid-2000s got to a place where I'd go over to his house every Friday night we'd all play poker with a bunch of you know married guys and kids and all that it's the safe poker game and Mike started telling me like I'd watch Ferguson like crazy but Mike started telling me about you he started telling me because he went down the rabbit hole to find out okay but what about how is this happening with Jeff and what what's going on and all that and and and he told me about what was going on with you and it was it was one of those things where um you know and then when Craig came to town and we found out you were opening for it he was more excited that you were opening for Craig and the fact we were gonna go see Craig and so when it was don't tell Craig that don't know Craig then but you're you're sending emails and and uh you know talk about uh you know your little place there and and yeah throw some beads and I mean I just love that that was that's great thank you man so when I didn't tell him like because I wasn't sure this was gonna happen right away like you and I connected and all that and then uh last night I called him up and I said hey what are you doing tomorrow and uh you want to come sit in the jumper seat and and be part of this and I just I just so from a personal standpoint I want to say thank you so much but you're are you good with questions and all that for this go around oh absolutely all right give him a higher you should give him a higher jumper seat though next time next time we're gonna expand the set a little bit more and next well I gotta here I got a treat for you please old friend I have here uh oh my gosh this was made for me by a guy a fan Joshua Snyder who's a very skilled uh artist and uh and he made this for me this is in my office right now oh yeah how perfect is that actual and the eyes light up and everything oh he's got the name tag yeah this is the little placard beautifully made replica uh and it's it's to it's the exact design perfect I got this weird box in the mail you know about a year ago and I was like what the hell is this a bomb what's in the box what's in the bugs oh great all right enough about Josh hey everybody guess who's back hey can you say uh Jeffrey Peterson on the Letterman podcast can you say oh hi this is Jeffrey Peterson and you're listening to The Lettermen podcast even though I was never on Letterman I think the horse was on Letterman with a bunch of why did they never invite me who cares balls wow very Surly Jeff very Surly you could do like a do like a ventriloquist act I can tour a tour with uh me and Jeff Peterson on the road oh there it is let's shout out the artist again who who sent you that what was his name a guy named Joshua Snyder wow very very great job buddy yeah it's um and he wrote this he wrote this incredible letter to this very uh heartfelt letter that uh you know just like just like yourself just sort of telling me how important the show was and it's like oh my God you know but you know it it and then you're talking about living in the moment and you know just it's so important to do that you know you really because you really don't know um you know you you know getting bogged down with worrying about what people think or holding on to the past and you start to realize it's all it's all just it all just goes you know that's the stuff that clouds you from living in the moment when the real life is right in the moment that's where it's like real and raw and you can do all sorts of things with it and and you should you should I think I always tell people to create just to create like don't worry about if you get a million views don't worry about who's reading it or watching it because if you do that you know you're never going to make anything and that and that is what you know that is what stopped I know because that's what stopped me for a while it was like well I better I don't have anything left to say you know but I've got a lot more to say I've got tons of things to say um yeah you know it'll just be in a in a different format one of the cool things now is um uh doing like I mentioned the monster movies I made when I was in eighth grade seventh eighth grade so I'm doing I've been working on directors cuts of those films um and I had to track down the original VHS camcorder that we used which I found on eBay it was made by GE it's a real real piece of speaking of GE and uh uh so you know the legend lives on but um but the damn thing works I had it repaired and um so we're I'm shooting all these new insert shots um because they were it's like George Lucas director's cut of films I made you know back then but because I've been watching all these shot on video movies like The Polonia Brothers I mentioned all these Canadian horror films there's one called things which is really really good you should check that one out um I was inspired to do this um because I would love to have a a box set you know put out by one of my favorite companies uh Severin films they put out all these great movies it'd be my dream to have a box set of my childhood films and then my cousins and I where I want to make the sequel I want to make like the official sequel that takes place now um using footage of me talking to myself from back then so and my girlfriend is fun my girlfriend's a filmmaker and an animator and and you know she's a painter and so one of the things she does is she makes these incredible Miniatures and um so we've we've sort of planned out what we're gonna do in terms of Miniatures and um you know Green Screen stuff but using the technology that would have been available to us in 1987 1988 you know so that and maybe no one will see it but it'll be so satisfying to me it'll fill your heart the finished version of that um because yeah the world needs to see these epic uh horror films I love that you're doing that um I'm inspired by you today I hope that like like that again this show is exactly what you're talking about I don't get me wrong it'd be nice to have some you know I would love to be hired by pants one day and all that kind of stuff that'd be great absolutely hey it'd be fantastic uh will I uh not do the show or you know because there's a positive no I'm doing it because I love it yeah like this gives me more joy this conversation here gives me more joy that other than take my family out of the equation than probably anything else I'll be doing this week and and um you know I I love it I'm inspired by you I feel like that is the key to uh the map uh to where the treasure is buried that so many people Overlook and and if you can just do something that just wants for for no outcome at all except for the process of what it is that you want to do uh that is a secret to life my friend and I really am grateful that you have gotten to that place uh while still being able to reminisce about some of the cool we've been talking about yeah and and and it's okay and it's okay to go through that for anybody out there that you know it don't you know maybe don't uh hmm maybe don't do it uh you know publicly as publicly as I did but um but whatever I mean you know social like I I I will say this though there were a lot of there were more people than not who did understand and also because I was going through things and because I was so open about depression or struggles in the industry there were a lot more people that you know it made things very real to them and and made them feel a little bit more relieved that you know oh we're not the only people going through it so yeah there were some people that weren't particularly nice about it but I think on the whole it was actually a really good thing you know it actually brought people together in an interesting way um but you're right you can have both and I look back on that time with nothing but fond memories I mean there's definitely a book in all that for sure that the stories are there's so many um and maybe uh you know who knows maybe um I'll be chatting soon with uh Craig in some capacity and you'll we'll have a sit-down chat and everyone will see it so we'll see we'll see what happens wouldn't that be great you never know I never know um Josh you have given way more of your time than we agreed upon from the beginning but to me it's just like my heart is full my soul is full I've enjoyed this so so very much as we kind of move to the end was there anything else that you wanted to talk about before the next time you come on the show or are we uh I mean I think what is this five hours what do we have something yeah yeah something like that it's been great no I you know we'll I I will talk more about um you know horror films and Star Wars and all that stuff but um the George Lucas stuff uh I just wanted to say that some of my favorite stuff that I've been a part of recently um is the work I've done with a guy named Jeff Richards who has a he has a podcast called The Jeff Richards Show uh he's an incredible impressionist yeah and um comedian and Jeff will Implement deep fake technology to look like the characters the people that he's doing impressions of which is what we did with George Lucas for collider yep um that's how I met Jeff Richards I met him doing a thing called Deep fake Roundtable which is really I to me if you haven't seen it people should watch it it's it's really the crowning achievement to me of that kind of improv I I never met any of the people that are in that sketch until that day and um such a talented group of folks and uh I play Jeff Goldblum and I play George Lucas so we had to shoot it twice so I could be on either side of the table um and Jeff Richards played uh Robert Downey Jr and but then I would go on his show as George Lucas and he would interview me he would be Dustin Hoffman and I would be George Lucas and the the way just the the conversation would go into this beautifully absurd place um very non-sequitur kind of bizarre humor that I love so dearly that that reminds me of that SCTV kind of or or Kids in the Hall really this idea of like Monty Python we're just gonna we're gonna go until we end up in this very surreal place we don't know how to get out of this sketch so we'll have Terry Gilliam animate a door or step on somebody and then we'll just you know but so um I would urge people to check him out um uh and those episodes in particular because I think a lot of that stuff was kind of missed by people it's very it again it's that's the challenge of telling a certain fan base and they're all great and they're there for one thing yeah but boy oh boy I mean I always joke I could be in a Marvel movie and the first comment would be where's Jeff you know but that's it but now but now I don't I take it as a oh that's nice you know it's before it was like don't you care about anything else I do not really um but that but that kind of stuff and um I don't know podcast I mean I did a podcast with my buddy John Mariano years ago now John is another Legend Who uh was you know he's on Animaniacs as well he was uh uh Bobby pigeon he was you know part of the the good feathers uh crew it's been he's been in a ton of other shows but he and I did like an old-timey Radio podcast called the poking around podcast and each episode where they were like mini comedy albums most of that stuff we probably our careers would be decimated if uh that was out in the world but you know um but I'd like to get back to doing that kind of stuff but you'll definitely see the Reverend Apostle BG uh he will be back and he will be back to bless you but this time man you know this show I don't know what this is these Canadian people are so they're so Twisted they got the guy who's the guy the leader the blackface Guy what's that guy's name Bill please bill please who cares man I don't even care anymore but I will return those of you who did not care for me those who denounced me those who said this guy's washed up I yes I did some prison time but now I'm on parole and back to say some things in a very sanitized way so as not to offend anybody all groups are welcome when we write books now you have to write it for every single group you can't you cannot leave anybody out Josh okay Bill thanks anyway Bill Green Apostle BG that's all I got I'm trending right there we're ending right there all right that's enough Josh Robert Thompson thank you thank you sir yeah you're getting clapsed from the room here thank you so much for this this has been another episode of the of the Lettermen podcast uh with Mike Chisholm coincidentally I am Mike Chisholm thank you and good night overcoat and Underpants