437: Neal McDonough—Clear the Mechanism

437: Neal McDonough—Clear the Mechanism The perennial character actor villain turned leading man drops by to talk about the first film where he finally gets to kiss the girl at the end, The Last Rodeo https://www.angel.com/tickets/last-rodeo?utm_source=bing-ads&msclkid=1f4c608ac3b51468a91508a174fb6d01—and that girl is played by his wife, Ruvé. Coincidence? Not a chance. That's the only way Neal would do it. Neal also discusses how he secured a return to Taylor Sheridan's Tulsa Kings, why he thought Sylvester Stallone might deck him on set, and the greatest career advice Clint Eastwood gave him.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:04Mike Rowe?

  Well, hello friends, it's Mike Rowe. It's The Way I Heard It. This is gonna be a quick preamble because I'm so excited to share the conversation you're about to hear with you that I don't want to take up any unnecessary time with a bunch of needless blather, Chuck. And I don't mean any of this personally, but you and me at the top of these things, blathering needlessly is the very definition of needless blather.

• 0:22Speaker 01

  So, in other words, you want to get to it right away?

• 0:25Mike Rowe?

  I do. I think the conversation was that good.

• 0:27Speaker 01

  It was excellent, yeah. And very little blather to be had in it.

• 0:32Mike Rowe?

  My guest is Neil McDonough, who I'm now going to describe to you as my friend, Neil McDonough. We got along great the first time he came in here, about a year ago. And he's back. If his publicist were here, he would say, "Well, he's back because he has a new film, and it's great, by the way. It's called The Last Rodeo." But I like to think he was here, Chuck, just because he enjoys spending time.

• 0:54Speaker 01

  He likes to hang out and chat, Mike. He's a very chatty guy. He gives good conversation, and he's an interesting guy. Very interesting.

• 1:01Mike Rowe?

  He's a deep well. You know him, of course. If you don't, well, you're about to meet him, but you know him. It's impossible not to have seen this guy so many films, over 150 films, movies, TV shows. He's carved out a really interesting relationship with Angel Studios, whom I also know. I've got a show over there, and maybe another one coming soon. We'll see. I don't want to get into it, because it's not about me. But, well, it is about me and Neil McDonough.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  All right, take it easy. And he makes it about his wife a lot, too. He does mention his wife.

• 1:34Mike Rowe?

  Man, he loves that girl.

• 1:35Speaker 01

  He loves his wife. I love that.

• 1:37Mike Rowe?

  I love it, too.

• 1:38Speaker 01

  He's a family man.

• 1:39Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, he's an open book. I mean, a lot of people watched our first conversation.

• 1:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:43Mike Rowe?

  And I think the reason people love this guy so much is because, yes, he is an open book. He's having a great time. He knows what matters to him. He's intense, and he's present, and it's just fun.

• 1:56Speaker 01

  Yep. He hits the ball back over the net every single time.

• 2:00Mike Rowe?

  You're gonna love his movie, and you're gonna love this conversation. I hope I can demonstrate the former on Memorial Day when you go see it. And I know I can prove the latter, right after this.

• 2:16Mike Rowe?

  Couple of weeks ago, on this very podcast, I talked with Brooke Rollins, our Secretary of Agriculture, about the incredibly complicated business of delivering affordable beef to our citizens without disadvantaging American ranchers. We also discussed the very controversial decision to import 300,000 metric tons of ground beef from various foreign countries and the maddening policy that allows meatpackers to label imported meat as a product of the USA. Well, shortly after that conversation, one of my sponsors, Good Ranchers, reported an unusually high level of interest in their product. And this is not surprising.

• 2:57Mike Rowe?

  Given a choice, most people would prefer to buy their meat from American ranchers. And Good Ranchers is the number one company in America that delivers 100% American meat straight to your door. They partner with over 100 local farmers and ranchers to deliver pasture-raised meat with no antibiotics and no added hormones. They've got 25,000 five-star reviews on TrustPilot. 25,000, including my own. This month, when you visit GoodRanchers.com/row, you'll get a free Angus ground beef bundle with your first order. Again, that's GoodRanchers.com/row for four bonus pounds of ground beef raised right here in these United States.

• 3:41Mike Rowe?

  And that's guaranteed. Support your local ranchers by insisting on American meat delivered at GoodRanchers.com/row. If you could eat a steer, if you could eat a cow, don't take a chance on a foreign ranch, get Good Ranchers now. Hey, Hal.

• 4:05Mike Rowe?

  Look at that, man. I've had some cutbacks. First of all, are you sure you're comfortable drinking out of my enormous head?

• 4:13Speaker 02

  Doesn't look good, folks. We share that. We both have size eight heads. Who else has size eight heads? Bogart, I heard, had.

• 4:22Mike Rowe?

  Bogey had a big head, which is why he looks so great in that fedora.

• 4:26Speaker 02

  That's right, with the gooden hats. Rive always says, "You look great." World War II helmets or cowboy hat?

• 4:31Mike Rowe?

  I wore baseball caps for 10 years, every day.

• 4:34Speaker 02

  It works.

• 4:35Mike Rowe?

  It does. Some are better than others. The baseball cap is a remarkable contrivance. There are so many ways it can go wrong. That like weird angled front or the high-profile front.

• 4:46Speaker 02

  The thing up doesn't.

• 4:48Mike Rowe?

  Right. Now, the adjustable thing, you know.

• 4:51Speaker 02

  Doesn't fit our heads.

• 4:52Mike Rowe?

  It doesn't. You gotta put it in the last hole. I take that as a front.

• 4:55Speaker 02

  Thing in the back which you know doesn't look so good.

• 4:57Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 4:58Speaker 02

  And if you're, if you're thinking too hard, it pops. All these things.

• 5:00Mike Rowe?

  But if you get the one with the Velcro thing, that will always be so tight, it'll leave the mark on your forehead.

• 5:09Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 5:09Mike Rowe?

  So you look like you've been branded.

• 5:11Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 5:12Mike Rowe?

  Which is why cowboy hats are probably a better choice. And this is why you look so terrific.

• 5:16Speaker 02

  Thank you. I enjoy wearing cowboy hats. It's funny. Everyone's like, well, you're so in the Western culture. You're from Massachusetts, but I would say I'm from Southern Massachusetts. Cape Cod.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  But growing up as a kid in Cape Cod, my dad always, on the weekends, would bring us out to Melpit Farms out in Dennis. I'm not even sure it's still there. He would take us on, you know, the five boys on horse rides. And my brothers would just be, and I was the youngest one. I was a mistake years later. My brothers would always say, "Why the heck are we here, Dad? Why are we?" "Oh, you'll thank me one day, boys. You'll thank me one day." Well, I'm thanking him now for all the Westerns that we've been doing for the last several years.

• 5:54Mike Rowe?

  Didn't he have that much of an accent?

• 5:55Speaker 02

  Oh, it was so thick. It was so, my parents are both of Maryland. You couldn't understand them. My friends literally couldn't understand my dad.

• 6:02Mike Rowe?

  Like Lucky Charms?

• 6:03Speaker 02

  Get out of the thing, my boat. What was that? Oh, my dad just said, "Good morning. The boat's ready."

• 6:11Mike Rowe?

  Get out of the thing, my boat.

• 6:14Mike Rowe?

  For those of you listening, not watching, well, it's your loss. Neil is here and he looks terrific. He's bedecked in a classic Canadian tuxedo.

• 6:25Speaker 02

  Thank you very much. Thank you for all our Canadian fans out there. Thank you.

• 6:27Mike Rowe?

  Denim from top to bottom. I love it. We were just commiserating off the air, and I didn't know this about you, but it just makes me like you even more. You only have four or five shirts.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 6:36Mike Rowe?

  All the garments that you own, you've basically, I'll just say it, you stole them from wardrobe departments.

• 6:41Speaker 02

  Permanently borrowed from the wardrobe department.

• 6:43Mike Rowe?

  Everything I own is on permanent loan.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:46Mike Rowe?

  At least in the textile world.

• 6:47Speaker 02

  Well, in the whole wide scope of life, isn't everything on loan?

• 6:51Mike Rowe?

  Well, sure. I mean, if we're gonna go to the whole-

• 6:53Speaker 02

  If we're going that deep.

• 6:54Mike Rowe?

  Stewards. We're the stewards of the land.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  That's all it is. That's all it is.

• 6:57Mike Rowe?

  Well, I mean, since you evoked Cowboys, we might as well bring in a Native American perspective for that as well, right? We don't really ever own anything, ever. But before we get too deep too fast.

• 7:09Speaker 02

  That's pretty good, though.

• 7:10Mike Rowe?

  How much fun are you having on a scale of one to 10, right now?

• 7:12Speaker 02

  Thirteen.

• 7:14Mike Rowe?

  Congratulations.

• 7:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:15Mike Rowe?

  Your production company is just crushing it. Every time I turn around, you're like Steppen and gum. You're everywhere. I see you everywhere. And what a delight. It's always a delight to see you be a mean son of a bitch, a great villain, but you're playing some really wonderful, This Whole Business and The Last Rodeo. What a nice guy you are, grandpa.

• 7:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. My kids bust my nuggets about that. I've gotten to this point in my life where I finally get to play me. Hey, Mike, this is the first time I've ever starred in a movie as the good guy who gets to kiss the woman in the end.

• 7:55Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 7:56Speaker 02

  First time. I feel the weight right now of, oh, my gosh, I hope this works. I know it's gonna work. But there's still a part of me that's like, yeah. I'm so fortunate and so blessed to have gone through what I've gone through in my life to get to the point of this, that I, you know, I think everyone should be crucified at some point in their life, be called out as, okay, what kind of person are you? What kind of, for me, what kind of artist are you? And then I just got to dig deeper into telling stories and telling stories that I've always kind of enjoyed. And now I get to tell them with my wife or they.

• 8:29Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 8:30Speaker 02

  You know, when I talk about it for too long, I just, I get stupidly emotional because it's, for a company to have faith in us to write and produce, we're about to start our 11th production in four years.

• 8:42Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, but you earned every single-

• 8:45Speaker 02

  Oh, I don't know if anybody earned any. I don't know.

• 8:47Mike Rowe?

  Look, all right, well, then, I hope you'll forgive me for talking out of school, but we were just comparing notes and I, your production company, your first production, you sold it for a little bit of money, a few hundred grand.

• 8:59Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 9:00Mike Rowe?

  And the next one, a bit more, and then a bit more. That's what I mean by you earned it. There's a you must be this tall to get on this ride reality in our business.

• 9:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:09Mike Rowe?

  And there's nothing more annoying than people who, who cut the line and don't pay their dues and wind up, right? And that's not you.

• 9:19Speaker 02

  You know, it's another fortunate thing that, you know, we started with, you know, Derek Presley, my writing partner and I, we started with Redstone. Then we, for $350,000, sold it, boom. Revé raised the money, 1.5. Then we went off to do The Warrant Part Two. Then we did Black Spartans and we did, you know, then we got involved with Angel Studios. And Angel was just starting to grow and we were just starting to grow. So the timing was kind of perfect that we, you know, we did the shift together and then we did Homestead together. And then, you know, the shift was a four or five million dollar project. The Homestead was right around the, around the same.

• 9:54Mike Rowe?

  By the way, I was on the set for Homestead.

• 9:57Speaker 02

  Were you really?

• 9:58Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. I came to where you filmed it one day, because this thing with me and Angel, I've got a series over there.

• 10:05Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 10:05Mike Rowe?

  That's getting, just so people understand.

• 10:09Speaker 02

  They love you at Angel.

• 10:10Mike Rowe?

  Well, I mean, there's no accounting for taste, but you're right. They sure do. They watch, somebody's got to do it. And it comes back with like 95s and 96s.

• 10:19Speaker 02

  Crazy.

• 10:20Mike Rowe?

  So I was out there visiting the boys and they said, uh, look, this is shooting right up the road. And we went to the main house and walked up and I, I watched them shoot one of the final scenes. Your big scene had already come and gone.

• 10:33Speaker 02

  That little five million dollar film made 23 million dollars in the box office.

• 10:36Mike Rowe?

  Unbelievable.

• 10:37Speaker 02

  So now here we are with a eight and a half million dollar budget on The Last Rodeo that we had John Avnet direct. They said, who do you want to direct it? I'm like, my favorite director of all time. We did Boomtown together. We did Justified together. We did 88 Minutes together. We've just been, he's always been kind of like my mentor and, and, you know, so close my whole life. I said, John, they said, who do you want to direct? And I said, you. And he said, well, of course I'll, I'll direct it. What's the story about? And that's our relationship.

• 11:05Mike Rowe?

  Wow.

• 11:06Speaker 02

  And then they said, okay, well, who do you want to play the two lead guys in the film? I said, well, my two closest friends in Hollywood actor wise are Michael T. Williamson and Christopher McDonald. And they said, okay. I'm like, oh my gosh. Well, then it was like, well, who do you want to play your wife? And I said, well, they're flashback scenes, but I have to kiss this woman. And we all know that I won't kiss another woman. So I said, it has to be Revé. And they said, fine, perfect. Revé killed it. She was so good in it.

• 11:31Mike Rowe?

  She's in the stands. You know what?

• 11:32Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 11:33Mike Rowe?

  It's a very Glenn Close.

• 11:34Speaker 02

  It is. That's exactly it from The Natural. That's exactly what we're going for.

• 11:38Mike Rowe?

  Well, you did it.

• 11:38Speaker 02

  That white hat, the white look and everything. And there she is. And I'm so proud of this film.

• 11:44Mike Rowe?

  It's called The Last Rodeo. And so Neil doesn't have to brag about himself. I'll do it. He plays a grandfather. He's a very famous and accomplished rodeo star. But he's entering that point of his life where, you know, he can throw his back out brushing his teeth, maybe, or taking a poop.

• 12:02Speaker 02

  Is that me or is that Joe Wainwright?

• 12:03Mike Rowe?

  It's both. Well, you know, I mean, like you've always immersed yourself in your character. So I'm going to say they're interchangeable. Your grandson is stricken. Your wife was stricken with something similar. And now through circumstances that you simply can't script, except for the fact that you did. You're back on the bull to earn the money that needs to be earned to save the boy that needs to be saved. So watching it, I was reminded that there are really only six or seven stories in the world.

• 12:33Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 12:34Mike Rowe?

  Now, there are a million ways to tell them.

• 12:35Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 12:36Mike Rowe?

  But the fact that you chose a bull at the center of this thing, just a tickle. Look at you. How much time did you?

• 12:44Speaker 02

  Now, here's the great cheat that we have in this film. If you're doing a film about Major League Baseball.

• 12:50Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  About the Yankees, you would have to use Aaron Judge. You have to use Giancarlo Stanton. You have to use all these guys, right? But you can't.

• 12:56Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  They don't allow that.

• 12:58Mike Rowe?

  They hate that too.

• 12:58Speaker 02

  So you have to use the New York Yonkers and use different guys, right?

• 13:02Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 13:03Speaker 02

  For this, Dailen Swearingen.

• 13:06Mike Rowe?

  The real dude.

• 13:06Speaker 02

  All these guys are the real guy. Using, Dailen's the only one who doesn't use his real name. Every other writer in here is the actual writer using their actual name in the film. So it just validates everything. I know. And here's the thing. I knew nothing about bull riding. I knew nothing about rodeo. I knew nothing about any of it. I was on set of The Warrant.

• 13:26Mike Rowe?

  Wait, you've ridden horses?

• 13:28Speaker 02

  Oh, ridden horses my whole life. But I didn't know anything about bull riding. So I was sitting there on the set and I was driving home and I pulled over to the side of the road and I was just so strict. I just missed Revé and the kid so much. I was just like, oh. And there was a beautiful sunset and we're shooting out in Arizona. And all of a sudden I look at these horses out there and like, huh.

• 13:48Speaker 02

  What's life really about? What would ever happen to me if something happened to Rivay? Then I swear, because I've taken a bunch of punches to my head in my life. I'm not that bright anymore. I'm positive God planted the seed in my head. Rocky in a bowl.

• 14:04Speaker 02

  What? Rocky in a bowl.

• 14:07Speaker 02

  And within 24 hours, I voice dictated into my phone because that's how I write my scripts. And then I'll send it to my writing partner and we'll then break it all down and just come up with.

• 14:17Mike Rowe?

  You actually write your scripts by dictating into the phone?

• 14:21Speaker 02

  I'm dyslexic, so it's really hard to read my, my writing because for most people it wouldn't make much sense. So within 24 hours.

• 14:29Mike Rowe?

  You write like your dad talked.

• 14:31Speaker 02

  That's right. He couldn't.

• 14:34Speaker 02

  Sorry, was that Mr. McDonough? Yes, no. My brother's back home. Yeah, that's a good dad. That was pretty good. So, you know, within 24 hours, I kind of had the outline and I sent it to Derek. And then within a week, we had our first draft. The next week, we had it sold and two years almost to the date, it's in the theaters. That doesn't happen. This was his divine intervention into Neil, I'm going to give you a beautiful gift and let's see what you do with it. And we worked so hard. Kip Conwiser, my, our production partner and, you know, partner at the McDonough Company is a genius. That we figured out the right investors. We knew it was going to be Angel.

• 15:18Speaker 02

  We knew if we worked really hard, something great might happen out of this. And like my dad said, if they give you a dollar, give them $2 worth of effort. And we gave $3 worth of effort on this one. I'm so proud of it. The scores, the test scores are through the roof. And again, if people out there who are watching love films that you can bring the whole family to. Grandpas to grandkids, to everyone that go to Chili's after, have dinner and talk about the movie type of night, which is what I love to do. This is that kind of film. And if you love that stuff, please, everyone, go out there and support it because it'll tell Hollywood, we need more films about the heartland of America. Real stories about families and breaking down families and how you build it back up with faith. And that's what we did, and I'm just so stinking proud of it.

• 16:00Mike Rowe?

  Well, you should be. Let me just pivot to the superficial. It looks great. And when you told me you had shot everything in Oklahoma, I was like, oh, this is so familiar.

• 16:12Speaker 02

  Tulsa's the best.

• 16:14Mike Rowe?

  We shot 78 episodes of The Way I Heard It and the story behind the story in and around Tulsa. But we were also in Shawnee, and we were in Bartlesville.

• 16:25Speaker 02

  That's right, all over the place.

• 16:26Mike Rowe?

  Everywhere.

• 16:26Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 16:27Mike Rowe?

  It's amazing. Look, I just threw a teabag on me. Look at that.

• 16:31Speaker 02

  That's Mary's fault.

• 16:31Mike Rowe?

  That's Mary, maybe a T G booby trapped it.

• 16:34Speaker 02

  That's right. We were all waiting for that.

• 16:36Mike Rowe?

  Unbelievable.

• 16:37Speaker 01

  And you put it back in the, in the tea?

• 16:39Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, I put it back in. I just teabagged myself. I don't even know if I can say that it happened.

• 16:43Speaker 02

  I don't know if that's possible.

• 16:44Speaker 01

  Are we cutting that from the show?

• 16:45Mike Rowe?

  No.

• 16:46Speaker 02

  That's good.

• 16:46Mike Rowe?

  Knowing Chuck, he'll cut it into the open, and then we'll build a series of promos around it.

• 16:50Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 16:51Mike Rowe?

  And then people will be shocked and appalled.

• 16:55Mike Rowe?

  Oklahoma's beautiful. And...

• 17:00Mike Rowe?

  This is a horrible transition. I wish, I wish I could walk all this back, but you look pretty good, too. That's what I'm trying to do. What I'm trying to get at is you're a man of a certain age, and you've clearly taken steps, at least to create the illusion of fitness. I don't want to make it weird.

• 17:15Speaker 02

  It's, it's all painted, it's all fake.

• 17:16Mike Rowe?

  Is it?

• 17:17Speaker 02

  Oh, it's all fake. It's all fake.

• 17:18Mike Rowe?

  Dude, I mean...

• 17:19Speaker 02

  I worked so hard.

• 17:23Speaker 02

  Because, you know, I knew I was gonna have to show these young guys what it's like to be a tough, old cowboy.

• 17:30Mike Rowe?

  And you can't fake it.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  So Scott St. John, who's a dear friend of mine, is, who's a trainer for all kinds of people. I said, I need you to get me in shape. And he goes, okay, I'm gonna whip your butt. And he started just crushing me, 6:00 a.m. every morning.

• 17:45Mike Rowe?

  What was the routine like?

• 17:47Speaker 02

  It was nonstop for an hour straight of dumbbells, pushups, planks, weights, squats, running, everything.

• 17:58Mike Rowe?

  Did you lose weight, or did you put any on?

• 18:01Speaker 02

  Oh, I lost a bunch of weight. I just, you know, I was, I was a character actor guy. You know, I could carry around fifteen, twenty pounds extra and no one would care because I wasn't, you know, I'm a character actor. I look at myself on, you know, on, you know, years back, I think, yeah, years back when I was just, just, when I had Captain America, I gained about thirty-five pounds, forty pounds of weight to be Dum Dum Dugan, and I, I couldn't get it off. It was so hard to get off. And then Scott started working with me and then about a week into it, he goes, I need you to try this thing. This is a new product that, that we're starting to build, and I think you might like it. It's a protein powder. Like, I agree. And I start taking it, and all of a sudden, I just feel, everything just starts, my, my hips feel better, my joints felt

• 18:44Speaker 02

  better, you know, I have like, from all the fights in hockey and all the kind of, my, my fingers always hurt, my fingers felt better. And I started taking it every day, and it just started to change everything. And, you know, I was like, are you taking steroids, you're taking HGH? And I'm like, no, I'm just taking this protein powder called Flip, Flip My Life.

• 19:02Mike Rowe?

  Flip My Life. I'm gonna write that down. My life needs to be flipped.

• 19:05Speaker 02

  So then I said, I want to be part of this company, because I believe in this so much. Let's, let's go out and, and sell this to people because it has probiotics, prebiotics, all the antioxidants, super greens, proteins, multivit- I mean, it has everything we'd want in a protein powder. And so now we're selling, we're sold out. Every time we, we start a new order, it's gone within days. And I have people coming up to me, like, on the set at Tulsa King, Stallone's stand-in Chad, who is just this yoked guy. I mean, just yoked.

• 19:35Mike Rowe?

  You'd have to be.

• 19:36Speaker 02

  My age, he's, you know, he's, but he's just so fat, huge. And I went to the set last week, and he goes, Neil, I mean, he's just changed. He's like ripped shredded now. I'm like, what did you do? And he goes, I owe it all to Flip My Life. I'm like, what? Because I've been taking two shakes every day, replacement meals, and it just cut everything out. And now I'm so, I get letters and emails and texts from people all over the place about Flip My Life. This isn't, it's supposed to be a Flip My Life ad.

• 20:01Mike Rowe?

  It is now.

• 20:02Speaker 02

  But I'm telling you, Mike, it works. And I had, what did I have for breakfast today? A Flip My Life shake. What will I have for, for late in the afternoon? Another Flip Shake. And it's- It's collagen powder, it's all kinds of stuff like that, but it's, anyway.

• 20:13Mike Rowe?

  I love it. Look, man, this is, it's not a commercial because it's a means to an end. And I'm, I'm, there's the whole health industry and everybody's got a version of something. But when you have to do this in, in service of something else, a character, a performance, a movie, it takes on a level of practicality, I think. It's not, I mean, I guess everything is vanity in the end, but you've got to do this.

• 20:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, this is invented. This is my job. I need to, I need to look like that Clint Isawu guy. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to really take what Clint Isawu did with Malpasso and Warner Brothers is what we're trying to do with the McDonough Company and Angel.

• 21:01Mike Rowe?

  The service I'm about to recommend to you is absolutely free and it can easily save the average user over a thousand dollars a year. It's called Chapter and it's the best way to make sure the Medicare plan you're on is the one you should be on because every year Medicare plans change and so do you. And just because your plan might have been the best choice when you were 65 doesn't mean it's the best choice today. At Chapter, independent advisors compare Medicare plans nationwide. They look at your doctors, your prescriptions and your budget to help you find coverage that fits your needs. And they're not paid more to recommend one plan over another. You don't need to sort through all the options yourself. You can talk to somebody who understands them, ask your questions

• 21:44Mike Rowe?

  and get help comparing the costs and benefits. So if your current plan is still the right fit, they'll tell you. If there's a better option, they'll tell you that too and they'll help you switch. Again, the service is free and a review can take less than 20 minutes. This is the time of year to make sure you're squared away for 2027. So if you haven't checked your Medicare coverage lately, give Chapter a call. It's a simple way to make sure your plan still works for you. And with potential savings of $1,100 a year, it's worth a free review. 804-Chapter. Call them today. 804-C-H-A-P-T-E-R.

• 22:23Mike Rowe?

  Well, because I'll tell you what it reminded me of a little bit, and I, I mean it as a compliment, but remember Silverado?

• 22:30Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 22:31Mike Rowe?

  It was Scott.

• 22:34Speaker 02

  Scott Glenn, yep.

• 22:36Mike Rowe?

  Remember the scene in Silverado when he's down for the count and they took the boy? Right? And you see him, just in his eyes and in his face, you see him simply take his body and whatever pain. He's got cracked ribs. He's not getting up again.

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Right.

• 22:57Mike Rowe?

  Except he does.

• 22:58Speaker 02

  Except he does.

• 22:59Mike Rowe?

  So.

• 23:00Speaker 02

  Cause he's Scott Glenn.

• 23:01Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, cause he's Scott friggin' Glenn.

• 23:02Speaker 02

  One of the most underrated greatest actors in the history of Hollywood.

• 23:06Mike Rowe?

  Isn't that the truth?

• 23:08Speaker 02

  Urban cowboy, that mesh vesty thing that he has with just shredded through it?

• 23:13Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 23:14Speaker 02

  That takes work.

• 23:15Mike Rowe?

  And absolutely though he.

• 23:16Speaker 02

  And the sweetest human being.

• 23:18Mike Rowe?

  He exuded cowboy ness.

• 23:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:21Mike Rowe?

  And I don't know what his background is, but what'd you think of White Lotus?

• 23:25Speaker 02

  I still haven't seen it.

• 23:26Mike Rowe?

  Oh my god.

• 23:27Speaker 02

  I don't watch anything. If, we got five kids, it's.

• 23:31Mike Rowe?

  You're watching something.

• 23:32Speaker 02

  I'm coaching the kids in their sports, or I'm going to their games, or going to their plays, or going to their ballet with Ruvee. So it's, so it's driving all over the place. So the only thing that we get to see is, you know, the only thing I really watch is ESPN or golf stuff because our son's off at University of San Francisco as a D1 golfer. He just loves his golf, so.

• 23:50Mike Rowe?

  How about that Masters?

• 23:51Speaker 02

  Oh, gosh. Is that the greatest?

• 23:54Mike Rowe?

  That was amazing.

• 23:55Speaker 02

  You couldn't write that?

• 23:55Mike Rowe?

  Nope.

• 23:56Speaker 02

  Down, he's up, then he's down two strokes in the first hole. Gets up again, then he's down a stroke. Eighteenth hole, plunks one in the sand, misses a six-foot putt, goes to the sudden death and wins it on just a miraculous shot after Rose put on a perfect shot 12 feet from the pin. This is, you know, this.

• 24:14Mike Rowe?

  So you saw it?

• 24:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was, no, I didn't see it. But that's all I watch. I love, I love watching sports. To me is like, and now with rodeo, now we're part owners of the Austin Gamblers. And then we announced it this weekend up in Boise, which is gonna be.

• 24:27Mike Rowe?

  What are the Gamblers exactly?

• 24:29Speaker 02

  So, team rodeo is the new big thing. I think it's 10 teams. Austin has a team, there's another Texas team, North Carolina, Kansas City, there's a bunch of teams. And it's, it's pretty awesome. And when we were doing, we're in Madison Square Garden for the opening night of the season back in the new year, basically. 20,000 New Yorkers with cowboy hats on. It was unbelievable. And we played the trailer and, you know, I got on the microphone and started talking about the movie. And then this great guy, Egon Durbin, who's.

• 25:04Speaker 02

  Silver Lake Investments and TKO and Endeavor and all these things that would love for you and Rava to be part of the Austin Gambler's family.

• 25:13Mike Rowe?

  Oh, that's.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  So I'm not sure I'm supposed to be talking about it because they're going to announce it this weekend, but.

• 25:17Mike Rowe?

  Well, don't worry, this will never air.

• 25:19Speaker 02

  We have immersed ourselves in the world of rodeo and we're just so blessed by it. And, you know, what other event starts with a prayer?

• 25:28Mike Rowe?

  Followed by the National Anthem.

• 25:31Speaker 02

  Followed by the National Anthem and the.

• 25:32Mike Rowe?

  Followed by the Pleasure of. Followed by a brief recitation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

• 25:38Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 25:38Mike Rowe?

  No, they're not subtle. And I think, I think people really need to understand when you say it's a world, that's what it is. Chuck, if you have a chance, can you find my misadventure, my great rodeo misadventure?

• 25:51Speaker 02

  Ah, yes.

• 25:52Mike Rowe?

  I just want Neil to see this because I've been around it a bunch and there's really no way to describe it to people. It like you're a hockey fan.

• 26:03Speaker 02

  Right.

• 26:04Mike Rowe?

  I used to watch hockey, but it wasn't until I went to a game, right? That does not translate.

• 26:11Speaker 02

  No.

• 26:11Mike Rowe?

  On TV.

• 26:12Speaker 02

  That's the one sport that doesn't translate on TV.

• 26:14Mike Rowe?

  Chuck's a maniac, got me looking at Kings all over. And yeah, when you sit on the blue line, you experience it different. Rodeo's similar.

• 26:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:23Mike Rowe?

  Like when you can smell the animals and you're packed in there with people and it's so real and it's so visceral and the stakes, man.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  The consequences. They're not guaranteed anything.

• 26:36Mike Rowe?

  No.

• 26:37Speaker 02

  They're guaranteed they're going to get busted up. They're guaranteed there's a chance that they might get really maimed and they keep coming back. Are you okay? Can you get right down? Yeah, I just got four broken ribs. I'm good. My femur is just out of place. It's just a little cracked, but I'm good.

• 26:51Mike Rowe?

  How much time did you spend on an actual bull?

• 26:54Speaker 02

  Oh, they wouldn't let me get on, other than in a pen, they wouldn't let me out there. So they had me on the mechanical bulls.

• 27:00Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 27:00Speaker 02

  A ton, a ton.

• 27:03Mike Rowe?

  Because I'm circling, circling back to flip my life because you've got to get in shape. And you mentioned Rocky and there's a fun montage in this thing too, where in the course of like one day, you got amazingly fit.

• 27:13Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 27:13Mike Rowe?

  By punching the hay.

• 27:14Speaker 02

  That's right. It was so much fun. That was what I told Solon, I was like, this is my homage to you, you know? And I showed it to him and he was, he was really tickled by it, but it was. You know, Buddy Joe Hooker, who is one of the greatest stunt coordinators of all time, beat me up. He worked me hard. Between him and Scott St. John and, you know, right around the corner from our house is the Canyon Club and they have a mechanical bull in there and we would go in there and just train on the mechanical bull and just let it rip and.

• 27:46Mike Rowe?

  Dude, it's very humbling, isn't it?

• 27:48Speaker 02

  It's so humbling. It is, especially when you have someone on the controls who really wants to give it to you. It's just so, but imagine getting in the back of a 1500, 2000 pound beast that wants to kill you.

• 28:01Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  That's what it is.

• 28:03Mike Rowe?

  Who wants you off his back.

• 28:05Speaker 02

  So badly.

• 28:06Mike Rowe?

  Stat.

• 28:07Speaker 02

  Stat, exactly.

• 28:08Mike Rowe?

  You know, I watched people on mechanical bull. It's one of those things where you look at it and you go, you know what, I can do that.

• 28:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:15Mike Rowe?

  Well, you can't.

• 28:16Speaker 02

  You can't.

• 28:17Mike Rowe?

  You, you might be able to get there, but it's gonna take a whole different, like, you've gotta get into an almost a Gumby frame. Like, you gotta be loose and tight at the same time.

• 28:30Speaker 02

  My trainer on, on the, when we were doing all the mechanical work, Kyle Sherwood, who was a three-time world champion, really taught me all the things that you're really, I mean, we just went through it over and over. We had the ropes, the knees, the hands, the bed, where you, everything for, for quite some time. And what I didn't want is I didn't want any bull rider to think, nah.

• 28:52Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 28:53Speaker 02

  So I worked really hard to make sure I didn't and it shows. And I got busted up. There, there's one shot in the film. I'm not sure if it's, it's that, that was the other one. But I came off of the bull one time and I landed right on my shoulder and I didn't tell John Avner, the director, and my shoulder just popped right out. And I said, excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom. And I walked around the corner of this old barn where no one was looking. I just slammed my shoulder back in. I'm like, all right, I walked back out and said, let's do it again. And Kyle, Kyle Sherwood knew exactly what happened. And he just grinned at me. He goes, all right cowboy, let's do it again. And that was the greatest compliment I could have ever had.

• 29:28Mike Rowe?

  So I did a segment with, with bullfighters and they put me out there. But I'm probably in the worst shape of my life. There's no flip my life in this thing. Okay, this is probably six, seven years ago. And.

• 29:43Speaker 02

  I can't seem to make it play. I don't know what I'm doing wrong here.

• 29:46Mike Rowe?

  Well, you know, there we go.

• 29:47Speaker 02

  There we go, okay.

• 29:48Mike Rowe?

  But. If you scrub forward, I think it's the first break. There's just a moment, there was one rule. And the rule was, don't run from it.

• 29:59Speaker 01

  Don't run straight.

• 30:01Mike Rowe?

  Right, and if you do, yeah, definitely don't run straight. And it was so humbling because all you really want to do is get away from this thing. But these guys run up and they touch it. I think if you put their, like, later, when we examine their brains. They're not going to look like other people's brains.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  Bull riders are just a different breed of man. They're just.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  There it is, right there.

• 30:25Speaker 02

  But the bullfighters are even, they're crazy. They're just, it's. And I think we really nailed it with Michael T. Williamson and his character Charlie. Being a bull rider, then going to become a bullfighter because of his hand.

• 30:36Mike Rowe?

  He's terrific, by the way.

• 30:38Speaker 02

  He's so good.

• 30:39Mike Rowe?

  Wasn't he in Forrest Gump?

• 30:40Speaker 02

  Yep, Bubba Gump.

• 30:41Mike Rowe?

  He was Bubba Gump.

• 30:42Speaker 02

  That's right. T and I have been buddies for such a long time that when Derek and I were writing it. You know, Derek had a picture of Michael T. right on his computer and a picture of Christopher McDonald right next to it. And he knew what I wanted and we built it to, so those guys could have great parts to play with and.

• 31:01Speaker 01

  Oh, no. That's the shot right there.

• 31:02Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, no. Yeah, and that's, that's how we go to break. It actually even gets a little closer, the horn.

• 31:09Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. Yeah, very, very close.

• 31:11Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, the horn missed my sphincter by.

• 31:14Speaker 02

  Inches.

• 31:15Mike Rowe?

  Right. And so, yeah, you look back at those, you know, and like, this is not the way I want to go out. But it's the longest eight seconds in the world.

• 31:23Speaker 02

  It is.

• 31:24Mike Rowe?

  And I just, shame on me for not knowing his name, but a guy just died.

• 31:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, Dylan Grant.

• 31:32Mike Rowe?

  Dylan.

• 31:33Speaker 02

  You know, this is a kid who was, you know, I think, you know, he was on his team and was in. Was it, which school did he go to? Was it Wisconsin? He was in the Buller, but he was 24 years old and it just, you know, and I left a message for his folks saying, you know. You know, I look back at some people in their lives like Reggie Lewis, who was the cabinet of the Celtics back when, way back when, he died on the basketball court.

• 32:02Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 32:04Speaker 02

  I hope that I die on stage, you know, that Dylan got to, when he died, he died doing something he absolutely loved doing. Everyone knows the consequences of it.

• 32:15Speaker 02

  But that's what he loved. Most people go through life never finding something that they love to do. I was so blessed at a young age to find that I knew I was, it was a God given talent, that I was a really good actor. It doesn't make me special, it doesn't, it's just I found out what one of my talents was.

• 32:29Mike Rowe?

  Those were the cards you got.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  It's it, and I played him, and I played them pretty well. And here I am now with 150 movies and 1,000 hours of television and this and that, and all culminating into the moment that's about to happen, the last rodeo. I finally get to write and produce and alongside my best friend, my wife, Ravae and-

• 32:47Mike Rowe?

  And play a character that actually espouses the virtues-

• 32:51Speaker 02

  I play my dad.

• 32:52Mike Rowe?

  That you care about.

• 32:53Speaker 02

  Yeah. You know, my dad, like we talked about before, my dad came over from Ireland with 12 bucks in his pocket, said, make me an American, and they shipped him overseas for five years. But he came back, you know, from the army as this guy who was so proud to be an American, so, so, so proud, and instilled those values into all of us in the family. And now it's my job that I get to write about it and instill those values into films so everyone can watch and realize, okay, America is the greatest country of all time. Do we have problems? Sure, everything has problems. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

• 33:28Mike Rowe?

  Is there a sport more than rodeo that espouses that? I mean, NASCAR certainly is pretty patriotic, but-

• 33:35Speaker 02

  Baseball to me has always been kind of the perfect game. It's generational. You go there with your dad when you're a little boy and you're getting your Cracker Jacks and your Coke and your hot dog, you're sitting there, you're watching Carl Strasberg play in left field. Those are memories that I will never forget, you know, sitting in the worst seats at Fenway Park because we didn't have much money, with me and my brothers watching the Red Sox play in the 70s. It was magic.

• 33:59Mike Rowe?

  Costner captured that. He got it in the natural, didn't he?

• 34:03Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 34:03Mike Rowe?

  That weird combination of nostalgia and Kurt Schmaltz.

• 34:05Speaker 02

  I use, when I talk to young actors, I use a clip from The Perfect Game where he's on the mound as his last game for the Tigers, and he's playing in Yankee Stadium. Chappell, you're a bum. You stink, Chappell. You can't do that. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you could hear all the, everyone in Yankee Stadium, the crowd, and the pressure of being on a mound and having to throw strikes. And then Costner says, clear the mechanism. And then, shoo.

• 34:36Speaker 02

  Everything's silent. Nothing exists. Crowds don't exist. The cameraman doesn't exist in my business. The gaffer doesn't, no one, no one exists. It's the only thing exists are you and I in a scene. That's all that exists, but I have to clear the mechanism to get to that spot. And once I clear that mechanism, it just flows out naturally. And that's, it's something that I just absolutely adore doing. I love being in front of a camera and creating once it's just me playing a character with another great actor or actress. And I've got to do it with some of the greats and...

• 35:09Mike Rowe?

  So you have to clear the mechanism as an actor in the same way a great bull rider. It's a level of hyper-focus.

• 35:18Speaker 02

  Exactly. If you're gonna do anything great in life, you can't really, and I tell all my kids, I said, you can't care what somebody else thinks of you. And when I first came out to Hollywood, I was like, okay, I gotta darken my hair. I gotta do this. I gotta... And then as soon as I did Band of Brothers, when I stopped darkening my hair and, and just let my whiteness be what it is, all of a sudden everyone was like, ooh, who's that guy?

• 35:39Mike Rowe?

  His eyes are so blue.

• 35:40Speaker 02

  It's so piercing. Whatever. And then all of a sudden, my career just went on a whole different trajectory. And once you're your unique self in life, once, when God gave you what you have, use it to the best of your ability to give glory to Him. And in my writing, in my being a dad, being a husband, you can't be perfect. We're all sinners. We all do stupid stuff every day. But if you're trying to be the best version of you for Him, great things are there for you. Great things will happen to you. Here's a guy from, you know, Dorchester, Massachusetts, who didn't start with a whole lot, who's sitting here on the Mike Rowe Show, talking about my new film, The Last Rodeo, that I produced and wrote with my wife, Ravey. What?

• 36:23Speaker 02

  If you said that to me 50 years ago, when I was a little kid, that this is where your life's gonna be, I'd be like, dude, what are you talking about?

• 36:30Mike Rowe?

  No, you say, who's Mike Rowe?

• 36:35Speaker 02

  But that's why you are who you are. You know, that self-deprecating guy that everyone loves to talk to or listen to because you're one of us. And when you're one of us, people like to listen to one of them.

• 36:47Mike Rowe?

  Well, thank you. I feel like I'm adjacent to a bunch of stuff. Like, I've been adjacent to those bull riders, and I get a chance to pretend to try and maybe be one. And it's not acting, it's real. But I get close enough to know that I appreciate and understand what you're doing. It's not for me.

• 37:05Speaker 02

  Right, right, exactly.

• 37:06Mike Rowe?

  Right? But out of respect, and maybe some genuine curiosity, I would like to have a go at it, right? But somehow, there's a difference between that and clearing the mechanism while you're on the back of a 2,000-pound animal who doesn't want you there. And then, the stakes are mortal, right? I guess the stakes are always mortal. Sometimes, you know, there's always a horn, an inch or two, from, you know, your jewels and whatnot.

• 37:34Speaker 02

  Right.

• 37:35Mike Rowe?

  But I want to understand better. Like, there was a guy sitting right where you are now, a friend of ours, Matt Hagan. He drives funny cars, faster than anybody. Chuck, 0 to 320 in...

• 37:48Speaker 02

  Oh, in less than four seconds, yep.

• 37:50Mike Rowe?

  Right. Now, that's more G's than, you know, liftoff.

• 37:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:56Mike Rowe?

  Space shuttle, any of it. 0 to 320 miles an hour in 3 and 1/2 seconds. So, Matt Hagan has to clear the mechanism. Oh, for sure. As a parent, you have to clear the me... You can't worry about what other people think. As a husband, you can't... In anything, it's... If I play to my audience, that's why I don't have social media, that's why I don't read reviews, that's why I don't watch any of my stuff unless I have to. Reven, I will go to a premiere of one of our films, do the right carpet. Hey, everybody, how you doing? Walk into the theater, straight to the exit.

• 38:30Speaker 02

  Go out the toilet.

• 38:31Mike Rowe?

  Go out the exit, have a nice meal across the street, see you at the after-party. What'd you think of the... Oh, it was wonderful, it was a great movie, it was great, it was great. I just don't like watching my stuff, because I think it would just confuse me a little bit. And I like to... Plus, I don't want to take from one character if I read, "Hey, McDonough was really great when he did this thing." Well, then I'm going to start doing that thing, probably. That's going to be part of my next character. I don't want that. I want all my characters...

• 38:53Speaker 02

  To be fresh. They all kind of look the same.

• 38:55Mike Rowe?

  Sure.

• 38:56Speaker 02

  But they have different intent in all the characters.

• 38:58Mike Rowe?

  But no dailies? No.

• 38:59Speaker 02

  No.

• 39:00Mike Rowe?

  Like you don't look anything along the way.

• 39:01Speaker 02

  No, no, no, no, no. Why? Why would I? I know that God gave me a talent, so I know that I'm gonna be good at what I do.

• 39:08Mike Rowe?

  Well, I mean, I guess maybe the corollary would be if you're, you know, you just got thrown off of the bull and you're keen to not have that happen again. But you're gonna get back on the bull. Is there something to learn?

• 39:25Mike Rowe?

  If you work in boots all day long and your feet sweat, I feel your pain. And I'd recommend trying the socks that I wear every day from Camel City Mill. These guys sent me a box as a gift long before they sponsored this podcast. And I started wearing them and eventually I reached out to them because I love the product. And I wanted more sponsors on the podcast who make things in America. And now here they are again sponsoring another episode. Camel City Mill makes their socks in North Carolina with American wool in an American factory. Their merino wool blends help wick sweat away from your skin. And their no sweat vent lets heat and moisture escape. That helps keep your feet dry and comfortable when you're spending long days in work boots.

• 40:09Mike Rowe?

  They also reinforce the heel and the toe with double plated nylon to stand up to where those boots put on your socks. Remember, it's not the feet that wear out your socks, it's your boots. And they back their socks with a 10-year durability guarantee. If you get a hole or a tear in the first decade, they'll replace them for free. If you're a hardworking guy dealing with sweaty, uncomfortable feet, I'm telling you, these are worth trying. I wear mine every day and I'm glad to have the company on the podcast. CamelCityMill.com. Use code ROW. Get 10% off my favorite work socks. CamelCityMill.com code ROW.

• 40:48Speaker 02

  I got thrown off the bull 10, 12 years ago, whenever it was with that show. Then I didn't work for two years and lost everything. I got thrown off that bull. That frickin' hurt bad. Everything gone, right? So what happened after that? I became hyper focused on my craft. Maybe I wasn't so hyper focused. Maybe God said, you know what? You're taking a little too cavalier approach to all this stuff. I need you to really dial it in for me.

• 41:15Speaker 02

  And I think that's what happened. And ever since then, all my characters, I don't care what it is, they're so, I'm so hyper focused on my performance because it's not so much I want to let the audience down, I don't want to let him down. I want to make sure that he's given me great things in my life and some horrible things have happened to me in my life, but those are blessings.

• 41:36Mike Rowe?

  Do you feel a greater responsibility as the writer and the producer than just playing a part? Like, I mean, Band of Brothers, you didn't write, you didn't produce, you played a part, but the impact of that thing and the impact of your performance on a lot of people, including your kids, as I recall, it's huge. So.

• 42:02Speaker 02

  Band of Brothers was huge.

• 42:04Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 42:05Speaker 02

  It was massive. It's different, it's when you're, Clint Eastwood years ago, about 10 years ago, said, you gotta stop being a gun for hire, you gotta start creating your own stuff. I'm like, I got a great career, why do I, why do I want to do this? And then that thing happened.

• 42:20Mike Rowe?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:21Speaker 02

  And it made me think, okay, well, how do I dig deeper and stop being a gun for hire and actually create content that gives glory to him?

• 42:28Mike Rowe?

  Explain the thing again, just so people understand.

• 42:30Speaker 02

  I wouldn't kiss a woman on screen and they fired me from the show. And everyone thought I was this kind of religious zealot nutbag, you know, I was like, guys, I just love my wife and I just don't, you know, I don't mind killing people on screen, I don't mind doing certain things, see, that's all fake. I've killed millions of people on screen, when you think about it.

• 42:47Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 42:48Speaker 02

  But it's all fake, but if I'm, you know, kissing a woman, that's not fake, you're actually physically, and I just didn't, Ruvay didn't have any problem with it. It was really me that I just didn't want to put her or the kids through it, it was just, I don't know, I'm just odd that way, I think. And finally, I get, finally I get to do it with Ruvay, which is kind of amazing itself.

• 43:09Speaker 02

  Sorry, I lost my thought. I was just thinking about kissing Reva on screen.

• 43:11Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, you know what, I kinda lost my thought too.

• 43:14Speaker 02

  But no, I know where we're at. So it's now that I'm creating, or we're creating, it's almost a sense of freedom. That the pressure's off. I was invited to the dance and I can dance however I want to dance, as long as it's a dance that pleases him.

• 43:31Mike Rowe?

  I'm curious about the circumstances whereby Clint Eastwood gave you this advice. What preceded that would facilitate that exchange?

• 43:39Speaker 02

  We did a movie called Flags of Our Fathers. And there was one scene in Flags of Our Fathers, which is this two-page monologue of how we have to do our job to take out Tinny and Saipai, Iwo Jima, all these things. And we're on this aircraft carrier on San Pedro. And they were gonna go out all day and then come back at the end of the day. And that was gonna be the scene, 'cause they figured it would take at least a day, maybe two days ahead in the schedule for the scene. Reva would wake me up at 3 o'clock in the morning, "Go." And I would give the speech. She would plaster it on the refrigerator. She would plaster it on the toilet. She would plaster it on the car. She would plaster my monologues everywhere.

• 44:20Speaker 02

  So by the time we got there, there's 600 extras, 200 crew, you know, NBC, CBI, and other people on there. There's 1,000 people on the ship staring at me about to do my scene.

• 44:34Mike Rowe?

  Which, of course.

• 44:35Speaker 02

  I cleared the mechanism and just.

• 44:37Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, you crushed it.

• 44:38Speaker 02

  Crushed it. So I do the first take and he's like, "All right, that was perfect. Move the sticks in." We move the sticks in. Cameras, four or five cameras at a time. Next one. Crushed it again. Let's move the sticks in. Now, now Eastwood, he's like giggling to himself. And we get closer, then finally we get the close-up. And within three hours, we did the scene. And he's like, "Turn the ship around. Let's go back to the shore and get steak and lobster tails."

• 45:02Speaker 02

  And that's when he took me aside and he goes, "You're too good just to be a gun for hire. You gotta figure out how to really kind of propel yourself." And since then, all I've wanted to do is be like Mal Paso. I wanted to, and I never, back then, I was like, "Well, I'm not sure how I'm gonna ever do that. Who's ever gonna give me the opportunity to write a script?" And I'd written scripts, but wasn't sure I was gonna, because everyone wants you. If you're an actor, you're gonna be an actor. If you're a writer, you're gonna be a writer. You can't be, there's no hyphenates. You're not supposed to be a hyphenate, right? In Hollywood. And all of a sudden, I'm a hyphenate. And I get to write stories that I wanna watch. And stories that give glory to him at the same time. Mike, I'm the luckiest SOB that I know.

• 45:41Mike Rowe?

  You really are, man. It's kind of annoying, if I'm being honest, you know, to have that. You know, does it scare you a little bit?

• 45:52Speaker 02

  I feel a lot of weight right now.

• 45:54Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 45:54Speaker 02

  Because, again, I see the trailers for The Last Rodeo playing in front of King of Kings, which did $20 million opening weekend.

• 46:01Mike Rowe?

  Holy smokes, it was a biggie.

• 46:02Speaker 02

  Go Angel. And that trailer played on every one of those screenings. And getting calls from everyone saying, "Movie looks so great. This is gonna be awesome. It's gonna be big." I'm like, "Oh, my goodness." That's the, you know, the weight of that. At the same time, it's just awesome. I know it's gonna do great in the box office. I know America's gonna eat it up with a shovel. It's, it's that story. If you're a rodeo fan, you're gonna love this. If you have a father-daughter relationship that is, has little problems with it, I think the people who are gonna love this film more than anybody are gonna be 30-year-old girls who have a problem with their dad and have a kid. That's, that's the one who's gonna go to the theater and cry their faces off.

• 46:41Mike Rowe?

  This movie, it's not about the rodeo, any more than Rocky was about boxing.

• 46:47Speaker 02

  No, it's about family.

• 46:48Mike Rowe?

  That's right. Right. But it sure as heck helps to have a 2,000-pound bull reminding everybody around that there might be another star of the show.

• 46:59Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 46:59Mike Rowe?

  You know, "And my name's Ring of Fire."

• 47:01Speaker 02

  That's right. Oh, good, hey, remember, he's Mike. I watched. He's good. I watched.

• 47:05Mike Rowe?

  Chuck, he's good.

• 47:05Speaker 02

  No, it's, I...

• 47:08Speaker 02

  But that's life. It's when you make films that talk about real issues in life. And look, most of the films that I've been in are, you know, I'm the villain. It talks about crazy stuff and maniacal nutty things. And I'm guilty of it, but I had to make a living. I got five kids and a fantastic wife and I want to enjoy our lives. So I had to do those things, but now I've been given the opportunity to write films for the heartland of America. How blessed am I to be able to say that? And people are going out to the theaters to watch these films. Shift did crazy numbers. The Home City crazy. I can't imagine what The Last Rodeo is gonna do. But but more importantly, the numbers that it's gonna do.

• 47:52Speaker 02

  I'm so stinking proud of doing a movie like this, knowing that we worked so hard on it. That Jon Avnet directed, maybe his best direction of all time. And it's a film that talks about American families. That's what I'm just so proud of.

• 48:07Mike Rowe?

  Well, Angel's building a brand. You have a brand. But I would say that, you know, your brand isn't a composite or an amalgam of the characters that you've played. It's a composite of the films that you've been in. And there is no hero without a villain.

• 48:27Speaker 02

  That's right. And I was gonna be the best darn villain. That was my goal.

• 48:31Mike Rowe?

  All you did was elevate everybody around you all of the time. That's all you did.

• 48:35Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 48:36Mike Rowe?

  Right? So I guess, you know, the pressure I'm curious about is like, is there less pressure to be a great bad guy than a great good guy?

• 48:47Speaker 02

  Being a great bad guy is a lot easier. Because you can basically do anything you want, as big as you want, as long as you believe it. You can really do anything as long as you believe you're the villain. And I loved finding situations where I would create villainy or create hysterical humor at the time that I wasn't supposed to. Like, I'll take the script and it says, he says, he thinks this now, or he with with a frown on his face, or with a grimace. And I scratch all that stuff out. And then I'll go back and I'll write it all out longhand myself without any punctuation marks and just kind of. Just kind of let it sit and seep into my psyche.

• 49:28Speaker 02

  And then, all of a sudden, I get on set and I have that clear the mechanism mindset. I don't really talk to anybody. I'm very cordial to everyone. Hey, everybody, how you doing? But the character is, I'm a method actor without having Ravey taught me this. You gotta figure out how to be your method actor, but you gotta be able to get out of it, or else you're gonna be trapped in it. And then you'll drive you and everyone else crazy around you especially. And I'm really good at flipping that switch where, you know, Derek, my writing partner, does his impersonation of me where I'll be sitting on the phone, rolling cameras. Yeah, hold on one second. Yeah, honey, I love you. Yeah, great. How did he do? Did he make the shot? He did. Oh, that's awesome. And, oh, hold on one second. Cut. So, how was it?

• 50:13Speaker 02

  How did you do? You know, it's so I can get in and out of my real world, which I adore, and my fantasy world with my characters, which I also adore. But it's just, you can do it quick. I can do it. It's frighteningly fast. However, I can't do that with good guys. When I played Buck Compton in Band of Brothers, it took years. I can't watch, I can't listen to the, and I start crying. I can't, because it's so emotional. Or if I look back at, one of my favorite projects I ever did was called Tin Man, where I played Wyatt Cain, the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz on for the Sci-Fi Channel. But he carried his heart in his sleeve, this tough guy with his heart in his sleeve. Or when I watch, you know, now that I have to watch The Last rodeo,

• 50:57Speaker 02

  I can't watch it without bawling every 30 seconds. And Ravey's like, stop. Yeah. Because, you know, it's, when you play the good guy, you're really dredging up who you are in the reality of a situation. When you're a villain, this is all fantasy world. So you're not really dredging up your psyche. When I'm dredging up, okay, my daughter is having problems. Okay, what problems do my daughters have? Oh, gosh, that hurts. Roll cameras. It's psychotherapy without asking for it. And how you deal with it thereafter is really testing on actors. Because if you really go to that spot. Of pure pain and torture that you go through in life and then let that manifest into your body and bring it out into a different character in front of a camera.

• 51:42Speaker 02

  It's heartbreaking and at the end of the day, it's

• 51:45Mike Rowe?

  It's exhausting.

• 51:46Speaker 02

  It's exhausting and at the same time, it's such a gift from God that I get to jump into my soul, pimples and all, and put it all out for everyone to look at.

• 52:00Mike Rowe?

  I've never heard pimples and all. I've heard warts and all.

• 52:02Speaker 02

  That's a, that's a, that's a Rivae term.

• 52:03Mike Rowe?

  You made it a pimple.

• 52:04Speaker 02

  Pimples and all.

• 52:05Mike Rowe?

  You, you had to make it a pus-filled.

• 52:07Speaker 02

  Maybe it's a South African thing.

• 52:08Mike Rowe?

  Carbuncle, kind of a thing.

• 52:10Speaker 02

  A carbuncle.

• 52:12Mike Rowe?

  It goes the other way, too. I've read a lot and had a little bit of experience about, you know, an actor assumes character and maybe holds on to it too tight for too long. You know, a method out of control is a psychosis. Sheridan, you know, yeah, I want to hear more about him. I'm so interested in what he's built. It's an empire, but he seems to have taken so much of what he really lives and what he really knows. Tell me the story about that. You mentioned it earlier. It was on

• 52:48Speaker 02

  First day on set?

• 52:49Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 52:50Speaker 02

  Well, let's backtrack a little bit. Taylor Sheridan.

• 52:53Mike Rowe?

  This Yellowstone, right?

• 52:54Speaker 02

  Yellowstone, yeah. Taylor Sheridan is, at the heart of it, an actor and the acting wasn't going the way he wanted it to go. So he dug deep and stopped being a gun for hire and started writing his own stuff. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it?

• 53:09Mike Rowe?

  Cleared the mechanism.

• 53:10Speaker 02

  I owe so much to Taylor Sheridan and we've only been in front of each other once. And the first time I saw him was the first day on set and there we were at the Yellowstone House. Magnificent. I mean, it's just breathtaking. And Kevin comes up to me, we start talking. We did The Guardian together before and so we, during our lunch breaks, we would take batting practice at LSU and just, because we're both college ball players and just hitting balls and talking about life. And we had just this great friendship that we, we started. And then here I am back in Yellowstone. He, we were just so tickled to be back together again and having a great conversation. All of a sudden, here comes

• 53:49Speaker 02

  this dude bussing up on a horse, breakneck speed, stops on a dime. Neil, Taylor Sheridan, welcome to the show. We're, we're so excited to have. And all of a sudden, this herd of elk.

• 54:02Speaker 02

  Couple hundred yards away, beautiful. He says, hold on one second. He turns and beelines it straight at the elk and herds them back off into the woods, hundreds of yards away. And we're just staring at this guy. It's like, who is this guy? Beelines it, comes right back and goes, I'm so excited to have you on the show. And here's what we're gonna do with the character. Who is this guy? And you know, it's, and he just takes.

• 54:26Mike Rowe?

  He's a guy who wrote what he knew.

• 54:27Speaker 02

  He understands it, you know, from Wind River to everything on to, you know, now I'm on Tulsa King and the time I had in Yellowstone. And everything that he does works. And he knows that he doesn't do it for anybody else. He does it because he knows it's in him and it's unique and it's just him.

• 54:45Mike Rowe?

  Wind River was a hell of a script.

• 54:47Speaker 02

  Unbelievable, unbelievable. And for him to talk about the heartland of America, to talk about Native Americans, to talk about the problems that they've had and how the white guy hasn't been the greatest of all time. He talks about it where no one else has talked about it. It's awesome. And I love that about Taylor, that he really gives history lessons in his shows. This is what we've done wrong to America, but this is how we can build America up great again. Stick to the family, stick to the core values of what America was built upon, and let's go write a show about it.

• 55:24Mike Rowe?

  Do you see any kind of parallel at all between what he's been able to accomplish with Paramount as a studio and obviously with an eye on the bottom line and the mercenary position? They understand where their bread's getting buttered. But the idea of getting that kind of partnership forged around talent, around writing, around producing, around distribution. I mean, I can imagine you and Angel carving out something similar.

• 55:53Speaker 02

  Taylor, when Paramount said, okay, we love this pilot. This is testing higher than anything we could ever have possibly imagined. You know, what's each episode gonna cost? And he says, I'm, there is no number. I'll spend as much as I want to spend.

• 56:09Speaker 02

  What? I'm sorry, what was that again? And he got away with it. And in all of his shows, he has carte blanche to do really what he wants because everyone knows it's gonna be great. He doesn't gaffe people, that's not what he does. But he doesn't want to have any kind of budgetary restraints to get in the way of the storytelling.

• 56:28Mike Rowe?

  It's not gonna work backwards from a number.

• 56:30Speaker 02

  That's right. You know, Clint Eastwood was kind of the same thing. Clint Eastwood was like, okay, Warner's, I've got this script. You're not gonna read it. I'm not gonna tell you anything about it, but I need this much money. Okay, and I won't see you again until the premiere, right? Yes, Mr. Eastwood. This is what Taylor Sheridan's doing. So with Revé and I at Angel, you know, again, we started out together and here's the budget. Go make the best of you can. And they never breathed down our necks. They were hardly ever there when we did the last rodeo. They knew that we were gonna work hard and make something great. So there's a trust that Angel has with the McDonough Company that we're gonna deliver.

• 57:10Speaker 02

  And, you know, I've been saying to Revé, I don't think if we do this correctly, we will never have to work for anyone else ever again. We'll just be able to keep creating our own content that we know is good. And we have a distribution company that believes wholeheartedly that we're gonna give them good stuff. And the great thing about Angel is, like you said, it goes on the Guild. You know, last year, there was 200,000 members in the Guild. We just passed a million members. And by this time next year, there'll be 2 million. So all those people vote, and if it gets 85, 90%, then it goes to the theaters. If it doesn't, it doesn't. So if we ever turn in something that doesn't get to that level, well, we know we have to work harder. But so far, our numbers have been astronomical.

• 57:53Mike Rowe?

  It's the mother of all focus groups.

• 57:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, it really is, and they're very smart about it.

• 58:02Mike Rowe?

  Ever since Chapter started advertising on this podcast, I've been getting letters and emails from satisfied customers all over the country. Last week, I got one from Joseph, a retired veterinarian in Texas, who just learned his Medicare plan was shutting down. I can't tell you Joseph's last name because his medical history is complicated and personal, but his situation is not uncommon at all. Given his medical history, Joseph was unable to find a local provider that would include the doctors he'd come to rely on. Happily, Joseph listens to this podcast, and Joseph heard me talking about Chapter just last week. And Chapter exists for one reason:

• 58:44Mike Rowe?

  to help people on Medicare find the plan that's right for them. It's a free service. Anyhow, Joseph called Chapter. He connected with an advisor named Heidi. And Heidi caught something that most people miss, because his current plan was about to close. Joseph had a limited window to continue with his current coverage through a new plan without any additional medical underwriting. In other words, Heidi found a way to get Joseph the coverage he needed with the doctors he preferred. Then she found great coverage for his wife, too. Moral of the story? Medicare plans are constantly evolving. You are, too. Call Chapter. Make sure you're on the best plan for you.

• 59:27Mike Rowe?

  Also, people who switch plans after calling Chapter save an average of $1,100 a year. 804-Chapter. That's the number. Call it today. It's free. Whole thing takes about 20 minutes. 804-Chapter.

• 59:46Mike Rowe?

  Tulsa Kings. How much fun is that? You're coming back as a... Is that a spoiler alert?

• 59:51Speaker 02

  No. So, at the end of last season, I wasn't sure if I was going to come back or not. I had the best time with Sylvester Stallone. I mean, I just had... We were talking about life, talking about Catholicism, talking about...

• 1:00:04Mike Rowe?

  How weird is it to be in a scene with the guy?

• 1:00:08Speaker 02

  Okay. Who you... I'll tell you the first scene.

• 1:00:10Mike Rowe?

  All right.

• 1:00:13Speaker 02

  So the first scene, it's Stallone and myself going nose to nose. But the scene is written that he would have the advantage in the scene. My job is to be the best villain on the planet and to get under the other actor's skin. What I did to poor Tim Oliphant back in Justified was just...

• 1:00:34Mike Rowe?

  We'll circle back.

• 1:00:34Speaker 02

  Oh my gosh.

• 1:00:35Mike Rowe?

  Because I want to hear that too.

• 1:00:36Speaker 02

  But it was so good. Tim's a beast. So the first scene, we're doing, and Revay's in Video Village with one of my best pals, Steve Mitchell and Greg Marsh, buddies I've known for 25 years.

• 1:00:48Mike Rowe?

  This is a tent, by the way, that's set up maybe 25 yards from the action.

• 1:00:52Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:00:52Mike Rowe?

  And all the hotshots and the guests, they gather around and they stare at monitors and they have their headsets on so they can watch you being a villain.

• 1:00:59Speaker 02

  So there's the first take and the camera's on Sylvester, to start with, which made me happy because I want his reaction for what I was about to do. So we're doing the scene and it's starting to groove and it's starting to groove. Then all of a sudden I get up in his grill and I start impersonating him in front of him in the scene.

• 1:01:22Speaker 02

  And I see the veins, just every... I look down, I see his hands ball up and he's got huge meat hooks. And I'm like, I got him, I got him, I got him. Oh, wait a second, that's Rocky. Isn't this cool? And then I have to snap back into it.

• 1:01:37Mike Rowe?

  That's my...

• 1:01:38Speaker 02

  So it's like, it's so bizarre working with Sylvester Stallone because, you know, for me, he was my hero. He was the guy that when I was a kid, you were banging out those pushups. You wanted to be like Rocky. And as I progressed in my career, I wanted to be like Sylvester Stallone. I wanted to be able to write my own stuff. I wanted to be able to produce my own stuff.

• 1:01:56Mike Rowe?

  It's a high bar, brother. I mean, is there a more iconic figure in entertainment?

• 1:02:00Speaker 02

  No, I mean, the guy is, he's so prepared. He is the professional's professional. If you just wrote Rocky... You are a massive hit. You did it. You did it. Congratulations. Rocket 234567 Creed. Then there is the Rambo franchise. Then there's the Expendables franchise. And now it's 78 years old to write basically most of Tulsa King himself. I don't know anybody like that. I remember on that scene when I finally got him, I'm doing, you tough guy. And I go back to Video Village and there's Ruvay. He's like, you can't do that. You're gonna get fired. You can't, you can't do that. And Sly comes around the corner. He stands in the doorway and he just stares at me.

• 1:02:43Speaker 02

  And I'm like, oh no, I'm gonna get crushed here. And he walks over to me and gives it this big, welcome to the show Neil. Now you got balls. And from then on in, we became great friends. So at the end of the season, I wasn't sure if I was gonna come back or not. So I said, I was with Ruvay and she said, tell him. It was with David Glasser. I'm like, yeah, just tell him. I want to come back next year and I want to be the governor.

• 1:03:05Mike Rowe?

  Okay, so David Glasser is?

• 1:03:07Speaker 02

  The producer, Taylor Sheridan's partner in everything.

• 1:03:10Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 1:03:10Speaker 02

  Maybe the most prolific producer in the history of television. I mean, 10 or 11 shows he's got on. They bought the triple sixes, whatever, the big ranch. They've got restaurants. They're just killing it right now because he's so laser focused on excellence. And that's who David Glasser is.

• 1:03:28Speaker 02

  And we said, and he goes, hmm, that's a great idea.

• 1:03:32Speaker 02

  Didn't hear anything. Two months later, I get the call, you're back on Tulsa King. Yes, great, fantastic. Can't wait to get back there. Anything I need to know? And he goes, yeah, you're the governor. I'm like, what?

• 1:03:43Mike Rowe?

  So I just, I retrenched to my earlier question, how much fun are you having now?

• 1:03:49Speaker 02

  So, you know, we did our first scene this last week. It was just great to see Sly again and hanging out and talking about me becoming the governor and how he's gonna, you know, it's because of him that is the power and how we're gonna build things together and how the corruption that's gonna unfold. It's just awesome. And I get to do it for Taylor Sheridan and Paramount and all these great people.

• 1:04:12Mike Rowe?

  And you get to yank Sly Stallone's chain.

• 1:04:14Speaker 02

  So good. So.

• 1:04:16Mike Rowe?

  It's so annoying, dude, honestly. You know, do you know Jack Carr?

• 1:04:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:22Mike Rowe?

  Have you worked with him?

• 1:04:22Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:04:23Mike Rowe?

  So I interviewed Jack a couple of times. It's the same kind of thing. This guy had two basic wish fulfillments. To be a Navy SEAL and serve his country, and then to become a bestselling author.

• 1:04:35Speaker 02

  Crushed it.

• 1:04:36Mike Rowe?

  So 20 years in the SEALs, okay. Now I'm gonna write.

• 1:04:39Speaker 02

  He's gonna have 20 years?

• 1:04:40Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:40Speaker 02

  20 years in the SEALs.

• 1:04:42Mike Rowe?

  I mean, he does it.

• 1:04:43Speaker 02

  He does it.

• 1:04:44Mike Rowe?

  And then he writes what he knows. And then Amazon starts making, and off he goes. So, you know, you run into a guy like that. I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but you gotta be very careful. You say questions like, "How's it going?" They're liable to tell you.

• 1:04:59Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:05:00Mike Rowe?

  I'll tell you how it's going. Everything I ever wanted to do, I'm doing.

• 1:05:02Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:05:02Mike Rowe?

  Yep. I'm genuinely happy for you. I'm even happier to hear about. I like to see the right relationships evolve. It doesn't happen a bunch, especially you and me, dude. This is, we're in a knife fight in a phone booth. This industry's just a hot mess.

• 1:05:25Speaker 02

  But we like it.

• 1:05:26Mike Rowe?

  Well, for whatever reason, we're keen to figure it out. I understand clear the mechanism. That will be the title of this episode, by the way. Just so you know.

• 1:05:35Speaker 02

  Love that.

• 1:05:36Mike Rowe?

  And the closest I've got came from my mentor, who we talk about a lot on this show. Chuck and I had a, had a high school music teacher, a guy called Fred King. And he was so much more than that. He was Mr. Holland. But again, it wasn't really about the music with him. It was about values and learning.

• 1:05:55Speaker 02

  Substance.

• 1:05:56Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. And his expression for that, he was all about, he was like, "Look, you don't want people to see your technique, ever. You have to master your technique. I don't care if you're on the back of a bull, or going toe to toe with Sly Stallone, or singing Valkyrie from The Ring des Niobes Lungen. You must master it, and then you must hide it." And his shorthand for all that was, "What, not how." What, not how. What are you doing? You can ask yourself that all day long and you'll be okay. Because the answer will be obvious.

• 1:06:40Speaker 02

  How you doing?

• 1:06:42Mike Rowe?

  Welcome to crap in the bed.

• 1:06:44Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:06:45Mike Rowe?

  Mechanism's not clear.

• 1:06:47Speaker 02

  That's pretty good.

• 1:06:48Mike Rowe?

  I loved it. And there are so many times I thought about that.

• 1:06:51Speaker 02

  I'm stealing that one.

• 1:06:52Mike Rowe?

  Take it. Because, look, I just took yours for the title of this episode.

• 1:06:55Speaker 02

  Thank you, Fred.

• 1:06:56Mike Rowe?

  And there'll be no royalty or anything like that.

• 1:06:58Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:06:59Mike Rowe?

  There'll be no, there'll be no money.

• 1:07:00Speaker 02

  There's a cup of coffee waiting.

• 1:07:01Mike Rowe?

  There's a cup of coffee. If you like, I'll throw a teabag at you.

• 1:07:04Speaker 02

  Wait, that's bad.

• 1:07:05Mike Rowe?

  I'm good at that. But I'll never forget walking up the suspension cable on the Mackinac Bridge. About 600 feet up, you know, tying off on the stanchions, trying to figure out how to deal with the West Ham on the helicopter and host a show and not die. And in the back of my head, like a, like a, like a cone, like a zen, it's just whatnot how. Whatnot how. Whatnot how.

• 1:07:34Speaker 02

  Focus.

• 1:07:35Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. It's hard. It's important.

• 1:07:39Speaker 02

  It used to be harder in this business when I treated it like you were in a phone booth in a fight. But once I gave over to the idea that I can't control really any of it. All I can control is my output. Like politics, I can't control politics, you know, I can vote for somebody, but I can't control politics. I can't control what they're gonna do on Capitol Hill. I can't control all kinds of things.

• 1:08:04Mike Rowe?

  Outcome. Can't control the outcome.

• 1:08:05Speaker 02

  But I can control what I do. And when I'm at my best version of me, that's when I'm closest to him. And I get this feeling of, it's this purple feeling that I have that knowing that I'm doing the right thing for him.

• 1:08:19Mike Rowe?

  Purple.

• 1:08:20Speaker 02

  Purple.

• 1:08:21Mike Rowe?

  Walk me through that.

• 1:08:22Speaker 02

  When I was a kid, I remember my mom tying my shoes, about three years old, and I just couldn't get it right. And, oh. I miss that lady. And she...

• 1:08:36Speaker 02

  Man, I haven't thought of that in a while. And she tied my shoes and all I could see was this purple aura. Everything was purple. And then when I met Ravae years later, I hadn't seen purple. And then when I saw Ravae, we went out on this date to get pizza. And while I was eating the pizza and I just looked at her, I just saw purple. And every once in a while, when something really amazing happens to me, I have this really warm feeling of purpleness. It's odd, I don't know what it is. I'm not sure if it's happens to anybody else out there in the world, but it happens. And I know when I'm doing something right, I get that feeling, that hunch that, don't worry what everybody else thinks of you. You're unique, you're Neil McDonough, and there's never gonna be another one. There is never gonna be, there wasn't one in the past, there won't be one in the future.

• 1:09:21Speaker 02

  So what are you gonna do today with the present that he gave you? Hmm, I'm just gonna be the best I can be. And then all of a sudden, you're swinging better. You don't put the pressure on yourself. You don't worry about the outcome, you just are in the moment. And when you're in that moment as a human being, doing the right thing, searching for those purple moments, that's what life is supposed to be about. It isn't about movies, it isn't about TV, it isn't about the box office. It isn't about anything, but it's really doing the right thing to make the world a better place. As corny as that sounds, it took me, maybe it took me becoming sober 10 years ago to figure that out.

• 1:10:01Speaker 02

  Maybe it took me having so many kids and seeing the ups and downs of what it's like to be a kid. Maybe it took me being crucified when I didn't work for two years and they stole my house and cars and all those things. Maybe it took all those things to make me really appreciate that I'm the luckiest son of a bitch that I know.

• 1:10:17Mike Rowe?

  Maybe.

• 1:10:18Speaker 02

  Maybe.

• 1:10:19Mike Rowe?

  I'd say somewhere between maybe and definitely.

• 1:10:23Speaker 02

  I don't like to think too much. If you went into our house, you would never know that I lived there. There isn't a movie poster, there isn't anything in there that would say, oh, an actor lives in this house. Oh, there's pictures of the kids everywhere, there's jerseys, you know, there's all kinds of stuff like that. But I don't think that I'm a movie star or a TV star or anything. I'm just a worker that does his job pretty darn well. That now, I'm really grooving in it because I know that I'm giving glory to him in our work that we do. And not just as an actor, but as a dad or giving back to our school or giving back to sending messages to people who might need a little positive reinforcement or... Doing whatever I can do to make the world a better place while I'm here.

• 1:11:06Mike Rowe?

  This is weird, but I heard my mom on a podcast the other day. She's a writer and she's out doing press because she's written another book. She's 87, out of control.

• 1:11:17Speaker 02

  Awesome.

• 1:11:19Mike Rowe?

  She told a story about how when I was three and four, I used to greet my dad at the door when he came home with a purple shirt.

• 1:11:31Mike Rowe?

  He had one purple shirt. And I made him put it on whenever he came home. I have no idea why. There's a condition, I don't think I have it, but you might. See if you can find it, Chuck. It's the, um, it has to do with translating colors into,

• 1:11:54Mike Rowe?

  not quite emotions. It's something more than that. It's a way to really experience a whole different level of feelings through color. It's an absolute condition. And the people who have it tell the most extraordinary stories. I didn't know that about you at all, but.

• 1:12:13Speaker 02

  That's the first time I've ever mentioned it in my life to anybody.

• 1:12:16Mike Rowe?

  Well, it's.

• 1:12:17Speaker 02

  Other than Ruvay.

• 1:12:18Mike Rowe?

  It's the color of kings as well.

• 1:12:22Speaker 02

  This is very true. This is very true.

• 1:12:24Mike Rowe?

  What do you got, Chuck?

• 1:12:25Speaker 01

  Color psychology explores how colors affect human emotions, moods and behaviors. It's a universal.

• 1:12:32Mike Rowe?

  Deeper than that. It's, it's almost unpronounceable. It's like a long word.

• 1:12:36Speaker 02

  That has. I'll just Google unpronounceable.

• 1:12:40Mike Rowe?

  Well, I mean, look, this is life, trying to figure out how to pronounce a thing, trying to connect dots, trying to make sense out of a 2,000 pound animal that wants you dead. And then hopping on it. And then doing all that in the context of a movie.

• 1:12:55Mike Rowe?

  I just love how you've got your feet in different worlds.

• 1:13:00Speaker 02

  Well, you know.

• 1:13:01Mike Rowe?

  But are but are still a congruent, sane, grown man. But the big head that looks good in a hat.

• 1:13:09Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:13:10Mike Rowe?

  And wears a lot of denim that you don't really own.

• 1:13:12Speaker 02

  Revé makes fun of me that, you know, I don't really have a whole lot of friends. You know, I love my wife so much. I love my kids so much and there's.

• 1:13:20Mike Rowe?

  Well, you've mentioned her 30 times.

• 1:13:21Speaker 02

  Yes, that's right.

• 1:13:22Mike Rowe?

  In this conversation. It's not lost on people who are listening.

• 1:13:24Speaker 02

  I love my brother Bob and there there's.

• 1:13:26Mike Rowe?

  But not as much.

• 1:13:27Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:13:27Mike Rowe?

  Not as Bob.

• 1:13:28Speaker 02

  Not as much.

• 1:13:28Mike Rowe?

  Bob, you're not even in the.

• 1:13:30Speaker 02

  He's OK.

• 1:13:30Mike Rowe?

  Yeah. Plus, he's a palindrome. Bob forward, backwards. What do you say?

• 1:13:37Speaker 02

  He says hello, by the way. I told him I was going to your show and goes, oh, my gosh, that's awesome. Tell him I said hello. Sorry, Bob, I just butchered your accent. But it's.

• 1:13:47Speaker 01

  I think I got it because I can't pronounce it. Synesthesia. It's synesthesia.

• 1:13:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:13:54Speaker 01

  Sounds like I'm lisping.

• 1:13:55Mike Rowe?

  Read the definition.

• 1:13:56Speaker 01

  Is a neurological phenomenon where stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in another sensory or cognitive pathway. For example, a person might see colors when listening to music or taste words.

• 1:14:11Mike Rowe?

  Yes, you taste words and you hear color. So it's a conflation of the senses. That's what it is.

• 1:14:21Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:14:22Mike Rowe?

  So.

• 1:14:23Speaker 02

  And here I just thought it was just this weird dude.

• 1:14:26Mike Rowe?

  You like had a thing for purple.

• 1:14:27Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:14:27Mike Rowe?

  No, it's not that at all.

• 1:14:28Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:14:29Mike Rowe?

  You you have a serious mental illness.

• 1:14:30Speaker 02

  I have a mental. I am an actor.

• 1:14:34Mike Rowe?

  You are an actor. I can't get enough of the Irish thing, man. I mean, give me more of your dad.

• 1:14:38Speaker 02

  Oh, no, Mike, no, it's more than that. No, right, right. What was that? I missed that part.

• 1:14:48Mike Rowe?

  What if, say, five years ago, some big oil company offered a promotion that gave you a chance to lock in the price of gasoline at $2.50 a gallon for the rest of your life? Would you have taken that deal? Or what if a nationwide grocery store had given you an opportunity to lock in the price of ground beef at, say, $2 a pound for as long as you live? Would you have taken that deal? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, those deals were never on the table, but this one is. Today, as in right now, for a very, very limited time, Pure Talk is offering every American the opportunity to purchase unlimited talk, text, and data, along with a 30 gig hotspot,

• 1:15:32Mike Rowe?

  for just $29.95 a month for life. Not your phone's life, your life. No contracts, no commitments, just a very rare opportunity to lock into a ridiculously low rate for unlimited talk, text, and data for the rest of your life. It's the Unlimited Data Plan from Pure Talk, and it will not be around for long. $29.95 a month for as long as you live. Taxes and fees not included. Some restrictions do apply. See puretalk.com for details. Offer ends 11/15/26. So chop, chop.

• 1:16:11Speaker 03

  Pure Talk.

• 1:16:16Speaker 02

  It's one of the two things I've never really... I played Whitey Bulger on stage last year

• 1:16:20Mike Rowe?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:16:21Speaker 02

  in Boston, which was just... I've never really... I've never filmed in Boston. I've never played a guy with a Boston accent, nor have I played, you know, shot a film in Ireland, which I'm a citizen of that amazing country, thanks to my parents. But Whitey Bulger was... that was a deep dive. That was a... We did it at the Wilbur Theater, which is one of, if not the oldest theater in America. Brando did his first waterfront there and you know, so many people have been on stage and to get on stage in front of a packed house, in front of all my buddies from Barnstable High School, I swear, half the kids from Barnstable were in there. You know, the Monahan's who are like family to us, you know, there really are family. Growing up, it was the Monahan's and the McDonald's, we were just like intertwined

• 1:17:06Speaker 02

  in everything. And, you know, I would be doing Whitey, which of course, I play all my villains as heroes. Everything that I do is, you know, it's the right thing, of course. So I'd be doing these monologues and I'd have people screaming out, "We love you, Whitey!" Next to someone, a person would say, "You SOB, you killed my Della Bugger, I have F-ing, F-bomb, F-bomb, F-bomb." Which as an actor, as Whitey Bulger, because I was Whitey on stage, I wasn't Neil, I was Whitey, I was just, I was Whitey Bulger, just churned me up an extra notch. We only did one night, it was a one night show only and it was just remarkable. But it was the only time I've ever gotten to play with a Boston accent and my brothers

• 1:17:48Speaker 02

  laughed at me because they all have thick Boston accents, but my mom wouldn't let me have one. So as a kid, I had more of an Irish accent because I was hanging around with my mom or my dad or the relatives are always by the house. My brothers were all gone because they were older than me.

• 1:18:00Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:01Speaker 02

  And when I went to Syracuse, they were like, "Where's your accent from? Are you from Canada?" I'm like, "No, I'm from Cape Cod, Massachusetts." I was born in Boston. Like, "We can't figure it out." And then finally, they figured out, "Do you have any Irish in you?" I'm like, "Yeah, my parents are from Ireland." "Oh, that makes sense." But I've never gotten the chance to play, "Oh, no, no." And I can't wait to play that character one of these days. We'll get there.

• 1:18:21Mike Rowe?

  We, uh, you must have just done that about, was it a year ago?

• 1:18:25Speaker 02

  A year ago, yeah.

• 1:18:26Mike Rowe?

  Because we talked about the, I mean, to go back to your home, to stand on that stage, to play that character in front of that audience. Like, compare that, if you would, to the Clint Eastwood beat where, I mean, no pressure, but there are a thousand people and they're on a ship and you're, like, so what was more nerve wracking?

• 1:18:49Speaker 02

  Neither of them.

• 1:18:51Mike Rowe?

  Because the mechanism was Clear the whole damn time.

• 1:18:53Speaker 02

  Before I was crapping my pants. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's packed house, sold out in 18 minutes. I hadn't rehearsed. I did one or two Zoom rehearsals because I was doing something else at the time. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast had been rehearsing for months. And I got there and the director's like, okay, uh, do you want to run through it? I'm like, just tell me where are my spots? Where, where, where else? And he goes, you're supposed to be here, then you're over here, then you're over here, and you come out during this, come over here, and this is the, this, and then I'm like, okay, got it. And I went backstage, I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do here? Holy smokes. And then Revé was there and whenever I'm around Revé, I just, just, I just get at ease.

• 1:19:36Speaker 02

  And 648th time, probably.

• 1:19:39Mike Rowe?

  Unbelievable.

• 1:19:40Speaker 02

  Uh, and as soon, you know, I'm backstage, my hands are clammy. I'm like, oh my gosh, if I'm in my, you know, Bob's, my brother Bob's out there, you know, relatives.

• 1:19:50Mike Rowe?

  I remember Bob.

• 1:19:50Speaker 02

  Every, Bob, yeah, what? I didn't know a kid. You know, so everyone's out there. I'm like, oh my gosh. But as soon as I stepped on stage, Neil McDonough was gone. And I don't, it's this weird thing that when you become a character and you stick into that character, nothing else really exists except for what the character would think. Have you had, but then the hardest part was when at the end, you know, the, the show is over and there's me sitting in my chair as, as I'm being beaten to death and I die and tears are running down my cheeks.

• 1:20:24Speaker 02

  It was running down, half of it though was

• 1:20:27Speaker 02

  as Whitey Bulger, knowing that he's dying and this is the end of his life. But the other half of me was, I knew the show was over and it just started to seep in

• 1:20:36Speaker 02

  that I got to give back to my hometown.

• 1:20:39Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:40Speaker 02

  And then I went backstage and they were doing curtain calls and I couldn't come out.

• 1:20:47Mike Rowe?

  You didn't come out for the curtain call?

• 1:20:49Speaker 02

  No, I couldn't come out. They're, "Neil, Neil, Neil." And I'm sitting there, I was just in a puddle of tears backstage that how did this little kid who grew up in Boston get to play one of the most famous, infamous, characters in the history of Boston in front of my hometown crowd? And I know that I crushed it. I just knew it because I was, I was whitey at that time. And then when I went back, you know, when I went to the curtain call, I was, I was Neil again. It was like.

• 1:21:20Mike Rowe?

  Well, you flipped a switch.

• 1:21:21Speaker 02

  I flipped the one, it's, it's, it's, I just, I don't know.

• 1:21:26Mike Rowe?

  Didn't they catch him here, like around this?

• 1:21:28Speaker 02

  Santa Monica?

• 1:21:29Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:29Speaker 02

  In San Antonio? Eugenia Apartments, wasn't it?

• 1:21:31Mike Rowe?

  Right.

• 1:21:31Speaker 02

  Right down here?

• 1:21:32Mike Rowe?

  I've been in those apartments.

• 1:21:33Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. It's, it's, you know, it's really incredible to, to be in the world that I'm in and get to do the stuff that I do. And, you know, I, that's why I go to church almost every day, whether it's a mosque, whether it's a temple, whether it's, you know, a Catholic church, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, it doesn't matter. I want to say thanks to our Creator every day because He's given me an incredible life that I'm so appreciative of.

• 1:22:00Mike Rowe?

  Dan, have you had these things Maslow talks about, peak experiences? Whether it's praying in church, or acting, or, because when the mechanism is clear, that's when these things happen. And Maslow talks about it. You leave your body. You don't leave the room, but there's typically an elevation and you look down and you can watch yourself doing the thing. And it almost always happens Fred King, what not how. That guy taught us about, he had several of them. Once when he was directing a choir on Christmas Eve, which he said was as close to the perfect auditory experience. Took him out of his body. And once when he was singing.

• 1:22:43Mike Rowe?

  But I'm just curious, have, has that ever happened to you, or something like it?

• 1:22:49Speaker 02

  A lot because it's

• 1:22:51Mike Rowe?

  Right now, for instance.

• 1:22:52Speaker 02

  It kind of, kind of, because you know, every once in a while, I have to stop. Oh, my gosh, I'm working with Sylvester Stallone. You know, it's one of those moments that's those, but you know, two times in particular, I was in South Africa once with Ruvay and her mom, and there was this famous chapel that had what was supposed to be the most amazing stained glass windows in this chapel. But since that chapel was built in 1900, a township, just an all black township, was built all around it. And at the top of the hill was this church that no one's been to for years. And I told Ruvay's mom, I said, I want to go there. And she's like, well, you can't just walk through a black township. You're a white guy. There's just, you can't do that. And I'm like, well, why can't I? She says, okay.

• 1:23:36Speaker 02

  So she drives me to the edge of the township in the car. And she's like, it's up that hill. You're on your own. And I started jogging up the hill and everyone just kind of stops. And they're looking at this crazy white guy running up the hill.

• 1:23:50Mike Rowe?

  Because you are white, dude.

• 1:23:51Speaker 02

  I'm the whitest thing you've ever seen.

• 1:23:52Mike Rowe?

  You are.

• 1:23:54Speaker 02

  I'm a Q tip. Try to light me on set. It's almost impossible. So I'm running up this hill. I'm saying hi to everyone, hi to everyone. And they're waving hi to me back. And I get up, finally get to this church and it's this tiny little church. But the, and I have the picture, it's on my desk. Unbelievable. And then I had this outer body experience where I just imagined me going back down the hill and what it's going to happen. Are they still there? Is it going to be hostile? Is it not? And I'm like, of course it won't be. God gave me this gift to come up here that certainly nothing's going to happen. And I started jogging down the hill and they're all still standing there, wondering if what they saw was real or not. And I went down the hill and I said hi to everyone and I stopped and I shook some hands and we just kept going and walking down and they didn't know I did who I was.

• 1:24:36Speaker 02

  And I got back down to my mom and she's like, that's the craziest thing I've ever seen. And this other time was when I was in an airport and I always like to stop in the chapel in an airport. It was in Manhattan and this was probably 2004 or 5. This chapel I used to go to at LaGuardia, I go in there and there's no crucifix there on the wall anymore, but there's a picture on the wall. And I looked down and there's probably 15 guys on the ground, all Muslim, bowing down towards Mecca.

• 1:25:10Speaker 02

  Like hmm, well, and I'm a big proponent in that God created all of us. We are all brothers and sisters. We're all related to God. If we all rooted for each other, we would stop all this stupid fighting with each other. And whose religion is better than whose? Whose color is better than whose? Whose this or that is better than anybody else's? We're all in it together. We are related. Every single person on this planet is related. So why are we fighting so much? And that's always my train of thought. I went in there and I supplicated and I went all down on the ground. And I stayed down for about five minutes and I just prayed to God. And then all of a sudden, that out of, out of body experience came up. And out of my body, I could see myself above with all these other guys.

• 1:25:53Speaker 02

  And I couldn't tell if they were mad at me or if they're happy with me. And I opened my eyes and I looked up and they're all staring at me. And one of the guys said, what are you doing here? And I said, well, I'm praying to our God. And what did you say? He said, I'm praying, praying to our God. This fellowship, Mike, of this Catholic guy and these Muslim brothers all together in one room, praying to the same God is one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had in my life.

• 1:26:25Mike Rowe?

  In a chapel.

• 1:26:26Speaker 02

  In a chapel at LaGuardia.

• 1:26:28Mike Rowe?

  I thought it was at least JFK, but you were at LaGuardia?

• 1:26:30Speaker 02

  LaGuardia. And it was, you know, it's just kinda, but all, every time I have those kind of outer body experiences, it all has to do with having faith. And the more faith I have in myself, because he gives me all these gifts, the greater my life is. And every time I stop and not have that faith and get tripped up by anything in life, whether it was drinking way back when, whether it was getting mad at someone at a traffic light or whether, whatever the case is, when I get mad at things, then I'm so distant. And I feel like I'm on like an island all by myself and I don't feel his grace. And then I have to stop and just kind of pivot and come back to, okay, where am I? What's life about? Why am I here?

• 1:27:12Mike Rowe?

  It's hard to be angry and charitable at the same time.

• 1:27:14Speaker 02

  It's impossible. You can't, you know, it's, you know, you're looking, you know, not too long ago, I watched Gandhi again. And I was just floored by.

• 1:27:22Mike Rowe?

  Kingsley.

• 1:27:23Speaker 02

  How they gave this nobody, this plum role is unbelievable. But when he's dying on his bed at the end and he won't give over, he won't eat until everything is. That's love. That's love that we should all aspire to. And we forget that sometimes when we're fighting about this, or fighting about that, or this. Which is, goes back to the rodeo. One of the things I love so much about rodeo is that it's filled with families. It's not like you're at an NFL game or another game where half of the people want the other team to get crushed. When you go to a rodeo, it's moms and wives and grandpas and grandkids and everyone's just sitting there rooting for each rider to get to eight seconds.

• 1:28:05Speaker 02

  So there's this positive influence that happens inside the arena for every bull ride that I've never seen before. And there's this sense of decency in rodeo that it has made it my favorite sport that I could ever possibly go to and that I got to land in this with my wife, Ravey. What a gift that is that I can never possibly replace.

• 1:28:27Mike Rowe?

  I love the idea that because I know you're a baseball fan and you talked about it. Like you can go see Carl Yastrzemski with your dad and watch a three hour game. You can go to the rodeo with the same group of people and watch an eight second event and have the same kind of galvanizing communal experience.

• 1:28:50Speaker 02

  Like that.

• 1:28:51Mike Rowe?

  Right. So, yeah.

• 1:28:54Speaker 02

  There's no yahoos drunk and pushing all over. It's not that. It's not that. It starts off with a prayer. It ends with just this great feeling when you leave the arena. It's like, wow. That was awesome. Son, what'd you think? I loved it, Dad. Thanks for taking me. You know, that kind of feeling with the rodeo that that the PBR, Sean Gleason at the PBR is just you know, he started, I think it was 98 when he first joined in. He built the PBR to be where it is today.

• 1:29:19Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:20Speaker 02

  You know, I call him P T Barnum. What he has done is the shows are incredible, the pyrotechnics, the riding, the another ride comes in two minutes, another ride comes in two minutes, another ride. There's two hours of pure fun, everyone. Drive home safe, see you at the next one.

• 1:29:34Mike Rowe?

  Yep.

• 1:29:34Speaker 02

  Man, it's awesome.

• 1:29:35Mike Rowe?

  It's monster truck with flesh and blood.

• 1:29:37Speaker 02

  That's right. That's a great way of putting it.

• 1:29:40Mike Rowe?

  I mean, it's primal because it's it's the animal kingdom.

• 1:29:45Speaker 02

  Which we all love.

• 1:29:45Mike Rowe?

  Which we love.

• 1:29:46Speaker 02

  What do you love? Watching NFL, you love seeing guys get mashed because that's hockey, same thing. I love using I used to love getting hit as much giving hits. You know, it was that thing that rodeo does, PBR does so perfectly.

• 1:30:00Mike Rowe?

  Who's your team?

• 1:30:01Speaker 02

  Bruins.

• 1:30:02Mike Rowe?

  How'd they do this year?

• 1:30:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, touchy. Oh, geez. That's touchy, man. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

• 1:30:12Mike Rowe?

  Yeah, so I don't begrudge an ounce of your great, good fortune. And I say that not because I walk around as a ball of envy. I don't, but I'm really, truly, sincerely happy for you. I like what you're doing with Angel a lot. I love everything you've said about the rodeo. Aside from nearly getting impaled on my adventure there. They let me sing the National Anthem.

• 1:30:37Speaker 02

  Did they really?

• 1:30:38Mike Rowe?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:39Speaker 02

  That's cool.

• 1:30:40Mike Rowe?

  And I don't get nervous a bunch either, but I'll tell you, I don't want to forget the words to the National Anthem at a rodeo.

• 1:30:47Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:30:48Mike Rowe?

  Because I'm pretty sure even the bulls would come together to express their displeasure.

• 1:30:52Speaker 02

  I wouldn't want to see a teleprompter in front of me just so I don't make a mistake. Can we go back a little bit? Oh, no.

• 1:30:58Mike Rowe?

  That, yeah.

• 1:30:59Speaker 02

  That's a different pressure.

• 1:31:00Mike Rowe?

  So Clint Eastwood, thousand people, ship, steaming?

• 1:31:03Speaker 02

  No problem.

• 1:31:04Mike Rowe?

  Still on?

• 1:31:04Speaker 02

  No problem.

• 1:31:05Mike Rowe?

  Yes.

• 1:31:05Speaker 02

  National Anthem, I'd freeze.

• 1:31:07Mike Rowe?

  Mm-mm.

• 1:31:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:31:08Mike Rowe?

  You're a good man. Say hey to Bob for me and your wife. What do you call her again? What is her name?

• 1:31:14Speaker 02

  Heaven.

• 1:31:17Mike Rowe?

  This is going to be your lucky night. Thank you again for coming by.

• 1:31:20Speaker 02

  Thanks, Mike. I really appreciate it.

• 1:31:21Mike Rowe?

  Adios. It's the last rodeo. It's awesome. He's great. Everybody's great at it. Go see it. Take the whole family. This episode is over now. I hope it was worthwhile. Sorry it went on so long, but if it made you smile, then share your satisfaction in the way that people do. Take some time to go online and leave.

• 1:31:59Speaker 03

  Give us a review. I hate to ask, I hate to beg, I hate to be a nudge. But in this world, the advertisers really like to judge. You don't need to write a bunch, just a line or two. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. Not more. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. And not three. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. Definitely not two. All you've got to do is leave a quick five-star review. We need five. All you've got to do is leave a quick. Even if you hate it. Five-star review.

• 1:32:37Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:32:42Speaker 04

  Cash Flow Crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:33:12Speaker 05

  Breathe in and reset with Lincoln Rejuvenate, an available multi-sensory feature in the 2027 Lincoln Navigator SUV. Experience the luxurious massage, visuals, and sense to help you relax in the driver's seat. It's your time for a reset. Visit lincoln.com to learn more. Lincoln Rejuvenate does not operate unless the vehicle is in park, when the vehicle is off, or if any doors open. Do not use the feature in a closed garage or in other enclosed areas. See owner's manual for important operating instructions. Lincoln and Navigator are trademarks of Ford or its affiliates. All rights reserved.