#129 Jim Piddock is Caught With His Pants Down

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:32

All right, Jean, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get this show go on each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 129 of classic conversations. As always, I'm your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Great to have you back for another amazing episode of Classic gnus you're looking for classic mess, you've come to the right place. An amazing guest today. I'm so honored to have Jim Piddock with me today. Oh, you love Jim Piddock and Best in Show a mighty wind, lethal weapon to Independence Day, and a million other movies and TV shows. We talk about a ton of it. We also talk a lot about his new book, his memoir, caught with my pants down. And other tales from a life in Hollywood. An amazing book. Can't wait for you to hear all about it. Can't wait to share my conversation with you. And that's coming up in just a few minutes. And I'd say another classic episode 128 was to show stack you're gonna love still. He's a TV historian star of the documentary stew show and also has a internet show called su show where he does tons of great awesome interviews with classic TV personalities. You're gonna love it. So check that episode out, then check out that documentary you may have heard or may not have heard depending on how many ads have already run but athletic greens. I got a special going on for my listeners athletic greens.com/dwoskin put a link in the show notes you get a special deal if you like drinking great nutritional stuff every morning. I gotta do so that's for you little perk for my listeners. I know there's about a change going on at the podcast. But we kept all the social handles the same didn't want to change everything. Didn't want to shake everyone's world to the core. Instagram, Twitter is still at Jeff Dwoskin show still on my show. I'm Jeff Dwoskin still make sense. Let's go with it. Website is still Jeff is funny.com. But it's also classic dash conversations.com. So you can get there either way. Super cool right? Now, I do want to take a quick second. Thank everyone for your support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors. You're supporting us here at Classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. Today's interview sponsor is none other than my guest Jim Piddock and his memoir caught with my pants down and other tales from a life in Hollywood available on amazon.com. And likely wherever books are sold, besides being a super hilarious read, and I enjoyed every second I read it, and we discuss some of the stories here. And there's plenty more for you to dive into after the show after you buy the book. But here's a real great reason to buy the book. All of Jim's royalties from the book are donated to BAFTA as access for all program and the us The Pals for Life Foundation UK and a charity to aid Ukrainian refugees. Jim makes no money on this book. It all goes to charity. You get to laugh and you get to support a lot of great causes. So check out his book caught with my pants down. There's a link in the show notes or go to Jim piddock.com. All right, well, with that being said, before you run off I want to get right into my interview with Jim Piddock. You're gonna love it. It's super fun. Jim shares so many great stories from the set of friends lethal weapon to the whole origin of how we created the Tooth Fairy movie, and being a part of the whole Christopher Guest troupe which includes Best in Show mighty wind and writing one of my favorite TV shows family tree. All right, well, without further ado, here is my conversation with Jim Piddock. Enjoy. Alright everyone, I'm excited to introduce you to my next guest, actor, writer producer. You loved him and Best in Show The Case of the Missing carrots, a mighty wind. Austin Powers Goldmember, The Drew Carey Show Mad About You and so much more. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show. Jim Piddock Hey,

Jim Piddock 5:00

I've never had the case of the missing characters an introduction. That was the first thing I ever did out of drama school and Children's Theatre in England. I'm not sure I can even remember the title of it. I just sort of plucked it out of my memory bank when I was writing, but that is definitely the first time it was ever referred to the case of the missing calves. My first professional rugby role I played a garden. So well, that's, that's unique. Well done.

Jeff Dwoskin 5:28

Well, you set the bar for garden gnomes for all those that came.

Jim Piddock 5:32

Exactly. I wanted Hamlet my god garden

Jeff Dwoskin 5:37

is so I appreciate you hanging out with me on my podcast. So funny story, right? So I when I booked the time with you, with your publicists, and I go upstairs, and my wife's getting ready for bed. And I say, oh my god, he gets you I just bought and she's like, who am I Jim Piddock and she says who? And I don't mean that in a bad way. She really did. She just didn't hear me okay, so I don't mean it like, you know, in that sense, but so the side note is to go to bed every night. We watch Friends My wife is obsessed with friends. So that almost like I'm you couldn't have planned it any better. It's the it's that episode. Monica Monica and Chandler's wedding reception. You come on screen with Morgan Fairchild. And I'm like him.

Jim Piddock 6:28

Oh, yeah, I say in the introduction of the book, if you if you ask 10 people on the street who Jim put it was maybe one would say they knew if you showed them a picture five or six would say oh yeah, I know that guy from something. I don't know what it is. And then he told them a list of all the things I've been in over the years all written. I would say nine out of 10 would probably would probably get no so I mean, that sort of gray area. LSDM book but oh yes, I know that first is it's got a funny voice.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:02

Yes. Where do you think people know you best from Best in Show?

Jim Piddock 7:07

Probably best in show but actually globally, friends? Yeah, friends because that is ridiculous. I did one episode. And it was sort of seen around the world, you know, for multi generations now. It's like probably three generations of people have watched that show. But yeah, I mean lethal weapon to which was my first ever film that definitely people remember that. Because of that my scene with Danny Glover of Joe Pesci. I had a line that became almost a catchphrase for the film. And the film went on to become the best grossing film of that year. So my line because you're black, explaining why Danny Glover calm emigrate, became quite one of the people still shouted at me today. Great zine. My children might remind my daughter to know it's usually actually people, African Americans, which I've met a rapper recently. And young rapper, I thought, Okay, this is going to be interesting. I wonder we'll have in common and he looks at me blankly at least price broke into this huge smile, that he would put your black. We had a point of reference. And off we went. I couldn't say I knew his music. But

Jeff Dwoskin 8:10

how does that feel to like, have something that just floats around and pop culture like that when people see that? There's that moment because there's, there's only so many of those moments, you know?

Jim Piddock 8:22

Do you want that as your legacy? That's the question. I do I want that on my tombstone. Some of

Jeff Dwoskin 8:27

us get nothing.

Jim Piddock 8:29

It's nice. I mean, Independence Day to I mean, about bloody time when the head of the rest of the world trying to fight of the aliens and that line seem to stick with people to about bloody time.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:41

Thank you for your service.

Jim Piddock 8:42

I hear that. Yeah, exactly. So now I've listened as someone who's a performer you're happy to anyone remembers you was a human being you're happy anyone remembers the end of it all. But our legacy is really probably our children. The things we do the good we do in the world not not things like that.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:01

Right? Right. I'm friends. The one the one kind of theme though, in the examples we just pointed out and in Best in Show it's it's just you weren't just in it. You were part of this, the kind of scene or some of those moments that just made it so memorable. Because in that Friends episode, Joey's sort of auditioning to you right from so you're, you're kind of part of it even when you're not in it is. And then I met him and I was mad or Ryan. And then finally you're like, oh my god, that was for me. It's like, it's so fun. Was it cool being on that set? I've heard sometimes from the guests. They said they're treated while they're not right now. It's yeah, it was great.

Jim Piddock 9:38

I mean, I knew Lisa. I knew Lisa from Mad About You. So so we knew Jen. Now she theater plays we were two plays in St. Catherine different sort of auditoriums. So I knew her already. I didn't know anybody else. And I write about it in the book. You know, I talked about about that, that that episode because it was such a great show. It was a lovely week. I mean, I hung out. I was with Elliot Gould, Morgan Fairchild and Christine Baranski. So we were the four old lags on the set. And you know, just a few years before Elliott Gould has been one of the biggest comedy stars in Hollywood. So it was kind of bizarre. And none of us have more than, you know, couple of scenes, a few lines here. So we just hung out. I mean, it was like being at a wedding without booze, we just sat a lot of the time at that kind of table we were at on the set, while everything was going on shooting, or rehearsing, we just be sitting there, you know, shooting the breeze. And it was great to spend that week with those people.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:35

And the Bucky mentioned that women were guarded. What did you mean by guarded?

Jim Piddock 10:38

Yeah, I thought they were all about I mean, isn't that was eight years of the show. They were all learning like something like 100,000 An episode. And that automatically puts you in a rarefied world, because I certainly wasn't doing that that way. So it's sort of I felt like the fame thing, and the notoriety had made them a bit more guarded around people, and looser, even who I knew that it all felt a bit like, whereas the guys was very loose, and kind of, you know, okay, we're just, we're all in the same troupe. We're actors in the trenches together. So I found them a lot easier in that week. I don't know why that it's, you know, I don't know, I can't really explain it. And I don't attempt to in the book, I'm just saying what happened, I mean, to do a lot in that the book, I just give you my experience. And sometimes people read into that, oh, they were all for that was weird. And sometimes I conclude, I literally can't tell you what to make of it. But this is what happened. And as you know, I eviscerate about three people in the book, maybe four, one of whom is dead, so they can't sue me. But the other two main ones I have this way, are very much alive and well and very well known. But they deserve it. And I do name names. And that's what a lot of people seem to be responding to the book that it is, it's sort of not a celebrity memoir. It's not because I'm not a celebrity. I'm I'm sort of semi well known actor within the business, who's done it for four and a half decades. And I've sort of navigated my way through the turbulent waters of Hollywood and Broadway. And now I'm revealing to everybody what I've experienced, and you make it what you will and I draw certain philosophical conclusions, but I didn't feel it would be fair, or even interesting to write a book where I was hiding names. And I think I do it on a couple of occasions because one was a someone who was under the influence of drugs and then sought help for that. So their bad behavior, I call outs but I didn't want to name a person in case they're either dead or, or they're completely clean now and there's in their distant past, so that felt didn't feel like legitimate target. But but the people that are legitimate I go after and I'm also I think, very kind about most people. In fact, there's one chapter that is starts with peer of 10, A listers, major names I've worked with nine I love that one was a four asterisk word, pick whatever word you'd like to fill that asterisk. And then I proceed to explain why I liked those nine people, and why the one was awful. And in doing so, some of those people who are in that original 10 list are great candidates to be the four asterisks, they really were. They have bad reputations, and I kind of rehabilitate that the petitions were saying in my experience, they were great. So it's not I don't think it's a predictive or a bit of indictable. It's a book. It's just an honest book, as I said, I mean,

Jeff Dwoskin 13:25

yes, you do. And that's, that's named the book real quick, caught with my pants down and other tales from a life in Hollywood, which you can get right now on Amazon, or wherever books are sold by Jim. It's a great read. I enjoyed it a lot. I did. And yeah, it was a lot of great stories. And the one, the one that gave me the most anxiety, which was not even really celebrity related was the one which probably I'm guessing inspired the name of the book. Oh, yeah. Where you're on the train and go into the bathroom and lock the door.

Jim Piddock 13:58

That was the chapter that inspired the name. But then I realized there's two other stories that will take place in England, there was one in a doctor's office in LA and one in the south of France, where I get caught with my pants down literally. And someone asked me recently, they said, Didn't you learn from the first time? And I said evidently not, because it that it has happened three times. But it also is a metaphor for person has spent their life exposing themselves psychologically and emotionally as an actor, and we all do it to a degree in our lives. And it's about, it's about taking risks in your life, and what can happen and the good and the bad and the ugly of that. But hopefully, I mean, all three incidences I relate as comic stories, and I'm the butter but literally the parts of the so yeah, I mean, but yes, that story in particular, I just did a launch of a Brooklyn bookshop in a bookstore and I was interviewed by the wonderful actor Diedrich Bader. He said that that story that that particular chapter He said he will literally be on his deathbed and he will die laughing because you remember that? He said he walks around his garden sometimes just looking at flowers and stuff. And suddenly he'll remember that story and it makes him laugh. So I think people will enjoy it.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:13

Oh, it's a great story. I the part that kind of kind of put shivers spine was the part where you walk in and there's a little water on the floor. That always freaks me I

Jim Piddock 15:26

don't know what it is that I wrote my trousers. Anyway,

Jeff Dwoskin 15:30

you got it. You got to do it. You got to do and there's water. You just don't have time to process everything. Man, you one of your early jobs was working in a sex shop. I thought that was hilarious. I

Jim Piddock 15:42

loved your tasteful name. Yeah, I used to demonstrate the vibrators to Steve onetrust 123 first or around the inflatable dolls three, how to hold on one. And then I don't know how much of a family show this is. But at the end of the day, I adore the film booths at the back of the shop, which were coin operated. And my job this was back in the late 70s. My job was to was to clean the floor of those booths, which is not another pretty job. And then the owners of the store who were quite classy people they weren't sees it at all. They found out that I had a degree in English literature and they said no, you can't possibly work in this store. And they sent me to their bookstore, which was in Victoria Station. And it was this tiny little store and I used to this was how I paid my way through drama school. But I used to work on Sundays, and the store was completely schizophrenic. The front half was things like Joseph Conrad's Nostromo return the native by Thomas Hardy Nicholas Nickleby Dickens it was all these classics and the back half of the store was bent over bunting and no if surrenders, just busts. So it was this completely schizophrenic store that that I used to operate

Jeff Dwoskin 16:51

as to funny. Everyone's got to start somewhere, though, right? Yeah.

Jim Piddock 16:54

And it also really helped my career hadn't really started. And I was still a student. So I was studying at drama school. So it was just a, you know, vacation job. And I do actually, if it's a good story, I'll tell you, some of the vacation jobs I have were insane. And I was insanely bad at them, most of them. I mean, I wanted to make the book relatable to everybody. I didn't want it to just be all about show business and service. There's some sports stuff. There's some a lot of life stuff. And I think two of the biggest stories in the book that most dramatic and emotional ones have nothing to do with life and death.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:27

Yeah, you've covered a lot of great topics and dived into a lot of things. That's what made it so interesting. I love learning more about people and the things that they've done. Versus everyone's always met someone you know, but I mean, a lot of those celebrity interactions that you've had are, are quite, quite interesting. What was it like just arriving in America? You said you had $100? In Your Pocket? How did you manage to survive in those early months? You know, it's such limited funds and trying to make your way and starting your career. And

Jim Piddock 18:01

yeah, I've been offered this job by the drama school that I'd gone to in London, they opened a branch in Berkeley, California. And they asked me to direct a couple of shows there. I was 24 years old at the time. And so I've done I directed a couple of things in England to this astonishing I think back with at that young age. I don't know why anyone let me do it. But they did. And I went off to Berkeley for three months. And I took with me this one man show that I'd seen. And I'd asked the writer, if I could do it in the United States, if anyone would, would let me and he said, Sure, you know, good luck with that. It was a play about a soccer goalkeeper playing a match in Sunday morning and talking to the audience as he's playing. And so it's just insane, leaping, jumping in front of a goal. And he gets called into action and stops and talks to the audience. And I thought it was a great piece and I knocked on every theater door in San Francisco during those three months I was there. And everybody rejected me quite rightly, because there was an unknown actor with a play about a subject no one gave a crap about at that time in America. And then finally, just as I was about to go back to England, I got a call from the artistic director of the small theatre imagine it Theatre in San Francisco. And he said I my first show the seasons for an hour, can you can you get yours together? So I did with the help of a British director. I've met Paul Richards side in San Francisco and and we put the show on and had four people in the audience on the second night. Then the reviews came out and thank for me they were terrific. So so it kind of jettisoned my career because it then sold out and then it was extended, extended and people worked at a spread and got booked into various theaters around the country and off Broadway, and then took me to New York and then within a few months I was cast by George C. Scott in production at present laughter by knockout what she was doing on Broadway and directing. And so I was suddenly You know, a few months later in this hit Broadway show with George C. Scott and Nathan Lane and Kate Burton and Dana ID and Christine Lahti, and all of us were making our Broadway debuts except George was in the early 80s. And suddenly my career had sort of taken a big boost. So it's gone in fits and spurts. You know, I mean, my generally, it's been very kind of a curve of steady curve, my career, sort of the tortoise and the hare. But that was one of the times when it went into overdrive.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:29

What was it like working with Joshy? Skye, you mentioned he was very heavy drinker.

Jim Piddock 20:34

Yeah, it was nuts. I mean, George was gruff is the word that always comes to mind when you think of George. He was in his 50s. And he didn't really like to rehearse. He just wanted to get the show up and then play it. So we would rehearse not very many hours a day. And he didn't want to do the usual one of the usual but the thing that some method actors like to do sort of analyzing NorCal doesn't really bear that. And Christine Lahti was used to working like that. So she would say, you know, George, what's what's, what's sort of my intention here? Or what's the motivation in the scene, and he would just look at and go imagination as get on the stage, say, allies and get the hell off. And then that was it. And then we can all go home. That was sort of his approach to directing. And I think he went home because he was interested in watching his beloved Detroit Tigers and drinking the mist quite a few shows, but he could handle it to a degree. Suddenly, because I remember the last night of the show, we had a matinee actually close the show on a Sunday matinee. But the night before he took everyone out to a steakhouse in New York, we had dinner It was late, because it was after the show. And and I've never seen a human being consumed so many drinks in one evening. And we all went home, probably around two or three o'clock, which was standard in New York in those days. And then George was still there. And then the next morning, I came into the theater, and he was sitting in his dressing room with the door just ajar. And I hear this voice saying, Jimmy, Jimmy, so I go in the dressing room, and he's sitting in his underpants, his boxes. And the thing with Georgia is that the less clothes he had on the more drunk he was, that was kind of a golden rule that I figured out quite early. And he could barely speak. He was incoherence. And he was, I didn't know what he was talking about. But it was very obvious that he'd stayed up all night drinking. And now we were through, I think it was 10 to three on Sunday afternoon with a matinee to do and I said to the stage manager, I left the dressing room and said, I don't think this is going to happen. I don't think you know, and he said, well, the understudy is really going home. So I said, Well, we may be canceling the last show. But we didn't. So we went on, and George didn't miss a single beat didn't slurp a single word. He didn't miss anything at all. It was exactly the performance he'd given for several months before. It was an assumption to me. And also really terrifying.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:57

Terrifying, is that with a car functioning alcoholic,

Jim Piddock 23:00

I guess it's a new definition of a functioning alcoholic. I mean, that's, that's, it's amazing. I remember, but there was an actress called Betty Anritsu, who is an older actress in the show. And she said to me, Oh, yes, yes. I did. Shakespeare with him once and went out for drinks within between the matinee and evening performance and he drank 70 martinis. Now 70 martinis would kill your eye. Right, right. I don't know. I don't know you well, so it might not. That might be what we have for breakfast, but for most people, it would sort of it would probably be Yeah, curtains. But George had an incredible constitution over posted give up not that many years later. So that was my experience that George there's a couple of other stories in there about him. But yes, there are but that was the he was the first major side or whatever. So it was interesting experience.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:50

That's a heck of a first experience. I when I read that he was a big fan of the Detroit Tigers. I didn't know he was from Michigan. He wasn't born in Michigan, but I actually I ended up to kind of digging in. I guess when his mom died, he came to work for it came to live with his father who worked at Buick and he went to high school at Radford High School in Detroit. So that must be where his love for the Detroit Tigers came from.

Jim Piddock 24:11

Oh, yeah, he was

Jeff Dwoskin 24:13

very, very interesting. So one thing I did you see the movie Val. Val killed. Malcolm the one he kind of with his homework. Yeah,

Jim Piddock 24:21

absolutely. Yeah. No, I EVO there was a story about him in the book, right. In New York, yeah. When you're

Jeff Dwoskin 24:29

one of the movies you mentioned almost part of this. You were almost part of the slab with Val Kilmer, Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon. And when I read the slab boys, yeah. When I read that, I thought in the movie Val. That was one of the things that he had film from because I remember him telling a story. He was cast as a lead, but then they got Shawn Pat and they got Kevin Bacon. So I was wondering if it was Yeah,

Jim Piddock 24:52

he did. Yes. It's a sacred like he talks about that. I think the footage was off the stage but I don't think it was ever done as a movie but maybe it was

Jeff Dwoskin 24:59

I made Maybe I met I met in his movie Bowser. It was likely a stage but yeah, yeah,

Jim Piddock 25:04

no, he does talk about it. And that's, that's where I first Actually no, I didn't know about before that because I was dating someone that knew him from Julia. So I've met him before. And he was, I think, at that time dating share, which was kind of bizarre, but yeah, no, I do that. And that's an amazing movie, by the way, that documentary is pretty astonishing.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:27

I love that. I love that. Yeah, it was it was really, really well done.

Jim Piddock 25:31

Again, it's a unique look at Hollywood. It's a very unique look at Hollywood from a very specific perspective, and a very humble perspective.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:39

And then Dustin Hoffman said you had a Jewish saw about

Jim Piddock 25:45

that, I still don't know what that means. But he says, the first thing he said to me, after we spent an evening together, I guess the first time I met him, and he said, all your soul, and I was like, You know what that means? That Thank you. I'm quite happy that I was brought up a Catholic, but I'll go, I'll take it. We all have the same guilt issues. So

Jeff Dwoskin 26:09

being Jewish myself, that's why it just caught my eye when I read it. But I believe it's a it's a high compliment.

Jim Piddock 26:14

I took it as that. Yeah, I took it with that. So I'm very happy to be an honoree to

Jeff Dwoskin 26:20

Glad to have you. Do you want to talk about the audition for Seinfeld?

Jim Piddock 26:23

That's an interesting story. Let's keep it as this is the fine line you do doing these shows and interviews is between between between teaser and spoiler. Let's just say I had an audition experience with Seinfeld. And it's in he is one of the people I've just read in the book. It's not Seinfeld, by the way, he was loving himself, Jerry. It was the well known creator of the show, Larry David, but I'll leave it at that, that there is a story in there about Larry David, that is not in the slightest bit flattering. And as I say he's deserves it. It was appalling behavior. He's lucky he didn't get the Will Smith treatment for that. Yes, the Will Smith treatment. Yes. That's for my chapter on Will Smith. I think I have to get that excited out of the book. That's called a fake fake teaser.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:20

In the book you talk about Bill Hader had written an article about 10 underrated comic actors that you should know. And you were number five. Yeah, that's got to be a big thrill.

Jim Piddock 27:32

Well, it was a bizarre situation. I ran into him and and he said, Oh, I've never met him. And I said, Oh, I'm just a huge fan. I just read I read I wrote about you. Oh, okay. Yeah, thank you. You see, I have an article about turmeric. And I thought he was just joking. I don't what I thought. So I went home and looked it up. Google's that's one does. Jupiter can build data. And sure enough, there was this article he written. It was the 10 most underrated clients of all time. And I Yeah, and some are fine. I was stunned. I mean, he called me a genius, which is completely inappropriate, because I use the word genius for people like Fred Willis, who's my partner and Best in Show. I was always a genius, his sidekick. But but it was it was very nice. I mean, it was really an actor, an actor's actor complement, because he understood exactly the mechanics of what was going on and Best in Show. And I was thrilled that he saw that there was quite a shock. And I've never met him since I've seen

Jeff Dwoskin 28:38

it is always interesting. When you find out how other people feel about you. It's, it's, it's fairly, especially when you don't expect it.

Jim Piddock 28:46

Well, that was the most extraordinary thing. When the book went out. The publisher sent it to some people I've worked with and various celebrities to sort of test the waters and see what they thought she I thought there'll be loads of people who knew me roasting me and the people didn't know me. So well. I would say, though, I'm not reading anything like that. They read it and they not only read it, but the number of the quotes that are at the front of the book and take up about nine or 10 pages. were genuinely I wouldn't say humbling, because it's always a weird word. When people say something's humbling. If anything, it makes your head bigger. It's it's far from humbling. It's like wow, there but it was genuinely quite touching that all these people felt so strongly to say nice things and gushing things about the book, which was lovely. I really appreciated it. I think I was roasted by one person really calmly, which I'm really delighted by that he managed to get we got one roasting quote in there. But I really did think it would just be a bunch of roasts. And so to get people to write genuine things, or they chose to was was a really, really split presence, right?

Jeff Dwoskin 29:52

Oh, yeah. You had huge names in there. Russell Brand, Jean smart Eddie Izzard. I mean, just Cheri Oteri Kevin Elan I'm just cherry picking Ed Begley Jr. and McShane, I mean, just like the list goes on and on, like you said, Oh, no.

Jim Piddock 30:08

If you sat down and said, You know, I want to have these dream reviews for my podcasts, those are the sort of things you'd write you know, under a pseudonym. I mean, they were just literally I couldn't have written myself reviews myself.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:21

I was I was speaking of Russell Brand you were in get Him to the Greek. I love that movie. Yeah,

Jim Piddock 30:25

very, very briefly. Yeah. But yeah. And then I was I did a stage show with Russell Brand and a bunch of amazing people, colleagues and carry archival ad is a Jane leaves. Tracy Ullman, Sophie Winkleman, Emily Matson Macmillan. And it was it was incredible shots that show that's what I kind of got to know Russell a bit better. I don't know particularly well, still I but he's always been unbelievably generous of spirit when I'm with him. And an interesting guy and I had to write a piece where I was asked to write a piece of paper for a magazine and I put that in the book because I started off by saying, you know, he's a ego, maniacal sex addicts, narcissists, bla, bla, bla, all the things that he says about himself, but I love it. And I'm his wife, is an extraordinary paradox, because he is all those things by his own admission, but he's incredibly honest. And he's very, very, very spiritual guy, actually. So a lot on one conversation. He's He's incredibly engaged and engaging and a very generous of spirit person, which if people tend to react one way or another to the former camp.

Jeff Dwoskin 31:39

Yeah, I don't agree with everything he says. But I find it fascinating. Listen to him. Yeah, it's, he's, it's definitely an interesting guy. So in the book as I was ready to thank goodness for the internet, right. So I was reading in the book, you talked about the five year engagement where you were Emily blondes father. And I looked up the video I found of the scene that you talked about with the doughnuts.

Jim Piddock 32:05

Yeah. Which never made it in the movies, the outtakes that you saw, I guess. I mean, it's

Jeff Dwoskin 32:11

right. Right. Right. Right. But it was it was funny. It was just as you described it, it was quite hilarious. Yeah. And you film that and Ann Arbor, Michigan jalopy in there.

Jim Piddock 32:20

Yes. It is very, very lovely, though. We filmed her for a while. And then we went to the Napa Valley in San Francisco talk about, you know, great locations. It was great. Yeah, I very much enjoy it.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:33

And then you wrote the tooth fairy, or you wrote the story or the story idea. You had the idea for the tooth fairy. That was an idea that you brainstormed while talking with your daughter. I love your reflection on that. We are like, you know, we were just having this conversation. And now this, this piece of art exists. And this piece of entertainment exists.

Jim Piddock 32:54

Yes, I'm glad you corrected. About to do the same thing. I'm always hesitant to go what what what we do, but sometimes it is, but it's certainly entertainment. Yeah, that was bizarre. I mean, she was nine years old. I just got divorced, actually. And she was staying with me. And we were having this conversation. I said, I really want to write a movie about Christmas. I love Christmas anyway, and Santa Claus movie. And we talked about and I realized everything's been done. So I said, What about the Tooth Fairy and we talked a bit more over dinner. And she she really loved the idea. So the next morning, I scribbled down some notes. And I had a general meeting that week with a producer called Jason Blum, who is now probably the biggest producer of horror movies in the world. And Jason had just left Miramax and was doing all sorts of movies. And he said, This is a great idea. Why don't you go away and write a full treatment for the entire movie, you know, lay the whole thing out. And so I did. And in the process of writing that and the whole story for the movie, I realized something I had already written a family movie or two, and I want something I wanted to write something else at that point. I think it was a drama. It was much more of a grown up. Absolutely. And so I said to Jason, look, here it is. Let's find people who have written big studio movies, family movies before, my taste is a little bit more kind of indie anyway, slightly off center. It's not right in that mainstream. And this was Fox who made it but it was a very traditional does old fashioned Disney type idea and concept. And so we found Lolcats and BABALOLA Mandel who had written all those great movies in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s That made so much money for studios. And they it was kind of great for me to actually just be a producer on it and help them out from the writing angle because I was a writer. And then it went through the studio system and a couple more writers were given a standard and Ventimiglia who would come off the Simpsons and they did two drafts and then Randy Mann singer who wrote Mrs. Doubtfire did the sort of polish and did a great job. Actually, in the interim, it went to several other writers that you know, the studio system was The script gets passed around, you know, several teams and I think they're all there's probably 12 or 14 people contributed writing to that movie. But I maintained like it was given the story credit, which was great, because I got the lion's share of the residuals. What was interesting about that was not having to do the heavy lifting. I did go to the studio meetings, and they give their notes and some are good, some are bad, and some were incomprehensible. And instead of, you know, my sphincter tightening, as I wondered how I could implement those notes, I would just turn to the guide go great guy. Yeah, absolutely a nod my head and in terms of the guys and go, so what do you think, and completely leave them in the lurch. But then I did sort of actually help them out later. But it was it was nice to have that kind of freedom. And by the time it came to the making of a film, you know, which shows you had great cast, Dwayne Johnson and Stephen Merchant, and Billy Crystal, Julie Andrews, and Seth MacFarlane, all these wonderful, funny people where I had sort of forgotten that I hadn't really written about myself. So I said, you know, to 20th Century Fox, so I'd love to be in this as well. But I'd be one of the fairies in the tooth fairy land. And they said, now we've got too many old British Airways already in the movie. I saw I said, that's three lawsuits right there. That is three lawsuits, right there discrimination lawsuits, which I didn't pursue. But actually, that turned out I was quite busy around the time when they did shoot it. I just went up to the separate couple of days and visited. And the first question I was asked by someone, as I walked onto the set, who was working in Louis was, what do you what do you do on the film? So I said, Well, I'm an executive producer. So what does that mean? I said, well, it varies on certain movies, it's you know, you've raised the money on this movie, it means I come to set for two days, when anyone asked me what I do, I say, I'm the executive producer, that is literally my job. And then I went onto the set itself, and Dwayne Johnson kind of stop the shooting. So I gathered everybody around the casting crew, and said, Look, I'd like to introduce you to the person who's responsible for you all being here today and having jobs. And this movie happening, and it was extraordinary. A writer and a movie and TV, it's different, you're the king. But in the movie worlds, you're lucky if you're allowed on the set. And if you are, it's please go over there and just say, by the free food and shut up. So it was amazing to have him acknowledge that and do that it was so far and above the call of duty. I heard I never met him. But I heard he was a wonderful guy and a real stand up person. But that was that was amazing to me. And so generous

Jeff Dwoskin 37:38

grant guy, my goodness.

Jim Piddock 37:40

It's a wonderful, wonderful accent really kind of forceful thing to do, when you're carrying a movie, you've got so much to think about. And then the movie kind of did very, very well at the box offices. Thankfully, it did extraordinarily well. And it's lovely to know that it's a really strange experience to think, Gosh, this movie that made 130 140 million at the box office, and God knows how many million in ancillary markets stuff. But that just came about from an idea of dinner with my daughter, some lovely kind of reflection.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:14

It's a great story I loved I loved it, when I read it, it was just when you kind of put that little bow at the end of that story and mentioned that that was it was really cool.

Jim Piddock 38:23

It's also you know, I try and draw, as you know, from I've set out to write the book as an entertainment for everybody, whether they like show business or in show business or hated show, because I wanted to make it an entertaining book and the stories, if it wasn't a good story or anecdote, it didn't make it into the chapters. It just didn't, it wasn't going to be that he and then I did this film, and I did that TV show under the sun that was boring to me. And I do what I didn't foresee was drawing sort of philosophical conclusions from all these stories. And that was a lovely sort of twist. That's that's not to say every story has a moral, but it has my observation at the end of it or some sort of reflection that is more profound or deeper than the Sunday story or whatever order whatever story that was kind of that was one of them. But that sort of was like a little, a little pebble can grow into that's the wrong analogy, I'm gonna get lost. But a pebble thrown into a pond can cause a lot of ripples, but a tiny seed there we go can grow into a massive, you know, 200 year old oak. There we go. I've got the right analogy and mix my metaphors. So that was that was great. And all the way through I think I find the things that I didn't know I was going to find when I set out to write it on I didn't know it was going to be partially a search for family and that my my quest throughout life has been to find my my what my family is and what the meaning of family is. And then by the conclusion in the emulator, I revealed I have actually four families and that's kind of interesting to me. I have a lot of people and various other things that that are slightly more have slightly more fun, softer and deeper, you know the value of the fact that I conclude in various reasons that every second of our lives, we are making choices and those choices that we make, define who we are, and define our fates and our destiny. That is your character and destiny all in one, every single choice, put together, mix it up. And we think we have major choices now to get a life, you know, the big, big curve in the road and the fork in the road road, and that there are major ones but I firmly believe that every, every day we have every second birthday, we're making choices to you. And I'm making choices during this interview, about what we talked about what questions you ask how I answer it, what we reveal, and that will either affect people in one way or another. So everything has a consequence. All shapes that world and your your life. That is not the most original thought in the Western Hemisphere. I can guarantee you that will the eastern hemisphere. But I think I find that in a way that that is very easy to understand, and hopefully a fresh angle on that idea.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:06

Absolutely. I mean, you now there were the book, it was, I think and like you said anyone would enjoy it for the stories are just so delightful. I do. So I have a question. The law, you talked about your different families. So one of those families is Christopher Guest troupe and all those right, I mean, at least

Jim Piddock 41:25

that's a family within showbiz family.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:30

So from the time Eugene Levy called you to do what became that classic and Best in Show, and I'd like to talk about family tree when I was starting just to kind of dig in and do some some research or usually I'll watch an episode or so just to kind of get a feel for something. Because for some reason, I'm like obsessed with all the Christopher Guest stuff. And I had missed that for some reason. But I ended up getting obsessed with the show and ended up watching the whole thing. It's great. It was so good.

Jim Piddock 41:59

Oh, through. Chris guest, Chris gasfields. Some of his best ever work is in that series.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:06

I loved it. I was like thinking to myself the whole time I was watching family tree I was like this kind of like all those types of movie all the movies, you know, mighty wind and all those like, they probably could have been like, six, eight episode series and kind of kind of done like like that as well. And kind of just given that framework, i But let's get to that in a second. So like, Best in Show, you guys shot that you and Fred Willard. I mean, I don't even know you must win an award for being able to keep straight face the way you do. But like, but I found that fascinating. That was gonna take three days and you guys kind of knocked it into one day. So you could get back to your BBC show that you're doing too much. So

Jim Piddock 42:44

yeah, yeah, yeah, we did. We shot that pre dawn to post us 12 hours straight, I think in an empty stadium with a few extras behind us to make it look like it was full. I made already shot the dog show stuff. So we would just watch a bit of footage and then commentate on it. And all Chris would just say, Okay, this is the hound group. And this happens during the scene. So off you go. So it was, you know, some of that the outlines that we do, because I've written with Chris, obviously, as well, are detailed and to some degree in terms of where the scenes go. And but the dialog There are jokes as suggested, but mostly it's the leaves up the actors to come up with the words themselves, because that gives it that fresh documentary feel. But the story and the whole structure is very tight. But in this case, you know, he's sort of but that him Eugene are basically just written, you know, this is Porsche ignorance American commentator with with this British kind of guy, straight man who's the dog experts and is amused and confused by law. You know, Fred, oh, it was extraordinary in that film. I mean, I think it was the sad so many finest hours but that was one that everybody sees as a benchmark and I had to ride that train driven by a you know, rambunctious, Ill disciplined monkey around the wheel or whatever trainers, it was an incredible journey for me just not just shooting it but also as an actor because I always before that almost always been the funny guy. Or the the kind of the idiots or the cloud or the protagonist to be the reactor and play the straight man was was a lesson for me. And I knew that I couldn't compete with Fred and zero points. It would have killed it. And the funniest way I could see out of this for to get the best out of it was to be completely straight, and keep this show on track because we are on live live on TV commentating on the show, and to keep it real. And the ultimate compliments mission was when the test audiences who saw it said how did you get that real dog context to make such a fool of themselves? It was flattering in one way or not in the other because it was like hang on a minute. I've been an actor for a few years and you don't know who the hell but it was. It was amazing. And I was able to build in a little sort of arc from myself where I was amused at first so you can see me sort of smoking and then confused by what he's saying. And then by the end just flat out annoyed, but happy to still hide it until I finally stick the knife in his back when he says some another stupid, inane remark about something. And I just trying to say yes, I remember you said that last year, which kind of basically just cut him dead. So I did finally get my revenge. But that was a that was a great experience.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:29

I had that line written down. It's the best line. Yes.

Jim Piddock 45:33

And when we said that last year, I remember you said that job last year, I remember that. It was just like so dismissive. And like, yeah, I've had enough of you. But

Jeff Dwoskin 45:43

in rewatching it I was just picturing what it must have been like to sit there when all of a sudden he starts dropping like the bloodhound with a Sherlock Holmes had a pipe.

Jim Piddock 45:53

It was, you know, those are genuine reactions and jetlag reactions that are still jetlag. So it was it was learning how to act for the small a, it was great for me to to actually pull things back. And I didn't know what he was going to talk about. Because when I met Fred, Eugene and Chris for dinner, the night I arrived on the Monday, having flown in from London, got off at 11 hour flight and had dinner with them. They sent me out of the restaurant for about 510 minutes. And because they Eugene and Chris wanted to hear what Fred was going to do, but not let me know so that my reactions would be genuine. So they were and you can see me try not to laugh at times, but it sort of works because it looks like I'm vaguely amused or quite amused that I've got a car laugh out loud because I'm commentating on the show, trying to be serious about dogs. So it sort of worked.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:38

Now worked. It was, it was awesome. It was so awesome. That's one of those where you can say who it Best in Show. Oh, yeah, I know that guy.

Jim Piddock 46:46

Yeah. Straight British guy from messenger.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:50

When did you become Christopher gas writing partner? Like how did that evolve? Because the early ones were Eugene Levy, right?

Jim Piddock 46:57

Yeah, I've done three films. I've done Besucher mighty wind of your consideration. And then Chris took a long break from directing. It was almost 10 years. And then I got a call from him said you have lunch? Catch up. We went to lunch, he said, I've been thinking about this idea for a film. I'd be researching my own family tree in England and stuff and beyond. And I just I think, you know, I love that whole idea. And there's these shows like, Who do you think you are? And ancestry.com? And it's sort of an interesting arena to me. What do you think? And I said, Well, to be honest, I think it's a terrific idea. But I don't think it's a film. I think it's a TV show. And the reason I thought it was a TV show is because by its very nature, looking into a tree, or examining a tree has lots of branches and things going off it and so it's not going to be a singular story that you can tell in 190 minutes sitting, but I thought it would just be more episodic. There'll be a girl here, and then you'll go off there back there and forward there around that. He said last interesting. He's a friend of my wife's Jamie because his friend of hers is a producer that NBC Universal International, and she said, you know if you have any TV ideas come to me. So he took it to her and they really liked it. So he and I just started playing around really not even committing to doing it. We wrote to scribble down stuff. We spent a couple of months just playing around and making each other laugh. And really, Chris did warming. So I work at a glacial pace. And I have the opposite. I kind of work at a sprinter space. So it was good for me to slow down. We kind of came up with some ideas, and we formed so it started to come together. And we began to write some stuff. For real. We went out and pitched the whole thing to some companies in England because we wanted to do NBC Universal international wanted to do as a CO production. So the BBC and a couple of other places are interested and we ended up saying yes to BBC, but they obviously needed a partner here. We came back and then we we pitched it around and HBO were very, very keen. So we did it with HBO and the BBC. And they committed to eight episodes off the bat. So we went off and wrote those in detail. And then it was a unique experience because it was shot a bit more like a movie. We did four episodes. We did pre production in England did four episodes there, then came back and did six weeks of prep here and did four episodes here. So the show was kind of has two different fields to it was the British Field and then the American field. As he examines Chris O'Dowd examines his American ancestry. And then we left the end of the series open ended we don't we really have a cliffhanger because we didn't know we're going to do more. And then the BBC HBO wanted to do another season but it was an expensive show. It was very expensive reading for a half hour NBCUniversal we're not that thrilled about deficit financing. So they pulled the plug which was bizarre because if they come to us and said look, how can we get the budget down. I know that Chris and I could have done that quite easily. And we could figure that out. But it was a shame because that show got an enormous fanatical cult following and got amazing reviews, actually, particularly in America, it was gone a lot of people's top, you know, 10 or five new shows of the year. So it was very disappointing not to not to be able to have another guidance. And, and I think we were both bruised by that. Because, as I say, Chris feels that some of his very best work is in that in that series. And I would agree,

Jeff Dwoskin 50:32

he was great in it. You were great in it. Michael McCain. Chris O'Dowd, fantastic. Fred Willard, points on. So many great needed content, I want to call out as brilliant with the monkey.

Jim Piddock 50:46

Oh my god, she was the first person that was cast, because we knew that we wanted to put her in it because we thought it'd be great if there's a family member who has a glove puppets or puppets on their hand that is part of the family. And it's always on and it's we just amused us and she's such a genius. And I will use that word with the ease experiment. What she does, I mean, she's the best ventriloquist. I think in the world. Her act is amazing if you ever get a chance to see it. So we knew that. And she's a good actress, too. So she was the very first person. And then we kind of put it all together Chris, Adele came in and Tom Bennett as his best friend, and everybody else we knew from the Christmas troupe who we were going to put here there and everywhere, managed to accommodate almost everybody, but not everybody. And then one day crystal roll, you know, what are you going to play in this one going to do Mr. Pfister? Who's his neighbor and his mentor, who owns an antique shop called Mr. Pfister's bits and bobs? And so we knew that was roughly going to happen. And Chris said, Will you always do silly voices and put on wigs? And what's your going to be your accent for this? So I said to Chris, what's the most, the least funny accent you can think of in a sitcom? Or that you're likely to hear? And we both thought about it, and we came up after a couple of minutes with the idea that South Africa was just we've never seen I mean, I've done South African and Miko weapon too, but it was it was fair game because it was all about apartheid. So it was kind of he was the butter but the Joker wasn't intended to be funny that part of you sort of was I suppose, but it was going to a legit target. But I know he said I'll do the to Mr. fester in that voice. So I started riffing in the character in that voice and it made him laugh. And every time we come to one of my scenes and what we would do, he'd say, Okay, go and I'll do it. And he would laugh again. Karen Murphy, one of the producers was just horrified. She said, You're not really going to do that South African accent is so horrible and and that just convinced me I had to. So essentially, I chose a character for that sitcom based on a debt. I don't know if anyone's ever chosen a character based on a debt. It was like okay to do that. Actually rather like that practice kind of fun when I look at it now.

Jeff Dwoskin 53:06

It was a great character. I really enjoyed it. I like I said, I literally could not stop watching it. And I enjoyed it so much. And it's funny like with Nina's character with monkey, like, when it goes missing for a short period of time, like in the beginning, you think like, oh, this is just crazy, but then we'll send you like, you realize this attachment. Yeah, I was. I just I'll see how much loved it I really did

Jim Piddock 53:27

it shorten the line, isn't it that between being genuinely emotional and absurd, I mean, the whole time it's genuinely emotional observe with monkey the scene that Chris laughter is the one where monkey has the Skype call with Chris because Nina is too depressed to talk to her brother. So just this this law face pops up his monkey face and has the conversation as if it was a third person talking about his character, and how she sort of it's it's quite it's it's so surreal, and it's so brilliantly shot. And that's, I think that was the secret sauce of that as as good as anything I've ever done. And it's amazing to watch that scene. Very, very laugh out loud funny, but incredibly touching at the same time. That's an amazing achievement that Nina was able to do that.

Jeff Dwoskin 54:14

Oh my god. Yeah. Please asleep and Chris O'Dowd characters like talking to be online?

Jim Piddock 54:23

No, no, no. It's brilliant. It's brilliant. And monkey became the soothsayer he would say everything that she couldn't say in real life. So murky was obscene would say awful things to all people but but but was the truth. The suit set? On always kind of spray was great. Like Shakespearean almost except the puppets.

Jeff Dwoskin 54:45

I was I am saying I was sad that there isn't a second season that National Geographic ads that you did with Christopher gets to where he reprise Nigel Tufnell tough. Nigel Tufnell. Those are great too, though conspiracy theory about Stonehenge. Ah but at Begley Jr. had a conspiracy thing going on and family tree.

Jim Piddock 55:04

Yeah, we find conspiracy theorists amusing because they're sort of stupid they really are there are conspiracies in the world folks but most conspiracy theories are absolute nonsense and they are theories people's forbid imagination if you can back it up with facts that it's a conspiracy if not it's a waste of your time so Q anon if you're listening get alive

Jeff Dwoskin 55:29

Well, thank you so much i The time kind of flew I thank you so much for for hanging out with me. I can't thank you enough for sharing these stories with me. Let's plug the book one more time caught with my pants down and other tales from life and Hollywood and other tales from a vacation. And it goes to charity. The proceeds go to

Jim Piddock 55:49

I will Yeah, that's. So please, please buy the book because I do think you'll find entertaining, whether you like show business or not. And it certainly started doing well in the early stages. So but I would ask you please to if you do buy it, rate and reviews on Amazon, because that will help it generate more interest in sales. And as I say, all the money goes to three different charities, one of which is for Ukrainian refugees. So I do not stand to make an item out of this book. So please do it for the right causes and have a good time doing it because we God knows we need some light relief at this point in history.

Jeff Dwoskin 56:27

Exactly. That it's so great that you're doing that and donating that. It's it's a great book, everyone. I read the book. Awesome. Jim, thank you so much for hanging out with me. I can't thank you enough. Thank you. Thank you for listening. All right, everyone, the amazing Jim Piddock how great was at so many great stories and I tell you a million more great stories away to with his book caught with my pants down, head on over there right now. Get some more Jim Piddock into your life. support the charities that the book supports. Boom, it's a win win and tell everyone your charitable and you get to laugh a lot.

Jeff Dwoskin 57:02

All right, well with the interview over that can only mean one thing. That's right. That means it's time for another trending hashtag when the family of hashtags at hashtag round up follow hashtag round up on Twitter at hashtag roundup download the free always free doesn't cost a penny app called hashtag roundup at the Google Play Store or iTunes App Store, tweet along with us. And one day one of your tweets may show up on a future episode of Classic conversations, fame and fortune awaits you. Today's hashtag comes to us from hashtags at gogo weekly Game On hashtag or round up hashtag #RejectedDogShowCategories. That's why we had to be inspired by the amazing Best in Show Jim Piddock's classic turn with Fred Willard as the dog show announcers hashtags ago asked the internet Hey, what are some dogs Oh categories are just in Mega and the Internet came together and use #RejectedDogShowCategories to make it happen. All right, so here we go. Here is um #RejectedDogShowCategories. Celebrity look alike. Most interesting headwear best lag humper Oh, just got interesting. Yeah, so these are definitely #RejectedDogShowCategories without his bark. Best Food stealer, longest tongue out Tuesday. Cat pointing then next Cujo. Well, we're gonna need a new judge. Most tolerant of cats. And our final hashtag rejected Dog Show Category tweet, smallest dog with large dog confidence. Oh, all right. Those are definitely rightfully rejected Dog Show Category categories. As always, all those tweeters will be retweeted at Jeff Dwoskin show on Twitter, Go show him some love, like retweet and reply to him Tommy or them on classic conversations. Tweet your own #RejectedDogShowCategories tweet, I'll show some Twitter love. Just tag me on Twitter

Jeff Dwoskin 59:17

with the hashtag game complete and the interview complete that can only mean one thing. We have come to the end of another episode, Episode 129 is now complete. I would like to thank my special guest, Jim piddock. And of course, I'd like to thank all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 59:40

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