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#326 On The Road with Comedian Marc “Skippy” Price from Family Ties

Marc Price, famously known as “Skippy” from the beloved TV show Family Ties takes us on a journey through his illustrious career, sharing hilarious anecdotes from his time on Family Ties, his adventures in the world of stand-up comedy, and his roles in cult classics like “Killer Tomatoes Eat France” and “Trick or Treat” alongside legends like Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons.  

Highlights:

    1. Early Career and Family Ties:

      • Marc’s entry into show business through his father’s influence.
      • His journey to becoming a beloved character on Family Ties.
      • Memorable moments from the set and working with Michael J. Fox.
    2. Cult Classics:

      • Stories from the sets of “Killer Tomatoes Eat France” and “Trick or Treat.”
      • Marc’s reflections on his co-stars and the films’ lasting impact.
    3. Stand-Up Comedy:

      • Marc’s experiences on the road as a stand-up comedian.
      • Insight into his comedy style and influences.
      • Tales from his touring adventures and interactions with other comedians.
    4. Current Projects:

      • Marc’s efforts in raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
      • His upcoming horror film “Witchy Ways,” where he plays the antagonist.
      • Reflections on the evolving entertainment industry and future aspirations.
    5. Personal Anecdotes:

      • Hilarious and heartwarming stories about Marc’s personal life and career.
      • His unique perspective on the changes in Hollywood over the years.
      • Marc’s humorous take on life, fame, and his beloved pet dog, Casper.

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CTS Announcer 0:01

If you're a pop culture junkie, who loves TV, film, music, comedy and other really important stuff, then you've come to the right place. Get ready and settle in for classic conversation, the best pop culture interviews in the world. God's right, we circled the globe so you don't have to. If you're ready to be the king of the water cooler, then you're ready for classic conversations with your host, Jeff Dwoskin.

Jeff Dwoskin 0:28

All right, Mallory, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get this show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome everybody to Episode 326 of classic conversations as always, I am your host Jeff Dwoskin. Welcome back to what's sure to be a trip down memory lane with my guest today Marc Skippy price ads right none other than skipping from Family Ties Marc prices here cited to talk to him about family ties, killer tomatoes, e France, trick or treat and a whole lot more and that's coming up in just a few seconds. And in these few seconds. Tanya Todd was here last week. Do not miss that amazing conversation but right now do not miss what some are calling the only podcast to focus on killer tomatoes eat brands in the last decade Marc price is hilarious. He was on the road he was kind enough to call in for an interview. We met at one night stands in Michigan Mike Green, hilarious Comedian his club. We hung out him me Steve Hytner, Steve's already been on the podcast and now it's Marc turn. You're gonna love it. Enjoy. Alright, everyone excited to introduce my next guest star of trick or treat killer tomatoes eat France and loved and beloved to millions escapee from family ties. Welcome to the show the hilarious Marc price. How are you sir?

Marc Price 1:55

Well, thank you so much. And my puppy. That's Casper.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:59

Hello Casper.

Marc Price 2:01

good stretch. It's obligatory when the dog does that you say good stretch.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:04

good stretch.

Marc Price 2:06

So I'm on a good stretch of my tour right now in a very beautiful place not far from San Diego. That's the beauty of San Diego. I did that movie killer tomatoes eat France that you mentioned was ironically shot some in Paris Believe it or not. And some the rest of it most of it in San Diego. And it was the director of killer tomatoes the trance that first taught me about San Diego and all it has to offer it's an amazing place. I I don't frequent that off. I play there you know maybe maybe once every couple of years. It's got it all if you want rolling hills, beaches, mountains, deserts forest that Scott it amazing.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:46

And you know all this from John DiBello. Yes. Yeah, they say don't work with kids, animals or tomatoes. How was it that you were in the final pillar tomato movie? That was I think the fourth one I was like the last one.

Marc Price 3:03

They called it part four of the trilogy. And yes, I helped kill the franchise. That's my job. You know, who was the one before me was George Clooney? I'm not kidding. No,

Jeff Dwoskin 3:11

I know. That's any other notables. George Clooney was supposed to do this one. Like I think like Johnny Depp was in fret Friday the 13th now Nightmare on Elm Street.

Marc Price 3:23

Oh, that was a good one. Oh, we might head into the car. It might be. It might be bringing a little bit here. But yeah, Johnny Depp. That was that was a good one. That was a good. That was a good nightmare. I think that very first one. Yeah. The previous one.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:35

So did you get to know John Astin.

Marc Price 3:37

I did you know, he's the father of Sean Astin. For your viewers sake, we can say he's the guy that played Gomez Addams Family, which by the way, most of your viewers probably don't remember that. Do you remember that? I

Jeff Dwoskin 3:50

know I know. Or Sandy was part time the Riddler I'm Batman. Wow. Wow.

Marc Price 3:55

I didn't even remember that. And so we got to hang up quite a bit. And people have always told me I look like Sean Astin or I used to when I was younger, and he agreed. He said, Yeah, we look a lot alike and he's his dad. I always considered that official confirmation.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:10

Actually, just oddly enough to saw a tic tac on tick tock tick tock on Sean Astin saying his life was sort of a Mamma Mia where he were John Astin was his adoptive father but not necessarily his blood father and he didn't find out who his real father was until later in life. So he's got relationships with multiple people. Now my source is a tic tac video, so I have no idea if it's true or not. That

Marc Price 4:32

might be the case I never really got into it too much as far as when your stepdad you tend to love the child just like it's your own. You don't get into it with people about it. No,

Jeff Dwoskin 4:40

no, I just I was it was it was just an interesting so I think it's, it's great. And so And of course, I knew he was Gomez Adams who doesn't know a giant no one listening to this podcast. Did you know

Marc Price 4:52

he was way ahead of the curve on healthy eating and healthy living? I don't know. You know, I hate to say it I'm not even sure He is even still with us because he,

Jeff Dwoskin 5:02

I think, I think he is actually,

Marc Price 5:04

it wouldn't surprise me because he was when we met at that time, he was such a healthy eater. He was not going to stop that either. He was really, he really understood it,

Jeff Dwoskin 5:13

marc. So right now you're touring the world as a comedian. And did you you start as a comedian that I read you were doing this as early as like, 14 and your your dad was a horse belt comedian. I mean, you come from entertainers I do.

Marc Price 5:29

I was that kid in the back of the theater. My dad literally was the kid they would bring in the cars or whatever, whatever they used to call it that the trunk weren't in a trunk in the back of the theater. For me, I was I you know, I was in the hospital. But it wasn't long after that. I was being brought up on stage as a cheap device for applause at the end of the show, because my mom was a singer. And my dad was the comedian, and then they bring me out at the

Jeff Dwoskin 5:54

end. Your mom, I read, hang with Fabian. She did all kinds of amazing things,

Marc Price 5:58

including she played in Vegas. She had contracts in Vegas for like a year at the Desert Inn and stuff like that. It was just a different time in showbiz. I tell people the story, you know, because it's hard to imagine where they were so rude to women, as they were then that she hated it. She hated showbiz. She wanted out. In fact, she hated my dad. She hated my dad's children. And she became a cop. Really? Yeah, just to get away from showbiz. She went to school, went to the police academy, did some dangerous stuff, work your way up, worked really hard, and accomplished a lot of great things before she retired? Yeah.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:33

Oh, that's pretty cool. That's awesome. Did you grew up just loving? I know you mentioned you were slept out as a baby for the the end applause but were you aware of this Limelight idea. And was this what sparked you to kind of want to go into the entertainment field. By

Marc Price 6:50

the way, I always look at myself in the mirror after a podcasting. I got shots. I got spots. And now I'm doing it during the podcast. Make sure those spots. This is schmutz free podcast. I didn't shave for you. By the way. Forgive me. I read in GQ magazine that women you have women viewers are turned on by a man with a two day beard. And I let it go six days, I thought I would triple my eyes.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:12

I think it's quadrupled. The longer the more days. It's exponential. I don't think it's straight math. But like I think it's exponential. So when this podcast is over and you roll out of that car, especially with the dog with your dog, you're probably be fending them off. For you sir.

Marc Price 7:29

If you're young get skinny and you've got a beard you're a hipster. But as my age I'm you know, you're a homeless guy living out of your car. Hold on one second. That's a gonna be a lot.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:39

Okay, I didn't hear it. So it was whatever sound projection you have is working great. All right. So Marc, so your your prop your father on stage, but when did you decide like, this is something I want to pursue and do?

Marc Price 7:55

Well, geez, it was kind of drilled into me from a young age that that was my profession. I don't think I had much choice in the matter. My actually my mom didn't want it for me at all. She wanted everything the right way, you know, for me to go to Cornell and have a family and she set me up for all that. But i i The allure of Hollywood was too much to take I couldn't the idea of paying attention and doing homework and stuff like that wasn't for me when I had the option of going to the comedy clubs and hanging out with the comedians.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:23

Yeah, your mom probably wants you to grow up and be a sergeant and a police officer. You guys could have been a mom and son team. And you could have adapted that into a movie. This could have been a whole series. There's a whole thing there. I think just sitting Well, I

Marc Price 8:38

I was embarrassed. When I was a kid my friends would come over and they'd see the police uniform in the handcuffs and I'd be like, Oh, my mom's a stripper. Like my mom does with me now so your son's a comic any story comedy clubs? No, no, he joined al Qaeda. But yes, she had it all set for me always listen to your mother. That's the that's the what we learned here. Never listened to your father is the flip side of that. But yeah, I moved out to live with my dad in Hollywood and I started hanging out at the comedy clubs and it wasn't long before I was on TV and doing family ties and all that good stuff.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:11

I was looking at your IMDB

Marc Price 9:13

I want to go outside and show you this beautiful place where it's like raining but it's not raining horribly. Do you see this? Gorgeous? Yeah, it's really it's really nice here. I'm near Ramona, California.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:23

Well, I appreciate you on the road. We're on the road with Marc price. This is yeah, I'm going to show off hopefully are solely remote or fully remote. It's going to stop raining in his car. He's got a dog he's got a backpack got a thing or you can drink his own pee. I made that up. That's not true. I was looking at your IMDB you know they the way they kind of do those IMDb is family ties is kinda in the middle. But when I started looking at the dates, did you guys get into family ties like almost immediately like there's like land that that gig right away? I mean, I know you had other things in The beginning of your career like one day at a time and Archie Bunker's plays, but those are on the same 1982, which is when family, you know, family ties started as well. It

Marc Price 10:09

was bigger for me, I wasn't a recurring, which is what they call that when you start, you know, ultimately I was a recurring character, but it was just a one shot thing at first and then it grew to two things. And then three things. It didn't become a recurring character until the third season. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 10:23

that's another thing that I noticed you were like two episodes. And season one, three. In season two, when I talked to Scott Valentine, that was the kind of the same trajectory with Nick that was meant to be like a one off thing, too. And then season three, yeah, like 10 episodes here probably like nearly half the season. So or so. What was that? Like? I mean, like, because they must have liked you. And then they started building it around you. I'm assuming

Marc Price 10:48

stuff that like that. The network also encouraged them. So that was good. I was had a call from the big, big honcho with the network. Hey, how about the Skippy guy? Maybe we should do some more. It

Jeff Dwoskin 10:59

was because of buys. I mean, what what caused this guy to pick up the phone until the family ties gang? We need more Skippy more Skippy was giving. I mean, I mean, it's an obvious conclusion. But how did we get there? I was

Marc Price 11:14

young. And I think they liked the idea of keeping the show young. That was the idea to appeal to young people and have a young person I think that helped. Who knows? Just the got lucky. You know, there was other things I think the executive producer, I think I reminded him of him when he was 30 kid and that kind of thing. I was also very comfortable at the Paramount Studios where I auditioned where we made the show and stuff because I had hung out there before my dad's good friend played the grumpy dad on Laverne and Shirley, and I got to hang out watch them make Laverne and Shirley and then he invited me to hang out all week and watch them make Bosom Buddies and Happy Days and all the other shows on the lot Mork and Mindy and stuff like that. And so that was you know, a college education packed into a week of how a sitcom was made. That's a murderer's

Jeff Dwoskin 11:59

row of shows you just rattled off.

Marc Price 12:04

There were more to those are the ones I remember like hanging out like Tom Hanks coming up to me seeing a little kid hanging out watching and doing stick for me and make me laugh and nobody knew who he was yet. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 12:14

I didn't know I think that was like his first thing he was he was he was on that and The Love Boat. I mean, I had I mean like that was pretty that's early Tom Hanks we all loved him but he

Marc Price 12:23

ended up being on family ties to and Family Ties were shot either in the very same studio or like right next door like it was that same it was one of two studios right there anyway what a what a great Tommy

Jeff Dwoskin 12:35

turnaround people forget Tom Hanks his early career no one saw Tom Hanks his early career. So this is the trajectory of the one of the biggest stars in the world. Right I mean, because it bachelor party stuff like movies like that. And then all of a sudden it just like, I don't know, I just got the I think it was Penny Marshall movie right? League of Their Own. And then

Marc Price 12:55

no, that was before that it was before that he was the Ron Howard movie. Oh, right.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:00

Okay. Yeah, flash flash, right. Splash rice by

Marc Price 13:04

right. That was the beginning. But what's funny is you just mentioned Penny Marshall. And then there's Ron Howard. These guys all came that was Laverne and Shirley and happy days. Right,

Jeff Dwoskin 13:13

honey, so you were hanging out. Your dad knew the burns dad on the show, right? Because he was an old time comedian. Yeah, he

Marc Price 13:20

was great. He helped a lot of people's careers. But mine was definitely one of them. He gave me that. You know, he allowed me to go check out every watch everybody, you know, I got to watch Penny Marshall.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:30

And it's crazy. And I Peter Scolari would have been there too. It

Marc Price 13:34

was a little kid from Andy Griffith. We were just talking about the direct movies with Ron Howard of getting old Ron Howard was already here already left. Happy Days with that time I remember.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:43

Okay, so this was in the later seasons happy days. Well, it was.

Marc Price 13:47

Yeah, I guess so. Because 70s was the big time for happy days. And this was like, you know, late like 79 or something like

Jeff Dwoskin 13:53

that. Yeah, I think he was gone for like him and Danny most they left like later on. I think they left the same time.

Marc Price 14:00

No, no, Donnie, most was still there. You know, it might have been that he just wasn't there that day or Okay,

Jeff Dwoskin 14:05

got it. So there's gonna be any timeframe did they do they finally jumped the shark yet? That's, that's, that's the thing. Well, if you were doing Mork and Mindy would have had to be an actor. Right? Right. Then he was on Happy days. So it had been, at least into it. So I see. You're watching Mork and Mindy, too. So you're watching Robin Williams and marc that just sounds like amazing in itself.

Marc Price 14:26

I seen Robin Williams Live at a at an improv class. There was a famous improv class that a lot of people from different eras would come to, you know, that's one of the things in show business that in the late 70s and early 80s existed that doesn't really exist anymore. The coming together of generations, like the family ties, writing staff included one guy, just brilliant, and he wrote on like the movie Blazing Saddles, and he wrote for like Robert Klein stand up comedy, and then there was another guy that was just out of college. He's gone on to big things and written a lot of movies for Sandra Bullock and he's got on under direct big movies, and he's become a big deal in Hollywood. But at that time, he was a college student that wrote a spec script and sent it in, but they really liked it. And they liked him. And he came out and met with everybody and everything. And then they mix that staff together, one of our younger producers ended up being the creator of King of Queens. Oh, okay. But it was neat how they combined the older guys with the younger people, and that they simply don't do anymore. Now, it's just all young people. So there's nothing there's nobody the young people can't learn. We had writers that had written on Mary Tyler Moore, and you know, stuff like that. So

Jeff Dwoskin 15:35

to interrupt, had a quick break, Marc has to take Casper for a walk, I do want to take this moment to thank you all for your support of the sponsors. When you're supporting the sponsors. You're supporting us here at Classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my conversation with Marc Skippy price. Let's talk family ties. Family Ties, did you, you you came in like episode nine or something like that, like so into the season? So was this like they were developing the character? Or was this kind of the scenario where upfront they knew this character was going to exist? But you didn't just show up until that point? No,

Marc Price 16:09

I was just a one shot deal. It just I just did a episode. And then they invited me back and they kind of grew it blossom. Got it. Okay. And it could have been any other show, too. I got really lucky that it was a good show. You know, imagine if it had been some shoddy show, which there were plenty of.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:24

Right. I mean, yeah, there's always there's always that there's more of those and probably the ones that we remember.

Marc Price 16:31

Yeah, I got lucky. You know, I got lucky to even be a small part of something this really fantastic. And I think all of us appreciated it at the time, but maybe not enough. It was It wasn't like everybody was blase about it. We knew how talented everybody was. And it was a gift and it was all but it's looking back. It really was. You know, I just won the lottery. Were

Jeff Dwoskin 16:52

you there then I can't remember which season it would have fallen like where Michael J. Fox was doing Back to the Future. Like we're all that cool.

Marc Price 16:58

Yes. Yes, I was there. Yes. Little limo and all that. Yeah, we're asleep in the limo. He'd sleep in the limo on the way to the set.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:07

Did you get to go to like that debut. And I did.

Marc Price 17:10

I went to the I get to go to the set and stuff and hang out and everything. And I was friends with some other folks that worked on the movie, including a stunt man that did a lot of great stuff on the movie that a very close friend of mine and as well as Crispin Glover played his dad. I went to acting school with Crispin Glover, my first acting school when I was like 13 years old, and he took me under his wing. He was one of my first influences, and he wasn't as crazy quite as crazy back then. Absolutely as brilliant as he is now. Brilliant, man.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:40

He's awesome. Yeah. And he's I mean, in terms of Back to the Future, Laura, I think he's sued them for the second movie because they like they imitated his face or something with that actor and I think he one did

Marc Price 17:50

set a precedent it set a precedent that means something even more now that they have AI and the ability to do a lot more than that was just like a makeup makeup prosthetic that they use of him on another actor. Now they can do they can make you know, they can make good George Carlin, you know, you heard about that.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:06

Yeah. Oh, yeah, I heard about that. Yeah, yeah, it was. Well, speaking of AI, Mallory,

Marc Price 18:11

I know both actors by the way. I'm friends with Crispin Glover and with the actor that that went to tons and take his place. The wonderful the wonderful Jeffrey Weissman, who's a great guy, and and while Crispin and Jeffrey will never be friends with each other and they could be actually if they would just maybe that should try to set that up.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:29

I did Jeffrey feel about having to wear Crispin's face.

Marc Price 18:33

Hey, it's an act. He just did a good job. Nobody knew. Nobody knew it wasn't him. Right. He said he did a good job. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 18:40

they kind of the way they kind of positioned it now that it was like afterwards you're like, Oh, yeah. Anyway, you mentioned AI Justine Bateman. She was like leading the whole brew with the whole AI awareness as all the weeds and stuff that I was watching, huge advocate.

Marc Price 18:57

That's a wonderful thing for her. You know, she's a born leader. It would be great if maybe she ran the union or something like that could happen. You know, there's been a history of that, right? Like the little girl from Little House on the Prairie. Right? Well, Gilbert Yeah. She ran Screen Actors Guild. I think Justine Bateman make a wonderful president for Screen Actors Guild. Her dad, she came from a show business background from her dad as well. He was an acting teacher producer and stuff like that.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:24

Yeah. And her brother does pretty good too.

Marc Price 19:25

Well, yeah, no, brother is one of the best Yeah. Oh, he's great guy. Yeah, he's a great guy used to be I you know, these guys, they I got to hang out with Jason Bateman back in the day, showed me around his cecum and a different way. He was at Warner Brothers and I had really been, you know, had really been at Paramount most of the time. And he showed me around the different studios at Warner Brothers. It was a pre 911 world you could walk in if you were on the lot. You could pretty much snoop around. That's not allowed anymore. You can't just go on the lot and snoop around but I got to do a lot A lot of that because of, well, certainly a paramount but even at the different locks when I would have auditions and things that would just go away early, and I would just snoop around all afternoon, I get out of school, the audition could be at four o'clock. And a lot of times they knew you went to school and they would make the auditions later in the day. But I would tell the school I gotta leave at 12 I've got my audition go to your

Jeff Dwoskin 20:19

work in it. You're like taking full advantage of your super famous SNESs. Do you keep in touch with any of the cast? Or do you guys are you in a group text chat or anything like that? My

Marc Price 20:30

Skippy superpowers which have waived by the way? No, we don't have a group text chat we did get together for there was a big reunion, which was pretty cool. And but no, everybody sees each other sort of individually in different ways. This weekend, I'm gonna see Brian bonds all the little kid on the show. They had a baby. And then the next season, it was a little youngster not the same if they didn't stick to the years and the aging you I don't know if you know that if you're a family ties nerd enough to know that I watched

Jeff Dwoskin 20:58

I was I watched family. Family Ties all the way through all the way I'm saying so. I don't know if you remember the baby. I remember. Remember the short little blonde kid? Yeah. Yeah. And

Marc Price 21:09

that's Brian Bhansali. He made movies and did all kinds of stuff. And he's actually played in some pretty successful bands over the last couple of decades, including one called Atari that all the kids know. It's like a punk band, you know, and he's a successful musician. That's awesome. Yeah. And TV, others came to the improv and actually join me on stage she hosted a show and did stand up really had the crowd go in, and it was a blast. That was just a real trip.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:35

Oh, that's, that is really cool. It's awesome. And we're

Marc Price 21:39

raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. at every stop on the tour. Michael's very grateful. And we have a new Skippy squad setup. If you go to Team fox.org, you can join the Skippy squad and help raise money for this fantastic cause. And I just was in touch with Michael Gross, who played the dad on the show last week regarding they want to make him the honoree at the Boston Comedy Festival this year.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:07

Oh, that's really? That's amazing. That's really cool.

Marc Price 22:10

If that's some big honorees in the past,

Jeff Dwoskin 22:13

his sister was on Sunday live. I remember watching her. That's right. Barry

Marc Price 22:17

gross. Another fantastic talent. I think she's dropped out of sight though we haven't seen her she, I think by choice got out of the business. Watch. I'm I'm wrong. And she has a new thing coming out.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:29

I don't know. I'll do I'll google her after. So one piece of trivia I saw on IMDb, which I never trust. But I'd like to ask a cast wanted to end the show with the entire family dying in a plane crash so they didn't have to do a reunion show.

Marc Price 22:44

I don't know if that's there was joking about stuff like that. And at the time, you know, you look at like Gilligan's Island returns or whatever, you know, they're still on the island, you know, after all these years, and it seems like we didn't want to do that Mary Tyler Moore was always the roadmap for our show and that was such a classy show and it ended there never was you know more berry or something different. And it ended after seven years like ours did. The idea was you know, we didn't want to be little there for the show by coming back in some lesser form some years later, but now of course that all the time has gone

Jeff Dwoskin 23:17

by right and they can do skip these plays and you're a comedian it's like it's there you go.

Marc Price 23:22

Oh good. Let's do it.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:24

I like when they do the retro I

Marc Price 23:26

think all the cast members would pretty much be in right now if they weren't

Jeff Dwoskin 23:30

I like when they get the cast together just to talk not necessarily become your carry not become the kid and family again or some

Marc Price 23:36

we did something like that. Not that long ago. I'm on the internet not unlike this where we got together for a hello.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:42

That is very cool. One thing that you were a part of that I kind of remember but condo with McLean Stephenson. It was funny because it was one joke from it that I remember where he's like, because it's emanates. It's a Mexican family, and they wanted to name the child. Hey, Soos. And he's like that I will not let that kid be name Hey Soos and have him come running every time I cut myself. And it was just a joke. I remember watching. I was like, I remember like, that's the only thing I remember from the show is that joke. Anyway.

Marc Price 24:17

The producers were about the most successful producers in sitcom history with shows like so. Golden Girls and blah, blah, blah and all those things. They did a lot of big hit shows and McLean Stephenson was hysterical. You know, he used to co host The Tonight Show. That's how funny he was like he was that capably funny that they had him do that. He was great storyteller. He would just have us just rolling on the floor. They gave him maybe more chances at a new sitcom after mash than anybody else in the history of sitcoms. He had like six pilots. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 24:48

I mean, he was so great and mash. It's like, you know, but sometimes it's hard to just find, you know, the lightning in the bottle again.

Marc Price 24:55

They tried everything. He was a DJ. He was a priest. He was an astronaut. and this one he was a wasp that was we were a downwardly mobile family that moved to had the seller house move into a condo and next door was a Mexican family that had built up a big gardening company and got to move up out of the barrier and into the condo. And now that we live next door, there was a lot of tension and fighting and but the two kids fall in love. So it was Romeo and Juliet, my older brother and their daughter fall in love. And that's the that was the show. We did like half a season. You know, I think we did 13 episodes. It was you know, it was great experience working with McLean Stevenson and Luis Avila most my childhood hero from the electric company when I was a little kid played but the dad on the other side of the family,

Jeff Dwoskin 25:41

it had all the pieces it just Yeah, sometimes. I guess I was just don't like the way you want him to.

Marc Price 25:48

And you know what else we had? We had a theme song by Paul Williams. And I meet Paul Williams every once in a while, somewhere to this day, and I take his hand he's always very nice and stuff. And he he pretends like he remembers me anyway, but he remembers that song. I mentioned that song to him when he remembers it. Because you know how many I don't know. Probably wrote a million, but

Jeff Dwoskin 26:08

he's done everything. I mean, he's rainbow connection. He's a Love Boat. Yeah,

Marc Price 26:13

this was a Love Boat level song. This was like, what didn't sound like love, but it had a Mexican kind of flair to it live and love it. But it was it was a little bit like The Love Boat actually, now that I think about it and a little love boat in it. But I liked the way it started. But the bad part.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:35

And then just real quick, because I know you talked about at least you have Yeah, I know you had the swag at the show for trick or treat. Eddie wine Bauer.

Marc Price 26:45

For the for your viewers that don't remember a trick or treat is with Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons and as a fantastic soundtrack by the heavy metal band fast way. And I think that's what keeps it going is those things, you know, Ozzy and Gene Simmons and this great soundtrack. It's got a following of people that really loved it and love it still. And it's every Halloween, I'm at a screening of it somewhere and people ask me questions about it all the time and stuff. You know, they're from that audience, depending on how they're dressed.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:16

You have like all these you have like family ties, which is we'll call it mainstream pop culture, classic, iconic show and character. And then you have these cult classics like trick or treat and killer tomatoes, eat France. There's those are a nice opera genre. So you've probably covered your fan base. Yeah,

Marc Price 27:35

but a lot of people know trick or treat and come up to me and some I've never met. I've met like six people lifetime that I've seen killer tomatoes. But those six

Jeff Dwoskin 27:42

people are special. That's a special six people.

Marc Price 27:46

It's always like, where did you see it? How do you even watch it? Where? Where do I go? Like if

Jeff Dwoskin 27:50

I ever saw that's like on the level of like if I ever saw Michael Perrey. And I'd say Mr. I saw Eddie and the cruisers to Eddie lives in the theater. And she would say to me, you were one of those seven people that actually saw it in the theater. I'd be like, yes, because I'm a fan. I am a fan. And these are the cruisers not one, two. The second one. I saw it. Yeah. So that would be like that level. So those six people that saw that movie, that would be very special.

Marc Price 28:20

I'm sure they didn't see it. I'm sure the six people didn't see it in the theater. That's why No, I think the only time it was in the theater was for the screening for the casting crew. It was the first time we've ever seen it. And in the opening credits they put in please rewind this cassette after viewing and we thought that was so funny.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:37

Have you stepped away from acting? Is the comedy full time do you act when the opportunity arises? Or is comedy now? Your Life?

Marc Price 28:45

Well, comedy has been my life for quite some time now. But I did act in a movie for my first time in decades, this last year and it's coming out this next year her this year 2024 And it's called witchy ways and I played the bad guy um, but it's a co starring role but it's a the antagonist. They've never done that before. So that was fun about the monster. It's a horror movie, but I'm agitator. I'm

Jeff Dwoskin 29:08

gonna watch that and killer tomatoes from France. And

Marc Price 29:12

the rescue the rescue with Kevin Dillon that goes in my in my really bad film festival that's in there, too. That one was a big studio film. And you know, we go into North Korea. Remember there was some tension with North Korea over a movie about North Korea.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:26

Oh, the Seth Rogen one. Yeah. Well, our

Marc Price 29:30

movie goes into North Korea to I figure, I might have had a screening for the evil leader.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:36

One of my claim to fame is that Seth Rogen movie was so controversial when they rolled it out. Everyone was afraid to watch it and I watched it. And then I was actually interviewed on the BBC for having seen it right on opening night.

Marc Price 29:48

It was funny, wasn't it?

Jeff Dwoskin 29:50

I love that movie. I thought it was great. Yeah, it was really funny. Yeah, Eminem is hilarious in it. And James Franco Seth Rogen. I can watch that movie over and over again. And then the one guy who's in everything now pledge, Kim, Gianna, and I don't I can't I don't know his name off top my head. He's brilliant. In that movie. He's just saying the right

Marc Price 30:09

IP. Yeah, he's asked, we probably we probably liked the same kind of movies. I'm

Jeff Dwoskin 30:14

sure we do. We shared it. So it was so before just one real quick, just kind of book book. And it's

Marc Price 30:20

it's that time I wish I could give you a better tour of this place. It's just, I don't know, maybe it's not really enough. Here. Casper Coming. Coming. Come on. Come on. Let's give this test a tour. Go ahead, ask anything.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:30

Talk to me. Like the timeframe before family ties before you became an actor, your life and comedy. You were a comedian first, then you got into acting right? Or you may have been doing both, but you were definitely you were doing comedy before.

Marc Price 30:42

It all stems from my dad being a comedian, right. So that gave me this unusual ability to watch him and watch the greats he would take me to see Robert Klein, Jackie Mason, you know, from the old school. And so, and he would take me to the comedy clubs to I got to see Seinfeld and Jay Leno. And those guys do their thing in the 70s in New York and catch a rising star. Ultimately, the guys from my dad's era became known as corny and they were mocked by the, you know, the very next generation of young comedians, the SAM Ganic, Gibson generation or whatever, a lot of times, you know, they those guys had a set of rules. And now there were no rules. And that was what made them so hip and and exciting was they were so different from that other generation. The point that I'm making is at some point, they started to look down on the old school. It happens. As I'm getting older, I understand that the case was with at first, that wasn't the case like Richard Belzer. And those guys from catch rising star at the Improv in New York City in the 70s. They actually really looked up to those guys that were their predecessors, and they learned from them and they got a great deal of respect. And so when my dad would go to the clubs in New York, he would bring me again, we lived in a pre 911 World Casper is like, I won't have it. It's just too wet outside. And so they would let me in. So that was, you know, I got to sneak in and stuff you couldn't I don't think you could sneak a kid in a nightclub down but you could in the 70s

Jeff Dwoskin 32:05

you could do pretty much anything in the 70s

Marc Price 32:09

If your dad was a comic any Yes, yes.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:11

Well, Marc, I know you I know you gotta go but

Marc Price 32:14

only because I gotta get back on the road. It's raining and I don't want to get too muddy and all that good

Jeff Dwoskin 32:18

stuff. Yeah, for sure. I appreciate you hanging with me. It was good seeing you again. We met with Mr. Steve Hytner. Steve Hytner. That's right, great.

Marc Price 32:26

Are you having him on the podcast?

Jeff Dwoskin 32:28

I interviewed him as well.

Marc Price 32:29

I enjoy working with him as much as any other comic in the history of comics. I've worked with some great ones. I've certainly there's others that I enjoy as well. But he just keeps me going. He just it's like, really, we've had five hour drives that feel like 10 minutes with him. He just keeps me laughing.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:44

He's great. He was it was it was a lot at the weekend flew by hanging out with you guys. It was a lot of fun. And yeah, so cool. Well, I'm glad we were able to catch up again. We'll talk Rodrigo next time. Okay,

Marc Price 32:59

we'll do that next time we'll talk about love your guts.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:04

All right, how amazing was Marc price? Love your guts is what we said to each other. When we parted ways. I think it's his thing that he says when he signed his autograph to me and my eight by 10 of him and Steve Hytner, he signed it love your guts. So anyway, that was just saying that and traveling with Caspar, I will say this is the first time I'm releasing a video version at the same time as this audio version on YouTube. So you can see the actual visuals mostly the same I left some stuff in that was clearly you needed to be watching but you want to check that out. Let me know tried to drop in some extra graphics, you know, not too fancy. But you know, I'll get there anyway. Can't believe the show is over a couple other episodes check out I'll put links in the show notes. But Scott Valentine for also from Family Ties was on the podcast early on very popular episode. And of course Steve Hytner was on Marc, Steve and I all work together at one night stands. So that's, that would be the trilogy of episodes you could watch in this genre. All right, I'm rambling one more. Huge thank you to Marc price and a huge thank you to all of you coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 34:12

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