#152 Robbie Rist talks cousin Oliver from The Brady Bunch and voicing the live action Michaelangelo from TMNT

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:30

All right, Susan, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. And you get this show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 152 of classic conversations. As always, I am your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Great to have you back for another classic throwback episode. That's right. We're going to a simpler time in the 1970s with our guest today, cousin Oliver from The Brady Bunch. That's right Robbie Rist is here.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:05

We're talking Brady's and we're talking Oh, so much more. Robbie Rist is an amazing musician and voice over artists as well loved him as Michelangelo and all the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies. That's right. That was Robbie Rist's voice rockin that turtle shell. We're talking Galactica 1980 We're talking Sharknado we're talking so much. Get ready to go Brady with cousin Oliver himself, Robbie Rist and that's coming up in just a few seconds. In these few seconds. I do want to blog the previous episodes. I hope you loved my conversation with BJ Tanner episode 151 BJ Tanner, of course star of the Orville Grey's Anatomy and station 19 Check out that amazing interview with BJ Tanner current child star. Robbie Rist former child star while we're on that theme. Don't forget about Christian Ganeire 10 from Stranger Things. Also a child star on the rise. That's episode 148. So if you want to have a past and future child star extravaganza 148 151 And then episode 152 with Robbie Rist also last week, Gary Kroeger from Saturday Night Live. We talked Saturday Night Live and the 80s awesome conversation. So check out the whole back catalogue of classic conversations. We've got a lot of them and they're all classic. All right. Well, without further ado, my conversation with Robbie Rich is coming up right now we're talking big John Little John. We're talking sad songs from the 70s. And of course, we're going deep into the Brady Bunch and the mythos of Robbie Rist destroying the entire series as cousin Oliver true or false. We go deep in it, and then you can decide for yourself. All right, I enough injury. Here's my conversation with our Robbie Rist.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:59

All right, everyone. I'm excited to introduce you to actor, musician, voiceover artist composer. fly in the ointment. I got that off your website. Yeah. Okay. loved him as cousin Oliver and the Brady Bunch and Michelangelo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show. Robbie Rist. Robbie, welcome to the show.

Robbie Rist 3:21

Thank you very much for having me.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:23

Oh, it's a pleasure to have you here. This is awesome. I'm so excited. You're like one of those. Just classic stars. You know, you tell her anyone's like who you're talking to? I don't know. Yeah, I talked to him. I go, Hey, I'm talking to my cousin. I'll have our cousin over.

Robbie Rist 3:39

I'm not Larry storage. I'm not Boris Whitaker. I'm not anyone named Forrest Gump. Anyone? I don't know. I mean, yeah, I was talking to somebody about my voiceover and I used as an op ed to commerce career of late and it seems like my entire career is not one of all there's there goes that successful actor guy. It's pretty much like I guess nobody else answered the phone. So they went Who else do we got? How about him? And that's basically how I sort of see myself I'm like the wacky neighbor of entertainment.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:14

I mean, kind of I feel like not grown up with you but like I you know, I watched I've seen you since I was so young watch TV to me and you like you have tons of credit. You've all 156 IMDb credit I mean that's you've done a lot Robbie read a lot. Yeah,

Robbie Rist 4:28

but it's all it's all kind of like I don't know if aside from looking like John Denver or Paul Williams, I was ever what you would call a marketable look. I was never skinny and red haired enough to be a skinny red haired kid, which was like a big thing around the time that I was becoming an actor. And also I wasn't bad enough to be the fat kid so very much like anytime they needed like somebody who was I think the word quirky does apply if they needed like a quirky sidekick in some way. Like be they a computer genius or Just sort of an odd ball that the only friend the protagonist has is this person. I'm that this person I've been I'm not complaining by any stretch of the imagination because I think I've done some really awesome stuff but I hardly see myself as like really a successful act. Kim Richards is a successful actor. Well, she is now Do you know who Kim Richards is? I might by phase Kim Richards started her life as a kid performer like myself. She was in a skate from which mountain Okay, okay. Yeah, she was nanny and the professor did incredibly heartbreakingly beautiful little blonde girl and now she's just kind of she's not unattractive now, but it's more heartbreaking because she's one of the Real Housewives of Orange County. Got it? But I don't know. I think I was being facetious there too. You're gonna run into that a lot during this next however much time we're spending together. You know, but but like Ron Howard. There you go. There's a successful child performer, you know, that's like, oh my gosh, that's a hell. I'll even say Hailey Joe Osmond. Even though he's done infinitely less work than I have. He's wildly more successful than

Jeff Dwoskin 6:06

I am. Well, given the time you started and your run rate to right now you've accomplished and accumulated lots of cool stuff along the way. I've done some stuff. There's no doubt I mean, more so than I am though, just for a second, assume that you're right. And maybe you're not the biggest but if you were to line up all of them, you're right at the top percent. I mean, a lot of people just kind of came and went maybe had their one colleague

Robbie Rist 6:30

Allison Arne drum kicks my ass. I'm saying

Jeff Dwoskin 6:33

all the people out there you're in.

Robbie Rist 6:37

Jeff, I'm just going to fight it. Let me love you. started loving my wife all the time shop loving. Just won't frustrated.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:52

So Robbie, before Brady Bunch, how did you even get into Aggie? I know you did like love American style. You did? Emergency prior to that. Yeah. What was the whole origin there a

Robbie Rist 7:04

love of the 1930s Universal horror movies specifically the Wolfman with Lon Chaney Jr. I was like, anytime those movies were on, we used to have Where are you located?

Jeff Dwoskin 7:18

Just outside Detroit, Michigan, okay, you're

Robbie Rist 7:20

outside of Detroit. So in Los Angeles, where I grew up the local, we have three local channel four, we have four local channels, 1311, nine, and Fox and Channel Five on Sundays would have this guy Tom had, who used to show those horror movies, he would also show the little rascals and he was you know, kind of an end. So whenever those movies were on, I was glued to the television and I, I began telling my parents, I want to be in a monster movie and my parents who had nothing to do with entertainment at all my dad's an electronics engineer, you know, my mom ended up being a florist. Nothing to do with entertainment at all. I'm like, I want to be in a monster movie. And they're like, why don't you just be in one in your room? I'm like, no, no, no, you don't understand. I don't want to just pretend like I'm in a monster movie in my room. I want to be in a monster and I had said it enough times that it eventually just became I want to be in a movie. And apparently I became so unbearable to live with. They hatched a plan. They're like, they looked for this cattle call where there was going to be like 200 kids for this thing. And they're like, he's gonna see how much competition there is. It's gonna be boring. You know, whatever, you know. And you know, it took an hour to get in and my parents were like, do you want to go home yet? I'm like, no, no, no, I'm fine. I can wait this out and I got the job. Well, I did the job. And then I told my parents that was super fun. I really like to do that again. And they looked at each other with terror in their eyes and said well we can't say no now so simple solution and had the beginner's luck cattle call to Here we go 200 Kids me I get the job but now they can't say no if I want it so they get me they get me an agent take some pictures and I'm about I don't know I'm about six jobs seven jobs in a row that I've picked up before I don't get one and all that really did it just made me to go Oh really? You don't get everyone watch this. And I did 180 commercials in my first three years of doing

Jeff Dwoskin 9:28

it not bad for on successful actor Nice job.

Robbie Rist 9:34

I didn't know what I was doing. It all went to shit second, I started figuring it out. I'm joking. I'm joking. But yeah, and then I you know, and then from then on in it was things I mean, I worked with both Jonathan Winters and Gino Jonathan Winters is yes, of course. What about Mickey Rooney, of course, I

Jeff Dwoskin 9:51

met Mickey Rooney once I met. Yes, he was in a city near me called Birmingham, Michigan. They used to have a place where they did lays a theater where they did play. And we have the Townsend Hotel, which is like, I don't know if like all the sports people stay there, but it's like the fanciest, fanciest Hotel. So whenever we'd have sports people and they'd stay there or celebrities come in, they stay at the Townsend hotel, and I was walking. And he was playing the wizard in The Wizard of Oz at this theater. And I'm like, it just happened to be standing there. I'm like Mr. Rooney. And like, I only count people that I met, if I shake their hand, like not just in the vicinity. And so I mean, I consider us because we're spending an hour together. So that's my exception, even though we cannot touch but I should always shook his hand. And he was cordial. And I was and I went on my way around what year is that? Oh, it was I'm bad with timeframes. I'll say it was last week. But now it was like decades ago. It was decades ago. I'm sure.

Robbie Rist 10:48

You know, how how mobile he was at the time, and

Jeff Dwoskin 10:51

I think it was towards late. It was once later in his life for sure.

Robbie Rist 10:56

Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. So like, I've worked with all these crazy people. And then that Brady thing happened. And then which really wasn't even anything until it went into syndication. Mostly I just did it. And then it was over. And then it went into syndication. And that's where it sort of developed it's kind of kitschy veneer that it carries around. Now,

Jeff Dwoskin 11:14

let's talk about that thing that Brady Bunch thing for is, because this is one of the things where Yeah, if I say cousin Oliver, everyone immediately knows who you are, which is interesting in itself, because is what there's only like 117 episodes, right? And you're only in six and syndication. They might mix them up. I don't know if they play a minority, but also

Robbie Rist 11:33

in syndication. And like, well, we need to break up this syndication thing you're talking about into a couple of pieces. First, there was just syndication where you had 100 episodes of something, and you could then rerun it. Well, the buy for Brady Bunch was for in most markets, almost every market, it was 7am 2pm and 7pm. And it was on three times a day. And that means it was on before school. It was on just after school, and then it was on just after dinner. And there were people who grew up doing their homework getting ready for school, they get home, they flipped the TV on. I mean, that was definitely the 80s You know, right, right, right. And this show was never out of syndication. And even now, it's all I mean, I don't know if it still lives, but it was on me TV for a bunch of years and Nick at Night and all of so generations of people now have had contact with it multiple times. So it kind of engrained itself into the culture, sort of like a you know, like when you have a drink on the table without a coaster, you know, after a while there's just a ring there can't get rid of it. Get rid of it. Now you sand it down still there.

Jeff Dwoskin 12:52

Hey, everyone just need to take a quick break. I want to thank everyone for their 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 want to support the show follow us on your favorite podcast app give us five star review, etc etc. And now that quick break and now we're back with our conversation with a Robbie Rist talking Brady Bunch syndication and about to dive into the mythos of cousin Oliver destroying the Brady Bunch and we're back it's interesting because I was doing some research on on all this because it's just it's interesting the perception you have the mythos that gets created and all that about cousin Oliver ruining the show it gets canceled because of cousin Oliver and all that kind of stuff. And if you dig down even for half a second, which most people don't because people just love the drama version more. Yeah, they love the outro right. It's not even close to that. No, yeah, no,

Robbie Rist 13:46

no, no if anything the show was on its way out after Hawaii. But hey, you know what, though? Print the legend baby if I'm the one who killed the Brady Bunch. I'm embracing it right. I think it's awesome. Bring it on

Jeff Dwoskin 13:59

Robbie, risk taker downer of shows. Yeah, like

Robbie Rist 14:03

look, there is a photo of the Love Boat and in the same frame is me and Ted McGinley. Now, if all of existence didn't end at that particular moment, all of the shits bullshit.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:18

Exactly right. Because Ted has got that same kind of rap and his show he goes on down the Titanic AC

Robbie Rist 14:24

there because I think he was on married with children for like 10 years or something.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:30

Right? It was it was on Happy Days, too.

Robbie Rist 14:32

I knew it all. Yeah. So I think both of our you know, both of what we're guilty of we're not really guilty of but I will take the mantle of series killer because it's way better than well. He seemed like a nice guy. Like who wants that?

Jeff Dwoskin 14:48

So I started I wanted to rewatch a couple of episodes and Hulu has almost everything but in of your six they're missing two, I guess they didn't have the rights to on 18 and 20 are missing and And so just so to recap for everyone who doesn't specifically remember the origin all of our cousin Oliver, son of Carol's brother, Jack, his wife, Pauline, they're heading out to South America. Of course, cousin Oliver needs schooling. So he has to stay with the Bradys.

Robbie Rist 15:16

It's child abuse. We're just gonna dump the kid off to be in law,

Jeff Dwoskin 15:20

right? But the subtext was all the kids are getting old. And we need to bring in a young blood to help kind of create new storylines. And we're kind of we need we need help. It's season five, it season six, and we need help.

Robbie Rist 15:35

Pretty much that's what it is. There was a once we you know, web 1.0 started becoming a thing and you could look at you couldn't look at movies yet, but there was a lot of text and pictures. And there was a website called Jump the shark.com kind of where all this started really. And so it's they had different pages for different endings, you know, different things that kill different shots, right when the show jumped the shark. So there was a page called new kid in town, which was bringing the adorable Moppet into the end of a failing family show. And there was my picture up there pretty much for the entire run of the website. And all these sort of, you know, kitschy new computer mavens were you know, they again, they had to watch it in reruns. And then they had to watch it on the internet. So again, I was that ring on the table. Even better

Jeff Dwoskin 16:31

than new kid in town syndrome that Westpoint want 1.0 may have done it actually has a different term, which is cousin Oliver syndrome.

Robbie Rist 16:42

Okay, that came even after that. Yeah. And how amazing is it? I mean, there's a couple of things that you know, okay, I will never have the cultural impact of any of Michelangelo or any of his churches. Those things are just like, basically in the culture, Michelangelo said, Here is my footprint here, and we now go Holy shit. Michelangelo, right. Well, can I swear by the wind? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, shit, that's great. So, so I'll never have that kind of cultural gravi toss. You know, however, there was a burger place in Boston be good. And I don't know if they if they have changed the name by now, but they had a hamburger named after cousin Oliver. And they're there and there's cousin Oliver syndrome, which still is out there. You know, I have Google ego searched, you know, alerted to the term cousin Oliver or you know any of those things just because for years, I was getting these prompts like blahdy blahdy. New running back for the blog at blah, blah blah blahs must be the new cousin Oliver. And like that has nothing to do with me. It has to do with the show. It barely has anything to do with the character. And yet it's sort of leapt out into the it's like when people stopped calling Jack Nicholson Jack Nicholson. It just started calling him Jack. It kind of became its own

Jeff Dwoskin 18:13

thing, right. It's like, the myth is great. I also I find I just as I was digging up trivia, the Partridge Family also added a cute four year old boy named Ricky.

Robbie Rist 18:23

No but no no, they added Dodi to my my three sons.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:28

Well, this was right around the same time as cousin Oliver.

Robbie Rist 18:31

I mean, I think the OG the original gangster new kid in town is a little Ricky I think when they brought him in to the Lucy show. I think somewhere a network executive got slightly aroused and said wait a minute I think we can make money from this

Jeff Dwoskin 18:50

right so somehow just got completely pinned on you which it sounds like you were with a badge of honor and why not? Oh,

Robbie Rist 18:56

yeah. What are you kidding? Nine year old brought down at Callaway Jin Dynasty bring it Oh, yeah.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:02

It's funny because when you start to really kind of look at it, and I you know, you like you said it went into syndication and it became what we know as the Brady Bunch today. But during its original run had marginal ratings. Yeah, only one time at its peak hit number 34 was never renewed for a whole season until its last season on the air was usually 13 episodes 13 episodes so that nobody ever knew if the show was continuing. And then even interesting enough, the very last show with your character actually says the last line of the show before it goes off. Robert Reed didn't even refuse to be in that episode because of such horrible story.

Robbie Rist 19:44

Well, also in the man's defense, you know, here's a guy who he was trained doing Shakespeare in the park, and you know, sort of spend his entire acting this period of his acting career going well, kids I think you should just go to bed then yeah, I must have been like, and then when the storylines get really dumb, he's probably like, Oh, God, please don't let this be my career. Because, you know, it turns out that after that show, he becomes a really great character actor does a lot of television. I worked with him a year or so after Brady Bunch on a television show called Luke can with Kevin Brophy, who I believe is still I think he just recently was in something in the last 10 years or so. But Luke can was a television show about a boy who was raised by wolves. And now he wanders the countryside, like the incredible home saving the lives of people with problems and and he's, and he's great in it. And he's in Battlestar Galactica, and he's, he shows up in a lot of stuff. And he's actually really, really good. It must have been very frustrating for him.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:50

Yeah, he was great. It seems like you worked with them like those two times, but you worked with the Schwartz's shirt shorts and Lloyd shorts a bunch after as well. I mean, this was Yeah. Oh, wait, let me wait. One more thing I wanted to. I thought it was interesting. I still think it's interesting that it's all timing right? The Brady Bunch is getting is probably gonna get canceled anyway, they happen to put you on the show. With those six to go it gets canceled. likely it was probably already canceled by the time he even got on there. Or at least it was you know, in the board room. I mean, yeah. And so I watched they didn't do you any favors. I mean, when I say you I mean your character because I watched the first episode. And man, they do everything to make you like you ruin Jan's painting you catch up all over, Greg. You caused a lot of havoc when they introduced you. It's

Robbie Rist 21:39

it's a funny thing that I mean, actually, if you watch it, it's really shout out to really sad episode because this little guy is trying so all of the things that happened are because he's trying to get everyone to like it. And I mean, this led me down of I don't know, if it's, you know, I don't think it's for me to take my op ed and commerce career apart and look at all of the pieces. However, it seems to me that I really was good at selling pathetic, like in a lot like, I was always a kid in trouble that I did a TV movie called having babies, they were going to make a TV series out of this series of movies, or Susan Solomon or she played a OB GYN. And, you know, I played a adopted kid with you know, emotional issues. And you know, he's trying to be good, but he just can't You know, I this is this seems to be the thing. Like, I wish I would have known about branding back then I probably could have cleaned up.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:34

Well, you know, I mean, you played characters that I think resonated with probably more people than the other six Brady's dead. I think there's a lot more cousin Oliver's out there than the rest. You know that. And so I think that's

Robbie Rist 22:47

probably I don't know, actually so many. Let's see how many kids in your family

Jeff Dwoskin 22:51

and I just have one other brother.

Robbie Rist 22:52

Okay, so you will never know the dynamic of the young, the middle, oldest? And are you the youngest?

Jeff Dwoskin 22:59

I'm the oldest, you're the oldest. What

Robbie Rist 23:00

the hell are you doing an RD thing for that's for the youngins to do? How are you doing? The entire You're screwed up the entire study? Oh, well. I mean, I have been told by so many people. One of the funny things about being involved with this show is because it is so much a fantasy of a family life. There are a lot of people out there who had terrible family lives who disappeared into the Brady Bunch. They The Brady Bunch was almost like their real family, or at least that's the one they wanted to have. So people who approach me, it usually starts the same way. They always go you know, I've always wanted to tell you this. And I don't know if Mel Gibson gets people going. I've always wanted to tell you this. I don't think you were wearing underwear in good, you know Braveheart. But what I don't whatever it is that they would say, but for me, it's like I've always wanted to talk to you. Okay. And then it's this heavy story about how the show transformed their lives. And so there are a ton of people from multi kid families who like the families didn't all get along, and they would come to these autograph conventions and tell these incredibly heartbreaking, heartfelt stories. And it always ends with Yeah, the Brady Bunch, you know, sort of made me go look if they can do it, I can't somebody broke their back hiking and they made a promise to the doctor said they would never walk again. And they made a promise to themselves that they weren't going to want it when they got out of the hospital when they walked out of that hospital. The first thing they were going to do is go home and binge watch the entire run of that show. So it's I don't know how I ended up going down this path I think you were talking about oh yeah, we were just talking about how that family died. There's a lot of Oliver's out there. I think there's a lot of Jan's I think there's a crap Jonah Jan's out there, I think I think there's a lot of Jan's Peters I don't know there's a lot of Greg's you know, I mean, Greg, is everybody so I guess Greg would be everybody but I think there's a lot of Peters there's a lot of Jan's I think there's a lot of Bobby's maybe not so many Cindy's some of them because you know, Cindy I because I know Susan, I know that Cindy Brady as an adult would look back at herself and go, Oh, my God, I was in 80 No, I agree. I

Jeff Dwoskin 25:29

agree. There's a bunch. Yeah, there's each one of those is probably an archetype for someone I only pointed out you because I'm talking to you

Robbie Rist 25:38

know, I understand. But again, you know, I'm trying to move the focus away. No, no discussion about something No. Crap, where's the money? That's what I want to know. What

Jeff Dwoskin 25:50

is it? That was a very interesting point of view. I hadn't hadn't thought of it completely. But it is interesting. And it must be really kind of need for you to when people come up to you or any any of the folks on that show and are told that sorry to interrupt his amazing conversation with Robbie Rist, we have to take a quick break. And we're back with Robbie Rist, Robbie was about to dive into how he came to terms with embracing his Brady past. And we're

Robbie Rist 26:17

back for a long time, I was a little irritated with the Brady Bunch because I had a concern going into my late 20s into my 30s that like that 18 year old or that 40 year old former football player who only has that one night where he won the game for State, I was afraid that the Brady Bunch was my 18 year old night. And ultimately, it was a dumb TV show. This is old me talking this dumb TV show. And it's the one thing everybody knows me from and I feel like that's all it's ever going to be God dammit, you know this thing. And then there's dude walked up to me and said, you know, my mom worked a whole bunch of jobs when I was a kid. And he goes, I was in an apartment locked in there from like two in the afternoon when I got home from school until 630 Or seven when my mom got home. And he said the episode of The Brady Bunch to have me in the kind of helped him get through that time because he recognized this as another kid trapped in a world he didn't make either. And I went, it's a lot heavier than the show would imply that this really light family television show could have that sort of effect on someone's life. And I found it really profound. And then the more I thought about it, you know, you were talking about how people still no cousin Oliver, the thing about that Brady show is the themes that they traffic in are very universal. So everything that happens to the middle good and all and they're all very simple. They're all very, you know, don't lie. It's it's all real basic stuff. And so anybody I was in Spain, in Madrid, I'm getting ready to go play a gig at the Wurlitzer ballroom, and kids walk up to me and start yelling at me in Spanish and my Spanish, even though I'm from Los Angeles, and I did take eight years of the language like Spanish very spotty, because I never practice. But I did understand the words Brady Bunch, and I come on, that's, it's now leaping out of my culture into somebody else's. That's, that's spread now. Now, mind you, it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do really, with the Schwartz's and how they did their thing. But I couldn't be more honored to be alone for the rock.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:41

And it's very cool. That is very Yeah, it's amazing. Were you not asked or chose not to participate in the 50 million Brady projects that came after? Never asked, never asked? That's unfortunate,

Robbie Rist 28:54

but I think overall the culture of the Brady's meaning, you know, everybody from the creators on down, they don't I don't think they really see the character as being really, you know, it's sort of a footnote to the show, rather than being a part of which is also fine. Not like, why am I you know,

Jeff Dwoskin 29:10

but you wouldn't have had they been renewed? You wouldn't have been that footnote because you would have been part

Robbie Rist 29:16

of it potentially. Could have should have would have. Yeah, but the

Jeff Dwoskin 29:19

shorts is clear. Yeah, most likely. I mean, they like

Robbie Rist 29:21

I mean, they use they use me on Big John Little John. So I mean, you know, they I don't think they had an issue with my skill.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:27

Right? Right. That's I'm saying like, they must have respected you as an actor. Maybe it's just as they're just keeping the cousin Oliver character out of it. They didn't bring Tiger back either. So,

Robbie Rist 29:36

but yeah, but if you ask me, Tiger had the best post Brady career. He's in a boy and his dog. I know you're 11 So you don't understand the cultural significance of what I'm talking boy it is. Do you know what this is? Go ahead. Jeff. got

Jeff Dwoskin 29:53

taken out. Real early, though. At least the original one right.

Robbie Rist 29:56

So, boy, this dog is a film 19 75 written by Harlan Ellison, you don't know who that is look him up to. It's a futuristic science fiction film with Don Johnson about a young man walking a post apocalyptic dystopian wasteland with his dog who is telepathic and they have a deal the human finds the dog food, and the dog finds the guy women and it goes from there and the dog in it is Tiger that is like, I'll never be that cool in a way that I'll never be in the shags cool, I'll just never be

Jeff Dwoskin 30:35

that cool. Glad to cut 1980 Cool. Come on.

Robbie Rist 30:39

The shags no Jeff doing

Jeff Dwoskin 30:42

all right let's let's move on to maybe some things I do now so the Alright, so you're in Big John Little John. That was Fountain of Youth show that was back in the days when theme songs told you the whole story.

Robbie Rist 30:55

Oh, yeah, I missed the television themes on I do I miss it. I think it was a great even if it wasn't one that described everyone but to this day, I you go but duck duck that that that done up to this day? And like, I don't know, what's the what's the theme song the modern family who? Probably nothing.

Jeff Dwoskin 31:19

Some music something that yeah, Seinfeld was a kind of a more of a tune. I

Robbie Rist 31:25

felt had a little annual friends that begin we may have witnessed kind of the end of that era that

Jeff Dwoskin 31:31

oh, yeah, I think I think that's that's pretty much over.

Robbie Rist 31:35

Now it's it's done. It's done. You know, in a we're living in such post, post, post, post, post post post modern times that nothing is done on ironically, everything has a wing like everyone's too afraid to actually feel things. So everything has to have the out of we were being funny. Get it joke. Yeah, that's where our It's where our culture has ended up. Nobody really I was talking on my Facebook about it. You know, I put out these crazy things and hope people respond. Sometimes they do sometimes, like Ali, my wife and I were in the car listening to the 70s radio station and a song by a Canadian artist and Harry Chapin came on the air called cats in the cradle. It's a story about a kid who keeps trying to engage with his dad, but his dad's always too busy. And then when his dad gets to the point that he wants to hang out with his now grown sons grown sons now to visit and it's very trickling it's very sloppily sentimental, and I don't I think only bro country approaches that now. And even that is not without some reserve of completely letting go. Like being trickily isn't a thing anymore. Because I think culturally speaking, there's too much emphasis on not feeling sayings. There's too much emphasis on you know, I'm not gonna I'm not feeling your thing all the way because that's manipulation. And I'm like, Yeah, manipulate me Come on,

Jeff Dwoskin 33:07

can listen cats in the cradle without crying or ever come on. But now that

Robbie Rist 33:11

you're supposed to, you know, I have a 70s pop song review band that I do called cousin Oliver's cavalcade of hits, and we only do the bad songs from the 70s, of which, you know, we play that little undercover Angel. One of my favorites. Actually, one of my favorite songs of the 70s is a follow up signal to a somewhat known song that they actually have, oh, you might know this, Jeff, it was on Glee. That's probably within your timeframe. It's Ron Joey. Ron is the name of the song and it's a heartwarming piece of of theater where a young man is gets a call from his underage girlfriend in the middle of the night. Her father has just found out that they've done it and he's got a gun. And so the kid gets in his car to drive over to his girlfriend's house. Sidebar wouldn't be my first choice, but he does anyway he drives to her house and the father ends up shooting his own daughter cat now great piece of material when I was like 11, or whatever it came out it like I was freaked out by it because it was so like, sad. Well, I bought the single of course, because it made me so sad. It's why I like the Wolfman, too, because it made me so sad. Do you see a pattern emerging? Yes, you'd like to be sad. So the follow up single is called Blind man in the bleachers. And it's about a third string football player who's never going to play and his father who's blind sits at the very top of the bleachers by the speakers when need to hear his kid's name. And the team is losing terribly. The kid comes back linked from halftime ad tells the coach you have to let me play and he goes in and he wins the game. And the last line of the song is the coach asked him like how'd you play? He's so well. And he goes, You know, my dad was blind. He said tonight he passed away. It's the first time that my father seen me play.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:07

Oh, good, man, that's

Robbie Rist 35:13

nobody wants to feel that anymore. Nobody wants to hear that coming out of their radio and I think they're losing out because

Jeff Dwoskin 35:18

I am mad at you for one small reason and that's that you are right, you're gonna be mad at me for why I didn't know that song because luckily

Jeff Dwoskin 35:31

I usually know like older songs. Pretty decent. I got big hairy champion Fan. I got tons of him I really LP and stuff like that. And that one I didn't know because of Glee. And it must have been season one ugly or something like that. Because at some point, I stopped watching.

Robbie Rist 35:47

Yeah. So there you go. Yeah, no, it's true. I think there's a lot of that out there that you know, I mean, even we were talking about I mean, look, there is a terrible 70s singer songwriter, scum beggary, that foot or a foot where a lot of the songs are like, Hey, I'm a sensitive singer, songwriter guy, and I'm trying to put the moves on you, but don't fall in love with me. There's a lot of this kind of stuff that goes on. But even they were like, a lot more. The the seduction part of it was was less, let's just get down to business. And it was really about the build up mostly where now like, and I think in the new time that we live in, I think it's actually really cool that if a couple's gonna get together, there's very little pretense about it anymore. It's sort of like, look, we know that sex is on the plate, do you want to or not? And that is sort of how it kind of comes out in modern popular material. But it's it's definitely not as you know, it's not as cool anymore. And maybe I shouldn't put my hand over your sweater, that kind of thing. MUSIC Today, okay, I'm an old I'm an old man yelling at clouds. It's what I do. I have this. I have a podcast called the spoon. It's called spoon. radio.com go now we have like 450 episodes, a lot of stuff. And but that's one of the things we talked about a lot is how all three of us and we're like, I'm the oldest one I'm 10 years older and everybody else and we're all like old men yelling at clouds. That's where we're at now.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:14

Well, there's worse places to be. I wanted to ask you about a couple of things. Yeah. during my college years, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles loved Michelangelo. So you were Michelangelo so that was that was just really cool. That's all I don't have. I don't know. Why in the movie. In the movie. Yeah. The movie in the movie, the live action actors for the cartoon? Probably. Right, right. I'm talking about the live action movie. Yeah, Teenage Mutant Ninja to secret of movies, and then three,

Robbie Rist 37:41

and then three, which is actually my favorite and everyone's least favorite. But that's how that goes. Sort of, because it's the one that you know, they said you can there's a lot of improvisation that I was allowed to do. And they were like we have a lip flap. We don't know what to put there. I'm like, sit down and watch the master work. But yeah, I mean, that's a that's another one of those things. You know, speaking of the branding thing from earlier I jokingly have for years said I should have marketed myself as Okay, here's the thing I know of at least three jobs that I did that arguably achieved some sort of iconic status so it follows them doesn't it that if you put me in your show the chances of your show becoming iconic go up at least one Robbie ipso facto right I got if so facto it would it would appear so that at least your chances are better doesn't mean it'll app but maybe it will maybe your your chances are better.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:36

I won't disagree with that. I want to Corey Feldman and those who it was the voices really made those movies I think so I mean, that puppetry and all that and carrying out how they did that chart.

Robbie Rist 38:49

I still get told them everybody's favorite Michelangelo want me whatever that means. That's very flattering and very nice. Although I was at an autograph signing. Rob Eastman? No, Robbie played don't one of the turtles. Paulson, God bless America. I only I guess I haven't seen him in three months. So why would his name be? So anyway, Rob Paulsen he plays one of the turtles. He does this charity event every year for Toys for Tots at the Improv in Los Angeles. And this particular year, he had every turtle you can get his hands on so there was me and Greg Cipes. And you know, he was there a couple of the other voiceover people that did it. So while I'm signing, you know my thing, Greg Cipes is talking to Kevin Eastman just over my shoulder. Not they're trying to have me hear them I do. I'm just aware of the fact they're having the conversation and then as I'm signing I hear behind it. Oh, yeah. But you're my favorite Michelangelo. And I almost went Oh, thank you. And then I went oh, he's not talking to so I guess Greg sides is his favorite one fine. So whatever, of

Jeff Dwoskin 39:54

Kevin Clash was Splinter Yes,

Robbie Rist 39:56

he was also mega shredder interesting.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:59

How am I Oh, it was Splinter very.

Robbie Rist 40:01

Yeah, I just I just met him calm a couple years ago. First time really

Jeff Dwoskin 40:06

nice dude and Sam Sam Rockwell was in that original one too.

Robbie Rist 40:10

i Crazy, right? Yeah. And one of his first things. So that's pretty

Jeff Dwoskin 40:13

awesome. And then it was funny because I was doing as I was just as I stumbled on the whole origin of the turtles while I was just looking up some stuff and that it's supposedly that ooze is the same waste that made Matt Murdock Daredevil. I didn't realize that. They don't call it out. But I guess it's implied like they hilarious so and it's all based. It's all like that, like Daredevil fights the hand and the Turtles fight the fight. It's all kind of like a thing. Wow, Daredevil. So I learned that

Robbie Rist 40:41

this connecting of universes thing that you know, you comic book people do, and it's just crazy.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:48

Oh, and then you went on to tell the truth. Like, that was pretty cool. So I love that show. It's fun.

Robbie Rist 40:55

I was. So a friend of mine, who is a comic was the warm up comic that day, and so on there on the panel, we're getting ready to shoot. And I was on To Tell the Truth twice. I think actually, because once in the 90s. And I was just in it like a year or two ago. Those are the first one. I'm on there with a guy named Malcolm bonden, who was the winner of the Nickelodeon biggest television fan on the planet contest at the time, and we're ready to get started shooting it. My friend in the comic was boring, got the audience crossing across the set sees me and goes Robbie. I'm like, Yeah, I almost gave it away. And I still fooled them all, because they all thought it was nice. Yeah. And all my second one, they were trying to say who was the, you know, the turtle, and I fooled them into thinking that it wasn't me. I think really, if the world wants a grasp, like if you're making a movie, and you're thinking about putting me in it, and you want to see the scope of my talent, just watch both of my Java truth episodes.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:57

There you go. And then I did have a question. I found this random trivia. And I was just curious if it's true. Did you not get the role in dinosaurs? The Disney show because of your voice work with Michelangelo?

Robbie Rist 42:09

That's a really good question. I don't know why I didn't get it up disappointed that I didn't get it. I mean, Robbie, as Robbie was meant that, but I don't know, where did you pick that up?

Jeff Dwoskin 42:19

I read that I just went as I was, because I was talking to Stuart penken. And so I was just doing some research on dinosaurs. And one of the random things that said, is that because of your voice work, they were afraid people would hear that voice in this character.

Robbie Rist 42:31

I had no idea. Well, that's Guess what? I have five new part of my story now. That's great. That's hilarious. Yeah, because I sound probably is not a good dude. And they you know, yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 42:40

there you go. All right. Well, I'm sorry to break that to you. Yeah,

Robbie Rist 42:43

no, no, actually, it explains a lot and makes me feel better about not getting because I was like, I was crushing that thing.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:50

Yeah. Oh, see, this is why the universe brought us together. Yeah. I also wanted to talk about you mentioned monster movies earlier. This totally qualifies as a monster movie, but Sharknado Yeah, I love Sharknado. Like, I love all the movies. I do do it. They're my favorite.

Robbie Rist 43:08

Oh, go ahead. Finish your point.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:09

I'm saying I haven't aired yet. But I had like an hour plus conversation with thunder. 11 we went through the first four shark NATO's Yeah, I know you were in the first one. And I know you know, the director and the sixth one right as part of quince right. Yeah, but in the first one you die, but yeah, you don't die by a shark. I was I was

Robbie Rist 43:28

the only I'm among the only actors in those movies. Who doesn't die by shark.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:35

Does that make you feel I mean, everyone because it became a thing. Well, Shark when you were in Sharknado wasn't a thing yet it became to was more of a thing. And then by 3456 it was just every

Robbie Rist 43:45

day that it was all you know, and it's a drag to because Anthony Ferrante, okay, I've known him for a long time, we're friends. But if he was terrible at his job, I'd also go God, he makes shitty movies. Because, you know, I'm afraid of never working again, my career's over, it doesn't matter. So but with funny, I've known him for a really long time. And I believe that the entertainment industry would do well to give him more money and latitude with how that money is spent. Because Anthony, and the only reason any of those movies are any good at all, is because Anthony never gave up on caring about them, even though everyone else was like, let's get the goofy person from the you know, from the video show that's on YouTube, like all of the CAMEO bullshit and all of that, at the very center of it is a movie that he's really trying to make. And they took days away from him, like on all of these movies, they start with like a 19. There he shooting $300 million movies in 19. Well, less than 90 days because they started it and then they start taking days away from I think two was done in 15 days. Um One of the things he did was created an entire action sequence from the ground up in the time it took to go from the Staten Island Ferry to the statue. This man is so gifted and nobody in that universe, nobody in the universe of Sharknado really saw what the thing could have been. They were just obsessed with, you know, let's do another goofy kill. And it really irritates the crap out of me because I would like to see Anthony unleashed, I would like him to, like, here's the thing, if they knew what the hell they were doing, there could have been a big screen version of this where they actually spent the money and it would have been hilarious. It would have been the best straight faced Disaster Movie parody you've ever seen in your life. And it's so frustrating to me that they could have made it so much more than was an Anthony tried. And he tried and he tried, as it turns out, not about like a suit. But even so,

Jeff Dwoskin 46:02

oh, no, it's great. If you if you I don't know if you can see right above my head at the Sharknado it's your it's kind of Yeah, it's your small. Ah, right. I have you can see above my head on.

Robbie Rist 46:12

Oh, there it is. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 46:14

it's signed by ai n Ziering. And Tara Reid.

Robbie Rist 46:17

Oh, right on Yep.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:18

It's super fun. I love it. You're seeing always cracks me up because the AI engineering played it's so straight the whole movie, which is one of the things I think that made it work so well. But just I love you're seeing so fun because the water's coming up. You're the bus driver just so everyone knows who is reflecting back in the movie of the bus full of kids and I engineering fan Shepherd just happens to have all the rappelling equipment needed to go above and repelled down and save literally every single person full. I just I just have that I have that in my trunk.

Robbie Rist 46:50

Good thing. He's a surfer. He was in good shape that I couldn't do that.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:53

And then you did a lot of the music. You did the music for Sharknado

Robbie Rist 46:58

it actually in all of Anthony's movies. Whenever there's a pop song being played. It's Anthony and I he we've done I think there's 60 songs for all the Sharknado movies plus like he has a movie called Headless Horseman that was on Sci Fi. We did music for that. I just did a couple songs for his new movie called The Knicks that we wrote two songs for a Western that he did last year. You know, he basically he comes to me and goes, Look, I want to do this Aerosmith song in my movie, but I can't afford the licensing on an Aerosmith song. So we write an Aerosmith song. And you know, that's it's a way of saving money. Actually.

Jeff Dwoskin 47:36

That's pretty cool. I remember watching it because the opening sequences are so great. And they kept getting better actually, as the movie went on. And I remember going oh, the band's name is Quint. That's clever, because and then finding out that was you.

Robbie Rist 47:51

Yeah, well, that's Anthony. Actually, it's his idea. I'm terrible at naming things. I have a band called ballsy tomorrow see whether the lead

Jeff Dwoskin 47:59

let Anthony named the bands will let

Robbie Rist 48:03

you know Anthony is way more talented than any like maybe one day everyone's gonna find out. But we've done he did. Like I've done a lot of songs that I'm super proud of that I never would write if it wasn't for Anthony. I come from a cheap trick kind of Beatles II kind of rock place. You know, I just wrote a 40 style big band song for him for his last thing. He's really Anthony Ferrante has made me better at what I do.

Jeff Dwoskin 48:31

That's really cool. That's right. Do you have a creative collaborator like that?

Robbie Rist 48:36

Oh, for two for two there is the last song over the credits is you know, he wanted New York, New York and couldn't get it. So we wrote, I'm going to take a bite out of the Big Apple before it takes a bite out of me. It's hilarious. It's really funny. By the way. Speaking of bits in these movies, there is a great Warner Brothers cartoon piece I think in three that the one where they go to space at the amusement park

Jeff Dwoskin 49:03

I think face was 444. Yeah. Okay.

Robbie Rist 49:07

So there's a loop roller coaster, and there's a shark, a shark and one of the cars and it goes around the loop and goes up but can't catch the person. It's swing. Does it three times it's classic Warner Brothers. Just amazing.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:25

Tell Anthony. I love all the movies. They're great.

Robbie Rist 49:27

Yeah, I'm a big movie fan. Anyway, you know, when those things came around, I was working on a I was trying to sell a I made a horror movie around that time called stump the band. It's a it's about a female rock band that gets attacked by three guys collect women's feet. It's on YouTube. You can you can see it. So I was trying to sell it at this Santa Monica film theater like a little mini con thing and I was passing by the asylum booth because I like genre films. I like big bug movies. I like nature run amok. All that stuff that you know, disaster all good for. I'm passing by and they had a poster already. It said Sharknado Nuff said. And I quite literally poked my head into the office and went, excuse me, everyone was talking. I'm like, Excuse me. Dead Silence is this movie about sharks and tornadoes? And somebody looked at me quizzically went, Yeah, I would say thank you. And I walked out and the nine year old in me was screaming all the way to the car. I was like, That is a great day. I'm like,

Jeff Dwoskin 50:32

Oh, my God, I couldn't agree with you more.

Robbie Rist 50:36

We were working on Hansel and Gretel at the time, which is the asylum you'd also do these nature run amok movies, but they also do be versions of movies that are available time. There was a Hansel and Gretel movie out, he made one too. And while we're making it, we're working on a song. He was like, Yeah, you know, I'm looking around for my next project. And the asylum said, Hey, do you want to do Sharknado and I leaped up out of my chair, and I grabbed him by the lapels. And I said, I don't know why, but you have to make this movie. And if you do, I have to be in it. He very gently grabbed my wrists and pulled them away from his lapel and said, Oh, okay, I don't think that he did the movie because I suggested, you know, I was gonna be physically violent with him if he didn't, but I definitely did tell him that I'm like, you have to do this. I don't know why. But there's something about because the word Sharknado says more than about what you need to know about the movie that a trip to the bountiful does. It was

Jeff Dwoskin 51:35

a brilliant marketing, everything. Everything was just amazing. Yeah, I mean, it just blew up. Well, the time has just flown by. I can't thank you for hanging out with me. Right? We

Robbie Rist 51:47

didn't do it again. Someday. You know, I'm around. I'll just I might be late again.

Jeff Dwoskin 51:52

That would be amazing. There's so much we will do a whole hour on Galactica 1980 Next time.

Robbie Rist 51:56

Yeah. Might as well. Yeah. Good. You know what I get on the crappy 105 all the crappy Galactica like it's a show about about it's wagon train in space wagon train is never supposed to get to the wagon trade. Gasconade jet. That's how you tell that story. Did you ever see Star last Jesus?

Jeff Dwoskin 52:17

They blew it? And that's why I think Oh, but you were only in like, I think the first three like then they

Robbie Rist 52:22

Yeah, no. Then I got replaced by someone named Patrick Stewart. Not the same one weird weird where there's more of my boy. When I write that book. Every every chapter is gonna end with weird, right. So

Jeff Dwoskin 52:34

weird. Hey, tell everyone where they can find you on the webs and socials?

Robbie Rist 52:39

The requisite places Instagram, Facebook, the spoon. radio.com Robbierist.net. I'm starting a little political action group selling T shirts called Lean Florida left. What else am I doing? I'm trying to get a bunch of animated stuff off the I don't know, job easy to find. And I'm fairly available. Let's find me.

Jeff Dwoskin 53:01

Just find them. Robbie.

Robbie Rist 53:03

It's not that hard. It's not that hard. And as opposed to most people who do this thing. I'm like, What do you want with me? Fine. I'll answer a question care. No reason I should be here anyway. So everything is great.

Jeff Dwoskin 53:15

Well, I'm happy you're here. And it was great to very much gravy. Thank you so much. It was really fun. Yeah, well,

Robbie Rist 53:22

and, uh, one of my closest friends is from Toledo. And I have been to Detroit to be on the Mitch album show. Oh, yeah. Mitch album. Yeah, a long time ago. The building that his radio show was in was, I guess, one of the former car buildings. I have never seen a more beautiful blue tile mosaic lobby in I was like, Dubs. I just said, can we just stay here? Just run a mic down. I just want to be in this lobby and look at the gorgeous. That's, that's my Detroit story. That's not a very good one. But

Jeff Dwoskin 53:52

it's Wow. Yeah, but I guess that's all we got. I'll take it. Robbie, thank you so much. Thank you, sir. All right. How amazing was Robbie Rist. It's a rare interview where I can't keep up with the trivia being thrown out by my guests. But Robbie had me bested a few times. They're super fun talking to Robbie, who doesn't love cousin Oliver. I know. Go tell everyone. Hey, go listen to jazz podcasts. Cousin Oliver was on Jeff's podcast. i Well, that was super fun. Check out Robbie's website to keep up with Robbie and also now that you have all the facts you can make your own decisions about cousin Oliver syndrome and whether cousin Oliver did or did not take down the Brady Bunch you know a team I'm on I'm on Team Robbie Rist he didn't but he loves the fact that people think he did so anyway, that was cool. All right.

Jeff Dwoskin 54:40

Well with the interview over, it can only mean one thing and that's right it's time for another trending hashtag when the family of hashtags it hashtag or round up download the free hashtag roundup app the Google Play Store iTunes App Store, follow us on Twitter at hashtag roundup tweet along with us and one day one of your tweets may show on a future episode of Classic conversations, fame and fortune awaits you. All right, the hashtag for this episode is hashtag modern Brady Bunch plots are originally brought to us by hashtag giants a game on hashtag round up or going deep into the archives for this one all the way back to 2019 for modern Brady Bunch plots let's take the Brady Bunch into the 2000s with these updated plot points to read your own #ModernBradyBunchPlots tweet tag us at Jeff Dwoskin show on Twitter. I'll show you some Twitter love all these tweets I'm about to read or retweeted at Jeff Dwoskin show show them some Twitter love All right, let's give the Schwartz's Brady Bunch fodder for an update of the ages with these #ModernBradyBunchPlots tweets, Marcia got the credit for Jan's tweet Oh Marsha Marsha Marsha Cal Brady is caught in a cheating scandal to get Jan into UC Berkeley. Sometimes moms will just do anything for their daughters. Their Brady house is featured on fixer upper and they finally get a toilet behind me. They don't have to be backed up anymore. Marsha gets an iPhone 11 While Jan is forced to use Marsha's old iPhone eight. It's so typical of Marsha to do to Jan these are some amazing #ModernBradyBunchPlots but there's more either during the tiki statue into a bowl or as medical marijuana crackerjack Personal Injury Lawyer Bobby defies the statute of limitations and Sue's Marcia is plastic surgeon for a botched rhinoplasty after the football incident Oh my nose Oh my nose call your lawyer Marcia becomes a social media influencer amazing #ModernBradyBunchPlots the Brady's get laughed off stage at America's Got Talent when it's time to change. No eSports in the house. That's a good rule. Entire family is looking down at their phones at dinner. Well, can you blame them? Alice made pork chops and applesauce again. And I find I'll #ModernBradyBunchPlots cousin Oliver starts his own YouTube channel. All right, I think it's time to bring the Brady Bunch back. All right, Floyd Schwartz is listening. And why shouldn't he be he was featured in a previous episode of the podcast. Let's Reboot the Brady's. Let's get this going. All right, well, with the hashtag over and the interview over calling me one thing, Episode 152. It's come to an end. Can't believe it. Another one has come and gone. So excited to share this with ya. Special thanks to my guest, Robby wrist. And of course, thanks to all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 57:56

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai