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Now, on with the show. I need a set. All day, let's go all day, all day, all day. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Into the end zone!
That's two for Trayvion Henderson. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Trayvion Henderson, a hat trick. Earlier on the show, seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker Terrell Subbs. NFL Network Insider Tom Pellicero.
Coming up. Actor Tracy Lentz. And now, Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air on Disney Plus, the ESPN app and ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance Sirius XM Channel 80. If you missed any of the first two hours, we had Terrell Suggs in studio, went down memory lane with the Baltimore Raven, also talked about the present day, asked him who's the best pass rusher in the league, the best player he played with back in the day.
I think you can pretty much guess the answers, but I'm not going to tell you them. If you missed it. There's our podcast, all three hours available however you get your podcast. There's also the tile on our Disney Plus page. As soon as this show's over, boom, you hit it.
You can watch it whenever you want. That's your rights. And that's also the way that we do it. You can watch us live. You can listen to us live.
You could watch us when you want. You can listen to us when you want. There's our YouTube channel as well, youtube.com/slash rich eyes and show 1.01 million subscribers and growing every single day. We did what's more likely as well, an hour number two, Tracy Letz, the actor who's great in everything. Including a house of dynamite, which is on Netflix right now, and it is nightmare fuel.
It is an incredible movie directed by Catherine Bigelow, and she's great at what she does, and it's a great cast, and he's in it, and he's great in everything that he's in. He's about to join us, and we'll have some fun with him when he comes out here in about 18 minutes' time. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial here on the program. Jeff in Detroit has been hanging on. What's up, Jeffrey?
It's been a while. What's going on, my cousins, on this beautiful Friday? What's going on? Just chilling. Clark, coordinator, you owe me a cup of coffee, Rich, because I spit mine out when you say that at the beginning of the week.
It looks like it's hilarious. It is very. Pretty much true, though. You know, once he started taking over those play calling duties, it ended up being pretty cool. Speaking of that.
We're just now getting to the point where we're winning here in Detroit, and Chris brought up an excellent point. Listening to Johnny Morton versus A.J. Brown is something else. You know, it's like. You accept what's going on within the organization.
It's all about the team. Then you have somebody else talking about, eh?
Well, I'm not getting my touches. You're top of the NFL. You're top of the NFC. Come on, dude. You know, just chill out.
And I love the way that the organization of the Eagles organization have adopted the Officer Barbrady way of things. Nothing to see here. Just keep moving along. You know, nothing to see here. And also I had Bill Rafferty The other day.
Yeah. Oh, Bill Raftery is aces. Oh, that's so cool, man. Listen, he is so nice. We laughed at the airport three times at about 1 a.m.
talking basketball. I'm like, nobody will believe. I'm sitting here. One o'clock in the morning talking basketball, but Bill's affording he doesn't want to get out of my car. The nicest man that I have ever met.
He is golden. I would have I I knowing you and knowing him, I would have loved to have been uh in that car. As well. For sure, especially since I knew he probably might have had a bottle of red that he was about to open. No, no, no, I swear to God, he stopped at the restaurant.
He said, Well, after the game, he said, Well, I'm gonna stop and have a little bit of food, and you know, I'll be out a little later. When he came out, man, well, listen, he's the greatest. That's so great. Thanks for passing it along. We worked with his daughter, Kelly, at Roku as well.
She's as dynamite a human as dad. Apple didn't fall far.
So, thanks for the call. That's Jeff in Detroit. All right, Jeff. I just want to say this about A.J. Brown, okay.
Um Uh I've been around receivers. A lot. One of my favorite human beings on the planet. Michael Irvin. been around him.
Dion spent some time as receiver, right? I mean,. I've been around a lot of 'em. And I've been a lot around a lot of them who have been distractions.
Okay. I think have I said this to Terrell Owens when he's been on the air here? That In the first few years of NFL Network, nobody made me late for dinner more than him. Nobody. Favre came close, waiting for his press conferences to be done about is he going to stay or not.
Wide receivers Are ball dependent more than any other player on the field. You could sit here and say, Well, running backs are ball-dependent. Yeah, I mean, they. They are. And receivers, just like running backs, do have blocking responsibilities.
When you look at Puka Nakua's superpower. A lot of it is blocking, too. He's like another tight end on the field sometimes. He's so physical. But I'm just bringing this up: they are ball-dependent.
They need the football in order for them. To do their jobs, and they also need the football in order for them to be paid. And in this day and age, The pay is tantamount to respect. A.J. Brown has that, as we know.
But for him to be in this sport. And seeing The other wide receivers get fed. And seeing the other wide receivers be the game changers that they can be, certainly when they're one of the physical types outside the numbers and across the middle, and he's not fed. You're going to hear it. And he's not doing it in the locker room right after the game.
He does take to his social accounts and he does. go on Twitch and act normal. Let the smile be his umbrella. And he may be surprised sometimes at the blowback that occurs. But he still tries his ass off.
I don't get the sense he's turning it off in the games because he's packing it in. I never get the sense of that. You know. I never get the sense of that with him. Receivers again.
I mention it all all the time. They're the furthest from the football. Spatially.
So that's also, I think, a reason why they're the most vocal to be heard. Yo. I'm open. Yeah. All the way out here by the numbers.
Somebody, for some reason, is 10 yards off me. Even if they're not. Uh uh At the end of the day, If they can handle whatever he's dishing out. With his thumbs. Or just Having fun at his expense, and with his situation with Janky Rondo.
And it sure looks like they can handle it. Big deal. Especially when you kind of really listen to his gripe. He turns a legitimate one, don't you think? Yeah, because he's like, look, we can't rest on our basically, he's saying we can't rest on last year's laurels.
He goes, and we can't just pick it up.
Okay. at the end of the season when things get a little tough. I think that's kind of what I took. Yeah, it's a a switch can't just be flipped. Honestly, I mean, everybody in their profession, what if?
What if you were uh uh that's why I don't I don't discount. And it doesn't strike me as toxic. But you're nuanced and you're intelligent and you don't jump to conclusions. Please tell me more.
Well, the average fan's just going to see. Kind of what he's doing, and just write it off as, oh, he's complaining, even though they're winning. Why would you be complaining? Right. And it's a lot, it's a lot deeper.
Because it's, you want to be in the mix, you want to be part of it. You want to. And and you're also Again, it's an ego-driven world. The wide receiver position I would imagine outside of quarterback is the most ego-driven position in the sport. Hmm.
And There are others who are dominating. Corner, maybe. And killing. Corners aren't as loud and vocal about their frustrations as received.
Well, I'll tell you what. The one frustration I heard from Pat Sertan when he was on our Zoom prior to the Jets game is he doesn't see enough action. Yeah. Yeah. Because his job is to prevent action from occurring against his team.
True. And nobody's testing him because he's that good. Like that, right? You know. Where where he would not see a ball thrown His way for 60 minutes.
Mm-hmm.
Well 844-204 Rich is the number to dial. I have a top five list, everybody. Hey, what do you think? I do this every duty, every single Friday. There's a game in the books, but that doesn't mean the week is anything but.
Top five matchups of week 11 presented by Hyundai, please. High five. One, two, three, four, and five. Richest top five. All right, everybody.
My top five matchups of week number 11 presented by Hyundai. Number five on my list. I'm going to go Bears and Vikings. Really? I'm going to go Bears at Vikings.
I'm going to go Chicago at 6-3. And Vikings at four and five. The Lions are playing at night. The Packers are playing the Giants at the same time. The Bears have worked their way.
From their O and Two start. Into Winning. Six of seven. And have worked their way into second place. And the Packers They'll keep an eye up on that screen.
And the lions at night. Against the Eagles. Who the Bears are playing the day after Thanksgiving? I'm telling you. Bears are making a run here.
And the Vikings need this one. Vikings have to hold serve at home, go five and five, and tell the Bears: not here, not today. As a matter of fact, J.J. McCarthy has swept you. And that's a big leg up for this team.
Vikings sweeping the Bears means the Vikings are not out of the mix in this division.
So that's why I'm keeping an eye on this. J.J. McCarthy, as we all know, what he did in the fourth quarter against the Bears. Otherwise, the Bears would have been 1-0.
So I can't wait to see what it looks like on Sunday in this big game. Number four on the list is Bucks at Bills, which could be a marquee game if it weren't for the other three. Um Two MVP quarterbacks, right? Mayfield was talked about the MVP of the league for five, six weeks. And then Josh Allen, after beating the Chiefs, was an odds-on-favorite.
And then they went ahead and lost to Miami. Can he get his mojo back? Yeah, baby. Bills need it in order for them to keep pace with the rampaging 9-2 Patriots. The Bucs.
Want to stay in front of it? I made of all the other contenders, if you will. In their division? But they going 7-3, winning in western New York, and starting to get healthier would be a nice boost. And it's just going to be a fun game.
It's just gonna be a fun game. Train whistles that whole business. Number three on the list. The Denver Broncos against the Kansas City Chiefs in Denver, Colorado. Chiefs coming off of a bye.
Coming off of a loss before the buy. They're not happy. They are one of those teams that sits on a loss and stews. And now they had an extra week to do it. And Andy Reid is outstanding, as we know, coming off of a bye.
And the Denver Broncos would love to serve notice that not anymore. There's a changing of the guard, and it is occurring in front of all the fans here in Denver. And can the Broncos start fast? Because I think they're going to have to. I don't think they're, if they have trouble on offense in the first three quarters, like they've had, or even the full four.
I don't think the Chiefs, despite how good defensively the Broncos are, are going to. are going to suffer.
So I'm looking at RJ Harvey. I know When Sean Payton spoke to us before that game against the Jets. in our pre-broadcast Zoom He was saying R.J. Harvey is going to be a star in this league, and essentially said. The only reason why he's not a star yet is because I'm holding him back.
Because we got another guy, J.K. Dobbins, and we're bringing him along. And at some point in this season, we're going to start putting more on his plate. And I think due to the Dobbins injury, And the way that you're seeing Trevion Henderson start to take things over in New England. I'm looking at R.J.
Harvey as the d as the way through for Denver. Mm. Number two on this list. Seahawks and Rams. Yeah, buddy.
Cooper Cup coming back to Los Angeles. Everybody's waiting to see what that. uh tribute video is gonna look like. Cooper Cup was asked about it. Do you remember what his response was?
He goes, I'm not dead. I'm not dead. I'm still here. He's got a point. Very funny.
And as a matter of fact, he had a very nice Cooper Cup-like yards after the catch-type play for a Seattle team that hasn't had a play four quarters in a while. It's been a while since Sam Darner was forced to play a full game at the quarterback spot because they're just boat racing people. And then there's the Rams who are top MyPower rankings because they are playing the best. football, I believe, on both sides of the ball. Because Matthew Stafford is as red hot as a quarterback has ever been.
Nobody's ever thrown four or more touchdowns in three straight games with no interceptions like he has. He's been amazing. Pooka. And Devante. And Kyron and Balake, and every tight end under the sun that you could probably pick up on your fantasy league right now.
Against this defense that has been terrific for Seattle. Can't wait. Winner goes to 8-2 and has a chance to tie the Eagles if they beat the Lions on Sunday night football to lead this conference. And that obviously is game number one: Lions and Eagles. Did you know the Eagles since 2022.
Have uh the Fourth best record in primetime, 13 and 5. You know, who's atop that list? The Lions, 13 and 2.
So they love playing under the lights. They're both 2-1 in primetime this season. The winner of this game will join three other teams as the only teams with three or more wins in primetime this season. You want to guess who they are? I've mentioned all three two of the three so far in this conversation.
Chiefs and Seahawks. And the Chargers. Yes, indeed. And um Both of these quarterbacks perform well under the lights. It's the Dan Campbell first game on the road coordinating the offense, calling the plays.
Clark coordinator will be out there with his glasses and his big-ass play sheet. You know? Very rare. Very rare for head coach to walk into a building and tell Big Dom I'm bigger than you. That's what Super Dan Campbell can do.
I don't know if he's bigger than me. I don't know. I would love to see the two of them prior to the game just talking to each other. Was it McAdoo who also had the giant playshot? Yeah, he did.
I can't wait for this. A.J. Brown, is he going to get targeted? This, that, the other. AJ Brown might have a huge game.
I can't wait for it. It's going to be great, man. It's going to be great. Huge test for both teams. What's the over-under on that one, Chris?
That's my top five matchups of week number 11. You have one more that I've forgotten. That's my boy who couldn't be happier about the Patriots winning. A man. And.
First thing Zan's gonna say when he walks in on the Chiefs Chargers game is Taylor there. One more. Yep. Packers and Giants. The Packers.
I have a two-game losing streak. The Packers have a fan base. Many of them have lost their minds over this two-game losing streak. It was just three games ago, Jordan Love and that offense was on tilt against the Steelers team that turned around and. Smacked around the Indianapolis Colts.
But while that was happening, Jordan Love celebrated his 27th birthday by taking a birthday punch at home from the Carolina Panthers and then. The eagles stroll in. And the offense could not support a team. that gave up just 10 points to this Eagles offense. And Matt LaFleur is openly asked about his job status and his play calling duties.
Nuts. And at the same time, there's the New York Giants. Who just fired their coach and have made a change at quarterback? Yes, part of the reason why. I am looking at this game is because Jameis Winston.
It's by You were referring to it before. TJ Jefferson, here is the sound bite that everybody's talking about: about Jameis. being excited for the start. I want fans to know that I'm gonna do my best. You know, obviously I'm gonna have fun, but I'm gonna execute, have a surgical execution and just play ball, man.
Like, this is something I've been doing since I've been four years old.
Now I just get to do it in the greatest city in the world. I'm gonna be saying it with my son, it's the greatest city in the world. Yeah, that's that's a Hamilton reference, if y'all don't know. And a teen year reunion. There you go.
It's interesting. The Hamilton song I would say that I would think he would be singing was: I'm not throwing away my shot. See, I don't know what to do. Oh, isn't that interesting? That I don't know him.
What does that mean? I'm not. What does that mean? Why? 'Cause I I know you like musicals.
I mean, I've been in a few, not since, you know, high school. Listen. Jameis Winston's back, people. And I can't wait to see what he can do because, in his three career games against Green Bay, his aggregate totals are seven touchdowns, no interceptions. And this guy likes throwing interceptions.
He doesn't like it. He just doesn't mind. There's not a window he's ever seen that he thinks is too small. I can't wait for this. Like a hooper thinking there's not a shot they can't make.
And those are my top five matchups of week number 11, presented by Hyundai. 844-204-Rich, number to Donald. Don't go anywhere. We'll take your phone calls in a matter of moments here on this busy Friday edition of The Rich Eisen Show. I was in Lil Abner, by the way.
Good to know. Yeah. As many of you know, supporting pediatric cancer research is something I care deeply about. That's why I'm proud to share what Hyundai is doing through Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 27 years, with every Hyundai sold, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research.
Alongside over 850 dealers, they've raised more than $277 million, helping over 25,000 kids and supporting more than 1,400 research grants at 175 institutions nationwide. This year alone, they've committed another $27 million in honor of the 27th anniversary of the program. And they're proud to have national youth ambassadors like Jackson Trin and Emmy Cole who bring hope to kids across the country by sharing their stories. Because at Hyundai, Hope is our greatest feature and it comes standard. Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more.
Rick Jarzin here for Sonos, the speakers that bring every game to life in my own house. With studio quality sound, Sonos makes you feel like you're right there in the stadium. Whether you're cheering on your team, binging your favorite show, or listening to the hottest songs, Sonos fills every room with incredible sound. Setup is easy. Just plug in, open the Sonos app, and you're ready to go.
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Back here on the Rich Isen Show on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance.
So, Tracy Lutz just walked in the door. It's raining here, Rich Eisenhower. I know that. Crazy things happen in Los Angeles. And so, long story short, we're just going to do a quick segment here and then take a break.
Um and get on down the line. No surprise to me that Shoey Otani is another MVP season for him. No surprise. There are some Dodger fans here who can't believe that. Dave Roberts did not get a single vote for manager of the year.
I was surprised by the two managers. The Dodgers' regular season award, man. And the Dodgers' regular season wasn't as lights out as everybody expected it to be. Yeah, and plus, when you had that much success, they're not. It's not a Dave Roberts reason why they didn't.
You know Have as great a regular season. It's just the grind, and things happen, man, and injuries and things of that nature. But at the end of the day, who had one of the greatest postseasons in the history of managing? Uh Dave Roberts. All right, like there's no question that this man pushed every possible button right.
When it all came down, but it's a regular season award. It just is. And in that respect, Cal Raleigh's 60. Home run season. He got 13 first place votes, 17 second place votes, the exact mirror opposite.
of Aaron Judge. 17 first place votes, 13 second place votes, and he's a back-to-back most valuable player. He had an incredible season. He did indeed. I mean, the guy hit 330 in 50 home runs, beat out a guy 240 and 60.
Um Although, you know, catching. You got to throw that in there for Cal Raleigh. A very special season, but every other metric that you can measure. Offensively, judge. Had a ridiculous campaign in that respect, too.
It just goes back to Judge was most outstanding, and Raleigh was valuable. And also, what are you going to remember most about this season? I love Aaron Judge, he's amazing. But you're going to remember what Cal Rowley did this year. You're not going to really remember what Aaron Judge did.
Again, you're right. Outstanding valuable. It's the marriage to the playoff to the playoffs. It's outstanding and valuable. I think there just needs to be a distinction or two awards.
It's something that we argue about all the time. All the time. But I mean, the run that Judge has put on, what, the last, say, five, six years. Incredible. Nearly unprecedented.
It would be great if, you know, the general manager got some people who make contact to get on base for Judge to knock in. Yeah. And then, you know, get some people behind him who make contact so Judge can knock them in. Yeah. He can get knocked in by them, is what I meant.
Imagine if he actually advanced people instead of just striking out. Matchy actually played on the team that ran New York, too. That would be the same. Could you imagine that was wonderful?
Sonos are the speakers that bring every game to life in my house whenever Judge makes you all rise. I just ignored what you said. Don't worry about it. Whether you're cheering on your team, binging your favorite show, or listening to the hottest song, Sonos fills every room with incredible sound. Setup is easy.
Just plug in, open the Sonos app, and you're ready to go. And of course it makes movies sound that much better. Explore soundbars, speakers, and more at sonos.com.
Sonos, they look as good as they sound. I watched A House of Dynamite on a system that had sonos. It was awesome. Tracy Letz is here. Let's take a break and talk to the Pulitzer Prize Tony Award winner, one of the best actors around.
Coming up next.
Okay. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Tracy Letz, who's in a house of dynamite, available now for streaming exclusively on Netflix. And the thing about this movie that is so brilliant. Tracy, is it's basically about 20 minutes of time.
From different perspectives, and how everybody in the United States government or military is reacting to. the reality. of a missile coming from some place In the Asian theater, heading towards the United States, coming for Chicago. And it may be.
Some sort of a cyber attack as well to make you think it's happening, or it's possible that Chicago may not be wiped out if the missile does land, and how everybody from the President of the United States to other people in the military, other people in the federal government, are reacting to it. And it's just jaw-dropping the entire time. Yeah, it's pretty scary. It's, I mean, 20 minutes is not very long. No.
And that's. That actually buys a little time. There are some launches that could be as quick as 12 minutes. And so I think one of the ideas the movie presents is we're all on phones and screens, and that's what we're going to have to rely on. We're going to have to rely on people in their various stations.
If in fact they're at their stations or can get to their stations, right? Our Secretary of Or is the National Security Council head is having a colonoscopy, and so he's not available to get on the call.
So how are we going to pull it all together in 20 minutes' time? How is one expected to do that?
Well, and again, your character's first seen in a Zoom square. Because the movie starts, I believe, in the White House. Right. And you're on a Zoom talking from your position about what's happening. And then Then we go back in time to how you, your character, then we see you physically showing up for work that day, just like it's any other day.
As a matter of fact, I believe your character is talking about the Major League Baseball All-Star game and marveling at the baseball acumen of Francisco Lindor. Right. And then all of a sudden, two minutes later, The world could be ending. And how do you act? How does one react?
It really is an amazing sort of. um human condition. Drama that we're looking at here. Those guys in Stratcom, a couple of the background players in the scene, were three and they are three and four-star generals who have served most of their careers in Stratcom. And so they know it very well.
And they were a constant source of reference.
So they're real?
Some of those background actors? Yeah. Actual, real Stratcom individuals? No, they're real. And these scenarios, they drill them 400 times a year.
No kidding. Yeah. They're very experienced at drilling these. Various possibilities. And I mean, we tried to recreate everything with as much.
Specificity and just documentary attention to detail. And of course, we had these guys to rely on and turn to them at every step of the way and say, Is this when the book would come out? Is this how the guy would show us the menu in the book to decide whether or not we're going to, you know, here, what are the protocols? How does this go on? Retaliate, potentially, right?
And then, you know, Jared Harris playing the Secretary of Defense at one point, and this is, I don't think I'm giving anything away. It's a scary movie where he's talking about if you can shoot the missile down. And he's told the odds of the missile being shot down is close to 50-50. And he basically screams like $50 billion for an F and coin flip. Is that real?
It's not only real, it's probably more like $500 billion. And it's a coin flip under the best of circumstances. Dude, I'm not sleeping tonight, Tracy. And I made the mistake of watching a movie shortly before bedtime. Yeah, that's pretty scary.
I I keep uh suggesting to them that the tagline in the poster should be, and you thought you had enough to worry about. Right. It's on Netflix. Everybody, check it out. And again, so you're also a writer in your own right.
You won a Pulitzer Prize for writing August Osage County, which won a Tony, if I'm not mistaken, as well. And you want a Tony for acting in another production. That's true. I will just put that all out there. But how are you when you see a script?
You take a look at it as an actor or a writer? When you're writing when you're looking at a script. I think if I'm doing my job as an actor, that I'm looking at it. I mean, I guess they're not that dissimilar. You're looking for the quality of the material.
And actors can do that just as well as writers can. I mean, the first question my wife and I ask is. Where does it shoot and when does it shoot, right? We have two little kids, so there's all sorts of practical considerations. Don't tell us anything.
Don't tempt me with a good time. Don't tell me anything about it until I know whether or not I can do it. And then, yeah, then the consideration: my conversation with my wife is always about the quality of the script.
Now, occasionally, it has to do with the person. behind the wheel. Catherine Bigelow, I'm in. The script is great, and I'm happy to do the script, but I'm in from jump just because it's Catherine Bigelow. She's a great director.
Well, again, you brought this up, so I'll walk through the door.
So, were you on daddy duty when your wife was shooting White Lotus in Thailand? Hell, yes. Hell, yes. I was. How old are your kids?
Four and seven. Damn. Yeah. Okay, so she's off white lotusing in Thailand. Yeah.
And you're. Yeah, she's like, I'm leaving to go sleep with Russians in Thailand. And I'm just like, okay, all right. I guess I'm a single father in Westchester. Yeah, that's the reality of it.
Pretty much. Pretty much. Outstanding. Tracy, let's hear on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, let's jump into some other works of yours.
Again, I'm a big fan, so I might fanboy on you a little bit here, Tracy.
So we just saw the clip from A House of Dynamite, and in that clip, was coach Jack McKinney. and Jerry West. From Winning Time. Yeah. Okay.
The actor Jason Clark was sitting in the White House Situation Room. You're sitting in Stratcom. And your character in Winning Time, Coach Jack McKinney, is without a doubt. the least known and potentially most important Individual for the Showtime winning Lakers because he was the coach when Magic was there, and he brought a very special brand of offense that was, in fact, Showtime. basketball How did you learn about him?
What did you learn about? You know, I remember, I'm old enough that I remember the Showtime Lakers very well. Sure. And I didn't recall anything about Jack McKinney, accident, anything else. I mean, it wasn't until I read Jeff's book that we based the show on that I learned about Jack McKinney.
Yeah, he's a remarkable guy and a really important part of NBA history. Very unfortunately, I got forgotten. I was glad to do it just to shed a little light on that dude. Yeah, because you, I mean, you brought to life somebody that. You said you watched it, don't remember it.
A lot of people have been like, wait a minute.
So. Pat Riley and Paul Westhead weren't just the first guys. There was one guy who brought the X's and O's to the equation and then had a terrible bike accident and a head injury and gone. Three weeks into the season, a month into the season? Yeah.
How did you research this role? Oh, it was in the book. It was all in the book. It was all in the pages. You know, the guys who wrote the scripts for Winning Time, they went even deeper than the book, and they really did their research.
We got some heat for not being completely. Accurate, especially if some players didn't like the way they were portrayed in the series. But I have to say, It's really well researched and it's actually a lot It's a lot more accurate than people probably realize when they watch the show. Right. And just the I miss the show.
I really wish it could have finished. Oh, me too. Yeah, it's a shame. It's really expensive, it's really hard to recreate. NBA playoff games from 1980 on a T V budget of any size, really.
It's really hard. And Jerry Buss is John C. Riley is Jerry Buss. I mean, were there times where you you You had to sort of quit from maybe just breaking up laughing because there's John C. Riley dressed in that outfit and with his.
With his shirt open and the whole 70s thing. It was just superb. I just love doing it. I've known John for 30 plus years. We were both in Chicago at the same time.
He's from Chicago originally.
So I've known John a long time. And he was just so perfect for that show. It was just such ideal casting. I was really happy to do it with John. Right.
And so, are you a basketball fan in any way, shape, or something? I am. I'm kind of fair weather. I was in Chicago for the Jordan years, and then after Jordan retired, I'm like. What, am I just going to go off in the desert to watch for bad basketball?
To watch people who don't just show up, rip the other people's hearts out pumping and win championships. You saw with Shaq and Kobe, it's like, oh, this is going to be their time. It's like, do I really need to watch their time? I hate the Lakers. I don't want to watch their time.
Well, I got to be honest with you. I mean, like, they should make a TV show out of the last dance. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like a winning time for the Bulls era would be pretty amazing.
I think people would watch that. You know, maybe.
So would you play Doug Collins? Would that be the Doug Collins? Probably Jared Krause. How would you play Jerry Krause, Terry?
Well, with a big wig. I bet so. I bet so. So, and Adam McKay had something to do with that show, right?
Okay, and so were you placed in it as well because you had already been in the big short or something like that? Is that something connected to it? The big short had anything to do with it or not. I had worked with Adam on that, and then Adam and I had made a. A series of funny little shorts for his funnier guy.
I played Dick Cheney in this series of little shorts we did. And so Adam and I, I've known his wife forever too.
So we had a relationship. Whether or not that had anything to do with my casting on Winning Time, I don't know. You know, they shot the pilot and then it went away forever because of COVID. And then as it came back, I wasn't in the pilot.
So when I came back for the second episode, it was already done and in the can.
So I never even saw Adam on the set. And it's interesting that Adam makes a movie about Dick Cheney. Yeah, right. That was my call. I don't know.
He went with another guy from the big short instead. Yeah, I know. And I said to Christian, you know, if you just cast me, you wouldn't have had to. Put on all that damn weight. Yeah.
Your scenes with Christian Bale in the big short are just. Awesome. Where were you ad-libbing anything in that scene? Hell no. Nothing.
Where you wanted your money back, and you're like giving me a money. Yeah, there's probably a little ad-lib at the end of that when I'm asking for my money back. But again, that financial language is Greek to me. I have no idea. I mean, we really had to learn that.
It was harder to learn that language than it was to learn the military speak for. House of Bounty. Is that right? Yeah, it's really. I mean, if you don't know money, I don't know anything about money.
Mm-hmm.
You know, you just don't want to lose it, you know? Which is your character's motivation, I believe, in that scene, you know. Because I just know Adam McKay and the people who have been in his movies, he stands off to the side, starts screaming lines at you. You try this one, try that one. We didn't do a lot of that.
Okay. We didn't do a lot of that on that movie.
Okay. But you just that scene again is something that I keep watching over and over again. Certainly, since you know Christian Bale's character is ripped straight from the current headlines, too, today. I'll tell you the truth.
So I worked with Christian and I went back to my trailer and I googled, is Christian Bale a jerk? Because he wasn't especially friendly. But the character he was playing was not friendly to me. I thought, well, maybe he's in character. And then we worked together again on Ford v.
Ferrari and Again, we had very, he didn't like me. We didn't have anything to do with each other in the movie. And then we went to promote Ford v. Ferrari. And so we were done with all the filming we had done together over a couple of years.
We went to promote Ford V. Ferrari, nicest guy in the world. You know, when he wasn't playing the part. You know, Christian is a guy who wears the part at all times, and it's his process. And he's an absolutely great actor.
And it is a vital part of how he creates the performances he does.
So when I met him, just him. Oh, what a lovely guy. Just a lovely, charming, funny guy. I love that. Yeah.
And in Ford V. Ferrari, you play Henry Ford's son. Yeah. And another scene that keeps on popping up in my algorithm is the scene where Matt Damon. Is driving you around in the car.
Yeah. And you wind up. Hysterically crying. Can you walk me through that scene and what was on the page and what you did and what was happening?
Well, it was all on the page. I mean, we got out to do it, and we. Mr. Mangold and I, the director, we knew that it was a key moment in the movie. We knew it was really important in the film.
And he had smartly created the circumstances so that I could have some adrenaline going through my body when we shot it.
So we were actually, there was a camera unit called a biscuit. It's called that because they developed it for the movie Sea Biscuit. And it allows, it's actually the car that's driving us in the car. The camera is on the car that's. Pulling us.
So, Matt isn't actually driving the car. The biscuit is driving the car. But it gets up to some.
Some high speeds. We got up to about 100 miles an hour out on the tarmac and some hairpin turns and stuff.
So we went out and we did that for a couple of minutes before screeching the car to a halt. And then the cameras were all mounted on the car and starting the scene from there. It was great fun. You know, hard, but good, the good kind of hard. I mean, it was fun to do.
It was. I wasn't so much scared of the speed. It was very claustrophobic. Those cars are built very low to the ground. They're not built for big guys like me.
I mean, I'm. 6'3, you know, they're not made for guys like me. And you're you're you're really horizontal, you're about eight inches above the ground. Yes. The roof of the car is right there.
The camera's mounted here, so you can't open the door. You're in a suit, you're in makeup, you're what, you know, all that stuff going on. It's pretty sweaty business. You make a man cry. Yeah.
So you were not fearful for your health at any point in time? No, I wasn't fearful.
Okay, that's good. Because the character starts crying because he wishes his dad could see the car that has been built to beat Ferrari. And that was an easy, emotional thing to tap into. You know, we've all got dads. Sure.
Last one for you here. A lot of people might not know you were in one of the best Seinfeld episodes of all time called The Strike. Yeah. Because it was the Festivus episode. Right.
You play the, I believe, what, OTB operator that meets Elaine. Yeah. And then Kramer, somehow, I don't want to take up too much time through HH bagels, winds up bringing you to the dinner at which the festivus ceremony took place. Yeah. How did you keep a straight face during this?
I didn't. I broke. Everybody broke. We broke a lot, yeah. And we didn't have a studio audience.
We were it was the Thanksgiving week, and so they didn't even bring in a studio audience for the taping.
So there's no audience there. We were just cracking each other up around the table. And I have to say, Jerry Stiller is Maybe the funniest person I've ever Matt uh seen work in my life. I mean, he's just hysterically funny. And he'd just open his mouth and people would just start cracking up.
He's just so damn funny. In fact, I I will tell you a real highlight of that of that day of shooting, we were at the craft services table and Mr. Stiller came up to me and he's very soft-spoken. And he said, What's your name? And I told him my name, and he said, You're very funny.
I was like, I'm going to take that with me. Oh, wow. There's a retirement fantastic. But I mean, we have a drop that we always play here all the time. I got a lot of problems with you people.
You may not hear about it. We play that all the time.
So, when he says that, that's what you remember what would crack you up the most from that scene? It didn't matter.
Well, for one thing, Julia can't keep a straight face at any time. Julia cracks up pretty easily. She's pretty easy to break. But one of the reasons she's easy to break is because she's just having a great time. She's just a lot of fun to work with, a lot of fun to be with.
I can't imagine keeping a straight face seeing Jerry Stiller with a festivist pole. I think that speech he gives at the table was even longer. I think we had to cut it down because we just we couldn't get through it. Oh my God. It's a festivous miracle.
It was a miracle you got through it. It's a festivous miracle. Everybody check out A House of Dynamite. It is available for streaming right now exclusively on Netflix. The cast is amazing.
The directing is amazing. The script is amazing. And I'll be honest with you, you just need to prepare yourself. Maybe you and I both, when we watched it, half a bottle of wine. Yeah, yeah.
It was Pinot for me. I know it was for you. A cab. There you go. We didn't even talk Vikings.
Are we not going to talk Vikings? You know what? Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a quick break here, and then we've got another two minutes to go, and then we'll talk Vikings with you. All right.
I'm sorry. I told you I was going to fanboy you, Tracy. I'm a man of my word. You're just in too much good stuff, like including, again, a house of dynamite. Check it out on Netflix, certainly this weekend.
Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
