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Now, on with the show. I'm in Miami. This is the Rich Eisen Show. First and back! Here's the end zone!
He resided! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Whoever counted us out, they're never part of the equation. Today's guests, actor and diehard Bears fan, Ashton Kutcher. Emmy-nominated actor, Dennis Leary.
Senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Well, hey everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Isen Show live on ESPN, live on Disney Plus and the ESPN app and ESPN Radio. And we are thrilled to be here with you with three teams remaining for college football's national championship. And we also have. As we know, a wildcard weekend afoot to talk about with you. Ashton Kutcher, who cannot wait for kickoff between his beloved Bears and the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night, is going to join us.
Dennis Leary, who, as you might imagine, does know a thing or two about New England football. He will be joining us in hour number two to talk about the Sunday night of Wildcard Weekend. And the rest of our sports world is up there for conversation with you at 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. Those are the first two hours right here on ESPN. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated on the spinning coaching carousel, as well as all the news and front offices in the National Football League prior to Wildcard Weekend is going to join us in hour three when the show returns to our exclusive window on Disney Plus.
Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you on this Friday? Good morning. Good Friday to you. It is a what's more likely Friday as well.
So that's going to be coming up in hour number two. DJ Mikey D is great. It's Mike Del Tufo. Good to see you over there. And TJ Jefferson.
It appears the candle is lit as always. Candle is lit. Your BFF, Ashton Kutcher, is going to be coming in. It's going to be a little surreal. I won't lie to you.
And you've known it. You're like, you go way back like a car seat with him, right? Yeah, man.
So this is going to be, you know, I've had, you know, his wife has been here, a couple other friends, but yeah, this will be pretty cool. It will be cool because, again, I believe he's there with his Chicago Bears hat.
So he's going to be talking about that Bears Packers game. 844204 Rich is the number to dial. But we start this program with a Dynamite College Football semifinal game last night in the Verbo. Fiesta, yes, indeed. It's like it's missing a, it feels like it's missing a vowel, right?
So I guess you could put the. Are you in there? I'd like to buy a val. You know what? Look at you, Rich Eisen.
Come on, take. Yeah. Thanks, guys. Were the burboo, though? I really appreciate you.
Um. Listen. I don't know what's going on in the world of football, but it seems like every. Big time standalone football game has been off the hook. Professional in college.
Am I wrong? It was a nice start to the weekend, man. Hopefully, that's just like the appetizer for how good these wild card games are going to be. Or Indiana, Oregon tonight. Exactly.
In Atlanta. For the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Right? Um I don't know what it is. And it's also college football is kind of mimicking professional football, or vice versa, and anyone can win it.
Except for the fact Nobody thought that when the College Football Playoff Committee put The 12 teams in the hopper together. because there were two group of five teams and they're like, they got no shot. And yada, yada, yada, they're not in it anymore. And then it's Miami getting in. Instead of Notre Dame, BYU wanted a shot.
They didn't get a shot at the title. Notre Dame didn't get a shot at the title. And at the same time, even when Miami got in, it was, well, there's Ohio State, pardon me, The Ohio State. I mean, we all know the ground that got covered by shows like this one on networks like this one when the college football playoff. brackets came out.
And The general concept was: listen, if you're looking to get a March Madness type. Cinderella run going. That ain't happening from the group of five. And you know. wondered if it would even happen with the ten seed.
I know they don't term it last one in, right? They don't term it last one in. Not for football. Right? They term it that way for college best.
They do, right? We usually play in the play-in game. And I always feel bad for those teams. Like, hey, you're last one in. You're 68th into the bracket.
Correct. Might have been Just because of the You know, I lived that getting picked in gym back in the eighth grade. But listen, um. Miami. And old Miss Where, if you will, the two teams coming into this whole thing of Good luck to you missing your Head coach Bolting.
To Alice U, and good luck to you, you. You know? from the ACC. where the Atlantic Coast Conference has two teams. On the Pacific coast?
And look at those two teams last night. Just spectacular. End-to-end action. And So many kids bursting to the fore From Trinidad Chambliss to obviously, you can't say Carson Beck bursts to the fore when he's a 23-year-old who is in the same draft class as not one, but two starters on wild card weekend in C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young.
Seven years in college. Right. You know, hey, the 2021-2022 National Championship quarterback is the fiestable, pardon me, verbo fiestable offensive MVP of 2026. But that's what Carson Beck is. He was spectacular.
He was spectacular. I know he had an interception last night, but he was terrific, including the game winning rushing touchdown. Only a second of the season, Carson Beck's legs Put Miami up with 18 seconds to go. And Trinidad Chandless did his best to get Ole Miss in position, and he did for one. Tossed to the end zone.
That the old ball coach of Ole Miss with his thumbs. thought was pass interference. And the Hail Mary in the end zone. Lane Kiffen popped out there on his feed. Maybe he's like, damn, man, that was $750,000 out of my pocket.
He's got financial. Or he's really invested in the kids who he. is now watching and had an opportunity to win without him. Pass interference 100%. As there was nothing but contact basically from the 10-yard line all the way to the back pylon, but as you know, um.
one of the most frustrating inconsistencies is being a football fan. It is to hear from officials and officials who now have moved on to talk about officiating on TV, rules analysts who say it doesn't matter when there's. A foul in the end of a game. It doesn't matter what time it is. If it's a foul, it's going to be called a foul.
Unless it's A Hail Mary and then roller derby can happen, and what what fouls? What pass interference, what defensive holding, what illegal contact? I think that was all in one play. But this. is what is part and parcel of playing better.
Than the refs rep. Don't put yourself in a position where you need a Hail Mary. And obviously, time was running out. And the fact that Miami had not one, not two, not three, but four drives. of over thirteen plays.
First time that's ever happened in a college football playoff game, because that's why Miami is moving on to the national championship game, is they are winning in the trenches just like their head coach did back in the day for the U. They're winning in the trenches. They got the quarterback play from Carson Beck that they were hoping for when they got him in the portal from Georgia, and everybody thought he's finished. He's going to go to the U. End of story.
Good to see you. You're not in the SEC anymore. And who does he beat to make the national championship game for the U, but an SEC team in Ole Miss? And if I'm not mistaken, And Lane Kiffin had some words to say about Carson Beck leaving Georgia and getting to. Miami, Google it, as one of tonight's coaches might say.
And then on top of it too, uh Holy crap, that kid Malachi Tony. I mean, he It's fitting he wears Tyreek Hill's number for a team that plays in Miami. He's fast. He's unbelievable. He's a game breaker.
So they've got guys who can get after you on defense. They've got guys who can run down your throat on offense. They've got a quarterback who is, again, 23 years old and is as experienced a college football quarterback as you'll ever see. A head coach who is dialing it up. An alumni fan base that is belting everybody or objects on the sidelines.
And this kid, Tony, holy crap. I'm just wondering if he's made himself a ton of money, if not. Um now, but When he wants to go pro. And this kid, Chambliss, on Ole Miss as well. Pete Golding, congratulations to him on giving this run for the ages to the Ole Miss fanbase.
I thought I was going to come on today talking about Ole Miss getting to the national championship game and recalling my 1989 Michigan Wolverines who watched Bill Frieder bounce right before the NCAA tournament. And then they go on a run with Steve Fisher. I thought Pete Golding might be the football Steve Fisher right here, but instead it's Mario Cristobal. and the Miami hurricane's moving on. I know a lot of times I think narratives take over I don't know, popularity, social, the media in general, and This game has never been about that.
And I think these guys proved that that after November 1st, 69 days ago, I think is what it was. They made a simple decision. To bring energy every single day into the building and just get a little bit better and find a way to be 1-0. You know, we're uh we haven't been home in a long time. You know, we've been on the road for five stray games, and it's because of their work, their commitment, their belief, and their trust, and the confidence they have in each other.
And they're going home. 'Cause that's where the national championship game is at Hard Rock. Home of the Miami Hurricanes. In the same way that the Niners hope that they're going to wind up in their building, or the Rams wound up in their building and won it all, or the Bucs wound up in their building and won it all. Can Miami do that against either Indiana or Oregon?
Um and Carson Beck. Again, Having his name sort of knocked down pegs for future NFL first-round draft choices or knocked down as a Possible college football national champion quarterback because Georgia. wasn't interested in his services any more. Had this to say, making the national championship game for his new. School and team last night.
It's been unbelievable. Almost exactly a year ago, I made the decision to come to this university. Um I remember Me and Coach Chris Ball talking on the phone for the first time. I was sitting in Jacksonville. I'm in my house in my room, and I just had a big smile on my face, and he had a big smile on his face.
And he said, Let's get to work. We really banded together and showed. That we believe in connection, that we don't just fake it, that this team is really a family. And if our team really wasn't like that, I don't know if. This win happens tonight.
You know, we really band together. We believed in each other and we never flinched in the face of adversity. All right. Here comes Indiana or Oregon. We'll find out who it is.
And as for old miss, We will see them. in future years with Pete Golding as their head coach. Looks like Trinidad Chambless for one more year unless Why would he want to play one more year in college? This dude is NFL ready. I looked at him and I understand he's listed at 6-1, might be on top of a phone book.
We'd see it as the future combine, but he's got a lot of old school russ in him, man. He's really, really good. Aymer throws a good deep ball. Oh, my word. He really impressed me through this run.
And I guess the only question is. Whose quarterback is Lane going to steal in the portal? Cause it ain't it ain't gonna be Washington's. That story keeps getting weirder and weirder until now he's back with the Huskies. But at any rate, Uh looking forward to tonight's game.
Looking forward to seeing what Miami can do on the night of the 19th. Against either Indiana or Oregon. I think it's going to be Indiana. With all due respect to Oregon, I think Indiana is a wagon, and I think that'll be a great slobber knocker. Of a college football national championship game.
How about the 10-seat, everybody?
Some folks were wondering, didn't deserve to get in.
Well, Miami's proven they can win either way. They played a tough physical game against Texas AM, and then last night they put 30-plus on the board. They are really, really good. And that kid, Tony. Tony's Make you feel good.
Oh, my word. He can s he's a home run hitter. You know? So um 844-204-Rich is the number to dial in the program. Dennis Leary is going to be in our number two right here on ESPN, along with Disney Plus, the ESPN app, and ESPN Radio.
But are you ready to bring your buddy out? Why not? TJ Jefferson's BFF, who he doesn't like to mention is his BFF until I drag it out of him. But Ashton Kutcher is here, so there's no turning back. I guess not.
Talk about his Bears against the Packers and more in a moment. Rich Eisen here. The tax deadline will be here before you know it. And you just want to know your taxes are actually being handled. But the old way, you hand everything off and then silence.
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And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Stream the latest Ryan Murphy project is called The Beauty on FX, premieres, where it's FX is the beauty, pardon me, with three episodes on Wednesday, January 21st at 9 Eastern on FX and Hulu. And Ashton Kutcher is here to discuss that and so much more.
And again, just to bring the radio audience up to speed, this show is as wild as any Ryan Murphy show is expected to be. You'll see the first three episodes, and they're wild. And then it gets more wild. Like, I'm telling you, every episode that he would send me the script, I was like. I have to, I do that.
Like, I have to do that as a character. And it's weird when you're playing the bad guy. Mm-hmm. Quote unquote, you have to find ways to like justify everything that they're doing because nobody, even the worst people in the world, don't think that they're doing something awful. And you're like, how am I going to wrap my head around this is a benevolent thing to do?
And, you know, he's like, you know, containing this outbreak, which is wild. It must be fun, though, to do something like this, right? It's so fun. It's so fun. It's because.
Also, this guy's like a trillionaire. Like, billionaires are fine. This guy's a trillionaire. You don't mess around. Be like, well, yeah, I mean, it's a trillionaire.
And so there's a weird sense of. I have a friend who will remain nameless, very nice guy, who's a billionaire. And he once said to me, he was like, Yeah, once I told my wife, if money is the problem, it's not a problem. Mm-hmm. And when you lace into that mindset.
You kind of go. If money is the problem, it's not a problem. And for this guy, Nothing's a problem. Because if he got put in prison, he'd probably just buy the prison and make it nice. There's not a version of things going bad for this guy.
And it's really fun. You just kind of dance on life. When you described a friend of yours that's a really nice guy, I thought you were meaning TJ until you mentioned Billionaire. Then I knew. Not my BFF.
Just another friend. You know, just another friend.
So it's great to have you here, man, because obviously you're adjacent to the family if you're BFFs with TJ Jefferson. I feel like I am family. You are. You are family. Certainly since you've called into the show multiple times talking about your Chicago Bears.
On the scale of one to out of your skull. How concerned, nervous, anxious are you? for the Saturday night game. against the Packers, Ashton Kutcher. It's really weird.
I love it. It's really weird because. Yes. We as fans Feel like our participation is necessary. Like, we actually, I genuinely feel like if I'm not game ready by game time, that could affect the outcome of the game.
Like, I know it's, it doesn't make sense. I genuinely feel like that, right? Like, I've, I've spent. The lat, like, I know the Packers very well. First of all, it's the Packers, which, like, anybody who's a Bears fan is like.
Like, we almost just decided not to eat cheese anymore because the Packers are represented by cheese. Like, I will go on a dairy-free diet just to protest the Packers. Like, that's how hardcore is. But I wouldn't want to hurt the dairy industry, so I won't do it. You have a heart.
I really don't like the Packers. And I know the Packers well. I know Caleb is going to be there to play. I know the team's going to be there to play, but I feel like I have to be there to play, right?
So, how are we prepping? How are you prepping?
Well, I mean, I've studied Jordan Love's tendencies to start with. If he rolls right, he can throw a medium or deep route. If he rolls left, he's a little bit unsure. There's a little bit of a pause. He's probably going to throw a short route or run with the football.
I've studied those tendencies, and I'm going, are we game planning appropriately? And so, therefore, that you are so ready, you think Dennis Allen's defense will be. Better than ready because you're ready. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, that's right.
And I feel like and I feel like if there's like if there's like an emergency button that I have to put like, I don't know if I told you this, but I went to a game last season. And Ryan Paul's made the mistake of giving me his phone number. And so I blow him up about things that I see. And I'm sure that they don't matter at all. And I'm sure that they're not inconsequential.
But I was watching the preseason and I was watching Luther Burden. Yeah. And he's a rookie. And when it was a run play, he left his mouthpiece out. Every single time.
And I'm like, Ryan, will you let Luther know that he's showing, he's giving to tell on every down, right? Like whether or not he's going to run or whether it's going to be a pass play. And then I noticed in the last game, he actually caught the ball, didn't have his mouthpiece in, and got clunked. But I don't know if it had anything to do.
So you're going to cost this man his teeth? I don't know. I just feel like any input I can have to dictate the outcome of the game, I need to be showing up and watching these things. I know that since Michael Parsons has been out, when the Green Bay Packers blitz, they go into a fuzzy zone and it's pretty consistent, and we should be able to eat that up. I'm looking at injury reports.
I've been watching Josh Jacobs for the last two, like couple weeks. He's dinged up. He sure is. He's dinged up, and that's going to affect their running game.
So they're probably going to be leaning into pass first. And so I know like on third and six Third and five, even yeah, we're likely not putting the hand the ball in Jacobs' hands. I know if Jacobs is lined up a little closer to love pre-snap, it's likely a run up the middle. If he lines up a little deeper, it's likely a run on the outside. I'm looking, I'm watching the game, preparing for the bear victory.
You're in, you're locked. We got Kyler back. It's gonna be a big deal.
Okay, we get Rome back. Yeah, that's gonna be a big deal. It looks like he's coming back, too. That's gonna be a very big deal. And Colston, because of Rome's absence, Luther and Colston have really stepped up their game.
And I think that that confidence that Caleb has, that he now has more. A dunesay. Colston Commit. And Burden. And you go, now he has a level of confidence with that entire receiving core that I don't think would have been there had it been not for the injury.
I think that we're going to be on all four cylinders. Is it fair to say? Aston Kutcher that if It was the Rams. or the Niners. or even the Eagles.
or even the Seahawks, you'd feel more confident. But you're less confident because it is the Green Bay Packers and you're accustomed. over the last two decades of Sort of a result. A Caleb Haney moment while Jay Cutler's on On the bicycle before he strolls down Rodeo Drive after the loss. What do you think?
Like, you know what I mean? Like, there's some stars here. I think what happened. I think because it's the Packers, and it's not. I don't think it's relative to anything that they do, can do, can't do relative to San Francisco.
San Francisco's playing, I think San Francisco's playing some of the best ball. That was one of the most incredible games of the year. Other than Seattle's defense right now is like. Wow. That that's blowing me away right now.
But But I think the Rams Are very potent as well. Like you got Puka, you got Devontae coming back. Their run game has been exceptional. They have some defensive vulnerability. I but the thing that concerns me about the Packers As we've already played them twice.
And recently, too. It wasn't like week three, week five. Recently, exactly. It was weeks 14 and 16. And both games were very close.
Yeah. And. We won because of turnovers. Like I'll call it, right? But that's been your season, though, right?
It's been the fourth quarter comebacks, and it's been a takeover. It's a victory, but it's also a vulnerability. If the other team is secures the ball, And you don't get that turnover. That becomes a differential. That concerns me.
That's one. Last game we knocked Jordan Loeb out on a nasty hit. Um and there was another injury in that game. That was a significant injury. I think it was Dobbs, right?
I think Dobbs got knocked out of that game. And Jacobs was already hurt. And so in that game, they had like some serious weapon disadvantage. And we just want it at the end of the game. Had to pull it out of an orifice to do it.
Yeah. Right. And so that's what con and then and then you take that situation. They know what we're throwing at them because it's what we've been throwing at them. And We didn't get to see the Jordan love offense in the last game.
And so they've got like this weapon coming in. And the full game of his weaponry We've got to, we're at a little bit of a deficit of understanding on that. But I do think this: if you look at the last three Chicago Bears games. I think we've scored like We've ran 59 plays in the first half of the last three games. That's 20 plays in a half.
when we should be running fifty to seventy plays and a half. Because we've just been slow to start. And I think we have to start the Packers game like it's the fifth quarter. Like we're starting this game. It is the fifth quarter of the last game.
And we got to come out and punch them in the mouth, like right off the bat. And if we do that, we win the football game. We move on to the playoffs. We then destroy whoever we play next, and it's us versus Seattle in the NFC Championship. Ashton Kutcher here on the Rich Eisen show calling a shot.
Where are you watching? Home? You're at home? You going? Man, what do we got?
And then I promised my wife I'd go to the Golden Globes with her. Oh! Which is on Sunday. Which is Sunday, which is Sunday. And then I got to be in New York on Monday.
And so I was like, do I fly to Chicago on Saturday and then fly back to LA for the Golden Globes and then fly to New York? Yes. What do you mean? That's so that's so easy. I can't do it.
I can't I so I'm watching I think I'm gonna watch it at home. Wow. It'll be okay. It'll be all right. It'll be all right.
Were you sweating out the had you already committed to the Golden Globes? Prior to the schedule, the playoff schedule coming out, were you sweating the playoff schedule's release? Ashton Golden.
Well, let's get into it. At first, I was like, okay, Golden Globes are on Sunday. If the game's on Saturday, I could still go to the game. I was like, I was playing calculus and trying to slow play it. But yeah, it was a.
But I mean, at this point in time, she would totally understand. Correct, sure. She would totally understand. I mean, your son's name is Bear for Crying Out Loud. His nickname.
Okay. She wouldn't let me name him that. It's it. Did you try? Yes, of course I did.
You put it on the table? I tried. How'd that go? By the way, I tried 20 different versions of like, I'm like, what about Bear? And she's like, you know, like Dr.
Bear. And I'm like, sounds good to me. Like, I go to Dr. Bear. He almost had her locked in on Barrett.
Remember for a while? No, and then we changed it to Barrett. Turns out there used to be a Barrett cutcher, and he wasn't a very good guy.
Okay. And he has a criminal record. We don't need that. And you don't need somebody Googling the name of the debt. Sure.
And then she had a premonition that the kid's name was Dimitri. And then so then that became his name. And then the nickname started on day one. Day one. Yeah.
And I kept trying to say it wasn't about the Chicago Bears. I kept saying, no, it's Bear Bryant, who is like one of the greatest football coaches of all time. And his name is Bear Bryant. That's a good. Yeah, yeah.
And he's a winner. I couldn't get it through. I couldn't get it. She wanted another syllable. I don't know.
Understood. I don't know. But you tried. But here's the thing with the golden gloves. Yes, sir.
She. I told her that I would go. She would totally understand. If I was like, babe, I have to go to the game, she would totally understand. And that's the reason why I'm staying.
Okay. If she was like a kind of person that was like, did not, would not totally understand and would be like, no, you told me you were going. Then I probably would go. But because I think she's playing a psychology game with me anyway. But because she's like, I totally understand if you want to go, you should go.
Yes. Now I feel like I have to stay.
Okay, so does that mean, TJ, you're part of this mix now? You're going, you're watching. TJ's like always at your spot. I mean, if he wants to come, you can come watch the game of the big barn. It's going to go.
TJ? I'll probably be in the barn. Oh my God. What is that? Big screen, baby.
Let's go. You know? I mean, you're fine to watch it with other people, right? Like, this is a big game, right? Or do you need, or do you need space for something like this?
Here's my.
Okay. I have conversations with my wife about this all the time. It's great. When you. When I watch a football game.
It's like other people going to the movie theater. Like when you go to the theater, you're not chit-chatting about how Joe is doing, right? Like, you know, I'm not like, oh, well, how many beers did you drink last night? We're watching the movie. Right, yeah.
When I'm watching the game, we're watching the game. And she says to me things like, Well, your friend, you talk to your friend. I'm like, about the game. Like, I'm fine. If we want to talk about the game, about the player performance.
But I don't even in the commercials, I want to talk about the game. I don't want to talk about the fact that so-and-so is doing state farm now. Like, I'm it's not interesting. Like, that's not what we're taught here to do. We're here to watch the game.
Oh, my God. Because we have to dissect because. Us not paying attention could cause the team to lose. That's it. The game's on the line.
If you are noticing a tendency, if somebody is putting even a slight bit of a drink. If I gotta send an emergency text into Ryan Paul's at halftime, I need to send that text in. Like if I'm seeing something. He could funnel that down to the field. Could you imagine after the game, the Bears win, and it's some crazy play, crazy moment, and Ben Johnson, but hey, Ben, why did you do this thing?
Well, Ashton Kutcher texted Ryan Poles during halftime, and he noticed this tendency of, you know, let's just call it somebody like what, Musgrave or somebody like just give me any old packer, right? And you've noticed that tendency. Suddenly, here we go. The place changed, and we credit Ashton Kutcher sitting there. There's some things that I've been doing.
Good thing he wasn't at the Golden Clubs. There's some things that I've been studying that I'm going to send him pre-game. Add a boy. He's not lying. Like, people tell me, like, I'm texting Ryan Poles.
I'm like, dude, really? But oh, look, seriously. And here's Omega. I'm like, would you leave that man alone? Like, he goes, no, no, no, he likes it.
He likes it. Do we know? Did he tell Luther Burden to put his? I don't know if he told him or not, but he said, That's a good catch. It's early in the season.
But here's the thing: I don't know if he does anything, but I like to think that he does. You're on mute. He's still being nice to me.
So I'm like, as long as he's still being nice to me. And he responds occasionally. I'm like, hey, what's a crit game? Like, you'll respond like. I'm in with rivals.
This is amazing. Have you definitely screw it? I'll just say, have you cleared the second weekend of February from your schedule? You're not working, right? That's my birthday.
Is Super Sunday on your birthday? Super Sunday is always on my birthday. And my wife always goes, What do you want to do for your birthday? And I'm like, watch a Super Bowl. Is this year's Super Bowl the actual birthday for you?
My birthday's on the 7th. I think the Super Bowl this year is on the 8th. It's on the 8th, 8th a.m.
So I think it's Stafford's birthday, isn't it? Yeah. I think something. My birthday is always on the Super Bowl, which is like the greatest present I could possibly get. And the fact that the notion that the Bears would be there, I'll buy all of Levi Stadium.
Oh. I'll literally like, they'll be like, what's this? It's the Kutcher section. I'll literally mortgage a house to be at that game if I have to. If the Bears are there?
Forget it. I'm called Poles. I'm going to be on the sideline. I'm going to be like, Brian, Brian, you got to hook it up, man. You want to lead the good, better, best chant?
That's what you want to do, man. Oh, my God. Ashton Kutcher is here on the Rich Island Show.
So it is, it's Stafford's birthday is the same as. Stafford is also the seventh. Yeah, you and Stafford's birthday. Stafford's a fine human. He is a fine human.
He is that. What's up with all these good-looking guys getting born on the seventh? I don't know. Maybe they're getting the shot from the beauty. What do you think?
May Stafford, Garth Brooks, Chris Rock. Is that right? Charles Dickens. Yeah, I'm going through the list right now. Really?
Brooks Nader, if you've ever heard of her.
Okay. Let's see. James Spader? James Spader. James Spader's a killer.
He is. I mean, what a great guy. Who else have we got over there, Chris? I'm kind of going down. A bunch of these people I've never heard of.
Steve Nash. Steve Nash. We all get to celebrate our birthday with the Super Bowl. All the same weekend. It's a gift.
Go figure out. Robert Smeigel. That's cool. FX is the Beauty premieres with three episodes on Wednesday, January 21st at 9 p.m. Eastern on FX in Hulu.
We're going to take a break. We'll come back. We'll just chop up a little bit more right here with Ashton Kutcher right here on The Rich Eisen Show on ESPN, as well as Disney Fluss back here in a minute. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Ashton Kutcher is here.
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Please discover why Pella is a trusted choice for homeowners everywhere. Visit pella.com/slash Eisen today. That's pella.com/slash. Eisenhower. Ashton Kutcher, when you're out and about, when people see you, they mention what from your.
career. Like what's the thing that you get the most? When you're stopped by people. Uh uh it's like that Either you got punked is like that. Punked is still being brought up to you from back.
Yeah, it's still like, hey, are you punking me? Like that kind of thing. Sure, I think that still happens.
Okay. Where people are just like being friendly and like trying to start a conversation. Sure. Or do where's my car? Like those two, those two, like, or and then, and then I'm like, no, and then.
And then they really kill it. People really enjoy that. I just, all I have to say is, no, and then. Right. And that's a victory.
And so though, like. Those two things are very lexicon-y kind of things. No kidding. Because I would have thought, obviously, 70s show, maybe, or sometimes it's like, damn, Jackie, I can't control the weather. Like, if I say, damn, Jackie, I can't control the weather.
Like, that gets a rise. Like, people are like, will you just say it so I can video you saying it? And I'm like, well, you have a video of me saying it on the show, but I'll do it again. Sure. So that one happens a lot.
No the problem. What's that? I'm too good looking, that one. Oh, no, I just say that regularly. Your problem is that I'm too good looking.
Like, that is that might be my favorite joke from 70s show. Right. And then sometimes, every once in a while, there'll be a big two and a half men fan. That'll come and, like, you know, shoot me some line for the show, and I'll be like, well, okay. Of course, you did 90 million of them.
I mean, it's so many of them for you to recall. I think I like counted it up at one point. And I think I've done like almost a thousand episodes of various television shows, and I don't remember the line from the thing. But like I I always I whenever people come up and are fans of like any of the I'm so Sure. I still am like in awe.
It every single day. That I get a chance, I get to play I could do play pretend for a job. And that's like a really fun thing that like I don't think very many people get the honor of like being able to call that a job. And um And I'm just grateful that people Keep putting up with me and watching things that I do. It's really, it's really like.
You because you have no control over it, right? Like, you make things and you make them the best you can, and either people like it or they don't like it. And you you try to like work with people and associate with people that are gonna elevate the stuff that you're doing. But like any time a fan comes up and is like appreciative of your work, it's But That's just the best feeling in the world. That's pretty cool, man.
I'm glad you mentioned that. But punked as well. I mean, TJ tells, you tell stories all the time, TJ, about back in the day. Were you at s one point like particularly concerned That you were going to get sued or for your safety or something like that because of the stuff that you were pulling in a You know, in a way that, you know, obviously celebrities were not expecting at all. We.
Always had Lawyers in the control room at all times. Yeah. And We're like, we consistently Be checking on them with them relative to what we were doing. There was there were like a couple times where I actually like felt bad. Like, I act, because I, because for me, the whole thing was like, when it stops being funny, it's over.
Like, the moment, like, you want to drive it right to the edge of where it's like not going to be funny anymore. And then you and then you call it, right? You don't actually want like Someone to freak out. Like, you want you want them to freak out a little bit. Yeah.
Like, it's funny when people friends get hurt. That's like a Kelso line. Sure. But so that's like a little funny, but like, you don't want to get really hurt. Right, of course.
And there was like I think we were doing like bust of rhymes and we were on an airstrip, and he was in the plane. Mm-hmm. And We had the plane get surrounded and said that there was a bomb on the plane. Not that funny anymore. Right.
Back then, some of these things don't age very well because then actual things happen. Yes. You go, like, ooh, whoa, that's not okay. And, like, Um, but like in that case, and he was so freaked out. that he got he just ran off the plane and just started running.
And like ran like three miles. And I had to go like run him down. Like Forrest Gump? Like, kept going? He just kept running.
And he was caught. And it was like, where did Blood? Where did he go? Like, somebody's got to have eyes on him. And I caught him two miles down the road.
He's fast. Like, really fast. And I, like, that I felt bad because he was like genuinely like. To that level, scared. Right.
And then there was like one time and names shall not be named where like Firearms got pulled. And like that was a little scary. Damn. That was like, yo, pull the plugged out, done, and it was over. It never aired.
And then there was one time where we had a baseball player that was in the middle of a contract negotiation. Uh-huh. Yeah. Moving from one very fancy team to another very fancy team. And um He, that wasn't public yet.
And he really, and he was talking about it in. The during with somebody privately, or at least he thought it was privately, and then and then I go, Well, that at that point, he has a reasonable assumption of privacy, and therefore, and it was like legally, it was like a, but he was very upset, and like we just destroyed all the tape. And just we never aired anything that the person didn't sign off on airing, sure, and that was like. My bi because I have I like privacy. I appreciate privacy.
I think everybody should have a right to privacy. And so I don't think it's cool to just shove a camera in someone's face and just air that. And so, unless somebody explicitly wrote, I am okay with this being aired, we never aired anything. And there's a lot of footage that. Where we spent copious amounts of money doing very elaborate stunts that just never ever made it to air.
Never made it to air. But another part about it, too, that you talk about all the time, TJ, is the number of people. that were sort of the bit players. In the pranks, became eventually major stars, right? Like that, you had some serious people who at the time weren't very well known, right?
Yeah, well, it was Dak Shepard's like first job. Right. We had BJ Novok, who then went on to do the office and then directed an amazing film called Vengeance. I'm in it. Nice.
BJ was on there. Who else? Bill Wagner? Whitney Cummings. Whitney Cummings.
Bill Hayter, Caitlin Olson. Yeah. Steve Randazzizi. I mean, Ryan Pinkston. There were a lot of people who got the first job.
It was like their first gig. And it was funny. Like, I remember Bill Hayter was on the show and he was awesome. And at one point, he came to me and he's like, 'Hey, man, I have a chance to be on SNL. I'm like, 'Well, quit this show, go do SNL.
What do you do?' Of course, like, because, right, and I. I had a really good relationship with Lauren Michaels, and it was always my dream just to be on SNL one day. Sure. And so the fact that he had a chance to be a player on SNL was like, well, this is. And at the time, there were only like really two professional improv jobs you could do.
But like also like I was there were times, especially with Dax, because Dax would like push things right to the edge and he wasn't afraid to fight.
So there were times that like we were back there and it was like Okay, dude.
Okay, pull back, pull back. And he's like, no, no, I got this. And you're like, no, dude, you don't got this. It was, it, that, yeah, there were some times when it was like a little close. I love it, man.
Listen, our ready audience is about to go away.
So thanks for coming on, is one way of me just saying it. FX is the beauty premieres with three episodes Wednesday, January 21st at 9 p.m. on FX and Hulu. It's the latest Ryan Murphy Can't Miss Gotta See project. Thanks for coming on.
The Ridge Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
