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The NBA on ESPN is happening now, and opening week is on a new level. Welcome to another season of the NBA on ESPN. New chapters begin in South Beach. And stars are out in L. A.
Two of the elite players are on display. The king protects his new court. MVPs collide in OKC. NBA opening week, Wednesday and Thursday on ESPN. This is the Rich Eisen Show.
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Now, on with the show. The Tampa Bay Rays are headed to the World Series. This is the Rich Eisen show. You don't throw the ball away on fourth down. This is a focus thing, right?
I have to be better. No, I definitely knew it was fourth down. The Rich Eisen show. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, Bills tackle Dion Dawkins. Coming up, Steelers defensive tackle Cam Hayward.
Writer and producer Chuck Lorre, and now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air on this Tuesday. First two hours, Dion Dawkins of the Bills, Kurt Warner of NFL Network, and the Professional Football Hall of Fame. If you missed it, there's our podcast version, our Disney Plus page, and of course we we chop things up and put it up on our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. Our socials as well: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, the whole the whole schmear.
We've got Chuck Lorre, a man who's made a gajillion television shows that you love. He's got a new memoir out called Sitcom. He is sitting in our green room. He's going to come out in short order. But he's actually making coffee right.
I was just standing.
Okay, my bad. We've got we've got we've got got a brand new machine back there.
Okay, listen, he's about to head off to Paris, and if He didn't know French, or any of the Steelers needed to learn French. All they had to do was listen to their fan base for the first three quarters of watching their last game. Cam Hayward back on the Rich Eisen show. Wow! We'll sneak that in right before I got on.
I love that Rich blowing darts. How you treat guests, man? Sixteen three didn't look very good, but the final result was beautiful, and the comeback was gutsy. I mean, that is no joke of a defense to do. What that offense did, and the fact that they were able to do that is because of how well your side of the football was was holding your strength.
How did that feel to you that game, Cam? A lot of ups and downs, and definitely a lot of downs to start off the game. You never want to start off a game thirteen zero and then thirteen three and a half. But kind of just settled down, played better defense, tackled better, kept them out of the red zone a lot. And our offense really came alive, I thought, in the second half.
You know, got Jeremy Bernard going, got DK going as well. Our running game between Rico and Jalen was ecstatic. And then you just put the ball in the old man's hands, and you kind of think you always got a chance, dude. I love that moment the cameras captured where he looks at Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and he goes, smiles at him because I know your dad.
Do you see that? Do you see that moment? He knows everybody's dad, man. He probably knew my dad. My dad was still alive, you know.
There's plenty of old people Aaron knows and is playing against. Yeah, he is playing.
So well, I mean, he really and the hits he is taking and popping back up from—it's remarkable. Cam, you know, yeah, I don't like my quarterback getting hit, but you know, he's able to bounce back. We've had some big explosive plays off of those big hits. If you look at that indie game, if he doesn't take that hit, we we don't pick up that that touchdown. But you look at Aaron in the pocket; it's not like he's a mobile quarterback.
You know, rushing for thirty, forty yards, he's able to just escape and step up in the pocket and. Deliver the ball on time, and it just it wears out a defense when he's able to extend the pocket. Yeah, I mean, if you put that photograph back up to my my crew, I could see his right arm there, you know, and his left hand. I mean, there is blood all over the place, there, dude. I mean, or I I don't know.
That could be some of the the the the field paint. Um, you know the the Bucks color field paint. Go with the blood, Rich. Honestly, we could go with the. With the ground, you know, because there was a lot of things going on that field that our quarterback wasn't happy with.
Yeah, I saw that. What do you What do you think? What do you make of that about the field? You know, the field was a little rough before the game. I like to go out and you know just get my bearings down, hit the goalpost, make sure I I can just feel the the field a little bit.
I was on my knees and I was just. Striking, and what happened? The ground started coming up from beneath me, so I knew it was a little bit rough to begin with. But that's just the name of the game. We're playing on uneven surfaces.
You don't want that in your game. You want to make sure it's even for everybody. You want to make sure it protects a lot of people because a lot of times when it has that surface that comes up, that leads to a lot of injuries.
So this win. To make you four and two in a division that you know is all four teams above five hundred, what did that win coming from sixteen three down to win this thing in overtime tell you about your team? We're never out of it. We gives we give ourselves a chance in this division we're in. And you have Cleveland playing very well.
You have Baltimore. You have Cincinnati. The race is on, and you got to make sure we have our best foot forward. We can show we can come down from any circumstances and bounce back. But AFC North is where it's at.
The kitchen is hot, and we got to bring our our best stuff going forward.
Now, okay, you got to take. Me into either the plane ride or the locker room. Here, at what point and who was the one to talk to Mike McCarthy about being in the blue tent himself? Cam, who was the one?
Well, he wasn't in the locker room at halftime, so he he escaped that ridicule because all players would have gave him hell in those moments after the game. And you know, I made a look at Aaron. I was like, "Is he hurt?" Because he was hopping back and forth and not really moving too well. But you know, players got a battle adversity and coaches too, and you just got to be aware at all times. Rich, you know about that.
You know, you haven't gotten hurt during your forty. Dash, but it's out there. No, I have. I've one one year. I almost didn't put it on the air because I damn near pulled the hamstring off the off the bone running it.
And Mike Mayock goes, "You have to put that on the air because it shows that you're human." So I did it. But that said, coaches shouldn't be in the blue tent because they turn an ankle, right, Cam? I mean, like as as somebody at least who's applying the needle is what I'm saying. To to him with the verbiage, Cam, who's giving him who's giving him grief? Nobody.
It's okay. Everybody, every player is giving him verbiage. I will say, he came into the meeting room the next day and didn't have a boot on or anything.
So. We we were good there. If there was a boot on that foot, we were gonna give him hell in those moments.
So he didn't go full Roethlisberger. Oh, nice one! Yeah, like wrapping it up, nice, and the boot and the limp cart. This is the totally. This is a moment for the Michael Scott.
This is a moment for you to come in with you know air bubble wraps on your foot, and you know coming in a wheelchair, coming with a neck brace on. If he had done that, that would have been. Hilarious! I think our coach is a little bit tougher than that. Yeah, I hear you.
That was no, but that was a stones win, Cam. It really was. Like it was one of those where you can maybe because I was talking to Dion Dawkins earlier about how you know the Bills came out here, hung out in Southern California for a week, beat the Rams, beat the Raiders. That that's like a team bonding thing that they're gonna maybe look back if they wind up where they want to go. Like a win like this at where you know you've been playing better.
Home, that's for sure. For you to win this one on the road was big, Cam. That's a big one. Yeah, we we talk about stacking performances, right? Creating that that short stack, it's a short stack right now.
I want to make it, you know, five or six pancakes, but we got some work to do. We've been able to take care of our job on the on at home, but this is our first one on the road. It was nothing short of adversity, but I am glad to say we got the W.
Okay. And next up now, Cam Hayward here on the Rich Eisen show is Paris. This game against. New Orleans. When when are you going?
When is the? Can you walk me through the plans here? When are you going? We are leaving Thursday night. I think around seven o'clock, and then arrive Friday morning.
I know. I know. We. What are we doing? Staying up?
What's the plan? Are you? No, seriously. No. No.
Listen. No. No. No. You sleeping on the plane?
Like what are they telling you about the jet lag to to make sure you are acclimated once you hit hit the ground there, Cam? They tell us don't eat too late.
Okay. Try to get some rest, and then try to stay up as much as you can once you get there.
Okay, you know you don't want to have your TV on or your iPad on on the plane too long, but it's going to be a rough one once we get there. I've seen. Luckily, we're not doing the Rams thing where you show up right before the game. We're at least getting a day or two. But I hear New Orleans is already down there, and they're trying to create an edge, and we got to create an edge here.
So I got to make sure I take care of my body.
Well, I know they're telling. You get your rest. What are they telling you about the unrest? The you know the front of the newspaper here, the the actual you know boots on the ground. We've seen some of the footage that's going on in France.
It does appear to be you know letting up, if you will. But what are they telling you about that, Cam? NFL does feel comfortable in sending us over. That's that's the trust we have to believe in. Hopefully, we're not going into a firestorm.
But for us, we have to be smart about what we're what we're doing out there. No traveling alone. Make sure we stay in groups and don't wander off too far.
Okay. So there's nothing like where they're sitting down and saying it's entirely possible you're not going. Like you haven't heard anything like that.
Okay. No. NFL likes money, so we're not with that opportunity. Cam Hayward.
Okay. Can Hayward? That was that was. I think you put your full body weight on that hit, Cam. Oh, I have something for that.
I have something for that. Ah, I got our I got our our new rule. You ready for this one?
Well, actually, I'm not done with you yet. That's that's what we call the button. To the segment, we'll wait for it. To the segment, so some of these games that you we saw over the weekend, Cam.
Some of these games that we saw, where like the Broncos say on Thursday night, or the Niners last night, we saw you know the Rams go down. We saw some of these teams where they're still seemingly trying to put it together. Is this again the the the offshoot of? We're six weeks in and we're not yet still same paging it here because of the way an off season works, a preseason works. Are we still there, or that that that that horse is out of the barn and these these cakes are baked right now?
Cam, I think I think that horse is out of the barn. I think you've got to put the off season behind you at this point. You can't really focus in on the preseason, right? Like we have six games of footage that everybody can study. It comes down to preparation, performance, and.
I don't think there's a complete team right now. I think everybody is still working on being their best team in December, as opposed to just right now. You know whether your offense is really humming, your defense is still coming along, or it's the other way around, or even in a Rams situation where your offense and defense are killing it, and then you have to bring up your special teams as well, because special teams, I think, especially in 2026, is becoming so big in our game that you. Have to make sure that is up to par.
So can't really rely on the the preseason and off season, but you you got to put your your faith in what you are doing week in and week out. But you do not believe there is a clear cut best team in the NFL that everybody needs to be targeting, chasing. At all, you don't think not right now. Not right now. I think there is so much football that needs to be played, and you can look at schedules and say, "Hey, they played these teams.
Hey, they played those teams." But now you are starting to get the media resume. You are starting to see which teams rise to the crop, and then they're going to play against that good talent in their division, and then you'll see where which team really separates from the group.
Okay, I don't like to say it early, but there is a lot of games left to be played.
Okay, Cam Hayward here on the Rich Eisen show. All right, go for it.
Now, what do you got for me? What's your what's your wave a wand? We should have this rule change, Cam Hayward rule change of the week. What do you got for me? It applies to roughing the passer now.
There's two ways we can call it. We can call it a five-yard penalty, but let's say that's a level one, right? Five-yard, not an automatic first down, and we're able to review it. We're able to say, "Hey, this isn't egregious. This isn't so violent, but we need to call it." And then level two is a first down automatic.
Okay, you know the way this works, Cam. It's got to be put into language so folks like say the Rooneys. And the Maras, yeah, and the rest of the owners members can vote on it. It's got to be put into language. It can't just be like what you hey we'll know it when we see what a five yarder is and what a fifteen yarder is.
So, what's a five yarder and what's a fifteen yarder? And then you said another thing that I need to hit before you know I I render my opinion. What do you got? Like what is it? What's the difference?
I think a fifteen yarder is helmet to helmet. I think a first, I think a level one, we can look at as body weight, and it's not an act of violence, but body weight is put on, and we move on. I think. We got to get out of the the stage of automatic first downs because we were providing too much of a of an increase for an offense to take advantage of that that snap.
Sometimes you get a little bit of flop, and I love being able to go back and say, "Hey, this this looks." Not as bad in slow motion. Let's go ahead and just make a five yards and move on. By the way, I I I appreciate that that we got to get out of the fifteen yard business. I get it. Yes, but let me ask you this question.
Be honest, and I know you're always honest with me, but I feel like I have to even preface what I'm about to say with the "gotta be honest with me," Cam Hayward. Go ahead. Go if it's third and eight. Yeah. Third and nine.
Third and ten. You're not gonna take a shot at the body weight, knowing that it's not an automatic first down. You're not gonna, you're not gonna take your shot here, knowing that you're not costing your team a possession. You're just gonna. I think no one's gonna do that in the league.
No one's gonna do that in the league. I think you take the shot, but more times than not, it's not getting put into the refs' hands.
So then you can go ahead and have that play play out on the next one. And you still get the drama of a third down. You still get those big plays that happen, but it takes it takes. Let me say this: It takes the thinking away from "oh, this is the automatic fifteen yarder," and we've already ended the game right there. Let's put it back in the players' hands one more time to see if we can clean it up.
Now, I want to come up with a way here because you're onto something. I want to come up with a way here where something isn't totally off the charts. Doesn't lead to fifteen yarder first down because those are those are crushers. It's not only just giving a fresh set of downs; you're also giving field position, which can absolutely change momentum. Or in the case of what we saw, this wasn't a roughing the passer; it was a roughing call over the middle, where the Cardinals got themselves right in the field goal position to run out the clock and beat the Rams that they were looking for.
And so you've got to come up with a way where review can help. And so again, like that's the whole thing is that if you say body weight is only a five yarder, I also if I'm the Rooneys, I don't want somebody taking a shot at Aaron Rodgers saying it's just five yards. We'll defend a third down again. I just want I just want to make sure the backups, huh? They've been taking shots at Aaron Rodgers.
I don't think everybody's been trying to put body weight on Aaron Rodgers because that's the only way you stop them. You know, and I just I want. Our game a little bit more cleaned up on a defensive side, but I'm not going to get away from hits in our game and being physical at the point of attack. Do you know French, Cam? Are you fluent in anything?
Fluent in English. No, no. I should say, are you fluent in French in any way, shape, or form? I am not. I am not.
Can I? Can I? Have you been to France before? I've not been to France. We just came back from Italy this offseason.
That's the that's the that's the spot, right? I mean, that is that is the food, the the language, the the the wine, and the people are great. With the French, though, Cam, all they want you to do because I've been there many times, and it's very helpful to have my wife be completely fluent in the language. The minute she opens her mouth, like doors open and whatever. Like I've I've gone to the same front desk and.
In broken French or just English, ask for something, and they're like, "Who is this person?" My wife shows up, and they're like, "Oh, but of course, you know, like that." I've seen this happen. You just gotta try. Just try and say it in French, because they'll know right away you are American. Like literally, like as soon as you walk up to the front desk, they get it. They know it.
Just give it a whirl. That's all they're looking for. Yeah, I gotta get on my Duolingo. I'll say that. Yes, correct.
Yeah, yeah. And and this is how cultured my kids are. I'm like, what do I need to pack for you guys as you come over to the France? They're like, oh, just download Duolingo. We'll watch.
We'll go through on the plane. I'm like, there's no way in hell I was even thinking about Duolingo growing up. That's it. Oh, it's helpful. And plus, now what?
Your your phone can tell you exactly you can say say this in French and hold your phone out. Even that, they just want you to. Otherwise, they'll put you on a "pay no mind" list in a way that will piss you off. It's going to happen. It's my only two cents to you.
Don't judge me by by my looks, you know. Judge me by my heart. Just, I'll try to learn. No, as you know, I judge you as soon as we met by you being a Buckeye. By the way, are you nervous?
Are you nervous? Are you nervous now that your quarterback is significantly hurt, Cam? Why should I be nervous? You guys put in a new quarterback and it worked out. I can confirm that for one game it has yes, for one half, t-shirt it has.
Okay, Cam. I bought that t-shirt by the way. Thank you, appreciate you, Ty. But I got—I think I got to get a size bigger. It was a little tight on your boy, so I just got to show off the guns, man.
Come on, the guns have an existence since like two thousand and three. Who's on not just football this week? Oh, Jeremy Bernard! Oh, oh, okay, okay. He balled out, man.
His waiver pickup in the week, yeah, he did fantastic. Sign him off the waiver wire. It was a, it was a good feeling that I knew he was going to do well this week.
Okay, well done.
So, Jeremy Bernard on not just football. Have a safe flight and a safe time there, please, Cam. Appreciate you. We'll chat next week. I want to hear every.
I want to hear what you picked up in French, please. I want to hear it. Get a croissant. Besides the croissants, croissant. See, you know, you speak French right there.
What's wrong? Exactly. Bonjour. There it is.
Well done. You got this. Wow. He's a natural. Cam Hayward here on the Rich Eisen show.
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And it's and I've been telling these stories to people for years, and and a dear friend just kept nudging me, write it down, and and I finally, I started to write it down, and I went, you know what, this is therapeutic. There's there's some kind of there's some kind of healing process in actually the process of writing down. My memory of events.
So, Chuck Lorre again here. Our radio audience's return. Sitcom as a memoir. You can get where all books are sold. What was your biggest break?
Would you say? Oh, without question, my biggest break was getting on Roseanne. Getting on as a writer, as a writer.
Okay, yeah, right, yeah. That people forget, but back in nineteen ninety ninety one, right, forty million people a week. Would be watching the show in real time. There was no DVRs yet. Nobody knew how to use a VCR, so it was real time.
Forty million viewers every week. That was an extraordinarily powerful vehicle. Was it to get on that show as a writer was was a it was incredibly hard to be there. It was sixty seventy hours a week. Kind of a.
It was a dark environment, but everybody who worked there got better. You got better, or you got gone, right?
So, so that's the way you kind of got thrown in the deep end, right there, is what you're saying? Or, you know, I was at a place in my life where there was no retreat, there was no going back, there was no saying I can't. I had to tolerate whatever was going on because there was no. Had I left, I simply would have been unemployed.
So then, when you when did you get your first opportunity to pitch a show, sell it, and run it for yourself? The company that produced Roseanne and Cosby before that, they were you know eight hundred pound gorillas, Carson Warner, and yeah, I mean Tom Tom owns the Red Sox. He owns the Red Sox. He owns a big soccer team too. Liverpool is well, yep.
He he actually he, Carson Werner had an idea for another show about a rotund housewife, right? Who's unhappy, and they took it to my then boss on Roseanne to say, "Would you like to develop this?" And he looked at it and went, "Well, this is just a ripoff of Roseanne," and he passed. And so they came to me, and I looked at it, and I went to myself. This is just a rip off of Roseanne. I'm in, because I just assumed these are the most powerful people in television, and I whatever they.
I just want to be in. I just want to be in business with them, and so that show turned into something called Franny's Turn. CBS had such faith in it, they ordered six episodes and they put it on Saturday night at eight. That's not which is you know death. They they wanted no part of it, but they the.
That Marcy and Tom were so extraordinarily successful, CBS didn't want to be rude to them, so they put it on for. They couldn't even air all six; they aired five, and then that's enough. And and so suddenly, a few days after it was canceled, Mr. Warner came into my office and said, "And I actually thought I was going home. I thought, well, my career is over." He he said that was a noble failure.
Let's try again. And I had never heard noble and failure put together. You know, those were two words that I didn't ever. But they gave me another shot, and and that turned into grace under fire. There we go.
And that was a big hit. Maybe noble and failure is why he wanted to get in the Red Sox business, and he just turned it into a noble success. What do you think, Chris? What do you think? Yep.
Okay. Very good. That worked out pretty well. It certainly did for Boston. I'm very well aware of that.
So, Grace Under Fire is is how you started building an empire. Building an empire. You did. You have. I suddenly be honest.
I suddenly had some credibility.
Okay. Very good. Yeah. And so. After Grace Under Fire comes a remarkable run.
I mean, an absolute remarkable run. At one point, you had on the air at the same time. Correct me if I am wrong. Two and a half Men, Mike and Molly, Big Bang Theory, and Mom and Mom, all at the same time. Yeah, yeah.
How do you? Would you just? How do you go from? What do you go from show to show? What do you What do you do for that sort of thing?
How do you run for massive hits? I actually early on, I I reached out to a man who had had seven shows on Norman Lear, and I. I said, "Can I talk to you? I'm in trouble. I was in trouble with two, right?
And he was really nice. He invited me over to his office, and I laid out. I said, 'I don't barely know how to do one.
Now I got two, and then later on it was three and four. He had one point seven, and I said, 'Is there any hints, tips, any advice?' Yes. And he said, 'You're not going to like the answer.'" He said, "You go where the fire is burning the brightest, and you try and put it out." And that was it.
So you were on the set of Two and a Half Men. You just jumping around, yeah.
Well, you know, people forget. I don't forget, but people forget that for seven years, Two and a Half Men ran beautifully. We had a great time. It was hilariously fun. Dirty show, and the ratings were phenomenal.
Everybody, you know, at one point Charlie demanded a four-day work week and a huge raise, and he said, "Fine, done." So you know, the work week was maybe twenty-five hours a week, maybe man, you know, and every two weeks there's a week off. It was a pretty pretty cool situation, and we were having a good time till the eighth season when it went off the rails.
Well, what was a couple things about two and a half men? Was that based on anything in your life for real? No, you just came up with let's let's just get. Two guys and a kid, and just see one one straight laced, one's a bachelor, and let's go. Is that basically what?
Well, you know the the the fall down drunk of it all was something I was familiar with.
Okay, but yeah, no, it was it was it was something that a friend of mine and I developed, and and frankly, it's an interest. I don't know if we have time for this story, but I'll try and do it quickly. Please. Everyone in my orbit said, "Don't do this. Don't don't work with this guy." The guy created the show with, named Lee Aronson, terrific writer.
The president of Warner Brothers said, "Don't do this." My then agent said, "Don't do this." My then wife, and there are quite a few wives, but that's another story. Said, "Don't do this." Right. But I had gone to a friend of mine when my career was in a low ebb, and. And he said, "Say yes to everything. Don't qualify, quantify, judge.
Whatever comes down the road, say yes to it, and see what happens." So I said yes to this to this idea and project, and it and it turned into an half men. Which, without that, I assume my career probably would have been over. Certainly, I couldn't have gone into CBS a couple of years later and said, "I want to do a show about quantum physicists." That that was not a conversation you have unless you have a success. Yes, so one begets another. Yes, I was going to ask you what is the genesis of the Big Bang Theory?
Where did that come from? That began with a friend of mine. For many years, he worked for me on Dharma and Greg, Bill Prady. We had tried to come up with something to do together for a couple of years, and we absolutely got nowhere. The closest thing we got to was a young girl comes to Los Angeles to be an actor and struggles.
That was as close as we got to developing an idea. And then one day, he starts telling me about his days in New York City as a computer programmer, and the guys he worked with could figure pi to eighty decimals, but couldn't figure a tip in a restaurant because there's too many variables. Couldn't talk if there was a woman in the room. They were insanely brilliant. But they they they just could not adjust to the real world, and I remember saying, "Bill, that's our show, but let's not do computer programmers because that's kind of a cliche with the tape glasses and the pocket protector.
Let's make them real scientists. Make them, you know, brilliant minds without the paranoid psychosis." And and that was the genesis of what became the Big Bang Theory.
Sold, sold. How about that? Do you have a favorite episode of that show, Chuck? I I've got to say that I loved how we ended it. I loved the finale.
Why? Because it brought the Sheldon character the Sheldon character to. To a place where he recognized that he needed his friends, he needed that community. Who he for twelve years he was a really prickly, horrible friend. He truly was.
It's a part of the genius of Jim Parsons that he could make that likable, but he was really tough. And in the finale. When he receives the Nobel Prize for Physics, he acknowledges that he could not have arrived at that place without that community. And I, I thought that was, I was, I was impressed with us. I thought that was a beautiful way to land the ship.
So it's not a comedic moment. It wasn't a comedic moment. It was, it was, it was a fruition of a character's arc over twelve years to recognize that you know we don't do anything alone, and and in a way, it's very much reflective of my story as well. I didn't do anything alone. I've relied.
Deeply, heavily, continuously on extraordinary writers and and partners in in the work, and you know, not not even saying you know how. Grateful I am for some of the actors I've worked with, like Jim, like like Baransky, you know, Christine Baransky, and Allison Janney, and Melissa McCarthy. You know, incredible, you know, Kelly Cuoco, an incredible wealth of beautiful, beautiful actors, and and again, to make a television show, you have to you have to rely on. A group of people. You, if you try to it alone, unless you're Taylor Sheridan, you're going to fail, right?
You know what I mean. Love that little line, Chuck. The best screen test you witnessed. Oh my goodness! It has to be Jim.
Jim Parsons. I before the show. Chuck, I'm like I'm going to ask Chuck Lauer this question, and who did I guess it was going to be? Ah, you said I hope Jim Parsons did a screen test. That's what I said, right?
So I've never seen anything like it. Why? His whole body became the character, the way he moved, the way he held himself in space. He had created the character, and it wasn't how I envisioned it. I didn't see it that way.
It was different. And when he walked out of the the casting room, I I turned to the casting director Nikki Valco, who I've been working with for thirty years. Ask him to come back. I want to see if he can do it again. No kidding.
Yeah, was that a fluke? What just happened? You know what I mean? And he came back in and he did it. He nailed it.
How did you see the Sheldon character that he did it differently? I didn't see, you know, the the discomfort, the quirkiness, the quirkiness. I didn't see that as we wrote that character. I didn't see how, you know, one of the things we did early on, Bill and I, which I think was one of the smarter things we did, was you know, people kept asking, "Is the character on the spectrum? Is there autism here, or something like that?" And we wrote.
I think it was it was from Jim's character Sheldon saying, "I'm not crazy." My mother had me tested. Was a line of dialogue, and and we actually we saw a scene with in young Sheldon where, as a little boy, you know, a doctor smoking a cigarette back then in 1980, and so he's fine. He's fine. Just a little weird. He's fine, right?
And that was the testing. Sure, you know, but. The the character spoke to a lot of people on a very personal level. It was a an extraordinary experience. Um.
I remember there was a comic con we went to where people camped out overnight to get in to see them in a panel, and one of my favorite memories is I was sitting next to Jim at the autograph signing thing, and as a young girl holding a a picture of the cast to get it signed, and her hands are shaking, and as she's going to Jim to sign it, and she's crying, she's crying. Because she's so excited to meet this guy, and I thought to myself. I've been around. I've seen people respond to to John Goodman, to to Rosanne, to to Charlie, to to Crier. No one ever cried.
No one ever was so overcome with emotion that they were crying. That's when I first realized the show's touching people on a level that I hadn't anticipated. It's personal, you know. They were outliers; these characters. You could throw it away and call them nerds, but that doesn't do it justice.
They were outliers, and I think people identified with that.
Well, and it's amazing that Jim basically helped create the character. Yes, he did. His vision, absolutely. You know, there's a if you're lucky, and in this business, you create a character in your mind, and then an actor, the right actor, says, "Well, no." Here's the character over here, and and you you know you're the beneficiary of their contribution. Yeah.
Last one for you, if you can. The one phone call you got about, hey Charlie, did this? Oh, god. That stands out, Chuck Lord. I can't remember a specific phone call.
It was. It's just the whole thing's a long dark tunnel. It was a horrifying experience, and it went on for a couple of years. It was really a terrible. It was humiliating.
It was hurtful. It was embarrassing. Right. I'd been happily anonymous for many years, and now suddenly I got paparazzi chasing me. You know, and parked in front of my house.
And it's in the book, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And.
And I guess you know, it. There came a moment many years later when I woke up one day and it was gone. All that, all my anger, all my, you know, emotions about the whole thing—they were just gone. And I was able to pick up the phone and go, "Hey, Charlie, it's Chuck." I got a crazy idea, and he was gracious and grateful, and and we put it behind us, and we and we had a good time on Bookie, and um, and I could call him and say, "Hey, would you write a blurb for my book?" Again, and that blurb is just gold. I'll read it.
Would do it again. Absolutely. It's the first blurb on the back of sitcom your book when it comes to sitcoms, and as a general life rule, that part is parenthetical. Always bet on the guy not. Hammered on crack," says Charlie Sheen.
"Thank you, Charlie. Thank you, man. I mean, and on behalf of you know millions and millions of people who have been entertained by what you put out there, including I'll just shout them out. There's an executive who works for ESPN. I've known him for for decades, and he's his name is Mike McQuaid.
He has got a lot on his plate. I mean, the stuff that he is integral to running, creating, and just The number of people that that he needs to keep, for lack of a better phrase, tabs of, he's got a lot on his plate, and he watches The Big Bang Theory every day. No kidding. Yeah, that's nice. It's a fact.
So you have you have reached people, you know, from. All walks of life, our business, who know television as well.
So, congratulations, thank you very much, Rich. What a pleasure. Any time you want to come back here, I'm sure you've got stories for days, as you put right here in your book. Thank you. Sitcom, wherever your books are sold.
A memoir by Chuck Lorry. We're back here to wrap up this show in a sec. Rich Eisen here. At Hyundai, the SUV trophy shelf is getting a little out of hand because U.S. News and World Report named Hyundai the best SUV brand.
That's five out of six years with hybrid SUVs like the premium and capable Palisade, the adventure-built Santa Fe, and the tech-infused Tucson. Which means at this point, the shelf will need its own structural support system and a dedicated construction crew. Probably need those little visitor hard hats too. Visit U.S. News Best Cars at.
Cars.usnews.com and visit hyundaiusa.com for more details. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Whether it's a pumpkin spice coffee that goes splat on your seat, or a pumpkin patch hayride that covers your trunk in hay, you're going to want WeatherTech in your vehicle. Whether you call it fall or autumn, you're going to want one of those spooky season people. Whether the mess is your fault, your kids' fault, the dog's fault, the weather's fault, you're going to want WeatherTech for American made American made floor liners and a cargo liner that laugh in the face of fall weather.
Visit WeatherTech.com today. All rise, our friend Turzo's been hanging on since jump. What's up, Turzo? Six and zero, pal. You must be thrilled.
What up, dude? Oh, dude, six and zero. Happy about it. We did kind of eat that out last night. I didn't think it needed to be as close as it was, but you can definitely tell how impactful Mike Evans is to this team.
So hopefully, we keep him sitting out against Atlanta this week, and we can roll into the bye, and he can get healthy. Correct. I'm with you. Absolutely, you but your site. You're six and zero.
You know. Oh, dude, it's awesome! And then both, you know, both the lambs and the sea chickens dropping two more games. You know, you can't you can't ask for a better start for for this team, no doubt. And just keep stacking wins for this, you know, for this division because still they're going to come.
They're going to turn it around. There's there's too much talent on both of those teams for them to stay where they are. And so we just need to keep that distance and and and stay healthy. But Rich, I got to tell you. How much do we love George Kittle?
Because that post post game interview was great, man. You guys need to make that happen. That would be awesome. I'd get my popcorn ready. I would.
I just don't know if Scott's up for the smoke. Hey, whoa! Thanks, Tarzo. There goes Tarzo in Iowa. Um.
So listen, the NBA season is beginning, which means somewhere. John Tesh is leaving a music studio to see if his sees his shadow or not. That's what happens every NBA season. All three games on NBC today.
Okay, here we go. And so the parade is done. Saturday Night Live is done. The ESPYS are done. The Emmy Awards are done.
The off season. Of the New York Knicks is over tonight. The banner will get raised, and the rest of the NBA community and the fans of all the other 29 franchises will shrug and go, "That was a good one for you." But we'll see what happens this year with somebody else.
So maybe it's someone else's turn because that's the way it goes. Every single year, there's a new champion. Eight in a row. Eight different champions in a row since the back-to-backs we saw Golden State Warriors, right? And everyone thinks they're one-hit wonder.
Not even a one-hit wonder, like a a one-playoff season wonder. I mean, it wasn't like a regular season. Remember, it's not like the Knicks won, you know, sixty games. They weren't one of those massive prohibitive favorites going into the playoffs. It was a lot of people think it's just a one spring wonder, you know, because I think they won before the summer solstice.
You know, this guy could go away as far as I'm, but other than that, other than that, and this guy for our radio audience that's doling with those choppers and everything like that. Hey, but at least it happened, and he helped make it happen. Everybody thinks the Knicks can't do it again. I hope they just take that chip, figurative, and put it next to their literal chip from last year, and do it again. How wild would that be?
You think they were everywhere in June, July, and August? Little September, SNL. Oh man, there would be Knicks fatigue on the spot. It would be like the Patriots plus the Chiefs in terms of fatigue, and you know you could you could you could divide it by the Warriors or multiply it by the Warriors fatigue. Oh man, the orange and blue skies being brighter and the Knicks fans being everywhere.
Oh boy, better hope that doesn't happen. I would love it to happen. Let's go, ba ba ba basketball! Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to three Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app.
The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
