Real Friends Classic: 113 - My Balancing Act with Michael Spiller

On this week's episode, JD tries to balance his new girlfriend, and his job as a medical intern. In real life, Zach and Donald speak with Michael Spiller about directing episodes of Scrubs, and how he made the move from cinematographer on Sex and the City to directing his first episode of television.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Man, do we have an exciting show today?

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Donald Faison, We do have an exciting show.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
You know, we promised the people, we promised the listeners
that we wouldn't just have stars of the show on,
that we would bring on crew members.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
You're totally about to geek out about this. You brought
up a director. I am going to geek as a
fellow director. You're like, Yo, I'm gonna ask him about
this shot. I'm gonna ask him about this shot.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Well, I am going to talk to him. I think
people if I sometimes think when I'm preparing for this,
and you know, I do a lot of homework. You
should see my desk. It looks like I'm about to
write a novel. I was thinking about if I was
a listener, I'd want to know some behind it, Like
what's it like to be a director of a TV show.
Michael Spilder, who we're talking about is is a very
big television director, one of the biggest. In fact, he

(00:43):
recently won the Emmy for directing Modern Family and he's
a very talented guy.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Wait wait, hold up, which for the like the final
season he won the Emmy.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't have the exact Emmy.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, I want to ask him about some of this stuff,
like how many shows have you directed? Now? Is it
like you know, have you lost? Can you keep count
of the amount of show.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Savior spiller questions? Have them, have them pent up inside
you and just have them ready to explode when he
comes in the room.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Okay, well I got it. I only got a couple.
I'm great. How are you man, I'm good, I'm good.
Did you work out?

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Are we gonna have a post peloton Donald?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Today?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
I didn't want to.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Talk about it because I did work out today and
I finished the workout. But I'm now disappointed with it
with said instructor that we talked about.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Why, well, he was different today he talked too.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Much, started singing on and then also singing off beat. Right,
I don't. I don't do peloton to be talked to
off beat. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Was it still the you know what I love about
you know?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I still well?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
The thing I liked about spinning was when you could
get in the groove, unlock, nang.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Right, and so it's important that your your your spin
instructor is like a DJ, you know what I mean?
So right, he or she should be riding with the beat,
so the music's going and and and then you need
to be going with the music. Also, does he say
stuff young?

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I like it when they go like they just make
noises like.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Hey, ho when they diddy that shit.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
Yeah, it's like Diddy. Diddy used to be like hey,
and you.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Know, it's so embarrassing. I find myself it's so fucking embarrassing.
But I find myself on the treadmill not even spinning,
and I'm listening to a good song and I'm.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
Like, hey, okay, and I'm doing the fucking Diddy spin
instructor thing.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Ah ha ah, take that.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Take that Ahead Ahead. Before I knew Diddy was like
a big producer and I was watching those, I'd be like,
so this dude just makes a living on Ahead yeahha Ahead.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I couldn't take it. It was like just too much talking,
not enough motivation, Like when you talk, you're supposed to motivate,
you're not supposed to talk about how dope the song
is and stuff like I don't want to hear all
of that. I already know this song is good, you
know what I mean. I chose the class because I
saw the playlist, right, and you like the music playlist. Right,
the playlist looks dope.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
I can this isn't an amazing And I know this
is the stupidest thing. Everybody knows this, but I was
realizing it today. If the fucking music is good and
you love it, you can do so much.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
More of a workout.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Absolutely, because I've got I've gone to so many spin
classes because I do like spinning, and the music is
just so not my thing. I mean, it's other people's thing.
I'm not, you know, to eat their own. But I'm like,
And then today I had made this like awesome mix
that I was fucking grooving out to, and I was like,
I could really work out a long time to this
amazing mix. I mean, but I don't know where you

(03:42):
work out. You like to work out to rap?

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Right?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I do like to work Wait what do you work
out to? You don't work out to like?

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Wait?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Wait, hold on, I didn't realize there was other music
you could work out to.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yes, style, Yes, it's in this country. You don't have
to just work out.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
I can understand house music, but no, what do you wait?
Hold up?

Speaker 1 (03:59):
What do you work I like to work out to
pop like, but like up tempo pop like what do
you kids like? I'm opening up the fucking playlist right
now because there were some fire songs on Here.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
We Go, Here we Go recommendations from Zach Braff.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Avichi has this song. It's like his most popular song.
It's wake Me Up, and it's just like up tempo,
and it makes me think of this time, because when
you're in this time and you're working out, you're like,
wake me up from this fucking horrible nightmare.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
So I like that.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
I had, you know, I had Michelle branch On here,
because you know, I love Michelle brand I had Oh Asia,
I love Cea ed Sheer Sia Unstoppable, Unstoppable today, and
I had ed Sheering with Chance the rapper You crossed me,
you grabbed me Joel's jam and she knows that song.

(04:49):
Oh and also Fleetwood Mac. This is an old school one.
I don't want to know at bath and then.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
So I worked out too. Ten crack Commandments b I G.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, we're on a very different plane right now.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
You don't know that song. I know who the Notorious
b I G is that songs give us a sample.
It's the ten Commandments of Selling Drugs.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, I'm the I don't know. I'm dancing and working
out to Michelle Branch and you're listening to a song
about crack.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
You know, we grew up differently. Yes, I guess we
grew up differently. We did. Hey, should we go again
to the show.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Let's invite in our special guys.

Speaker 5 (05:28):
About six seven, eight stories about show we made about
a bunch of times, and nurses said, he's a story next,
So YadA here, yead here.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
We want a song. Lots of talk about the song,
the song. I gotta tell you something about those numbers.
My whole timeline is people laughing at and saying the
numbers and just writing them non stop in my timeline.
That's becoming, unfortunately to me. But of course Bill will

(06:09):
love it. He's become a huge hit with his whole
bit about.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Saying five eight. Yeah, he's like the PC. Well he's
not PC, but he's like Todd. He's like the Todd
of our show. He comes in and he delivers every time, dude,
every time, he's like ups, always delivers, He always delivers.
All right, let's bring in our guests.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Let's bring in our very special guest. Turn him on,
bring him in, ladies and gentlemen. Oh my god, I
haven't seen him in years.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
Yay, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Ladies and gentlemen. Michael Stiller, listen, Michael, you are the
very first guest we're having on the show who is
a member of the crew, not an actor or a writer.
And I'm just We're so you're here.

Speaker 3 (07:01):
It's really awesome, thrilled to be here.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
You're I would say you're our first director. But Zach
has directed an episode and Bill has directed an episode.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Right, but not not before Michael Spiller. Michael's are our
first director of from season one.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
He is also directed season No, he wrote it, that's right.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
No, I want to say that, Michael. I would say
I think maybe directed the most. Spiller Do you know
that trivia? Is that true?

Speaker 3 (07:26):
It is true? Of how many episodes? Twenty twenty episodes?

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Twenty episodes?

Speaker 3 (07:33):
You know? As I go and I work on other
shows and stuff, I always meet Scrubs fans, and without fail,
I say I've directed more episodes than any are human,
leaving the possibility that another someone from another species has
directed more than me.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Right, but I can confirm it. I can confirm they
have it. I would also confirm Michael that you are
one of our favorites. If you look at IMDb, you'll
see there's lots of directors of scool. Some came in
for one episode and then never came back for either
Bill's reasons or their reasons, mostly Bills probably, And then
there's people like you that everybody loved so much, and

(08:10):
you did twenty Yeah, I I guess go back to
how it all began for you, at least with the
Scrubs connection. How you got this. I know that back
in the day you were Michael was a cinematographer. He
was shooting the show Sex and the City. I don't
know if you've ever heard of that show, but Michah
was the cinematographer on the show and then began to
direct that show. And then Michael just talked a little

(08:32):
bit about how you got it, how you transitioned from
shooting into directing TV.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Well, I mean I went to film school. I went
to Sunny Purchase Upstate, New York, New York, New York,
New York, that's right. And I started making my own
films when I was a kid in Brooklyn. Saved up
my paper route and bought a Super eight camera and
went to film school, and I wanted to be a cinematographer.
I didn't want to be a director because actors were crazy,

(09:02):
let's face it, and you know it's mainly I shot
a lot of indie movies and music videos and documentaries
and travel all over the place. And then I got
married and wanted to start a family, and TV sounded like, well,
maybe that would provide a little more stable lifestyle. And
I was shooting out Sex and the City and at

(09:23):
the end of the first season, my agent said, if
the show gets picked up, I'm gonna ask for an
episode for you to direct season two. And I'm like, nope,
I'm good. I'm good, I'm happy where I am. I
don't need it. He said, no, you're going to do it,
and I did, and then I did went really well.
I also dpeed that episode. Wow, I don't think I

(09:45):
don't recommend doing that for your first episode of TV.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
That seems like a lot of work.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
It's a huge amount of work. And then the third
season I did two more. In the fourth season, I
did four episodes, and by that time we had moved
to La bought a house, moved back for the four
season uh, and then moved to La finally right after
nine to eleven, but not because of it. Uh And

(10:13):
I had already signed with my current agent, who after
three episodes you see what I did, said I want
to wrap the sky and he was at the same
agency where Bill Lawrence was represented.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Oh see, it is all about connections in Hollywood, everybody.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
It's true, no ret give up.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
So Scrubs was your was Scrubs your first non Sex
in the City gig?

Speaker 3 (10:39):
It was meant to be, so, you know, my agent
sight unseen, you know, convinced Bill. He did a great
job presenting me to Bill, and it was meant to
be my first episode after Sex and the City. I
wound up doing an episode of Greg the Bunny. Oh
remember that show?

Speaker 2 (10:56):
God was that? Who was? Who was? Who was the
star of that show?

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Sarah Silberman Levy seth Green, There we go. It was.
It was a great cast, but it was like, you know,
huge puppet sets and all this other stuff, Like it's like,
why these like I've never done a puppet show. You know,

(11:20):
you had to build sets that were all like four
feet off the ground so people could stick their hands
up through manipulate anyway. Steve Levittan was the executive producer
on that. So I met Steve on my first episode.
I later did Modern Family and a bunch of other
shows with and then Bill Lawrence on my second show.
So very very good agent. Thing.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
By the way, if you're gonna meet two showrunners when
you get to Hollywood, it's pretty down good that it's
Steve Levinton and Bill Lawrence. Yeah right, your agent's pretty good.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
He's Sean Freeden.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Hey how many? Wow? Shout out? How many? How many?
How manyisodes of Modern Family did you direct? Did you
direct the most Modern Family episodes? Also?

Speaker 3 (12:05):
No, I didn't, but I did twenty two episodes.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Twenty two episodes and won the Emmy, won the Emmy.
I wish we could have given you an Emmy. Spiller,
you deserve.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
You tried, We tried.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
I know we all were shot. I know you did.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Now, Michael, I just want to say, you know again,
season one, we're meeting all these directors. For those of
you who don't know, it's usually a different director every
week because they have to prep. They have about a
week's prep before they shoot the episode, and so you're
always alternating and some can't come in, and you know,
you know, Donald and I would would like some more
than others. Some were really good with comedy and others

(12:43):
were good with moving the camera. One of the things
I think we loved about you, Michael, is that because
you were a cinematographer first, you really were amazing with
moving the camera and doing interesting things with the camera.
But also you did know how to talk to actors
and make jokes funnier. And I thought you could just
talk to that about about about how how you approach something,

(13:04):
how you approach the script, and and and your experience
with what it's like being you know, having the DP background.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Also, we should go over the process of what it
takes to since we have a television director on right now,
we should go through the process of what it takes too.
I mean, directing is like the end of the journey,
you know. I mean that's not even close to the
end that well, it's the middle of the journey. Really.
There's prep, there's you know, all of pre production, and
then there's post production. We should also talk about that.

(13:30):
Our listeners might be interested in that.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, they will. So, Michael, we just gave you a
lot answer all of that. Go No, talk talk first
about you know, being having a DP background, and then
how that affected the way you work.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Well, I think there's no question that having the background
as a DP was extremely helpful. I mean, first of all,
event and when I came on to set, I could
usually bond with the crew very quickly because I spoke
their language. I sort of got it. You know. I
would stay seen in such a way that worked first
and foremost for the story, yet also kept the logistics

(14:07):
in mind and the practical aspect of it. And you know,
and I was flexible enough that you know, I encouraged
and I love to collaborate. I want the DPS input.
You know, obviously the cast would give input to the
showrunners give input as well, but the nuts and bolts
of it, you know, I understood. I've also been a
grip and electrician. I've pushed dollie, I've I've pulled focus,

(14:31):
I've operated camera for other people. So you know, I
love the crew. I mean, these are my people and
and I think most people I've worked with can pick
up on that. So and I have a deep respect
for them, and that that's half the battle. You know,
when I was shooting Sex in the City, if we
had a new director and if you know Sarah Jessica
Parker wasn't in the first scene, you know that that

(14:53):
director was shooting. When she would first come on to set,
she would look at me and like gauging, like cow
is this person? And if if I gave her like
the I don't know, look, then that person had to work.
You know, it's an uphill battle just to get back
to you know, zero, right. So you know it's enormously

(15:15):
important because I mean, you guys know it's like you
love your crew and it's like it's one big family.
So a director walking on to a TV show has
to be both a leader, right and and you know
they're not the ultimate top of the pyramid, but they've
still got to lead the crew. They've got to get
the crew behind, they've got to work with all the

(15:38):
you know, the elements that are already in place, and
you have to respect that that family that you're walking into.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
That's what's so bizarre about it. That's what's so bizarre
about it is and I've only done it, I think
once or twice, Michael. That is, come onto a show
that is an entity and say hey, everybody, I'm the
leader for the week, and you know it's one thing
when you come back and like you came back, you know,
nineteen more times. But on the first one, it's like, hey, everybody,

(16:06):
I know that you guys are all friends and have
inside jokes and have a way that you do things.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, I'm the boss for the week. And it's really tricky, right.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
It's sort of like I liken it sometimes too. You're
gonna be a conductor on a train. You're gonna take
it from this station to the next station. The track
has already been laid. You know, everywhere the train already
was is established there. We have a very good idea
where the train's going to keep going. And yeah, you

(16:36):
can slow down around this corner because you like that view,
or you can speed up at this section, or you know,
you can lean a little left or a little right,
but you can only go so far because the train's
got to stay on those tracks, right. You can't suddenly say,
you know, we're gonna make a left here at Des
Moines and go somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
That's really that's a really good, great analogy, Michael, because
I think that you were.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Just talking about this actually the last episode we.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Well, I was talking about how it's so tricky, you know,
again just to Bill spoke a little about this, but
to remind people who aren't in the business, you know,
you know, the the pilot director and the showrunner will
create sort of the look of the show. How does
the camera move, what's sort of the language of the show.
In our show, we had fantasies and we had you know,
big camera move. The camera was sort of a character.

(17:21):
And then other directors that come on they need to
use that language. They can, they can, like Michael just
said in his train analogy, they can slow down, they
can look at this view, but they can't. You have
to use the language of the show. If you look
at the Office, for example, it's shot like a mockumentary
modern family I believe was as well, yes, whereas Scrubs
is crane shots and Dolly moves and steady cam shots.

(17:44):
So you have to use that language. But then somehow
find a way to make it your own. And I'm
glad we're gonna watch the episode with you, because I
think there's a lot of cool stuff in here that
you that you found a way to make your own.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I like that. I do like the train analogy, you
know what I mean, It's the same route every time.
It's the same track every time time. How can you
can bend it and move it, you know, to make
it your own? So like if a different conductor, you
know what I mean, I don't know. I love that analogy.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
That's really and in season one I would say, you know,
even on episode whatever, this is one thirteen, you're still
you're still finding that, you're still shaping it.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Now.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
I noticed, Michael, you did some things in here, like
going into blacks and coming back that I don't think
we'd done too much of yet. That became part of
the lexicon. So as an early director in the show,
I just directed episode two of one of Bill's news shows,
I still felt like, Okay, it's early on, I can
I'm still contributing to what the look of the show is,
you know, right.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
For sure, when you're when you're lucky enough to direct
early in the show's run, there's still a lot of
discovery going on. Yeah, the actors are really fine that
they're characters, so they're still open to, you know, someone
else's input.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
The writers are discovering what the actors are good at,
and they're tailoring the writing to you know, help those
words fit better in their mouths and you find the
comedy if you're doing a comedy. And similarly, for a director,
it's like, yes, you've you've been given the overall template,
the framework, but it's a jumping off point. It's not
like this is meant to just box you in. You're

(19:15):
allowed to push things a little bit further. John Wells,
i think, is credited as saying to Paris Barkley, I
want you to make an episode of Er only better. Yes,
it's like it still has to feel like an episode
of the show that you're already watching, you know, and

(19:37):
you've grown accustomed to. But push a little bit, get
your thumbprints on it, and in consultation, you know. That's
the thing. It's like, I could have what I think
is a great idea, but I'd neither If that's the case,
I have to run it past the showrunner, right and
make sure that I'm presenting it.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
If you have something, let's say you're in prep and
you have like a five day prep beforehand, and you go, oh,
I have an awesome idea. If it's a little outside
the box, you would you would run it by the
showrunner and say, hey, what do you think if I
do this, and I imagine Bill usually said yeah, go
for it. Right.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Bill was so amazing that, I mean, it was such
a great guy to work with so early in my career,
you know, as a freelance director, because I mean he
I think this episode has a good example the end
where we we have a music montage. You know, it's
like and they kept the song.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
On Hulu, so yeah, that was pretty cool, right.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
They didn't they didn't swap it out. And you know,
I can't remember how many there were leading up to this,
but this felt like it was one of the sort
of bigger ones, like we're com getting to this song.
It was in the script early, you know, It's like
it wasn't just like there'll be a rock song here
and you know, do some cool shots. And it may

(20:52):
not have been on this episode, but early in the
run with you guys, Bill said to me, because I
was like enthusiast pitching this you know montage I want
to do in all these transitions, and he's like, dude,
if I will cut story if you give me a
beautiful piece of cinema, Oh great, wow, And that's just insane.

(21:13):
I mean writers never say that, you know, And so
I really felt empowered and encouraged by Bill. And he also,
you know, there's no bullshit with him. If he doesn't
like it, he just tells you.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Well, there's plenty of times he would come to rehearsal.
I'm sure this never happened on one of your episodes, Michael,
but there's plenty of times.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
You know.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
The way the way it would work is the director
would sort of block out where everyone's gonna go, where
the camera's gonna go, And there were definitely times and
then Bill would come to the rehears arrive at the
rehearsal and be like, yeah, that that makes it not
funny at all.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
We're not doing it.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
And then you know, you watch some directors be like
it was you know, he was even for Bill, he
was tactful about it sometimes, but you know it was
like he's like, no, I'm not not doing that. If
you put him over there and her over there, it
does it's not funny anymore. So we got to do this,
and you know, you have to be a little bit
humbled about it as a director because you're like.

Speaker 6 (22:03):
Oh, you know, I didn't now I see, you know,
I think that most of the time when when writers
have clear ideas about that, they're generally right, you know,
if they're if they're if they're people you know of
the Steve.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Lovett and Bill Lawrence, Mindy Kaling caliber, like they get it,
and you know, you listen to them, you don't fight them,
and and they're generally right. Now. I did see that happen,
you know, with other directors when I'd be there prepping.
Didn't happen very often with me.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
With Michael Spiller, No, sir, not now with sorry Emmy
Award winning Michael spill.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
I mean, but what I do remember happening a lot
is like we'd be waiting for Bill to come up
from the writer's room, and you know, must have been
in the middle of a very fancy paragraph or something,
and you know, dial we had to wait, but you know,
the clock is ticking, we're losing a light. So generally
frame to arrive. But sometimes I would rehearse without him. Yeah,

(23:04):
and inevitably, inevitably, as soon as we finished the rehearsal,
Bill come walking through the doors and I'd have to
scramble like okay so for this shot, like fake, like
we're starting the rehearsal from the time right now, just
finished it right? Well?

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Another thing that people might not know is that the
onus to deliver the show in five days is all
on the director's hands. I mean obviously working with his assistant,
his or her assistant directors. So you are you not
only come on to this set where you where you
don't work every day, to lead a crew of people
that are all friends. But it's your job to be like, guys,

(23:41):
we gotta go, we gotta go, we gotta we gotta
get out of here. So that's that's another thing is
that you have to well you you've you've signed on
to deliver this episode of television in five twelve hour days.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
You have a ton of support, though you have you know,
if you have a good first your your golden We
have some pretty cool first ads our show, Franklin Got
Better and Scott Harris and.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Richard Wells who was an incredible first ad.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Paul Padrera. We had a few of them, you know
what I mean? And you worked with all four of them, right.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yes, I worked with them all?

Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, which was your favorite?

Speaker 1 (24:18):
No, you don't have to answer that. You don't have
to answer that spiller. Should we get into the episode,
because I think it would be fun to just really
think so. So, Michael, the way we do this is
but there's really no order. We just started to talk
about the episodes. Uh, well you've heard it. You listened
to your your favorite podcast exactly. The first thing I noticed.

(24:39):
First of all, we have to say that Elizabeth Bogish
is not only beautiful, obviously, but she's really funny. She's
a very good actress.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I thought she did a fantastic just very moments in
this episode. And it's also it's also, uh, this is big.
She's the first, she's the first love interest for JD
and so, you know, just really set the tone for
all of the other actresses that would come on to
play your love interest on the show. And she did
such a she did such a phenomenal job, and you know,
you're right, she is very funny, and it made it

(25:08):
so that whoever else came on had to be like,
all right, well let me let me let me see what,
let me let me let me step up.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
And yeah, they couldn't just be they couldn't just be
a pretty face. They had to really be good actresses
and be funny. And and I think that you know,
Liz was all those things. She she had really good timing.
She I thought she was good in her dramatic moments.
And yeah, and of course Spiller, when you do that
beauty shot of her at the end arriving with the
picnic basket, it's so romantic and pretty.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah. Did you have anything the city training in?

Speaker 7 (25:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (25:38):
I was thinking about that.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
All your sex and the city lighting women things all
came together in this episode.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Did you have anything to do with casting on that?

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Like?

Speaker 2 (25:46):
I know that some directors sit down and help out
with casting on television shows or bring in their own.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Typically, typically we are you know, we're contractually we're meant
to be involved than all the casting decisions. I mean,
every creative decision on the episode that we're directing, we're
supposed to be involved in. Sometimes an actu will span
several episodes. It's sort of a bigger decision, and or
maybe an actor's availabilities being challenged and you need to

(26:16):
book them before the director has technically begun their prep.
I can't recall what the situation was with Liz. I mean,
she was fantastic. I hard to imagine anyone who I
would have rather seen in the role right, But she
did have a technically a three episode span, although I
directed two of her episodes.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah to the second two, right, not the first one
where she's in the Mr Action right, right, all right?

Speaker 2 (26:41):
But have you have you gone on to do other
shows and be like, you know what, I got the
perfect person and gone back to use actors that you've
had from Oh sure, I say from Scrubs or from
or from Sex and the City or whatever.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah, I mean, whenever I can, I try to recommend
people who I know are cool and they're going to deliver.
And because we've all worked with people who are super
funny on screen and really difficult to work with, and
you know some some even you know, with like a
toxic personality that could kind of poison a set. So
it only takes one person to poison a workplace.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
That's a lesson to all you young aspiring actors out
there that everybody talks. Everybody, everybody talks. So you might
have been a jerk one day and Michael Spiller was
the director on Sex and the City and you think
you went home and went all right, well, I had
a bad day, And then later and then later Michael's

(27:38):
directing another show, where your name is suggested and he
goes no, no, so you.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Have to be My wife always says this sounds way
too small to be an asshole exactly.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
That that's the perfect And I mean the fact is,
you know, my wife used to be a costume supervisor,
a wardrobe supervisor and off. And it's the people behind
the scenes that get the brunt of an actor's wrath,
you know, or bad behavior. And it's like, if you're
making you know, your hair and makeup people, or the

(28:10):
people who are adjusting her clothing, if you're making those
people cry, you're not a good person, or you need
some therapy, or you gotta work some shit out. But
she told me there are a couple of people that
made her cry, you know, back in the day. And
I have had the pleasure of passing on.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Some of ah sweet revenge. And you ran home and
told your wife, didn't you like yese what I passed
on the.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
I don't believe who they trying to push on me today,
but I said no.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
And his name was Donald Faizon. So Michael, my first
my first note for you is at twenty four seconds,
why is my character have a giant entire piece that
it's a whole chicken on my date plate. I would
never order such a large meal. I had to stop
and pause. I'm on this date with this beautiful woman.

(28:59):
I'm just staying at her, and I have a full
roasted chicken on my plate.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
You know, all I recall about that is that it
was part of because it was this The sequence is
that you can't take your eyes off her. We're so
fixated on her that you almost forgot to eat. So
I didn't eat. Having a having a vertical, you know,
a large meal that would read in this shot because

(29:26):
there's a lot look at icy.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
So you really wanted to be looking at you.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
But yeah, so you icy, So you rationalization or or
real genuine roga. You wanted it to quickly read that
I hadn't touched my plate. Yes, it looks like Thanksgiving
dinner has been served and no one has calved.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
You know, we were on location for that, and you
know we didn't do that very often on Scrubs, and
certainly my first episode. I hadn't done it before with
you guys. Yeah, and you know that may have been
what the place had to offer, what Hugos had to offer.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Oh mean, it was Hugos. They go, I was gonna
ask that is that Hugos?

Speaker 1 (30:03):
And where is it riverside in the valley?

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Yeah, it was right next to the hospital, just down
the street. The photo booth in the middle of the supermarket.
Is that a pharmacy?

Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (30:13):
What was the deal with that, Mike? Who would put
a photo booth? Who would put a foot of booth
in the middle of an aisle of the supermarket? Michael,
you can reach through the photo booth to get items
off the shlves.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
Wealth Maybe they're handy props, you know. This is this
is before the days of like giant hats and oversized
sunglasses and big foam pointy thing.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Was this a set or do you remember?

Speaker 3 (30:37):
I think it was a set and it.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Was just like, yeah, I remember photo booths being like
in like bowling alleys or I missed by the way,
I miss photo booths. Let's keep love photo right now.
That was like the set off for that is the
because I guess because of the movies too. It's such
a romantic setting, I know.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
Especially when they're black and white. Not this not this
modern bullshit.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
The little black and white neon light that freaking yeah,
it surrounds the camera and shoots in your face. I
totally miss photo booths. I got some good photo booth
pictures of me and my wife when we first started dating.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
And you know, it's so romantic when you look at
them and you feel like you're old school.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
And I love a little fourth strip photo.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
I mean, yes, for those of you out here like
photo booths at like parties and stuff like that, it
doesn't it's not the same if it's not in an
actual booth.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
If you're in Manhattan, Okay, there's a restaurant called the
Smith on Fourth Street, and like, what is it like
fourth and tenth ish you just google it. And in
the basement of the Smith, which is a good restaurant,
there's an old school black and white photo booth.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
So there you go.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
I just toocked you up. Next time you're we're on
a trip with your loved one, go take a romantic picture.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
There when we're allowed to travel again.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
When you're allowed to travel again in August and yeah, so, Michael,
I don't know how they do it on Sex and
the City, but we certainly don't put photo booths in
the center of a supermarket aisle here on scrubs. I
want to say, this is very vain, but I looked
very skinny in this photo booth and I.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
But what was up with your hair? Dude? Your hair
was a little different in these episodes. Man, they were
very spiky, and I.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Was probably you know what I was probably the truth
of the spinning of the hair on the time and
the photobooth that looked like I have more makeup on
than usual. I can only rationalize that I was probably
nervous in front of this beautiful actress and I was
probably like, more makeup your hair?

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Okay? Now, is this your first uh love interest in
projects that you've been because you hadn't worked that much.
That's a very tradition I think dated on camera before.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Very good question. No, I had done an after school
special called My Summer as a Girl, and basically it
was an after the special where they just stole the
whole plot of Tootsie and you know, in order to
get the job, I had to dress up like a
woman and then I fell. But I remember it's interesting
remembering that that I remember that there was supposed to
be a scene where I kind of got like too

(33:01):
aggressive with trying to make out with her, and I
remember the director was disappointed because I was I couldn't
I was too nervous to do it. I wasn't doing
it enough, being aggressive enough with her.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Why why why are all after school specials? Why do
the guys have to be so aggressive? Well?

Speaker 1 (33:17):
The lesson they always taught a lesson, right, Well, this
one was I was kind of a guy, and I
was kind of a playboy, but like I was a
cocky guy, and uh. And then I in order to
get in order to go after the girl, I dressed
up like a girl because she had gotten the last
last job as a chambermaid on the island, and I
wanted to do that too, So I dressed up like
a girl, like a lot totalies the platitutcy, except you know,

(33:39):
a chambermaid on an island. And then I fall in
love with the girl. And then i'm too I was
when I'm a man, I'm too aggressive with her, and
she's like, get away, You're you're moving too fast. And
then there's a guy who's in love with me when
I'm dressed as a woman and he starts doing it
to me and I'm like kicking in the nuts. And
the lesson was like, how do you fucking like it

(34:00):
treat a woman with respect.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, shoes on the other foot.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Now, Yeah, so you can all go google my summer
as a girl and watch that bit of artistry. But
that's a good point you brought up, Donald. I don't
think that I had really had a pretty love interest
other than Sara Chalk. But we hadn't really you know,
delved into that yet, not on the We're about to
We're in a few episodes we're about I think after
Liz is the first time that it comes up. So, yeah,

(34:25):
I bet I was very nervous around her. I do
seem to me to look like I have a little
bit too much makeup on in this photo booth, Like
I was like, I was trying to look like you know,
it was important for you too. I wanted to look
I wanted to look the best I could for Liz.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Well, yeah, I mean it is so funny. It's like
it's it's been scanning a lot of attention these days
because people are, you know, in this business are evolving somewhat.
But you know, when you have two actors or more
depending on the show, uh, you know, who have to
have a love scene or be intimate physically intimate with
each other. I mean it's awkward, it's weird, and it
can it can be really uncomfortable for for people. So

(35:02):
I mean I totally get it, even as sort of
PG as.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
This was right, well, this was pretty you know, when
we get into some of the Sarah stuff, I can't
even believe that we were doing what we were doing
for network TV, and I remember it being like awkward,
like this is so bizarre. I remember feeling like are
we on like HBO, Like how are we doing this
for NBC? You know, it's pretty That was that was
pretty risque stuff. This stuff with Liz was was was
pretty tame. But you you know, you're still lying in

(35:25):
bed with a with a beautiful stranger and to.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Say at the end of the episode, I'm on top
of uh Judy and it's we're simulating r This was
a sexy episode.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
There's a lot of talk of orgasms and and and
Sarah masturbating on a washing machine.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
It works?

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Does that work? Is a washing machine that powerful? Because
I can't. I don't. I don't. I don't. Apparently I don't.
I definitely don't produce like the washing machine can produce. Obviously,
Listen first undred. First, just be honest with everyone, of
the washing machine? Is that good? Aware at the end
of it, you fall off the motherfucking washing machine. I

(36:04):
can't compete with a washing machine. What am I useful for?

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Honey?

Speaker 2 (36:07):
I've been helping you raise these kids? What am I useful?

Speaker 8 (36:12):
Hey?

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Donald?

Speaker 2 (36:12):
The washing machine and the crazy shit? Is My wife's
always like I'm gonna go put another load in?

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, yes she is.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
She's definitely gon hey Donald, that washing machine cannot provide
for those children.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Only you can. Only I can. That's well, I don't
know whether or not.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
You know, we three men have no idea obviously if
a washing machine can can do that to a woman.
But I gotta say, Sarah, it worked for Elliott.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
It really works Elliott, it definitely well. And it worked
for Carla too, because she's the one that suggested it.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
Yes, she said, when are you doing laundry next? Now,
we had a lot of female writers on this show.
I can only imagine that they had a conversation in
the writer's room like, do y'all have them run a
washing machine?

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Well, let's move on, or you can ask could be
an ask bill moment.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
No no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 8 (37:03):
I don't want.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
Hey, listen, I don't have anything. Do you guys have anything?
Before Sarah shitting a brick? Because I laughed out loud
at that.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
I laughed out loud at that.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
That was funny, especially Sarah. First of all, when you
think you'd ever get to see Sarah chalk, you know,
poohing face, and there we saw it.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
But that's that's that's the one thing. Usually somebody makes
a pooing face on television, they get real big with it.
It was pretty it was pretty subtle. You didn't know that.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
You know, this eye closed thing.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
She did an eye closed thing.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
You're right, she closed one eye and they had to
be just enough, just enough push.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Yeah, a brick, you that brick?

Speaker 1 (37:37):
So what's funny. What's funny about it? It's builder is
that she she just does a little bit of a push,
but then a giant brick fall. I just realized that
in one episode, in one episode of brilliant television, in
twenty two minutes, we have Sarah's pooh face and her
orgasm face.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
That's right. We opened the whole gamut.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
We opened the show with her poof face and closed
the show the orgasm face.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
What what art we made what from an O poop?

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Okay, so I think the yeah was improved. When Carla
pushes me down, I remember that, Yeah, I think that
was improved. I don't remember if that was in the
script or not.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
It wasn't because who the hell would ever guess that your.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
T shirt would say yeah on it? Right, that my
T shirt would say yeah on it?

Speaker 1 (38:21):
It didn't say in the script. Turk wearing a yeah
T shirt.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
Points to said prieze Yeah, but that was funny.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Donald. I wanted to point out a little trivia that
I saw on the Scrubs Wiki at three h five,
right before uh You're yeah, saying that doctor Cox knows
Doug's name, and the Scrubs Wiki was pointing out it
might be the only time he ever says Doug's name,
because he goes Doug and uh.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
Well he uses it. He also uses it as like
he's gonna pick on Doug.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, but I'm saying Cox never you know. His whole
thing was he doesn't know people's names. He calls them
all these nicknames, but he randomly knew Doug's name.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
But you too, a Jamin in this episode also you
to a like a camaraderie in or Yeah, you know,
you're his go to now this is the fund he
established it in the last episode. But yet now you
two are it doesn't seem like you're a fresh nubi
even though he calls you nuby and everything like that.
We're starting to see your your relationship as colleagues form.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
That's true, and I think I wrote down this is
the first episode to me it seems like he genuinely
likes JD. Like he's usually good at hiding it, but
in this episode, I felt like Cox was really bonding
with JD and liked him even though he was, you know,
still trying and hide it, but he couldn't hide it.
And then in the end he really bonded with him
and said, you know, don't be me, don't be me,

(39:40):
go have a life, which I thought was was moving.
I thought that was, you know, a side of doctor
Cox we don't only see, yes spiller.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Since where That's a nice segue into what it's like
working with Johnny C for the first time as a directory.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Yeah, was he scared?

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Yeah, let's go.

Speaker 3 (39:57):
Well, I mean, first of all, he's so damn good,
he's so damn funny, but he is a very, very
intense gy, particularly when you know he's in character. You know,
on set because you know he's a prepping director. You
go and you're you're doing all the work in the
various meetings and location scouting and stuff that you do
to prep your own episode, but you also try and

(40:19):
spend as much time as you can on set so
that you're getting to know the cast in a more
informal way. You're starting to connect with the crew, learn
people's names, all these things that are essential to you
know when you're headed the baton the next week that
you'll have a good episode. Right, So you know, you'd
hang out and observe and try not to be in
the way, and I'd watch another you know, like Mark

(40:41):
Bucklin work with Johnny c or something, and Johnny is intense.
You say cut and he stands there, his jaws like
clamp shut, his cheek muscles are like fluctuating and like
he's he's ripped. You know, it's like so aspiring, Right,
It's like okay, and you have to give that person

(41:01):
a note. So the very the very first time I
did it, I said cut, went up to him and
it's like you got the sense that if you said
the wrong thing, he might actually hit you because he's
that he's he appears to be that tightly wound, right.
So I can't remember what the note was, but you know,

(41:23):
I said, Johnny, can't try that, you know, I have
an idea. Blah blah blah blah. He looks at me
for a second, cheek muscle still, you know, rippling away,
and he says, fuck, yeah, let's do it, and we
just we went.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
It's like, okay, I made it.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
That was your test. In one day, in one or
two sentences, he decided if he liked you or not
forever exactly thankfully. Well, I think Johnny Johnny, Johnny Johnny
has so much had so much experience, you know, and
and I've worked with so many directors at that point,
and I think he he you know, if you gave
him a good note, he was he was down to

(42:00):
do it. And and then you know, like all of us,
we sometimes got notes from directors and we were like,
I'm not doing that, and you know, so I think
that he in that moment, he decided that he liked
you and respected you.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Well, I mean, listen, from from an actor's standpoint, I
completely get it, because it's like okay as a new
director every week, and some of them are not going
to be great, or some you're just not going to
get along with, and some are going to ask you
things that may not even be their note, maybe a
writer's note, and you know you can't you can't go
up to an actors say oh, well the writer asked

(42:31):
me to say this. You know that's not a good
thing to do that.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
It's like, well, then you're just the messenger person. Yeah,
and then and then it just shows that you're weak.
I think you have to be like, you have to
be like you know what I try to be like,
is I do you want to do you want to try?
You know, if it's my thing, then I'm like, let's
try this. But if I'm coming on to a show
like this, I would say I was thinking this, do
you want to maybe try this? Because you know, you
don't know if the actor is going to say, oh,

(42:55):
my character would never do that, you know that kind
of thing. Hey, we need to go to a break
that thought. Donald, We're gonna break hold that thought. Don't
don't you forget it? Donald, Because I know that you've
tried some of God's lettuce and that affects memory.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Hold on to that tried some of God's a few hours.
Let's go to break.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
Okay, we're back from break. Donald, did you remember did
you hold onto the thought?

Speaker 2 (43:22):
I forgot?

Speaker 3 (43:23):
Oh fuck?

Speaker 1 (43:25):
And you kids say we doesn't cause memory laws.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Wow, it's like a case study.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Yeah, like a case study. So Donald, we're doing a
podcast about the show Scrub. I had to remind him
after each breaks. But Mike Spiller directed you twenty episodes.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember. So
I'm start hanging out with you outside of Scrubs. Spiller,
this isn't This is for everyone out there that's sitting
there and they're like, wow, this is you know, a
director on the show with the two actors, and he
directed twenty so that makes him special. That's not all
that makes Spiller special. We've all gone out and hung

(44:06):
out and eaten together and stuff like that, so you know,
it's also it's very cool to catch up with you.
I'll give you pool before I've polpier House.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Spiller. No, we we moved. You have to come see
the new crib.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah, now that's right.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Now that you've got that, Emmy, Now he's got one
of those Emmy houses.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
One of those Emmy houses is like three levels. Listen,
it's shaped houses, shaped like an Emmy.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
If he wasn't responsible, there'd be a water slide from
his bed to the pool.

Speaker 1 (44:38):
Yeah, when we met him, he had a DP on
sex in the city house. Now he's got a modern
family Emmy house.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Spiller.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
I have a great memory of you two and that
you came over and helped me install a door knob.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
Do you remember that? Wait? What I mean?

Speaker 3 (44:53):
That totally sounds like me. It's completely on brand.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
Wait, I need to understand this. You have sewer, man,
Here's what happened. Here's what happened, Spiller. Now you don't
know how to put a door?

Speaker 1 (45:04):
No, let me explain. It's a very sweet Michael Spiller story.
I was talking him on set. Now, Spiller, you could
say that this has never happened, and I dreamed it.
But I haven't done hallucinogenic since college. So I remember
that I was talking to Michael. Michael's handy. Aren't you
a handy around the house guy? Like you can ferry
your handy love buildings? And I was saying, God, I
wish I knew how to build stuff like I have

(45:25):
to put a doorknob on a door, and I gotta
I have a door without a doorknob, and I got
to go hire someone to do it. I wish that
I knew how to buy the right drill bit and
install this doorknob. And Michael said I could teach you,
and I said really, and he said, yeah, I'll come
over and show you how to do it. And I
said that would be so awesome because I don't know
anything like that and I'd love to actually learn. And
Michael came over and helped me install a new doorknob

(45:47):
on a door.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Isn't that true? Michael?

Speaker 3 (45:49):
That is true. I don't like to blow my own horn,
but yes, that is true.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
And you remember this, Michael, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
I don't think, but I do remember it.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
He charged me thirty five.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
I got a story too. So we just finished the
screening of Garden State. Zach invited great film that Zach.
Zach invited a bunch of people over to the screening room.
Danny de Vito was there, Uh was there? A bunch
of people were there. Mike Spiller, myself, we were there also,

(46:23):
and I remember the movie ends and we're all like, wow,
the movie was really good. I had notes, though, and
I wanted to dude, and I wanted to figure out
a way to tell Zach, all right, I've got a
couple of notes about the movie. And I remember I
see Spiller and we're I don't know if we're drinking
or we're eating. It's after the movie's over, probably, and

(46:44):
we talked. We're talking and You're like, wow, that was
pretty good. And I was like, I was right. I
was like, I've got some notes and you said to me,
you know, now might not be the best time to deliver,
said Zach. And I was like, oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
of course I'll figure out a way too, you know,

(47:04):
to tell him. Flash cut to Danny DeVito doing a
Q and A after the movie, and he was like,
does anyone have notes?

Speaker 1 (47:13):
One hand shoots up, one beautiful brown hand.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
And then and then what happened? Then what happened was this?

Speaker 1 (47:25):
So then Donald goes off on his notes and I'm
looking at him like, dude, not fucking now, like tell
me these Like Danny Vito was my.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Danny de Vito was my producer.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
I was like, dude, tell me privately, what the fuck
are you doing? And then so then Danny's like, you
wanted to be heard.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
I wanted to be heard. I didn't want to be.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Heard because I wasn't allowed to be in the movie,
because because I gave the part to method man.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Now, listen, Danny DeVito.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
You know at the time the movie had had too
many endings. It was like it was it was going
on a few beads too long, and we all knew that,
but I was in denial about him, and and Danny
DeVito said, how many of you felt like.

Speaker 2 (47:59):
The had too many endings? Donald's hand shoots up.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
I'm like, fucking Donald, put your fucking hand down. I'm
supposed to be my man on the inside.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
But you changed it.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
We changed it.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
We did.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Hey, you know what, this many years later, I'm glad
that you're never a yes man.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
You always tell it like it is. I just remember
that being like, yeah, you know, we should, Yeah, you know.
I'm sure we all have notes, but I would wait
for my own moment, so you didn't. The lesson of
this story is that you should have listened to Spiller.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Yes, it's usually that's the end of most stories.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
Act So I want to say, at four or fifteen,
I I don't remember the episode, so I thought that
it was you who couldn't who had lost your erection,
And it was a very good misdirect by both Spiller
and Bill, because uh it was it was Judy.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
I don't think I've ever seen a story of a woman. Wait, yeah, right,
I remember that. But this I knew right away. I
remember this episode now. I remember this episode because Rob's
line in this show. So when I saw you in
the hall today and I asked you, how's your penis? Yeah,
and you didn't want to talk about it.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Yeah, So Rob's still tracks. It's still tracks. It's all
part of the mislead because I was I was proud
of that. I don't remember. I don't think that was
in the script specifically, is like she's holding a piece
of bacon in a really odd, upright manner that nobody
would ever do. But I thought, Okay, this would be

(49:35):
a fun visual transition, and it does. It does lead
you to believe. It's more evidence as a viewer that yes,
Donald is the one who's had the problem in the
classic situation.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Yeah, you misled. I just wanted to do one little
director thing that Spiller kind of introduced.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
I believe to the show.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
I don't know that we were doing this too much beforehand,
but at four twelve, sorry, it's a little bit before that.
So they have sex, and then the camera pans and
goes into the back of the TV, and we use
that as a transition, you know, a transition time passage,
a little time passage, and then we come back to
see the bra on Rowdy's head, and then we cut
to Liz Bogish holding a bacon in sort of an

(50:11):
erect way.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Spiller, you naughty, naughty boy.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Sometimes bacon is just bacon.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Yeah, sometimes bacon's just bacon. But yeah, so I was
I wass tricked the whole episode because I genuinely until
until obviously she says it. It's funny, Judy. Oh wait,
I want I'm jumping ahead. There's a waste of Oh
there's a waste of a gift certificate. Oh yeah, there's
a gift. Cancel the Cobbler. Now that's eleven twenty eight.
I think Neil improv canceled the Cobbler. Definitely, right, Spiller, I.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
Think so, But I mean, I the only draft of
the script that I could find, although it has notes
and diagrams all over It says, it's like a pre
table draft of the script. I have almost all my
Scrub scripts I couldn't find anyway. Yeah, that that whole
bit wasn't in the version I had, But I mean,
I love the bit with Neil that starts that runner.

(51:04):
You know where you we reveal him next to you?
Can you know someone walks away and just happen to
look at him? Right, He's like, what if I told you,
you know, look at me when I'm eating? I don't
like it? Okay, what am I doing eating? And what
are you doing daring?

Speaker 8 (51:20):
Ye?

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Any Way, I would listen to a whole podcast that
I would the whole podcast it's called Michael Spilder acts
out all the parts of Scrub.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Would I would listen to it.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
It's coming to Spotify. So Michael an endorsement Carrot Top.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
Oh my god, Yeah, we gotta talk about.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Okay, First of all, I remember the story shut out,
go ahead, you should tell it that.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
No, I don't want to take it. You got it, No,
you got I'm just worried you're gonna suck up the
story because it's.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Up the story. So what's Carrot Top's real name? Joell
Can you look up whatever. Scott Thompson, Scott Thompson, Joel
never mind.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Scott Thompson came on the show, and I always found
Scott Thompson very funny. I know that this was sort
of like making fun of carrot Top, but I always
thought he was a funny guy. And the only thing
we had heard about Scott Thompson, uh, just by You know,
sometimes when you have a guest star, there'd be a
couple of things like, hey, don't you know sometimes like
I remember someone was allergic to nuts and they were like,
don't eat nuts around him.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
What was Scott?

Speaker 1 (52:17):
It was like, hey, guys, don't call him carat top.
He prefers that you call him Scott, Like, don't don't
call him carrot top. And so the crew was told that,
the cast was told out, and we had this old
prop man at the time who walked right up to
him was like, hey, how you doing carrot Head? And

(52:38):
I remember we all all flinching, like, don't call him
carrot you call him carrot top? Along, carrot head?

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Hey, how you doing cart How you doing carrot Head?

Speaker 7 (52:49):
Now?

Speaker 3 (52:49):
Is this the same guy that allegedly hit Rowdy or not? Yes,
same guy so another strike.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Yeah, I think his first building, his first strike was
calling Scott carrot.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
But I know it's funny.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
I thought Scott did a very funny job, and I
laughed at every single one of his jokes. So fuck
off if you don't like carrot.

Speaker 2 (53:17):
Top right on. I've worked with I've worked with Scott
since then. You have. Yeah, we did it, he's still doing.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
He's ripped, right, that's one thing.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
Now, we played basketball together, all types of things in
the celebrity circuit. Uh, he is ripped. He's and he's
ripped like he's ripped like diesel, ripped, like rock ripped.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
You know, he's not just like he's not he's not as.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
Tall as the rock, but he's ripped like you know,
at least back then, at least you know, ten years ago.
The last time I saw him, he was freaking diesel. Dude.
You know, as you get older, you try to figure
out ways to stay young, and.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Yeah, well I'm trying to stay I'm trying to stay
in shape. But I don't have muscles like that. But
I guess I could take it more seriously and eat
a lot of calories.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
You have muscles like.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Johnny John did I give you that John C. I
think I went on so he's holding up.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (54:10):
There's a there's a Johnny C who played Red and Platoon.
There's a there's a there's a beautiful uh doll. I
don't know what you call that. It's like a ken doll.
It's like an action figure, an action but it's but
it's ken doll.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
It's a twelve in And when I when I saw them,
I when I went sixth scale.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
By the way, it's it's it's it's accessory is a cigarette,
which I always thought was funny. And I, uh yeah,
when those came out, I bought one for Johnny and
for I guess I bought one for use builder. God,
I must have really loved.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
You, he did. Those are the days.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Uh So, I love you definitely changes everything it does. Yeah, Well,
and when you say it, apparently in this story, when
you say I love you, ship gets weird for a
little bit. Yeah, yes, for Judy with at least with
the Turken Carla, I.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
Think it's weird for both of you. I don't think
either of you has ever really said it.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Before, right, I just don't. I mean, I've said it
a couple of times in my life. But I don't
know that it's changed. I mean, you know, I guess
it just makes the breakup harder. I don't know. I
just found that. I found that as an interesting story
for these guys that I love. You made them have

(55:25):
cold feet in the in the bedroom. Well she did, right,
and you didn't have cold Well he had cold feet,
he did too. It was a blow to his ego.
Also right in his head. He got in his head, right.
But and even and the fact that Turk is like,
you know, it's never happened that, you know, I've always
been able to pleasure a woman to the point of
orgasm to marry out. I was like, right, I was like, yeah, whatever.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Yeah, I don't think the stakes are high.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
The stakes are high.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
That's a weird plot line for me. I love you
and because of that, you can't come Now.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
Well, I don't know if you're supposed to say the cud.
I mean we can say orgasm comes a little aggressive
for a family podcast.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
You know, are we a family podcast? I know we're
explicitn't know we're explicit, but we stay away had we
had established don't know what type of podcast.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
No, No, we're definitely explicit, but you could have said ejaculate.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
I wasn't PC.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
You don't have to say come. It's so graphic, right,
Joel crashing up at you right now?

Speaker 3 (56:23):
She could a climax.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
She couldn't, Joel, as our producer, should we be using
a word? I don't know. I call iHeart on the
red phone.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
I don't think it'll matter much, guys, whenever you're coaching.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
Donald said it. My heart skipped to Beat No. Eight
episode I know it's fucking staying. It's say listen, you know,
listen to that point. I noticed Judy didn't say orgasm
in the first scene that it comes up, and I
was like, oh, it must be like a TV thing.
And we see that we had a tiptoe around the word.
And then everyone starts saying it. You say it, Sara

(57:00):
says it. I'm like, oh, it's just a Judy's character.
Carla is like uncomfortable saying the word in public.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Which is odd to me because as you saw, I
just said a different word, and all of you guys got, oh,
now you're ashamed. Now now you guys kind of shamed me.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
That was no judge, We're not shaming you, there's no judgement.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
It was a little bit of judgment. I'm gonna keep
going no way, No, there's no judgment. And anybody out
there listening, I felt your judgment too.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
No, they weren't judging your judgment too.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
I think we were all just a little taken aback
that you came at us aggressively, no pun intended.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
I'm going to keep us on topic, but maybe get
us out of this off or are you going.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
To direct us? Piller direct us. I'm just gonna say that,
you guys, this is what a director does.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
It's a little redirect here at that moment at eleven
fifty five where Carla catches herself after Elliott's made her
confession that she's never been able to climbax ever, even
by herself, that that moment after she says it, Judy's like, oh,
I'm sorry, I should be more surprised. It's just like that,
the the pause and her like her realization. It's it's

(58:03):
a silent beat. It's so funny and so definitely executed.
And there was something that I have No, you can't
take no credit for. Of course, that's all the actor.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Elliott is so self deprecating in this episode. It's so funny.
Every scene staras in She's like she's just like taking
digs at herself over and over and over again. Let's
talk about the legendary Sam Lloyd at fifteen thirty saying
walk off, bitch. I laughed out loud of it. Oh yes,
now it's spiller. I noticed he's not sweating. I don't
know if you recall because it was so long ago,

(58:33):
but I wondered if there was a conscious decision like, no,
you found your courage, You're not going to be flopped
sweating in this seat.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
Yeah. I don't remember actually saying the words, but i'd
like to think that that is why, you know, with
his new found you know, since since Kelso's lost his mojo,
Ted has this newfound confidence that he wasn't sweating.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
Yeah, and then then he goes, and then he goes,
you are a wonderful person with you.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Don't blurrd know what you did?

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Yeah, so good, it's blurre. Do you want to share
any Sammy thoughts? I thought, just you know, because you
worked with him a bunch of times, and and and
we you know, Donald and I shared some thoughts. But
I thought you might want to say anything that you
remember about him.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
Yeah, I mean, gosh, it's take him too soon. I mean,
such a great guy, such an amazing talent. I'm so
pleased to work with him a bunch and and gotten
to know him a little bit. And but I often,
I mean when I heard the news, I kept thinking

(59:39):
back to one episode that I haven't seen in a while,
but this moment is all I stuck with me where
Ted the Lawyer winds up falling off the roof and
I mean we shot like a pretty elaborate sequence for it,
and you know, see him falling away and he says, oh,
sweet relief, you know, like he's finally, you know, gonna

(01:00:00):
be at at this torturous life. And you know, years ago,
I just would think about that moment because it was
so funny and so on character. And you know, the
past couple of weeks I've just been thinking about It's like, well,
I hope that he has found peace and you know
it's not in pain, and it's just heartbreaking. What an

(01:00:20):
amazing guy.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Yeah, he really was. I've been thinking about him a
lot lately, and I know, I know all the fans
of the show have, but and and now of course
when he comes up in an episode, I'm like extra
leaning forward because I know, I just know what's going
to be funny. And you know, I have this thing
when I write my notes down for the episode, I
write lol just to remind myself to say that. That's
something that made me laugh out loud and saying he
has like two lines in this episode. I laughed out

(01:00:43):
lout of both of them.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
It's just him just delivered always.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
Yeah, he definitely.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Johnny c At nineteen twenty seven puts in his own
five good ones, you know that's what.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Yeah, I noticed that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
That's up with that well, you know he was that
that was his expression. I think he I don't know
if the writers put it in the script or not.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Right here for you, Bob. I like that whole storyline too.
That was very funny of Kelso losing his mojo, and
the way Ken played it was great, like a wounded
little like a wounded little puppy. Ken was so funny.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Right when you ever see Kelso play that like humbled puppy,
That was so funny.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
And and even and uh and and John and you know,
and him realizing, wait a second, how did I lose
my Mojo and john c rolling by, Yeah, the wheelchair
waving at him.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Hilarious, dude, that's a that's a shot I've seen like
in every Scrubs clip reel that's ever shown, or like
you know, gifts and stuff. You just that's it's one
of those shots you always see Johnny on the wheelchair
rolling by, waving like that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
Yeah, I think I'm owed some residuals or something, some gift.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
Those gift residuals are Yeah, they don't pay, they don't pay.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
Yeah, I just wrote I wrote down the same thing.
Donald ken Ken is so good being humbled. I mean,
it's not something he ever really saw on Scrubs, but
he was, like, he played it so well. Just he
that guy has such an amazing range.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Yeah. But and then also also his his comeback was
great and the way Cox tricks him or you know,
revives him by saying, you know what, guys, from here
on out, you just ask me the question and I'll
answer everything for you. And you and you realize, oh
wait a second, you realize right then, and there Kelso

(01:02:29):
is trying to teach. He gets a kick out of
being the most evil person on the planet, but he
is the chief of medicine at a teaching hospital, and
he fulfills his job in every episode, regardless of how
evil he might be or how angry he might seem.
You know, I talked about this earlier. He h an
older and earlier podcast. He's always teaching. He's always he's

(01:02:54):
always a part of the solution and not necessarily the problem.
Even if it's like, well, look, this is how we
run things. He the lessons always somehow revolve around how
mean he is. But he's freaking so he's always teaching.
The kids. He's always teaching or the students or the.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
And always taken away from him. This time he's totally
like lost his mojo, you know, he.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Well, not only has he lost his mojo, he's lost
his purpose in the hospital. Also, what do I do here?
I can't freaking get ted to do his job. I
can't get you know, I can't get the med students
or the interns to do their job.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
What?

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
How do you know?

Speaker 3 (01:03:37):
How?

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
What is my purpose here? And it's only until it's
only until Cox says, you know, you guys ask me
the question where he's like, wait a second, that's not
how we run things, And it's all right, if I
scare the shit out of them, that's a fine way
to teach people fear. We're in a hospital. If this
ship hits Code RED, these people need to be ready
to you know, push their nerves aside and answer questions

(01:04:00):
and save lives and everything like that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Psion and you got another glimpse of, you know, inside
doctor c that you know, there's more than meets the
I there. He's not just you know, a scary, intimidating
figure in the hospital. It's like, no, he's got part.
He's got compassion and you know, understands how things work
here and he's the one who's instrumental in restoring the order. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Yeah, And I thought that was really nice just moment
into doctor Cox's mind, seeing that he's a lonesome guy,
who's who who's dedicated his life to this and and
I thought, you know, I just thought that was a
nice sort of reveal as we get to know the
character more in episode thirteen of the whole series, that
you know how dedicated he is to being a doctor,

(01:04:44):
even even in sacrificing relationships with with with people. And
you know, Joelle brought up a good point that you know,
when you do a TV show. Granted we're not doing
something noble like saving lives, but you know, when you
we had something analogous going on in that we were
just at this hospital sixteen hours a day, and it

(01:05:06):
definitely hurt relationships with family and friends. You know, Donald
had children and and and and was gone, and I
lost touch with a lot of old friends, and it
was it was a bit analogous to what was happening
in our lives. You know, it's interesting when Scrubs ended,
I have this feeling that I was delayed in a
sense in that I hadn't had nine years of building

(01:05:28):
friendships outside of the hospital. I had built the best
friendships of my life, you especially and Spiller, Spiller, Spiller,
you're close, like ten down. But no, I had built
some great friendships and uh and and actually that's that's
one of the reasons so many of these wonderful people,
including a Bill and others, are so in my life.

(01:05:49):
And of course I I fostered other relationships, but but
you know, we didn't have much time over those nine
years to build and develop other relationships. And I don't know,
I don't know if you if you noticed that Donald
were we were finally done and kind of had our
normal lives back. I felt that I was like, I don't.

(01:06:11):
I have small circles of friends that I love so much,
but I'm not one of these people that really knew
a ton of people outside of my job right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
And because of that, it's a little awkward now when
I do well, we're on lockdown. But when I do
meet people, I'm a little awkward about. You know, when
you make a bunch of really good friends and it
all ends and you only see them occasionally, Well, you
and I are a bit different. It's like, well, you know,

(01:06:41):
I spent ten years getting to know a lot of people,
and as much as much as I respect and cherished
all the time that we spent together, it's weird not
having these people in my life. It's weird not seeing
Chris or Or or you know, or Ethan Or or
Calvin or Natural Bolt and Patrick Bolton. It's weird not

(01:07:01):
seeing that so Vaughan, it's weird not seeing these people.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
You know, one thing you could do it would be
to ask Spiller to come put a doorknob on your house.
That's one trick that I've sometimes used when I.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Don't want Spiller anywhere near my house in quarantine.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Oh, he could mask up and come put a doorknob.

Speaker 2 (01:07:18):
I totally understand that. I totally understand that, but I'm
trying to listen.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
He was thirty five an hour. It was worth every penny.
You know the rates of change. Yeah, it's DGA scale
plus fringes.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
But you know, let's talk for a second about new Slang,
which is the song that ends the show. Rumor has
it it was chosen by Neil Goldman, who unfortunately he
keeps getting mentioned because he loves getting mentioned on this podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
But he was a writer, contributor.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
He was a what are you saying?

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
I said he was a contributor. He contributed big show,
I think on that show. Because of that, on this show,
because of that, he gets spoken of all the time.
Neil Goldman. I didn't know that Neil Goldman picked this song.
Neil Goldman.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Let me tell you something. Neil Goldman is very into music,
was and is very in music, and he picked the song. Now,
this song I so fell in love with.

Speaker 2 (01:08:13):
Yeah, I know you used to sing this shit all
the time. Go teeth and a curse in my mouth.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
And a curse for this town and I put it
into it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
I thought it was a curse in my mouth? Do
you know this town?

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Do you know that it's in garden State?

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
It is.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
It's the song that when I say to that, no.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Black people in garden Stead, I've never seen garden staate.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
Well when they do, like when we do, like the
Wiz version, maybe you'll check it out.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Will you be me and the Are you gonna do
the Wiz version? Yeah, a Wiz version. Who's gonna play
your character? Who's playing you? Are you are? Of course?
It better be me. That's all I know because when
people say your name, they better say my name next.
That's all my motherfucker know that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
You didn't know that We've already started casting the Wiz
version of garden Stead and you're the star. I love
it except when you say you tell me now instead
of new slang. When when I when Natalie, when the
Natalie character says, you gotta hear this song, it will
change your life. And you're in the Whiz version of that.
You're in what's the song gonna be?

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
It goes right foot up, left foot slide, left foot up,
right foot slide, anyway about to slide? We do it
slide slide.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
What is that song?

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
It's just like Michael Ja Son. I can give you
the path, aren't the lyrics like?

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
Yeah, I saw it briefly on somebody's video. But isn't
it like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Lessen?

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
Uh, pretty much anything you're gonna do. It's lie.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Dope moment. And then I think we should listen. I'm
not gonna knock the idea. I'm doing an all black
Garden States.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Listen. I will license I will license you.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
It'll be a different story. I mean, it's the same story,
but it's a different it's a different it's a different movie. Though.

Speaker 1 (01:10:03):
Listen, I will give you the license. You and you
and you and someone.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
And instead of going to method man and now, I'm
not gonna choose you to play motherfucking the character at
the hotel, choose Jack Shepherd, Dax Shepherd, Dax Shepherd. I'm
gonna have Ray Romano.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
So fucked up. My feelings are hurt, Hey, everybody. While
Donald cools down and writes his Wiz musical version of
Garden State.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
It's not a musical, it is. The Whiz was a musical.
So is The Wizard of Oz.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
Though, Okay, stop yelling.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
I'm not yelling I listen, I'm calm. Okay, well, we'll
be right now. And we're bad. We're bad. We have
Michael Spiller with us.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
We have director Michael Spiller, Emmy Award winning director Michael Spiller,
who not only is a fantastic filmmaker, but also can
throw a doorknob on a door in thirty minutes flat.
Joel introducess to Whitney and Dustin.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Whitney and Dustin, Hi, guys, thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
So much for coming on this show, and.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 3 (01:11:20):
Baby.

Speaker 8 (01:11:22):
We brought the baby along because we wanted to introduce
you guys to Atticus Dorian.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
Oh, totally named after j D.

Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
I thought you were gonna say no, Atticus Dorian's a
beautiful name.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
Thank you.

Speaker 7 (01:11:39):
But he does have on his baby bear shirt.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
Oh so cute. He's such a cute.

Speaker 8 (01:11:46):
We figured since he was gonna meet Vanilla and Chocolate Bear,
he needed.

Speaker 7 (01:11:50):
To rock the baby bear shirt.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
Where do you guys?

Speaker 8 (01:11:55):
We're from Leaton, Alabama. It's a tiny little town in
the sort of like in the Shoals area. I don't know,
it's probably something you've never heard of.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
I've been to Alabama, but not in that area. I've
been to Birmingham, Alabama.

Speaker 3 (01:12:09):
Yeah, we're a.

Speaker 8 (01:12:09):
Little bit north of Birmingham's.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Okay, Well, we're so glad you guys are here. And
you were joined not only by by is it me
and Donald but Michael Spiller, who was one of the
best directors of Scrubs.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
Directed several episodes of.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
Twenty twenty episodes. He directed some other shows too, but
we don't care about them on this podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
They might care, though, Yeah, your show called Sex and
the City. He directed a little show called Modern Family.
Do you guys have a question?

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
Go ahead, Yeah, we hit a couple.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
Okay, let's get into it.

Speaker 7 (01:12:40):
It was one extram or I guess it was an
extre a background character. It was a bond doctor. In
the episode where Janitor got married, she was milk doctor.

Speaker 8 (01:12:51):
She seems to be in almost every episode.

Speaker 7 (01:12:54):
In the background, alike, just about every.

Speaker 8 (01:12:56):
Episode we have, like we've noticed her and know on
these rewatches we've you know, watched over and over again
and every time you know, she's in the background, said,
there she is. She's in every episode.

Speaker 2 (01:13:06):
What does she look like.

Speaker 8 (01:13:08):
She's she's blonde. She's probably close to like you know,
would have been like doctor Cox's age. She wasn't one
of the younger interns or anything. But you know when
we've looked before. You know, if you try to search
for Scrubs milk doctor, you get.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
A lot really racing results.

Speaker 2 (01:13:27):
It's different.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
Yeah, different, I'll bet, I'll bet it probably have nothing
to do with the show.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
They're not at all.

Speaker 1 (01:13:32):
Yeah, well, I will tell you this. I will tell
you this that you know. This is what we tried
to do is have the same to have it feel
like the same people work there. There would be the
same group of like thirty to forty background people that
would all sort of rotate in and out, and then
each day there'd be some people we'd never seen before.

(01:13:53):
But she must have been. I can't think of who
it is. Give me a second, but maybe Joelle can
do some recon.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Second, I think I got it. I got it. Hold up,
do you remember what was the episode Arlene Grace? I
think that's who they're talking about. Is this her?

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
Yes, yes, yes, ye. Arlene.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
Arlene was one of our regular background folks, and so
that's why you see her all the time. She was
probably there every day right now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
Yeah, she was there every day. Her snoop Dog, Mickhead.
I haven't seen Mickhead yet yet. I guess he came
a lot later.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
But Snoop has a lot of screen time in the
episode that we're talking about today. Yes, Spiller, you had him,
you had you had Kelso bangs a pot right in
Snoop's face in this episode.

Speaker 3 (01:14:37):
Yeah, and he held it perfectly, didn't even flinch. I
can't remember if he put earplugs in or anything.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
That's crazy that you guys recognized Arlene she was. Yeah,
she was on the show from pretty much the beginning
all the way till the end. I don't know. I
don't know if everybody did season nine. And you do
refer to her when you talk to all of the
other background I do, yeah, yeah, yeah, yea.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
Okay, wow, how did you find that so quickly? By
the way, I'm very impressed with you.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
Right now because I remember her. I remember, I knew
exactly who they were talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:15:08):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:15:08):
And you know, Facebook is a is one of those
things where everybody still keeps in touch. So once they
said that, I was.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
Like, are you still using Facebook?

Speaker 7 (01:15:15):
You're friends with or on Facebook?

Speaker 3 (01:15:18):
Or you just need to look her page up?

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
No, No, I'm friends with her on Facebook. I'm friends
with everybody, friends with everybody that we worked with.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
I don't even go on Facebook anymore, but Donald, You're
still on there, getting in getting in arguments with everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:15:30):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:15:30):
I try to stay away from all of the political That's.

Speaker 1 (01:15:32):
Why when I turned on and when I turn on
Facebook these days and see everyone battling each other, I'm like,
I'm out.

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
Yeah, yeah, good night.

Speaker 8 (01:15:39):
I imagine Facebook in the South and with all your
you know, conservative friends and stuff that's on there.

Speaker 7 (01:15:45):
That's a whole different you.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Know, I'll bet that's tricky.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
I'm in LA, the most liberal place in the world,
and I'm like, nope, I'm out. All right, guys, you
have another question.

Speaker 8 (01:15:57):
Well, we were talking earlier, and you know, we were
kind of both racking our brains like we want it,
really wanted to come up with some profound, you know,
like deep question to ask. But really, all I could
think of to ask would be, you know, obviously Scrubs
is one of our favorite shows, but what do you
guys consider to be your favorite TV shows, like of
all time?

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
That's a great question.

Speaker 1 (01:16:17):
I wow, let's make Spiller start.

Speaker 3 (01:16:22):
Since he's yes, Spiller, you go first direct, very.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
Very fancy director. Let's see, what are his TV show's
favorite spiller And you can't say anything you've directed, because
we know Scrubs is number one.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
That's correct, well, slightly different genre. The Wire. Yeah, a
lot of people say, absolutely, I've watched that all the
way through twice. Also Narcos, I've watched that all the
way through twice.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
Really, I just watched Narcos Mexico, which was really well done,
but I didn't watch the original Narcos spiller I'm making
I'm writing down this list, by the way, because you
know the Wire, sure, but I haven't watched Narcos the
first one.

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
Chrisas, I love them currently, I love Ozark. Okay, when
current season ended, what ended?

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
Free?

Speaker 3 (01:17:07):
When I got through it, I was really really bummed out,
just wanted more. He hasn't watched yet. I won't say anything.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
Everything. No, wait, you're covering now, you're covering his his
eyes and ears. But do you guys not watch shows together?
Because I find if if if my girlfriend and I
get off of sync and watching a show together, that's
all hell breaks loose. In fact, I'm currently rewatching a
show I've already seen because I want it dead to me,

(01:17:41):
which is really good, and we want to watch season two.
But now in order to watch that, I have to
rewatch all season one with her.

Speaker 7 (01:17:48):
With the newborn baby and her own maternity league, she
watches a lot more TV during the day while I'm
at work, so right, sometimes I try to catch up,
but I haven't had time to catch up on those ords.

Speaker 8 (01:17:58):
I really want him to go back and watch, and
I would totally not mind going back and watching it
again with him because it is so good. But normally, yeah,
when we actually it's pretty good for us because we
have very similar taste in television shows, so it works out.

Speaker 1 (01:18:12):
So what's your TV shows that well, I'm gonna recommend
one that that I can't believe is this underrated because
I never heard anyone talk about it, and it's called
Patriot and it's on Amazon and there's a few seasons. Spiller,
you ever watch that?

Speaker 3 (01:18:29):
No? I haven't.

Speaker 1 (01:18:30):
It's amazing. You're gonna love it. Steve Conrad is the
showrunner and really really amazingly. Now, that's like the best
last show I saw. I really really love that. What
about you, Donald?

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
I'm embarrassed because my shows are shows your embarrassed. So
my favorite shows are shows like The Clone Wars and
Star Wars Rebel and recently The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian. Yeah,

(01:19:03):
I like Mandalorian a lot that I don't know, those
are those are the type of shows that I enjoy watching.
I don't watch a lot of television, but when I
do watch television, I prefer to watch Star Wars related
related or documentaries.

Speaker 1 (01:19:18):
Do you find that now that sports isn't on, Donald,
that you have a lot more time on your hands
because you normally like to watch a lot of sports.

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
So I've been doing a lot of animating as of
late because sports isn't on. I'm a stop motion animator
by hobby, and because sports isn't on and I'm not
sitting in front of the TV at at night after
the kids go down, I find myself in my animation

(01:19:47):
room animating.

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
So it's making you more productive, Actually, you're I.

Speaker 2 (01:19:52):
Don't know if it's productive. I mean it's a hobby.
It's not like I'm making things that are gonna get
put on television and are gonna be well.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
You never know. You could do a robot chicken type
thing and make your own tea.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
Absolutely you know we mentioned Seth Green earlier and how
Spiller worked with Seth Green. If it wasn't for Seth Green,
I wouldn't be animating like I was looking for an
outlet like most actors do when they moved to Hollywood.
That hasn't that isn't just acting. I realized I didn't
want to be a director. No offense, Mike, and I realized,

(01:20:25):
you know, I don't necessarily I don't. I don't necessarily
like hanging out on set all the time. Which directors
do you know they arrived before actors and you know
they leave after all the actors. I realized, Okay, that's
not for me.

Speaker 1 (01:20:42):
Way more stressed with way less money makes no sense.

Speaker 2 (01:20:44):
Yeah, I realized, said I need something to do though,
that's gonna fulfill my creative itch other than acting. And
I remember doing taking a stop motion class when I
was a kid, and my buddy Seth Green had had
me do voiceover work for this little project he was
doing called Sweet Jay and it was stop motion animation.

(01:21:06):
I was like, dude, I'm totally into this. I'd love
to come and check out where you filmed this. And
he brought me down to the studio and introduced me
to a bunch of animators and the rest is history.
And now now I do stop motion animation as a hobby.
Now that my television at night if there ain't no
Mandalorian and you're getting Star Wars and you're getting really

(01:21:27):
good at it and instag Yeah, I'm Donald working at it.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
Check out Donald's instagram you can see his progress, or
go on YouTube and watch his old lego ones called
Black Stormtrooper. But yeah, but I think you've gotten a lot.
I think you've gotten a lot better since Black Stormtrooper.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely, But yeah, that's that's so my favorite.
My favorite television has always been like cartoons and stuff
like that. I enjoy animation very much. So the Clone
Wars Rebels. Yeah, just to bring.

Speaker 3 (01:22:01):
I will be checking out your instagram, Donald, Yes, not
now after the show.

Speaker 2 (01:22:06):
Give me a followback, though I think I do follow you, Bud.

Speaker 1 (01:22:11):
Damn, give me a shout out or something. All right,
Whitney and Dustin, thank you guys so much. Good luck
with the new baby with the beautiful We really appreciate
you joining us. And uh and uh and stay safe,
stay inside, stay safe. We're getting to the end. I

(01:22:33):
just wanted to say that. Yeah, so I I I
heard this song news Slang and then I just loved
it so much that I years later put it into
Garden State. And I want to credit Neil Goldman for
being the first person to uh to introduce me to
that song.

Speaker 2 (01:22:48):
Amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:22:49):
Finally he's getting this props.

Speaker 1 (01:22:50):
Finally, And Spiller, you, I think we were the very
first to do a very cool crane shot out of
the wind. That was a really cool shot you did
where you started inside the window and then craned out.
I thought that was clever.

Speaker 3 (01:23:02):
Thank your signature move of mine.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
We ended up using that a bunch. But you you
brought that to the you brought that to the table.

Speaker 3 (01:23:09):
Well the table, the table was ready for it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:12):
Well that's that's a question. That's a question that I,
uh that I have for you, Zach, because I know
that you used crane shots in your stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:23:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
If Spiller's the first one to do it, that made
it so that other directors when they came on, they
were like, so I saw the crane shot in episode
one thirteen. What are the chances that I get to
use a crane on this?

Speaker 3 (01:23:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:23:32):
I think you know, the crane was always uh pricey
thing and both time, you know, obviously the rental of
the crane, but also the labor of of sending it
up and practicing and rehearsing it. So you know, I
think within an episode usually you could say, hey to
the line producer, you'd say, hey, can I get a

(01:23:52):
I'd like to use a crane for this scene. And
you know, I don't think it was very rare that
they ever said no, particularly to the directors they liked.
But yeah, I think that you know, crane shots are
really cool and they give the show scope and scale
and and can be really beautiful. And in that end
montage that that that Michael created here, which was beautifully done,

(01:24:13):
it was sort of the beautiful It was like the
most perfect way to end it coming out and I
believe you had to mount that build that crane on
the rooftop in order to get it. There was a
lower roof and then he came out to the window
and then tilted up to the sky. And so yeah,
I mean, I think cranes were introduced as part of
the sort of the language of the show.

Speaker 2 (01:24:31):
And then he said, he said it was it was
his signature move.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
Well, what I was saying specifically, I was I don't
know this, this isn't the first crane shot on the show,
but the idea of the camera was within the was
within the room and then came out the window and
then went up to the sky. And I think Spiller
was the first person to do that. And you know,
I think we copied that many many times.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
Well, have you gone on to use that on other shows?

Speaker 3 (01:24:56):
Yes, I've done versions of of of that shot on
other Is that what it was cool? You sort of like,
you know, especially we didn't have a techno crane or anything.
I don't believe, but there's a type of crane where
you know, the arm itself extends from the base. Yeah,
so I mean you can really like you know, it

(01:25:16):
can actually physically be inside the window. I think we
probably hit a zoom in the shot as well to
sort of make it appear as if we were in
there in a close up. So you can do shots
that that appear to actually travel through the glass somehow.

Speaker 1 (01:25:31):
And nowadays later I did a really cool shot in
Going in style where you can camera or pull back
through the window. And then in post now add we
added a taxi cab door. I had the shot of
Michael Caine where he's in the cabin and the camera's
in the cab with him. And then and we took
the back door off the cab and we we pull

(01:25:51):
out and then out of the cab and the cab
drives off, and then and post we added the cab door.

Speaker 2 (01:25:56):
That looks so.

Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
Cool and most people who aren't filmakers wouldn't even know
how hard that was to do exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:26:03):
Yeah, And I think like with any of the sort
of bells and whistles that we pull out and the
tricks that we use them, it's part of the fun
of being a director, is part of the fun of
telling the story. But sometimes, and this is often true
with directors who are former cinematographers, you can get caught
up and the gadgetry and the toy of it all

(01:26:25):
and forget that you're telling the story. So first and
foremost it's like, yeah, cranes are great. All these devices
are great if they're supporting the story, or if they're
underlying the comedy, or they're making a dramatic moment more
dramatic or whatever. Because they do take a lot of time,
take a lot of money, and often can be misupplied.

Speaker 1 (01:26:44):
Yeah, and I think the job as a director is
to go when am I going to spend? When can
I afford to spend time and money during these five days.
So the way I would shoot Scrubs when I directed
it was you'd go, okay, in order to save time,
do that elaborate shot I want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:27:01):
I need to.

Speaker 1 (01:27:04):
Really get through this dialogue scene quickly.

Speaker 8 (01:27:07):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:27:07):
I don't want to rush it because it's important. But
if I just shoot this one really simply, then I'm
banking time for later. I can do that elaborate oner
or later. I can do that tricky crane shot. But
you have to you have to pick and choose because
you just you have to fit it into twelve hours.
They used to let us go longer, but nowadays, I
don't know if you find this on your other show, Spiller,
no one wants you to go over twelve hours.

Speaker 3 (01:27:29):
And frankly I don't want to either. I mean Scrubs
with Gueniku m Sex and the City was the same way.
Our hours were really really long, but it was a
similar energy on set, where it's like everyone just enjoyed
each other so much. You know, you never laughed as
much the work was high quality, and you know, and

(01:27:49):
no one was telling you to stop spending money, so
you know, you just kept going to you you got it.
But it's you know, frankly, it's it's unsafe these days.
I feel maybecause I'm a tiny bit older that and
you know my work doesn't tend to improve after twelve hours.

Speaker 1 (01:28:04):
Yeah, and everyone gets cranky, and it is unsafe. You know,
there's been plenty of instances of crew members who have
to be there longer hours, whether it's teamsters or transport
guys or or camera acs, and who've gotten in accidents
or even died from just being in preposterous hours. So
it is a safety thing.

Speaker 3 (01:28:23):
But we used to go.

Speaker 1 (01:28:23):
I mean we'd have sixteen seventeen hour days on Scrubs.

Speaker 3 (01:28:26):
When you guys on one of the earlier shows were
talking about like favorite cameos and all that sort of
stuff and like the sort of fantasy camera we run.

Speaker 2 (01:28:33):
I got a picture of you.

Speaker 3 (01:28:35):
I know, there's the re one rerun one which I
love that photo. But there's also Dick Van Dyke.

Speaker 2 (01:28:44):
Yeah, did you direct that episode?

Speaker 7 (01:28:45):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:28:46):
And I mean when you sung with him in that
moment when we were all just hanging out. I mean
it's like I get choked up thinking about it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:53):
I mean, give us a little dollar, give us a
little of that magic.

Speaker 2 (01:28:58):
Day ahead. Right is the morning in May. Hey, I
fee like I could fly.

Speaker 3 (01:29:05):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (01:29:06):
Have you ever seen it's not habits? Have you ever
seen the grass so green? Or a blue sky? Okay,
so that's beautiful story.

Speaker 1 (01:29:19):
Jolly Holiday.

Speaker 2 (01:29:21):
Yeah, Dick Van Dyke was on the show and I
got to sing Jolly Holiday. Well I didn't sing. He
sang it, and I played the guitar while he sang it. Uh,
there's a tape. There's there's a recording of it out
there somewhere. I don't know where.

Speaker 3 (01:29:33):
I know I shot it. Yeah, I'm on something. But
I was like, did phones have video cameras? Then? I mean,
I can't remember, but I know I shot it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:43):
It's out there somewhere, somewhere, somewhat somehow it could be found.
I don't know who has it, but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:49):
Well, Spiller, you've been a fantastic guest.

Speaker 2 (01:29:52):
This is the longest this is the longest we've ever
had a guest.

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
On this, We've ever We were gonna have to cut
this fucking way down.

Speaker 2 (01:29:58):
We got down one to listen to one.

Speaker 1 (01:30:01):
No, I want to be sincere for a second and say, uh,
not only are you a fantastic guy, but I, as
a filmmaker, learned a lot from watching you, because you
are talented and you not only direct a beautiful episode,
but you're so charming and everybody loves you on set,
and uh, you're a great leader, and I'm not surprised

(01:30:22):
that you are successful and have an Emmy and uh,
and I hope I get to work with you again soon.

Speaker 3 (01:30:29):
Oh, thank you, Zach. That's so kind.

Speaker 2 (01:30:31):
I hope I'm one of those actors that you're like,
you know what, I got a guy, don't worry about it. Yeah,
bring enjoyed. I really enjoyed our time together.

Speaker 3 (01:30:40):
You know it shows.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
It shows by how long this podcast episode was too.

Speaker 3 (01:30:46):
But hey, just just keep going because I directed the
next episode too. Look at two for you'll be I
didn't watch it. I didn't watch it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:52):
I didn't watch the next episode. Yeah, yeah, he will
we probably.

Speaker 3 (01:30:56):
Well, I'm available if you every want to bring me.

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
Back, We're going to have you back.

Speaker 2 (01:30:59):
You've you definitely callback.

Speaker 1 (01:31:01):
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for tuning in
to fake doctors, real friends. I'm your co host Zach
Braff with what's your name again?

Speaker 2 (01:31:08):
Black Scrubs, Donald Faison, a k A T.

Speaker 3 (01:31:10):
Diggs.

Speaker 2 (01:31:11):
We like K brown Bear, a k A Turk turkle
Tip a k.

Speaker 5 (01:31:19):
At Stories that show we made about a bunch of
dogs and nurses, and jan I said, he's the Stories Nephews.

Speaker 3 (01:31:34):
No so YadA round here, yet here we show is