In the desert oasis where stories ignite Skips Little Bar A beacon of light from the Coachella Valley stars to cool everyday joes. Join Patrick and Randy. Let the stories flow that big conversations Little Bar. The magic spreads near and far. Backed by the McCallum Theater's Grace. Celebrate the voices that shape this place.

From the coveted corner booth in a little bar at the center of the Coachella Valley universe. Welcome to another big conversation with Patrick Evans and Randy Florence. Presented by the McCallum Theatre. Visit mccallumtheater.org or reach the box office at 760-340-2787, gentlemen.

Well, thank you, Howard, very much. We are back here in the coveted corner booth at Skip Page's little bar. Skip is not on premises. I think he's still being rehydrated after two weekends of Coachella. So that gives you a point of reference as to when this is being taped. I'm Patrick Evans. You're listening to Big Conversations Little Bar. And I'm here with my co host, dear friend and the godfather of the children I never had Randy. Florence.

Is that still a possibility?

Well, I'm not the one you had to ask.

Who should I?

My wife would have a lot more saying that.

Oh, okay. So you do play a role in it. I just thought you might know.

Oh, no, she hasn't told me about that. That'd be great. I'll have to try that sometimes.

I'm talking about New God kids, not the current one.

Oh, oh, oh, yeah.

So how are you?

I'm doing good. It's hot.

Yeah, I know you're readjust from your sabbatical at the beach.

Anything over 60, you know, you sent.

Me pictures and it looked like you were trying to recreate D Day at Normandy. It was gloomy.

And the difference was I was the only one on the beach.

No, there were several German installations. They were looking at you, staring at. Keep it. Keeping an eye on.

We are here.

And of course we're brought to you by the McCallum Theater, our presenting sponsor. And you may think, oh gosh, the season's almost over, but no, it is not. And the folks at the McCallum have made a concerted effort to extend that season. They continue to add shows. There will be shows through the better part of June. So if you've yet to get to a show, you still have your chance. Go to macallum theater.org we're really excited about our guest today. We've been talking about having Dave on.

For some time every week for like two years.

And he's consistently managed to avoid it until now.

Have a successful career he doesn't want to mess around with.

Well, I don't blame him. Dave Carter is our guest and he is, of course, the home. The host of Turner Classic Movies. A Familiar Face. If you are a movie buff, you've no doubt seen him. He stars in all of the Turner Classic Movies.

Wow.

That's what I heard.

I've been very busy over these last 85 years.

He's had himself put into every film. Just when they colorize him Now, Dave, thanks for. Thanks for taking time out to do this.

It's my pleasure. I've already learned a lot about the two of you. And for the record, I said yes on the first ask to be on this podcast. So it just took you a long time to get to me, but here I am.

Well, we're just so popular.

Seem like the bad guys. That's what I was trying to avoid.

That's okay.

It is true.

You were recommended. I think we had Fred Bronson on, whom we. We do adore. He's been on a couple times. That makes it sound even worse, doesn't it? We've had.

No.

Fred is a neighbor of yours.

He is my neighbor here in the Valley and he's a great guy. Yeah.

No, and he said, you guys should get Dave on.

And you said, who's that?

Yeah, well, you know, I'll Google him. No, no, we're delighted. This is terrific. And I was looking back over your history, and you've been involved in the television world for a long time, but particularly entertainment. I mean, you work for. Was it Entertainment Tonight?

Entertainment Weekly magazine?

That's it.

That's how I started my career as a print journalist. And I got to travel the world, and I worked there for 17 years and wrote over 50 cover stories for that magazine. Got to interview Denzel Washington and George Clooney and Angelina Jolie. But then on the side, I started doing broadcast as well and. Oh, there you go. Thank you for fixing that. So, yeah, so I kind of, for a while had these dual careers going, a print journalism career and then a broadcast career on the Today show and things like that. And then decided about 12 years ago to leave print behind. I saw the writing on the wall. Yeah. Was fading. Yeah. So now I'm just a broadcaster and I love it. But now I'm also an author, so I've gone back to my roots.

We're going to talk about that as well. But I really wanted to kind of focus a little bit on because I Always find this fascinating to me. I mean, you. You've carved out this really cool career with Turner Classic Movies and doing some other really fun stuff as well. But you managed to do all that and still call the Valley home, which I think is a. That's a good balancing act because not everybody can pull that off.

I feel so lucky to live here. So my partner Terry and I moved out here almost five years ago. We bought a house right before COVID and then we. Thanks to Covid. I hate to even use that phrase, but because of it now I rarely have to be in Los Angeles anymore, which is where we were living. So two years ago, after years of going back and forth between the two places, we gave up the LA place and now we're here almost the entire year. We do spend the summers in New York City just because it gets a little bit too hot here.

I've heard. I don't know, spring seems pretty hot.

New York is hot and humid and it's smells like New York in the summer. It's true.

But then you can escape and you can go out to the beach and you can get into any restaurant or any show. But no, to answer your question, Patrick, I love living here. I love the people that we've met over these last couple of years. I love. It's close enough to LA if I'm actually going there tonight after I talk to you two for a couple days. So it's close enough that I can get there when I need to. But I much prefer being out here.

How long were you visiting before you came? Five years ago. Have you been here before?

Started coming out here about 12 years ago because my mom and dad spend the winters out here and they used to spend the winters every year in La Quinta. Where you live.

Yeah.

And now that we live, you know, closer to the west side of the Valley, now my parents come out and they rent in Rancho Mirage, so they can be close to us, but then also all close to all of their La Quinta friends.

You know, I. I gotta say, it's. After 12 years, looking back at everything, if we had it to do all over again, we would have ended up more on the west side because we spend a lot of time over there, I'm sure.

Yeah, it's nice when you get. I know you live in La Quinta, but it's nice when you can visit the Valley. I hope Mayor Evans isn't listening. She might be mad at me.

Yeah, you're in trouble.

Apologies to our listeners in Lake. I'm just kidding. But, you know, I live in Cathedral City, and so, like, when I. It's a long haul to your house.

Well, the two times you've been there, I think you said that.

Oh, no, I was there a lot when you were in and out. I loved your tenants. They were terrific. Gosh, they were great. We had a blast. All right, the other thing, I just want to put this on the table now so that we don't have to come to fisticuffs during the. You're Duke Blue Devil.

Oh, I am.

I'm a Virginia Cavalier. Oh, yeah.

Who got further in the NCAA championship?

Who made it? Who made it to the ncaa? We did not.

It wasn't a good year for the acc.

No, it was a bad year for the acc. But really, I mean, Virginia imploded when. When Tony Bennett said, a couple of weeks before the season started, nah, I don't think I can do this anymore. I love the guy, but that was. That was hard on the program.

I am a very proud Duke Blue Devil. I was just down there a couple weeks ago for my 30th college reunion and had such a great time. And it's a. I'm so happy that I spent four years of my life there.

I actually have a Christian Laettner T shirt. Oh, hey, I am. I am an anti hero believer, and I love Christian Laettner so much.

That's my era. He was. He was there the same time I was, and he was the rock star on campus. Without a doubt.

Yeah. And nobody else liked him except nobody.

So anti here. So you have Christian Laitner, you have Tony Soprano T shirt. Then you would have the guy from.

Breaking Bad, Walter White.

Walter White. Anti. What other anti heroes are you?

So I was just officiating a wedding and Jesse from Breaking Bad was one of the groomsmen.

No way.

Aaron Paul.

Aaron Paul.

Wow.

Did you get Aaron on the podcast?

No, no. As a matter of fact, he didn't get a lot real close to me during most of it. But, yeah, that was pretty cool to keep looking over there and go, that looks like Aaron Paul.

Suddenly it is. How did the Turner Classic Movies gig come about?

So when I was working at Entertainment Weekly, my main beat, if you will, was the Oscars. And I was their main Oscar writer, predicting who was going to win, interviewing all the potential nominees, and at the time, Robert Osborne, who was the main host of Turner Classic Movies. I got to go down to Atlanta. This was in 2008, and film with Robert. And he and I co hosted a weekend of Best Picture winning movies together. And I had a great time with him. He was such a cool guy. We just had a wonderful day and I kind of stayed in touch a little bit with the Turner Classic Movies people. And then in 2017, Robert fell ill and they needed someone to be a fill in for him and he gave the blessing. I found out for me, he remembered me from that time we had co hosted and he gave the blessing for me to be his fill in or one of them. There were three or four of us at the time. And then the next year he passed and I was then invited to be an official host on Turner Classic Movies after he passed away. So there's five of us that are hosts on the channel. Ben Mankiewicz is our main host, myself, Alicia Malone, Jacqueline Stewart and Eddie Muller. Those are the five of us. And we rarely get to be together, unfortunately, because we mainly film all of our stuff by ourselves. But occasionally a couple times a year at our TCM Film Festival or the TCM Cruise, which goes every fall, we get to do something together and we film a series silly commercial together and we have a great time.

What a gig. Now you're a pretty young guy, 52 years old. He's a very young guy, early 30s.

I know, I knew I liked you, Randy.

All those guys that work in TV look so good.

How does it, such a youthful gentleman become such a fan of the classic movies?

I always was interested in music and film as a kid when all the other kids were running around outside. I was inside mainly watching MTV when I was a little kid. But then as I got a little bit older, I was watching a lot of hbo. And that's when I started watching films of, you know, many different time frames. Then when I went to Duke, I took a couple film classes and that was my gateway to learning all about Buster Keaton, Citizen Kane, the classic musicals, the movie Laura, which really was my gateway to great classic films. And when I was at Entertainment Weekly, I would be writing about mainly contemporary films, but occasionally Oscar history or things like that. So yeah, I was always dabbling in, in the older films as well. But now that I've been on TCM for the past eight or nine years in total, it's a never ending film class. And the more you learn, the more you realize you still have to learn. And it's been so much fun.

So when you're getting ready to do. And I'm sure you shoot several at a time. Yes, but you've got to do all the research. I mean, I'm sure that you Maybe know the titles, but you can't be familiar with all of these movies, so you've got to go back, talk about the research that you do to get ready to host an episode.

Yeah. So there's a team. So it's not. Luckily, it's not just me. I have a writer that I work with very closely, and she. And I do the research, and she kind of does a first pass. Her name's Hannah. At the scripts. Anything that you just see me doing reading off a teleprompter that's scripted. And then she sends me those scripts, and I get to then look through them and change things and add. If I have a personal story about a star that I might have met or done specific research on, I can add my little bits and pieces in there, too. Anything that you see me do where I have a co host, if I'm interviewing Kevin Costner or Bradley Cooper or anyone like that, that's all on me to do the research on my own and obviously come up with all the questions and keep the conversation going. And that's super fun for me because that really takes me back to my Entertainment Weekly days when it was all on me, you know, anyway. Right. But yes, because at tcm, we shoot so many movies in a day. We need to have, you know, different people helping us with all of the research. Without a doubt.

Walk us through what a day looks like when you go and. Do you still travel to Atlanta to do this?

I do. So I go to Atlanta six times a year. It's kind of like hosting a game show. That's what I've heard. It's a very similar schedule. So I go to Atlanta every other month for about three days, and I'm able to shoot a month's worth of programming in one day. So I shoot for about an hour, a little over an hour, and then I go into my dressing room and I put a different suit and tie on, and then I come back out and do another hour. So the days are full. I mean, I'm usually doing 40 movies in a day. And for each movie, we do the intro and what we call the outro after the movie. So it's 80, what we call reads in. In a typical day, that's a lot.

Are you able to keep the enthusiasm level up?

I really am, yeah. Because I love the job so much. You know, definitely there are days where I'm like, how many do I have left? And I'm counting down.

Are there Pauly Shore again?

Are there movies that. That you just don't like, sure, yeah, but you gotta, I mean, you gotta sell them anyway.

Of course I do. I'm not, I'm not a big fan of the swashbuckling movies.

That's just not like Errol Flynn is not your deal.

I like Errol Flynn when he, when he's not, when he doesn't have the mustache. You know, I, I'm not a big fan of those. And I'm not a big fan of like the Sword and sandalwood epics, you know, Ben Hur and all that. I, the movies that I really love are the ones like the Heiress or the Razor's Edge or A Place in the Sun. I like the society movies. Often they were called women's pictures, you know, Mildred Pierce and things like that. I like the movies that are about lovers that can't be together because of societal, you know, factors and things like that. I love All About Juliet.

They had Trouble.

Yes, they did.

Got it. So where does that come from?

That's just the kind of movies I like. I like talkie movies, I like ensemble dramas. I love 12 Angry Men. And then from my childhood, I like movies like Broadcast News or the Breakfast Club or Children of a Lesser God. I mean, the 80s was such a tootsie. And Kramer versus Kramer, the early 80s particularly was such a great, great time.

Really, really rich time for filmmaking. How contemporary do you guys go on tcm?

It depends. So the, the bread and butter of our programming is 30s, 40s, 50s and some 60s. Having said that, we do throw some 70s, 80s and 90s in there. Not very often, but occasionally. And then we have two very popular theme months every year. In February we do 31 days of Oscar, all Oscar nominated and Oscar winning movies for the whole month. And then in August we do this thing called Summer under the stars where every 24 hours is movies with one particular star. So 24 hours of Cary Grant, 24 hours of Debbie Reynolds, 24 hours of Robert Redford. And for some of the stars that kind of straddle the classic and the contemporary era, we're able to throw a couple more recent movies in there. But also for our Oscar month this year, we showed the Iron lady with Meryl Streep where she played Margaret Thatcher. We showed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri with Sam Rockwell and Francis. That's only five or so years old. So I think, I think it's great. Some of our viewers don't like that. Our more conservative viewers think that we should only be showing black and white movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s. I like to see the aperture open a little bit. I like to compare it to the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, where every year there's a new class of artists that are now eligible because they're 35 years past their debut. I think classic movies should follow the same imprint.

I agree. Because, you know, time marches on. And when Turner Classic Movies first premiered, there was a pool of movies and it didn't, you know, but now flash forward, you know, we've added 20 years. Move forward. Let. Let some of those newer films, because they're still classics. I mean, you can still go back. I mean, people forget. Like, a movie made in 1975 is 50 years old.

That isn't that scary.

Yeah, a lot scarier.

Hang on a second. I just lost my breath.

Right. I mean, I remember growing up in. I was born in the early 70s, but when I was in the 80s, thinking of music that was from the 50s, it seemed like it was ancient, you know, 30 years ago. Now songs from the 80s are 40 years ago. And it's the fact that that's a longer period of time than the 50s were in the 80s is just mind blowing.

It is mind boggling to think that Africa from Toto is now a classic.

Yes. And it is.

It was a classic when it was recorded, Randy. I'm just saying.

And 80s music is my other real. I mean, I could do a whole hour with you just on 80s music.

Oh, let's talk 80s music for just a minute.

Sure.

This Andrea might actually listen to this.

Oh, good.

Wife loves 80s music. Loves. I mean, she's so into it. Like, so. So what are some of your favorites?

Abc. I go and hear them do concerts all the time, including just here at the Rancho Mirage, Agua Caliente.

Oh, at the show.

Yeah, I. At the show I was a big fan of the Human League. Yeah, I was a.

Don't you want me?

Don't you want me? And then I was also a big fan of some more obscure bands. There was a band called Danny Wilson from Scotland that they had a hit, minor hit in the 80s called Mary's Prayer. I used to listen to them all the time. Level 42, I used to listen to all the time. So, yeah, I mean, but I still listen to 80s music and how great.

That you live here because every one of them are still coming through here, keeping their careers going.

Best reasons to live here. Yeah, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, all of that.

Let's go back.

What about. Wait, I got one more. Flock of Seagulls.

Love. Flock of Seagulls they're on. They're on my phone. If I had a photograph of you. Space Shades, Love song. I ran so far away. Come on.

We just went to a. We went to like this. I thought it was an 80s concert. Unbeknownst to me, it was an 80s music festival. It ran for six or seven hours. It was up in Paso Robles.

Yeah.

And it was true. But we. We saw A Flock of Seagulls live and, you know.

And now he's bald, right? Yeah.

The hair is not that.

It's. No, Mike Score is the lead singer.

Yeah.

With that. With that crazy former hair.

So, Duke, you said you took some film classes. Were those elective or at that point were you kind of thinking I might be interested in this?

So Duke has no communications or film major or anything like that. They do offer a handful of classes, but I was an English and psychology double major because it's a very liberal arts school. You know, your, your choices were limited as far as what your major was, but yes, I, I scoured the curriculum book for anything that would appeal to my interest and my tastes. And I knew I was going to take some film classes, even though they didn't really count towards my. My major. But I think I did what they call a certificate in film and video, which is the equivalent of a minor.

As you were coming through that, did Joe seem like you were the youngest person in any room that you were in?

That's a good question. I mean, I. When I started at Entertainment Weekly magazine, I was 22 years old. I was 21 when I started my internship there. And then once I got hired as an assistant answering phones and writing little blurby articles, I was 22. So, yes, I was the kid there. And I, and I did have this obsession with the Oscars from a very young age. So I think people were kind of like, why does this 22 year old kid, like, know and care so much about, you know, hang s. No winning best supporting actor for the killing fields in 1985? Well, I don't know, but I, I just found myself very intrigued by the Academy Awards from a very young age. Just the, the whole celebration of it and the ceremony of it and the competition of it. I think the whole thing just really mesmerized me.

Who's your favorite host for the Oscars?

I like it when Jimmy Kimmel hosts. I think he's great. I liked it when Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin hosted. I thought they were really fun together. I thought Conan O'Brien. I liked the beginning of his of his show this year. I liked his monologue a lot.

See, I'm going back to Bob Hope, Johnny Carson and Johnny. Who are those other people?

He just mentioned Johnny Carson, hands down, I think the best. But I thought Conan O'Brien did a very good job.

He did.

I had forgotten about the year that Martin and Baldwin co hosted that. That. Yeah, that was different.

Yeah, but I like better than James Franco.

Just, just a bit better.

That was not a good one.

No, Letterman was a terrible host.

You didn't like him.

He got panned and he never did it again.

Well, there was that famous. The thing that he tried to make happen over again with the. Uma.

Oprah. Oprah. Uma.

Yeah.

It, it failed miserably. It was, it was bad. It was bad. So, all right, you've told us kind of the category of films you don't like. Is there a film? And I'm going to dig down a little bit deeper because I mean I just, I'm sort of a movie buff but my time frame is different than yours. But when you're doing those films, like is there one that comes up on the list? You just go, there's a. I don't want to do this one. Someone else can have to enter this film.

No, I mean, you can't say no. Yeah, I mean the answer is yes. I mean when I see the Adventures of Robin Hood come up on my schedule again, I'm like, really guys? And, and there are a couple movies. I'm not sure why, but our programmers seem to put them on my time slot. My. I have two time slots. They're Saturday day and Monday night. Those are my two 8 hour long slots where you can always find me. For some reason I, I introduced the Bridge on the River Kwai all the time. But that's fine. That's a great film.

It's a great movie. I mean, Alec Baldwin.

Alec Guinness.

Yeah, Alec. Sorry.

But maybe Alec Baldwin should do a remake.

You should do a remake.

But the other one, one that they give me all the time and I'm sure you guys will know it, it's a movie called Them. Oh yeah, the Atomic mutant ants. Yeah, I, I've introduced that probably 10 or 12 times.

And that didn't win an Oscar.

I don't, I think it might have been nominated actually for like special effects or something.

And best Picture, I feel, I mean.

That was the Atomic starring Alec Baldwin.

Alec and Alec Guinness. It's the only time they ever jointly co starred in a film and it was incredible.

Yeah, but I'm always happy to see something a little bit newer or you know, a little, little different on my, on my schedule. For sure.

You grew up with parents that were involved in non profits and that's right. That kind of thing. Can you talk a little bit about what that was like?

Sure. So I grew up in Westchester County, New York. My parents are both, thank God, still with us. And they're retired social workers. So my mom was a school social worker, a guidance counselor in high schools and elementary schools. And my dad ran a non profit in New York City called the Fresh Air Fund that takes underprivileged New York City kids who have never seen grass or a cow literally in their lives and takes them out of New York City for free summer vacations either at a summer camp or volunteer families who agree to host these kids for a couple of weeks. So I love that I have parents who have nothing to do with movies or Hollywood. They, they could not care less. A lot of the times about what I'm doing, they have no interest. They did. My mom didn't know who Cary Grant.

Was a couple years ago I had to explain to her.

And that's great because that means I kind of developed this on, on my own. But my parents have taught me such a sense of compassion and, and kind of rooting for the underdog. And I think I've carried that with me throughout my, my whole career. But my, the reason I'm out here in the Coachella Valley is because my parents have been wintering out here for the last 13, 14 years. So I would come out here and visit them in La Quinta where they used to rent, now they rent in Rancho Mirage. But I fell in love with this whole area because of them. And that, that's really the reason why.

A lot of people get introduced that way. We're going to take a quick break and say thanks to the McCallum Theater. Remember McCallumTheater.org they are our program presenting sponsor of Big Conversations, Little Bar. And we are greatly appreciative of their support.

The McCallum Theater's 2025 season is on sale now. The world's top artists, from jazz, pop, classical and comedy to the best of Broadway, only at the valley's favorite place for great entertainment. Tickets are on sale now at the McCallum Theater's box office by phone or online at maccallumtheater.org Tickets sell quickly, so order yours today. It's an exciting season only at the MacCallum, your entertainment, your theater, the McCallum Theater.

All right, once again, our thanks to the McCallum Theater and all of the great shows. Again, they're extending the season. Gary and his team, they said. Well, Gary said it on our podcast. He said he wants this to be more of a year round theater.

Well, we said so many times that he said that. Maybe it just seems like he said that.

No, there's. There's audiotape evidence of that.

What?

Dave Carter is our guest from Turner Classic Movies and we were just talking about your parents and their fil. Your dad ran a nonprofit. There's so many great nonprofit opportunities out here. What are some of your favorite things to get involved with causes and organizations?

Well, I think it's called DAP Health. That's where I've been supporting them for a while now. And that's actually where I've met a lot of the people that have become great friends out here. I met a couple out at one of their events, Debbie and Doug Miller, who have become great friends of ours. And through them I've become introduced to the Rancho Mirage Writers Festival, which I've now spoken at for the past three years, which has been so much fun. But that is a great thing about this region is to, you know, discover all of the different causes that are out here. And I. That's something I would like to do more of as the years go by. Now that I feel like I've settled in a little bit.

Well, now he said it publicly. Next time we talk to him. We've got nine board.

I'm going to ask him later. I got a couple of openings we need.

So do I.

The. The reason you were speaking at the Writers Festival, because you are the author of a book.

I am.

And again, it goes right back to 50 nights, 50 Oscar nights.

I even brought one as like a show and tell.

Sweet. Talk about. Tell me about this because I know that you're particularly interested in the Oscars. So tell me about the research that went into this book. And you know, everybody feels like they got a book in them. I think a lot of people. But this one's probably one that you were working on for a long time.

Do you know what? I was not.

No.

I had been approached over the years by book editors and agents asking if I was interested in writing a book. And I always said no. And that was soon after I had left Entertainment Weekly and I felt like, okay, I want to leave writing behind for a bit. But then I had been on TCM for a while and I loved it. And we at TCM publish four or five TCM branded books Each year. So the TCM people came to me and said, would you be interested in writing a TCM book? And I said, well, now that's different. So I thought to myself, what would be a concept for a book that I would want to do that would be fun to do, that hopefully people would enjoy? So I came up with this concept that 50 Oscar nights. And the book is 50 brand new interviews that I did specifically for the book with Oscar winners. Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Jane Fonda, John Legend, Elton John. And I interviewed these 50 people about the day that they won their Oscar. So from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to bed, they take you through the day. And each chapter starts off with a short introduction that I write, but the whole rest of the chapter is the winner in their words, talking about that day and what they decided to say, what they decided to wear, who they decided to go with, how they celebrated where their Oscar is now, what it means to them all of these years later. And some of the winners, because it's a TCM book, there's six people in here that are over the age of 90. Wow. So Rita Moreno and Lee Grant, Mel Brooks, Clint Eastwood. That was very. Joel Gray was very important to me to have as many of the classic era people who are still with us as possible.

And some are still performing.

That's right. They sure are. So the whole thing took me seven months, months to do. I actually did it in a pretty short period of time. Yeah, that's fun. And I was, you know, constantly on my phone emailing these people and emailing their representatives and explaining the book. And fortunately, I had two prominent people who said yes at the outset who I. Who I know well, Elton John and Nicole Kidman, because I've interviewed them many times and I've known them for many years. So the two of them said yes at the outset. So that made it a lot easier for me than to email all the other people and say, well, if your client says yes to this book, they're going to be along pages of Elton John.

And so how does that work? You get Elton John, you just pick up the phone and Elton, it's Dave.

I've actually known him for 20 years. Just talked to him this morning. He's a great friend. And yeah, we were talking and I said, listen, I have a favor I need to ask you. I'm writing my first book. It's about Oscar winners. Would love it if you would give me an interview. And he said, yes, of course.

I'm more interested in what you talked about this morning. I'm like, it's just a random Tuesday.

This morning.

It's hot.

I don't think he's. I don't think he's here.

I don't know. This morning, he wanted to know because I told him I was going to Coachella on Sunday. He wanted to know who I listened to at Coachella. And then he also wanted to know if I had seen the movie Sinners that came out this weekend and is number one at the box office. He likes to stay current and know what I think about movies because he reads all the reviews and he see. He wants to know if a movie gets great reviews. He wants to know if I've seen it and did I like it. That that's what we talked about this morning.

Very cool.

Yeah.

I just heard a podcast with him and Brandy Carlile together. They've got an album coming out.

I think the album is out. I was actually just with them a couple of weeks ago in New York. They asked me to host a conversation with the two of them at the 92nd Street Y, which is a venue in New York City. So I got to interview the two of them and Bernie Taupin, their lyricist, and Andrew Watt, their producer. And it was on my birthday, April 4th, and got to spend my. My birthday with. With Elton, which was great.

So how often does this kid from Duke whose parents were nonprofit employees, how often do you just wake up and go, how the hell did I get here?

Every day.

Oh, my gosh, every day.

And it's. And Brandy Carlisle talks about this a lot in her press tour with Elton because she grew up idolizing him. And she. After her first couple albums came out, she wrote him a letter saying, would you ever consider playing on a song on my next record? And he said, you know what? If you come to Las Vegas, which is where he was at the time, I'll do it. Because he was a fan of hers. And now they've made an album together. So she. She says that this album that they've made together is proof that crazy dreams can come true. For me, the kid who was sitting, watching MTV and HBO and obsessing over a big musicians and actors and filmmakers, the fact that I now know some of them and have written about them and get to talk about them on television. And the craziest part of the whole thing is that now they know who we are as TCM hosts. I was at an event, and Cher came up to me and wanted to introduce Herself and say hello, and I just about fell down. So that's been really fun is to see which people. Maya Rudolph, Bryan Cranston, all these people that I love, they love this channel that I work for. So that's been a real thrill and one of the most fun aspects of working at tcm.

Now, you talked about doing the live interview portions that you get to do from time to time. Who are some of your favorites? We'll take Nicole and Elton John out of the. Because we know that they're friends and you probably talked about it.

I don't have to stop thinking about Nicole and Elton right now, do I?

No, you can continue.

Randy, you got.

Who are some of your favorites? I mean, you rattled off just a couple, like Kevin Costner, who I think is a fascinating character.

Yeah, I always like interviewing George Clooney. I think I've interviewed him about 45 times.

Okay. When you sit down with George Clooney, like, is he just as dreamy in person?

You know? You know what he is. Patrick, I know you're being silly, but.

The answer is yes, I'm not.

I think I'd probably cry as soon as we started talking.

I did see him once at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and it's just one of those where you. Damn, this is. That's a good looking guy.

It's true.

Like, I get. I get it now. Like, and on film, he's. Yeah, he's, you know, great looking.

Yeah.

Film guy. But in person.

Yeah.

Then there's some of those people who are just like that.

He. And he's just the loveliest guy. I actually just saw him last week because I went to see his Broadway show Good Night and Good Luck and got to go backstage and have a little catch up with him after. After the show. The thing I love about doing an interview with George is that basically every time you ask him a question, he gives you a silly, flippant, funny answer. And then he goes, okay. And then he gives you the real answer. And if it's a print interview, you can use what you want and not what you want. And then if it's a live interview in front of an audience, he gets the audience laughing and then he has the serious answer. So he's definitely a favorite of mine. I like Saoirse Ronan, young Irish actress.

Yes.

I always enjoy talking to her.

Also got to interview her at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Fantastic. Oh, they all come from.

They do all come through. Yeah. Now that they've repositioned that festival, time wise, the Studios really encourage everybody to come out if you're getting an award.

Absolutely. But I've done a lot of fun interviews after screenings at the Palm Springs Film Festival. Emma Stone and Adam Driver Nicole and people like that. But, yeah, those are favorites. But then one thing that I've gotten to do lately on tcm, which has been a total thrill, is I've interviewed Carol Burnett, and she, it turns out, loves Turner Classic Movies. And I met her, and she and I were talking, and she said, I have an idea of something I'd love to do with you on Turner Classic Movies. And I remember thinking, okay, Carol Burnett, I'll listen to your pick.

I'll listen.

Give me your shot.

And she said, well, back when I used to have my show, we would spoof classic films in our sketches. And I was like, yeah. And she said, well, what if I came on with you and we showed classic movies like Gone with the Wind or Mildred Pierce or Double Indemnity? And then we showed the spoof after we showed the movie. And I said, carol, I can tell you right now what my bosses and executives are going to say if I present them this idea. They're going to say, one, yes, we would love to do it. Two, who owns the rights to the sketches? And she said, I do.

Oh.

And I said, I can tell you this is going to happen. So that was April a year ago.

And you did a. And you're getting ready to shoot another set. Set of those.

Exactly. Right. Yes. So we shot four nights last fall that aired in December. And I. In 30 years of doing this in various media, I've never had a response to anything I've ever done that was as overwhelmingly positive because of her. She is such a treasure, and it was such a brilliant idea because it marries drama and comedy. It marries movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s with 70s TV. She's also still working today very steadily on Palm Royale and things like that. And she's just so sweet and fun, and she was so excited, and that came through the screen. So, yeah, so.

And she was happy with the product?

Very. So as soon as it. As soon as it was over, she said, let's do it again. And so her idea for season two, if you will, which we're about to film, and it's gonna air not until November, we're gonna have to sit on it for a little bit, but I'm fine telling you and everyone listening, both.

Of our listeners, we have an enormous listenership. They're two people. They're fat.

Now we're Gonna do musicals. We're gonna do a whole bunch of musicals that she then spoofed in musical form. Showboat and Top Hat and things like that.

So like, how crazy is that when you, when you get to be in this room with this comedic genius that we all grew up?

I'm like, it's insane. Yeah. And, and she, the thing that's so great about Carol Burnett is that at heart she is a fan and she grew up idolizing Betty Grable and all these different people. So when she walks in the room, she knows the effect that she can have and she knows that just a little bit of kindness and she goes around to every single person and you know, in introduces herself and wants to know the person's name and wants to hear every story. And she like will film videos with you and take a picture. She makes everyone's day and she knows it in the best possible way. She was an absolute delight.

That is so cool. So we'll look for that coming up in November.

Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving.

Oh, outstanding.

Perfect.

Terrific. And you also, you guys do a TCM film festival, which will have already occurred by the time we do this. But tell me a little bit about that because that's gotta be a blast. But hard to program because how do you pick?

I know, thank God I don't program it. But we have, we have amazing programmers who do that. But yeah, every, usually in April in Hollywood, we do a four day film festival where we show. Now that's an example of where we open the aperture. So this year's opening night film is the Empire Strikes Back. So that's outside of a typical TCM time frame. But obviously we want to get George Lucas there. We have to show a George Lucasfilm.

And you have to show the only good Star wars film, which is that one.

You think that's the only good one? It is the best.

All right.

What they call Episode four, the first one in the theaters. I thought that was very good. But Empire Strikes Back was so rich and so wonderful and it was, it's, it's absolutely the best of its genre.

I'm going to agree. But over the years I've gotten to do such cool things. I mean, one of my favorite all time movies, I think I even mentioned it a couple minutes ago, was Children of a Lesser God with William Hurt and Marlee Matlin. And a couple years ago, before Piper Laurie passed, I got to sit with her for an hour in front of the TCM fans and talk about her entire career. You know, between the hustler and Carrie and Children of a Lesser God. So that was a real thrill. And then also in the fall every year, we do a TCM cruise and it usually goes to the Caribbean. And we've had, you know, Cicely Tyson and Mitzi Gaynor and Diane Ladd and Richard Dreyfus and all of these amazing. Sean Cassidy, all these great people came on the cruise and it's been so much fun to sit with them. George Shakiris, Rita Moreno and. And it's so great to give these people, many of whom are not working, you know, a chance to feel the adulation of the fans, because our fans are really passionate.

They are really great. Yeah.

And. And be on the open seas in the Caribbean. It's. It's a joy.

Let's go back for a few minutes to your days on the red carpet. Carpet.

O. The first time I don't miss it, I'll tell you that. No, I have done the Oscars red carpet several times. I did get to co host the ABC Red Carpet Show a few years ago. Now, that's. If you're going to do it, that's the way to do it, because you have a platform and you've got space and you get to talk to anyone you want. And Gary Oldman knows he's going to come and do that interview. What is not so fun is when you're kind of more like cattle.

Oh, you're in the cattle call. No one likes that.

And you have to shout at people to try to get them to come to you. That's not great. But the other way that I got to do the red carpet, which was the absolute best way, was in 2012 and 13. I was asked to be the official greeter at the Oscars. And that's what Army Archer used to do. And then Robert Osborne did. I was the third person to get to do it. And for those two years that I did that, I had a platform, a stage, and my interviews were for the Bleacher fans. So every time someone came, the one.

That had been there all day.

Exactly. And my job was to interview everybody, not just Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, but also the. The Greek director of the foreign film nominee from Greece that year. So it was a lot of research that it took.

And he learned Greek to do it.

He did it in the native language.

That's going all out for me.

You know, I don't. I don't like to brag about.

Duke graduates are overachievers. I will say, even as a UVA guy. I know that.

But the best part of that was because my interviews were over this loudspeaker. I could shame anyone into coming and talking to me. So I literally did this. Sandra Bullock was kind of breezing by, and I mean, was she gonna come up to me anyway? I'd like to think that she was going to, but in case she wasn't, I did say, oh, and ladies and gentlemen, look, there's Sandra Bullock. Do you think she should come up and talk to me? And then the whole audience would cheer and say yes. So she basically had no choice. But that was great. I remember Eli Wallach was there, though, because he was getting the lifetime achievement award. And he came up, and I think I asked him one question, and before I knew it, he had grabbed the microphone out of my hand and was just standing at the front of the platform just playing to the audience and giving a monologue. It was so, so great.

Any horror stories on the red carpet?

I did something stupid. I, I, I said, oh, Alan Menken, you're here. I said, God, how many Oscar Oscars do you have? You must have like, three or four or something. And he goes, I have eight.

Oops.

And now he's in my book 50 Oscar Nights.

When you did the book.

Yeah.

Were you able to sit down with everybody, or was it, you know, no, remote?

The vast majority. The vast majority were Zoom. Ah, okay. But about five of them were in person. Clint Eastwood was in person. Elton John was in person. Joel Gray, Lee Grant. I went to her apartment in New York City. City. So, yeah, so some of the, Some of the older, the older ones who, you know, didn't really want to do it over Zoom or had hearing issues, that was in person. But, you know, when Clint Eastwood's people said he doesn't want to do Zoom, but you. He'll do either telephone or in person. Which would you prefer? I said, let me think about that.

My phone doesn't work.

I'll come to. I'll come to his office. And he was. And he was very sweet. And he has a piano in his office, and I play the piano. So I got to play a little song for him as a thank you.

For what you play.

I played an Elton John song. That's my, My Go to song, a very obscure Elton song from the 70s called. Or actually early 80s called Carla Etude, which is a instrumental piece from an album called the Fox that I love to play for people. Gorgeous.

Talk about the research that you do for those interviews.

Well, this, the, the book was an absolute pleasure to Put together because the interviews were so targeted. They were about one day. They were about one project in the person's life. So for Sally Field, you know, anyone who had more than one Oscar, I let them choose. Which one do you want to talk about? So she chose Norma Rae, which is not the you like me right now, you like me speech. She picked the other one. So I, of course, did a deep dive on Norma Ray, and I've watched her speech and, you know, read about what was going on in her life at that point. But that's what was fun about this. I didn't feel like I had to be a completist. And I was doing 50 interviews. There was just no time. So I was able just to focus on that one project that one day.

You said one of the things that you asked was, where is the Oscar now? So what were some of the surprising answers?

Oh, I loved all the answers because they were so interesting and so different. And what I never expected to hear was from so many people, Dustin Hoffman particularly, was how many people felt uncomfortable having them out on display. So Dustin Hoffman, for years had his in a closet somewhere. And it wasn't until after years of therapy, he told me that he felt comfortable putting them out. Rita Moreno had hers in a cardboard box in her garage. And then she got remarried, and her new husband said, why do you have this in a box? You earned this. You should have this out. And she said, you know what? You're right. And now she does. So. But then there are people who put it in their bathroom so that when their friends come over and have to excuse themselves, they meet. Emma Thompson puts her two Oscars in her downstairs bathroom. So there were so many different.

Did any of them not know where the trophy was?

Do you know what? I interviewed Louis Gossett Jr. For the book. I think it was one of the last interviews that he did because he passed away, and he wasn't too sure. He said. He actually told me it was in. I think he said it was in storage, and he felt like he wanted to get rid of it. He said, I want to be free of it. So I don't know if before he passed, if he ever did that or not, but that was a really interesting answer, too. So you would think if I had an Oscar, I would have it with me right now.

No, I'm hanging around my neck.

And you will, I think, recognize this reference. I am the Lefty Drizzell School. Like Lefty Drizzle when they won their ACC championship. He said. He said, what are you gonna do with the trophy? She says, I'm gonna. I'm gonna solder it to the hood of my Cadillac and drive all through Chapel Hill.

Right?

And that's when I got my first immigrant. I was like, that's a good idea. How can I mount this onto the hood of the car? This would be great.

But. Oh, congratulations, by the way.

Oh, thank you.

But then there are also people who.

I only brought that up to throw that out there.

I love it. There's also people in the book like Mira Sorvino or Kristen Lopez and Bobby Lopez who wrote Let It Go from Frozen. They were very self conscious about keeping their Oscars out because they have kids and they didn't want to create this atmosphere where they felt like they were pressuring the kids to achieve something that might have been out of reach. So they've put it, you know, other places because they don't want it to be intimidating for. For their, their children.

I'm also the opposite of that. I wave mine around in front of my kids like, what do you guys.

Get your homework done with it? Several times. So Mira's. That's an interesting story. Came from pretty much nowhere at the time that she won that Oscar. Was there any part of that conversation where she was like, I can't believe that happened to me.

Mira Sorvino was one of the most fascinating people I talked to for this book. She's so intelligent. She's a hard Harvard grad. She told me a crazy story, which is that growing up in New Jersey, her father, Paul Sorvino, wasn't a great actor. And he really good fellows. Yeah. He really encouraged her to learn the craft of acting. And one of the ways that he did it, such a strange story. He would tell her, mira, go leave the living room. Go sit on the staircase right now. Don't come back in here until you've started crying. And it sounds strange, but what he was encouraging her to do was to access these different parts of herself and these different emotions. And she told me that because he was never nominated for an Oscar, he always kind of had a chip on his shoulder about the Oscars and didn't ever want to really watch them or talk about them. And then she gets nominated for one, he comes with her.

And that was her first film, right?

It wasn't her first film, but it was her first. It was a breakout. It was definitely her first nomination and her only nomination. Nomination and then she wins. And when she's up there, if you can go on YouTube and watch her speech she acknowledges her dad. She says, by giving me this award, you acknowledge my father, Paul Sorvino, who taught me everything I know about acting. The camera is on him in the audience and he just falls to pieces. And it's a beautiful moment. Now, the last thing I'll say about Mira Sorvino is that she was really interesting and conflicted about her Oscar win because as you know, her movie Mighty Aphrodite that she won for was written and directed by Woody Allen and distributed by Harvey Weinstein. So it's kind of clouded, if you will, by the complicated legacies of these two men, and particularly Harvey Weinstein. She goes into great detail in the book about how he came onto her during the PR tour for that movie. And when she rebuffed him for the third time, he then basically encouraged other producers and studios not to hire her. She was apparently close to getting a role in Lord of the Rings, but Harvey Weinstein, who was, I think a producer of that, called and said, don't cast her. So basically blackballed her, if you will, because, you know, she resisted his advances.

Well, luckily, I think particularly for her, the, the artistry of what she put together. I mean, I don't think it is tarnished by the association of those two gentlemen. You know, she's a brilliant talent, talent.

And I think that's the conclusion that she comes to in, in the interview. But that was also fascinating about this book is how many people for whom the Oscar and the Oscar win carries with it these conflicting thoughts. You would think, oh, I won the Oscar, it's the best day of my life. There's so many examples where people were just going through a hellish time in their life.

Got a couple of examples like that.

Marley Matlin won for Children of a Lesser God. She was in a relationship, drug and alcohol, alcohol fueled relationship with her co star William Hurt, who was the previous year's best actor winner. So he actually presented her the Oscar and on the car ride home they were sitting together and he said, oh, you've got this statue in your hand, huh? What makes you think you deserve it for your very first film? And they got in this argument basically on the ride home. And a few months later they were broken up. Sally Field was dating Burt Reynolds at the time of Norma Ray. The movie got accepted into the Cannes Film Festival. And she said, bert, I'm going to France. She had never been to Europe before. And he said, I wanted to take you to France. And she said, well, I'm going with the film. And he said, well, you don't think you're gonna win anything, do you? And she won Best Actress. I can. And then every other award.

He probably had a little thing about the Oscars through his career.

He did get nominated once for Boogie Nights.

Boogie Nights, Yeah. And it was. Great role.

Great, great role. But, yes, there are. There are a lot of stories like that that really surprised me.

So Smokey and the Bandit's not in there?

No, no, unfortunately.

Although the Monkey, the Orangutan was nominated that year. Oh.

For Every which Way But Loose.

Every which Way But Loose, yeah. Dave, this has been fascinating and terrific. Thank you so much for finally acquiescing to come onto the program.

You only had to ask once. Great to be with you both.

Oh, this has been terrific. And by the way, you can get his book, 50 Oscar Nights. It is available where all of your books are purchased. So grab that. And you are on give us again.

It's Mondays, Monday nights and Saturday days.

Saturday days, Monday nights on Turner Classic Movies. So please support his work. He's a great guy who lives right here in the Coachella Valley and has been another excellent guest here on Big Conversation. This truly. I think this one lives up. This was a big conversation.

This was a big conversation. Conversation.

It's always in a Little bar, but seldom.

Last week, it was just conversation at Little Bar.

Average conversation, medium conversation.

Are we done yet?

And if you're our previous guest and you're listening, sorry about that. Thanks to John McMullen, our producer. My thanks to Randy Florence, always a great job.

Thank you.

He's not only co host, but he's the research department. You did a beautiful job.

Like my shirt?

No, but that. That aside, I don't. We need wardrobe money for this show.

Before Bob Mackie comes on.

Thank you. Oh, gosh, yes. Thank you so much. Dave Carter. Thank you.

My pleasure.

Terrific. And you guys remember to subscribe so that you never miss an episode of Big Conversations. Little Bar. Our thanks to the McAllen Theater. Our thanks to Skip Page and his entire team here at Little Bar, who take such great care of us. And please join us next time on the next edition of Big Conversations. Little Bar.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Big Conversations. Little Bar, recorded on location at Skip Page's Little Bar in Palm Desert, California, and Presented by the McCallum Theater online at mccallumtheater.org this program is a production of the Mutual Broadcasting System. All episodes are available from Big ConversationsLittleBar.com and most major podcast portals.

Meet your neighbors. Fascinating and grand. Each conversation a wave on the sand Raise your glass and join the ride where stories and dreams fully collide at Big Conversations Little Bar, brought to you by McCallum, our guiding star from movies, stage and TV's delight. Join us for a captivating morning. You know, gather round at Skip's Little Bar where stories travel from near and far. Big Conversations where they unfold with Patrick and Randy Tales retold.