Danny And Lucy DeVito Are Family First And Actors Second

0:00 - Nobody knows anything. Nobody. Keep your hands off my chicken! - It's the whore's sauce! - And we're all here, like, "Blah, blah, blah." (Danny babbling) (upbeat music) - [John] So your dad gets so crazy. Has there ever been a point where you're like, "Dad, you've gone too far"? - I am an animal! - I mean, there's only so many times you can watch your dad nakedly fall out of a couch. (upbeat music) - When you have a kid, you die, especially an actor, who's the most self-centered individual on the planet.

0:30 The whole you is now the kid. - Did you have any reservations about your kids following in your footsteps? - I think everybody's got to be encouraged to do what they feel. - [John] So you have a new project on Broadway. - We are playing father and daughter. - Yeah, father and daughter. - So that's real. - Yeah. We have a great play and we have good people in it. Lucy and I, we're snorkeling, and I see a barracuda come at me, us, and I just left.

0:54 (John laughs) - I turn around and he's gone. You left me! - I couldn't be more excited to get to the legendary Danny DeVito and his daughter, Lucy, but first, gotta make a request. Hit that like button, subscribe to the channel, and make sure YouTube knows you want more of "Dad Saves America". (upbeat music) (music fades) Well, Danny, first, thank you for joining us on "Dad Saves America." - Oh, I'm really excited about it. I love the idea of it, yeah.

1:25 In the early days, somebody said to me, I don't know who it was, said to me, "You know, when you have a kid, you die." - I was gonna ask you about this. - You know, the whole idea of it makes sense. You're in your thirties, say, okay, and you've lived like this, especially an actor, who's the most self-centered individual on the planet. - By definition. - Yeah, that's it. All you think about is you, you, you, you.

1:54 The whole thing about it, is that you die when you have a... And I went, "Wow." And you really do. It's like, really, a kind of a... The whole you is now the kid. It's all the focus, all the attention. You may be ready for it and you may not be, but if you are, it's the most glorious thing in the world, because all of that energy. Sure, you've got to support everything.

2:25 You've got to keep going. You don't just stop. It's just metaphorically speaking, you're literally and metaphorically speaking, you are focusing all of your time now on that new creature that's come into your life. It's so miraculous. - You know, it's funny because you jumped right into that. And that was my experience, and no one actually prepared me for that. It was like all my self-centered ambition took second fiddle to him.

2:56 - It changes the whole perspective of life. It's everything. Yeah, absolutely. There are a couple things. That one is very, very big. You gotta know that. The other one that hit me, which was good, I was with my kids, and I was in an airport. We were preparing to go on a trip, and I was in a special area they gave me, I think it was American Airlines, and they said, "You could be there. Nobody's gonna come and autograph you."

3:25 And all that kind of stuff. - They'll leave you alone. - Leave you alone. So I had this area, and Rhea had gone to get some magazines. It was me and the two girls. And we were playing, we were on the floor, and there was toys and there was stuff, and Lucy was the oldest and Gracie was the baby. And a guy comes up to me, he says, "Mr. DeVito", he said, "Mr. Buttons would like to come and say hello."

3:52 You know who Mr. Buttons is? - No. (laughs) - Okay. So he's this famous actor named Red Buttons, a little bit before your time. He was a guy who was a well-known comedian and you know- - Oh, I think I have heard of this- Mr. Buttons. - and he also happened to have won an Academy Award for his performance in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?". But I said to the guy, it was his bodyguard, obviously, or was something like that.

4:22 I said, "Yeah, I knew Red Buttons." Really funny. You see him when I was a kid, he used to be on various variety shows and do his act and whatever, and then he was acting very good, and he wins an Academy Award and he was great. And so I said, "Sure." And he came up to me, very nice man. We talked a little bit. He had seen "Taxi" and blah, blah, blah, and it's all good and he's very nice and very flattering.

4:49 He says, "I was watching you with your kids." He said, "And I admired the way you were, you know, hanging out with them and playing with them and doing the whole thing. You're on the ground and you're rolling around and whatever, the thing." And he said, "I just had a therapy session with my adult children." Okay. - Okay. - "And we had our ups and downs," he said, "and we did a thing with the therapist, where we looked at my career and my children and their life with me, and we marked off all the time that I was away."

5:36 - Yeah. - Okay? - Yeah. This is the hard part of- - And he said, "I took 15 years away from my kids. Me, away from my kids." It hit me. Right? My kids were young. And this is a common thing with all my representatives, my big, high-powered CAA people and my agents and lawyers and anybody- - You got a lot of demands on you.

6:11 - You know, so I said, "No going away. I'm staying home. I'm not gonna go out of town unless I can take my kids with me and they're with me all the time." So when I did "Romancing the Stone", took them all to Mexico. When I went to Morocco to do "Jewel of the Nile", this is years ago we're talking about, Gracie was a couple months old, wrapped up in a blanket, under the seat in front of me or next to me in this, you know what I mean?

6:46 We all went. Packages, boxes, whatever. So I was lucky in the fact that I was able to do that. A lot of people are not able to do that. You can't always take your kids on the road with you. But I think that that was one of the biggest, one of the big pieces of advice to me, was Red Buttons saying to me, "I took"... It hit me so hard. - Well, here's somebody who has achieved all the things that you, as an actor, want to achieve, right?

7:19 And he's looking back on his life in his eighties. - Yeah. So I was blessed by the opportunity to be able to say, "Okay, where do I wanna shoot this movie? Where do I want to do that? Where do I wanna work? I wanna work where my kids are so that I can watch them grow up." - When did you first start to do creative stuff? Were you putting on plays when you were a kid? - No, no, no, no.

7:44 No, I didn't do any of that. I go to the movies. That was my big thing. I'm a movie fan. I would go to see every movie that ever came out that was... And I had a great thing because in my town, there were five movie theaters. There was the Mayfaire and the St. James. They got the first run movies. I mean, like, you know, all big movies that came out would go right there. Whatever was released in New York was released there at the same time, because it was a resort town, so it was always a lot of people there in the summer, especially in the summer.

8:20 But they did keep that chain going. Then you had The Lyric and the Baronet, and you had the Paramount. And so the movies would move around. The Lyric had international films, always had foreign films there. So in terms of creative juices, like, from me, I was always, like, in the audience. I was, every Saturday and Sunday, go to the movies, sometimes during the week if I could, if I sneak out and do it. - So how did this, how did it start for you to get into acting?

8:53 When was that first moment where you're like, "I want to pursue this"? - I was thrown into this in kind of a weird way, because I was a hairdresser. I worked at my sister's beauty salon, and my sister, Angela, she had a beauty salon. And I got thrown into going... She had me go to New York. She was the enterprising, she was the head of the family, basically. I mean, my mother and father were there, but they were kind of, like, on the sidelines, you know.

9:26 I was working for her. I had no desire to become a hairdresser. I was cutting grass- - She says, "Danny, you're gonna come work with me"? (John laughs) - I was cutting grass. Well, I was graduating high school, and was not gonna go to college. I was gonna go get a job, whatever it was. Now, the fortunate thing was that she had this beauty parlor, and she said, "You come to work with me." And I said, (Danny grumbles) "Do this? But I'll do it 'cause, you know, this is cool."

9:59 So she sent me to school and I went to school. - So you went to like cosmetology school? - Yeah, beauty school. - Basically, beauty school? - In Asbury. She buys me a smock and she gives me the wig block, and she gives me all the tools of the trade. And I'm not, you know, it's the summer, and she's showing me... I'm, you know, setting my mother's hair and my aunt's, one of my aunt's, you know...

10:23 - Yeah, you're practicing. - her girlfriends. I'm practicing. And comes time to go to school, and she drops me off in front of the place. And I walk upstairs to the big room that's got all the stations in it. The Wilfred Academy, Beauty Academy, it was called. Right? And I walk in. I don't know what to expect, right? And there's 30 girls in there. - Right. Of course.

10:56 (John laughs) - My age. - So you're like, "This is awesome." - I immediately go downstairs to a payphone. Right? And I call my sister, and I say, "Anything you want for the rest of your life, ask me to do it, because you just sent me to heaven." This is like... It's all we did all summer, is look for this, all the guys.

11:29 (John laughs) Now, I walk into the door, there's... I mean, one's better looking than the next, and they're all like, you know. There were two or three other guys there, but it's okay. A little competition doesn't hurt. - When you first got into acting, - Yes. - how did your parents react? - They loved it. They thought... See, the thing about being the baby in the family, which I was, basically, I was treated like the prince of the family.

12:05 My mom and dad were there all the time, but I hung out with my sisters, like, always. And I had a couple of girl cousins. I had a lot of women in my life and it was a good thing. You know? It was a real nurturing thing. And, obviously, that's the way it is. I mean, you know, they weren't easy on me all the time, but they were protective of me all the time.

12:36 I never had to look over, I never looked over my shoulder. They always had my back, my sisters. Besides giving me, my sister, Angie, giving me a job when I got out of high school and giving me, what could have been a career, which was, I was making money. Because she wanted her business to expand. She was adding this whole thing of makeup, and we were thinking about doing a line of makeup of Angela's stuff and whatever.

13:07 But I had to learn about the business, so she sent me to New York to go find somebody to teach me how to apply the makeup, do it, look at different products and everything. And I found a woman, and the woman said to me, "I do teach a class in makeup, but I do it at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts." So I went to the place, and I said to them, "Can I take this woman's course?"

13:33 And they said, "Yes, if you enroll as an actor." - Huh. (John chuckles) - So I said, "Okay." And I did it. And then I started auditing the other classes. Anyway, long story short, I got bitten by the bug and became an actor instead. - What was your break? What was the big break moment? Was it "Taxi"? Was there something before "Taxi" that kind of set you on the- - Well, you know I did "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was a pretty damn good movie.

14:03 - Oh, that's right. - And that was about five years before, four or five years before "Taxi". But I guess "Taxi" was, Taxi was the one that really made it all happen. - The transition for you into directing, how did that happen? - Like I told you that I constantly went to the movies when I was a kid, and I went to see "The Battle of Algiers". You know the movie? It's a Pontecorvo movie. - Yeah.

14:34 It's been a while since I've seen it. - Yeah. And that was the movie that really got me into like, the mode of wanting to direct. Then I started studying about it and trying to figure it out, how to do it. So I did short films, super 8 films, 16 millimeter films. And then I got a grant from AFI. - Really? - Yeah. Happened to be the same time that "Cuckoo's Nest" was being released.

15:06 So that was in 1974, I think. That movie did really well. It was nominated for a million Academy Awards. And we were shooting, I was shooting the little movie at AFI during the same time that they were like, in the theater downtown, where they did all the Academy Awards. And we were outside, shooting, using the crowds. - For your short? - For the short film, yeah.

15:38 - So you're filming a short film, and you're filming crowds that are going to see the movie that you're in? - Mm-hmm. (John laughs) Yeah. And they were inside, winning Academy Awards. They'd set up these bleachers out in front. And all the movie stars would go in, and then they're doing their thing. Meanwhile, a lot of the fans stayed outside, waiting for them to come out. So the film that we were making, Rhea and I were making, at that time, with the AFI dough, we put a scene in it, in the end, we needed an ending, where the characters in the movie all win Academy Awards, the three characters in the movies.

16:22 So we went and bought these little statues. There was a place called Rent-A-Wreck, which was a place where you could get... This guy, Dave Schwartz, would rent old actors and people who didn't have a lot of dough, secondhand cars. They called it Rent-A-Wreck. (John laughs) It was in, it was in Los Angeles. And everybody wanted- - Is he from Jersey? That sounds like a Jersey kind of thing. - I don't know if he's from Jersey. I'm not sure where Dave Schwartz is from.

16:50 But it was a place where everybody went and got their cars. And so he had an old limousine. It was a piece of, it was really in disarray, and we rented it from him. He actually loaned it to, gave it to us. And we got a guy, one of the student filmmakers that we worked with, and he was the driver and we got him a little hat, and we got in the back seat, and we talked our way in through the stanchions with the guard, saying, you know.

17:20 And I took my grandfather's name, Ludovico Moccello, and I used that as the director's name in the movie. And we talked and we said, "Mr. Moccello has to get in. He's got to be in there." And they opened the stanchions, we drove the junkie car in, (John laughs) Rhea and I got out, and we went into the theater and we had the cameras rolling and we had the car there and we had a few extras of our own background actors, who were also part of the crew, and all the students, the way you do, you help your friends out.

17:50 But the people in the stands didn't know that. - Yeah, so they're like- - They thought that the real people were coming out. And I had a tuxedo on, Rhea was in a nice dress, and we were all, you know, had people buzzing around us. We came out and, all of a sudden, all these people swarmed around the car, and we got great footage, (John laughs) and we got in and we left. And when I cut the film, I just found this, and she was off mic, but she said...

18:23 Like that, right? And I got somebody to loop it. It was exactly right. "Who was he?" (both laugh) They didn't know, but they were all jumping all over the place. It was just like, and it was, of course, that was before "Taxi", so nobody knew who I was. And it was all... You can't attribute it to the fame of television. - So I worked at Nickelodeon, so, before doing this. Yeah, so one of my favorite movies of yours is "Death to Smoochy".

18:56 And it's a really stylish movie. I was just re-watching it. And like, the camera work, it's got a lot of layers, it's really fast-moving. Is that one of your favorites? - It's one of my favorites, yeah. "Death to Smoochy". Edward Norton and Robin Williams and Anastas Michos - Oh, yeah. Great DP. - shot that. - Really great DP. - I mean, one of the things that's neat about that movie, to me, that I feel like isn't so much of what you've done, is it's got a kind of mania, but a heart at the same time.

19:35 So it's kind of like a, everybody in it is like, cranked to 11. - [Danny] Yes. - But it's got a big heart, and it has a happy ending. - Yeah. It has a happy ending. Yeah. Yeah. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. - You know, that's, you know, it's such a great thing, to get to the happy ending place. I feel like these days, sometimes things can end in the dark place. And how do you think about that?

20:00 How do you think about as a storyteller? - Well, I do both. So, you know, like in "The War of the Roses", I killed the two people who were the stars of the movie. So, I mean, it's like kind of an ironic thing, you know? You know, I mean, it's stylish, it's fun, it's funny and, you know, cool, but they had to die, the two of them. (John laughs) Michael and Kathleen had to go. On the other hand, you know, Edward Norton and Catherine Keener you keep alive.

20:32 (John chuckles) And you let them kiss at the end. And they were loving. Kathleen and Michael, (blows raspberry) get 'em out. (John laughs) You know what I mean? - [John] Kill them in the end. No, that was all Warren Adler's book, but Michael Leeson wrote the screenplay for "War of the Roses" and it was good. - You've got a moment at the end of that movie that I also think, though, is sweet, because you come back to you- - [Danny] Well, I've got, yeah.

20:56 - and you have this little monologue. - [Danny] Yeah the little thing, the wrap up in the end, because I'm the guy's telling them, "Be careful about marriage," and everything, but then I do tell my wife, "I'll be home in a little while. I'm coming home." - Yeah. - Yeah. - And you convince him not to hire you, so. - Yes. - And that's Dan Castellaneta, that guy. You know who that is? - Yeah, the actor.

21:19 I've seen him in a lot of- - Well, he's the voice of Homer Simpson. - That's right, that's right. Yeah, okay. - And he's been doing Homer since the beginning. - Forever. - Yeah. And Dan? Dan's great. Yeah, I convinced him to take another look at marriage before you jump in with the sharks, (laughing) of who, I was the shark. I was the lawyer. - That's something that, before we, you know, Lucy's here, and I want to bring her in, but before we do- - Where is my daughter (John chuckles) when I need her?

21:53 - That message there is pretty neat, because you are, basically, saying, "Hey, things are hard. They can go, they can go real wrong. But find a way to to resuscitate this. - Well, you see I think the line was- - Don't give up, right? - "Try to get to the spot you were in when you realized that you were in love with this person." So try to re-examine that before you take that step and throw everything down the tubes.

22:27 - It's a pretty big pearl of wisdom for us, as men, when we hit hard times. Did that resonate with you at the time? Did you feel like, "I'm really happy this is - I was making, - happening? - I was making the darkest comedy I could make, you know what I mean? Besides "Throw Momma from the Train". (John laughs) I'm gonna tell you a story now, how I got to "War of the Roses". Michael Leeson, who was the writer, we were working on another movie we were pitching, and we're at a studio.

23:05 We were banging our heads against the wall for like, three days or four days. And I was on some stupid diet, where I was eating nuts and raisins and stuff. And I said, "Look, Michael, it's Friday. I'll buy lunch, you drive." Okay. So we get in his car, it's a Friday afternoon. And I don't like things under my feet in a car. And his car was full of papers and all kinds of stuff. And I'm kicking something.

23:31 I step on it, and I go down, I reach down, and I pull out this script that's on the floor, and it says, "'The War of the Roses' by Michael Leeson". And I say, "Michael, didn't you guys make this movie already?" 'Cause I, sometimes, live under a rock. He says, "No, no, we've been trying to get that made," and this, that, and the other thing. And I said, "Do you mind if I take it away and read it?"

23:57 And Rhea and I were going to, we were going to Laguna for the weekend to get away from the kids. I read it and I said, "Oh my gosh, this is amazing. This story is so cool and dark and funny and wild." And so I threw my hat in the ring, and I was really fortunate. And that was how I got to direct that movie. Yeah. But then, on the other hand of it, when I was doing research for the movie, when I was preparing, I was in Santa Monica.

24:30 I remember this like it was yesterday. I got a book, a bunch of books in a bookstore, and they're all about divorce. (John laughs) Right? Because I wanted to, you know? And I met with lawyers and did all this kind of stuff. And I'm standing in line with this book, with these books like this. And a woman looked at me and says, "Oh, - I'm sorry. - you and Rhea?" You know what I mean? I said, "No, (both laugh) No, I'm making a movie about it."

25:01 - You guys have been together for a long time. - [Danny] Yeah. Yes. - I think I read that, tell me about when you first met, 'cause I think, wasn't Michael part of the environment there, when you guys first met? - How we met was I was doing the play that I was about to tell you about. It was called "The Shrinking Bride", which I played a stable boy. And in that play, I was having my way with the landowner's daughter.

25:29 I was a real scrubby, feral beast. - So you're like a Frank, a little Frank, basically? - I mean, really but only like you know, really raw. And the landowner's daughter and I were banging in the hut, and that was the part of the story. The girl that was playing opposite me, the woman next, in my, had a girlfriend, and she came to the play one night, right? And that was Rhea.

26:01 Rhea came to see her friend in the play. My first line in the play, the play opens up, me, I'm hanging over the apron of the stage with a broom or a rake over my shoulder, and I got a torn T-shirt on, and I'm gobbing, like, big gobs down into the... And she comes out and she says, "Hey, Richie, what are you doing?" I say, "I'm spitting on the swans." (both laugh) - [John] What? - And then we have a sexual encounter, we go on.

26:38 So the spitting on the swans, this is a disgusting character. Really great. - So Rhea sees you,- - And Rhea falls in love- - and she's like- - immediately. - She's like, "I want this guy." (both laugh) How have you, you know, when we first started our conversation, you were talking about you're on the airplane with your kids, and you get this great advice to prioritize your family. How has that carried through as you've done all these things, you've made all these movies, you're in these TV shows like "Always Sunny", which is just completely crazy?

27:11 - Well, there you go, "Always Sunny". It's made 15 minutes from my house, 20 minutes from where I lived with the kids. When we were all together, before the kids, everybody moved out. You know, so still, I was with my kids through all of their... How many years has "Sunny" been on the air? 16? - Yeah. - So you figure it out. - It's the longest-running show. - Yeah. Those kids were, they grew up. They know Rob, they know Charlie, they know Glen, they know Kaitlyn, they know you know, the whole megillah.

27:43 But it was a family. So as close as you can keep it. I mean, big advice. I mean, you can't always. You got to go away. Directors got to go out and go do a play in London or go do a thing there. And actors got to do this. You got to go to another, you know. You got to travel, You got to support the family, but if you can, the big thing is to keep it close because that makes a difference over the years with the kids.

28:19 So that stuff really matters. - So I know you and Rhea are separated in a really amicable way. But you said you're never gonna get divorced. - No. - Well, 'cause it reminds me of that moment at the end- - "Smooch". - Of "The War of the Roses" in a way, is that- - Oh, except we're not, yeah. But they weren't amicable. I mean, Michael and Kathleen, even though Michael was always telling her how much he loved her and everything like that, she had enough of him.

28:51 I don't think Rhea's had enough of me yet, and I've not had enough of her yet, so we don't have to do that, see? But the idea is when you get to the point where, you know, you're on a chandelier, and you're hanging by the thread of a wire, you know what I mean? - Yeah, maybe it's time. - Maybe it's time. - What's your advice for husbands out there to stay in a great relationship? What do you think?

29:18 You got to have something. I mean, you've got a great relationship still. - I don't know. I don't know how to keep everything together. I just feel like you have to respect each other, and please don't fight and have a third party tell you what to do. (growls) Just makes my skin crawl. - We're about to pause to bring Lucy in. - Bring Lucy in. Thank goodness. (claps hands) Rescue me, Lucy. (John chuckles) - Before we do, did you have any reservations about your kids following in your footsteps and getting involved in the business? - No, not at all.

29:54 I think everybody's got to be encouraged to do what they feel like doing, you know? If you're a painter and a kid has been around you all this time, and they want to paint, you know, there's no reason not to get them paint and let them play around with it and have some fun and enjoy it. So I feel like everybody should. There's a freedom thing that has to do with life. You gotta really let the things flow.

30:19 Everybody has to have their own, you know. You put the brakes on things arbitrarily because you think you know better than somebody else. (clicks tongue) Doesn't sound right even, does it? - No. - You know, you go like, "Listen, what you are is a this." And they go, "What? I'm a that. I'm not this." "Oh, yes you are. You are. This is the way you have to be, you gotta..." Nobody knows anything, nobody.

30:51 That's the one great thing. If you want to read William Goldman, you should read anyway. - Right, yeah. - You know? - That's the classic line. - The great screenwriter. No, but really. I mean, nobody knows anything. Nobody. You can't bring me one person that knows it. And we're all here, like "Blah, blah, blah" (Danny babbles) on the planet. You know, ah, yeah. Okay. Here we are. We're talking. Good. I like you. You're a nice guy.

31:21 Everybody here, we're all, you know? Okay. That's it. There's no other thing. There's nothing behind it. You know, there's no secret. - That's good advice. Let's take a little break. We'll get set up to- - Sure. - talk about the projects- - Sure. - you got going together. - Sure, sure. - And I got a little surprise for you both, but I'll save that to the end. - Okay. That always should be at the end. - Lucy, I got your help to wrangle your old man now.

31:49 - Oh yeah. Oh,- - This is the key. - he needs some wrangling. - He needs to. - I can, yeah. - [John] I need the help. - I can definitely help. - He's doing fine. - I said he needs the help. - Yeah. (everyone laughs) - [John] Okay. I want to talk about your project together. But first, let's talk about screaming. - Oh. - So my son, you know, I'm 100% Italian, my wife is half, but the half, it's a dominant half.

32:15 So my son came home one day and said, "Why are you guys so loud? Every other house I go to is quiet, but our house is always filled with screaming." Was your house filled with screaming? And I mean this in the best possible kind of screaming. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - Yeah, it was really loud. - It was a loud house. - Really loud. - Oh yeah. Oh yeah. - And if you can't already tell just from this conversation, we talk over each other all the time. - Yeah, it's all the time.

32:38 You never finish your sentence. - And that's like five people at once. - But there's like 100 of us doing it, yeah. - So, yeah. We're loud people. We like to, you know, yell in a very affectionate way. - And all of our friends - Yelling doesn't always mean- - were like that too. - Yeah. They were. - You always had people coming over for dinner, and we'd always have half a dozen to a dozen people around, but it didn't matter whether they were Italian or whether they were...

33:07 It's nothing to do- - There was something- - with that. - about the house too, and being around us that gave everyone license to, you know- - Just spew forth. - Just let loose, and- (Danny imitates pop) - [Danny] Making sounds, - and, yeah, whatever. - do all that kind of stuff. - Talk in gibberish. Who cares? - Yeah. And then, yo know, you just could do that forever. - Yeah. - You don't have to... And nobody could ever get a word in edgewise.

33:28 Right? - (laughs) Right. - You just keep going. - Yeah. - I mean, there would be one of these things where you'd be even in an interview- - or something like that - You just keep going and you just keep talking. - The guy's there, and he's a nice guy - It's like, "Yeah." We could just keep talking. - But there's no way in. - No way in. - No, because he wouldn't wanna interrupt us. - And why would you wanna interrupt us? - Yeah.

33:45 - I understand. - Yeah. - Yeah. - It's the audio editor's worst frigging nightmare. (everyone laughs) - But not when we're- - I don't know where to,- - in the shot together. - I don't know where to cut, I don't know where this starts. (Lucy laughs) I watched your short film that you did together, "Curmudgeon". - Oh, yeah. - And right out of the gate, it's like, I'm laughing at things that I think there's a subset of people who are gonna laugh right away who appreciate the screaming and the anger.

34:09 - But it just matches also, yeah, the energy of this yeah, I'm yelling at you and busting your balls and whatever, but I still love you, you know. - Absolutely. - That's- - Without a doubt. It goes without saying. - the way it is. Yes. - Yeah. But you said it. - Yeah. - But it's okay. You said it. (Lucy giggles) - I mean, the "Always Sunny" energy's got a similar thing going with just screaming right from the start. - They never shut up.

34:33 (everyone laughs) - They're really passionate- - There's just- - about... - constant talking. - Yeah. - Yeah. Rob and Glen and Caitlyn and Charlie, and then I fit right in- - You do. - 'cause, yeah. - So when did you first realize you wanted to get into the family business? - Was it when you were a little girl and you were... - I mean, I think that 'cause growing up with it, I was surrounded by it, and I admired my parents so much and love movies and TV and go to the theater.

35:08 So it was just embedded in me. But I didn't start acting, I think, until high school. Once I started doing theater and then went to college, I decided I wanted to give it a shot, because I was also very much, because I grew up in the business, very much aware of the perils and the hardships that go into the lifestyle of even very successful, well-known actors.

35:40 - Knowing smiles from pop. - Yeah. - You're always pushing the rock up the hill. - Yeah. Always. - Yeah. Always. - Doesn't matter where you are. - Did you feel, did you feel lucky? Did you have a sense that both your parents were able to be with you in a way that being in entertainment wasn't happening with other kids and other... It's hard. It's hard to do it when you're in this kind of business. - Yeah, I think so.

36:04 I always knew, the family dynamic we had growing up was just family was number one. You know, so, I was very much aware of that. There was always a huge emphasis for all of us to always be doing something together. You know, we would always have dinner, every night we'd have dinner together unless like someone was out of town or whatever, but if we were all in town, we would all sit at dinner.

36:38 - And I was saying I was really fortunate that I was able to. And same thing with Rhea. I mean, I had "Taxi", I was finishing up with "Taxi" when you guys were coming around, but Rhea was still doing "Cheers". - [John] These were the biggest shows on TV. - She was right there at Paramount, you know, great. I mean, supposed to be in Boston. But they did it in Hollywood. That's the great thing about it, they got to be, she got to be with the kids all the time, and- - Yeah, we went to,- - so was I.

37:14 - daycare on the Paramount lot. (John chuckles) No, seriously. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Has it been weird to have your dad become a meme? - No. (John and Lucy laugh) - It's like, he's evolved. When we were coming out here, I told my son, Mateo, I was like, "We're gonna go spend some time interviewing Danny DeVito and his daughter." And he was like, "Oh my gosh. You know Danny DeVito's a meme?", which can mean everything from just these images to just- - Yeah.

37:44 It's not a single meme, right? - No, it's a whole thing. It's an ecosystem. - It's lots of things. Yeah. (John laughs) Yeah. - Yeah. - No, I mean, I think it's cool. - That's really cool. - It's a way to stay relevant, you know what I'm saying? - Let somebody tattoo themselves. - Yeah, whatever. You know. - I don't have anything to say about it. - Yeah. - It's all good. - I mean, I think it's cool that a different generation, you know, can relate to him in that way.

38:13 - There's not many people who cross over in that way. When you think about it, it's hard to say. Usually we go into the cringe territory. I'm already there for my son. I'm already full cringe. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - How old is Mateo? - Yeah. - He's 18. - He's 18? - Yeah. - Wow. You look young if you have an 18 year old. - I was 28 when he was born.

38:36 - Okay. You were younger than I was when they were born. Okay. - I got to ask. So your dad gets so crazy in "Always Sunny" in particular. Has there ever been a point where you're like, "Dad, you've gone too far with Frank."? Or is it just, it's just a blast all the time? - It's not. I would never tell him he went too far, but I don't always watch it. (John laughs) Do you know what I mean? (laughs) I mean, there's only so many times you can watch your dad nakedly fall out of a couch.

39:09 (John laughs) You know what I mean? I would never, though, I would never tamper it down, you know. And I can give, you know- - You can give me notes. - Yeah, I can give you notes, and I can make fun of you- - Yeah, of course. - and whatever. - Absolutely. - But, (laughs) I mean, that's not gonna stop him. And why should it? - You're probably just fueling it. - Exactly - It's like the thing that we talked...

39:39 We had a nice conversation before, but we were talking about freedom. If you're talking about freedom, basic thing is you don't want to insult anybody, you don't wanna invade anybody's space, you don't want anybody to feel bad, you don't wanna, you know, knock somebody off their perch or whatever it is. - No. - So, you know, you allow things, you embrace them, especially if you love them, which we do love each other. - And I mean, that's just who you are too. - Yeah.

40:06 - I'm not gonna hurt anybody by taking my... Unless it's, you know, you look at me and faint- - No. Yeah, no. - when you see me come out of a couch naked, (Lucy laughs) and then you faint, and it's you hurt yourself when you fell. What? Oh, it was because of Danny. - Well, that's not your fault. It's really not your fault. - No. Watch where you are standing when you watch me. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Mm-hmm.

40:27 - He was the Penguin. - [John] I know. (laughing) - You know? - [Danny] That was a great, yeah. - I remember him coming home after one of the first hair and makeup tests or whatever, and he had three- - Did he keep it on and come home in makeup? - Well, no, but the one thing he couldn't take off were his three acrylic nails that were, like, black- - Right, I remember. - You know, little penguin nails.

40:58 And I remember just being like, "What?" It was frightening. - That was really, that was really scary. - Yeah. It was really scary. - And Ve Neill, who was the makeup artist who did the Penguin, Oswald Cobblepot, she was the best and the greatest. And she did those, and I had to keep those on and everything else. I have a picture. There's a picture of the three of them, Lucy, Gracie and Jake in a makeup trailer.

41:29 It's my back and the makeup artist is finishing up my makeup for Oswald. And the looks on their faces are like- (Lucy laughs) just these little, tiny, little- - It's just movie magic. - Row of kids. - What's your favorite role that your dad has ever played? Do you have one? Does it come to mind? - I mean, there's so many, but I really like, I love "Throw Momma from the Train".

41:59 And I love Owen. - Yeah. Owen was a sweet, sweet character. - Another one that goes under the radar a lot, but I always mention is "Living Out Loud", which was a movie that he did with Holly Hunter, and Richard LaGravenese directed and wrote. And it was just a really wonderful performance. - [Danny] Yeah it was a good script. - And of course "Matilda". "Matilda's" a good one. - Harry Wormwood.

42:31 - That's it. - I understand that that happened, you got involved in that project because your girls loved the book. - Because of them. - We were starting with, we had Jake, who's the baby, and she's the oldest and then there's Gracie in the middle. They're all bunched there. And we were reading picture books, basically, you know, a lot of Chris Van Allsburg's beautiful pictures and this, that and the other thing, "King Bidgood" and all those famous, the "Tikki Tikki Tembo".

43:02 And then they came in with this Roald Dahl book. Now, I had never, I knew Roald Dahl, not, you know, knew him, but I mean, I knew of him. - "Willy Wonka" - But I had no idea about "Matilda". And they came in and they said, "We wanna read this book." And so every night, we sat, and we read a chapter of his great book, "Matilda". And Rhea and I loved it, they loved it, and we said, "Boy, this would be, this would really make a great movie."

43:37 So we started exploring that, Rhea and I. I did big time, and then we found somebody who had the rights to it and was preparing something. So I just tried to insinuate myself into it, and I did. But that was because of them. It was, basically. - Is there a big lesson that you've learned from your dad about how to navigate? He said a couple times, in our conversation, he injected himself into the process, but that's what you have to do, right?

44:08 Whenever you wanna make something happen. What kind of lessons have you learned from him about- - Yeah, I mean- - career? - Definitely sticking to your guns, but also being adaptable and tenacious and not giving up. That's a lot. One door closes, another opens sort of thing.

44:41 And I think also sticking to your gut, and trying to remember, throughout the process, that initial feeling of why you're actually doing it in the first place. - So you have a new project on Broadway? - Yes. - So tell me about this. - Yes. - Danny, why don't you start? - "I Need That". That's the name of it. Well, Lucy and I, all during those times that she's talking about, like when she's coming up, thinking about becoming an actress, whatever and blah, blah, we always talk.

45:15 And so we talk all the time. And the family is that way too. Everybody talks to each other and gives each other their opinions and stuff like that. So long story short, the pandemic hits, and Lucy's been through her Brown University and done a lot of stuff and guest-starring parts and this, that and the other thing. - I did a lot of theater in New York, and this small theater was doing a benefit Zoom reading.

45:45 Because it was the pandemic, no one was actually doing anything in person. And I was like, "Okay, yeah, I'll do this." And they're like, "Would your dad do it too?" (John chuckles) And I was just like, "Well." Normally, I would never ask him really, because it's like, "Whatever." But it was like, "It's Zoom. - [John] It's not a big imposition. - It's a 15 minute play or whatever it is. I knew the director. So I roped him into doing it.

46:17 - I had a great time. - We had a great time. - And we went- - We had a great time. - It was a story about a father and a daughter were on a ski trip, and they go off the mountain, accidentally, they fly off the edge of this mountain, and they're hanging onto a tree. So we actually went in the yard and got a log, and stuck it in front of the Zoom camera. And we were there and we did our scenes.

46:44 We got to know the father and daughter in the play, kind of get to a point. And we realized that we- - They were having a very funny but then deep conversation the whole while it turns out they were actually only three feet above the ground, and they could have, you know what I mean? - Yeah. - Yeah. - [John] You can see you got that great little button reveal at the end. - Yeah. We worked with Moritz von Stuelpnagel, who is this amazing director, and I said to him afterwards, we were like, "We had the best time.

47:19 If you ever hear of a play that would be good for us to do together, it'd be so much fun. Let's work on something." And this was 2020. And he was like, "Yeah, that'd be great." And then a month later, he was like, "I know a writer who might be interested in writing something for you guys. Would you wanna Zoom again?" And, yeah. - And we met Theresa. - And we met Theresa Rebeck, who is an incredible playwright.

47:47 And over the course of a few months, we met and developed, started talking about these characters. She talked about what she wanted to write about, and we talked about this simple father-daughter relationship, which would be something that we would wanna explore on stage. And then she wrote this amazing play, and we did a couple of workshops of it. And we're doing it. - And we're doing it. (Danny and John laugh) - But it was a very organic- - [John] Oh, that's great.

48:19 - Yeah. Very, very cool. - So it's an original story. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. It's an original story. And I've worked at the Roundabout before, and it's a wonderful theater. Theresa's a wonderful writer and Moritz is a brilliant director. And we're in good hands. - This is your first, is this gonna be your first time performing on Broadway? - Yeah. On Broadway, yeah. It's my Broadway debut. - It's your debut. - My debut. - It's your debut.

48:48 - Are you nervous? - For sure. - Oh God. - Absolutely. - Are you nervous every time? - It's exciting. - Yes. - [John] Right? Danny, how about you? - Yeah. - [John] Do you get nervous every time? - Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You got to be, otherwise it's like, hmm. - How much of the two of you is in your characters? Since it's originally developed, is there some rhyming with who you are as people in your relationship?

49:15 Or is it really like a departure? - It's a bit of a departure, but I would say- - There's always something of you- - There's always something. - in the characters. - Yeah. Yeah. And you should always want that too. You should try to find something, no matter whether it's a- - And we are playing father and daughter. - Yeah. Father and daughter. - So that's real. I think, thematically, too, we can relate to a lot of- - A lot what's going on without just saying what the play's about.

49:45 - Is there screaming? Is there some, is there some fun, high energy- - Yeah. (John laughs) Oh yeah. - DeVito action in this play to be had? - There's gonna be some fun banter for sure. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. She did a great job, Theresa. Yeah. It's really good. - We'll be yelling at each other. - All right. I have some questions, some rapid fire questions for you both. - Okay. - Okay. - These are fun.

50:09 When we have time, we like to ask them of our guests. So the first is if you could relive one moment with your dad, which would it be? - One of the big things, we used to go fishing together, and there was a little place called Shark River, there were no sharks. At least I didn't see any. Anyway. And we would fish for flounder and fluke and stuff like that in Jersey. And it was, this was when Shark River was not polluted.

50:41 (John laughs) - It might be clean again. Jersey's cleaned up. - Yeah, maybe. You could eat the fish anyway. So the idea is we were out there and it was raining, and we were both all bundled up. We had the car there. So, you know, we had two poles planted in the ground. He said, "Go check, I'm gonna have a cigarette," or something. "Go check the line." Right? I said, "Oh, okay. Yeah." And it's raining.

51:11 And he goes in, and he's smoking a cigarette or whatever. And I went, and I picked it up and there was a meaty, there was a beautiful fish on it. I reeled it in, and I felt incredible. But I realized, you know- - He put it on there? - Later. He didn't put it on there, - Aww. but he caught the fish, (John laughs) And just, nonchalantly, didn't tell me that it was- - It was on the line. - already on the line when I went out to check the line.

51:42 I felt like I caught that fish. - Oh my God. - But I knew, after a while, that old Danny boy (Lucy and John laugh) gave me a present. - Oh, god that's so sweet. - Yeah. - What do you think, Lucy, got one? - I don't know. There's just so many. You know, when you learn that there's no Santa Claus. - Oh, yeah. That's a tough one, as a parent. It's a transition. - But as the kid, you're just like, "God, of course there's no Santa Claus.

52:12 Like, whatever." But I had two younger siblings who still knew that there was Santa, and he let me stay up and do the Santa preparations for when the other kids went to bed. - I remember that like it was yesterday. - So we- That's amazing. - I got to eat the cookies and make a mess and spill the milk. - Make a mess. - [Danny] We used to do this, we'd put the, yeah. - And then we would always put carrots and celery out for the reindeer. - For the reindeer?

52:48 - Yeah, Yeah. - Did you eat those or? - Well, no, no, no. - You left them to your- - What we would do- - What we'd do, yeah, you tell him what we did. - He was like, "This is what you do." This was his tutorial, was chewing up carrots and then (spits dramatically) spitting them out all over the stoop. So we would just be- - All over the fireplace. - I'd just be like, it was so much fun.

53:09 (Danny imitates chewing) (Lucy sputters dramatically) Just spraying carrots and celery. - Oh, that's great. - Well, because the reindeer, they were sloppy. - [Lucy] Yeah. And they were in a rush. - They were in a hurry. Got to- - They had so many houses- - get to next house. - To go to. - They're crazy animals, they're not neat. - Yeah. - Yeah. And that's a really, I remember that. - Yeah. Yeah. - That's really sweet because you are sweet. - Aw.

53:31 - [John] Oh my God. That's great. Danny, this is for you. How have you most damaged your kids either physically or mentally? - Well, you could tell the barracuda story. - Oh, yeah. Oh, well, I'm not a good swimmer, and I'm not a, and I'm not a very brave person. (John laughs) Lucy and I were snorkeling, and- - We were on vacation. Yeah. - we were on vacation. And I was holding onto her for dear life because I was- - And I was, like, what?

54:04 - [John] Yeah, I was gonna say, how old were you? - 11. - Yeah, 11 years old. And I don't like being underwater. I don't like any place where there's a lion, a tiger or a bear. - So you're staying on the sand at the Jersey shore. - Yeah. I'm landlocked. No, I'm landlocked. And we got the snorkel things, the masks, and we're going along, and we go (imitates bubbles) we're doing the thing. And I see a barracuda come at me, us, and I just left! (laughs) (John laughs) And I left her.

54:40 (John laughs) - Oh, actually, you left. - I left. I just got the hell out of there. - We're hanging on there. We're just like, "Ooh." And then I remember I was like, - Great. (Lucy screams softly) - Holy (censored). - And the barracuda like, looked at us, and it was like... (Danny and Lucy growl). (Lucy laughs) - I mean, he came at us. He came at us. - [John] They're gnarly, they're gnarly. - Yeah. And I turned around and he's gone.

55:03 - I was about 20 feet away already. - It's okay. I got away. I got away. - You got away? So no bites. - I got away. - No, nobody got bit. - But I didn't let him live it town. - Be constantly you- - And I was like, "You left me!" - I left her with the barracuda. Well, I just got my (censored) outta there. - I think there's a Swedish movie that centers around this exact thing. - Force Majeure.

55:23 - Force Majeure. - Right? - Yeah. (John laughs) - No, exactly. The avalanche comes, he's (censored) outta there. - And then you're trying to recover for the rest of your life- - Yeah, yeah. for that. Okay. Lucy, what's your favorite dad expression? - "Long story short." - Okay. - No. (laughs) - [John] That's it? - No. - Long story short? - There's a lot of them. - I don't like long stories. - A lot of them have to do with, yeah, everything is a long story short.

55:52 But, "I gotta take a leak." (John and Lucy laugh) - I already did. I took a leak before we started. - "My back teeth are floating." (laughs) - Yeah. Danny, what's your favorite dish to cook? - Pasta. I mean, you know, - Straightforward. I just straightforward make a lot of garlic, basil, good olive oil, a little hot pepper, salt and pepper. Make sure whatever pasta you cook, you don't overcook it, so it's al dente, which means, dente, teeth, you got to be able to bite into it.

56:25 But you know how you do that? You take the noodle, the pasta, and you cut it, and you look in the middle, and if you see that white dot, depending on how white that dot is whether it's- - Yeah. How much crunch is still in there. - Yeah. So I like that. And I make- - What about the puttanesca? - I don't make the well, I- - Puttanesca? - Puttanescaeto. - But you got a great story about the puttanesca.

56:51 - Yeah, yeah. - My sister, Angie, who I told you was very important in my life. - Who was very important in my life as well. - Take it away. - Yeah, she was making puttanesca one day, and she was very tiny, smaller than both of us, if you can believe it. And she had, the stove was up to here on her, and she was spinning the, stirring the sauce, and she turned to me and she said, "It's the whore's sauce."

57:24 (Danny and John laugh) - Yeah, yeah, that sounds right. - Yeah. So. (John laughs) - The whore's sauce. - But I love the whore's sauce. - But you see, that kind of thing you could say in the house. That was all. You know, anything like that. - All right. What's your favorite dad joke or shtick to play with the kids, Danny? - Oh, with the kids? - Yeah. - Oh, was getting them to eat. It was just the greatest.

57:53 Because you go to a restaurant or you're at home, they're not at the table. They're under the table, they're in the this, the that, the other thing. - A bunch of animals. - Right. So what you do is, when they're little, you take a piece of your chicken or your fish or your whatever you got, and you stick it on the table and you go, (slams table) "All right, listen, nobody, nobody touch that chicken. You touch that chicken, you're gonna have to answer to me.

58:22 And that's it. (John giggles) Keep your hands off my chicken, everybody." Meanwhile you got the underneath, in the nether land, - The hand, the hand grab. - And grab it. And they'd eat. They'd eat more chicken (Lucy laughs) or more fish or more... "This strand of pasta is mine right there. Nobody go near it. Wait a minute, I'm gonna put a little cheese on it. All right. Nobody touch that pasta." (John and Lucy laugh) - Sounds a little like feeding the dogs. (laughs) - Yeah, well, no. Yeah.

58:57 - It was fun. - And it worked in restaurants too. That was my favorite. - Do you have to keep that approach to the neighborhood restaurants? Or is it you take that one on the road? - I mean, we never really were good with manners, you know. - No, they were all over the place. I mean, either they're under the table. They'd always want to sit where the banquette was, the booth, because they didn't care about the, they wanted to run around it.

59:24 - We were that family that you complain about at restaurants. - Yeah, the one that gets, - "Will you guys- - They were just like,- - shut up over there?" - it was like, "What are they doing in here? Why are they bringing their kids to a restaurant? They should just eat a home." That was us. That was us, yeah. - That was us. - The reveal is it sounds like a really loud restaurant filled with people and the camera swings, and it's just you guys- - That's it.

59:41 - and one other couple- - Everybody's quiet. - in the corner. - Oh, yeah. - Danny, what's the most valuable thing you've learned from your children? - Understanding. You have to be really understanding that they cut us an amazing amount of slack, my kids. So they know, I guess they read me, they know Rhea, you know? They know everything, the dynamic. And they really are generous when it comes to that.

60:17 - What's the number one lesson you've learned from your dad? - Generosity is a good one. I think that he is always giving and always available with his time and his thoughts and, yeah, making time for the people you love. I think that that's always been a big one. - I have one more thing to share with you guys.

60:47 So my wife and I have been trying to get our Italian citizenship- - Oh, good. - because we're Italian and because our son, we're thinking maybe we'll send him to Italy for school, and it'd be neat if he could work while he's there. So we work with this company, Bella Italia Genealogy. And so while Lisa was talking to them, she said, "Hey, do you think you could do Danny DeVito's genealogy?" And they got so excited that they started sending us all this stuff.

61:19 So earlier this morning, this was kind of on a lark, so earlier this morning we were putting this thing together, and so I have this little, I have a little thing for you both. It's a family tree that goes back to the 1700s. - Oh, my god. - Oh, wow. - So take a look at this. - Oh, my god. - So if you open it up- - Oh. - Oh. - this is a little letter from Bella Italia, but you can see, on both sides, all the way back five generations. - Oh my God.

61:51 - This is it. - Thank you. - Wow, it's so beautiful. - What a gift. - Thank you so much. - How do you think about your heritage in this American experience that we have? It's a funny thing. When you have a strong heritage, it runs alongside being American. It's like, "We're American, but we're Italian American," and it's a particular thing. How do you think about that connection to your heritage? - I have a strong connection to our family and, I guess, Italy.

62:26 And my mom is Jewish, you know, so there's - Right, yeah. So you've got there's a lot of similarities between- - there's a lot of similarity, I mean, honestly, a lot of it- - Its pretty similar. - revolves around food and hanging out. - [John] Screaming. (laughs) - Yeah. Screaming. You know, maybe sense of humor. - Mastroscusa was my dad's mother. She's the one I knew, Mariangela. - Mariangela. - So I would go, all right, just a quick, quick, little, make a long story short, quick, quick little thing.

63:03 When we used to go up through Staten Island and go over to the, go to Brooklyn, drive up every weekend to see her, I was a little boy. She was in her eighties, and she had broken her hip, which is a common, this little thing. But she always wanted me to be there. And I would bring a plate of soup to my grandma. And I remember, in my aunt's house, she lived in this rose-colored room with all the saints on the walls and all the statues, right?

63:45 And there were lace curtains and there was these little doors that opened up into the living room. And I would go in with the plate of soup, and there was a little metal table, I remember. I'd stick it on the table. And when I got close to her, her face was, I mean, just brown and filled with life.

64:15 And she hugged me. She had this night dress on. And I remember loving being in that room. It was a weird feeling 'cause I was a little kid. And then I would let her eat, and I'd go outside, and I'd stay close to the door. It's very emotional. She used to bang on the plate. Ting ting ting ting ting ting.

64:46 And then I would come back in. All right. And I'd get the plate and take it back. I was like, it was on the weekends, I did that on Sundays when I was a kid. This is really beautiful. Thank you very much for this. It's a treasure. - I have one last question for you. We ask this of- - Sure. - all of our guests. We call this "Dad Saves America", because I think that, as a man, embracing being a dad is maybe, I think, the best thing you can do for your family.

65:20 And that ladders up to your community and ultimately to the country and making the country a better place for everybody. And so, as a storyteller, you think about the role you play, the role you're gonna play as an actor, the role of your protagonist. How do you think of your role in the American story? - As a person who's in the limelight, you get up in a baseball game or a basketball game, and everybody knows you.

65:47 Everybody knows you. So if that means anything, if the generosity that I profess or the caring that I feel for everybody in the world, if that makes a difference, then each individual person, I'm hoping, will use that to make the world a better place for our children. - Thinking about myself as having a role in, you know, what it means to make the world a better place seems like a really huge and kind of like overwhelming concept, but I think that from a micro level, just being around people who I can connect with.

66:42 If I can do that on, like, you know, my smaller inner circle, you know, then that's one step forward to, you know, branching out and reaching others. I don't know. Just try to be a good human. - I want to thank you both so much for being on "Dad Saves America". It's been a real honor. - Thanks a lot. - Thank you so much. - It's nice being here. - Thanks for having us. (graphics whooshing)