our first guest is an academy award-nominated actor who stars in The Broadway Revival of The
Rainmaker which has its big opening night this Thursday please welcome Woody Harrelson Woody
Harrelson ladies and gentlemen nice to have you on the show oh thank you good to be here Dave
you ever run a marathon yeah I ran it yesterday I came in second nobody remembers that's a darn
Shameless tragedy of it were you liking a moose sign that Kenyan guy he was just ahead of me and
nobody remembers yeah nice to have you back in New York good to be here you
started out kind of here in New York yeah yeah I started out the little starvation
route through what'd you do what were you doing while you were starving or vice versa
I did a bunch of jobs I you know mostly uh restaurant oriented jobs uh
not sure it's help yourself oh thank you all of our guests receive a complimentary beverage
do I get to keep this stuff no it's the beverage uh and where did you work in
a theater is that what you were shooting for you wanted to be a stage actor when you came
to New York that's what I wanted to be yeah were you I dreamed about I wanted
to do Broadway one day well you're doing it now and and now I'm doing it yeah but
did you do other stuff then
well my first job was as an understudy for Biloxi blues and Neil Simon play and uh but I never ended
up going on because I ended up going to do this Goldie Hawn movie and then while I was doing that
just before I was supposed to go back and fill in one of the roles I uh I got a role in cheers so
wow
yeah but he is so as you never actually got on stage in a Broadway production
you were the understudy that never got to I never got to go on Dave how's it going now
thank you uh it's going good I I love you know it's a it's a great old Play It Was
Written in the 50s by Richard Nash and uh it's called The Rainmaker it's at the
Brooks Atkinson Scott Ellis directed it and Jane Atkinson in it no no relationship to the
theater Brooks yeah well that'd be something though wouldn't it yeah that would be cool
I'd claim it if I was her but anyway it's going good the the the uh the
people really seem to love it needs a lot of discipline needs a lot of control a lot
of focus do you have all of those things for Life theater I do Dave I really uh
discipline control uh like an athlete like an athlete well I told you anyway have you
ever gotten it have you ever gotten in trouble have you ever broken training more or less have
you ever been scolded for your behavior on the theater in the theater uh not that I recall Dave
did you ever stay out all night and come to rehearsal all right all right I did all right
I did what happened there we got late one night I went to see uh Being John Malkovich did you see
that yeah that's very entertaining fantastic and I went and saw it and I was hanging out afterwards
uh talking with uh oh John Malkovich and uh John Cusack and and Joe hickey another friend of mine
and uh tell you the truth it was just so much fun and the time got away from me and then we
went and did something else next thing I know it's like 5 30 in the morning and uh I go in the next
uh you know rehearsal is like nine o'clock and uh so I guess enough time for some eggs
and I was I was wretched but uh no it's really a good thing because then it made
me uh get a little more focused you learned a little something from that experience but did
they did they know that something was wrong something that was different yes I think
I see
I'm from Texas so I got this [ __ ]
here
it's mostly in Texas Texas we'll keep an eye on them yeah
uh I tell you what we're going to take a break now when we come back I want to I want to talk
to you about many many many things not the least of which and I want you to explain this to me
because I don't understand this is your interest the significance and the importance of hemp
uh explain this to me excuse me you're in the play You're In The Rainmaker now but
it's not open you're in previews is that what it is it's called previous what does that mean
that means that it's not officially open not really open but it means the critics haven't
come and slashed it yet and uh when people go you have audiences every night right uh
yeah yeah but then the official opening is next week no this week this week Thursday night this
week and then the ticket price is like quadruple it's just skyrocketed yeah yeah well good luck I
hope that's a big success for you and how long are you here you're going to be in town for how
long uh well we'll be here till February oh it's beautiful in February here yeah laughs
I'm looking forward to it where else do you live I live sometimes in California in
Hawaii Costa Rica tropical yeah February is here very similar to the Costa Rican
take a look at this we found this picture on here uh it looks like Donald Trump is talking
and Jesse Ventura is listening to it right and I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing in this picture
what are you doing in that picture you know he was on the show a month ago and he was having
dinner that night with you guys was this taken that night yes this was that night
how is it you know Donald Trump and Jesse Ventura well I really uh uh Donald Trump
is like an acquaintance I guess but I was I know Jesse Ventura and uh you're welcome
yeah I wrestled him up that was before I got into Marathon
but no I was hanging out in Minneapolis which is one of the great cities I've ever hung out
okay there's less people here from Minneapolis from Texas but anyway uh we were hanging out in
Minneapolis and I got to hang out with them a few times and then uh well what happened today we hung
out here the three of you guys are at dinner what do you guys talk about what what is that all about
mostly politics Dave unless we talk about politics you know I happen to know that Donald Trump is
doing this whole thing as a joke he's not going to run he's not serious about it at all he's just
doing it because he likes people talking about him is that right well yeah I know it for a fact well
okay that's good that's good I mean uh I'm not into politics really I I'm an anarchist but uh
you know I mean whatever your gig is I guess that's okay did you have a nice time at dinner
I had a great time who picked up the check uh not me it was a big check it better be I hope it was
Mr billionaire was it Mr billionaire he picked it up oh there you go okay uh all right now let's
uh let's get to the discussion of hemp now what exactly is hemp is hemp hemp and marijuana are one
and the same is that correct now Hampden marijuana are two different things hemp is is something that
farmers grow for industrial purposes for example this this outfit is made out of
hemp this is Armani Armani made this in their hemp division our money has a hemp division very good
and and you can make paper out of it instead of cutting down trees these are all good things you
can make plastic out of it instead of using petroleum right now why is it people like
myself make the confusion that it's the same as marijuana I think I think that it is if you
planted hemp seeds instead of making material for a coat could you also grow the plant and
smoke and get yourself loopy uh no you couldn't because the thing in marijuana that gets you
high is uh THC there's no THC I mean there's a negligible amount one percent in uh in hemp
are they so from the same family they're from the same family same family which is the dea's
rationale for uh well for cracking down on it not allowing the farmers to grow it even though the 32
other countries are growing hemp right now right and uh the farmers are allowed to grow it so the
same rules the same laws apply to the growth of the hemp as to apply to marijuana you can't grow
him because you can't grow marijuana is that what it is that's it yeah for example recently
the uh the DEA there was some bird seed you know for example hemp makes bird seed and makes horse
bedding and there was bird seed coming over the border from Canada and the DEA seized it
and so uh there was a lot of really pissed off birds and horses
and uh those birds started eating that seed
s you could fly you wouldn't need to get high you know
and uh so they're starting to wonder about that higher intelligence thing we've been talking
about but the DEA I'm just curious I don't know what their reason for being is but they continue
to do their thing now you you enjoy everything you wear is made from hemper you try that's the that's
that's it even even the shoes Dave yeah even the shoes and and do you also smoke marijuana ah
I'll be honest with you I don't smoke anymore I don't smoke any less either
you're a witness
but now now Woody just for a second here could is it possible that you had never
smoked marijuana in your life just for a second let's say that that were the case is it also
possible then you would be interested in hemp and the positive attributes of
that plant well absolutely because the economy is run on these things that are
destructive and this is replenishable yeah this is replenishable and it's good for the farmers
too the farmers the farmers right now need an alternative crop they're new to five o'clock
and so if you ask me what's criminal is the DEA trying to stop American farmers
from growing hemp it's wrong and uh and yet you know a lot of a lot of states have passed
legislation to allow it to be grown but the DEA still cracks down I don't know anything
about that yeah that's why I'm trying to one of the well one of the problems I understand
is with planting hemp a lot of times people for you know forget where it's growing
once again you're on the cover of hemp times how many times you've been on the
cover of this magazine this is my second time my second time
good luck at the opening oh here you go yeah November next uh next Thursday is
what it is you know the date November all right what do you know November
11th November 11th The Rainmaker ladies and gentlemen Woody Harrelson