-Our next guest is an Emmy- nominated actor and musician.
He stars in the series "Big Shot"
which is streaming now on Disney+.
He also hosts the podcast "Snatching Sinatra" on Wondery,
which is available now.
Please welcome back to the show John Stamos.
How you are, John?
-Hello, Seth. Nice to see you.
-It's very exciting news.
You are a new father since the last time we saw each other.
-Yes. And I was --
We were inspired by -- You had your --
Your baby was born in the lobby of your apartment building?
-Yes, but that was my wife's fault.
-Yeah, we tried to have our kid at the bowling alley,
but it was closed.
Got to -- The laundromat was open, so we went there.
-Oh, that's great. Yeah, you just --
Ultimately, you got to find a place
that will make for a good anecdote down the line.
-Is this my good --
What's the good side that Kristen and Dax were --
-It's great. I think you're really good. We've --
You've have always been known as having no bad sides, John.
-Well, no. This is my Rob Lowe side.
-Oh, yeah. That is very Rob Lowe.
-And this is my Scott Baio side.
So you choose.
-Rob Lowe, please.
[ Laughter ]
-Seth, may I just say that I just love you.
I've been a fan of yours for a long, long time, as you know.
But during this last year and a half,
you've just upped your game so much.
And it's just -- You were just the guy to turn to.
And I appreciate how great and funny,
and I was so happy that you were on and leading us,
and thank you. That's all. -Oh, well, thank you very much.
I felt incredibly lucky to have a show like this.
And I also want to thank you,
because I think a lot of us have turned to podcasts,
and you have a wonderful one
and a story that I did not know anything about
that came across your desk, I should say, in the '80s,
which was about the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra's son.
How did you first come to know about this story?
-Isn't it a crazy story? A lot of people just don't even --
Didn't even know it happened.
I was, through my relationship with the Beach Boys,
I met Jan and Dean, the other surf rock duo.
And I was at a fair, at the Orange County Fair,
I remember early in the '80s. And Dean Torrence turned to me,
said, "Say, Stamos, you produce?"
I'm like, "Yeah, sure." I didn't know what producing was.
He said, "I loaned the seed money to my best friend
to kidnap Frank Sinatra Jr."
I was like, "What?"
And he gave me this -- Look at this.
He said that Barry Keenan,
the mastermind who kidnapped Sinatra Jr., wrote this in jail
and gave it to Dean, said, "I have the rights,
if you want to do something with it."
I didn't really know what to do with it back then.
And a few years later, I was like,
"Dean, what happened to that story of your friend?"
And he said they tried to get it made for many, many years,
but Sinatra didn't want it made. He didn't want it talked about.
In fact, Barry talks about in the podcast,
he talks about that Sinatra put a hit on him about three times.
And it went on for like 50 years.
Finally, these guys were so old, the hit man Barry talks about --
The hit man had him in his sights,
and then his colostomy bag broke, and he missed him,
which I think in the mob, that's a rite of passage, right,
like, to get to that age where you have a colostomy bag?
-Because, yeah, it's very hard
to have a long career in the mob.
So if you can get to the colostomy bag stage,
that's an accomplishment. But this is so --
-It's a crazy story. I mean, it's --
I always pitch it as, like, you know,
the Marx Brothers meets the Coen Brothers or something.
But, truthfully, it's about a --
You know, it's about a mentally ill man.
And being able to do it as a podcast, it really had the time
to sort of dig into his psyche
and try to figure out why he did this.
He was at his lowest, this guy Barry Keenan.
And he was overlooking Catalina Island,
and he said God -- a voice came over on the radio
and told him to kidnap somebody.
And then he said the radio wasn't even on.
And his first choice was going to be Bob Hope's son,
but he thought, "Oh, that's too patriotic.
I should go for Sinatra's, you know, kid
because, you know, the mob and Sinatra's --" you know.
So, the third time he --
His third attempt was the day that Kennedy got assassinated.
So the whole nation's like this, right?
Sinatra's like this.
You know his relationship with the Kennedys.
And he gets up -- He said, "Well, that's in Dallas.
I got a schedule to keep."
He gets up -- He gets up to Tahoe,
gets Sinatra Jr., brings him down the hill,
stashes him in the valley over here,
and then realizes, "Oh, man, I left the gun.
I left fingerprints. I left my fake mustaches.
I got to go back up."
So he asks his girlfriend, who was a virgin at the time,
to drive him back up.
She gets so turned on, she has sex with him
when they get there overlooking the crime scene.
-Sure, who wouldn't? Yeah.
-And he had -- Right, that happens.
-Yeah. -And he had to --
You know, the FBI was onto him,
so they disguise themselves as honeymoon skiers.
But in a blink --
At this moment, he's got --
He's the most wanted man in America.
He's got the FBI, the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover.
Everyone wanted to -- Sam Giancana called Sinatra
and said, "Let me do it my way, Frank."
And he's going down the bunny slopes in Lake Tahoe.
So... -It is a crazy, crazy story.
And then I guess at the time,
Frank Sinatra probably didn't know
that you were maybe one day going to tell this story,
but you got to meet him.
-Yeah. -This is you and Paula Abdul
and Frank Sinatra. Where did you see him?
-This was in Orange County, and I got to bring my family.
I think -- We got to meet him.
I don't think -- Frank was more of a "Straight Up" --
He was more of a Paula Abdul fan than mine.
But we called ahead to see if we could meet him.
And they said, "Well, if Sinatra wants to meet you,
he'll let you know."
What does that mean?
So, Rickles goes on, and I didn't know him at the time.
You know, since, I was very good friends with him,
as you might know, over the last 15 years.
So, Rickles goes on, and then it's intermission.
And someone says, "Mr. Sinatra will meet you now."
So we get to go back. And my dad was the biggest Sinatra fan,
so it was a really important moment for me.
We go back, and my mom had this story for years
that Sinatra tried to hit on her on her wedding --
on her honeymoon.
And she said, "No, Frank, I'm a married woman," you know?
So, at this concert she --
First of all, we get backstage, and she's into a couple drinks.
She beelines towards Frank.
Jilly Rizzo, who was Frank's guy,
you know, tackles -- grabs my mother.
And I'm like, "Don't kill my mom!
Let me get a picture of Frank first, then you can beat her up.
But let's get the picture."
So it was a pretty, pretty great moment.
And then at the end of the concert, Rickles comes back out.
You know how they introduce the celebrities in the audience,
"Oh, Tony Danza, Paula Abdul.
That's John Stamos."
And I was sort of embarrassed to stand up.
And then, he said, "Oh, he's probably in the cheap seats.
In fact, he's probably in the grass.
In fact, he's probably smoking grass."
And Sinatra grabs the mic from Rickles
and says, "Smoke one for me, Johnny."
And I was like, "There we go."
[ Laughter ]
-I also want to talk about "Big Shot."
This is really exciting.
So, you play sort of a Bobby Knight-esque coach
who gets kicked out of the NCAA,
goes to coach an all-girls school.
And one of the really exciting things about this
is you've been getting very good critical response to this show,
good critical response
specifically to your performance.
And I wanted to bring that up
because the last time you were here, we talked about
how that maybe wasn't the case with "Fuller House"
and you were kind enough
to let us read you some of those reviews.
Let's just remind you real quick.
"Hollywood Reporter" said, "It's doubtful
that there will be a more painful 2016 TV episode
than the 'Fuller House' pilot."
-I mean -- [ Audience oohs ]
-"There's a point where nostalgia becomes
more like necrophilia,
and 'Fuller House' immediately crosses that line."
"Netflix's 'Fuller House'
is like a porn parody without the porn."
[ Laughter ]
-That was great!
That was one of my most favorite talk show moments ever.
We were so good together, you and I.
We had chemistry. -We had chemistry.
And, look, you're good without me, too,
because I just -- I do want to read some of this.
"Entertainment Weekly,"
Kristen Baldwin said, "Stamos scores
in heartfelt dramedy 'Big Shot,'
delivering dry wit and sweet sentiment in equal measure."
"Time" magazine, that's a big one, Judy Berman,
"'Big Shot' a surprisingly lovable sports drama.
Stamos reliably likeable
and makes it easy to root for a high-strung bully."
That's great. "Esquire," another big one,
Brady Langmann, "Stamos gives
one of the most heartfelt performances of his career."
And -- Oh, son of a gun.
-What? What happened?
-One of the "Fuller House" ones slipped in here.
-Uh-oh. [ Laughter ]
-It's "New York Times," James Poniewozik,
"The series begins as a sitcom family reunion.
It becomes a self-conscious, dated,
and maudlin reminder of the ceaseless march of time
in your inevitable demise."
-So he liked it then?
-I think he liked it, yeah. We only have that part.
I'm sure he bounced back.
-It was very --
It was alarming, those reviews.
And they weren't fake, either.
And then, yeah, then "Big Shot"
has been just getting love letters.
It's a David E. Kelly show, and I'm so proud of it.
And then, you know, we're on the bubble, as they say.
So, you know, who knows?
-Alright, well, I hope you get right off that bubble
where you -- I hope you get on the Rob Lowe side of the bubble,
which is where we all want you to be.
And thank you so much, John.
It's always a delight to see you.
-Thank you, Seth. And thank you very much for having me.
-"Big Shot" is streaming now on Disney+,
and "Snatching Sinatra" is available on Wondery
and wherever you get your podcasts.