-Last time you were here
we talked about your upbringing.
You went to high school with Slash from Guns N' Roses.
After you left,
we realized you also went to high school with Nic Cage.
-I did. -That is really impressive.
Did you know each other at all? -We did.
At that time he was Nic Coppola.
-Right. -Nicolas Coppola.
And there was a production of "Oklahoma"
and he was playing the lead male character.
And I was in the pit playing drums.
So I was the drummer in the orchestra.
And also, Gina Gershon...
-Oh, wow. Another wonderful actress.
-...was in the play as well, playing opposite Nic.
-And, you know, obviously,
I think when we're all in high school,
the people that are the theater stars,
you think they're wonderful.
Obviously, you were in a unique position
where they actually were.
Could you tell in high school?
Were you watching them thinking like,
"Oh, they're gonna be famous?"
-Um...I had no idea. -Yeah.
-I had no idea.
We're all just doing what we do.
And it's amazing when I see them now.
It's like, "Wow, we did all right."
-You all did all right. -Yeah, yeah.
-They have other people wash their jeans for them,
but that's fine. It's not a contest.
[ Laughter ]
I want to ask this.
You know, when you say --
I think when I sit here and I say,
"Oh, you went to high school with all these people,"
they might think, "Oh, my God, this must have been --
you must have had everything you could have wanted
to be at a high school --" but you also had hard jobs.
-I left home when I was 15.
-Right. -Yeah.
-But you had a job in high school gutting fish?
-Yes, I did. -So where --
-I worked at a place on Washington and Rimpau.
And it was called, Leroy's Fish Market.
And it was one of those, you know --
hood, "you buy, we fry" fish joints.
So yeah, the fish would be behind the glass counter,
and somebody would come in and say,
"I'll have two pounds of this, five pounds of that."
I'd have to then scale it, cut it,
gut it, clean it, and fry it.
-Wow. -And at the time I used to fry
mayor Tom Bradley's fish, cause he would come in.
Does anyone remember Tom Bradley?
[ Laughter ]
Okay, there's an airport named after him.
Um, uh...
Or a terminal at least. -Yeah, yeah.
I think it's a terminal, you're right.
-Yeah, he used to come in on Fridays and get his fish.
I had that job for about a year.
So it seems like tonight's whole theme is about how much I smell.
-I know, I feel bad. I feel bad.
As you were talking I realized, "Oh, we've found a theme."
-I smelled for a year and my mother taught me this trick.
She said, "Baby, go home and bathe with lemons."
So I would have all of these lemons at the end of the day
that I'd go get and I'd cut them
and I'd get in the shower and I'd scrub with lemons.
And I'd still stink. -Yeah.
I worked at a sub shop
and I just remember being around onions.
That was enough.
So I can only imagine what it was like cutting a fish.
-You came home covered in fish guts and --.
-Yeah, that's not a -- -But it was a great job.
And I got to know people really well.
It was one of those jobs where
I got to learn so much about people.
-And you -- I feel like you've lived in some of the places
that are best in the world for getting to know
not just people, but uh, exceptional people.
You were in New York and you lived across the street
when you were a kid -- across the street from Joe Namath?
-I did.
I used to play catch with Joe Namath.
-Where in New York -- Where would you play catch?
-I lived at 5 East 82nd Street.
He lived at 3 East 82nd street.
And so I could see into his apartment.
And, in fact, I didn't --
which was -- in the '70s, Joe Namath was the man, right?
-I think it's the apartment most people would have liked
to be able to see into.
-Yeah, so I actually met him again
several years ago doing The David Letterman Show.
And I said, "By the way, you probably don't know who I am."
He's like, "Yeah, I know you." I said, "No, no.
But I was the little kid that lived across the street
that you used to play catch with."
And I said, "I used to look inside of your apartment."
And he kind of wasn't sure, and I started telling him
about the things I saw in the apartment
and the furnishings, and he was like, "Oh, you did."
[ Laughter ]
Yeah. And um...
So yeah, I got to grow up playing catch with Joe Namath.
-Well, that's not a -- not a bad situation.
-I had a very strange childhood. -You have, yeah.
I would say every part of your life
has been very interesting, and that's why it's always
lovely to have you here. Thank you so much.