The Not So Little Rascals
You remember them as kids. But what happened after the cameras stopped?
Hosted by former child actors from The Little Rascals, Jordan Warkol and Blake Collins reconnect with fellow child stars to talk about what growing up in Hollywood was really like and what life looks like now.
This isn’t a “what went wrong?” podcast—no clickbait, no forced trauma.
Just real conversations about identity, family, burnout, reinvention, and growing up a little too early.
Each episode comes back to one question: “Tell us about the call that changed your life?”, the origin story of how it all started.
From on-set memories to life after fame, these are the stories you didn’t hear., but will love diving into now with a whole new sense of nostalgia.
From our childhood to yours, Welcome, to The Not So Little Rascals!
The Not So Little Rascals
Justin Cooper: Liar Liar
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We sit down with Justin Cooper, the kid who played Max Reede, Jim Carrey's son in the 1997 blockbuster Liar Liar. Justin's "first call" story is a good one: he was standing in line at a Kinko's when his mom got word that Jim Carrey wanted to meet him first, just to make sure the two of them clicked before the cameras rolled.
Justin was working before most kids can read, starting with a Domino's commercial at four and rolling into his own series The Boys Are Back, two years on General Hospital, a Full House episode, and his own TGIF sitcom Brother's Keeper, all before his teens. He takes us behind the scenes of Liar Liar, from the Batmobile in Jim Carrey's backyard to a hidden Fire Marshal Bill cameo tucked into one of the movie's most emotional scenes, and the one bit that actually got overwhelming as a kid: the claw.
We get into the honest stuff too, the awkward jump from private school to public school, hiding his past to try to blend in, a protective mom who quietly intercepted some genuinely startling fan mail, and the slow decision to walk away as auditions started to feel like work. Then the reinvention: cold-emailing his way into an internship that became a 14-year career producing an overnight sports radio show, and finding a version of the business that finally fit.
It's funny, it's honest, and it's a reminder of exactly why this podcast exists, because the real stories behind the kids you grew up watching are always more interesting than anything that made it on screen.
🎥 What happens in this episode?
00:00 – Cold open: the prison mail
00:54 – The call at the Kinko's, and meeting Jim Carrey
03:41 – The Riddler costume and the Batmobile in the backyard
07:13 – How it started: Disneyland, headshots, and a Domino's commercial
14:09 – Full House, Brother's Keeper, and life on a sitcom
18:38 – After Liar Liar: buffet lines, prison mail, and a protective mom
24:08 – Jennifer Tilly, poker, and Meadows Oaks camp
28:46 – Private school, public school, and the bullying
35:42 – Sports radio, the listeners, and the claw
38:50 – Stepping away, the grind, and the awkward years
42:04 – Family, the money, and the Coogan account
47:27 – From intern to producer
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My mom did a really good job of shielding me from from stuff. She would tell me later on about like prison mail that I would get. Prison mail.
Elaborate on prison mail.
Yeah, like dudes in jail talk about how they're such a big fan of me and like I'm, you know, such a cute kid.
I never got any prison mail. Kind of jealous. If you ever wished your dad couldn't tell a lie, you already know today's guest. He played Max Reed, the kid at the heart of Liar Liar, holding his own opposite Jim Carrey at the absolute peak of his power, in one of the biggest comedies of the 90s. He went on to play Dennis the Menace, spent years on General Hospital, and headlined his own TGIF sitcom before stepping out of the spotlight. We're thrilled to have him on the show. Please welcome Justin Cooper.
From our childhood to yours, welcome to the Not So Little Rascals.
What's up, Justin? What's going on? Thanks for joining us, dude. Yeah, of course. Welcome. Stoked that. Pleasure. It's awesome. So we like to start this out. Um we have a specific question we'd like to ask. And obviously, you've you have you've been doing this long before you were a child actor, I should say, long before your first major credit. But
we would love to hear about the call that changed your life. Yeah. Which I assume is liar liar. Yeah. We'd love to hear about like how that felt. Like what do you remember that moment? Have you heard the lore of that moment? Because you were so little.
I actually do remember that moment. Uh my mom and I were in a Kinkos. Kinko's. Yeah. You're making copies? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know what she was doing. Maybe sending a fact or something. I I don't know. Making cafe. Facts machine. Right. Right. Right. But I just remember being in line and my mom was like, you know, got the call. She was super stoked. And then uh it wasn't like it wasn't uh you for sure have it. It was Jim Carrey wants to meet with you to see if you know it's gonna be scary. No pressure. Right, right? Yeah. Yeah. Because I guess allegedly, you know, there he there'd been a previous child actor that he worked with, and it uh didn't mesh well, and so now since then he was like, you know, I gotta meet with them beforehand, see if it, you know, see if he guys vibed. Yeah, yeah.
He did actually.
Oh, that's good. Yeah, okay.
I won't drop any names, but he did. Okay, yeah, you can tell I gotta know. You can tell us later. Um so so you get told you you're gonna go do you're gonna go hang out with Jim Carrey basically to see if like he wants to do this movie with you. Yep. Like, do you do you remember how you felt like?
Um, I I mean I was excited. Uh at that point, I had really like what I knew Jim Carrey from was The Mask. Sure. That was you know my big Jim Carrey movie. My mom growing up was super, you know, I wasn't allowed to see any rated R movies, yeah. Even some PG 13 movies she would use, like I don't remember what the website was back then, but it was a website that parents could go on to and see exactly what made the movie the rating that it was. And so I wasn't allowed to see Ace Ventura because it was too raunchy. Sure. Uh so but you know, I knew Jim Carrey and I was excited about it. And I was never like a person that was like scared to meet and talk with people, so I that was like no big deal. Oh, not just the mask, but also uh Batman Forever. Oh yeah, the Riddler.
Yes, and as a as a kid, you look at that Batman very different than the adults that watched it, how they looked at it.
I liked it. Oh, you mean back at the end? Yeah, like when you're a kid, it was awesome. Seeing the Riddler on stage. Yeah, I when I was a kid, it was awesome, but when I watch it now, I still think it's awesome. Oh, yeah.
You can remember it how you did. Yeah, Mr. Freeze, Armals Wodenegger. Was that was that the one with Mr. Freeze, right?
Yeah, it was yeah, it was Mr. Freeze and the Riddler.
And what was cool is when I did when I went to Jim Carrey's house to meet with him, you know, I walk in and he had the Riddler costume in a frame on his wall. Whoa, yeah. So I'm just like Oh, it's so rad. Yeah. Did he have any other cool shit? Well, so it was so he comes out like after a little while and we're talking and you know, we're kind of just just asking me questions, and he's like, Do you want to and I told him I was like, I think that's awesome. He's like, You want to know something cool? He's like, I've got the Batmobile in my backyard. And I'm like, What? He's like, Yeah, you want to go check it out? Yeah, and I was like, Yeah, let's go. And we go in, he's and it's like he's got like a pool house back there, and he's like, It's in here, and we go in and it's one of those Kmart Batmobile, like 25 cents. Like the coin up? Yeah.
Very Jim Carrey. That's like a joke you would love. Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, oh, that's awesome.
But I think we should okay, I think we should walk it back now and kind of learn a little bit more how you got into action too.
Wait, first, first, no, first of all, I want to know like how like so the meeting went really well, and then what happened next? Like, did you did they say, okay, like you got this movie, you're doing this movie.
Basically, and then and then after that, we did like photo shoots at like a park to you know, kind of do the I guess for them to have father-son pictures, you know, like in the house, like kind of like that kind of stuff. And and yeah, and from from then on it was just go.
At that time, did you have any recollection like I'm I'm gonna be a fucking movie star? Like, did that do you like your mom knew?
I I yeah, I I I mean, like I knew Jim Carrey was a big name and she was super excited about it, but I just I guess I didn't realize how big the movie was gonna be. Sure. And you know, it was years later that I I mean personally, and I'm not and you know, obviously I'm I'm biased, but I don't think I'm being biased here. I think it's one of his better movies, you know. 100%. I would say top three.
Because it was one of the first ones where it wasn't just completely wacky, it was real family story.
Yeah, there was there was some slapstick in there, but it was the bathroom scene for sure.
Yes, I got it.
But it but it was heartwarming and it was something that you you started to care about the characters. Were a lot of other movies, you're like, I don't care about this idiot, he's just making me laugh, you know.
Like it was like a well-written movie, like a flawed character with this, like, you know, it was a great movie.
It's probably why he also wanted to do it. Like at that time, it's a good time to do that kind of real role for him to get away from just doing the Ace Ventures in a row and everything else.
Right. And then and then after that, he did a lot more serious stuff.
Yeah. Was it well, like I'm curious because when I was a kid and we were doing stuff, like I never really I never really thought of it as like, oh, I'm I'm I'm doing this huge movie. Like, I just thought it was where I was supposed to be because my mom just brought me there most of the time. Because I was like because they're little, you know. Right, right. Um, like did you ever feel like you were working or are like did you did you treat do you remember treating it like a job, or was it kind of like I felt and like I don't know how you felt about it, Jordan, but like I just felt like you know, I gotta I just gotta go because my mom told me I gotta go here.
Uh I I didn't most of the time. Um there were you know times that I can remember where we were filming and we were doing something on location and it's like super late at night and it's super cold, you know, we've got like you know the hand warmers, and there were times like that where I'm like I just want to go home, like let's let's get this over with. Um but you know, other than that, like I I enjoyed doing it, you know, it was it was fun for me. Yeah, that's okay.
So now let's take a step back and
and tell us how you got into acting. Like, was that a choice from one of your parents? Like, like did someone discover you?
Uh yeah, I think it was it was my mom's decision. Um I was just uh always kind of like as a kid, and like I started acting when I was four, so it was like before that I was always like you know, we'd be in line at Disneyland and I'd be like entertaining people in line and just you know kind of acting.
Just having fun being a kid, yeah.
And so my mom decided to go get headshots done and sent them to agents, and I got an agent and it you know kind of took off from there.
It happens fast at that time I remember too. Like I got a commercial and then it just kind of snowballs, like once you get something and you have an agent.
Yeah, yeah, it was uh it was pretty quick. So you were like a super outgoing kid, because I I feel like uh that's how I was. I'm I'm I was no thespian, you know what I mean? Like I was just bonkers, like a wild red-headed kid, and that's like that was the uh that was I guess the baseline requirement to get it to start out being a child actor. Yeah, you know, because it's like much later on that we actually learn how to be an actor, you know? Um, and by that point I was already long gone.
But then if you're if you're crazy and then you can take a little direction to hone it down, yeah, the two things you have to be able to do.
Yeah. Right. Uh I mean I was, you know, I liked performing, but then I also I mean I also had like a really, really good memory as a kid. Yeah. So it was yeah. It was like I knew all my lines and everybody else's and the scene's lines, which also like, you know, certain times like I don't want I don't want to say got me in trouble, but it's let's say just adult actors didn't like it when they're like not remembering their line, and I'm like, it's it's you know like it's no intro I remember I remember a couple times my mom was like, you can't do that, you know. Just let let the let the script supervisor handle that. And then and then when I stopped doing that, I'm also like I this was something I had trouble with a lot. I'm I was just mouthing their lines silently.
Oh, because you're because you did you have like a photographic where you're seeing the you're seeing the pages? Ah, wow.
And I know and I know when my line is coming up, so I'm like saying their lines like okay, now it's my line. Yeah, yeah. You know, like that kind of thing. I mean that's one way to do it.
It worked. Right, right. Oh, it's awesome. Um, okay, so who was you do you remember who your first agent was? Uh Kelmin Arletta. Kelman Arletta. Yeah. Was that who were you with? Is that who you were with like most of the time when you were a kid? Yeah. Uh while you're loyal. Almost, almost the entire time. Oh wow. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I forget who was your agent, Jordan.
Oh man. I really don't remember because it changed a couple times.
I remember like I started out, it was it was a guy named Danny Hoff, and he's like, he found me in kindergarten. And then once, once I booked like my first big job, my mom left him and went to Coast to Coast, which was like, I think Coast to Coast was a pretty big one. Oh yeah. Yeah. So you know, she just went with a bigger agent where I was like, found you in kindergarten, like he walked in the class. No, he was he started and he no kids. Yeah, he was just scouting out little kids. Kind of weird. Uh wouldn't work this day today at this day and age. But uh his niece was in my class and he had started a he'd started an agency and he was looking for he was scouting for kids. Right. And like I was this, I was an out of control little red-headed kid. I was like fucking Chucky, you know. And uh he's like, Yeah, him. And then uh I was like one of his first clients.
So it was different back then where you can more easily get an agent as a mom just reaching out to people, and like now it's hard to get people on the phone or do anything. Like it was even when he got like when he became a teenager, yeah, it it changed very quickly.
Yeah, totally. You had to you had to hustle pretty hard back then, but there's also no rules, you know, it was in the 90s. Right. Um, do you remember what your first job was? Uh it was a Domino's pizza commercial. Nice. And you were four? Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, that's early. What happened after that? Was that like what was the next job? Like when did you when did you start booking shit?
I did several commercials. Yeah. Um plenty. And then I think the first kind of like I'm trying to remember which was the first. So I had I got a TV show, The Boys Are Back.
Yeah.
Um, and that was uh with uh Suzanne Plachette. Um I think it was on ABC.
I think wasn't French Stewart in that I saw.
Maybe that's it. How many episodes did you do? Um I can't I can't even remember to be honest with you. Was it one season? Yeah, and it wasn't uh and I don't know, it wasn't a lot. Sure. Uh, but that was fun. Um, and then I got General Hospital, and that was that was like big.
I think that's still going.
Yeah, yeah.
Dude, so you're probably in like season at that point that was already probably like season 20. Yeah, general hospital. Yeah, probably. That's wild. Do you ever do you ever like do you ever get hit up for like general hospital stuff? Because I feel like that's a huge cult following.
That's a good point. And no, I I don't really. I mean, because you know, my character um, you know, stayed on the show, yeah, grew up, became, you know, uh young adult and then uh turned out gay on the show. Okay. And but you know, as soap operas, every young adult, 20-something, is you know, some really hot guy, and I'm sure I'm sure that's who gets invited to the conventions, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
That's a good point. But it's tough. Oh, that's so rad to actually be a part of that though, because I mean that show's like I mean, that show's kind of outlasted everything. Like I think it's the longest running TV show of all time.
It was, it was a lot of fun. I did it for two years. Yeah, it's a long time. Yeah. Um, and you know, I was in an episode here and there. I was like just, you know, the one of the kids.
This is before Liar Liar.
Yeah, uh five, six years old. Yeah, right uh six years old around there. Yeah. Uh I think I booked Liar Liar around the same time. Yeah. And uh it was it was fun. I just I had a lot of good relationships with people on that show. Uh, both of the like the actors that played my mom, my dad. Um uh sh I would go to her kids' birthday parties all the time. It was really good relationships that I made.
That's right. Yeah, I remember seeing you a lot back then. I mean, because we were like kind of a it was like kind of a club, you know? Like all the kid actors that kind of worked a lot. I saw Cortland all the time. Yeah, all the time. Yeah, I could dude, you and Cortland, like I could totally see you guys always going up against each other. Yeah, yeah, you know, same hairstyles, too. Yeah, same hairstyle. Um yeah, like probably the same exact age also.
Yeah.
I love Cortland. I talked to him once in a while. He's a great dude. But yeah, so I mean, I feel like you did the entire TV run of the like like a lot of the you did a lot of those like classic 90s shows.
You did Full House, right?
Uh yeah, I was on an episode of Full House. Yeah, and that was before Liar Liar also. That yeah, that was that was really early on. That was before the Boys Are Back TV show. That was, you know.
A lot of the kid actors
do that on like early on. We were never good enough except us, except us. A lot of the other kid actors, I guess.
It's like it's never too late. Yeah, it's never too late. What was like it's like it's like uh full house, uh Boy Meets World, you know. I don't know, we never made it. Yeah. It's fine. I'm not gonna do that.
And then um, and then Brothers Keeper was on TGIF in that whole like uh you know block of shows.
Yeah, that's big. Brothers Keeper was like I I like I remember that show too. That was like your show. Yeah, like you were you were like one of the leads.
Yeah, that was a bunch of fun. I bet way cool probably.
And that was coming out of Liar Liar. So like doing your first really big movie and then really being given a show like that.
That's awesome. Right, yeah. I made way more money on that show than I did Liar Liar because I had an established name at that point.
Absolutely, and you're coming off like a massive box office. Well, how did you think about it? How much are you gonna pay us?
How did it feel to to like walk into a show where you're now you know like the star of the show after doing the movie? That's different than like just working before.
It was cool, you know. I I never like really I don't know, I I guess never thought of myself as like the star, you know, because there's always adults on the show that are you know that have bigger names. So I I was you know, I always like you know looked at them as the the the leads, yeah, obviously. But you know, it was definitely a a different experience uh once I got that show. Instead of a a trailer, I had an actual dressing room in a building, and it was fun. I loved the sitcom aspect, the every week kind of this, you know, table read on Monday, sure, rehearsals, film in front of the live audience on Friday, and we you know we had rituals like before before we go on and do the live audience. Me and like some of the crew members we play basketball in front of my dressing room, and that was something that we did every week. And so it I love the family aspect of sitcoms or or long-running TV shows, even though we only lasted one season. But yeah, it would have been cool if it was more. It's a lot of days though.
Like I did a couple live audiences for guest stars, and it's just a very different energy. Yeah, you get to see the people watching, everyone gets excited. It's it's really fun.
Yeah, I like it. I it's it's funny. I remember one thing that I always thought back then we'd film in front of the live audience. I always wanted so badly for the first take to nail it, because then I always thought, okay, well, this second laugh from the audience, that's not very genuine. It was the first laugh that was that's the real one. Yeah, that's the first time they're hearing it. There's no sign now. They're hearing it for a second time and they're laughing because they know that they're supposed to laugh there. So let's let's hit it on the first take.
Did you did you ever do any live audience?
I did a couple of guest bots on them.
I feel like maybe it's my memory that is just kind of shared with you, like the Pauly Shore show. I think I did one episode of the Polly Shore show. He did a pilot, and I think I was in that minor minor adjustments.
Minor adjustments. I played uh young George Carlin in a flashback on the George Collins show. That was pretty sad. Like, what's crazy, like you like we do stuff like that, and I had no idea who he was at like seven years old, right? For obvious reasons, yeah. But then I look back and like we worked with Mel Brooks and the Little Rascals, like I had a scene directly with them, and like I wish I was older to appreciate that. Yeah, and then like George Carlin, some of the greats that you get like a moment with, and you're like a child, and you don't remember it all.
For sure, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I didn't get to meet him, but I did a promo spot once where I played young Jerry Springer.
That's awesome.
Jerry, Jerry Jerry.
That's that's I didn't wasn't expecting that.
Most out-of-pocket show ever.
I know that that defined like talk show, reality TV, and a mix uh for a generation like that.
What did you play young Jerry Springer on?
It was a promo spot for the Jerry Springer show. Oh my gosh. And so it was they had me, they put a wig on me and dress me up like to look like Jerry now. Oh, that's amazing. And I'm in in school and like a school fight breaks out, and I'm you know, being Jerry Springer at like as a kid. Man, that's so good. That's awesome.
It was pretty cool. So Brothers Keeper, that was I don't know, you're probably 10.
Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, nine around there, somewhere somewhere around there. Yeah.
So I mean, I feel like after like Liar Light, like 97, 98, you were kind of on fire. Like you were doing a lot of stuff.
That's when I realized it was big, was after it came out, and you know, I couldn't really go anywhere in public.
How is that? Because you were old enough to really remember that and be aware because you were you were you said eight?
Yeah, yeah.
That's a that's a good age to be aware of that. Like, how did that feel at first?
I enjoyed it. Uh, I thought it was cool. I mean, I think it probably annoyed my family a little bit more, you know, because you know, we would go to Hometown Buffet for dinner. Yeah, right. I don't think they even exist anymore. I used to go there in the valley too. Are you from the valley? Uh I'm from uh CME. Oh, you're from CME? Yeah.
Oh yeah, cool. My mom lives in CME. Yeah.
Yeah. So we would we would go and you know, then there would just be there would be a line at my table of people like, you know, wanting to get my autograph. Oh, that's right. And you know, my family is like trying to eat dinner, and they're like, Yeah. But I I mean I didn't mind it. I thought it was, you know, I thought it was cool.
Do you remember there being moments where it felt overwhelming or kind of scary?
Not that I can think of. I mean, my mom did a really good job of kind of like shielding me from from stuff. You know, like she would tell me later on about like prison mail that I would get that she never showed me. Yeah. Prison mail.
Can you elaborate on prison mail?
Yeah, like uh like letters from people in jail, like talking about how like, you know, dudes in jail talking about how they're such a big fan of me and like I'm you know, such a cute kid. Like whoa, whoa. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. I never got any prison mail. Kind of jealous. That's the next level. That's wild. I've never heard that before. No, you didn't get any prison mail.
I got a lot of pictures of the channel.
You would have told me if you got prison mail.
Yeah, I never got that. I don't care. But you had a good mom. I think like we're noticing that's really that's really the biggest difference, not just for child actors, but anyone, you know, but if your mom's protecting you, you can have the good side of the experience of being like really famous and having a line at your table, yeah, and it and you get to enjoy it.
Right, right. Yeah, she was always very, you know, she never ever left me alone with anybody like on set. Like, you know, there's a there's a lot of uh, you know, acting parents that you hear of back in the day that are just like, okay, yeah, go, yeah, do do whatever they tell you to do. Encouraging me. Bye. Yeah, yeah. And my mom was not like that. And almost like almost to a fault. I remember a story that just blew my mind. So Don Rickles played uh Mr. Wilson and Dennis Amena Strikes Again. Mr.
Wilson.
And you know, he's known for being a you know foul mouth comic. And she went up to him and it's like, I don't want you to use any language like that in front of my kid. Yeah. I'm like, that that's awesome.
I think that's something that us three have in common. Like, um, yeah, just because we we know each other's moms so well. Like our our our moms are very protective, and they were very good uh mom man, you know, m mom majors. Yeah, you know, they took very good care of us and like always did keep a good eye on us, kept you know, kept us close and stuff and never put us in situations that were like uncomfortable or you know. Right.
Yeah. That's the difference.
Yeah, that is the difference because you hear you hear the negative side of that a lot more than the positive side. You know?
So it's finally good to have someone who's like, you know I like Jim Carrey is like my favorite like comedian forever, him and Amos Aller and I've I've when you see the outtakes and like like Lyla has a very distinct outtake scene at the end like that isn't used as much. But is he how much does he improv when you're actually working with them? And like how like how was that like being in those scenes?
Uh a lot. It was uh it was fun. Um he was you know it was it was a great experience uh as far as you know being with him watching him work and he was goofy all the time like not and I'm sure this kind of went viral like a few months ago and before that like I'm shocked that nobody knew this but that he kind of did the cameo um of uh Fire Marshal fire marshal fire marshal Bill yeah in the in the background of the of one of the more emotional scenes of the entire movie. Yeah wait oh my god look back at that now it's awesome when he's trying to chase us on the plane and he and he flies off the oh yeah the stairs and he's on the stretcher and I'm talking to him and this is like and this is one of the first times in my like acting career that like I you know I tried to make myself cry as I'm you know talking to him on the stretcher right and behind like when the shots on me behind me he's in the background yeah as Fire Marshal Bill like doing yeah if if I remember correctly he he like he didn't tell like many people at all on the set in the crew that he was gonna do that. Yeah like he talked to like the wardrobe people to get that and then just did it.
The director's like what is he doing?
Because I just remember everybody cracking up like crew included that like and and at the time I had no idea what that character was so I'm like what is happening but yeah it just looked like a it looked like one of those really fun sets like really good actors in it really cool story.
Yeah yeah it's probably a lot of fun well what was her what was her name the uh uh that actress I had the biggest crush on her she was the the the client he was defending basically oh jennifery yeah I love Jennifer Tilly very bad she was one of my favorites oh yeah she was so good in that movie I know I'm I'm bummed that I I I never got a chance to work with her because we weren't in any scenes but and but it's so ironic because like right now uh I'm big I'm big into poker that's like the same yeah that's oh you guys will get along the degenerate gambler no but she became like I'm a huge degenerate gambler there we go and I'm what is it with child actors becoming degenerate gamblers you gotta you gotta feed you know something I don't know but like I mean I play poker multiple times a week yeah oh we're gonna talk after this I'm going to WSOP later this month for 11 nights oh well there we're serious oh yeah 11 nights I'm jealous really jealous I was reading recaps last night wait so what does poker have to do with Jennifer Tilly she oh she's a big she's a poker pro is she a pro?
Yeah no but she had she had to transition where she like was on all the shows but she was like one of the first celebrities that was generally be getting really good versus casually playing right on TV that's cool yeah that's awesome and she's and she's she's still married to one of the main poker players right the Unibomber yeah but I believe so yeah there's a poker player named the Unibomber you don't remember like the the travel channel like the old poker days but he would put on his he was one of the first to put on the hood and have like crazy antics okay and they wear like glasses and stuff he had crazy antics like it was when like when the poker players were characters it was good for TV now they're just robots that stare at each other.
You're the only you're the only professional poker player I I know um I'm jealous of that that's such an awesome experience. Yeah that's awesome um dude so we have we have some shit in common um I was listening to uh your Podmeats world episode and um you mentioned Meadowoaks camp oh yeah I totally went to Meadowoaks camp for I don't know do you did you go to Meadowoaks? I don't remember I don't think so Meadowoaks was this awesome summer campaign it was like Calabasas with the shit um I think it's long gone yeah um but I you mentioned so something very specific you guys mentioned um was the big stick those popsicles because when you went to camp every day you got to pick your snack and I specifically remember picking the big the those uh those popsicles every single time and you you guys talked about the what the other snack was and it's still bothering me that I can't figure it out. I joined a Facebook page to find out for former like you know campers in that camp. I still haven't been accepted yet but I I have to find out what the other snack was but do you remember they had gold panning there? Yes like the post went so rad.
Made you work to find gold for them?
Yeah like it was like I've got a camp in that dude it was different places.
Now I think about it it's kind of weird but um yeah yeah yeah turn turn all your gold in at the end of the day I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure they just restocked it with gold but that's still awesome right by this like river there was dragonflies and bridges and it was still wrapped it that's still inviting your camp what's that what you invited me yeah sorry you were probably busy doing a movie in Canada or some shit was the other snack I like I'm trying to think now was the other snack one of those little ice cream cups with the wooden the wooden stick yeah the little wooden stick I think it was I think it was dude I think it was some classic snacks and now that you mentioned those I I have to have one of those those are so good those little sundays.
Yes do you remember those with the chocolate on the side? Oh those got those up until like I was like 20 I think those are the shit but anyways yeah Meadows that place was rad oh that was awesome dude do you remember this do you remember the song yeah I don't please tell me you remember the song I do remember the song sing this song sing this song Justin we all go to metal oaks meta uh oaks the best camp in the West that's all I remember there's more to it's a real we gotta find the song the only better camp song that I remember is Camp on a wana it's the only other camp song I remember oh camp on Wanda we hold you in our hearts and when we think about you it makes me want to fart that's one of the actors I I always get mistaken for oh yeah yeah was it Budnik yeah but Nick yeah yeah I I saw that clip actually the other day at the opening and I'm like he didn't look like it looked
like a kid that would get made fun of like by the bullies not be the bully like times were different. Yeah totally yeah times a little different uh speaking of getting bullied and shit did you ever get like did you ever did you go to regular school?
Yes um not until high school uh your home school all the way not home school I went to private school which one um so in elementary school I went to a school called Phoenix Ranch and then middle school I went to Shamanod oh cool I went there for high school I went to the school across the street from Shamanad Pinecrest oh okay do you remember the the school that was right behind you guys it was Egremont yeah I do yeah I remember Egremont yeah we were the school right behind I went to that one too with with you yeah yeah yeah and then and then high school was my first time going to public school okay and that's where I experienced bullying for the first time really not even in Shaman because I feel like kids are yeah no I think they go no in middle school people didn't really like they didn't know what to make of it.
That's true. It was just like it was like playing a sport I feel like oh that's cool.
I thought it should be seemed cooler but it was just like you go you leave for an audition they're like okay see that yeah I mean in elementary school I it was a I went to a very small elementary school you know our class was like yeah our class was like 12 to 15 kids yeah tops and they were kids that I grew up with you know from kindergarten on so then when I became famous they already knew me right and so yeah it was it was different. And then middle school I don't know they're just kids I don't know if they were just nice or what but it it was it was fine.
Yeah.
I imagine you weren't the only child actor at Shamanad.
Maybe you were at that time in middle school because like I know a few I know a few guys that went to Shamanad but um maybe at that time it wasn't it wasn't as common in school because like I I'll tell you in in in I went to Shaman high school yeah I was I was like the only like like actor yeah I guess you're right I guess I was like yeah that makes sense. Yeah I can't recall anybody that that did yeah how how were they like how was that experience? Like was it just because you were like an actor like a lot of times it's out of jealousy but it comes out very differently.
Oh in high school yeah yeah uh yeah I'm sure that was part of it um you know I was you know scared shitless going to public school um you know my whole life I had to you know I had a uniform that I had to wear to school and now it's like I have to decide on clothes and and look cool yeah and you know who am I gonna like sit with. You gotta bleach your tips you know and that's and I never you know got into you know any of those like you know fad like sure phases but I think it was you know when I got there a frankly like you know a lot of the the girls wanted to talk to me just because they you know knew who I was and then so there were guys that were like you know screw this guy what you know what the hell and then also people just automatically assume without ever talking to you or having any interaction with you that you're stuck up because yeah you were in a movie.
Yeah.
When you know me when I got by the time I got to high school I was very much like I did not want to talk about it. You know and I avoided you know bringing attention to it. So it's ironic that they thought like I they assumed that I thought I was better than everybody else and meanwhile I'm just trying to blend in.
Did you still have longer hair then? Like when did you cut it? Yeah oh so so you're very recognizable. Yeah okay that makes sense it's it's it's funny how that's just like high school like I didn't I didn't particularly love my high school experience yeah in in similar ways and I feel like that's that seems pretty common. It's everything's very different everything that's different gets made fun of and you don't understand why until later.
Right.
But it's but it just sucks at the moment.
Yeah you know it wasn't too bad you know like there was groups that did that but my high school like there was no sports teams it was a uh you were Santa Susanna yeah oh cool oh yeah I knew that right away because you I I I remember touring Santa Susanna okay yeah yeah it's like a performing arts school yeah performing arts magnet school right and so you know there was you know a f a few groups of kids that you know were assholes sure but there was no jocks there it wasn't the school wasn't very no clicky so sure for the most part it was you know it was fine and I still I had plenty of friends there was just you know certain groups that were you know and that was my first experience of that so totally and kids are fucking assholes yeah okay for sure totally um that's rad but also at the same time like at Santa Susanna there's also probably like a a small performing arts like you know theater community there yeah so you probably got you probably had a little bit of street cred already stepping in being that you were in a $300 million dollar like I did and and they always wanted me to join all of those those clubs. But at that time you just weren't interested anymore I like freshman year I think I gave it a shot with one of them and I just I was never even like in my acting days wasn't into theater uh type performing unless you start out with it it's hard to go back in like high school age I feel like right and I and I and I tried it in my acting days and I like I more power to him huge respect for theater actors yeah because I think it's way harder. It's way harder. And I just to me I didn't like you know first of all if you know you screw up that's like you're not doing like you're not retaking the scene.
No you just look like a dickhead.
Yeah and and you're like the other thing that I felt weird about was you have to you know you're playing to the audience and I to me it felt like a little un unnatural sure I liked it how you know in film TV you're playing to your you know your person who's in the scene with you. Yeah sure and that felt realistic you're really pretending to be that character and yes you're pretending to be the character in the theater but you're always at the audience you know it's very different.
Yeah yeah I I I I agree and I think you and Blake have some similarities because when he went to high school he was very not wanting to also talk about little rascals it would almost go as far as tell people he wasn't but it seems like I was like at very similar at all costs I was like oh I can't let this come up you know right I just hated it I hated the attention right like I've we've talked about this million times but like it it always felt like even though it might not have been but it always felt like negative attention it felt like I was being bullying or being bullied you know even though like like you're kind of just being used as a prop in a sense and and you know it's still it still happens to like I don't get like recognized yeah anymore but there are times like where people that I know yeah I'll be in a setting where there's a bunch of new people and some you know somebody that's a friend of mine hey hey have you ever seen Liar Liar? Yeah and I'm like here's the party oh dude Justin it happens to me all the time a real job and do you do your coworkers like I mean do they give you shit sometimes about it?
Uh no they're they're they're pretty cool about it. I mean some of the listeners uh give me shit about it all the time if they're gonna say listeners like we've got to say what you do. Oh I I produced a sports talk radio show uh on Fox Sports Radio and so I you know I they all know like it's yeah it's out in the open so some of the listeners definitely gimme shit especially when you know around 2020 like stuff in the sports world got super political and uh me and my host have opposite political views yeah and so most of his listeners are on his side sure and so then I got a lot of like oh Mr Mr Hollywood like you know things blah blah blah and I'm like okay does anybody call in and like someone calls in as the claw oh I'm sure that that's actually that goes back to your previous question if it ever felt overwhelming. The only time when I was a kid where I was like was when people did the claw.
Oh I can't fucking imagine how annoying that was it was oh like especially if they try to grab you or do something weird the way that Jim Carrey were like like they're like hey let's do the claw people asking you to do the voice you know or no it's worse when they find out no people get at people get mad when they know I didn't do the voice. And then they're like as if like you weren't even in the movie. They're like wait it wasn't your real voice that's not how you sound I'm like why would you even think I sound like that like but people get mad. Yeah they probably get mad that you don't want to play the claw like I mean there would be random people that would come up to me and try to tickle me like like you know like I'm sorry I don't want to get on the ground and let you tickle me I just got out of jail a grown answer my thumbnail like do the claw oh that's crazy like that's that's such an interesting thing like to think about people like constantly fucking bringing up to you like well it's different if they do it in distance like in jest like oh the claw like that's a funny bit and it's always actually doing it it was always are you afraid of the claw I'm afraid of the claw would you ever just curious would you ever use that line as you know with with girls in college no great one like I have uh you know one of my lines is I whipped on my lizard like it's such a perfect line I'm pretty gonna I'll show you the claw oh my god that's in her around the house yeah I tell you about your wife actually right no it's I would say that my my older half brother yeah got more action with girls by using me than I ever did by using my celebrity so instead of having to live in your shadow he could eventually use it later that's fair yeah my friends did that in college where like I was the opening the opening you know line and they push you aside and they're like oh well it's nice to meet you now that we're talking yeah right it's a great icebreaker though like when you're especially like in the valley you're the only one in that setting that they can know who was in a a who had a real big career and in a big movie they recognize you know why like everyone's not just walking around like that.
Yeah yeah um you stepped you stepped away like around high school did you make like the conscious decision to step away like was it was it you just being tired like be burned out like kind of it was you know because it was my first time going to public school and you know I started um you know I started going through puberty I was not I was in an awkward stage yeah and I would go on auditions but I wasn't booking things as as often as I used to and then it got to the point where my mom was like oh you got an audition today and I'd be like oh it felt like work you gotta sit in the car for 45 50 minutes to get out there and then I gotta like do this and then I gotta go home and start my homework and I want to just go home right now and talk to girls on aim you know like ASL you remember ASL? Yeah yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah um and so after a while of me kind of just being like ah I got another audition Mom was like look if like if you don't want to do it anymore like you know you don't have to do it.
Yeah. Did that affect your relationship with your mom at all?
I don't know because I think it took me like she said that and for a it was a while after that before I was like okay I don't want to do it because I the way that she asked me I felt like oh she doesn't want me to say I that I don't want to do it anymore. It's a tough spot. I felt like there was some maybe disappointment sure there.
But it was but it was fine you know like yeah well I gotta imagine like it you know that's a it's a big part of their lives too like I I know my mom was disappointed when I stepped away you know that was like her whole identity was you know she loved it like all of her friends but George's mom was her best friend you know like um so when we decided to step away like it affects them just as much you know you don't realize it at that age yeah but you don't realize it at that age at all right yeah so like I it sounds like you had the same similar like experiences as me of wanting to step away just because you were just tired of that grind. You know it gets old sitting in the back of a car all day getting home at nine o'clock every night like you know and it's and the constant like the rejection like builds up on you. Oh for sure especially you know when you were eight nine ten years old and like I you couldn't even go on anything without booking on it. Like you you had a fucking crazy run. Right.
Right it's a real grind that I think we were talking about it before you know adults get like we get it now. We get tired of things we get burnt out but when people are like wait you stopped being an actor like everyone acts like how could you stop and step in they act like it's so crazy but not realizing 90% of what we're doing is not the fun filming on set. And that percentage gets less and less as you get older like look I all of us had an awkward phase where you're like not the ugly friend enough but you're not the leading guy and you're like kind of this weird middle that it's weird that doesn't book much. Right. And when you feel that you and you're older and you're aware of it it's it's really less fun. When you're like seven and eight like you don't really notice you're in the car you're you're hanging out you're playing with friends in the audition but once you're aware of that part yeah it it's it kind of settles in you can only play Pokemon on your on your uh Game Boy for so long it's ridiculous.
Right. I want to ask uh so family dynamic like it sounds like you came from a pretty good family like your mom you know like your relationship with your mom was good what like what about the rest of your family?
Um yeah I mean so uh my relationship with my mom was was great for most most of the time um you know in high school i it got a little strain because you know I when I got to high school and I stopped acting you know I I started smoking weed yeah and she smoked weed yeah uh and you know she found my stash and that was you know that put a strain on it for but that sounds standard like like what happens when you're a kid right right you know and sh but you know throughout my whole acting phase she was always always there always you know taking me on my auditions all the stuff helping me running lines um I have two younger sisters that are twins oh cool were they in the business one of them you know dabbled a bit uh and she's now works for like a uh the managed management company um so she w works you know way more into the in that industry than I do now uh and then I have my dad I've always had a great relationship with my dad but they split when I was like nine my mom and dad and he has uh two kids from previous marriage so I have older half siblings but you know we're all you know we all get along cool I'm sure during that period like you you probably
made a lot of money like how was how was your money handled?
You know because we all have our own story like you know mine was lost like I never saw dime it was all lost very bad investments and Jordan fucking gambled all of his away no no I spent on on I also I went I went through a couple cars I went to went through a lot of partying in college. It wasn't just gambling. That was one part of it. That was one seventy eighty ninety percent of it.
So I mean a a Coogan account was a thing though back back then for for you was enough the Coogan account.
Yeah, when you're after you're 18, though.
Oh, oh, okay. Well, you're okay. So you're saying bad investments after you turn it on. Oh no, no, no, no, no.
There was there was a lot of ways that uh parents were able to access money from your Kugen account. You had to go to court and and request it, right? Or if they made if they made themselves your manager, they were entitled to a percentage. And then if they made themselves your financial manager, now they're in charge of investing your money. Oh. So once that happens, you know, they're investing your money on your behalf, and that most of the time gets invested very poorly. Gotcha. Gotcha. So yeah, you know, long story short, I never really saw any of that.
A lot of stock buying like Zynga and like companies like that. Yeah, AOL and like a bunch of shit that's not around anymore.
Yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, no, um, I mean, like my mom was my was my manager, yeah. Uh, but uh never I never even thought of that. Never my not my financial manager. So I all like the vast majority of my money, except for you know whatever she had as a manager percentage, sure. Just stayed in the account until I turned 18. Um, and then when I turned 18, I pretty much didn't touch it at all until I bought like my first like nice car. That was my first like what was your first nice car? Uh Lexus uh IS350. Nice. Nice. Yeah. Well, good for you. Thanks. Yeah.
Good story for once, and I'll because someone's worth it. It's nice. Actually, Blake's is pretty good.
Yeah.
Yeah. But uh what was what was what was your first kept? Blake's, but I don't know anybody else. Like I just mentioned cars. What was what was Jordan crashed every car you're gonna do? I just I had a couple crashes.
I, you know, I was in a fraternity and partied a lot, crashed a couple cars, replaced them, but at least it was with my own money. I could afford to do it at least.
I was, you know, were they super nice cars?
My first one, it was nicer, it wasn't as fast, but it was like uh a red Mustang when they first changed the model. Okay, red and black red and black stripe on the side. So, like in the valley, you know, cops you know always could see it. And when I crashed that, I was very sad. And then I got a truck, lightning, and then I crashed that.
But then you got a Ford Lightning?
Yeah, oh my god.
I like that. How come you got a Ford Lightning? I didn't have a lot of lightning.
Well, because I bought it. Yeah.
Oh yeah, I forgot I didn't have any money by the it was all like yeah.
Well, then you did you buy a truck in in college too?
Yeah, I no, I was thinking you bought it. I had a truck in high school, but like yeah, but it wasn't a Ford Lightning. Yeah, like that was the dream truck back then, I think.
You know, was that when I when it was gone?
Yeah, I remember when I was still going on auditions when I was like eight, I can't remember the the name of the actor, but he had a car. He it was his car, it was an orange uh avalanche, uh the Chevy Avalanche, I think it was like the truck kind of thing. And he's eight years old. And it was and like the mom was like, Oh yeah, it's his car. I'm like, he can't drive. It's his car. Yeah, yeah.
I drive it all every day.
I was always like, Okay. Yeah. And now you know why I don't have any money left. He went through the same thing, I promise. Um, yeah, that's interesting. Well, that's cool. Like, you know, that's always nice to hear that that was handled properly. Yeah, you know. Yeah. So what uh like go through high school. Did you go to college? Yeah. You where'd you go to college? Season. Oh, cool. Oh, right now.
Same year. Valley people, there was for sure.
Yeah.
When did you get into radio? Like, kind of right at the end of my time at Seasun. It was my final year, and I had an internship class, and I would listen to Fox Sports Radio all the time, like on my way to college, and there was a show that I loved, the Petros and Money show.
Uh huh.
And I would always hear them talk about their intern, intern Adam, and it was like this fun thing. I was like, I want to be an intern on intern atom. Yeah. And I would email them that show all the time, like, hey, I want to be an intern, blah blah blah. And eventually they got back to me, like, we don't have any spots, you know, on our show, but I'm gonna forward you over to somebody over at the bigger, like the national network, Fox Sports Radio. Because the show that I was listening to was just a local LA AM570 show. Yeah. And they got back to me and they're like, Yeah, we can set you up. And I had an internship with them. Um, they wanted me to do a second semester after my first one, and I was like, Oh, I just graduated. So I went and enrolled at College of the Canyons, yeah, just so I could do I went there for like a week. A second internship. That's funny. Yeah. And then after the second internship, they hired me, and I've I've been there ever since. How long has that been? Uh, this will be my 14th year. And you're a producer. That's awesome. Yeah. That's rad.
So you went from intern to producer. Yeah. See, dreams come you know, it's possible. No, but that it's it's awesome.
It's nice to stay at the same place for that many years and like you work with the same people. You really enjoy it. That's cool.
Yeah, for sure. And it's, you know, for I mean, not this entire time, but once I became the producer of the show that I'm the producer of now, yeah. Uh it's it's an overnight show that I produce. Right. So the show's on from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Um West Coast. So called again? The Ben Mallor Show. Ben Mallor.
So what's what's the time frame you show up and leave work?
Uh get there, you know, around 10 30 or so, like before the show starts. Um, and then I stay till 3 30 or 4, depending on how long it takes me to build the podcast and do all the post-production stuff that I need to do. Um, so you do you I mean you do all of it. Yeah, yeah, I yeah, I build I, you know, I edit the audio, I build the the podcast, I you know, publish it, write the descriptions, all the time.
So you're gonna be able to point out all the shit that we're doing wrong. There we go. Not constructive criticism, please.
But the you know, the cool thing about that, there's there's drawbacks and there's pros. So we're the overnight show, so the station itself, we don't really like I don't care much about it. We don't get a ton of like ad spend, you know, because we're overnights, uh, but at the same time we don't get a lot of oversight, so we kind of get to like do whatever we want. Sure. And because it's overnight, I feel like more than any of the other shows, we kind of have this like cult following. Yeah, you know, it's our listenership is people, you know, they're truck drivers, overnight truck drivers. Oh fuck, they're people that work third shift and they're nighttime crowd. Yeah, and they're can't sleep and they're alcoholics, yeah. So so and and we're also one of the only shows that is uh caller-based. You know, we take we take phone calls the whole show. Oh, that's right. And so a lot of the biggest stars on the show are certain callers, crazy callers. But it's cool because people like people send us gifts in the mail all the time. Uh, we just got back from Boston for a meet and greet with the listeners that was cool. That was completely paid for by one of the listeners. Oh, that's cool. He paid for the whole show and our wives to go out there. So yeah, it's it's it's fun.
How like do you feel like finding your way back into this form of entertainment? Like it does it scratch that itch? Like, do you know what I mean?
Yes, to to an extent. Yeah. Um, so uh when I first got into it, I was really uh stoked about being able to be still like in entertainment, but not on camera. Sure. Yeah uh I was that was a big drawing point for me. And then uh when we because now uh uh within the last few years, now we've got cameras set up all over the studio and yeah, they're like streaming stuff. They haven't started live streaming my show, which I'm thankful for because it's like like I I didn't, you know, got out of wanting to be, you know, on camera all the time.
Sure, especially at 2 a.m.
Right, right. Well, yeah, because you know, we could we sh show up, you know pajamas. Yeah, pretty much pretty pretty much. That's awesome. And we we can turn off all the lights in the studio. We do the show like in the dark, like it's you know, it's really chill. Yeah, um, but you know, thankfully, because with the overnight show, they only take like certain clips for social media. We don't live stream it because who's gonna be you know, the people who are listening are driving a truck, they're not live streaming our show. Uh but um as far as scratching the itch, uh I I I will admit, like I'm a huge fan and consumer of entertainment still. TV show I watch all the like TV shows, love movies, and I don't like you know, sometimes I watch something and I'm like, man, I I could do better than this person right now for sure. And and I watch stuff and I'm I don't know if this like is uh you know takes me out of it, but I'm kind of like seeing the production side as I'm watching it. Like, you know what I mean? Like I know like I'll say to my wife, I was like, oh, that's not that actor, that's a stand-in right there, you can tell. You know, it's like stuff like that. And and I it I miss part of that, you know, the the fun of of doing it. Yeah. But you know, I I don't know. It's when you're a kid, you're doing it for fun, yeah, and it's just like on to the next one. And then when I think about doing it as an adult and being like, oh god, I need to book something because I need to buy food.
Yeah, like also getting auditions again and the grind. Like, okay, like if you could walk into doing some version of that, whether it's directing something, starring in something, like what would you like to do?
You mean like walk in walk into it without having something? Yeah, like not having an audition.
Like if you could direct a film, produce something, do your own podcast, like you know, be in a movie, like what form of entertainment would you like to be able to do?
Uh that's a good question. I I would say probably probably a a TV show, I think. Yeah. That the most fun I had was on Brothers Keeper.
Ensemble cast, hanging out together kind of thing.
Yeah, yeah, where you get to build a rapport and like actually like create a cat like a character that you know develops with you. Right. Like that is pretty neat. Right. Yeah, you know.
We didn't really have that because we had you know, it was either movies or or guest stars, and you just kind of, you know, you're there and you're done.
Right. Right. Yeah, I think it's way cool that you know, these shows like Modern Family, where they grew up together, you know.
Oh, literally, yeah, yeah.
And I I think that's a cool experience when you know you kind of form a a lifelong bond, like all the the actors from friends, and not to mention when you're on a show for that long, the residuals are amazing. Yeah.
That's a little bonus. Yeah.
Take that. Well, when I was like doing when I was doing like some research, you know, just to prepare for this. Um it's so it's so funny because when you look up people online, like you never know what's true and what's not true. And like, you know, I found this picture of you and it was like a Canadian football player. I'm like, that's not Justin. Like, like I knew Justin back in the day, that ain't him. And like, and it said, you know, you're super into karate, which I don't know if that's true or not, but like we all had karate on our resumes, like I was a black belt karate, and in reality, I was like a tangerine belt hop keto. Yeah, you know, but something interesting that stood out was like, oh, he's a c he's an avid collector of Elvis Presley memorabilia. And I'm like, I fucking love Elvis. I wore my Elvis shirt, and like uh I would just want to see if that's true, because I thought that was so weird and random. Like that I wanna I was curious if that's true. Because I have a bunch of Elvis shit. I hope it's true now.
For sure. My mom was a big Elvis fan, and she got me into Elvis, and that's cool. Um yeah, I had a ton of Elvis stuff. I had you know the the a sheet of the the stamps, yeah. Um I had one of the cooler things I had was it's a it was a life-size guitar case, but inside the case was his complete collection of movies and the script for Jailhouse Rock. Oh rad. That's great. Yeah, yeah, um, all kinds of little like knickknacks like that. And when people in and this was while I'm still like big in acting, and when people found out, you know, people on cruise would just give me Elvis stuff, you know, all the time.
That's so rad. I'm so happy that that's true because I was like, God, this is so random.
Like, you know, the picture stuff, they would always do these where are they now for little rascals, and half the time they would use a version of my brother-in-law that was like years older, and I'm like, this research is terrible. Like, they would always say I'm a pro poker player because there was a picture of me winning a tournament. I'm like, no one's doing this research. Like, I'm sure for you, because you have like known other versions in different ways, like that happens a lot, probably too, or at least on social media, like they're probably messaging that guy, You were great in Lionel Live.
Oh, for sure, for sure. He's like, Stop. I remember it was a it was a big thing when that when the Canadian football player story came out because all the listeners to my show are like, What is this? Like, you know, you've been hiding this the whole time. Well, because they've seen pictures of me and they're like, Yeah, that's not him. What is what's going on? And it's like people write these stories because they need to come up with some content and then and then they just they Google Justin Cooper, which is weird because if you Google Justin Cooper, I'm pretty sure I come up before the Canadian football player, so I don't know how to choose your own adventure. You do, yeah, whatever you want to find. Yeah, I'm I'm assuming you've been to Graceland. I haven't been to Graceland. You haven't. Have you been to Graceland? Yeah, really? Yeah. I gotta go. You have to, yeah, it's awesome. It's awesome. I stayed in the uh the Heartbreak Hotel, which is you know, which is near Graceland. There's themed Elvis rooms. You turn on the TV, it's nothing but Elvis movies. The cafe downstairs, at least back then, was open 24 hours, and you go get the peanut butter and uh banana sandwich. It's awesome.
It's awesome. We have like I was telling you earlier, we were expecting our first kid. Um, we're having a little we're having a little girl, and I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna say her name because I'm not allowed to. But um that's fair. But uh there is some sort of Elvis related thing. It's not Elvis, but there is an Elvis related thing in it. Okay, um because I like you know, I love them, so I gotta go to Graceland eventually. Yeah, but that's rap. If you if you had kids, would you ever consider putting them in acting? Like now that you know how to navigate it and you're like you remember you know, question.
Um I would lean no, and only because I think it's so much harder today than it was back in my day. Sure. Because there was no social media. Yeah, people have a lot more access to you. Yeah, and I just like when I log on to social media and and see like the vitriol and like it's just instant feedback. Yeah, and it's I like I was self-conscious as a kid, but I didn't like hear a lot of that. And and to your face, people are always like for the most part, people are nice, you know, like high school aside.
Sure.
But then you like, you know, you go online and people are just brutal on on Twitter or whatever, the comments, and I don't know how if I would have been able to handle that back then.
Yeah, dude, we just got called fucking longheads in here. I'm just perucking the ratings to the comments on our podcast, and I'm like people are mean. I was like texting Blake, I'm like, have you seen this? This is he thought it was hilarious. I was I was pissed.
I was like about to book a trip to Turkey to get a hair trans freaking up.
Well, but I I I had a question too, because I uh I did notice you like you don't have a big social media presence.
Is that something you did as just a healthy choice long ago, or is it because or is it related to child acting at all? And like just like not wanting to get that over and over.
Yeah, I mean, I definitely, you know, as far as uh like Facebook, Instagram type stuff, I wanted to keep that just like private, like, you know, and then when I got the job producing the show, it was kind of like okay, you kind of need to have an account on here for the show, because you know, we live, you know, we're people are live tweeting us as we're doing the show, and so we interact with listeners that way. And so I created that, and that and that was you know, that's been fine. Um you know, I don't share a bunch of like personal stuff on there. I'm very careful about that. Like, I don't like I don't put like pictures of of my wife on there, you know, because people like people still are you know assholes on that, you know, especially on Twitter. Sure. And I as an adult now I'm able to just be like, you know, whatever. Sure. But I don't want to subject people in my life, like friends and family, to that. So I keep most personal things private on there. That's good.
Good for you. That's a good choice. That's tough to do because like, you know, when you're a couple of attention whores like Jordan and I writing the coat riding the coattails of our seven-year-old selves. So I brought I I brought something before you're a big Denver Broncos fan. Yeah, so obviously we don't we don't make any money out of this podcast yet. We are open for partnerships and sponsorships, you know. Whoever's out there, you know, we're ready. Um, but anyways, you know, I thought it'd be cool to bring you some. Um this is from my the Blake Collins personal sports card sports card collection. Good old days. So I don't know if you guys remember like what your version of this was, but growing up, whenever I'd book a job, you'd get you'd get a reward, right? Like mine was always every time I booked job, I did a lot of commercials. So every time I booked a job, I'd get like a hundred bucks, right? And I would always spend it at a card store.
So you so you got a hundred your mom got like like the rest.
Well, little did I know. That's all I would be getting for all the jobs I did. Um, but I was curious, did you guys what was your version of that? Like, did you get any sort of reward when you booked a job when you were a kid? Man, I don't know. I can't remember. I don't it's a fucking John Elway insert, by the way, Justin.
Yeah, no, that's all I mean.
I definitely had a run of column. My dad would take us to the Airtaw Plaza Hotel in Van Ives like once or twice a month, and they would have these card shows. So we collected cards. We used to go to bid boards, have you heard of those? Where you actually bid on a timer on cards, like we did that for years. It was yeah, crazy.
I I certainly didn't get anything as cool as this.
Yeah. But I was curious, like, what was the thing? Were you ever treated to anything when you got when you booked a job? Like, was it a dinner, or was it like you got to go to Sport Mart and spend, you know, get something, or was it Toys R Us, you know?
Maybe maybe I'm like, I'm I'm usually have a great memory, but uh, it might have been like around the time, so beanie babies were a thing. Oh, yeah. So I probably was able to get some new beanie babies. I'm I'm bummed that the value didn't hold for those. Those weren't good investments. Unfortunately. You had every fucking beanie baby.
My mom had them all.
I'm sure I'm sure they're still in my bedroom. Princess Diana's at my mom's house. That one, uh yeah. Yeah, actually, I that's funny. I got the Princess Diana Beanie Baby when I was in Salt Lake City filming Touch by an Angel. Oh, no shit. Yeah. I was on that show too. Nice.
Yeah. Oh, that's kind of serendipitous. We're both touched by an angel. I like it. That's nice. Yeah. All right. Well, yeah, so mine was like cards. Like that's that was like my uh, you know, that's all I have to show from me.
I also got I also got Pokemon cards, but I can't remember if that was like asked shortly after. I think that was still during the the acting phase. God, those are those are worth a lot more.
Like I assume that those were like the first version, you know, probably the same ones you always had. Those are worth a lot more. Those are awesome. I remember I remember those days. Playing my counter was fun. My collection. I'm really bummed about that. Yeah, it's a common story, Justin. It's hard to know.
It's hard to know, and like the parents don't aren't care when they're cleaning out the attic and stuff. Right.
How could you have possibly known that a holographic Charizard would be worth like thousands of dollars?
I had a good like Magic the Gathering collection too that like went away. That would have been great.
There was a time where my my sister had a holographic Charizard. And we're at the mall, and some kids like approach her and they're like, Oh, I'll trade you this this uh holographic chansey for your Charizard.
No, not a chance, not that one.
Oh, that's she took the deal. She took the deal. But she asked me, she's like, What should I do? And I'm like, I don't and a friend of mine also had a holographic Charizard. So when I told her, I was like, I've never seen a Chansey before.
No, Justin. Justin.
It's like the nurse. I would still be mad at it. The nurse Pokemon, yeah. We just I just brought this up with my sister the other day, and she sends me a picture of a diary entry she wrote back then. Oh, that's awesome. About how upset she was. Oh, Justin. I know. Yeah, I felt pretty much.
That's the last time I trusted my brother again. Yeah. Right? Yeah.
Well, I mean, now that you're not so little and you have a little bit of distance and um, you know, perspective and life and stuff. Um, if you look back on your career, are you proud of it? Oh, absolutely. Definitely. Um, you care, like, was there what uh transitioned you from like hiding it and not wanting to talk about it to eventually deciding that you're gonna embrace it and and and be proud of it and like talk to people about it, like, you know.
Uh I guess just kind of becoming an adult, maybe. Yeah. Um and progressing in life, you know, there is you know, even as a young adult, I was very um self conscious, uh not like low self esteem kind of thing. Yeah. Um, but then, you know. I got a good job that I'm proud of, you know, and that I think is cool. I met my wife and, you know, I'm happily married. And so now it's like, what is you know, who who cares what other people think about it? I'm pretty uh pretty set in life. So like whatever. I know it's happy to talk about it, you know.
Yeah, I think that's the right perspective. And like I I mean it's pretty awesome. Like, you know, I mean you did some stuff that's just gonna it's gonna outlast you.
Right, yeah, that I I do think about that a lot, you know. That's pe not a lot of people can say that there's something that a hundred years from now, after you die, that people will see you and you know, know and you know, there's there's times that I think about too, because uh there's certain you know, I'm a huge uh tool fan, the land tool.
Oh I've seen him a few times.
Yes, I'm I'm obsessed.
I'm cut my fingers are crossed for a sphere run. Yes, yes.
And when I say I'm a huge tool fan, I'm like totally like downplaying it. I'm obsessed. Alright, cool. We'll talk about that more later. But you know, sometimes I think about I'm like, you know what? Like Maynard probably knows me. You know what I mean? In a in a sense, and that blows my mind sometimes.
Yeah, that's fucking rad. He's probably seen Liar Liar. Right. And like, you know, it's done the claw to his king. Right, right.
It's I think it's one of those, I think we think it's like there's the effect when you go outside and you think everyone's looking at you and you're like, oh, like the clothes you're wearing. No one cares. And I think we we think if we casually talk about, oh yeah, you know, like when I was a kid, I was in Liar Liar or worked with Jim Carrey, you think it comes across arrogant or some weird way, but it's just it's so different when someone's like, Oh, when I when I travel to this country, it's no different. And I think we have to get okay with them. Like at some point, I've gotten more comfortable talking at work and different things about the time I acted, or just like different stories, and it doesn't come out like I'm really awkward saying it, like I'm comfortable saying it. It took me a while for that too.
Yeah, right. Yeah, I I mean I still don't like kind of announce it, you know, when nobody's asking about it. Um, I bought my house when I was like 23. Oh, that's awesome. Congrats, that's thank you. And you know, I was that forced me to kind of talk about it because you know, naturally people would be like, How do you have a house in California at 23?
Well, I was in a movie that made 300 million dollars at the box office, friends. Well, now that you ask.
So, you know, then I kind of had to admit it, you know, you know, I'm not doing anything nefarious. I was a child actor. Yeah. Uh but that's only so rad in your thought about that. But I don't really uh you know, I don't I rarely ever bring it up. It's other people that bring it up. And and now instead of shying away from it, I'm happy to like talk about it or answer people's questions. Yeah.
So you don't walk in a room and then I I walk in and I'm like, Froggy's entering the building.
Just so you guys know, I was Froggy in the 1984. We don't care! We don't care. But um, dude, we're so glad that you were like down to come talk to us about it. Like, you know, we're both fans of yours. You know, yeah, thanks for inviting me. Um, yeah, man, thanks a lot. And we're like, you know, stoked to catch up with you and hear
that you're doing so well. And you know, thanks for sharing all the cool shit with us. We really appreciate it.
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