We're Still Here, Babe
We’re Still Here, Babe, hosted by actress Natanya Ross, is a celebrity interview podcast that goes beyond the highlight reel. Featuring familiar faces from the ‘90s and beyond, each episode explores life after fame through honest conversations about mental health, recovery, resilience, addiction, trauma, personal growth, and the moments that happen when the cameras stop rolling. From iconic actors to unforgettable television and film stars, We’re Still Here, Babe offers a behind-the-curtain look at the human stories that remind us we’re all a lot more alike than we think. Because quitting was never an option.
We're Still Here, Babe
Ep. 7 - Patrick Renna
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This week on We’re Still Here, Babe, Natanya Ross sits down with longtime friend Patrick Renna for a nostalgic and personal conversation about growing up together, his life beyond the spotlight, and the acting career that made him a familiar face of the 90s. From The Sandlot and The Big Green to the many projects that followed, Patrick reflects on his journey as an actor, growing up in Hollywood, and the person he’s become along the way. He also opens up about family, life today, and his new project, Dug Out Dads—a conversation that proves some friendships really do stand the test of time.
Hi guys and welcome to We're Still Here Babe. Today it's a very special episode. Today's guest is somebody who has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. We grew up together, spent many of our childhood and teenage years trying to figure out this crazy thing called Hollywood. We even went to school together for a little while. I don't know if you remember that. And he's always been one of my favorite people that I grew up with. And watching the rest of the world continue to fall in love and stay in love with him has been such a I'm gonna get emotional already. It's such a joy for me. Of course, you know him as Ham in the Sandlot, and from favorites like the Big Green son-in-law, the X-Files, and so many more. And now he's bringing baseball back in a whole new way with his brand new comedy series, Dugout Dads, reuniting much of the original Sandlot family for a fresh generation. Please welcome my lifelong friend Patrick Renna.
SPEAKER_02Aw. Hello, thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00I'm already emotional. What's up, man? How are you?
SPEAKER_02What's up? I'm good. I'm good. I'm yeah, we just finished wrapping, so I I've lost my voice. Uh, you'll hear my voice crack. It's not puberty. It's a I love it. It's a lot of a lot of baseball field dust and savings.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, it's gonna happen a lot. Seeing you guys on that field was like, yeah, that it was just emotional, you know? And I have such different relationships with so many of you. It's like such an interesting thing, you know. And you know how close Marty and I are, and me and Chancy, and me and you, and it's just so yeah, it's uh it's been an emotional thing for everybody involved and all of those of us that love you guys so much to see. And I know how special it is to get to come back with your 90s family, and you guys have been able to do it in such a sustainable and uh impactful way, you know? So dope. It's just it's such a cool thing to watch. So I just wanted to start by saying that, and we'll get into that in a little bit. So Patrick Renna. How I don't even know if I know the answer to this actually, but how did you get into the entertainment industry?
SPEAKER_02You know, I I uh I was I am born and raised in Boston, and I I left when I was 13. I I flew to LA with my mom. She got a job opportunity out here. We were um we kind of stayed in uh this little uh communal like living space, sort of where you each had a room and there was a yeah, a little shared kitchen. Very 90s, it was very 90s in Hollywood, and um she, you know, her my father and her had split, but you know, about I think as good as you can, like they're still friends to this day. And yeah, um so she, you know, we were in LA. The the craftsman guy working in the garage, building stuff is, you know, was is you know, they they then were together 30 years after that. So uh we we met him in that thing. And uh one day I was just you know, I always wanted to act. I I did plays and things in school, but one day we got a nork knock on that door, and this photographer said, Hey, I have a couple models I want to film, and we really like your fence. Can I take their photo on your fence? And my mom, again, my mom didn't own the house, but you know, she's she's kind of a Bostonian, uh, you know, tough, tough, tough lady. So she's like, All right, you can do it, but you got to take my son's headshots. And he said, Okay, fine. So I got free headshots.
SPEAKER_00That's brilliant.
SPEAKER_02Right there on on Franklin, you know, in in Hollywood against a cement wall. Um, and then I just you know, you know, that was back in the day when everything was not digital, it was everything was analog still. And we you you would send your headshots to agents. So I sent it to Judy Savage, and people said, Hey, if she gives you a call, just don't even meet with her, just take her. You know, like yeah, so we we met and she she signed me and she told me, Don't be surprised if you don't work for two years. Like, this is a tough business. And I my first audition was salute your shorts, and I booked it. And then my second audition was Sam Law, and I booked it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you're kidding me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you know, and then I came off that and I think I did Son-in-law and a couple other things. Um, so I had this sort of charmed beginning, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Uh, and it's not till my you know late teens and early twenties did I really find out, oh, Hollywood's tough, you know, you go out on a hundred auditions, and you know, you have to have a uh thick skin, and you know, so I learned, don't get me wrong, it wasn't charmed forever, but the beginning was just this crazy whirlwind. And I flew out to Utah to film the Sandlot.
SPEAKER_00And um so how let me ask you, how old were you when you did the Sand Lot?
SPEAKER_0213.
SPEAKER_0013 years old.
SPEAKER_02So I I moved to LA in 1992. I got my headshots, met Judy Savage, and then you know, whatever it was, I think May I auditioned for Sandlot and was off. Right.
SPEAKER_00I've asked Marty and Sean, I mean I've asked everybody this question, and it's it would be impossible to know what you guys were about to create. That it is just such a part of culture, pop culture, like all of these years later. Because you know, when Marty, when people talk about it, it's like it was just the summer of our lives. We were just a bunch of kids that learned how to play baseball together and we became best friends, and it was this amazing thing. And here we are all these years later, and it's it's so impactful, and it's such a huge part of people's histories, you know. So when you got when you start when you did the San Mont, did you there's no way you could have known no way.
SPEAKER_02I don't you know, I always say we knew it didn't suck because you know people are coming the next day and they were pumped and they watched the movies, but I've also been on a lot of movies with dailies, and I've never heard anyone come on set being like those are terrible. So if they are terrible, they're gonna lie to you.
SPEAKER_01You're not gonna know about it.
SPEAKER_02I don't think there's any way to know. I you know, and I I've gone back and forth on that being like, I think we knew that it was decent. It's impossible to know that it would 33 years later still be in you know three generations of living rooms and still mean this much to people, and that your one specific line would have made its way on like probably a million by now.
SPEAKER_00It's crazy, yeah.
SPEAKER_02There's no way, and and after just finishing a week of dugout duds, you know, you think you hope that it's gonna be good, but it's it's pretty magical for everything to come together perfectly to make something special. Even the best in this business make duds, you know, right? So, like there's no there's just no way to ever know.
SPEAKER_00When you were so when you were doing Sand's lot, like after that, and when did you and I meet? How old were we? Like 14? I have like 14. Yeah, 14, 15. And we just like hit it off right away. We were just like and I think we met, and that's when we hit it off.
SPEAKER_02I think I think you for a little more for me than let's let the everyone know that I had a bit of a crap. Other way around you. Um, we definitely hit it off though.
SPEAKER_00We we did, we hit it off. Yes, we went.
SPEAKER_02Although Kyle and Brahmin were even, those are my buds, but those are even after we first.
SPEAKER_00Well, actually, Brahman, I met his sister Ashley, was in the babysitter's club with me and Marla.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00So that's when I met maybe that no and Larissa.
SPEAKER_02Didn't they like have a little quiet or something?
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. Oh, that's right. Her and I still oh, she's gonna kill me. We still talk about it to this day. Sorry, Larissa.
SPEAKER_02Um he's a very handsome six-foot-tall fellow, so it's not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_00No, and not at all. And then Kyle, I met through you. Yeah, so crazy. So we were young, we were really young, probably 15. Yeah, and um I mean I remember us being so inseparable from that time on till I don't know, maybe about like 18, 19-ish. Many a drunk night you had to carry me home from La Poobelle. Yeah. Your dope ass apartment, the Hollywood that was I mean, we just well, that was Kyle's apartment, but it was Kyle's.
SPEAKER_02It was basically mine. I think I slept there more than my own house. That's right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right. So, okay, so after Sandlot, you're working. You're uh you did a bunch of movies, guest bots, all of the things. What's what's teenage life like for Pat? Are were you going to high school in between stuff?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I stayed at my high school. I actually left my high school for a semester and regretted it and went right back to my old one because I kind of already the high school I went to was a sort of smaller.
SPEAKER_00Is that where I went with you?
SPEAKER_02No, that was that was like three hours a day after school.
SPEAKER_00Actor school, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Actor school.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. No, no, I went to, you know, it wasn't big, but it was in a smaller uh private school in La Cañata, and I left for a semester and went to like a bigger um school in Burbank. And going to a school after having done some movies was a bit of a struggle. So I kind of went, yeah, I'll go back to my old school. Um and I mean, lucky for me, all the senior football players love sandlots, so I was very protected, but still, you know, yeah, it was a little different. So I I I went there till I was 16, and then I just, you know, took, you know, I just graduated early and uh was off on movies. I I wanted to graduate early so that I could go on location by myself at 16. I didn't get emancipated, but I yeah, if you had a high school diploma, you were fine to go. You were fine to go. Yeah, something like that.
SPEAKER_00I I think I did the same thing. I think Kyle, like you know, my mom at a certain point, if someone was over the age of 18, she didn't care. She's like, Great, you can take her. You take her tomorrow, you take her. So Kyle, I'm I know got stuck taking me to set many times.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's funny.
SPEAKER_00But once I was 16, same. I was like, I'll go by myself, don't worry about it, I'm good. So so growing up in those teenage years, like you were working a lot. What was life like for you as like a younger teenager, like right after the Sandlot and and because I know in the nineties it was big, but it's like Well, I never I was never a TV star, so you know, TV was kind of king in the nineties, like financially at least.
SPEAKER_02If you know, if you were on a TV show doing 26 episodes making whatever you're making, sure. You know, I never I never made a lot of money in in those early years. Uh I mean, sure, it it was nice, but I had to like support myself. And right, uh you know, I left home at 20 and uh I had my apartment and you know where was your first apartment? Um I moved. Oh, it did you ever come to that orange house in Eagle Rock? Oh my god, yes, we used to have crazy parties, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's right, like all the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, all the time. Yeah, well, we were we were 19 and 20 years.
SPEAKER_00We were 19. And you and I really like clung together too, because we were the gingers, you know. And for the audience listening, I've said this in quite a few episodes already. I want to make it very clear. It is not easy to go through puberty as a ginger on television or film in the nineties, no matter how lovable your character might be. People were very cruel in the nineties, and also with red I think with redhead girls personally, yeah, they don't really pop till like 14, 15, 16, you know. And I spent like all of the beginning of those years just in front of the world. It was brutal, you know. Did you go through any of that? Like, just because people can be fucking cruel at that at that age.
SPEAKER_02I mean, luckily, you know, we're I I'm uh I was born in 79, so I'm that kind of I'm still I'm Gen X technically, but it's like that cusp, you know, yeah uh of Gen X millennial. Um and they call it Xennial, so it's like that micro generation, and they say it's the the the um analog childhood, digital adulthood. So interesting. I I feel like luckily for me in those early years it was analog. So there's not a lot of photos, there's not a lot of you know, uh there was no chat rooms, there were no, you know, um comment section. So yeah, I didn't really I also did all of my growing. I grew I all my growing was till 15 and then I stopped. So I was kind of bigger than everyone, so no one really messed with me.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02But but that's why I had tall friends, you know?
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_02As long as you I don't know, I think it was different for for dudes, honestly. I'm sure like being a young woman in Hollywood has got to be one of the hardest things for me. Um, you know, I was a character actor, so I wasn't attempting to, you know, be something I wasn't, I I wasn't uh on TV. I you know, I think I was in a one teeny bumper mag on like page eight, you know. Um I didn't have that struggle, you know. I didn't it's uh I guess it's the the good part of of that. You know, I wasn't Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I wasn't you know, our for our mutual friend Kyle Howard has more of that sort of youngster like heart throb. You know, I only became a heart throb. I only became a heart throb in my 40s, you know. And now, let me tell you. I can't, you know, can't go.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm actually way more interested in your adult life. You know, listen, I woke up one day, I was 44, I was like, Natanya, you're about to be 45, and that's just math, you know. Um, and you can do it yourself. And a lot of that, I gotta tell you, has been watching people like you over the last few years that just like took the matter in their own hands, you know. And that's really what this podcast is. I think it was it's daunt I think it was daunting for some people because okay, if you hear Natanya Ross is doing a podcast, you are immediately gonna think it's a 90s podcast, right? Or it's a podcast about sobriety or recovery or whatever. And I didn't want this to be either one of those things. I wanted this to be, listen, it just happens to be mostly 90s people, that's not my fault. But I wanted to bring my friends on and talk for like an hour or whatever about some of the struggles we've been through just growing up as humans in the industry, the moments that we weren't that like we had the one foot in still, but like not many people were knocking, type of thing, and just like how that affects the psyche over the years and and what you know, the good parts, the bad parts, the ugly parts, all of that good stuff. And I just said, fuck it, I'm gonna make this damn podcast. I'm gonna call my friends, ask them to come on, and we're just gonna talk about what life has been like. So hopefully somebody out there that you know, Hamporter is their idol, and they're like, damn, Pat Renna has felt anxiety in his life and this and that, which you know I'm sure I know comes a little later in life once people aren't fawning over us as much, and we're not as cute anymore, and you know, we're not as booking as much anymore, and and then life happens, right? And that's when you and I kind of lost touch because I had to go through a very gnarly next 10 years. That was my lot in life, you know. But you went on to do other things. So I want to I want to hear what life was like. Let's talk about Pat Rennett 20, 20 and past, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I I kind of took a step back. I would well, early 20s, I you know, it's funny because I I lost a lot of weight uh in my late teens because I wanted to, you know, meet ladies and uh it was easier that way, you know. Right. Uh so I I I wanted to, you know, just kind of you know experience life like that. So I kind of took it upon myself. I got in really good shape, and um then getting married and having kids just ruined it all, as far as that's concerned. I it's just you get happy, and what are you gonna do? You just eat, you know. Uh but I also worked a lot then as well. I did a lot of independent film and I traveled a lot and you were acting in these films. Yeah, well, you know, I guess like 13 to like 16, 17, I did a lot of studio movies, son-in-law, big green, samlot. Um, I did a lot of cool TV shows, things like that. Maybe I had, yeah, a bit of a dry spouse, and then I, you know, shed some of the weight, though I met Kyle Howard on um Address Unknown, which was one of them. And I always kind of stayed stayed somewhat busy, but you know, again, paying your own rent and figuring it out. I was lucky enough that I could figure it out through acting.
SPEAKER_00Um, I got into voiceovers, which back then voiceovers was like, you know, uh I did I did a seven episode or not episode, it was seven commercial coke campaign. Yeah, I know how much, yeah, I know about all things.
SPEAKER_02Back then, now anyone with an iPhone can do voiceovers. I don't, but you know, you're kind of like in the inner circle, so that was a nice little run there for a few years. And then, yeah, in my sort of mid-20s, I met my well, I knew my wife, but I met her um and became friends with her, and then I just kind of decided to take a little bit of a step back because I had done it for so long. And I did, you know, uh, I had some friends that wanted to do some real estate stuff. And I I always my when I was a kid and when I was like six, my song was I want to be a builder. That was the song I like, I want to be a builder, anyway. So I always had this uh appreciation and affinity for building things, so I kind of over the next 10 years did that a lot, you know.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just uh maybe not 10, five years, six years, something like that. And then I started having kids. Um, so between you know, that kind of different career path and and children, I just found myself diving into that. You know, it also was a lot different. My wife and I were fine in a one-bedroom apartment for a decade, you know. Then we moved to a TV house in Highland Park and had our first kid, and it was 800 square feet, and we didn't care. And like we lived a very one car, a very simple lifestyle. Now, Los Angeles with you know inflation and I mean having three kids in LA no, it's that's craziness.
SPEAKER_01I know how you do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I almost so that almost my children almost forced me back into wow, I have to do this. Um, and it kind of was you know a funny thing. I I met I got Jax, the recording artist, reached out to me and asked if I would I remember this.
SPEAKER_00Okay, just real quick, sorry, I want to hear this whole story, but that's David Lashers, who is my executive producer of this podcast. That's his daughter's babysitter. Like his daughter is the one that she got yes, that's David's daughter.
SPEAKER_02That's funny.
SPEAKER_00Crazy. So I know. So when I saw you on her TikTok, I'm like, Pat, what the he's everywhere? And then Lizzo, and but but let's hear about Jax first.
SPEAKER_02Well, so I you know, it's you you kind of said it like I took matters into my own hand. I I know that I look very similar, and you know, I've lived with Sam Lott my whole life, and know how you know, no matter where I go, no matter what city, people know the movie, love the movie, recognize me. And when you do that enough, you go, There have got to be millions of fans like of this movie. This is like this is crazy. So I kind of said, I want to do social media because I bet that this will be fun. And I I would love to do something with I don't have to ask someone permission to do. So I told Jax wanted to be me to be in a music video, and I said, sure, I'll do it, but tell Jax she has to teach me about this social media stuff because I'm a boomer, you know. So she right, so she was like a hundred percent, and she fully took me under her wing, showed me how to launch. I did it. Um and and it kind of coincided the 20th anniversary of Sandlot had happened, so I started traveling a little for that, and I did that photo with Tom Guiri and the guy who had me on his shirt and didn't know.
SPEAKER_00Right in the street, yeah, and he didn't realize, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then fuck Jerry picked it up and it went kind of viral. Yeah, so that was my first taste of it. I was like, wow, people are into this. So a couple of years later with Jax, uh, she kind of showed me the ropes and just helped launch me on it, and it just I just started having a lot of fun with it, you know. Right, yeah. I mean, you were just there one day.
SPEAKER_00I just hope I'm like, wow, Pat just uh made a TikTok that has 17 million views. What was and they they're hilarious. I mean, they're so you just really there's something about you, you just know how to go right into the pocket of what works for you. And I've always loved and admired that about you, truly. And like, yeah. Unfortunately, the entertainment industry, you know, I used to be able to go into a room with a black and white headshot, my resume stable on the back, and my talent was what got me the job, not how many followers I have or this, that. I would have needed the same lessons from I mean. Journey, Pat, of like launching this podcast. I've heard some of the most awful things, some of the most beautiful things, some of the some things that friends have said, like, oh, she's so cringy posting. Yeah, I have to. I don't have a choice. I'm I'm taking it in my own hands and I'm gonna make this happen. And and when you do that, sometimes you have to do things that are uncomfortable or cringy to other people. But but you one thing I I really notice and observe about you is that when you know something is gonna work, you lock in, right? So like let's talk about Hambino Athletics. Yeah. Talk to us about that. What is that? How that starts the whole idea? Because it's a it's a clothing company, right? Just clothing.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. So I mean Hambino Athletics has kind of turned into Hambino Media, which is the production company that that I run with Kyle. Um, and so we our first project is Dugout Dads, which we just finished. Um and yeah, Hambino Athletics is a a fun sort of athleisure line um that you know uh just you know has has some fun um images on there that we created and some different like you know signed things that if people want it. Right. But I mean, and I and I love that, but a more it was more the beginning of ambienom media for me. It was kind of phase one of it. And that's that's what I really love. I I you know I didn't take a step back from acting because I was failing or didn't like it. It just I was more interested in my wife and having a family and you know, um really at least supporting that phase of my life life financially, and acting wasn't necessarily doing it to the level I wanted. Um but my love has always been creating you know art through you know motion picture or television or whatever. So I I would say, yeah, you know, Hambino Media is what it's become, and doing it with Kyle is really rewarding. And I can't imagine, yeah. And we have a few things we're developing, and you know, we might do a podcast too, so you might might see us out there. But uh that yeah, that is um just my passion. So we're we're leaning into it.
SPEAKER_00I love that so much. Um, so from when that was created to now, like what are some of the things because it really blew up like over so what I noticed is it kind of blew up over COVID, right? Because that was the 25 year or whenever the 25 year anniversary for the sandlot happened.
SPEAKER_0225 was 2018. Right before COVID, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right before COVID. It was like right before I think that that was right when I met Marty, something like that. And yeah, I watched this whole thing, and it started with you, I think you put it out during COVID, right? That like big Zoom thing you did with Dodgers, yes. And I really believe that sparked a lot of everything because it was so even for me, right? Like you were one of my best friends growing up. Marty's one of my best friends. I mean, Chauncey and I were so close. And I'm still watching it like emotional, you know. That's like and that's really the charm and power of the Sandlaw. And specifically you, you know, who yes, I understand, like I I mean, I've changed my face a little bit, but like I also j generally look like you know, the redhead I was in the 90s too, and it's like a thing you carry for your whole life, you know. But you found a way to give, I don't know how many people, but just uh if I'm thinking of all the boys, you know, an experience in their adulthood to come back all together to be together and act again. I'm gonna cry. I'm gonna cry. Oh my god, leave me around. No, it's you know, it's so crazy.
SPEAKER_02It was really cool. I a lot of it.
SPEAKER_00Can you walk me through a little just tell me like the inception of it? It's your creator, right? Yeah, okay, and Kyle, of course.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I mean people always ask about the Sandlot and what it means to us. Like, do our kids watch it, this and that? And it's kind of a funny answer because I don't think our kids do watch it the way other kids watch it, you know, because it sandlot to us doesn't mean the same as it does to everyone else.
unknownOf course, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, for me, that similar experience would be like the Goonies, you know. Like I remember showing my kid the Goonies for the first time and he loved it. And that that's that experience for me, the movie that I watched on a rainy day, and you know, uh Cindy Lauper, the song, you know. Um is it Cindy Lauper? That's who it is, right?
SPEAKER_00I think it, yeah, I know what you're talking about, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but like so that that's kind of our experience. But for Samlot, and I don't mean that Samlot isn't as special to us because it's equally as special to us, but what is the special part for us is the actual filming, right? The behind the scenes, it's the memories on set with each other, it's the things we did offset because we you could only work eight hours a day. So, you know, you sleep 10 hours, there's you know, what is that? Uh, there's another six hours that you can party and get in trouble and avoid it. Totally, and there's the whole weekend. I'm pretty sure we had the whole weekend off. So uh it's those memories. It's like Chauncey and Brandon taking me shopping for new clothes, going to the movies, you know, swimming in the pool at the hotel.
SPEAKER_00What'd you buy with Chauncey and Brandon?
SPEAKER_02Oh god, cross colors because crisscross was huge, so they made me buy cross color shorts, and I had never spent so much money on a pair of shorts as I did on cross colors.
SPEAKER_00Okay, wait, I have I have to tell you something funny. So Chauncey and I did a movie together when we were I must have already known you, like 15 or something in Canada, right? And I don't know why they allowed for this, but like this is the epitome of the 90s, you guys. They rented hotel rooms for four months. Each mom had their own room, and each kid had their own room.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00It was me, Chauncey, and this other kid named Tony. We were like 15, 16. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on at that age, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then our own hotel rooms was they were crazy, you know. But um anyway, I wanted to tell that story. But um, yeah, it's the it's the it's the in-between stuff. I've also like w I've I've traveled with a lot of you guys at the signings and stuff too, and like the friends are all really real. It's it's a very real thing that you guys have. So tell me, how did you come up with dugout dads? Because obviously I know you can't do the sandlot, and and you did you want it to be a completely different thing than the sandlot?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, I mean, my here's my view on Sandlot and sequels is okay. I I wouldn't want to touch it, you know. Um, I know that there were VHS sequels that came out, but we don't care. Oh yeah, I I don't I forget about those. Exactly. Um but I think you know, the director of Sandlot, David Mickey Evans, he was the writer, director, narrator, he was everything. Like he he made something really special. And you know, he wrote Radio Flyer. So this dude is a talented guy.
SPEAKER_00What a gift he's given the world.
SPEAKER_02And I love the way that karate kidd did it with um whatever that, you know, the uh Cobra Kai Cobra Kai. Yeah, because it's sort of not messing with the original IP, but you know, it's sort of living in the same world.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02I still think doing Sandlot, I just don't see it. I know they tried to do it. I don't I don't see it. I wouldn't want to do it just in case it wasn't good. You know, you don't want to ruin it. And these kind of things can ruin it. Um you know what I mean? Like they have to be so careful unless you unless you make it better. And if you make it better, then you're like, oh, like Top Gun was Maverick was better. So you're like a good job. But there's only like a few of those that did that, you know. So I personally would wouldn't want to do it. Uh the way dug up dads came about is I was coaching my kids' little league team, and I started to notice how serious the parents took it, myself included. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get in a few arguments with other parents, umpires, all sorts of things. What a full circle, too. Yeah, my kid was in the final, the uh it was the you know, the it was him and one other team for their league, and they lost in the finals. And I remember all the parents, we had this crazy season. We were so we loved each other, it was so epic. We're all crying, hugging each other. I'm gonna miss you. Oh my god. And I look out on the field, and five seconds after the kids lost, they're just playing tag, they couldn't care less. And I'm like, this needs to be a show, the parents care more. So the log line of our show is the kids play baseball, the parents play for blood. So it's like, you know, it's just about that sort of little league parenting. Yeah. Um, and I always thought it was a funny idea, and Kyle and I were tossing it around. One day I probably have just seen the Sandlock guys. I came into the office with Kyle and I said, Okay, I got or you know the little league parents, but the Sandlock guys are the parents, and we went, That's a show. That's a we started developing it, and you know, Kyle is like the guy's worked on so many TV shows, so he has yeah, I don't know anything about what he's like since he's like 20. I know he, I mean, he was so successful in his 20s and 30s, and so he has all he knows all these writers and all the all these talented people. So proud of him. Yeah, we we called uh Sebastian Jones, who wrote on Friends for eight seasons, and Dan Koppelman, or Sebastian then got Dan Koppelman, who wrote on five seasons of um oh god, I can't believe we're forgetting it. Uh it just had a remake. Um uh like everything. Oh, I know. No, uh geez, hold on, I gotta get this right. Um, it's a huge show. I can't believe it. I'm blanking. I literally 12-hour days for six days.
SPEAKER_00It's yeah, I know I can't imagine.
SPEAKER_02It's been crazy. Um Malcolm in the Middle. So Malcolm in the Middle! Yeah, so okay. Both of these guys are you know, been in big rooms. Yeah, Kyle worked with um with Sebastian on My Boys, too, which was probably his longest-running show. So we got them. Dan Coleman's a huge baseball fan. Uh, Sebastian is you know just a fantastic writer. Um, so they kind of put a little writer's room together and wrote these nine short form uh you know comedy episodic series. So we don't know the end, you know, they'll be somewhere between eight and ten minutes long. Okay.
SPEAKER_00How many?
SPEAKER_02Nine. Oh, nine. Okay. We shot nine of them. Wow. Um, and Kyle then brought on this director, Victor Nelly, who knows half of Hollywood. You know, I mean, these guys, like, they're kind of legends, you know. They're like they've been around, they know everyone. Victor got the uh this director of photography, Michael Price, who you know got this incredible camera team. Like a fellow DP of his was a camera operator, like a DP, like a huge, like these. So we just had this amazing, crazy team. Everyone knew, everyone knew what the assignment was. It was you know, a week of work basically for free. I mean paid, but you know, nothing going home about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um is just that just takes it over the edge.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's I was born. And through the developing, I was like, guys, I really think we need to um we need to have like a home life for me to sort of ground it and we can cut back and forth. So I'll be, you know, and I've known Danielle for a while, and I kind of I did her podcast and I was like, gosh, she is still so funny. Uh and then we were kind of developing some stuff with her, but then I we just asked her and she's like, Yeah. I was like, Will you play my wife in this? Um, and the number one comment is can't believe the Sandler guys are back. Number two comment is can't believe to Pangas in this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can't believe Ham's with Toba or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Well, the number three comment is only in the movies does Ham get Topanga. And I'm like, I'm keeping it alive.
SPEAKER_00Uh well, I'm here to tell the audience he gets to penga in real life, too. So shut the fuck up about my friends.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, my wife's quite a to penga anyway. You're you're the British call it the British call it punching above your weight class. It's called punching for little men out there.
SPEAKER_00Also, your kids are stunning, and I want to ask you real quick. So there was a commercial that just came out with you and your boy, yeah, which oh my god, I mean it's all just too much.
SPEAKER_02It's like I just opened a Coogan account for him. Can you believe it?
SPEAKER_00Stop it. And you actually put money in it for him.
SPEAKER_02Well, you have to.
SPEAKER_00Well, there's ways around it, actually.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, I I well, I don't know these ways.
SPEAKER_00Sadly, my my yeah, sadly. So if you incorporate your child, they become a business and no longer a human. And if they're a minor, they can't be an officer of the company, like as a secretary, treasurer, president, vice president.
SPEAKER_02My god, don't tell the world this. Stop doing it. That's terrible.
SPEAKER_00I'll cut it out. I'll I'll edit that up. But anyway, that's what my mom did to me. That's how she got everything. I'll remember to edit all that up.
SPEAKER_02Leave it in.
SPEAKER_00Or please, I mean, it's all out there anyway. It's not like it's a hidden thing.
SPEAKER_02It's on you world. Don't do it to your kids.
SPEAKER_00Don't do that to your kids. And also, like, always let your kids tell you that they want to be doing it. Um, so my obvious curiosity is does your boy like it? Like, is it something that excites him?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he he loved it. Okay. It was the most stressful day uh for me on set ever.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just because I'm there as an actor, and we have three kids, so my wife is watching the other two, so I was actor and guardian.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um my gosh. Did he have a big role in it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02It was me and him.
SPEAKER_00Is he good? Is he good?
SPEAKER_02Oh, oh, you mean in Dugout Dads? He's not in Dug Out Dads.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay, okay. Oh, in the commercial. Yeah, okay. You're talking about the commercial. I see what you mean. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I there's no way I made him my kid in Dug Out Dad's. I wouldn't have been able to do it.
SPEAKER_00You wouldn't have been able to handle it, no.
SPEAKER_02No, and I had to sit him down. I'd be like, just so you know, the reason you're not playing my kid in this is not because of you, it's because of me. I can't, I wouldn't be able to do it. And he's like, okay. He's like, he he does some of the extra scenes with his buddies.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Because we filmed it at his little league. So I know all the the guys, and we rented the field, and so I got that little league out there, and all all the all of his teammates played, and they had fun.
SPEAKER_00And how how much are the other guys like how much can we expect to see the other guys in it?
SPEAKER_02I mean, Shonsey plays my assistant coach, so he's you know, throughout Brandon Adams, Grant Gelt, and um who else and Marty play other coaches in the same league, and then uh Tom Guyrie plays the commissioner, and he's fucking fantastic. Um they're all great, but yeah, you know, I forgot how good of actors they all are. Like the scene with me and Brandon, I'm like, holy shit, dude, I forgot how talented you are. Yeah, he's you know, with all of them, he's so good.
SPEAKER_00All of you guys. I mean, Chauncey's incredible. Well, this was the story I was gonna tell real quick. I don't want to forget because you talked about spending all that money on the the crisscross. So when we got to Canada, the very first thing Chauncey wanted to do, the second we got our per diem, and I remember like his mom gave him all his per diem or something. I'm like, Mom, can I have mine? She's like, No, you're in a different situation. I'm like, oh but he took it was like $250, and he like came back and he had like the brand new like Nike Dunks or whatever it was, like like popping right at that moment. And I'm like, who are you?
SPEAKER_02You are so he was a Chauncey is very fashionable.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I mean Chauncey really put me up on a lot of fashion music, they people really thought he was like squint, he was not squints in real life. I'll tell you that. No, no, no, no, no. He's always been the coolest of all of us, really.
SPEAKER_02He's all tatted up now, and yeah, yeah, and then Victor and Shane uh have a real fun part. Uh they kind of are in it together, you know.
SPEAKER_00Oh, the brothers, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But there's no if it it's its own story, it's yeah, it's an original idea, and um just with the boys, the guys perfect.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I hope my hope would be that people love it and we can just continue to make this show, right? You know, it's not that I wouldn't do a sand lot, but again, it it can it worries me. I don't, you know, because I see how much it means to people, and I'm like, I don't want to ruin it.
SPEAKER_00Like right. Yeah, I mean, I've it's been such a conversation about Alex Mac too, and we, you know, we were actually running all over town doing pitch meetings and for a couple years, and it looked like it was gonna go. And for whatever reason, things happen in the universe, it is what it is, but you know, to your point, thinking back, it's such you know, it it's it's perfection in the way it is, and we most likely would fuck it up if we tried to do it again. And you figured out a way to bring back that nostalgia because really I think what the fans are craving is just to see us together. You know, they get so much joy, even just when we post pictures together or we events or whatever it is. So I think that what you did in creating this dugout dads, just to see all of you guys together as an ad as adults is gonna be um a very special thing. A very special thing. What's life? Okay, outside of all of that, um, and then I have a final question to ask you what is what's life like?
SPEAKER_02Like just what's normal life like for I mean three kids, um, but you know, we live life for our kids now, and it's it's great, but you know, uh it's sneaking in those moments. You know, my wife and I will just sit and have a cup of coffee and be like, oh yeah, I forgot it's so fun to just talk to each other, we barely do it anymore. Um, but it's amazing, you know, like it's it's and no matter if you have kids or you don't, Kyle and I we want to do a reality television show about each other because we live polar opposite lives. Like I mean, we're I'm half kidding, but you know, he's you know, doesn't have kids, doesn't want kids. If if he's not working, he's in Zion in his sprinter van, or you know, building schools for for kids, or you know, volunteering in my in Malibu to fix after the fires, or like he's such a good dude and just lives that different lifestyle. So yeah, he's like scaling, you know, half dome in Yosemite, and I'm like changing a diaper while my other kids like laughing at me, you know, and it's just those those polar opposite lives. And I think we really compliment each other. But for me, yeah, I have you know, my son, my oldest is nine, uh, my middle child six, and we have a one-year-old daughter now. She just turned one three days ago. Um, yeah, thanks. So we're just you know getting by with them and yeah, and now how long have you been married now? 20 years this October. What? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This October. What what's the date?
SPEAKER_02October 6th. Jeez, I shouldn't have I shouldn't have had a hesitation there.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, it's fine, just because my birthday is the fourth. So you're um, just so you know, your marriage is the Libra.
SPEAKER_02Oh, great, good, perfect.
SPEAKER_00So you're right on track. Um I'm gonna ask you the same question I ask everybody as we kind of close up the interview here. Um, and it's an interesting one because it means something to you know, something different to everybody, but especially because of what you've just done and everything. You know, I named the show We're Still Here, babe. The babe is Natanya. I get it, you know. But um you know, thank you. Uh but I think a lot of people either think I'm dead or you know, like I died of an OD a long time ago, or whatever, and it's just kind of like we're still here, all of us. We're still here, you know. So with you, somebody who's so active, and like I said, somebody who really knows how to take the matters into their own hands and create art for not just yourself but your friends. I take notice of that. That's really beautiful, you know. So when you hear we're still here, what does that mean to you?
SPEAKER_02I think you said it wonderfully, you know. Uh whether people are still doing it or they're they're not, you know. Um I think you know, the tough thing about this day and age is everything is so readily available. And you know, when we were kids the one thing that I've that I always remind myself is when you meet people in person, 99 out of a hundred are sweethearts, and even that one out of a hundred is just having a bad day, you know what I mean? Like, and I truly believe that like that people are innately good, and it's so easy to hide behind keyboards and things like that. And you know, it's funny too, like you mentioned comments and things. I don't read them because I don't care. And if I do read them, I would care, so I just try not to, but Half of the time it's it's bots anyway. And that's the real thing you have to remember is the real the the the sad thing is this like this sort of um the big companies or the media or the people that are pitting each other against each other, it's not true, it's fake.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02You know, we we don't live in this massive polarized world. I have not sat down with people and not been able to come to a common agreement, no matter for what side we're both on. I just remind myself that that everyone I meet in person is is really good. And and even if I meet someone completely on the opposite side of me on something, we still find a happy ground. And you know, so I know that's not really an answer to we're still here, but I think no, it's a perfect answer, really. I think that's kind of the point of we're still here, is like people did it, they don't do it anymore, some do, and everyone is, you know. You know, a lot of people ask about Mike Vitar, Benny. Where is he? Oh, why isn't he doing it? Because he doesn't want to. Yeah, it's that fucking simple. Once he left line. We've asked him, and I had an email with him just the other day, and he was so polite and kind to me. He just doesn't want to, and that's okay. Yeah, he's allowed to not want to, right. Um and I just I think that's just an important thing to remember that you don't know what people are thinking or why they're doing it, and you just have to remember that. And that uh yeah, there's there's a lot of people just around, you know, living life and trying to make the best of it.
SPEAKER_00So I agree. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I know how busy you are, I know how busy all of us are. It just means the world, and you were one of my absolute favorite friends growing up, like truly, you know. And those were the days, huh?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. Your apartment, you had all the rabiers.
SPEAKER_00We did. We smoked well, I smoked cigs in the bathroom, and you were like, You should stop doing that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we were we probably kinda were the healthy ones, but we might have slept a few years later. So we're not we're not pretty yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_00But I was I was the wild child that you guys had to say.
SPEAKER_02For sure you were, but we loved it. And you took good care of me, and I'm just you were always kind to everyone though, and you still are, you know.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you for saying that. I I try, I really it's so important. It's free. There's nothing cooler than being kind, truly. It's true. And now the whole world knows what a sweetie Pat Renna is. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02Got me. Well, thank you for having me on. This is great.
SPEAKER_00Of course. All right. I love you.
SPEAKER_02Love you.
SPEAKER_00We're still here, babe. It's proudly sponsored by Moon Glade Recovery Community. You guys know how loud I am about mental health. It is one of the most important things that we have to take care of, and I will forever advocate for it. Moon Glade Recovery Community is a clinician-owned and operated, highly structured, luxury mental health primary and substance abuse primary, outpatient treatment community. We say community, you guys, because honestly, the opposite of loneliness is connection. And connection is so important in the process of treatment. Moon Glade is an art and nature influenced program, providing heavy clinical and trauma-focused mental health programming, and that's the good stuff, you guys. Getting into that trauma, releasing it. It's located in Gora Hills, California. Moon Glade is nestled in the hills close to Malibu, Calabasas, and Thousand Oaks. It's gorgeous. But most importantly, if you or anybody you know is looking for information about mental health or substance abuse treatment, intensive group therapy, andor individual therapy, please contact Moon Glade Recovery Community. Their phone number is 213-398-9379. And the rest of their information is on our website. It's an oral form of NAD that underwent a double blind randomized controlled study, proving that it gets to your cells by 53% in five days. From the healthiest of people to the toughest of cases, NAD Plus is proving to make a difference in physical function, energy levels, and cognitive in people's everyday lives, really. The cost is way more effective than clinic IV infusions. The powder is your restore and the lozenges are your maintenance. So check out intramitocell.com to contact a team member for more information or questions on the product. And all the information will be on our website. And again, thank you so much for listening to another episode of We're Still Here, Babe, hosted by me, Natanya Ross.