Table for TwoLike many great actors, Jeff Goldblum has the gift of gab. It’s no surprise, then, that a few lightning round questions become a full-on performance for the exuberant actor, who joins AIR MAIL contributor and host Bruce Bozzi on this week’s Table for Two to share his favorite books, his favorite first date, and why his superpower of choice wouldn’t be something you'd find in the Marvel Universe.
Hey everyone, thank you for joining me for this bonus episode of Table for two.
We're back.
This week's Lightning Round is with the one and only Jeff Gobloom. A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of having lunch together at the Sunset Tower Bar. He is one of the most interesting, charming and stylish men in Hollywood, and our lunch.
Was a wild ride in the best possible way.
I'm excited for you to pull up a chair and hear the rest of our conversation soon, but today we wanted to give you a little taste with some quick fire questions. I asked Jeff at the end of our meal. I hope you enjoy this little bonus from our conversation, and we'll be back next week with another full episode. So, in this new sort of Lightning Rounder, question is mister gone Bloom we are going to do this cab uber or subway.
Cab or in New York, in New York specifically. Yeah, it's good. You should have seen me. Just did you know? How do you?
So?
You must cook too?
I cooked like a good steak, I have like a dish. I was going to ask who cooks in your house? Is it you Emily.
Emily does and now she's posting some you know, speeded up things. Sometimes where she's she shows you her her recipe.
Oh she I love her cooking.
She made waffles this morning that I was just crazy that I take one quarter of those the kids to have. But yeah, I took a quarter and some some French butter. She's a kind of connoisseurrup and some syrup.
And I was very happy. And then Charlie made my coffee. But she she cooks nicely.
I don't do much, although I must tell you today I cooked myself an egg.
You did.
Oftentimes she has cooked it. But I've realized I'm getting to be persnicketty in particular, and so I just about the heat and the everything, and I think I know what to do, so I could. I've done many different scrambled things through the earth these days. One egg fried, and I take a spoonful of minced garlic and with some butter, and I start that and then I bink, I crack it into the pan and then shredded cheese.
Today I think it was some kind of Mozilla.
It might have been schaeddared cheese sprinkling on top, salt, and pepper just at the right time, flip it over more cheese, take it out just at the right time, eat it immediately when it's hot.
I was very very happy.
And then I've got no bread.
I wouldn't mind a piece of bread and some you know, toast, but I had a little oatmeal on the side. That's my carb of choice. I think it's the more wise carb choice.
And it can be very nice. I like it.
Yeah, some blueberries and then some fresh squeezed orange juice. The difference between fresh squeezed and not fresh squeezed vast, yes, vast, and the monsieur like fresh squeeze terrifically I can be excited about.
The orange juices are deeply just one. And then uh yeah, that was it. And then I got a couple of.
Hot sauces, a green kind of saltsup in a bottle that I like a lot, and this other thing that they gave me it highly likely place in Highland Park, and they gave me that hot sauce.
I put those on the side. I was very very happy.
We wearing a robe when you did all this.
Oh interesting, what was I wearing? Well?
At this point, you know, I was already dressed for my workout. So I had my my shoes, my you know, my workout shoes. Yeah, and my shorts and a little T shirt.
So that was it. But I do like robes.
Yeah, I picture you in a robe.
I like robes a lot.
I currently I tried to keep my collection pruned to a something minimal and right now.
I still have the robe that.
Wes Anderson gave the cast from Grand Budapest Hotel. It's in those color schemes, you know, he's a master of It's pink and purple with the Grand Budapest Hotel logo there. It's Terry Clark and kind of nice for warmth. And I have this sort of lighter thing that I pull out if it's really warm. I just want something to you. Yeah, stature, you just you know, thank you.
Yeah.
I like I like a robe.
Okay now yeah robe. Yeah, so you're going to do our speed round?
Okay?
Oh we didn't got Buber subway.
Uber in New York Uber Sway or well.
I've I've had scenes in the subway. I've been filmed on the subway. Even in a Jurassic Park Lost World, I have a scene in a subway. I don't think it's in New York and I've been on the subway, you know these days. You know, cabs I've had, but I've had a lot of experiences with cabs in the rain and can't get a cab and da da da go you're walking blocks to get a cab. Hey, this this you know, car on demand idea. It's very exciting to me.
I like it.
Call it up and let's go.
We're going to super hopping into oobs. Okay, okay, ideal first.
Date, ideal first date. That's funny you should say that.
Well, of course, I can only think now nowadays about my first date with the lovely Emily Go. And you know I met her at Equinox right here, right on sunset.
Yes, I love that.
You know I was. I had a membership at the time.
She was doing her morning but speaking of sliding doors and what might have been if not for her sister had a baby that day and she would have been at the gym like she usually is later in the day, but she was up because of the the aby came and she I may as well go to the gym, So she coincide with me in my early morning workout and sure enough, I saw her doing some amazing things.
And walk walkie talkie talkie talking.
Wait wait, so she was walking walking you no, no.
I walked up to her.
She was doing some skin the cats, you gymnast people will notice and tiktoks, you know, some things where nobody else can do.
And I said, what do you do it?
What?
What is this?
Who are you?
Et cetera, et cetera, and so, and then shortly after, oh, I know, she said, oh, you know, I'm doing some performing tonight.
If you want to come see me dance. I was like, yes, I'm I'm coming.
So I drove uncharacteristically, it was kind of lateish and I drove and got myself there.
Boy the heart, Yeah yeah, yeah. She was fantastic.
And is that this? I was quite done, Like you know, when it's right, it's right.
Well, who knows, you know?
I mean, if time is the malleable thing that we think it may be, and there's no such thing as the continuum that it seems on the clock, then it was already now, and we'd already had two kids, and the seeds of what might have been were already in the oak tree. Then the acorn was in the oak tree. So yes, it's something in me, maybe some molecule in some part of me. It got excited about. Yeah, I see the whole thing. And then the first day, so then that was kind of a first day. Then I went to see her dance. And then a couple of days later I was playing in the jazz gig. I said, you come and watch.
Me, and.
One thing led to another and we started to play that song from Fabulous Baker Boys, you know, another gin, and she got up on top of my grand piano and did a kind of an amazing routine spontaneously. That's kind of an extended part of this first date. And then I said, hey, come over, and I don't know what I say. Come over, you know, we'll work on a monologue or something like that. I don't know, and knock knock. And at that point the story gets fuzzy because now what it really is is the trigger for this joke that just keeps happening. She never seems to tire of it, and the kids seemed to get a kick out of it. Where I say, here's what happened. I keep retelling what happened when she first knocked on the door and came over the house my version, and every time it's different.
Is something that she did that was that was wildly aggressive and and you.
Know she's a nikiva and when saying something rippeled and you know, whenever, instead of you know, you know she said, you know, that's what she said, it's like, that's what you said when you first came over. That's always the joke. So I've told that joke a thousand times and that's our first date. Really now just the vehicle for this joke, this recurring joke.
Yeah, I love that. Charlie and River get a kick out of it, and they do.
Yes, And we keep saying, Charlie, what's true? She says, She keeps sayings as robustly.
As she ever did.
Know, why would I say that? I couldn't have said do? I seem like the kind of race says that. Then I say, Charlie River, who's right? And either always shad Mama, No, you're allow you know, et cetera, et cetera.
You know, I think that the sliding doors, that's life. Life is sliding doors. Yes, you don't know. Whenever you don't know, you take a right, you take a left.
Chaos theory yes, if not for a butterfly flapping its wings, we wouldn't have, you know, A Man on the Moon.
Yeah, okay, favorite book.
Ooh hey, good question. Well I've enjoyed through the years. Well, listen to this. We were just talking about Emily.
You know what I did on my real first date, kind of if you call it, when I said, hey, let's go to restaurant. Let's I'm going to take you to dinner. We went to some restaurant and I start I had it in my pocket or I started to read her The Great Gatsby, which she'd never read, and over the course of that night and several others, I read her the whole book. So that is so I do love that books, and that's it's a special place. And of course I love I've I like to read out a loud, so I've read her. Yeah, you know Catcher in the Rhyme, which I like.
I like PG.
Woodhouse, you know, I've read all like all of PG. Woodhouse, you know, I like to read that. You know, one hundred Years of Solitude and Love of the time. Cholera awful good these days, you know, I like Michael Shabbin. I think that's how he pronounces it. And I just read Mister of Pittsburgh, and do you ever read that? And I just read and I saw her reading it today because I gave her my copy of and I read some aloud to her. But she's kind of going, we don't get so much time as you can imagine these days where I can sit down and say, let's spend another couple of hours and I'll read you the next two chapters. And so she's reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Schabban, which I got a big kick out of, kind of noir thing.
Yeah, I think i've ever heard someone reading to somebody.
I like that. It's very romantic and it's really kind of great to be lost in someone else's voice and telling of a story in someone of your caliber.
Who is now he's giving a smirk, like, who me caliber?
Yeah, but you know, I'll tell you who's a good reader. Is Emily Boy What an actor she is? Yes, because every night we read out loud to the kids. But really she I read some, but mostly she reads me in French and in English. She's a great reader, and she plays all the parts and it's very fun. Yeah, it's fantastic.
I got your house is fun?
Oh yeah, and okay, good haircut, bright the way, thank you.
The worst part about fame, about fame, about fame.
Let me see, let me see.
Why did you know you were famous?
Well, sometimes I'm not famous, you know, case by case basis. Oh sure, somebody said, as a matter of fact. At the super Bowl, this woman who she'll remain nameless, was in our group and said, oh, you know, I have this show. I'm kind of a I have a news show locally in San Francisco. Who do you think is going to win? What's your prediction?
I said, I don't know. If I went away in that what's the color of the gatorade?
At the end of the thing, I said, okay, turn on your iPhone because that's what you want to do, and I'll give you something and you can do it. And she said, okay, this is so and so from W and so so and I'm here with Jeff Goldberg and Jeff and I said, okay.
Keep it rolling, you know, but I can I maybe it's impolite, but can I just correct you? It's it's actually gold bloom.
And then she was she got oh, let's start again, let's tell you so that I said, that's okay, you could have put that on the air. But anyway, so people know me a little bit or not much or not at all, or you know, as a matter of fact, listen to this. I'll tell you something. I kind of like, did you say the is this question the worst part of the worst part there could be? Well, i'll tell you it all came home today. I was I can't tell you what establishment. We were looking into a new kind of thing to do and place to go and U in La today Emily and I were talking.
We said, like a general thing to do something new and it was a.
Particular kind of club or something something of something. Because we got to talking and I said, hey, you know who was talking about that? And she said, hey, that's a great idea. Let's let's go all them, right And I said okay. And I was a little bit happy once again because I thought, hey, I can help this situation.
Because sometimes when I call, and I do it in a I think a.
Gracious and elegant way where I say Hi, how are you this Jeff Goldblum. So I say I say hi, they say they answer, I say Hi, this is Jeff Goldblum, how are you? I think, I say, wanting to pass by quickly, but I do say my name, and sometimes, as we know, for for good or ill, if it makes people sick, I understand completely.
But and I probably shouldn't have been.
Accept the steps that I sometimes get to pass through quickly.
But anyway, I don't mind it.
And so and so sometimes people go, oh, let's help you with her restaurant or whatever it is in this case today, and so I like that part of it. It's and I don't it's it's it's it's kind of yiky, But at the same time, I don't mind it.
If I can go, hey, Emily, let me help you. I think we'll be.
Taken care of a little better. That's a great part, and we'll have a little magical moment. Somebody will be happy and we'll be taken care of, and the whole thing I think. I like that.
There's many examples of that. When it doesn't this, I think this person said hell.
They were already kind of hello, no, no, no, kind of perfunctory, if that's the right word.
I say, hello, this is Jeff Goldwam. How are you? They said, fine, I went on.
We're realizing immediately this was not the open says to me that I hoped, and they they said, I said, yes, well let me ask you is it in a question question? And they maintained the same level of of you know, aloofness, and and then we put down the phone and it didn't ruin the whole thing.
I was like, yeah, yeah, well we may pursue this, but gee, that didn't. And then I assess it.
I kind of did a recap of the whole thing with Emily, and I went, well, here's what I was, here's what we got, this is what they seemed they were going through, this is who it seemed like they were, and.
Maybe they were thinking this, et cetera, et cetera. So that's a boring story.
Anyway story because it's like you don't know what you go further into it.
But yeah, it was. It interested us, and it really was about this whole thing. Right.
It's funny because when you realize something doesn't land the way you think it's going to land, like you try to us to see if you can lift it up again, and then you're like, okay, this is not going in.
Okay, and then okay, we'll wrap it up with.
These are so easily stimulated. There's about everything. None of them interested. Okay, this will be my final. They're all interesting. Superpower you wish you had.
Super power?
Superpower?
Wow?
Right, Well, off the top of my head.
A little bit on the piggybacking on the last story, which is really the upshot for me of that story. It's like, hey, Buster, talking to myself. Take it easy.
You know, who do you think you are? After all? So really, I mean that's the upshot of that last story.
No matter how much fun Emily and I might have had, you know, busting ourselves over, here's what I expected, here's what we didn't get, and look how the world is really. I mean, here's one answer. If I had a superpower, it would.
Be all right, put this to be.
Oh boy, to be at you know, at a moment's you know, on a dime, devoid of which sounds too high falutin to call it ego, but you know, attachment to one thing or another, whether it's my own identity short lived and fleeting as we know, and you know, superficial identity.
Uh, it would be that something in that vein. I don't want to sound too high fallutin.
But really a kind of a larger perspective, the superpower of having on demand a very available the largest kind of perspective, and and and and and we're not even necessarily talking about something necessarily spiritual or high fallutint. Let's just call it what what in the same in the same adjacent to what juve All Harari talks about, which is just, hey, as a homo sapien, here's where we've come from. Uh, this is who we are, and what's the best what's the best that we can do? That that's a pretty good I mean, human beings are really possessed of the potential of real superpower and it's sort of in that area of of being conscious. Let's call it anyway, that's my real answer. I mean, instead of instead of something stupid like em shore invisible or my arms could stretch, you know, around the corner by myself.
We hit a wild ride today with you, sir. Thank you very much, Thank you very very much.
I appreciate it.
Table for two with Bruce Bosi is produced by iHeartRadio seven three seven Park and Airmail. Our executive producers are Bruce Bosi, Nathan King, our supervising producer, and editor is Dylan Fagan.
Table for two is researched and written by Jack Sullivan. Our sound engineers our Meil B. Klein, Jess Krainich, Evan Taylor, and Jesse Funk. Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our talent booking is done by Jane Sark. Table for two Social media manager is Gracie Wiener.
Special thanks to Amy Sugarman, Uni Sharer, Kevin Uvane, Bobby Bauer, Alison Kanter, Graber, Barbara Jen, Jeff Klein, and the staff at the Tower Bar in the world famous Sunset Tower Hotel in Hollywood. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
