The Dan Patrick ShowESPN NBA analyst Cory Alexander questions Tyrese Haliburton's energy in game 5 and shouts out players such as Rip Hamilton and Larry Johnson for his "Hall of Very Good." CBS Sports NFL analyst Ross Tucker shares why he believes Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh are under lots of pressure this season and discusses why Mike McDaniel could be fired if the Dolphins have another down year. Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston confirms the "Malcolm in the Middle" revival and shares the traits that give people the best chance to become movie stars.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio Nixon Pacers Saturday night in Indiana.
The Knicks are four point underdogs. Corey Alexander been doing a great job calling the action on ESPN Radio. He's a college basketball analyst as well, played seven seasons in the NBA, and he'll continue his coverage tomorrow night, game six, starting at seven thirty Eastern on the mother Ship. Corey, the level of concern for Pacer fans Pacer players is what in your opinion.
I believe it's probably about a five on a scale of one to ten right now, Dan, And the reason being is because you know, Tyre's Halliburton was so lacadamsically and the last night's game, and it's something that we've seen from Tyre's Halliburton throughout his playoff career the last two seasons, and you don't there's no reason. There's really no rhythm to it. It's just some days he's not the same player. Especially coming off of historic performance thirty two, fifteen and twelve with zero turnovers in Game five, you would expect it to see him be more aggressive on the road.
They didn't see that.
But I do believe he will see it tomorrow night in game six, which that's why the concern is only a five.
I don't know if this is a big deal. It felt like somebody was or some people are trying to make it a big deal. Pascal Siakam postgame said they played harder than the Pacers, Like you can say they executed better, but in a game five with a chance to go to the NBA Finals, a team played harder than you.
But it was the case.
He told the truth, and oftentimes you know that that's the thing we asked players to be honest.
He told the truth, and the mix did play harder. The misplayed with.
A sense of urgency and a sense of desperation, and the Pacers played as though they knew they had another opportunity to be able to close out on their home floor in a game six. And Pascal Siakam was spot on. The Knicks did play harder. It may not be something that you want to hear from your teammate in the locker room, but at the same time, everybody in a locker room that was part of that game to look at each other at high and say it's absolute truth.
The next day and play harder than we did tonight.
Tougher to defend Halliburton or Brunson.
Tougher to defend Brunton. And the reason being is because Brunson, regardless of the whether he's making shots, he's missing shots, whatever may be, he is constantly going to stay aggressive. He's going to continue to come at you every opportunity he gets. And more importantly, jleb Brunson, it doesn't matter who's on the floor, he'd be playing with Michael Jordan. And when it's all said and done, when Jayleonn Brunton steps on the basketball court, he thinks he's the best player on the court, and he was last night.
Yeah, I'm fascinated by just his style. It's relentless. He just keeps coming, you know, it's it's all. It's always going forward and I love that. I just don't know the rest. You know, Karl Anthony Towns played pretty well. Seemed pretty mobile for a guy that was you know, I guess had a questionable knee going into that game last night.
Yeah, he was very mobile.
And when you consider Karl Anthony Towns and he really gets his opportunities to.
Start the second quarter, start the fourth quarter, when.
Jalen Brunt's on the bench, but with the new starting lineup that Timbs has employed over the last three games, Jalen doesn't have as much spacing, which makes the three point field goal so much more important for him. He got off to a hot start, knocking down threes in that first quarter, fourteen first quarter points. I believe he had sixteen in the third quarter. I'm not sure if he scored in the second or the fourth, But when you think about the second the fourth along the cat they have a great rotation in the way that they're doing things offensively, and they work in game five. The problem is the Pacers know that. Will it be able to work for the Knicks in game six on the road?
Why is it you think we in the media try to fast track somebody to be face of the pace of the sport or the next great players. Is he a superstar? A lot of these players were talking about are twenty three to twenty seven years of age. It's like, we don't give you that grace period before you know, Michael Jordan had a grace period, and you know Bird and Magic, everybody kind of got a grace period. We don't let these younger players now, and like Cooper Flagg coming in, how long is his grace period before we say, I don't know, can you win win a title here? Why do we do it?
We do it because and Dan, you've been in this industry much longer than I have, believe it or not.
I was with you in the gym. I believe it's.
Concord Athletic Club back in San Antonio getting shots up back in the day.
So you've been doing this for a long time.
And the difference is I can say that my company, you know, or our company be it at Disney, is going to pay two point eight billion dollars next year for rights at the NBA, which means that it's not about the games, it's about content. And so from seven am to eleven pm, you have to talk about the game, and therefore there have to be things to talk about. That's the difference in today's game in comparison to when I was playing.
In the NBA.
And even before we're talking about there has to be some type of conversation to keep the viewers watching and keep them off of social media and keep them watching TV. So when you think about that, that's the reason why, and again it's constant. And not only that, but these guys don't necessarily care about being the face of the NBA anymore. The reason being is because when Michael Jordan was playing, Dad, you had to be the face of the NBA to become a billionaire.
With these contracts, Now you don't have to be.
Anthony Evers can be a billionaire without being the face of the NBA after just three contracts and of course everything that he gets off the court.
Talking to Corey Alexander, ESPN Radio, an list and he'll be calling Game six on the Mothership. That'll be at seven thirty Eastern on Saturday. How was my jumper? By the way in San Antonio.
I am calling to vouch for you, my man.
You actually can shoot the basketball. I believe it was Bennie del Dagro in there with you. I'm not sure you had another one of your anchors, maybe Oberman. I know it was a Stewards, but well, I think it was maybe Overman with you, and it was Benny del Negro myself. I'm not sure Dale Dimps I know was in there. But you can shoot the basketball. Man.
If anybody ever.
Questions it to them to come see me. I've seen it with my own two eyes. You were knocking down shots that day.
Thank you. I appreciate that. And you're a great journalist, is what you are. I think I'm a better deep shooter than Vinnie Del Negro. Vinnie was a great fifteen to eighteen feet, but he didn't come out to where grown men shoot.
Vinnie was a master of the mid range. That was his game. But I agree, and I used to talk to him all the time in practice. I was like, come on, o here in the deep water, get out of kiddie poole.
He wanted, no problem with that, But in the kiddie pool, he's one of the best to ever do it.
Best shooter you ever faced, the.
Best shooter I've ever faced, poo.
I'm gonna go as far as to say his name is now my mood, abdul Rahu. He was once Chris Jackson, but you're talking about one of the best of the best. And again, the dude was relentless. He had the best touch. You know, he was so locked in on making every possible shot and it was so quick, honestly, and again, you know, Steph Curry's my nephew will love him to death. Del's like a big brother to be. Chris Jackson was Steph Curry before Steph Curry. The way the game has changed has allowed for Steph Curry to be able to do what he's doing.
If you couldn't handcheck Chris Jackson.
Mark mud Abdul Roh, if you couldn't be physical with him the way that the game is played now, I'm not saying that he would have been Steph, but he would have been very close to what we've seen Steph do over the last ten years.
You want to talk about getting a shot off, like, you know when when he would his handle was wonderful, and when he was at LSU and he was averaging thirty a game. You know we didn't. You had Shaq and Stanley Roberts, but the best player was you know, six feet tall in Chris Jackson. But in today's game, you imagine today's game with Chris, you know, just so quick at getting that shot off, so.
Quick at getting a shot off was so quick in general because as you mentioned, to handle it, then he hit me with a between it last crossover one time, but I watched it on the Jumbo Trot and I went off the screen completely. You couldn't even find me and he just absolutely lost me. But the thing is, in that era and we're going back to this is ninety six, my rookie year. Playing against him, you had to be able to defend. And that's the reason why he didn't get as many minutes. He didn't get as many opportunities because he struggled defensively in today's game where they often find ways to hide guys who laugh or a defensive end and you can keep them on the floor for thirty five to forty minutes. If he had that type of I mean, he had that type of time. And as you talked about that grace period, I mean again we talked still talking about one to all time greats.
Yeah, Mark Price is another player who had an unbelievably just go up quick and you know he would average twenty ten. You know, there's a lot of those. Kevin Johnson was another twenty ten guy there. Just felt like, you know, that's what you had to do. Back then, that's when you had true point guards. But then Steph became a points guard instead. You know, like he created his own label there. Did you have your welcome to the NBA moment?
I had a lot of them, and when you just missed those names, Mark Price, Kevin Johnson, I started getting flashbacks.
From all those guys having to deal with. But my welcome to the NBA moment, believe or.
I came in preseason my rookie year, and I was playing against Tim Hardaway at Utah.
So a preseason game at Utah, and of course I watched.
So much home court. I watched so much Tim Hardaway growing up and playing. And before the game, you know, I'm a fan. I walked up to him and I said, Hey, it's don't hit me with that, and he said, don't worry about the course, you don't have to be concerned. But watch what I do to eight, and he bought it, bught out a new move for Avery in that game. Of course, those two guys had history for being with the workers together, and after he hit.
Avery with the move, it pretty much fun Avery in the circle. He just looked over.
Breton and gave me a wink, and I knew I might be in for trouble in this league from that point on.
Does it matter who wins the East? When you look at OKC and how good they've been regular season, postseason.
I do think it matters, and the reason being is because as good as OKC has been, they are the best team in the NBA.
They have the best.
Player right now in the NBA and an SGA. But the Indiana Pacers can give them a handful. They can give them everything they want. And the reason being is because Indiana as a team is just as deep as are the thunder and they would absolutely make that a series. I'm not sure if it would be a great series if they're going up against the Knicks, because the Knicks are so front loaded, but.
When you think about going one through twelve.
The Pacers are right there. They don't have the star that the that the thunder half in SGA, but from a depth standpoint, they can match him totals up.
And I know it sounds blasphemous to say this, but SGA has a game. He can lead the league in scoring multiple years. And you know, the last time, you know, Iversen was like that. Obviously, Jordan was like, there aren't a lot of guys that you go every year like he could lead the league in scoring the next five years. I wouldn't be surprised at all, but he doesn't. There's no highlights really it's just it's methodical. I'm coming at you, and it may be mid range jumpers, it may be layups, but that's it. No threes. But it's pretty dominating in a quiet way.
I think it really is. And the reason why I think that he won't end up.
Being a guy that leads a league scoring for the next few years is because he's becoming an even better playmaker. And one of the things that Shade said early I had the chances my first TV game, believe it. When I was in Oklahoma City this year, and Mark Degnof told us that Shaye has come into this season with intent on empowering his teammates because he wants to make sure that they are prepared when we get to the playoffs.
And it has worked.
You've seen what Jaalen Williams has done, You've seen what Chet has done. You consider a team that has really jailed around their superstar. But more importantly, each and every one of those guys has had better and career years. Even though he continues to lead the league in scoring, and now you see him becoming much more facilitator and playmaker. I think he's only going to get better over these next few years.
We came up with a new category. It's you know, not Hall of Famer, but Hall of great So like Jamal Crawford, Joe Johnson, you know, the guys who aren't Hall of Famers, but they're right there. So do you have a nominee for the Hall of great.
I can give you a bunch of them.
I'll start with Rip Hamilton and I got a chance to see Riff at the you know, eybl event last weekend. He's a guy that I'm not sure if he'll get into the Hall of Fame, but he is absolutely great.
You think about Larry Johnson.
I mean, you can look at the Knick sideline alone, to the people showing up the trell' spree, well, Alan Houston. You go down the list of guys who have been there, just the Knick Stakes alone, that I've been fortunate to be able to hang out with for the last couple of days in this series. All those guys are in that area. They've been all stars and at the same time may not be Hall of Famers, but you know, you cannot duplicate what those guys were able to do, especially in the era in which.
They were able to do it.
And you take each and every one of those guys, and you transplant them into today's era, that scoring average goes up five to six one points per game, that.
Efficiency goes up.
And now you're talking about guys who are Hall of Fame players.
Anybody scare you when you played?
I mean Michael Jordan. But other than that, no.
But you know, the first time I met Mike Dan, we were at a game. It's called the World's Greatest Pickup Game in Greensboro, North Carolina. His agent, Fred Whitfield, we should put it on. And you walk in the room, and the first time you see Mike, it's that horror around him. But one thing about Michael Jordan, he doesn't let to look at him like that because he immediately starts talking trash to you, and he knows all of your history, of your background or whatever may be. So he basically welcomes people by talking trash to them. And all of a sudden, now you open up, you're having this debate with Michael Jordan. You walk away from there thinking yourself, Wow, I just got a chance to talk to Michael Jordan. But when it's all said and done, when you got to see him in at Chicago, twenty three, it was a different world. And again, like just to see the way that the community showed up and cheered for him, even against you on home.
Games, etc. That would be the only guy.
That I think that's really during my time of covering the NBA, that's really insight fear into anyone, and that includes any player today. I mean, he's the only guy I thought that people actually fear great.
To talk to you. Let's do this again, have fun on Saturday. Safe travels to Indiana.
Sounds good man, Thanks for having me.
That's Corey Alexander, ESPN Radio analyst, be working for the Mothership Game six and start coverage at seven thirty Eastern.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Final hour on this Meet Friday, It's a Brunch Friday. The Traggers are all fired up. Bacon and egg and cheese sliders, sausage sliders, lock and locks, and bagel sliders with cream cheese and also spicy bloody Mary's who has it better than we do? Nod Ross Tucker a good buddy. We'll join us coming up momentary. The great actor Brian Cranston will stop by as well. Phone number eight seven seven three, DP Show email address dpat Danpatrick dot com, Twitter handle at DP show. Pacers still up going back home. Nicks are getting four on Saturday night as they rough up the Pacers one eleven to ninety four. And we have our Stanley Cup Final. It's a rematch from last year. It's the Oilers versus the Panthers. College football closing in on a tweaked playoff model. There have been a couple of different scenarios there and from what I'm told from my source, it's gotten heated. It's gotten heated because the Big twelve in ACC are trying to stand up to the Big ten and the SEC, and that's that's where the kind of the fracture lies here. But we're talking about a lot of money at stake here and the ACC in Big twelve, you know, tired of getting kicked to the curb and you know, losing teams that they're trying to hold on for dear life. So they get at least two automatic berths from their conferences. But that we hoped to have Greg Zanke, the SEC Commissioner on next week, and he seems to be the one kind of in the crossfire here trying to defend the SEC also the Big Ten as well. They seem to be partnering here, and I think the rest of college football saying, hey, wait a minute, what about us. Ross Tucker CBS Sports Westwood One, NFL college analyst and host of the Ross Tunker Football podcast. You can check him out on social media at Ross Tucker NFL. We were talking about pressure. Now it's ninety eight days until the start of the NFL season, and PAULI said it to me yesterday. He goes, you know, we're ninety nine days away, and I was thinking, all right, now's the time. Who has the most pressure? And then we started coming up with different levels, different tiers of most pressure, player, team, coach. Let's start there, who has the most pressure going into this upcoming season?
Ooh, that is an interesting one. And I have been paying attention on social media and listening a little bit. I kind of agree, by the way, what PAULI was saying earlier. I don't really think that the Giants Joe Shane and Brian Dable I think they have that much pressure. I don't think anybody really thinks them that they're going to keep their job after this year. I mean, they have the hardest schedule in the NFL. I think they'll probably put Jackson Dart out there by week eight. Dan. I mean, it's funny when you really know the way the NFL works, which is that it's all about job preservation, right, you understand why teams operate the way they do. The giants bring in Russell Wilson and Jamis Winston. They're gonna take a shot, and this is their first shot this year to try to be good, try to be competitive, Have Russell go out there. Maybe they can get to five hundred and that's enough another year. If it doesn't go well midway through the year, you put in Jackson Dart. You hope that he shows enough or does enough that ownership wants to give you another year. It really is funny to me to see how many of these moves are made really with self interest in mind. So that's a different kind of pressure because I think that most people, myself included, I don't expect either one of those to work. I think that Shane and Dable probably will be gone this year. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see then there's a totally different pressure for like the Josh Allen Sean McDermott combo or the Lamar Jackson John Harbaugh combo. Neither one of those quarterbacks are going anywhere, but you know, we do frame the conversation differently if they keep coming up short in the postseason for those guys. The interesting thing there, Dan is if neither one of them makes it to the AFC Championship Game this year, you wonder if at some point, either Terry Pigoula, the owner of the Bills, or Steve Baschetty, the owner of the Ravens, says man, we got a really good team, We've got a really good roster. We have one of the three or four best quarterbacks in the NFL. Maybe we just need to change something because it feels like both those teams have kind of been banging their head against the wall the last five or six years trying to get past the Chiefs, trying to get to the Super Bowl.
That's a lot there, I would say, definitely Lamar Jackson and John Harball. Hardball's career is similar to Mike Tomlin. You know, when you look at they always have a good product out there. You know, five, you know, always over five hundred, it feels like, and they both have one super Bowl. Would Mike Tomlin still have his job if he didn't have that one super Bowl?
I don't think with many franchises, But I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are just so consistent and so stoked in trying to keep as much loyalty as they can. And I think, to be honest with you, I give him a lot of credit. It's funny because where I live, I know a lot of Steelers fans, Dan, and a lot of them are really down on Tomlin, right, They really do not like Tomlin. And I guess what I would say to them is he's won a lot of football games. I heard you talking earlier, Dan, without really having a top half of the league quarterback. I mean, that is so hard to do.
Now.
What's interesting there is how much power does he have over the personnel over the last few years? In other words, how much of that do you put right and directly on Mike Tomlin. I think that him winning that super Bowl obviously helps quite a bit the difference between the Ravens and the Steelers. As I know, you know, Steelers haven't won a playoff game in a long time. However, Steelers haven't had Lamar Jackson either, so you could actually have a really healthy debate and discussion as to which coach is better. I think Tomlin or Harbaugh. I think both of them if they were ever let go, there'd be a dozen teams that would look to hire them because they're considered top ten, if not top five coaches in the NFL.
We talked about the pressure on Trevor Lawrence. At some point he has to show are you one of the top five seven quarterbacks? You're being paid that way? The pressure on Tua and Mike McDaniel in Miami that this might be a make or break year for at least the coach. Which one has more pressure to the Dolphins or Trevor Lawrence with Jacksonville.
So I think Trevor Lawrence has more pressure because this is now his third head coach right Whereas Tua I think has played pretty well. It's been more of the injury issues and the concussions. But if the Dolphins have a down year, I think they fire McDaniel and I think Tua is still the starting quarterback with a new head coach. If Trevor Lawrence really struggles, then you kind of wonder what Liam Cohen and Tony Vasselli and Gladstone and the new regime starts to think. Now, I think Trevor just got a deal. They maybe both just got contracts before the twenty twenty four season, if memory serves, might have been twenty twenty three for one of those guys, So they got money fairly recently. So it would be a little bit messy to move on. But I think out of those two players in particular, I think it's on Lawrence and I think he gets a pass nationally way way more than he should.
He's Ross Tucker with the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. Also you can hear him and see him on the NFL in college football with CBS Sports and Westwood One. Pressure on Justin Herbert or do we look at it's Jim Harbaugh who has that pressure? Like who has more pressure? If you're gonna divvy it up with the quarterback and the coach with the Chargers.
I'm gonna say it's fifty to fifty. If anything, though, I would probably lean to Herbert because again, this is a scenario where this is a second head coach for him. You know, Harbaugh kind of comes in the Chargers were down. He leads him to the playoffs, and Harbaugh has a significant track record of success with the Niners, with Michigan, even going back to Stanford. Right, Herbert not as much, And in particular, there's a perception, right or wrong, that Herbert doesn't play his best when it matters the most. I almost felt bad for him in that playoff game against the Texans because I knew what was coming. And so I like to go into a year and look at which quarterbacks. Man, it's really it's more on them now, and I think Herbert's one of those guys. I think Caleb Williams. I know it's only a year two Dan, but the Bears did something they've never done before, which is pay top dollar for a head coach. They redid the whole old line, okay, interior offensive line in front of him. The first two picks, Coleston Lovelin with the tenth pick Luther Burden with a top ten second round pick, are both skill guys. The Bears are doing everything possible to try to set up Caleb Williams for success. Now you got those quotes from the book with Wickersham, which will come out you know, the day after the Bears first game. I think there's a little bit of sneaky pressure on Williams because those quotes and that book have kind of put even more of a spotlight on him than there already was. And it feels like whenever you're one of these number one pick guys, Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, whoever, people want to blame everybody else as long as they can, especially the fans, right like Jacksonville fans. It's almost like franchise quarterback Stan It's like a religion and people want to hang on to that belief as long as they can. Jaguars fans want to believe in Trevor Lawrence until they absolutely can't. Bears fans want to believe in Caleb so so badly. But with the microscope on him this year, if he struggles, I think that that could be interesting as well.
I'm also wondering about you know, the Niners were on the clock with a lot of pressure the last couple of years. You know, they do make it to a super Bowl, you make it to you know, Conference, But I don't know if we're applying the pressure that was on them before. It's weird. We kind of moved on. Now it's the Lions that it feels like there's more pressure on Detroit than it is San Francisco. Do you see it that way?
I understand why some people do. I don't think that should be the case at all. I mean, the Niners are coming off of a six and eleven season. If they have another down year, they have some serious questions to ask because their core isn't getting any younger, right, I mean Trent Williams at left tackle, McCaffrey, you know, we don't know if Christian will ever come back and be the guy he was. We know they've now locked up party, but Kittle's not getting younger, you know, And I wonder, you know, I applaud organizations that show patients, and even after the Niners have a down year here or down yere there, they recognize they have a good, good coach and Kyle Shanahan. Two down years in a row, things get a little bit different, Then things get a little bit tighter. I don't think it's gonna happen, because I think they're gonna be very good. They have the easiest schedule in the NFL. I think the Niners are actually gonna bounce back in a major way. But if they don't, if they have another losing season, things will get very interesting there that there is some in Detroit, Dan but and maybe because of the fact they lost both coordinators and there's this feeling that, man, this is their window to get over the hump. But I have a tough time picturing them making any major change in Detroit after this season, barring something totally unforeseen, because you have to remember, it's been a long time since we were even talking about there being pressure in Detroit, because they're even good enough to have pressure.
I'll leave you with this with the flag football with the US team, this has been suggest Could we get an NFL team that goes against the best flag football team that's out there, and then the winner gets to go and represent the United States in flag football. I think it'd be musty TV if people are going to be shocked when they look at guys who do are professional flag football players, just how different it is, how different they play than the NFL. But if you did, here's your NFL team, and I'm going to get the best flag football team. The winner represents the United States and the Olympics.
I think it's an incredible idea. I think I saw where you know, maybe my buddy Jason Kelcey was talking about that as well. I think the guys that have been playing flag football for years, I think they deserve that opportunity. I would watch that game. That would maybe be like the second flag football game I've ever watched, because I watched a couple of years ago if you remember, I can't remember what it was, but these full time flag football guys, they played against former NFL guys like Seneca Wallace was the quarterback for the other team, you know, for the for the former NFL, and they beat him, and they beat him bad. You know, the flag current flag football guys beat the former NFL guys. That said, I don't know how much time the former NFL guys put into it. If you gave actual NFL players a month to really understand the game, the rules, because the rules are different, they're unique, I'm pretty confident that they would beat the flag football guys. But it still would be very entertaining to watch. And I think it's like it's like a pros versus Joe's thing, right, Everybody would kind of tune in to see how these guys would do against the guys they're used to seeing in the NFL.
Stefan Diggs didn't invite you on the yacht, did he?
No?
I was not.
Invited on the yacht. I will say this, I am open to any yacht invitations ever. I'm a big yacht guy. I just don't know enough people that have yachts or super.
You're you're a boat guy. You're not a yacht guy.
I'm a pontoon boat guy with a cooler full of beer and just floating down the river. I don't need a yet. Okay, let me ask them. Why would you pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a yacht when you can just go in the river or even a stream on like a kayak and have a cooler of beer there and it's the same thing. You're in water, you're drinking beer either way. What's the difference.
The shorties don't like a kayak, I'm just gonna be honest with you. But a pontoon, you know, they might be interested in a floating living room there.
But pontoon boats are the party boats. Man. They're awesome.
That's what I got. Yeah, that's that's what I got all aboard a great to talk to you have a great weekend.
Thank you as.
Always always you too. Thanks Dan Ross Tucker, host of the Ross Tucker Football Podcast, and you can check him out on social media at Ross Tucker, NFL. Ryan Cranston, great actor, got a new movie. They'll join us coming up more phone calls as well. Let's take a break Dan Patrick show.
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That's Covino and Rich.
Say good morning to those watching on peacock. Thank you for downloading the app. Our radio affiliates around the country. iHeartRadio Fox Sports Radio. Stat of the Day has always brought to you by Panini America, the official trading cards of The Dan Patrick Show. Brian Cranston, He's a busy man, Emmy Tony Golden Globe winning actor, Oscar nominated actor as well. He was Malcolm in the Middle, he was Breaking Bad. Now he's got two more movies coming out, Diehard Los Angeles Sports Fan. He's got the Phoenicians game that opens up May thirtieth, nationwide June second, and then Everything's going to be great opens up June twentieth. Look at you, miss dir actor there, how do you have common? Thanks? Thanks for spending some time with us.
Brian, Yeah, I don't have a lot of time for these these opening remarks.
We got to get right to the meat.
DP.
Okay, and by the way, I miss I miss saying the opening stats. I always like to go seven foot four, one hundred and fourteen pounds.
Give me what is yourt what is your height and weight?
My height and weight?
Well, I used to be six foot but I'm probably five to eleven now.
My weight is one eighty two. I'd like to get that down.
But do you why about your height or weight? Do actors do that?
Of course we do? Why why would you not?
Okay? Now I was told this four that it's harder to be a better actor, great actor, if you're taller.
Any truth, there are a few actors of great height who are actually who actually became stars, much many more who were smaller. But it is also true that most actors who become stars have large heads, like elephant titus heads.
You know, they have to have prop them up over there. And blue eyes if you have light eyes.
Really, yeah, Okay, who's got a big noggin? That's a great actor. Well you just think about any brando grab a big head.
Oh, well, enormous like a coconut. Yeah, he wash and all. I mean, all these people, even even the women.
Women who have larger heads, have a better chance to be a movie star.
That's not true. That's not true.
Well I'm trying.
You know, David Hasselhoff had a big head, but not a great actor.
He was.
He's a lovely guy. I was going to say he was a lovely guy. But he's still alive. Nice guy.
I did an episode of Baywatch back in the day where I played I think my character name was like drunken boat captain or something like that.
But but you didn't have a speedo on, like you weren't running in slow motion on on Baywatch.
No.
No, when I'm in skimpy underwear, it's it's full on motion everything you want to see everything, apparently.
But did Walter White have to wear tidy whities?
No?
You know, it was interesting because after seven years of Malcolm in the Middle, where Hal wore tidy whities because I thought it was appropriate because he was just a big boy, so he never really grew up, and for some reason, Vince Gilligan wrote that Walter White wore tidy whities. And I went to the wardrobe call and I said, well, I just did seven years. So I tried on boxers and I tried on law and it's like, you know what, there's some reason that he did this, and I'm just going to go with it. And that image of him in the desert, that first poster of the gun and his tidy whities is so pathetic that I thought, oh, that's I think that's the image he wanted.
To go for.
But how often do you question when you have a director or there's something on the page where you offer feedback or you're going to stand up for what you think might be right.
All the time, all the time, you're constantly making adjustments.
I just did a couple episodes of the show of.
The Studio where my character at the end shows up in leopard, very skinny bikini briefs which I chose, and stockings with garter clips and a girdle, and where he wears a Dicky.
Is the most ridiculous looking guy in the world.
And I wanted all of those things, and so we just adjusted it to those and I surprised seth Rogen when I walked out of the room and he saw me for the first time on camera.
It's a great character because it came out of nowhere, you know, first episode, and I'm like, oh my god. It's like, you know, this combination of you're gonna try to bring in every studio head of all the things that are negative about them or over the top about them, and you just kind of combined it with one character, and it was like, all right, yeah, that's Hollywood right there.
It is kind of patterned.
I patterned him after Robert Evans, famous studio head of the Paramount in the seventies, did great movies, but he was always super tan, bleached his teeth, he always wore very masculine clothes.
He was that kind of guy. His shirt was unbuttoned.
To his navel, you know. And it was, Hey, maybe you know that, dude, So that's more fun to play a guy like that.
I got the picture here from Baywatch. PAULI just sent it to me. Wow, okay, those are short shorts she got on.
By the way, those were the times. Don't tell me you didn't have short shorts in that.
I did in this idea.
Everybody did remember the NBA back in the day.
Yeah, I you know, growing up, I had short shorts and John Stockton I think was like the last holdout, Like you know, he was the last guy to wear short shorts too. Holly have on this episode with with Brian on Babas.
That fine episode of Baywatch November eighty nine, Brian Cranston played Captain Tom Logan and he was wearing like op shorts and like those croaky glasses, and his hair was completely down the middle and feathered.
I could looks good. Were you at that time?
Uh?
Yeah, yeah, I've been Robin and I have been married for thirty six years now.
Yeah, yeah, okay eighty nine.
Yeah, but you're there on Baywatch.
I mean, oh yeah, those they're out there.
Did anybody notice Captain Tom Logan of you know the women they did you catch anybody's eye there?
You know, I don't know. I don't know whose eye I caught. Oh my god?
Were you born in Hollywood?
I was born in the city of Hollywood, Yes, right in Hollywood and raised in Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley.
And famous classmates.
No, I didn't have any famous classmates. Uh in the area.
I think.
Well, Kevin Spacey went to the same high school a couple of years after me, but then transferred out to go to a better theater school. But outside of that, they're really no, no, no famous, no one famous.
Tougher to get Nick's tickets courtside or Laker tickets court.
Side, Laker tickets courtside.
Tougher, tougher. Yeah, it's just process.
It's just jam.
Well.
First, there is a way I can give advice to all the listeners and viewers about how to get courtside seats first. Become a television star or a movie star. Do that first, then you'll have a lot better chance of getting court side seats. But I did get court side seats last year to mix pacers, had a great time, had a great time watching it, and they're.
Back at it again.
I know. But you know your sitcom famous with Malcolm in the Middle and then breaking back, like you know, I'm going to guess breaking bad you got it was easier to get the tickets than with Malcolm in the Middle.
Yeah, it gave me a higher profile absolutely, Okay, So yeah, that's what I get mostly recognized for. I would say I'd say like seven out of ten people who approached for you, Okay, there.
I think I just broke something. My mic collapsed here, and that's how.
About seven out of ten people recognize me as Walter White.
Yeah, so I want to talk about the Phoenician Scheme. Yeah, because Wes Anderson does things differently than anybody else. How would you describe what he does as a filmmaker.
Well, he is the truest sense of the word auteur.
There is no way that anyone can say, oh, I think I know what Wes is thinking on this.
I think I know where he's going.
To go with this.
You just don't know at all.
It is a unique journey when you do a Wes Anderson movie because it's always clever, it's always surprising, and it's just it's so much fun. But the thing about from an actor's point of view, doing the Phoenician Scheme or Asteroid City before that, or it's the experience of being with him and all the actors at the same time at the dinner every night after you work, and that kind of camaraderie was so much fun. In fact, Tom Hanks calls it actor camp. It's a good hang and we and all the actors are there. We're having wine and cocktails and food, and we're talking about things that were worried about or families and things like that without worrying about prying eyes or ears around us, and we can just be open and it's a lot of fun.
So Tom Hanks, I believe plays your brother. You got Michael Sarah in there, Scarlett Johansson, Benicio del Toro, Yeah, yeah, pretty.
Good, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rez Ahmed. I mean it's a big, big cast. And Tom and I are playing brothers.
Well we think we're brothers. It was never actually established, but they're they're so so alike.
Now there's a basketball sequence in the movie that Tom and I are in involved in. And when we got to the set where where asked, okay, who who can do this?
And who could do that?
And so Tom, Tom's going, I can't really dribble very well, I'll go I'll dribble and I said, look, I got problems with my shoulders.
I got arts right.
And it's like, if you went to the assisted living center, they get two basketball players.
People sent me that clip of you got of you shooting basketball, wondering if you were trying to model your shot after me for some reason, And I said, well if he, if he was trying, he didn't do a very good job because.
He because I made them dripping.
No, it wasn't dripping with athleticism. I'm just going to say, you know, as a basketball player, you're a great actor.
Uh yeah, No, I wasn't modeling myself after you.
You're You're They broke the mold.
Dan Patrick, The Phoenician ski that comes out May thirtieth, and then nationwide June second, And Everything's going to be Great that comes out June twentieth. Yeah, did you shoot these around the same time?
No Venetian scheme we shot last year. Everything's going to be Great we shot before it. But it's it's like jockeying for position and who's going to and what's the right time to come out with a movie, and you know it's those decisions are made by someone else. But Everything's going to be Great is also a really it's a beautiful film with Alison, Janny and myself, and it reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine from years ago. It's funny and sweet and sad and engaging.
Yeah, anyway, little Miss sunshine, that final dance scene.
Yeah, fun stuff.
Brings down the house, yes, Alan Arca, I mean there's so many great performance is in there.
Yeah.
It's one of those little sneaky surprise movies where you're like, damn, I don't you know. Everybody when you watch movies like, I don't know it's going to be nominated. Everything's going to be nominated. Instead of just watching movies, I think we're always like, well, what's going to do at the box office? Is anybody gonna go see this in the movie theaters. It's kind of like the pressure. I don't know how different it is now than let's say, you know, fifteen years ago.
It's a lot different.
When you and I were kids, every show, every morning show, every news show had a movie and television reviewer specifically to relate to the audience what they felt was good of high quality. They fired all of those people, and so now the newsreaders just read off what made the most money last weekend at the box office as if that's the indication of quality, and so it's it's kind of sad.
So you really need the word of mouth to be able to say don't miss this movie or that movie.
Paulie told me that there might be Uh, we're bringing back Malcolm in the Middle, is there a.
Yeah, we did it. We shot it already.
Oh you shot it. Oh we did.
We did four episodes for Disney and we just finished it.
So that'll be out probably either later this year or early next year.
And man, I got to tell you, it was so much fun. All the all the kids came back. And you know.
It's funny because the boys for Malcolm in the Middle are all around the same age that I was when we first started the show twenty five years ago. Wow, they have kids of their own. It's so great to see and and the and the adults that they've become.
It's really fantastic.
When you do the race walking scene, do you do you still have that outfit? Because I'd love to put it in a mandicap.
Oh would you? It would have to be on it, It would have to be on a mannequin.
Yes, yes, I'd get a mannequin.
Well, let me see if I can get it for you, because i'd love to see it on your show.
Well, why don't you drop everything that you're doing and like do something for me, like right now?
Like that was that was implied, of course I'm gonna drop everything. Yes, absolutely absolutely.
I don't like nothing else. No, don't read any scripts or anything. It's like, nope, I can't. I'm sending you an outfit from Malcolm in the Middle to Dan Patrick.
I'm wondering if they still have it.
I don't know, but man, that was a funny, funny thing, and I was, you know, I was real trim then.
I was like one seventy two or three something.
Well, I'm not gonna wear it, and I'm gonna put it on the mannequin. But I think you.
Should wear it. I think you should should put it off.
Will Ferrell brought the testicles from step Brothers that he rubbed. He brought him to Ireland and uh, we were doing our show over there, and he brought the testicles that he rubbed on h William c Riley's drum set. Yeah. Yeah, okay, I'm just saying.
I also, I also brought you a treat.
You did you brought me?
Yeah? That was a fake penis thing that you had for the covers.
Yes, exactly, an erection toy.
Where is that? I don't see that anywhere on the set.
It's it's it's it's in here, yes, Paul. Oh, it's prominently displayed.
People always ask what it is.
It's on the other side. It's I'm up in Maine. So this is in the the main or the regular No, it's all the way on the other side by the account we're getting it. Yeah, you'll be able to just see it. Hold on, well, I got my cameraman walking over there. But oh yeah, they're there there it is. It's it's right by my l a charger helmet. And uh, I've got your whatever that thing is that you gave me.
But I've talk about it getting a charge. Oh yeah. That was from a movie.
Called uh what was that called?
Jeez?
Uh?
That was called The Upside? The Upside with kevil Heart and and and uh.
Nicole, your and your upside right there. It's like, hello, well, good luck with everything. Thanks thanks for joining us as always.
Well, thank you, it's always good to see you.
And uh, whenever you get out to l A or down to New York, give a holler.
I'd love to have you buy me lunch.
Why don't you give me a holler when you're.
In New York.
Well you're not in New York.
I know.
But I can get to New York.
Okay, I will. I will give you a holler, as they said in the.
Old day, and I'll buy you dinner. Lovely, lovely, all right, all right. He's Brian Cranston, The Phoenicians Scheme, Wes Anderson, and if you're a fan of those movies, then you know what you're getting. It opens nationwide June second. Everything's going to be Great. That opens on June twentieth,
