Rod Ryan Show Interview with Robert Sean Leonard
Over on RSL's Wikipedia entry, you can access a radio interview with RSL. The entire thing is quite fun and there's one bit in particular of wonderfully juicy spoiler material.... :)
Unofficial Transcript for THE ROD RYAN SHOW, 94.5 FM The Buzz (Houston, TX):
RYAN: Got a special guest on the phone. Wildly popular show. It does extremely well in the ratings. I mean may I just - I think maybe it gets beat out by American Idol, but usually that’s kind of a lead in, isn’t it?
THERESA: Yea, it’s one of my favorite shows on TV!
RYAN: For the show House, we’ve got Robert Sean Leonard, who’s on House. Good morning, sir!
RSL: Morning and how are you?
RYAN: I’m doing very well. Thanks for coming out with us today.
RSL: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.
RYAN: Um, it’s… You guys follow American Idol? Or are you going to follow American Idol?
RSL: We follow American Idol in January
RYAN: Yea
RSL: But in the fall we - I don’t know what we follow this year. But American Idol doesn’t start until January.
RYAN: But you don’t need it, though. Like, you don’t need the American Idol follow-in. I mean, usually that’s a great slot, obviously probably the most coveted slot for a new show, but this show’s like really established now. I mean, it’s on its own. I mean Fox - it’s a huge hit for the network!
RSL: Yea, it’s really surprising for all of us. I - well, we all are proud of it and we love the show, but I always thought it would be kind of a - you know, I knew it would kind of have a cult audience and sort of a cult following. I’m amazed; it tied last year - as far as, like, a scripted show, not a reality show - it tied for number one with Grey’s Anatomy. It did really well.
RYAN: Now tell me, like, cause people remember you way back when from Dead Poets Society, and we had a couple people write in this morning - My Best Friend is a Vampire, came out in 1988
[RSL and THERESA laugh]
THERESA: I love that movie!
RSL: Oh, I’m so glad I called you guys…
RYAN: Come on now… Comedy Central I think runs this thing, so that’s why a lot of people see this thing at, you know, re-run on the television. It’s never gone away!
RSL: Yea, it’s odd how that comes up every now and then.
RYAN: But still, okay. Because I know you’ve done a lot of stuff on stage, and I mean Tony Awards and all of this. It seemed like you kind of went away. You did a lot of the stage stuff for a while.
RSL: Yea.
RYAN: And now you’re back on TV. You kind of split your love between the two or?
RSL: Yea, I grew up in New York and doing theatre, and then I got - when I was 19 I did Dead Poets Society, and it did really well and it changed my career quite a bit. But no, my friends and family are all in New York and I’m usually there doing a play. It’s what I love to do. It doesn’t pay very well, but it’s really fun.
RYAN: Where do you film House?
RSL: Um, in LA. I’m out in LA. I’ve been here for about 3 years now doing this.
THERESA: Aww...
RYAN: And -
RSL: Yea, I really miss home. [says something further here I can’t quite make out, as RYAN starts speaking over him]
RYAN: Yea, I know, I’m saying - like, if you’re a New York guy and you’re living in LA, you must, your skin must have to crawl after a while. Like, you cannot wait to get back to New York.
RSL: It’s a little… The other - I woke up, like, a few months ago I woke up at, like, 5:30 there 8 helicopters around my house, cause I live in Santa Monica and it was because Lindsay Lohan was being released from, you know, the Santa Monica Jail or something. And I though, I gotta get out of here. This is insane.
[RYAN and THERESA laugh]
RYAN: But we talk to people that, you know, got their start early. You were very young during Dead Poets Society, and once again you’re one of these guys - you seem to have adapted. We don’t see you all puking on red carpets and stuff. I mean, is it that hard - is it really that hard to adjust?
RSL: I don’t - I don’t - that’s a really good question. I think the times were a little different when Ethan Hawke and I kind of came out in that movie. We were pretty much left alone. Thank god! That came and we did a few interviews, but, you know, we didn’t get publicity agents and we didn’t - we just moved on. I just, I - times are really different for young actors now.
RYAN: Yea. I mean, just video. And the internet, you know. Those are things that weren’t really happening when you were young and up and coming. There wasn’t a camera in your face and all these websites that wanna get, you know, just celebrities going and buying a cup of coffee. You know? That makes headline news and video websites.
RSL: Yea it’s really, you know its… I always think of the time like Bad News Bears came out and there was Jacky ___ Haley and like there was these - young when I was a kid - the young actors. They were, you know - they did their job and they went home, and they weren’t maidens of these strange machines. I’m really glad I got some kind of fame when I did. It was a much different time.
RYAN: Robert Sean Leonard from the show House. Talk to me about the medical experts that have to be on board for the show, because it’s so involved, these different story lines - it’s wild! There’s gotta be people, like, in the medical field that gotta… Are they there 24-7 when you guys are filming to say “That’s not really-“
RSL: Well, most of that stuff is handled with the writing, and then once we’re on the set, we have a nurse there name Bobbin, believe it or not, who’s great, and she, you know, as far as when someone has to be intubated or given a shot or just stupid stuff, she’ll help us cause we’re all idiot actors who don’t know what we’re doing.
[RYAN and THERESA laugh]
THERESA: That’s funny.
RSL: Ah but, yea. The writing is remarkable. My father-in-law is a doctor, and he’s really - he said, you know, you guys - we cheat on the time a little bit, like on when a medicine kicks in or how quickly someone gets better, but… The medicine and all the diagnoses and how somebody gets better are all totally researched and backed up. It’s pretty remarkable what the writers come up with.
RYAN: Hugh Laurie ever deliver his lines, like, with his accent? He always freaks me out at award shows, because he gets up there at the podium, and he’s talking with this accent, and I’m like “What? What? Waitaminnit…”
THERESA: Yea.
RSL: Yea, I know, I know.
RYAN: What the hell’s going on - he hides it!
RSL: I know, people in my life still don’t believe he’s English. It’s a real feat; I don’t know how he does it. It’s not easy.
RYAN: I always wanted him to screw up like a little bit, while I’m watching the show like -
THERESA: Well, sometimes you can hear when someone has, like, an Australian accent, sometimes you get that inflection every once in a while. Nothing from him.
RYAN: Nothing.
RSL: Yea. I know. Like some kind of odd, not quite a real human being sound. Like, well, like an alien might sound, if he tried to pass as a person. But Hugh doesn’t. I don’t know, it’s a really hard thing to do, and he pulls it off.
THERESA: Wait - when I’m watching the show - my husband and I love it.
RSL: Thank you.
THERESA: Is someone gonna kick the crap out of House this season?? Sometimes I love him! We love him.
RSL: We - I don’t know how we get away with this stuff. We got - the other night, Hugh and I were shooting a scene and we’re breaking into a room in a hospital, and I say “How did you get those keys?” And there’s a janitor named Lou on the show, and he thought his name was Blue, for some reason. And I say “How did you get those keys?” and he looks right at me and says: “Blew the janitor.”
[RYAN and THERESA gasp/laugh]
RSL: And I say, “What??” And he says, “Blue, the janitor.” And say, “His name’s Lou.” And goes, “Oh. Oops, I owe the guy an apology.”
THERESA:Oh my god…
RSL: I looked at Hugh and said “Are we gonna actually get away with this? Does this clear the censor?” I don’t know how they do it!
RYAN: That is funny. Robert Sean Leonard, our guest. House. Fox. You and Hugh get along? I mean, cause obviously you are like his one and only friend on the show House
RSL: Yea!
RYAN: You’re the only one that can relate to him. What about you guys off camera?
RSL: Yea, I might be his one only friend in Los Angelos. Yea, we get along really, really well. We’re both kind of out-of-towners - I’m from New York and he’s from London - and so we both miss our homes a lot and we have that in common. So we’ll go out and go to restaurants and talk about missing home, you know. Yea, he’s a great guy. I spend a lot of time with him.
RYAN: That’s cool. That’s a great show, man. House on Fox. Robert Sean Leonard. Thank you so much, sir.
RSL: Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate it.
RYAN: Take care, dude!
[RSL hangs up]
RYAN: He was cool about talking about the old stuff
THERESA: That was a great movie, that vampire movie - it’s funny.
RYAN: Uh, yea…
THERESA: I used to watch it all the time.
RYAN: I could hear him rolling his eyes, like [sarcastically] “Uuuh… Yep, every now and then that comes up!” That’s one of those every-now-and-then. You’re calling the Rod Ryan Show; we’re gonna talk about something you probably don’t wanna talk about.
NOTE: I tried to keep it as close to what they actually said as possible. I had to edit 2 sentences because grammatically, when written out, they made absolutely no sense. XD It's kind of funny how horrible our grammar gets when we speak, no? Anyway, hope ya'll had fun with that!
Unofficial Transcript for THE ROD RYAN SHOW, 94.5 FM The Buzz (Houston, TX):
RYAN: Got a special guest on the phone. Wildly popular show. It does extremely well in the ratings. I mean may I just - I think maybe it gets beat out by American Idol, but usually that’s kind of a lead in, isn’t it?
THERESA: Yea, it’s one of my favorite shows on TV!
RYAN: For the show House, we’ve got Robert Sean Leonard, who’s on House. Good morning, sir!
RSL: Morning and how are you?
RYAN: I’m doing very well. Thanks for coming out with us today.
RSL: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.
RYAN: Um, it’s… You guys follow American Idol? Or are you going to follow American Idol?
RSL: We follow American Idol in January
RYAN: Yea
RSL: But in the fall we - I don’t know what we follow this year. But American Idol doesn’t start until January.
RYAN: But you don’t need it, though. Like, you don’t need the American Idol follow-in. I mean, usually that’s a great slot, obviously probably the most coveted slot for a new show, but this show’s like really established now. I mean, it’s on its own. I mean Fox - it’s a huge hit for the network!
RSL: Yea, it’s really surprising for all of us. I - well, we all are proud of it and we love the show, but I always thought it would be kind of a - you know, I knew it would kind of have a cult audience and sort of a cult following. I’m amazed; it tied last year - as far as, like, a scripted show, not a reality show - it tied for number one with Grey’s Anatomy. It did really well.
RYAN: Now tell me, like, cause people remember you way back when from Dead Poets Society, and we had a couple people write in this morning - My Best Friend is a Vampire, came out in 1988
[RSL and THERESA laugh]
THERESA: I love that movie!
RSL: Oh, I’m so glad I called you guys…
RYAN: Come on now… Comedy Central I think runs this thing, so that’s why a lot of people see this thing at, you know, re-run on the television. It’s never gone away!
RSL: Yea, it’s odd how that comes up every now and then.
RYAN: But still, okay. Because I know you’ve done a lot of stuff on stage, and I mean Tony Awards and all of this. It seemed like you kind of went away. You did a lot of the stage stuff for a while.
RSL: Yea.
RYAN: And now you’re back on TV. You kind of split your love between the two or?
RSL: Yea, I grew up in New York and doing theatre, and then I got - when I was 19 I did Dead Poets Society, and it did really well and it changed my career quite a bit. But no, my friends and family are all in New York and I’m usually there doing a play. It’s what I love to do. It doesn’t pay very well, but it’s really fun.
RYAN: Where do you film House?
RSL: Um, in LA. I’m out in LA. I’ve been here for about 3 years now doing this.
THERESA: Aww...
RYAN: And -
RSL: Yea, I really miss home. [says something further here I can’t quite make out, as RYAN starts speaking over him]
RYAN: Yea, I know, I’m saying - like, if you’re a New York guy and you’re living in LA, you must, your skin must have to crawl after a while. Like, you cannot wait to get back to New York.
RSL: It’s a little… The other - I woke up, like, a few months ago I woke up at, like, 5:30 there 8 helicopters around my house, cause I live in Santa Monica and it was because Lindsay Lohan was being released from, you know, the Santa Monica Jail or something. And I though, I gotta get out of here. This is insane.
[RYAN and THERESA laugh]
RYAN: But we talk to people that, you know, got their start early. You were very young during Dead Poets Society, and once again you’re one of these guys - you seem to have adapted. We don’t see you all puking on red carpets and stuff. I mean, is it that hard - is it really that hard to adjust?
RSL: I don’t - I don’t - that’s a really good question. I think the times were a little different when Ethan Hawke and I kind of came out in that movie. We were pretty much left alone. Thank god! That came and we did a few interviews, but, you know, we didn’t get publicity agents and we didn’t - we just moved on. I just, I - times are really different for young actors now.
RYAN: Yea. I mean, just video. And the internet, you know. Those are things that weren’t really happening when you were young and up and coming. There wasn’t a camera in your face and all these websites that wanna get, you know, just celebrities going and buying a cup of coffee. You know? That makes headline news and video websites.
RSL: Yea it’s really, you know its… I always think of the time like Bad News Bears came out and there was Jacky ___ Haley and like there was these - young when I was a kid - the young actors. They were, you know - they did their job and they went home, and they weren’t maidens of these strange machines. I’m really glad I got some kind of fame when I did. It was a much different time.
RYAN: Robert Sean Leonard from the show House. Talk to me about the medical experts that have to be on board for the show, because it’s so involved, these different story lines - it’s wild! There’s gotta be people, like, in the medical field that gotta… Are they there 24-7 when you guys are filming to say “That’s not really-“
RSL: Well, most of that stuff is handled with the writing, and then once we’re on the set, we have a nurse there name Bobbin, believe it or not, who’s great, and she, you know, as far as when someone has to be intubated or given a shot or just stupid stuff, she’ll help us cause we’re all idiot actors who don’t know what we’re doing.
[RYAN and THERESA laugh]
THERESA: That’s funny.
RSL: Ah but, yea. The writing is remarkable. My father-in-law is a doctor, and he’s really - he said, you know, you guys - we cheat on the time a little bit, like on when a medicine kicks in or how quickly someone gets better, but… The medicine and all the diagnoses and how somebody gets better are all totally researched and backed up. It’s pretty remarkable what the writers come up with.
RYAN: Hugh Laurie ever deliver his lines, like, with his accent? He always freaks me out at award shows, because he gets up there at the podium, and he’s talking with this accent, and I’m like “What? What? Waitaminnit…”
THERESA: Yea.
RSL: Yea, I know, I know.
RYAN: What the hell’s going on - he hides it!
RSL: I know, people in my life still don’t believe he’s English. It’s a real feat; I don’t know how he does it. It’s not easy.
RYAN: I always wanted him to screw up like a little bit, while I’m watching the show like -
THERESA: Well, sometimes you can hear when someone has, like, an Australian accent, sometimes you get that inflection every once in a while. Nothing from him.
RYAN: Nothing.
RSL: Yea. I know. Like some kind of odd, not quite a real human being sound. Like, well, like an alien might sound, if he tried to pass as a person. But Hugh doesn’t. I don’t know, it’s a really hard thing to do, and he pulls it off.
THERESA: Wait - when I’m watching the show - my husband and I love it.
RSL: Thank you.
THERESA: Is someone gonna kick the crap out of House this season?? Sometimes I love him! We love him.
RSL: We - I don’t know how we get away with this stuff. We got - the other night, Hugh and I were shooting a scene and we’re breaking into a room in a hospital, and I say “How did you get those keys?” And there’s a janitor named Lou on the show, and he thought his name was Blue, for some reason. And I say “How did you get those keys?” and he looks right at me and says: “Blew the janitor.”
[RYAN and THERESA gasp/laugh]
RSL: And I say, “What??” And he says, “Blue, the janitor.” And say, “His name’s Lou.” And goes, “Oh. Oops, I owe the guy an apology.”
THERESA:Oh my god…
RSL: I looked at Hugh and said “Are we gonna actually get away with this? Does this clear the censor?” I don’t know how they do it!
RYAN: That is funny. Robert Sean Leonard, our guest. House. Fox. You and Hugh get along? I mean, cause obviously you are like his one and only friend on the show House
RSL: Yea!
RYAN: You’re the only one that can relate to him. What about you guys off camera?
RSL: Yea, I might be his one only friend in Los Angelos. Yea, we get along really, really well. We’re both kind of out-of-towners - I’m from New York and he’s from London - and so we both miss our homes a lot and we have that in common. So we’ll go out and go to restaurants and talk about missing home, you know. Yea, he’s a great guy. I spend a lot of time with him.
RYAN: That’s cool. That’s a great show, man. House on Fox. Robert Sean Leonard. Thank you so much, sir.
RSL: Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate it.
RYAN: Take care, dude!
[RSL hangs up]
RYAN: He was cool about talking about the old stuff
THERESA: That was a great movie, that vampire movie - it’s funny.
RYAN: Uh, yea…
THERESA: I used to watch it all the time.
RYAN: I could hear him rolling his eyes, like [sarcastically] “Uuuh… Yep, every now and then that comes up!” That’s one of those every-now-and-then. You’re calling the Rod Ryan Show; we’re gonna talk about something you probably don’t wanna talk about.
NOTE: I tried to keep it as close to what they actually said as possible. I had to edit 2 sentences because grammatically, when written out, they made absolutely no sense. XD It's kind of funny how horrible our grammar gets when we speak, no? Anyway, hope ya'll had fun with that!