Speaker 1 (00:19):
Indy is doing It's been a crazy week because he's
doing two different plays, two different musicals, and uh he's
actually he's been working as a voice over actor too.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
He's doing a cartoon.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
So this week he was working on his cartoon. And
he had his show Matilda this weekend, which was amazing,
so fun. Oh my god, I've seen it. So it's
the new Matilda. You know, theyll Tim mentioned, who's an
amazing songwriter comedian, wrote the Matilda musical that came out

(00:52):
and now there's there's a Netflix movie which is wonderful.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
So it's that version of Matilda. And Indy played.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Bruce, who's the kid has to eat the cake, and
he just killed it. It was so fun, like because
there's this moment where like once uh miss trunch Bull
gets kicked off stage, you know, like they get the
revenge on the teacher, and he just stands up and
sings like this run like.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
And like the audience was just like what just happened?

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, And he's got a really good singing voice. It's
it's it's kind of it's amazing. Yeah, and but he
you know, of course he's so nervous. He's anxious and
stressed out.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
He's an actor.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Yeah, yeah, that's the second play, The Descendants, singing like
two different companies.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
Is that how he has to going at the same time?

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Okay, yeah, man, but you know he loves I mean,
he loves it.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
But yeah, I feel like we're gonna take the summer
off from plays and just sort of be like, are
you still into this?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like what what do you want to do?

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Man?

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Like, you know, it's a lot, Like he's got a
lot of scripts to be reading and songs to be rehearsing.
And but you know, I think, like last like, he
did the show the last two nights, and I think
it gave him the high.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So he's like, oh, this is I just want to
do it again. Yeah, never goes away.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
It's weird, man, having a like trying to relate to
him and like, you know, support him, but also not
pressure him, you know. And of course I have all
my own stuff about this. I mean I feel like
doing being being a theater parent or an actor parent
in the midst of doing.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
This podcast is truly weird, you know, because.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
I feel like I'm coming to terms how much fun
you had when you were his age on I know,
I know, because it was you loved it, right.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
And what I have to remember it too, and like,
you know, the reason I fell in love with acting
was because I did theater and I loved that process.
Like I you know, what I ended up not liking
is what being an actor actually is, like, which is
the audition process and like the lifestyle of like that
is being an actor and I just don't have the
stomach for that or the skin. I guess that I

(03:02):
don't have to take enough skin for that. But what
he's doing, like getting in a group and everybody nervous
before the show and putting to get that was the best.
And really that's what boy Meet's world was too. We
were doing a play every week, and like that was
the exciting part that was so fulfilling. It was all
the fame and all the other stuff that really bummed down.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
What did your mom think? Your mom came down, What
did your mom think?

Speaker 6 (03:25):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (03:25):
She you know, she just loves him, of course, and
yeah he does is magical and sparacul and it's true.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, yeah, but yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I was talking to her about like, you know, we
were driving him to his play. You know, he had
to be there a couple hours ahead of time. Meanwhile, well,
first he had three hour rehearsal for The Descendants, then
the show that Matilda, and I was like, I turned
to my mom. I was like, you were driving me
to San Francisco six days a week when I was
ten to do they Miss and I was doing eight shows.

Speaker 7 (03:53):
And she's like yeah, I'm like that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
He's like yeah, I'm like that is just I'm like,
I'm so stressed up and he's got two shows this
weekend and our whole life is all about that. And
she's like, yeah, so yeah, that was my Like it
disrupted our entire lives.

Speaker 7 (04:08):
I'm like, that's insane.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I remember my mom used to have to drive.

Speaker 7 (04:13):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I would want to stay for curtain Call because it's
a three hour show. So I would be wrapping at
ten thirty a night or eleven o'clock a night, and
she would have to be driving an hour and a
half back to Sebastball from San Francisco.

Speaker 7 (04:24):
And she talks about how she would suck on ice.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Cubes to stay away, So like crazy, just for your
kid to be in a play, Like.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Yeah, what would you do for your kid to be happy?
You do anything everything. Yeah no, that's yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
No, it's a lot though. I mean I actually would
have a hard time if like if Indy was doing
eight shows a week, I'd be like, is this really
worth it?

Speaker 6 (04:48):
Are you really going to do this? Kid?

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Like is this what you want to?

Speaker 6 (04:50):
You know?

Speaker 7 (04:51):
But for my mom, like she gave up everything to
give you everything's.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
And she had two of you.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
I know you were both doing it.

Speaker 8 (04:59):
I know.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
I mean that's the thing. You're you're taking what you've
done and doubling it. It's it's crazy, but that's what
it's like.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
But that's what I remember is that like the kids
who didn't work as kid actors were the ones whose
parents had, you know, stuff to do, Like they can't.

Speaker 7 (05:13):
Give up everything.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
One of the exceptions because my parents could not give
up anything, and I was working all the time.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
And that's why they drive me to that's.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Why you were Yeah, it just said to go out
and take the bus out.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
They're like, if you want to do this, you know
you're we can't. We can't physically can't quit our jobs.
Like we can't quit our jobs, right, So, as you know,
my dad had his own private practice. My mom was
running all three courts in Connecticut. It's like, we can't quit.
So yeah, this is just And eventually we got to
the point where we hired a guy named Bud Bauer.
He was an eighty two year old uh ex World

(05:45):
War Two fighter pilot who would drive my dad's car
with me in the back down of the city. Is
the coolest guy, told the best stories ever. And he
would drive me down while just telling me stories about
like breaking off from formation uh while they were in
a training exercise to buzz his girlfriend's house with his play.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
I mean, he would just yeah, he was the greatest
guy in the world. So yeah, eventually we had to
get somebody because it is it takes.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Up your whole.

Speaker 5 (06:09):
Yeah. Yeah, Well you were in.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
Oc right, Danielle, So you also had a.

Speaker 9 (06:14):
Well, we were in Orange County when I first started
when I was ten, but by the time I started
on Boy Meets World, we had moved to Calabasas, which was,
you know, still far but at least closer than Orange County.
But yeah, we used to make that drive from Orange
County to LA for you know, auditions and sitting in
traffic and be doing my homework in the back seat
or falling asleep. My mom would ask me to fall

(06:36):
asleep with my head high enough so that she could
still be in the carpoolane without being worried that a
cop wouldn't see me. She'd be like, Danielle, you need
to sit up a little higher. I need them to
know I'm allowed to be in this.

Speaker 6 (06:45):
Car pool lane.

Speaker 9 (06:47):
But yeah, I mean, and the only reason I was
able to do it is because my mom was a
stay at home mom, and so she didn't have a
job that she was giving up.

Speaker 5 (06:54):
She had she had working at home that she had
to give up.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
But no, my mom quit.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
I mean, she was a she was a nutritionist teacher,
and she just quit her whole career to dedicate it
to me and my brother.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Two actors, two of you.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
We love you, mom so much, appreciation and.

Speaker 6 (07:13):
Power.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Welcome to Vaudmeet's world.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
I'm Daniel Vishel, I'm rather strong, and I'm Wilfrede.

Speaker 9 (07:30):
We like to talk about how busy we were as
child actors in the nineties, having a job before our
teen years, still going to school every day while having to.

Speaker 5 (07:39):
Learn pages and pages of.

Speaker 9 (07:41):
Dialogue, smoldering our very own grappling hooks and constantly blurring
the line between kid and adult week after week. Dealing
with these issues was hard enough, but what if we
did it for fifteen years consistently, over and over and
over again. Well, this week's guest and her jam packed

(08:01):
IMDb page knows exactly what that feels like. Because there
were kid actors and then there were kid actors. She
first burst onto the scene as Chrissy Seaver from the
legendary sitcom Growing Pains, which honestly would have been enough,
wrap it up, call it today, start a rewatch podcast
thirty years later, But no, that was just the beginning.

(08:24):
She would star in eight television shows by the age
of twenty one, a statistic that seems almost made up.
She'd voice characters on animated projects like Recess, King of
the Hill, and Teen Titans. She'd appear in movies like
Nine Months, The Help, and The Avengers. She'd show up
on TV shows like Er, Blind Spot, and Last of Us,

(08:45):
and to many people's surprise, she was part of the
extended Boy Meets World universe. And still through all this,
she'd somehow find time to co create a revolutionary media
company from just a casual D and D weekly hangout
and now she's looking back on it all in the
form of a new podcast, Weird Kids, a show she
co hosts all about her journey as a child actor

(09:07):
now as a grown adult in a business that is,
for the most part, truly unbelievable. So let's welcome to
pod meets World the very busy Ashley Johnson.

Speaker 6 (09:18):
Hello, high pals. So great to see you, us grow,
so fun.

Speaker 9 (09:30):
Us grown kid actors who now analyze our experience through
the medium of podcasts have to stick together.

Speaker 6 (09:36):
Yes we do.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
Oh my god, it's so great to see you.

Speaker 6 (09:42):
I analyzing our trauma together. Yes, just a simple unpacking,
which is.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
Always a light dusting of some unpacking.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Yes, just a little like light of trauma trauma.

Speaker 9 (10:02):
I know most people expect me to start with some
growing pains talk, but I want to ask about your
first job. At seven years old. You co starred in
the movie Lionheart Van Day. Did I have to imagine
there were some great stories from it. What was Van

(10:24):
Damn like through the pov of a seven year old?

Speaker 6 (10:27):
Oh my god, yeah, I remember. I mean I was
so young, but the memories that I have from it
were great. Yeah, I mean I remember. I mean it's ultimate,
it's the great movie.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
He's getting to get your bike.

Speaker 7 (10:49):
Rewatch, Let's do an episode that.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
Yeah, please buy that little girl a bike.

Speaker 6 (10:55):
I mean, yes, you might know it a little better
than I do. Yes, there is a bike involved. I
I remember I had so much fun that was shooting.
At the time, I was still living in Michigan and
we had come out for I think with that job.
We had come out to visit some family friends and

(11:17):
their kid was auditioning for that part.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Those are the best stories ever, I.

Speaker 6 (11:22):
Know, I know, and we had gone and the I
believe this was Lionheart. It was either Lion Hard or
Growing Pains, and we I went in. The casting director
was like, hey, do you want to audition for this?
And then I did, and then I got it.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
Your family friends were like, we are They're very cool,
very cool.

Speaker 6 (11:49):
Yeah, just you know, it's and it's also like it
was kind of like learning early on that you just
don't know who's going to be right for what part,
just like it's a it's a crap shoot. It's a
crap shoot. Yes, so yeah, but I remember I had
so much fun, and I remember I had like I
think I had a little bit of a crush on

(12:10):
Jean Claude. Did it just because like he had like
this this secent, you know, he was like he was beautiful,
he was a ballerina.

Speaker 9 (12:25):
Yeah, I had a crush on my I had a
crush on my principal when I was in elementary school
and he wasn't beautiful or a ballerina.

Speaker 6 (12:31):
So it isn't just funny when you go back and
you look at the pictures and you're like, holy, yeah,
I had a crush. So this is funny because last
night when I was I was preparing and looking at
you guys again, and I was like, I remember I
had such a crush on writer, because everybody did at

(12:53):
that time, and it was so funny. And I looked
back at some of the older pictures and I feel
like we all shot on the same lot. Am I
making that up? Yeah? We did?

Speaker 9 (13:01):
Right?

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Well yeah, well so you did.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Maybe this time was my brother? So my brother was
working with you, Like, yes, he was in the pilot
in the first couple episodes. I don't know whatever he
ended up not being on the show as a regular,
but he was in the pilot.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
I think of maybe this time with you he.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
Was so great.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Yeah, yeah, he was great.

Speaker 7 (13:24):
He also worked with your sister at some point.

Speaker 6 (13:27):
My sister and I actually might have called her before this,
but I didn't get a hold of her. She played
I believe she played your girlfriend writer on an episode. Okay, okay,
Hailey Johnson, Yeah she was under your she was she
was somebody's girlfriend.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
What episode she was?

Speaker 3 (13:47):
I don't think it was mine. I must have been yours.

Speaker 6 (13:49):
I don't think it was yours. Okay.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
So actually then we probably knew Haley first, and then
you were like Hailey's sister, who also Yes, that's so funny.

Speaker 9 (13:58):
Because both of your siblings are we're also child actors.
So which one of you was the first to broach
the idea of acting? And how did your parents ever
juggle three different kids going to audition?

Speaker 6 (14:13):
No? Can you can you even imagine that?

Speaker 9 (14:16):
No, Like we're just talking about Writer's son is an
actor and and a voiceover actor, and like right crazy,
We were.

Speaker 5 (14:26):
Like, how do you how your entire life is up
ended for one kid?

Speaker 2 (14:29):
I got alone?

Speaker 6 (14:30):
Three? Let alone three? I you know, it's my My
brother ended up going more behind the camera as time
went on, and so it was just my my sister
and I for the most part, okay, but I just
I remember it just worked. I don't think we were

(14:51):
working at the same time like my sister did. She
did Kids Incorporated.

Speaker 10 (14:57):
Yeah, d yes, yes, we made did yes, so she did,
she did that, And I remember we would never be
working at the same time.

Speaker 6 (15:09):
I don't know how it ended up working that way, right.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
At this point or have you moved out here?

Speaker 6 (15:16):
We went back and forth a lot, but then we
finally moved out here when it was just kind of like, Okay,
I guess this is something that we're all going to
continue to do and we enjoy. And my parents were
super cool about it. It was like I don't have
one of those stories of like I was forced into

(15:36):
it and I hated it from the beginning, Like I
always liked it, but I didn't start to love it
until later. But yeah, for parents, I mean, thinking back
on just going to auditions as a kid, like that
was so strange, such a strange experience. It was such
a strange world. And it's so fun talking to other
kid actors because there's it's such a weird it's it's

(16:00):
a weird experience. Yeah, it's also right, I'm glad I
had it.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
It's a gone experience too, though, because the industry has
changed so much, very much, that that sitting in a
room with twenty other kids that you're going to then
grow up with in a certain way.

Speaker 9 (16:14):
Right, social Security numbers down on a piece of paper
for me to read.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Why did they don't you remember more than the actual audition.
The room was where you saw the other kids.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
It got a sense. It was those rooms like the
waiting rooms that.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
You pilotas, and it would be winting down.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
It would start with fifteen of you in a room
and then by the end there's like the four left
that didn't get a pilot that season.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Yes, it was just it was crazy. It was such
and it's a world that's gone now it's gone.

Speaker 6 (16:41):
Yeah, it's gone. My I mean you probably have this
experience writer with your kid now, Like my, A lot
of my nieces and nephews have started to get into it.
And I think in the beginning I was like, I
don't know, I don't know. Guys like not that I
had a bad experience, but you are exposed to people,
do it, you know? Yes?

Speaker 9 (17:02):
Yeah, the fact that means we were lucky, not that
it's yeah, we were lucky.

Speaker 6 (17:07):
Yeah, we were lucky. We were lucky. Yeah, And I think, yeah,
they're getting into it, and it's such a different experience now,
Like some of them have worked on some jobs and
they're like, it's so cool, it's so fun, and I'm
like it is and I feel like just this old
crone in the corner and I'm like, well, I'll be careful,
don't don't take anything from anybody.

Speaker 8 (17:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (17:34):
Also, I will say, like we've talked about it a
little bit too, as a director on a lot of
these newer kid shows, the pressure is significantly less than it.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
Used to be for us.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yea, yes, I would agree with you.

Speaker 9 (17:49):
So, well, that's a different type of a different type
of pressure for sure.

Speaker 5 (17:53):
But like the actual on.

Speaker 9 (17:55):
Set experience for for kids now is a lot more.
This should be fun, we should be enjoying it. We
need to protect each other. We if something's not working,
it's not your fault, will change it.

Speaker 5 (18:10):
Let us suggest it.

Speaker 9 (18:11):
Those conversations are happening among the adults, not involving the kids.
The ability to like the amount of pressure the adults
put on themselves to make sure all their parents and
all the kids are away before any note is given
about a performance thing, and then it's like it's just
a totally different world.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
Totally kids, right, And we were already in a better
world than.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Was for like characters, that's right.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Oh yeah, I mean we already were like, oh, we
have limited hours, we have studio teachers.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
I mean you think about like you know, Judy Garland
day is like it was.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Exactly a disaster, right, And then like the seventies, even
like if you were a kid on a TV show,
you were just expected to be just like the adult
and everything that was kid like Mari was an annoyance.
By the time we were there, there was like, okay,
we have some sort of and I think you're right.
Nowadays there's like a real standing like this a fragile do.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
You know the dog This is not a joke.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
The dog that played Toto made more money than Judy
Garland when they were.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Doing chicken broth, right, she was literally put on a diet.
They were like, you can only have cigarettes and chicken.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
Broth to with amphetamines, and that the dog made more
money than Judy Garland did.

Speaker 6 (19:20):
That's crazy to know that.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, so it's it.

Speaker 6 (19:24):
Is all right, We're doing okay, y'all, that's what we're
comparing it to.

Speaker 5 (19:31):
We're great.

Speaker 6 (19:32):
I think about all the time, and I don't know
if if if you guys have this, I guess I'll
call it an issue where I feel like when when
you're a kid and you're like, okay, you're you're rewarded
for sort of doing what you're told and standing where
you're supposed to stand and taking direction, well being a

(19:54):
squeaky wheel, not being a squeaky wheel, And as you
sort of get get older and you're like, oh, this
is sort of turning into like a people pleasing thing.
I don't know. God, yeah, you're like, I don't know
how to like advocate for myself. Absolutely sometimes Yeah it was.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
It was when I was like early twenties and I
was complaining about how I was being treated on a
set to John DiMaggio, our friend that.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Demaggio was like, writer.

Speaker 11 (20:24):
You're a grown man, I tell them to treat you
like a grow And I was like, oh my, And
it was I was probably twenty four and it had
occurred to me.

Speaker 7 (20:34):
I was like, right, I can stand up for myself.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
I can.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
And because I always thought that if an actor was
a pain in the ass or a difficult act. I
didn't want to be a difficult but it's like, no,
you don't, right. But conflict is part of the process,
like after writers want certain things, producers want writers, everybody
comes together to collaborate, and conflict is okay, like and
not not judging one another for that. Conflict is something

(20:56):
that's taken me a long time to learn. Oh, there's
no one right or wrong. This is just the process.
This is how the sausage is made. And we're gonna
come at each other and we're gonna need to compromise
you about.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
How we came up there.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
And again were also on a set where people got
fired were.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Doing exactly what we were talking about. That's how we
were rewarded.

Speaker 9 (21:15):
I aside from the people pleasing aspect, I also had
to learn how to be in touch with what I
actually felt. I don't know because I'm so used to
you telling me, just tell me what to do, and
I'll do that for you. That like and and I
just want to make you happy, and so what do
I need to do? And then when it's put on
me and it's like, well, you have to make a decision,

(21:36):
It's like what do you mean I don't know what
my personal style is.

Speaker 5 (21:39):
I don't know what I I don't know what I
don't I don't know a thing about.

Speaker 4 (21:42):
Myself because against Danielle with more passion one more time, please.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
You're giving me.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Okay, we have another question for you, something we've talked about.
As we've been going through this, we found one of
the weird kind of things we deal with. Do you
have a weird kind of issue with how fast you
get dressed?

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Do you have any issues around picking out clothes from.

Speaker 6 (22:10):
The self fascinating changing clothes, stressed changing clothes one hundred
percent and ice, Yeah, but we.

Speaker 9 (22:17):
Just don't have to hear it out because it's on
tape nights and you have to do it so fast
that everyone for you and I do it as fast
as humanly possible.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Before we started this podcast, I was changing and I
was like, my heart was racing.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
I was like, I got to do it.

Speaker 7 (22:32):
And I ran into my wife and I was like,
do you get stressed.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Out when you change? It's like, what are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Like I hate changing my clothes more than anything.

Speaker 9 (22:40):
Like I go into my closet and I'm like, all right,
I go over to where the tops are and I go,
because something fast, you've got it. And if whatever I
take off, even if I put it on and don't
like it, or for whatever reason, I'm like, I don't
have time, even if I have all the time in
the world, this.

Speaker 5 (22:58):
Is what I have to wear now I picked it.
It's on.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
I'm realize.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
This is why I kept sweaters and shirts from B fifty, right,
I knew that, And people saying me like why, like,
because it was picked.

Speaker 6 (23:11):
Up you guys, I think you just unlocked something for me.

Speaker 8 (23:17):
Dude.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
It happens when we'll be talking about something, I will go,
oh my god, that's I think.

Speaker 6 (23:23):
Those are the weird things that you can't quite place.
And later and then when you talk about it with
other people who have had the experience and you're like, oh, yeah,
that's totally a problem I have. But I still have,
Like I think I probably have clothed still from when
I was on growing paints or like where I just
like can't get rid of them.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Ye.

Speaker 6 (23:42):
But the same thing is like it's it's been approved,
so you can wear that, and.

Speaker 5 (23:45):
You know the color looks good on you. It's like
it was for you.

Speaker 6 (23:49):
How could I be yes, they gave it to me.
I have to keep it.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
The memories childhood trauma here on podets where thanks for jo.

Speaker 12 (24:03):
Love talking about Traumpa.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
So let's jump into Growing Pains.

Speaker 9 (24:21):
You booked the role of Chrissy sever in what appears
to be your first TV job ever?

Speaker 5 (24:26):
Right? Do you remember that audition?

Speaker 6 (24:30):
Vaguely? Vaguely? I remember, So this is going really far back.
I had so am when I still lived in Michigan.
There was a talent scout that had come to our school,
which is so weird to me. I'm thinking about that now.
And they, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (24:51):
I come to your school and look at your children.

Speaker 9 (24:53):
Thanks, I'm just gonna look around see if I see
any of your children are special.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
Yes, just give me permission to look at your kids.

Speaker 6 (25:03):
They like, how did that conversation go to the principle? Like, Hi,
I'm a I'm a man, I work for you know whatever.

Speaker 7 (25:08):
But it was.

Speaker 5 (25:09):
I'm a man.

Speaker 6 (25:15):
So I had They had come for a talent search
for Star Search, and I guess at the school I
told this person that I sang and they were like,
oh great, we'll have you on Star Search. And so
my parents were like, wait, what do you what do

(25:36):
you mean like you you sang for this person? Like
what's going on? So anyway, so I ended up getting
on star Search.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Search.

Speaker 6 (25:47):
Yes, not to brag. I was on Star Wow.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
How many stars did you get?

Speaker 6 (25:52):
I don't remember, well, I don't. I did not win.
I did not win.

Speaker 5 (25:56):
Did you Which song did you sing? I?

Speaker 6 (25:59):
This is so embarrassing because it's so like child? After
I sang, Oh god, what's it called? Broadway baby?

Speaker 7 (26:10):
Oh my god?

Speaker 6 (26:12):
And so I went on and I remember there was
like another another kid that was the other contestant. His
name was Bud McGregor.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Yeah, and he was.

Speaker 6 (26:24):
He was like a country singer. He was amazing. I wonder,
did you wear like.

Speaker 7 (26:27):
A sequin tuxedo? Did you have like a top?

Speaker 6 (26:31):
I did wear a sequin dress that was gorgeous, you know,
taffata and whatever.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
All the other.

Speaker 9 (26:38):
Materials were our little actor girl dreams were made of amazing.

Speaker 6 (26:43):
Absolutely. So I don't think I I didn't win, but
I think because of Star Search they had me come
in for for growing paints. So I went in.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I'm sorry, you can't, you can't. You can't jump off
of Star Search that quickly. I apologize.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Did you so you met Ed McMahon. Yes, and they
bring and I can't. But we have to find out
how many starts you got because I want to.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Is this beautiful stars.

Speaker 6 (27:13):
We got to be, got to be somewhere. It's got
to be, I believe thinking about it, I think we
I think we had gotten a tie, and then at
the end they do like a re do something. Yeah, man,
so and then I ended up losing, which was great
because I think I only had one song that I say.

(27:33):
I think I only sang that song and you needed
to prepare all of these other songs. But yes, I guys,
meet Ed McMahon. I don't I remember my mom said
I had one hundred and three fever.

Speaker 5 (27:45):
Oh my gosh, guys, the show must go on the clip.
We found the clip.

Speaker 6 (27:49):
No, you did not.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
So much.

Speaker 6 (27:54):
Spoke, Oh my god, eighty nine, y'all.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
What are you like?

Speaker 6 (28:01):
Six? Probably wait, hold on, I was born in eighty three. Yeah,
it was six. But what's hilarious about this to me
is how everyone was like, let's make a tiny Shirley temple,
let's sleep again. But I mean that was my hair.
Oh my god, I look.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
Bigger than your head.

Speaker 8 (28:33):
How Ashley, do you have a sister. What's your name, Haley?
Do you have a brother, Yes? What's his name, Chris?
Do you have a dog? Yes? What's its name?

Speaker 6 (28:57):
Wonderful Waite stars three.

Speaker 8 (29:01):
And three quarter stars. The Challenger Ashley Johnson receives three
and three quarter star.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
It was a time.

Speaker 6 (29:10):
I know what was going on clearly, look at my face.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
That's the best.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
In all fairness, Bud had the belt buckle of a
full grown man.

Speaker 6 (29:18):
He had the hat with the it set his name
on it. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if he want.
He actually had a really great voice, so I'm sure
he went on to hopefully bigger and better things.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
He's one of the star searching Yeah, he's one of
the blowfish. Now it was enough to be true.

Speaker 6 (29:40):
It totally was. I was like, that could be totally true.

Speaker 9 (29:44):
That incredible star search performance leads you to pains, and
this is clearly a part that kid actors dream about.
It's still a classic show that has survived the test
of time. As an adult now having been on hundreds
of sets since, what are your overall feelings about that

(30:04):
experience on Growing Pains?

Speaker 6 (30:06):
God, I every memory that I have from that is
so good. It really really is like I feel like
that show. They were such a family on that show
already because I came in and on the sixth season,
I think I was on it for the last two seasons, okay,

(30:26):
and I just everyone was so wonderful to me. I
mean not that they're going to be, you know, a
bunch of to a little kid, but it could have been.
They could have been. They could have been, yeah, and
they were just so they just took me in like
I had been there and were so nice to my family.

(30:48):
And I remember shooting on it was it shot on
Warner Brothers Ranch and at the time the lot there
was like the old little house on the prairie set
was still there, and it was there was the old
Jason Barn from Halloween, and I just remember just going
out and just playing every day, and it was it

(31:12):
was such a It was a great start to this career.
I think, you know, some some weird jobs came later
or weird people, but Growing Pains, for the most part
was I still have such incredible memories from it. It
really was just so it was so good. It was
so good.

Speaker 9 (31:31):
Infamously, another child actor made a stop on Growing Pains,
mister Leonardo DiCaprio.

Speaker 6 (31:36):
Oh, yes, the Leo decaps.

Speaker 5 (31:39):
What do you remember about young Leo?

Speaker 6 (31:42):
Oh my god, I do remember. He was so he
was so good, like you could tell so early on.
And I think at that time he had just finished
filming This Boy's Life, I think, yeah, and then that
hadn't come out yet, so he was on sort of
the last bit of the season for Growing Pains, and

(32:06):
I just remember everyone was like, this kid is so good,
like he just had he just he had it. He
had it, you know, we felt it, and it was. Yeah,
he was great. I just remember. But he was like
a teenager, you know, he was a kid, so it
was but I remember he was so sweet to me,
and you know, we just stayed. We stayed lifelong friends

(32:31):
of course.

Speaker 8 (32:32):
You know.

Speaker 5 (32:32):
Yeah, I get it, I get it.

Speaker 6 (32:35):
And my Palio. Yeah, I did actually see him. Well,
I got to see a lot of the last time
I saw everybody. Not the greatest, but I went to
Allan Thick's funeral, and which he was the greatest. He

(32:57):
was the greatest, and like I just I mean as
like a first TV dad, like just I just remember
I loved hugging him and just being around him. And
he was just so he was. He was wonderful. But
I saw a lot of you know, Joanna Kerns and

(33:18):
Jeremy Miller, and getting to see all these people as
an adult, I mean not at a very good time
at cour celebration, bad circumstances, bad circumstances, but I hadn't
seen a lot of them in a while, and it
was really it was sad, but it was really cool
to see them as an adult and get to sort
of have a different conversation with them that I that

(33:40):
I had had I've never had.

Speaker 9 (33:42):
But yeah, did you ever return to like real normal
school because you genuinely have never stopped working?

Speaker 6 (33:50):
Yeah? I did. I did, so I only I only
went to school. I didn't go to high school. I
homeschool through high school. But I went to elementary and
middle school and they weren't fun. Yeah, they weren't fun.
I mean, elementary school was fine, but middle school is
where it kind of just like took another.

Speaker 5 (34:11):
No matter who you are, middle school so.

Speaker 6 (34:13):
School, yes, it does. So it's a it's yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:17):
I've also said, even when even when it's something good
or cool, like being an actor, anything that makes you different.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
As a kid is bad.

Speaker 6 (34:25):
Yeah, they're like, oh, you think you're super into yourself
for you know, it's it's yes, anything that is different
is bad. And so I was very and I still
land like I'm a very introverted I'm not a social creature,
Like I love spending time alone, Like I could totally

(34:47):
just be out on an island and be fine. Like
you send me to Mars, I'll be fine. Let me
find out there. So a lot of it I was.
It was hard, but I had my core group of
friends that I have still have since elementary school. My
best friend I met an elementary school still she's my
best friend. Will has met her before Meila, Oh, of course,

(35:12):
of course.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (35:14):
So we yeah, so we've we've rolled dice together.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
We have we have we've formed a shield wall together, Yes,
we have.

Speaker 13 (35:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (35:23):
I I mean I kind of kept to myself for
the most part when I was in school. But yeah,
there is that sort of otherness that when you have that,
you're sort of pushed out of the inner circle, which
I was fine with because I've always kind of been
a little weird.

Speaker 9 (35:36):
Lone Wolf, you starred in eight different TV shows by
the time you were twenty one.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
How oh, yeah, yeah, your career.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
I don't.

Speaker 9 (35:51):
How did you avoid burnout or did you ever think
about walking away?

Speaker 6 (35:57):
I guess there was a very brief time when I
was thinking about going to college. There was a very
sort of brief amount of you know, seventeen eighteen where
I'm like, is this is this what I want to do?
Do I want to go to school for something else?
Learn and learn something else at least? And I just

(36:20):
kept doing it.

Speaker 5 (36:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (36:21):
I mean, the thing is like it's it's I do
love it, like I love part you love parts of it.
Sometimes like there's and of course it's it's like that
I'm sure with any job, but I there's I think
there's also that thing that we have as actors where

(36:41):
you don't know when the next job is coming, so
you're always just like ready to go and just want
to keep working because you know at some point it
probably will stop. Yeah, So I think I think I
just kept doing it because of that reason, because I'm
just I'm like, at some point and it's just going
to stop, so I might as well keep doing it.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
We've also talked about how there's the people that keep going.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
There's a certain group of people.

Speaker 4 (37:07):
It's like a stand up comedian where you know that
you're supposed to be a stand up comedian or an
actor if you.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
Can't not do it.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Yeah, yes, And I think there's a point where you're
just like, I don't picture my life without doing something
in this industry.

Speaker 3 (37:21):
I just it's I couldn't imagine not doing it.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
So yeah, it's almost a call. You hate to use
the word calling, but it seems to kind of be
like a calling.

Speaker 6 (37:30):
It does kind of. Yeah, it kind of feels that way.
And I mean, I don't know. I guess there's a
part of me that I'm like, I don't know if
it's a calling for me as opposed to just it's
what I do. It's kind of like because I've been
doing it since I've been a little wee baby, it's

(37:52):
the alternative. What is the alternative? But I do love it.
I love each aspect of it, and like even now
with working with you know, critical role stuff and we
do you know, a writer's room or comic books and
sort of getting to sort of do this another way.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
Yeah, it stuff.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
So you're you're one of the few people that can
really give us an insight. And I know this is
it's for a lot of actors, it's like asking which
of your children do you like better? You've done You've
done sitcom for a long time, but you've also done
a lot of really good single camera work. So for television,
do you prefer multiicam or do you prefer single cam?

Speaker 6 (38:34):
Geez? I haven't done a multiicam in so long, and
I feel like I don't remember what my last multi
caamer sitcom was. I mean I think I was probably
probably early twenties. Okay, so you know, a couple of
decades ago. But there is I mean, it's like the

(38:57):
same as theater. There is an energy there that you
don't get from just a single camera, right, yeah, but
there there's there's They each have their like pros and
cons yeah, you know, but there is something like the
sitcom multicam schedule is the best, you know, because it's
like it's consistent, you have, your you have, It's it's

(39:19):
the closest thing that we have to a nine to five,
I think exactly, and it's it's I haven't done it
in so long, and I feel like it would be
so fun to do it again.

Speaker 9 (39:30):
But well, let's remind you of some multiicam with talking
about a very odd moment in your child acting career
which ties directly into Boy Meets World. Oh, we talked
about it the show called Maybe This Time, which is
created and executive produced by one mister Michael Jacobs.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
Oh my god, that's right, yes, co.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
Starring Betty White and Marie Osmond.

Speaker 9 (39:55):
And there is a very meta scene in the show
where your character is watching Boy Meets World and then
Corey and Sean start talking directly to you your character
through the screen.

Speaker 6 (40:13):
Wait what Yeah, we do not remember that?

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Maybe on IMDb for being in Maybe This Time as Sean,
which is Yeah, it's so weird.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
Remember this.

Speaker 9 (40:23):
I have to play it for you because I want
to say it. It's like, I think you have to
remember it once you see it, because especially you said,
but you remember you had a crush on writer, so
I would imagine wonder.

Speaker 6 (40:34):
Yeah, so it maybe it was just like that. Oh
my god, I can't wait to see this. This is
so crazy. I haven't seen any of Maybe This Time
since it aired, so I don't remember it at all.

Speaker 5 (40:44):
Was it a great experience for you?

Speaker 6 (40:46):
Do you remember the best? Come on, Betty White, Marie Osmond?
It was just it was I was I was surrounded
by incredible women. Yeah, it was great.

Speaker 7 (40:58):
Well, I don't give up on you. She sees that
she doesn't give up on Nicky. Who's Nicky? You know,
the little boyfriend?

Speaker 6 (41:05):
Wow?

Speaker 5 (41:05):
Have never seen this episode before?

Speaker 14 (41:08):
Okay, if I still got one question? Is she dreaming
or is this actually on TV?

Speaker 15 (41:13):
Well, essentially, she's experiencing what we call a waking dream.
It's the momentary blurring of the line between the conscious
and the unconscious.

Speaker 14 (41:21):
I lived my entire life like that. Hey, what's going on?
What's with all the slime?

Speaker 15 (41:28):
A relax, it's just the special effects. It means our
work here is done. So long, Gracie, good luck.

Speaker 6 (41:35):
Oh oh my god, I have a vague memory of that. Now,
thanks for that. But how great are you guys?

Speaker 5 (41:44):
They're so great, They're so great.

Speaker 8 (41:45):
Good.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
It's weird because it's actually like a boy meets World
storyline scene.

Speaker 7 (41:50):
Yeah, accurately to our care.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
It's weird.

Speaker 6 (41:53):
I wonder what prompted them to write that in.

Speaker 9 (41:56):
Michael jacobsabel Yeah, yeah, he's just trying to like, you know,
put together right.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
But it's also so funny because it explains his philosophy
with boy meets world, Like he literally did believe that
he was teaching children how to behave yes with art,
you know, like that moralizing quality is what he thought,
you know, he went he looked at it as like
his mission to inspire kids to do the right thing,
and like he's literally expelling out like the writing philosophy

(42:26):
behind the Corey Shawn dynamic.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
It's really interesting.

Speaker 13 (42:28):
Yeah, oh my god, that is so wild to see.

Speaker 9 (42:45):
What was your experience with Michael, Like, I know he
co created the show with Boy Meets World writer Susan
Estelle Janssen.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yes, and the Trainer was directing it right, Yes.

Speaker 5 (42:57):
Very tall, skinny David Trainer.

Speaker 6 (42:59):
Yes, oh my god. Yes, yeah. You guys are giving
me so many flat there's like every you know, like
there's that part of time and your brain of being
a kid where it's all just a little fuzzy and blurry.
But you guys for.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
Me most of my life.

Speaker 6 (43:14):
Yeah. Yeah, but you guys are making it a little
more sharper around the ches. Yes, David Traynor, Oh my god,
he was such a fun director.

Speaker 9 (43:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (43:25):
I just remember with Michael, I remember he was really fun.
I mean maybe this time only was I think we
only did one season, and I remember, I just remember
it was a great I mean, any I feel like
because of the age that I was any sort of

(43:46):
problems that were happening on set, and I think there
were some. I was shielded from them. Sure, you know,
it was like, Okay, the kid is on set now,
so everybody's you know, we put our differences side at
the moment. But I remember he was he was really
nice to me good and I think I don't remember

(44:10):
him being there a lot.

Speaker 9 (44:12):
Okay, yep, that could make sense. Maybe, so maybe Susan
was there more.

Speaker 6 (44:16):
I feel like Susan was there more, but I just yeah,
a lot of a lot of Maybe this time is
a very vague memory. I just remember that there was
a basketball court on the Disney lot and there would
be like lunchtime. Yeah, it's gotta be. Yeah, that's where

(44:38):
he did Jim the Home Improvement Kids, you guys and
thunder Ally Zach Tarn And.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Yes, it was a strange gym class if we're honest.

Speaker 6 (44:57):
It was because I don't feel like we did Jim
just probably do.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
You remember Angel and VICKI.

Speaker 6 (45:05):
Were they?

Speaker 5 (45:06):
You're Jim trainers by any chance?

Speaker 6 (45:09):
Wait, those names sound very familiar to me.

Speaker 9 (45:12):
They were like a married couple who did personal edge
personal edge training.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
You would come and like hang out with us on set,
like yeah.

Speaker 9 (45:21):
Maybe get your sponsorships, like take you to like Rebok.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Brought snowboards.

Speaker 6 (45:28):
Wait, this is so crazy. This is so you guys
are bringing up stuff that I haven't. I don't think
I've ever thought about it.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
And so you were younger than us, So you were
you were probably only like eight, right, or she's.

Speaker 9 (45:40):
Not that much younger than me. You're two years younger
than me. So if I was twelve, I'm forty one.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
Yeah, I'm forty one.

Speaker 6 (45:45):
So I mean, like, wait, this is so crazy, so
much stuff that I've thought on so long. Oh my god.

Speaker 5 (45:55):
Well get used to this feeling.

Speaker 9 (45:57):
Because you have recently started a podcasts and with a
friend tell us in Jaffie.

Speaker 5 (46:03):
Am I saying the name right?

Speaker 3 (46:05):
A love former child actor?

Speaker 9 (46:09):
Yes, from movies like Mister Mom and TV shows like
Facts of Life, And you guys.

Speaker 5 (46:14):
Have decided to dig deep into the vault.

Speaker 9 (46:17):
That contains the very complicated memories of our preteen jobs.
It's called weird Kids. How has that treated you so far?
And has it thrown you into therapy like the rest
of us.

Speaker 6 (46:29):
Yes, absolutely, I mean we we sort of We had
talked for a long time about wanting to start a podcast,
and with our group of friends, they're like, you guys
have a perspective of being child actors that a lot
of us don't have, and you know that that's not
our main in general. Talison and I are very weird

(47:01):
that so we're like a little a little off center.
So I think the the a lot of it is
not just about, you know, the experience we had on sets,
but also just the two of us just being very
weird kids. So we've had a really good time. But
it is funny how when you start talking about from

(47:24):
when you were a kid and then you're like like, oh,
this is this is bringing up some really interesting, interesting
things that now we are dealing with. But it's been great.
I mean, I I love podcasts. I listen to podcasts
all day long when I'm not working or doing something
I'm I'm mostly political podcasts. That is what I listened

(47:47):
to one hundred percent of the day.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
But do you talk about Ed de Bevic's on your podcast?

Speaker 6 (47:56):
WHOA I was just talking about with somebody like a
week ago because BJ's and Burbank used to be ans
as well, but not the O G One. No, but
I loved, didn't we all we went.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
There was one left in Chicago and they had us
there at.

Speaker 4 (48:15):
The podcast to go and we were actually at the
EDS in Chicago.

Speaker 6 (48:22):
Dancing on the Chicago was nationwide.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Yeah, well it was just Chicago in l A.

Speaker 6 (48:30):
Oh my god, wait I didn't Is it still there? Yeah,
we just went, my god, you guys have fun. Take
weird kid, it will take weird kids Eds and and
just oh my god.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Yeah, it's the best when you're not looking and dance
on the table. It's amazing kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Yeah, they stand character.

Speaker 6 (48:53):
They're like, yeah, yes, we need to bring it back
here to l A. What is happening. I don't know,
I mean I don't. We just got a.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
Group of us together, a group of us kid actors.

Speaker 6 (49:05):
And reopened it and reopened I'm all for it.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
It's the restaurant industry is very safe.

Speaker 9 (49:11):
It's very it is not a stressful career.

Speaker 6 (49:19):
No, I mean, podcasting definitely probably helps prepare you for
a restaurant touring exactly.

Speaker 9 (49:24):
It's a it's it's the new straight shot. You go
from hostcat in directly into opening your own restaurant, stop
on your way to stop on the way, then.

Speaker 6 (49:40):
Boin, and then you know we're there.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
Yes, yeah, well anything is possible because you did become
hugely successful playing Dungeons and Dragon. Yes, so again you've
proven that even just a childhood fun craziness can then
turn into a business. Now I know a little bit
about how it started, but can you tell us how
this incredible foray into the world of beautiful nerdom started?

Speaker 9 (50:06):
Yes, you are a founding member of the Revolutionary Critical Role,
So tell us how did that start?

Speaker 6 (50:13):
Yeah? We it started. So there's eight of us and
one of the members, Leom O'Brien, had wanted to play
D and D for his birthday, and some mutual friends
of ours Matthew Mercer, he was a dungeon master and
was like, I can run the game. And I actually

(50:35):
was not at the first game, but I went to
the second game that we played, and we just once
we started, we couldn't stop. Yeah, because we were like,
oh this is I mean, it's it's long form improv
in a fantasy setting, which you know, I love fantasy,
I love sci fi. So I was I and it

(50:55):
was something I had always wanted to play as a kid,
but I couldn't because I was working and I couldn't.
You know. It's it's you got to get in with
that group as a kid in school, and they're not
gonna let me play in their group when I was
in school. Yeah, but yeah, So we started playing, and
we played for a little over two years just at home.

(51:18):
And then another friend of ours, Felicia Day, who had
uh a streaming channel Geek and Sundry at the time,
and we uh she was like, would you want to
try streaming it? And we were like, I don't know
who's gonna be. That's so long. He was gonna watch this,
you know, it's because it's hours and hours. One game

(51:40):
of over it's over like four hours long. So we're like, well,
we'll try it. It's something that we all love so much.
So if it takes away from our love for it
and the love, yeah, you know, we'll stop.

Speaker 5 (51:55):
We'll just stop.

Speaker 6 (51:56):
And we didn't. And then it just kept working and
we just kept going, and we just decided to build
whatever it is that we've built, you know, And we
just released our first RPG, Dagger Heart, which is crazy,

(52:17):
which we've been like building it over the past five
years or whatever, and it's finally going to be out
there in the world. And it's it's so it's just
so fun, like we're just i mean, at work every
day we just sort of play make believe and you know,
I've just continued to sort of do that my whole life,

(52:38):
and I love it.

Speaker 9 (52:40):
You also run the Critical Role Foundation the cheerity of
the company, which is awesome. Tell us about what you
guys do there and what your goals.

Speaker 5 (52:49):
Are for the initiative.

Speaker 6 (52:50):
Oh my gosh. So we started the foundation in twenty twenty,
which was we had wanted to start it earlier, but
then when COVID hit, which is I would not suggest
trying to start a nonprofit in the midding that time,
but it really, it's it's it's been so incredible. Like

(53:11):
we just ran a charity one shot. The last sort
of big initiative that we did. We tried something where
we played a live game and we wanted to raise
money for the La Wildflyers and we raised about four
hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.

Speaker 14 (53:30):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (53:31):
And so we raised money for LAFD, the Latino Community Fund.
I'm forgetting what the third one is right now, But
it's our community is so incredibly I guess giving that generous.

(53:55):
And so when we had started the foundation, it was
a lot of like, well, we love what we do,
we love doing this, there's got to be a way
that we can give back, and we did so we
started the foundation and it's been incredible. I mean, we've
worked with amazing nonprofits from First Nations Development Institute, A

(54:16):
two six l a Red Nose Day, Pablove Foundation. It's
it's it's really been kind of the highlight of what
we do. And I think Matt, Matt and I are
the ones who are are most closely related to it, Matthew,

(54:36):
Mercer and me, and we can't always talk about We're
like that's this is going to be our what we
leave for the world. Like later as we get older
and we keep going and we can still work on
the foundation. It's our our legacy.

Speaker 5 (54:53):
We will have to tell you about Ashes to Films
as well.

Speaker 6 (54:56):
What is this? Please tell me?

Speaker 1 (54:59):
Started nonprofit? Yeah, to support filmmakers after the fires. Uh
So it's he's basically raising funds to allow filmmakers to
make ten short films and you know, filmmakers that were
and then higher crew and.

Speaker 9 (55:14):
Multimakers that were directly impacted by the fires, and then the.

Speaker 2 (55:19):
Festival to Yeah, yeah it's great.

Speaker 6 (55:22):
Yeah, how cool is this just to film?

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Yeah, you gotta joint, you gotta, you gotta help out. Yeah,
I'll put you in touch with them.

Speaker 6 (55:28):
Yeah, definitely incredible. Yeah, you're incredible.

Speaker 9 (55:32):
Great well, Ashley, you are an absolute joy and it
has been so wonderful reconnecting with you.

Speaker 14 (55:43):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (55:44):
You guys can all watch or listen to Weird Kids
right now on Beacon dot TV through Critical Role or
learn more about it on Instagram at the Weird Kids
pod or check them out at the Chicago Eddubevic's right.

Speaker 5 (55:58):
I mean you're going to be there.

Speaker 6 (56:02):
Or you know, you'll see us at the opening of
the news exactly.

Speaker 9 (56:07):
We're going to be we get we should get together
to talk about ashes to films and then as a
side project, work on how do we open.

Speaker 4 (56:14):
LA Okay, I want to throw something out there. All right,
I'm gonna I'm gonna be crazy. I'm gonna be crazy
right now.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
Okay, Charity Edbvick's nineties kid food fight.

Speaker 6 (56:31):
Can we also get some slime like like a double like.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
A something dropped on us.

Speaker 6 (56:36):
Yeah, something dropped on us screens.

Speaker 9 (56:38):
We get dropped into a vat of something like It's
like how Will was dropped into the butter as a lobster.
Something needs to get dropped on us. We need to
get dropped into something.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
I think it'd be good. We can.

Speaker 4 (56:47):
People can come and join the food Fight for charity
and we raise a whole bunch of money. We'll pick
some great uh charities out there, and I bet you
we'd raise a ton of money to come giant.

Speaker 6 (56:57):
That sounds so fun.

Speaker 9 (56:58):
We do actually have the connection to the edbics in Chicago.
We could reach out to them. We could get edbe
Chicago to come out to LA for an event uh
and and do something really fun.

Speaker 6 (57:11):
I am in and I will destroy.

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (57:16):
I should also mention Ashley can be a little bit competitive.

Speaker 5 (57:20):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
I have seen this happen.

Speaker 6 (57:25):
I loves that.

Speaker 5 (57:28):
So fun.

Speaker 6 (57:29):
Well, you guys so much. This was so fun.

Speaker 9 (57:32):
Thank you, Thank you so much for coming and joining us.
We appreciate you so much. Let's seriously get together. I mean,
I feel like we've got so many more stories to share.

Speaker 6 (57:41):
I'm in.

Speaker 5 (57:42):
Thank you Ashley.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Great to see you.

Speaker 6 (57:43):
Bye guys, Bye.

Speaker 7 (57:47):
Writer.

Speaker 9 (57:47):
We figured out Haley played Linda in the Beard episode
you were she was your love interest in the Beard episode.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
There were two they're too because the other was the
original Topanga's sister. There are two roles in that episode, right.

Speaker 5 (58:02):
Right, right, so two sisters.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Which is the Beard That's the one where I'm trying
to date two different girls and I don't remember it's
where it's where everyone at Chubby's calls me scum, calls
me and Ben scum like we're because we're Ben ends
up taking one of them out, and he takes Haley
out and then.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
She falls for him.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
I don't know. It's like holding on to her in
case you want to date her too or something.

Speaker 5 (58:28):
Right, she was supposed to be the safe one, right.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
Yes, okay, right, it's yeah, Oh that's so funny.

Speaker 6 (58:37):
She's great.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Yeah, and she's a ton of fun to play games with.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
She really it's that energy for five hours and as
you're rolling into a town with your crew and you're
trying to destroy everything in the town.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
It's yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
She was always such a solid actor too, Like you know,
she's one of those like, oh, there's a reason you worked.
She never stopped working, just immediately arrived with like a
complete ability to act like it's just yeah, yeah, she's phenomenal.

Speaker 9 (59:06):
Thank you all for joining us for this episode of
Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow us on
Instagram pod Meets World Show. You can send us your
emails pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com.

Speaker 5 (59:15):
And we've got merch.

Speaker 4 (59:17):
Okay, So, Jean Claude van Dam is leaving the French
Foreign Legion. He's got to escape the French Foreign Legion
and he has to get into an underground fighting ring
to help save his family, which is Ashley Johnson is
his niece.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Lionheard merch.

Speaker 9 (59:33):
Pod Meets Worldshow dot Com writers send us out.

Speaker 6 (59:37):
We love you all, pod dismissed.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast producer hosted by
Danielle Fischel, Wilfredell and Ryder Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp
and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,
producer and editor, Tarasubach, producer, Maddie Moore, engineer and Boy
Meets World superman Easton Allen. Our theme song is by
Kyle Morton of Type. Follow us on Instagram at Podmets

(01:00:02):
World Show, or email us at podmetsworldshowat gmail dot com.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
M