Moby (00:00:04):

Hi, Lindsay.

Lindsay (00:00:05):

Hi, Moby.

Moby (00:00:06):

Hi Bagel. Hi, <laugh>. And hi, everybody listening. So we have a really, I hope that every episode of Moby Pod is special, but today we have a really special one with Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> one of my favorite activists and Hollywood legends and vegan icons. And he's even been a Simpsons character a couple of times. Big deal.

Lindsay (00:00:30):

We

Moby (00:00:30):

Have, Ed Begley is going to be our guest on today's show.

Lindsay (00:00:33):

Ed Begley Jr. Is someone who, I mean, obviously I've seen him in a million things, but before we met him, I had seen him on the television at the Oscars talking about how he and his daughter were taking the bus to the Oscars to cut down on their carbon footprint. Yeah. And I was like, ex freaking, excuse me?

Moby (00:00:55):

<laugh>.

Lindsay (00:00:56):

And he was so passionate about it and so sweet and his daughter, they were so excited to be contributing to the betterment of our world. And I think there aren't many actors in his position that put quite so much effort into being great environmentalists. He's a committed vegan. He has built this house that is the perfect eco house. He has an ongoing bet with Bill Nye, the science guy of who can make the lowest carbon footprint. He's so committed and so fun and so funny. And may I also mention he's so tall. He's

Moby (00:01:32):

Very, very tall.

Lindsay (00:01:32):

He's such a tall man.

Moby (00:01:34):

I've known him for quite a long time now. And he's also just humble and sweet like you and I know. And most people know that a lot of successful actors, iconic actors, are not necessarily humble and approachable. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so, for example, when Ed came over to record the podcast, he drove here in his electric car and he brought us vegan soup. He

Lindsay (00:01:58):

Brought us soup. And I have a confession to make. You still

Moby (00:02:00):

Have the Tupperware?

Lindsay (00:02:01):

I still have the Tupperware for the

Moby (00:02:02):

Soup. Yeah. We're gonna return the Tupperware to Ed also before we get started. Not this episode, but the next Moby Pod episode is our one year anniversary of

Lindsay (00:02:13):

Moby Pod. We've been doing Moby Pod for one whole year, which feels crazy.

Moby (00:02:17):

And so for our one year anniversary Moby Pod birthday party, I thought we would ask people to write in with questions, with comments, write in with your favorite moments

Lindsay (00:02:28):

Requests.

Moby (00:02:29):

Yeah. What, what do you wanna see more of in year two? What

Lindsay (00:02:32):

Do you wanna see less

Moby (00:02:33):

Of? And as

Lindsay (00:02:34):

All, but say it nicely.

Moby (00:02:35):

Yes. It be nice. Don't <laugh>. You know, we know that there's a certain like agency and power that comes with being vitriolic <laugh>,

Lindsay (00:02:43):

But,

Moby (00:02:43):

But there's enough of that in the rest of the world. Like, and

Lindsay (00:02:45):

Also, I'm so sensitive. Yeah.

Moby (00:02:47):

If you don't like us, that's fine. You can tell us you don't like us in gentle terms. Yeah. Uh,

Lindsay (00:02:53):

Like my mom does. Yeah. <laugh> <laugh>.

Moby (00:02:55):

Okay. But without further ado, let's dive into our wonderful conversation with the inspiring and iconic Ed Begley Jr.

Moby (00:03:17):

Ed.

Ed (00:03:17):

Moby.

Moby (00:03:18):

and Lindsay. Hi Lindsay.

Lindsay (00:03:19):

Hi.

Ed (00:03:19):

Hi, Lindsay.

Moby (00:03:20):

Hi, Ed. So, I don't wanna monopolize things too much, 'cause one, I tend to monopolize things like when Lindsay and I talk, I'm, I'm a loudmouth, so I have to restrain myself from being too much of a loud mouth. But boy, do I have a lot of questions. Let's

Ed (00:03:34):

See if I can answer any of them.

Moby (00:03:36):

<laugh>. Okay. Because we've known each other for a while. I think, you know, Lindsay, um, Ed and I have acted together. Yes. On what, on a.

Ed (00:03:43):

Pittsburgh.

Moby (00:03:43):

few occasions.

Ed (00:03:44):

Yeah. And what else?

Moby (00:03:46):

That one with, it was at a house where we played music together. It was about, it was basically Silicon Valley, but not Silicon Valley. Right. I think it was called Founders or something. It

Ed (00:03:57):

Was called, yeah, it was called Betas.

Moby (00:03:59):

Yeah. And it was the, it was Silicon Valley. That wasn't Silicon Valley. Right. It was like a pilot. So some of my questions are very lighthearted, some are biographical and some are quite serious. And I thought I would start with, and hopefully you're not gonna storm out in a fit of Rage and Fury. Good luck. Because my, my first question, it's pretty, it's pretty delicate. Okay. As far as I know, you are the first drummer who has ever captured exploding on screen. What does that feel like? <laugh>.

Ed (00:04:33):

But I actually died in a bizarre gardening accident. Oh. I thought there was another drummer that exploded.

Moby (00:04:37):

Okay. So it was the Garden. Yeah.

Ed (00:04:38):

Okay. Yeah. I die in a bizarre gardening accident. The one before after me exploded. Spontaneous combustion. I think. So.

Moby (00:04:45):

I've ruined the whole interview. 'cause I don't <crosstalk>.

Ed (00:04:48):

It's, but it's a very odd death. And I think Chris put it in there 'cause he was very smitten with my garden, my first home in 1979. He came to visit and saw that. So I think that was his angle there with the bizarre gardening accident.

Moby (00:05:01):

Because you've been in Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Best In Show. Yeah. How did you first meet Christopher Guest and how did that, he does seem to work with a lot of these amazing people like yourself, like Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, multiple times.

Ed (00:05:16):

I was in New York and I knew Tony Hendra, the editor of the National Lampoon. And Tony said, meet me at this recording studio. We're doing more stuff like that. We had in the radio dinner album, they did this comedy album called Radio Dinner, like a TV dinner. And they, they were recording some stuff and they're in that studio was not only Tony Hendra that asked me to meet him there, but one Christopher Guest. And I knew him from that album and from, you know, other stuff like that, Lampoon kind of crowd stuff. So I just tried to instantly, I was drunk as a skunk on that particular evening, <laugh>, it was the seventies. It was like 75 or six. So even though I was reeling, I knew his sister, Elissa Guest a bit from LA. And, uh, and so I went, I know Elissa, uh, you're great and can I get your number? And I just kind of put it on. And somehow he tolerated me. Then he moved, moved to LA He lived in New York for years. He moved to LA and he worked with Bruno Kirby, and he knew Jeff Goldblum. And so that crowd, the, like Bruno Kirby, Jeff Goldblum crowd, you know, started hanging out with Chris a lot. And they played ball together. They all played softball. They had a softball team.

Moby (00:06:20):

I thought you were gonna say basketball. And I was like, Jeff Goldblum playing basketball. It's just unfair for anybody who

Ed (00:06:25):

<laugh>. I know. He's way too tall. Yeah. And I, I was never good at basketball, so I was no threat in that area. But I got to be friendly with Chris. And then he asked me to even do some assistant camera work. I was an assistant cameraman. So this wonderful cameraman who did Spinal Tap was Peter Smokler. And he asked me to do a thing for Chris with Peter. And I did that. And I, I got a call about Spinal Tap, but we socialized a fair amount back then. I knew him and respected him. And I was not in Guffman, but that did not diminish my enthusiasm for that movie one bit. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. And then I somehow got the call to be in Best In Show. And I've been in, I think every movie he's done since. And even a few other, like TV projects and other stuff. And I just, I'm crazy about Chris Guest,

Moby (00:07:12):

You know, every year for Halloween, it is my goal to dress up as Corky. St. Clair. Yeah. Christopher Guest and, um,

Lindsay (00:07:20):

Oh no, I know. Okay.

Moby (00:07:21):

<laugh>.

Lindsay (00:07:21):

It's one of my favorite movies ever made. It's

Moby (00:07:24):

A great move. And I have the sweater vest that I can wear backwards. I have the two pay the toupee. The one thing I can't commit to is the goatee. So how about, I'm gonna say this publicly, <laugh> next October, I'm, this has been going on ever since I saw Best In Show. I'm sorry. Waiting for Guffman in theaters. Wow. I've been like, okay, I need to be Corky St. Claire for Halloween.

Lindsay (00:07:46):

Why save it for Halloween? Why don't we just pick a day and you could just be, it could be quirky day.

Moby (00:07:51):

Okay. But I, but I need to grow a goatee. And that's the challenging part. Because to grow a goatee, you have to have a goatee.

Lindsay (00:08:00):

You have the makings of one right now. Now a bit of a beard going on. Yeah.

Moby (00:08:03):

Maybe, maybe today will be quirky saying like, after you guys

Lindsay (00:08:07):

Leave, that would be my dream come true.

Moby (00:08:08):

I will see if I can make Corky St. Claire a appear with my sweater vest in my toupee.

Lindsay (00:08:15):

If I, I could not be more supportive. So

Moby (00:08:17):

I have Okay. But then I.

Lindsay (00:08:18):

You have follow up.

Moby (00:08:19):

I have one other <laugh> recently you were in my favorite movie of probably the last 30 or 40 years. Wow. Lucky.

Ed (00:08:30):

Oh, with Harry Dean.

Moby (00:08:32):

Did you see Lucky, Lindsay?

Lindsay (00:08:34):

I didn't. But I remember there was a good like three month period where every time I would see you, you would talk about something about that movie.

Moby (00:08:41):

I saw it in the theater multiple times. Love

Ed (00:08:42):

It. Oh my God. I love that you saw that at Oh my God, <laugh>. I'm so impressed.

Moby (00:08:47):

It's such a remarkable, beautiful special movie. And the fact that it was Harry Dean's last movie,

Ed (00:08:52):

Right

Moby (00:08:53):

It's so one I'm saying you were remarkable in it. It's a wonderful movie. But also, anyone listening, please go see Lucky with Harry Dean Stanton. It's so special. David Lynch and a tortoise are in the

Ed (00:09:06):

Movie. Yes. Oh my God, it's so great. And in movie

Moby (00:09:08):

With the tortoise. And there's some scenes that make you weep with sort of like existential, I don't even how to describe it, but like, like Harry's, he has a soliloquy in a bar. Yes. That is one of the most emotional, powerful things I've ever heard. So kudos to you for being involved in my favorite movie of the last 30 years. Another

Ed (00:09:28):

Level of respect for you and gratitude that you saw that movie and had that reaction. My God. Thank you. Thank you. I was so lucky to know him. I met him in 1972 at the Troubadour Bar. And then at Tana's we both went to, I,

Moby (00:09:42):

I believe when you say Tana's, you're talking about Dan Tana's. Yes. Okay. That was like that a little insider. Exactly. I'm just trying to, like, for people who are listening in, you're correct. Poland or South Korea or New Zealand

Ed (00:09:52):

And what is in now West Hollywood? It was, uh, it was just like part of like the Sunset Strip nearly. It was down on Santa Monica and Doheny. Yeah. It was a great club and a great restaurant. Two blocks, uh, sorry, two doors to the east was this Italian restaurant. The kitchen was open to 1:00 AM and they served till two. So we'd, Harry and I were there for last call every night for years.

Moby (00:10:17):

And still there.

Ed (00:10:17):

It's still there. Yeah. And the food's exactly the same. And it's actually good.

Moby (00:10:21):

People

Lindsay (00:10:22):

Love that place. It's still a staple.

Ed (00:10:24):

And it's kind of interesting what happened with this guy Dan Tana. He's a Yugoslav guy that opened this Italian restaurant. Had a lot of friends that were on the board of former Yugoslavia and, uh, Italy. And so they came over and they had a nice Italian, uh, menu. And they were open till one, but they instantly were a big hit with like people like Jack Nicholson going there and Harry Dean Stanton and all these wonderful people at the time, the late sixties and early seventies. Helena Kallianiotes, who was in um, Five Easy Pieces and all those people would go there. So I started going there, hoping to meet some of those people. And I did and started hanging out with them. But the genius of Dan Tana was everybody said, this is a big hit. You gotta make it bigger, you gotta expand. And he went, no, that'll ruin it. And he was right. As we've seen from Cafe Central in New York and other experiences. Expansion can be death.

Moby (00:11:12):

An ex-girlfriend of mine who grew up in Los Angeles, her mom used to drag her 'cause her mom dated all the drug dealers. <laugh> who hung out at Dan Tanas. And so, and

Ed (00:11:22):

There were many.

Moby (00:11:22):

So when, I'm not gonna name her name 'cause I don't wanna get anyone in trouble, but like when my ex was brought to Dan Tana's, she would be babysat by a young Drew Barrymore.

Ed (00:11:32):

Right. Wow.

Ed (00:11:33):

I remember there was a time after ET that Drew Barrymore was working at Blockbuster, at Laurel and Ventura. We went in there and we've, I've known her since she was a baby. Mm-Hmm. I knew her father John Drew Barrymore. And I know Ildiko Jade, her mother, who ran the box office at the Troubadour, by the way. And the Troubadour for those people across the land who don't know what it is, it was this LA club that was really the only club in la. Not the only club, but the only big club that seated several hundred people in LA The Ashgrove had closed. And other places, I'm trying to think of other places. It was on La Cienega originally then it was at Doheny and Santa Monica, Joni Mitchell played there. Jackson Brown played there. Bette Midler, her first LA Performance was there. Elton John's first famous, you know, LA debut there, all that stuff. And there wasn't a bad seat in the house. There was a few hundred people. So you'd sit from here to you from Joni Mitchell. And it was like, the cover was like $4 and two drink minimum. Minimum. And

Moby (00:12:29):

Crazy. And also, it's still there.

Ed (00:12:31):

It's still there. Yeah.

Moby (00:12:32):

They still

Lindsay (00:12:32):

Are actively doing shows most nights of the week, the week there.

Moby (00:12:35):

Absolutely.

Ed (00:12:35):

Yeah. Very different from the folky thing. I went on stage there with Michael Richards. We had a comedy act. We went to college together. We went on stage on Hoot Night there. It was kind of an open mic night. They called it Hoot Night on Monday nights. We went there and wowed them. And Doug Westin wanted to manage us. And <laugh> never went anywhere in our our

Lindsay (00:12:51):

What was the show that you did?

Ed (00:12:53):

We did improv. We thought we had invented improv. We didn't know about Viola Spolin or Del Close, or, you know, any of those books on improv or the rules of improv. We just, we literally thought we had invented it, <laugh>. And so we went there and did some stuff. And that one night it was great. Then after that, it wasn't so great. 'cause we, you know, we didn't know the rules at all of any of that. Yeah. Hadn't studied that. But we were both amusing in certain ways. I did stand up on my own for a while and Michael certainly went on to Seinfeld and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, uh, many other great things. But, uh, it was a great club. And Richard Pryor played there. You know, every comedian you can imagine from the sixties, seventies, eighties, they all played there.

Moby (00:13:31):

And I think the Neil Young Song, Country Girl was written about the waitresses either at the Troubadour or Dan Tana's. I

Ed (00:13:38):

Think it's right. And it was, it would be the Troubadour 'cause they're all male waiters at Dan Tana's. Okay.

Moby (00:13:42):

You can't actually, you can't listen to it on Spotify anymore. 'cause he took it down because he hates Joe Rogan <laugh>.

Ed (00:13:49):

Right.

Moby (00:13:50):

But it's just, it probably one of Neil Young's best songs inspired by that bar.

Ed (00:13:54):

And the way the female servers were wonderful. They were all very attractive women in every way. They were great. Um,

Moby (00:14:03):

We do actually have some, like, in-depth, serious questions. But I have one trivia ridiculous question in addition to some of my other trivia ridiculous things is in 1984, you hosted Saturday Night Live. Correct. The musical guest was Billy Squire. Correct. And this was also, I think around the time when I think SNL had their best cast. 'cause it was like Christopher Guest

Ed (00:14:28):

Martin Short.

Moby (00:14:29):

Martin Short. Billy Crystal, like the amazing, like.

Ed (00:14:32):

Julia Louis-Dreyfus. They had a writer that never got a sketch on air till the, the, my week on the show. And that was Larry David. Oh my

Moby (00:14:41):

God. Yeah. So it's like, like the, the SNL at its best. And you hosted that year. The musical guest was Billy Squire. And so my question is, you are quite tall, Billy Squire, and I don't wanna get in trouble with Billy Squire, but he's Legendarily kind of short. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Did you guys ever stand next to each other and was it sort of like the Arnold Schwartzenegger Danny DeVito movie? <laugh> twins. 'cause you're, you've got to be a foot taller than him. Now

Ed (00:15:09):

I know why he avoided me. The whole

Moby (00:15:11):

<laugh>.

Ed (00:15:12):

He didn't, I'm really rocking my brains to think if I ever stood next to him. I did not. I'm pretty sure I didn't. And now I know why <laugh>, I, many years later,

Moby (00:15:20):

I believe he and like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden, like, and I'm not a tall person, so I feel like I'm in their camp. But <laugh>, he, he's always just been a bit bit known for being not a very tall person. He's also litigious. So now I'm afraid he's gonna sue me for saying that he's not tall. <laugh>,

Lindsay (00:15:36):

I've also seen you do a thing mo where when you're standing next to a really tall person, sometimes you'll crouch down just a little bit to make yourself seem,

Moby (00:15:42):

Oh, I plan on doing that later. We're gonna take a picture and I'm gonna scoot down to make you look like you're 11 feet tall. And I'm like one of the little people from Wizard of Oz <laugh>.

Ed (00:15:51):

I do the opposite. I regularly, you know, kind of spread my legs or kind of do something to make myself less tall when I'm with somebody that's a, a bit shorter to make the picture better. It's very, sometimes people go, don't do that. Don't, they're mad that you're trying to even it out

Moby (00:16:05):

<laugh>. So, okay. So Lindsay, I'm monopolizing things too much, just 'cause I'm enthusiastic and also probably privileged and entitled. So I'm sorry. Oh,

Lindsay (00:16:14):

Come on. Well, I just have some, some very basic, like, going back all the way questions of what it was like for you to grow up with a, a dad that was a, an actor and in the business. And how that, how that changed your approach to entering into the business yourself.

Ed (00:16:31):

I thought it was very normal. You know, having a dad that was an actor, I thought that's what everybody had. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And took me a few years to figure out how special it was <laugh>. But I wanted to do what he did. That's why I became an actor. If he had been a plumber, I'd probably be fitting pipe. Now I <laugh> I just wanted to do what he did. And I literally thought, I never said it to him, but I can promise you that I was filled with resentment. Why he didn't just go and get me an episode of Perry Mason <laugh>. Not an, sorry. No, not an episode. I wanted to be a regular on Perry Mason or on Gun Smoke or Wagon Train or one of those shows at the time. Get me a part for God's sake. Pick up the phone. And just, I literally thought he could A, do that and that I would b appreciated if he had just handed it to me and he could not do it.

Ed (00:17:14):

And he did not do it for all good reasons. Finally, I took some classes, but how did that happen? You know, I didn't pay for it outta my paper route. Yeah. My dad I'm sure paid for it. And so, uh, I started taking classes and then I began to work at age, uh, 17. But before that, I didn't get a single day's work. 'cause imagine the son of a plumber. Yeah. I'll get on the truck today. And what do you kind of put the pipe together in the house? <laugh>. How does that work? I'll figure it out. Mm-Hmm.

Moby (00:17:38):

<affirmative>. And was your first gig? Uh, my three sons.

Ed (00:17:42):

It was my very first at 17. Uh, yeah, I was 17, almost 18 years old. And I just saw three days ago, we went out to lunch. Stanley Livingston, who played one of the sons of my three sons. And we went out to lunch. That was the guy I worked with my first day in, in television. First day in Screen Actors Guild. First paid actor gig. So it was a big deal to see him again. It was very nice. Wow.

Moby (00:18:05):

And that's 60 years later?

Ed (00:18:07):

Yes, it is <laugh>.

Moby (00:18:09):

Wow.

Ed (00:18:09):

Amazing.

Moby (00:18:10):

Okay. I have a completely random tangential question. Go for it. So your wife, who I know and love, I've, I've seen her at, am I allowed to talk about the fact that we're all in 12 step? Yes,

Ed (00:18:22):

You can.

Moby (00:18:23):

So here's a question. Her name is almost identical to the name of the most famous female environmentalist of all time. Rachel Carson. Did that make you love her more

Ed (00:18:35):

<laugh>? It was a plus. That's for certain <laugh>. And her father loved Rachel Carson. He was a Republican by the way. But somehow he just thought she was great, that she had saved the birds and she did save the American eagle. Really? 'cause the eagle's eggs were so thin from the DDT poisoning, the mother, the female birds that they couldn't bring, you know, an egg to hatch. Uh, he loved Rachel Carson and respected her. So he wanted to name her Rachel Carson. His last name Carson wanted to name her Rachel. But Christians that they were, they were, no, it can't, that's an Old Testament name. We, it has to be Rachelle. That's kind of a more of a Christian name. So they changed it a bit. But yeah, I, I really, uh, I like that that was another reason to like her. But I think there was a certain amount of irony in the, the father naming her that 'cause she, you know, she purported to care about the environment when we were dating. The minute that the ring went on the finger was like, I want a steak and limo ride. Don't bother waiting up for me.

Moby (00:19:31):

<laugh> <laugh>.

Ed (00:19:33):

Maybe I'm being a little bit harsh. <laugh>. No, she's a lot of fun. She's just not quite as zealous as I am about those things. But she does care. She's, but I

Moby (00:19:42):

Love the rapport that the two of you have. It's like Jack Benny, what was the show with Jack and

Ed (00:19:47):

Oh, there's George Burns and Gra

Moby (00:19:49):

George Burns and gra Yeah. Yeah. Um, it, it has that sort of, again, you don't know what I'm talking about. Do you Lindsay George gi Benny George <laugh>. George Burns was a famous comedian who had a TV show and he and his wife had a famous rapport.

Ed (00:20:03):

Um, we have something like that going on. Yeah. But a lot more bitterness. So they kind of like each other. <laugh>.

Moby (00:20:08):

But

Ed (00:20:08):

We're like a couple of vipers lot. I have

Moby (00:20:10):

A hard time believing

Ed (00:20:11):

That lot. We have a great time. We go to a party at some friend's house and uh, you know, we go to the car going, wow, that was fun. Did you have a good time? Yeah, I had a great time. Then we get home to a, a message. Are you guys okay? I mean, we're worried. Call us. Is everything okay? They literally think we murdered each other on the way home. Oh

Moby (00:20:29):

My God. <laugh>.

Ed (00:20:30):

And now we're fighting. Uh, but we're like, what are you talking about? We had a ball. We had a great time. That's just us.

Moby (00:20:35):

That's so funny. It's, it's really entertaining. <laugh>. Hopefully.

Ed (00:20:39):

I'm sure it's just tedious. But he is being very kind. I

Moby (00:20:42):

Wanna see that. I'm very interested in that. Okay. So, so once again, so I'm monopolizing things. No, your

Lindsay (00:20:46):

Excitement is, is palpable. And I say go with it. Let's stay in the flow of that feeling.

Moby (00:20:52):

I see. I have all my serious questions too. Oh, moving sort of into a more serious question is, I read one very interesting thing, and maybe it's true, maybe it's not. Maybe it's ongoing or not, is apparently according to the internet, which we know is never wrong. Yep. You and Bill Nye have a competition. Bill Nye the science guy. Correct. Competition about who has the smallest carbon footprint. That's correct. Is he? I didn't think he was vegan. He's

Ed (00:21:21):

Not.

Moby (00:21:21):

So then you win. So that's an

Ed (00:21:23):

Advantage. Yeah. I went right there and the methane coming out of cows from every angle. Yeah, right there. I'm ahead. And also

Moby (00:21:31):

You like me and Lindsay competing like, who has more hair? It's like, it's over before it begins, like the

Lindsay (00:21:37):

Vegan. So is there a prize at the end? And who's, who's counting?

Ed (00:21:40):

We were just doing it because we were neighbors. We lived a couple of doors apart from each other and his bills were lower than mine for year, years, occasionally lower. But he was one person in that house for years. Now he's married now there's two of them, <laugh>. But we were three people in our home. So per capita, I came outta Ed, but now I've cheated and gone and built a new home that's LEED Platinum. So if you build from the ground up in 2023, or we built it in 2014, 15, it, you can do amazing things. You can have 12 inch thick walls and nine kilowatts of solar. A rainwater tank that holds 10,000 gallons of gray water system. You know, blah blah, blah. You can do every single thing you want with that kind of construction. We did. And it turned out very nice. He's been, oh, it's gracious enough to visit.

Moby (00:22:26):

It's beautiful. It's also because you and Rachelle are quite tall. It's got the highest ceilings of any home. I like all the doorways are like 10 feet tall. I do sort of feel like a hobbit when I'm there, like walking around like I should like have fur growing on the top of my feet and <laugh>.

Ed (00:22:44):

That's so funny. I fought her and the architect on this tall ceiling thing. I went, it's a waste of steel. 'cause we built it outta steel. We didn't wanna take trees down a waste of whatever material you're building it out of. You know, we don't need tall ceilings. Just keep it a normal ceiling. It, it'll be fine. I'm tall, but I'm not that tall. And they totally wore me down. They just held the line constantly. It'll look great. And now there's something about those tall ceilings. I love them more than anybody. It's just, you feel kind of, it's good every room you walk into. I don't need that amount of height. But it's, it's delightful somehow. Yeah,

Lindsay (00:23:17):

I bet It feels really nice.

Moby (00:23:19):

It does. It's very open, nice and spacious. It's re Yeah, it's a, it's a remarkable home

Ed (00:23:24):

What she did, which is her gift and her skill. And she's excellent at it. She's great with aesthetics and visuals. And I'm kind of a gearhead that likes the stuff that's hidden in the walls. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and the stuff that's hidden up on the roof and also the solar. They hid that on the roof. You can't see it. I don't mind looking at solar panels, but some people do and architect did. And she did. So you can stand in the back of my property and be up on a ladder and look up at the roof and you go, Begley doesn't have a single panel. He is a liar. Nine kilowatts. He doesn't have one. But if you get on a really high ladder, I mean really, really high or have a drone, you can see the <laugh>, the solar up there. It's just a little parapet wall. I'm holding my fingers about two inches apart. It's a parapet wall, maybe two or three inches. But the way the panels are sloped, they're a 16th of an inch below that little parapet wall. Mm-Hmm. Wall that's just a few inches tall, sloped over an angle. You can't see any of them. It was deliberately

Lindsay (00:24:14):

Because you built, knowing you were gonna put those panels on there. It's not like Exactly. It was any sort of afterthought. They

Ed (00:24:18):

Had it all figured out. The architect William Hefner is so good. Simple things. When I sit in my den, I have this lovely den near the front of the house and there's a stairway going up and then another level of stairs still continuing up. But they go kind of like this. I have my hands kind of at a 45 degree, uh, actually a 90 degree angle, but two 40 fives off center, off plum. And it just, it's, it's just so frigging beautiful. These two wrought irons, handrails and a little fence that one has when going up to another story of a house. And I didn't care about that stuff. But now that it's there, like the tall ceilings, I love them more than anybody. It's an

Moby (00:24:56):

Incredibly special place. And the backyard is all zero escaping one of my favorite words. Zero escaping. Yep.

Lindsay (00:25:01):

Which is landscaping. That is for

Ed (00:25:04):

Uses very little water.

Lindsay (00:25:05):

Yeah. That's for the, A specific climate? Or is it just

Ed (00:25:10):

Yes, I think it is. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I think it also might mean native plants too. Yeah. Does include that. I think that's part of the angle. Native plants that they attract a lot of beneficials, you know, attract a lot of butterflies and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, things like that. And other beneficial insects. And so it's easy to grow fruits and vegetables there too, if you have all those California native plants.

Lindsay (00:25:29):

So when you were about to build this house, you obviously knew you wanted to make it this haven. Did you just do the research yourself? Or did you hire all the people that would know exactly what to do to make this a kind of lesson in how to make an eco-friendly home?

Ed (00:25:43):

I knew what I wanted. 'cause I'd had most of it before that is to say solar hot water, solar electric. I had a gray water system. I had rain tanks. But nothing as big in grand as doing it from the ground up. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> on a larger lot. This lot is larger. We thought we're gonna do a remodel on the existing house there. Let me back up. I thought we were gonna do a remodel on my house of 26 years that is now a mile west of us where I lived. I thought I'd spend the rest of my days there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, Rachelle wanted a little closet space is what she said. <laugh> a little more closet space. She had all the closets in the house. Anyway, I had a couple of tie pins and socks and a drawer somewhere. She had everything else in closet space.

Ed (00:26:24):

And so she wanted more room. And a eventually we realized we'd have to go it, the house would be too big for the lot we were on. So we had to buy another property and remodel that. And then we couldn't remodel it because of the beautiful oak trees to the south. We had to get the solar panels up out of the shade of the oak tree. 'cause you don't wanna be cutting down an oak tree. You can't. Thank God it's illegal to cut them down. And I never would, I wouldn't build even a LEED Platinum house if I had to cut down a hundred year oak tree. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I wouldn't do it. Not a good trade. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But to get the panels outta the shade of the oak, we had to build a second story. The old house wouldn't support that. But we recycled all the materials, all the drywall, the appliances, the doors, the windows, the brick, the wood. They sent some of it down to Mexico where it was used down there. So it was, the house didn't get bulldozed is my point. You, we didn't waste all the embedded carbon and all the work that went into making the previous house. Mm-Hmm. The resources were used yet again.

Lindsay (00:27:19):

That's incredible. I wonder, because we all have a choice every day of whether or not we care about the world around us and whether we don't. And it seems like you put so much energy and effort into doing your part to make the world better, to focus on climate change, to make this kind of a platform for you. I wonder where, where you think that came from? Why, why does it affect you so much? Why do you work so hard?

Ed (00:27:47):

I grew up in LA in the San Fernando Valley. So I lived two decades. I was 20 years old when the first Earth Day happened. And so I went sign me up. 'cause I knew they wanted to clean up the air. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> sign me up. 'cause I knew they wanted to clean up the water. And I'd seen the Santa Barbara oil spill what that had done. That was horrible. In 69, the Cuyahoga River near Cleveland caught fire in 1969. So those were a couple of things that really got a lot of people motivated to get involved the next year in 1970. Also in a positive sense, we saw from those ha blood pictures that I guess Buzz Aldrin took or Neil Armstrong took there on the moon of this beautiful little blue marble in the distance. This water planet that was suddenly this one thing.

Ed (00:28:30):

It was all one, if you will. We saw that from the moon. 'cause they brought those pictures back. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And so the moonshot in July of 1969, I think it led a lot of people to get involved with Earth Day too. They started to view it in a different way and to our credit. But we've got a lot of work, a lot of good stuff has happened since then. But a lot of bad stuff has happened too. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But I try to focus on the good, you know, and get people to be optimistic by that. You know, we do have four times the cars in LA and millions more people, but we have a fraction of the smog that we did in 1970. So we can fix that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, certainly for the people that still have bad smog near the fulfillment centers and the ports of Long Beach and, and Los Angeles, they still have dirty air. We gotta clean it up for them too. Mm-Hmm.

Moby (00:29:15):

<affirmative>, I remember 1970 and environmentalism just seemed like it just made sense, you know? Yeah. And like then Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the roof of the White House that Ronald Reagan then took down. Right. I

Lindsay (00:29:27):

Did not know that. Yeah. Jimmy

Moby (00:29:28):

Carter was

Lindsay (00:29:29):

Crazy. <laugh> Yeah.

Moby (00:29:30):

A saint of humanity when he dies. I'm gonna be devastated.

Ed (00:29:34):

Me too. But, um, what a great man. I know him a little bit.

Moby (00:29:38):

I mean like the environmental movement of the seventies, clearly it's still around like National Resource Defense Council. Right. Sierra Club. But like so many idealists, so many progressive environmentalists from then have compromised their principles in so far as you are able to say. Why do you think you've stuck with it? Because it's such a, it's a testament to something. What do you think it's a testament to?

Ed (00:30:04):

I stuck with it. 'cause we have won a few battles here and there. The other one would be the ozone depletion that was global. Not just Southern California with the smog, you know, getting a lot better, much improved. We began to be aware that this hole in the ozone layer was serious and it was gonna cause a lot of damage. People getting increased skin cancer in the southern hemisphere in Australia. So it was bad and getting worse. And some people said, look, we can get rid of those CFCs. We'll have another chemical that'll do it and you'll still be able to get a Yeah. Chlorofluorocarbons. Yeah. And they were what they used for refrigerators and for air conditioners and stuff like that and

Moby (00:30:41):

Hairspray and everything. Mm-Hmm.

Ed (00:30:42):

<affirmative> hairspray and foam packaging. They made it with blowing it with CFCs 'cause it's an inert gas. And so naysayers came out and said, but you'll never be able to afford to buy a, an air conditioner or a refrigerator again. I'm told that they still sell such things. Yeah.

Lindsay (00:30:58):

<laugh>

Ed (00:30:58):

<laugh>. But we, that's a big success too. The hole is not the same size, it's not bigger. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. It's smaller. We did that globally together by just getting rid of the things. So,

Lindsay (00:31:08):

You know, it matters. You've seen that like the efforts actually have an effect and it makes you wanna push harder.

Ed (00:31:15):

Yeah. When they had a, a ban on, you know, cod and haddock and flounder fishing in the northeast for a while, they thought, well it'll be 30 years before it recovers. And it did it in like five, you know, recovered to, there's overfishing going on there again. But when they gave it a break in the northeast and other places where they have marine sanctuaries, they've given a break, uh, nature can rebound. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> quickly. Not all the time, but often. Yeah. And now our big challenge is phytoplankton can get along just fine without us. We can't get along without phytoplankton. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it makes more oxygen than any Brazilian rainforest or any American forest. We need these creatures, this web of life that supports us all. And people are dismissive of it, you know. But Paul ick said, how many rivets can you lose from an airplane before it ceases to fly? Mm-Hmm. 7 27 37. No more than that. I can't imagine. Probably just six or seven rivets you pull out of an airplane, it's gonna crash. And that's our challenge. All these plant animal species are going away forever. And we need them for our own survival. They certainly deserve it for their own sanctity and their, you know, for themselves. But we need them. For us, it's our survival. Mm-Hmm.

Moby (00:32:26):

I mean the phytoplankton, I remember some environmentalist was speaking a climatologist and he said to the audience, take two breaths. He said that first breath, that's the land, the second breath, that's oxygen from the sea. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Which is phytoplankton. And with the acidification of the oceans, the oceans are dying. Like, and we're like dying. And there's that question like, oh, they can't really be dying. It's like, oh no, they're dying. They're dying. They're becoming dead zones. Like massive, massive dead

Ed (00:32:55):

Zones. Coral reefs, dead huge swaths of coral, coral reef. Dead, dead, dead.

Moby (00:32:58):

And without the phytoplankton, not only do we lose like marine life apart from jellyfish, they seem to be doing okay. But like we lose all the sea mammals, we lose, you know, we lose whales, we lose porpoises dolphins, but we also lose our source of oxygen. 50% of the oxygen on the planet comes from the ocean. Right. To, to state the obvious in the most reductive way we need oxygen. Yes. And what's sort of interesting, terrifying, but also interesting is I have battled anxiety for most of my life. And I was part of a study at Columbia University about panic attacks. And it turns out increased levels of CO2 cause panic attacks. So they, for this study, they put me in a little chamber and they elevated the levels of CO2 in the chamber. And at a certain percentage of CO2, you can't, not panic, like just by elevating CO2 levels, even the most state, like they could put an enlightened master in there and with elevated CO2 levels, he would have a crippling panic attack. 'cause the body knows it's not getting enough oxygen. So my question is, as oxygen levels go down and CO2 levels go up, is there a corollary that's leading to this global panic?

Ed (00:34:16):

Very interesting. I didn't know that, but I don't doubt it for a second. I think that's going to come into play and probably soon as we just didn't, we pass four 50 parts per million recently.

Moby (00:34:28):

And it's even worse in like, you know, big cities like Beijing. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Right. It's a, you know, Mexico City. So I just, yeah. And I mean obviously if we're losing oxygen, panic is going to be one of the least disturbing consequences. You know, the end of humanity and the end of large mammals is gonna be a lot more concerning.

Lindsay (00:34:46):

I mean this awareness, I, I feel like anytime I go into the statistics of what's happening to our planet, it's so horrific and feels so dire. But I guess my question to, to both of you really would be what can I do? What can we do? I mean, obviously we can make choices in when we are, when we are building or adding to our homes. We can make smarter choices. But, and aside from being vegan, because obviously that's an incredibly helpful thing to do for the environment, but are there other things we can be doing in our daily lives that are helpful? Is it how we use our air conditioning, our electricity? I mean, Ed, I know that you famously took public transportation to the Oscars I did this year as a way to lower your footprint. But I guess stuff like that, I'm wondering what we can all do in addition to raising awareness about what's going on.

Ed (00:35:38):

Can I go first on this? Oh,

Moby (00:35:39):

You're the expert. I mean, like, I'm a dilettante when it comes to <laugh>.

Ed (00:35:42):

He's very kind. But there's really three pillars that any environmental success is built on. And one I've been promoting one so much people think that, I think that's it. It's not, and that thing is personal action, you know, to like riding the bike and taking the bus and making a LEED Platinum home and, uh, becoming a vegan and all that. That's all great stuff. I don't mean to diminish it here today. Indeed. I've been promoting it like crazy. But people think that's all. I think that's gonna make change. That's not nearly enough. You need three different pillars to have any action of, if you have just one or two things are wobbly, they're not stable. And the other two are corporate responsibility people to actually make these products that are, you know, greener and better and what have you. Corporate responsibility and good legislation. We couldn't have cleaned up there in LA with me riding a bike and taking the bus or any of that, or buying an electric car, wouldn't have done it. The Clean Air Act is what did it signed by an environmental radical by the name of Richard Nixon. You know, <laugh>, I'm joking, but still, it, it has to be a bipartisan effort. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We can't do it. And it's harder than ever to do it in this fractious scene that we're in now. But it has to be personal action, corporate responsibility and good legislation or we won't accomplish anything. We didn't, we wouldn't have cleaned up there in LA without, it wouldn't have happened. Mm-Hmm.

Lindsay (00:36:57):

<affirmative>. And that's voting for people who are for green initiatives. Correct. But is there anything else in addition to voting? Yeah.

Ed (00:37:06):

You know, getting involved, going up to Sacramento and lobbying people or organizing a march when you feel there's something that's so serious about the environment. I think we have to make ourselves known, make our opinions known and our, make our numbers known. 'cause otherwise people think, well they're, you know, they're not turning out. They don't care about this. Let's just do this in the dead of nights and vote on this and mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, see if we can slide it through. And you have to have corporations that are willing to do, and they're all, of course they all are connected to each other. If enough people are willing to do personal action, they go, well I'm then I'm gonna build an electric car. Now look at how many electric cars are built. Yeah. Every manufacturer will do it, you know, has done it or doing it years ago was only one.

Ed (00:37:45):

It was GM that made that EV1 car back in 1996. Just one. Now there's so many manufacturers that are doing it. There's a, there's a chance, but, uh, it has to be all three. And without the good, uh, legislation that made them build the EV1, which was the, called the ZEV mandate, the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate, that they had to make X amount of cars for the amount that they sold in the state of California. They had to make X amount of electric cars. And they built that car to, uh, to satisfy the mandate. So laws, good companies and personal action. Those are the three things that have to happen.

Moby (00:38:19):

And there's one thing I would sort of tangentially add to that, which is a tricky thing for progressives, which is recognizing the power of example. You know, for example, like the three things you mentioned, like personal choice, legislation, corporate action, those are all great. But like we were just talking about Jimmy Carter, and like, one of the reasons I, I've never met Jimmy Carter. I encouraged my mom to vote for him in 1976 and 1980. Right. But, uh, he is an inspiration because he works in public, like Habitat for Humanity, like Right. The work that he does, it's public. And so I can be inspired by him, I can be inspired by Tick not Han. I can be inspired by Ed Begley <laugh>. I can be inspired by like the people I used to be inspired by Elon Musk before he revealed the fact that he is a mentally ill crypto fascist.

Moby (00:39:10):

But <laugh>, um, it's that power of inspiration. And progressives, a lot of us are sort of, it's instilled from like an early age. Like, oh, be humble, be self-effacing. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> be, and like, unfortunate and humble and self-effacing are great, but allowing ourselves to be inspiration. Like other people sometimes look for that for an inspiration, especially as we get older. You know, they want that power of like personal story and inspiration. And it's so hard. Like a lot of progressives I know are just so unwilling to recognize that they might be an inspiration to other people. Mm-Hmm. Because it sounds so immodest, but I mean, look at our heroes. Like, you know, what if Gandhi had said, oh gosh, I'm just gonna like be a lawyer in South Africa and give money to the Sierra Club and not talk about these issues publicly. It's like the world has benefited from people letting them, allowing themselves to harness that power of inspiration.

Ed (00:40:10):

Yeah. He certainly inspired me. And you know, Rachel Carson inspired me, and Dolores Huerta inspired me. And Cesar Chavez inspired me. I have my people that have really changed my life by their example and, and continue to. So I'm very lucky to know those people. Jane Goodall is a dear friend of mine, and she, I'm just humbled to know her and she has inspired me greatly too.

Moby (00:40:31):

Yeah. And like, perfect example, like most people see her. I do. I've met her a few times and like I see her as like a living saint. Yeah. But she clearly is like a smart, humble, principled person who is recognized that power of allowing yourself to sort of be deified a little bit, you know? Right. It, it clearly has not corrupted her. If anything, it's just rec. She's recognized like, oh, if I wanna change the world, I can't compete with the corporations, I can't compete with the politicians. What I can do is be an inspiring voice. So, I mean, almost saying this to people who are listening, like, one thing you can do is recognize that people need heroes. You know, and you're a hero of mine and I love the fact that

Ed (00:41:15):

You're a hero of mine, Moby. You need to know that you're so wonderful. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Well

Moby (00:41:18):

We, we arranged this beforehand. <laugh> <laugh>. But like the willingness to speak up in public about issues that are important and, uh, yeah. I just, I'm so, I'm just encouraging everyone to be willing to do that, to be willing. Heroes are not born, they're made, isn't it? From a Marvel movie or something. Wow. I don't know. Poetic. Um, I think I'm quoting Iron Man, <laugh>. Uh, but in any case, I just wanted to mention that as an adjunct to those three things is that power of personal story and personal inspiration,

Lindsay (00:41:51):

But also as consumers, I think every day of everything you buy, if you go to the grocery store and you buy the recycled toilet paper over like little things like that every day, also add up like voting with voting with your dollars. Mm-Hmm.

Ed (00:42:05):

Exactly. You get to vote, you know, every year or whatever time you vote in November, you get to vote for different things. But you get to vote every single day in the supermarket aisles, the showroom floors. The appliance stores. You get to vote with your dollars every day and that makes a big difference, that's what Cesar Chavez figured that out years ago with a great boycott and the labor boycott and the, uh, lettuce boycott. He figured out they wouldn't talk to him at all if he affected their, their sales by 3%. They wouldn't, they wouldn't even meet with, it didn't matter. But at four or 5% they'd sit down at the table and they'd work out a deal with Cesar Chavez about grapes or lettuce or whatever. And so he had to go and make that kind of a change by standing out in front of grocery stores and saying, they're selling non-union grapes there. And the people are, that don't even have bathrooms in the field. They don't get a bathroom break. And they're dying in the heat as they are to this day. Many farm workers are dying in the heat. So he knew that he was very clever. He knew that exactly to the percentage. And he built a whole movement on it. Very powerful what he did with the United Farm workers and Dolores Huerta does to this day.

Moby (00:43:09):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, I mean, Cesar Chavez also, I remember years ago being inspired by him as a, you know, a public figure union organizer, but also such an outspoken vegan and animal rights activist. Right. And so it's leads me to a question, 'cause you've been vegan for a while now. I have. Is what led you to veganism?

Ed (00:43:32):

I started as a vegetarian in 1970. 'cause I just thought it'd be better for me and definitely better for the animals. I've seen a slaughterhouse film and I went, I'll, I'm never gonna do that again. I'm not gonna be part of that. And I stopped. I never had beef, beal lamb, any of that stuff after that. Ever again having

Moby (00:43:49):

From

Ed (00:43:50):

19 70, 19 70. Yeah. The beef beal, lamb pork, any of that in my delusion. I ate, I was married to someone that was quite a meat eater. We met in the middle. And I ate chicken for a while until I saw what was going on in the chicken coops of America and the world. I had no idea that they had them in a cage the size of a shoebox just didn't know it, you know. And so of course I never ate chicken again after a few years of that stupidity. But, uh, I knew I had to do it for myself, for my own health and for the health of the animals and the survival of the animals. And I, I do understand previous civilizations when they had to make it through winter and what have you, and hunt, I get that they couldn't gather enough or grow enough.

Ed (00:44:31):

I get that. But now you can be in the dead of winter in Alaska, and you can have tofu dogs and broccoli available. very easily. It's a different world. You don't have to do that to survive, to make it through winter in, you know, North Dakota or something. So it's a, it's very possible to be a vegan, every restaurant you go to. Even just normal restaurants, if I can use that term. You know, not vegan restaurant, but just normal nice restaurants. They always have a vegan plate or three that they offer. Many places have an extensive, you know, like a place like Hugo's. That's not extremely fine dining, but it's good dining. And they have lots of stuff for people that are not vegans, but they have like 45 different vegan dishes there. Yeah. It's just great. So if you want to go with people who aren't and then you give 'em a taste of your vegan thing that you're having in a place like that, that's what I do. I, I love to cook and I love to take people to places like Hope you've probably been there. That's sweet. Little places in Studio City. Maybe you haven't been there. We'll go there together. Some point. I don't know

Moby (00:45:29):

Hope.

Ed (00:45:29):

Uh, Healthy Organic, Positive Eating. It used to be called The Vegan Plate. Oh

Lindsay (00:45:33):

Yes, I've been there. Okay. Yeah. They make a really delicious pad thai

Ed (00:45:36):

Delicious pad thai. Delicious

Lindsay (00:45:38):

my favorite pad thai of anywhere. The

Ed (00:45:40):

Best restaurant in LA for quite a while, in my opinion. Moby's Restaurant. Little Pine, wasn't it? Little Pine. Yep. Oh my God. Assume

Lindsay (00:45:48):

You've been to Nick's on Beverly.

Ed (00:45:49):

What's

Lindsay (00:45:50):

It called, Nick on Beverly?

Ed (00:45:51):

No. Is that Nic Adler's on Be?

Moby (00:45:53):

Yeah. Yes. It's it's very fancy. It's, it's like it, I say the fanciest special. Oh

Ed (00:45:56):

Yes, I've heard of that now that you mentioned on really

Moby (00:45:59):

Pretty, it's so good. Yeah. Nick

Ed (00:46:01):

Is a vegan. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I didn't know that. How

Moby (00:46:03):

I not, he's also, he's the head of food for Coachella. So he's the one who keeps bringing more and more vegan chefs. And like when Little Pine existed, little Pine used to do vegan nights at Coachella because Nick constantly was trying to promote veganism there.

Ed (00:46:16):

God bless him. Yeah.

Moby (00:46:18):

Um, so one similar to you, I went vegetarian for animal rights reasons and then I went vegan in 1987 for animal reasons as well. And then slowly, I think maybe Diet for a New America by John Robbins. John Robbins. Yeah. Or maybe I forget how at some point in the late eighties, early nineties, I started finding out about the environmental aspects of meat and dairy production. Right. So it's interesting that you sort of went vegetarian for animal ethical reasons. When did you start finding out about the environmental consequences of meat and dairy production?

Ed (00:46:53):

I didn't get that memo till somehow 92. That's when I became Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> a full vegan again. I tried it for a while, years before and then it was much easier and I really got it. Different friends. Uh, Glenn Merser, who wrote a great book with Howard Lyman. He was a feedlot operator. Yeah.

Moby (00:47:09):

Howard. Howard Lyman's. Super interesting. 'cause he was a cattle rancher, I believe. Yes. Mm-Hmm. And he then became an mites activist.

Ed (00:47:14):

Forks Over Knives, I think it's called, is something like that about diet and how it can change the country and change the world for the better. And uh, he certainly woke me up to some things and other vegan activists like Mar Neal. And they, you know, helped me understand some things better. So I became a vegan in 1992.

Lindsay (00:47:33):

I have a question. So you were both public figures, which is a tricky position to be in in the world, but you've both been really outspoken about your, about diet, about environmental causes. Not all people with a platform are using it for things like this. Has there ever been moments where you're like, am I putting one career on the line to be outspoken about this? Like, does that feeling ever come up for either of you? What you saying? I just saying, see so many public figures not using their platform and I, part of me has to wonder why. Uh,

Moby (00:48:06):

I mean, from my perspective is a little weird for a few reasons. One, as a musician, uh, I'm gonna try and say this very diplomatically, <laugh>, um, musicians sometimes, especially in my case, because I own my catalog, I haven't had to worry that much about revenue streams. So I live a pretty simple life. I don't spend that much money when I've ever been tempted to compromise my beliefs or compromise the expression of my beliefs. I've simply thought like, well, why? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Like, at some point, at an early, early age, I realized that my beliefs, my commitment to veganism, my commitment to environmentalism is so much more important than my selfish concerns. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But I also know everybody has different circumstances. Not everybody's lucky enough to own their catalog. Hmm. So, like, for example, when I look at other public figures who are unwilling to speak out about politics or speak out about environmentalism or racial justice or environmental justice, of course I'm a judgemental person, so I want to like luxuriate in judging them <laugh>.

Moby (00:49:14):

But I also have to remind myself like, people have alimony payments. People have sick parents. They need to pay the healthcare for. Right? People have kids they need to put through school. I have to remind myself everybody's circumstances are different. What I don't understand and what I do, judge, I'm sorry to admit publicly that I'm a judgmental dick, but <laugh>, um, what I do judge, are the, the actors, the musicians who are clearly unbelievably wealthy and they're advertising fur, they're advertising, right? They're, and like, or they're unwilling to speak about politics. I'm like, you're worth $400 million. Like, why aren't you using your platform for good? You don't need more. Right. And it's, it's that we, Lindsay and I talk about this all the time, like, I'm just so confused by this idea that more is better. Like, I'm like, I'm one person. I have one car.

Moby (00:50:03):

I barely drive it. Why do I need a second? Right? Like, I don't know how to ride a boat. Why would I need a boat? I'm perfectly happy to walk or ride my bike. Like, why do I need a chauffeur or a limo Dr. Like, all these things, I'm just like, why do people need more? So that's my, sorry. That's my tangential long-winded answer. Your question is, I decided at an early age that I would always prioritize the expression of my veganism and environmental beliefs over career because career seems incredibly shallow when compared to the lives of animals or the health of the planet.

Ed (00:50:37):

We're glad you made that commitment 'cause it's helped buoy a lot of people's spirits and energy for such important matters that you lead by example. And people have been moved by that. I'm one of them.

Moby (00:50:49):

Well, thanks. Um, and there had, there's also some masochism to it. Like, I don't mind. 'cause I put out this movie recently called the Punk Rock Vegan Movie, and I was interviewing all these punk rock activists and animal rights activists. And I realized, and I don't know if I don't wanna include you in this masochistic group, but there is, with a lot of activists, there's an idea of like, okay, you know what? I don't mind suffering a little bit. Like if people hate me, I don't mind it that much. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. If I'm maligned, I don't mind it that much. Not everybody is that much of a a masochist.

Ed (00:51:23):

Right. I have pretty thin skin sometimes. It's gotten thicker over the years. But I used, I used to have pretty thin skin. When somebody would be critical of something I did, really affected me. Now that I think about it, I've actually gotten a lot better. But I used to have something on Fox News about me. I used to Like, what? Why would they say that that's not true? And why would they? Of course we know why they'd say it, but I didn't get it at the time. Yeah.

Moby (00:51:44):

About 15 years ago, I stopped reading anything that was written about me or said about me. So I don't read reviews, I don't read articles.

Ed (00:51:51):

Great. Well

Moby (00:51:52):

Done. 'cause, because I'm way too delicate. And so, like, I love pretending that the world is much nicer than it is. You know? I'm like, oh sure. Maybe some people don't like me, but I don't actually know about it. Right. <laugh>, you know, so if I make a record that gets terrible reviews, I simply am not aware of it because I just ask everyone around me, please don't ever send me reviews.

Ed (00:52:11):

That's great. That's a good way to do it, I think. Mm-Hmm.

Moby (00:52:13):

<affirmative>. Yeah. I just pay attention to like bagels a dog and trees. And that's my wor my worldview is much simpler than

Ed (00:52:20):

It's a nice world. Yeah. I like it. It's, and it's working so far, so good.

Moby (00:52:24):

So I wanted to ask about it 'cause we've already, we've, we've said that this is sort of fair game to talk about, but if it's not, stop me, is sobriety. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> you mentioned when you met Christopher Guest that you were drunk as a skunk. That was 1975 or thereabouts. Yeah. When did you get sober and what led you, because I've been sober now for about 15 years. When, when did you get sober and what prompted it?

Ed (00:52:50):

I finally got sober in 1979. I haven't had a drink since then. Wow. And, uh, but I went into the, my first meeting, my first 12 step meeting in 1976. I had had the DTs for the first time. I would have them three or four more times. 'cause I kept thinking, well, I'll just have a little wine with dinner. And I kept doing that one. And then, you know, six months later, then three months later, then finally the last time was 30 days later, I would have the full-blown DTs, you know, with

Moby (00:53:18):

Delirium Tremens. Yeah.

Ed (00:53:20):

After copious amounts of liquor, pills and cocaine. But it always started with just a little wine with dinner. But I went in because I, I drank a quart of vodka every day, nearly every day throughout the seventies.

Moby (00:53:32):

Quart is quite a lot.

Ed (00:53:33):

It's a lot of liquor <laugh> because I would go, I would either buy a Smirnoff and drink it at home, make bloody Mary's or vodka tonics, or I would go out to Tana's of the Troubadour and drink 15 or 16 double vodka tonics and that's a quart right there. And get in a car and go places and take Quaaludes. A seventies drug that was kind of very powerful drug. It was considered an hypnotic drug.

Moby (00:53:56):

There's a fantastic scene in, uh, Wolf of Wall Street.

Ed (00:53:59):

Yes. Where he's trying to crawl from his car.

Moby (00:54:01):

Leo Leo's, they show his perception of what's happening versus the reality of him on Quaaludes. Right.

Ed (00:54:07):

Very funny.

Moby (00:54:08):

One of Leo's finest moments and

Ed (00:54:10):

Very accurate. Yeah. So I, uh, I somehow made it through that and I didn't kill anybody. So when it got really bad, I started to, uh, take some, some action. And, you know, life got a lot better. I can't imagine doing the show st elsewhere than many other movies and TV shows. I did. I don't think I would've lived much longer the way I was doing it. I even, I tried heroin four times. I snorted it four different times and then stopped after that. But, uh, it was, it was not good. It was bad for my career. It was bad for my health. It was bad for those around me. 'cause I put a lot of people in tremendous danger.

Moby (00:54:44):

And from 79, that's, and and maybe this is too personal. I, I apologize if it is from 79 until now, have there been any moments of temptation or have you seen the addictive compulsive behavior manifesting in other ways?

Ed (00:55:00):

I've definitely seen the compulsive addictive behavior manifest in other ways. Uh, I'm also a compulsive gambler, so I used to go and gamble at the City of Commerce. I was also, prior to 1996 in this current relationship with Rachelle, I was a philander. You know, in my first marriage I was quite a philander. So I had that addiction. I would just replace the, you know, I was clean and sober finally starting in 79. But throughout the eighties when I had the fame and success of St. Elsewhere, I, you know, I found other things that were quite destructive for me and others. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I finally got well in that area in 1996, which is not so long ago. But I definitely did all that. And, uh, wait, there was another part to the question too, besides that I can't remember what it was

Moby (00:55:45):

In terms of actual drinking, like, like from 79 until now, has there ever been a moment of temptation to go back to drink?

Ed (00:55:55):

Uh, a certain amount of time. Yeah. It's happened multiple times. When I really am honest about it. During my, my first divorce, my divorce from my wonderful first wife, lovely, lovely woman. We continued to be friends. And, uh, then I guess other times, usually over relationships, I'd get very depressed or the misery of a breakup and I would consider drinking. But then it really only lasted less than a minute. 'cause I realized I remember that important fact. It won't make the problem go away. And now I'll have another problem in that I'm drunk and, you know, driving a vehicle or whatever the hell I'm doing. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> trying to go see a divorce lawyer. I just add one more problem to the stack. So I, I chose not to do it. Is that

Lindsay (00:56:37):

What you think keeps you on this path is understanding the consequences? Or is there some other element that helps you keep your head on straight and stay the course?

Ed (00:56:49):

Yeah, it's definitely that kind of program stuff. You know, knowing that I'm an addict that I can never really drink successfully again. That's part of it. And also, uh, you know, just having a certain amount of humility. Finally in the, the past, I think 25 years, I finally got more humble about the business. That is to say things that usually really would make me crazy before to be like, fired from a job or something, would just, like, I, uh, made me crazy. Now, it wouldn't, wouldn't bother me at all if I got fired from something. I just don't have any ego involved. Clearly there's something that I did that I didn't like, so I'll get another job, you know, and do something else. But I had a, a certain amount of ego involved with things that would occur in the motion picture and television industry. And it doesn't serve you. You know, ego may serve you in other ways in the business, but, uh, it definitely didn't serve me in that way. And so now I know my lines. I show up on time. I'm probably not gonna get fired again, but if I am, it doesn't sting at all anymore.

Moby (00:57:47):

I mean, it's, it's funny. I have a friend who's a writer director, and he's driven crazy by the fact that in this climate, he is having a very hard time getting things made. And it's funny 'cause of course, like, like we're, we're sensitive creative people, actors, writers, directors, everybody. But every single person in the world of Los Angeles Entertainment, unless you are like one of those rarefied people like Robert Downey Jr. Everybody else is maligned and fired and struggling and Right. Can't get things made. I mean, like Michael Mann got fired from a job, everybody gets fired. Wow. And there's a beauty in that, obviously it's horrible. And studios and agents, whatever, tend to treat talent sometimes like dirt. But the beauty is, it's hard to take it personally, you know? Exactly. Because everybody at some point gets fired. Everybody, everybody's projects get axed. Everyone's treated like garbage. So it's kind of like, it's, it helps me. Like if something, if I'm working on something and it doesn't come to fruition, I'm like, well, I can't take it that personally. 'cause almost nothing does come to fruition. And if it does, the people involved, the next thing they do, they'll probably get fired from.

Ed (00:59:01):

Right. Yeah. I just eliminated all ego from that arena. And life got so much easier.

Lindsay (00:59:18):

You recently started a company, it's earth-friendly products, right? What is it?

Ed (00:59:24):

Pet stain and odor remover. There's different, you know, pet products. There's, you know, just floor cleaners, there's different soaps and what have you, hand soap. So we've got a lot of non-toxic products. But this one, actually, this company I'm working with now is not mine. I kind of work with them. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I used to have my own company called Begley's Best. And, but I just ran out of time to be storing it in my garage or a local storage place. And yeah, <laugh> buying a pallet jack and shipping stuff to Kentucky, you know, and just, it was too much work. I was too busy with the acting. I started when things were kind of slow and then the acting got very, very busy and I didn't have time for it. So I wound that company down and, uh, met a new company who wanted to do all that for me. You just be the spokesperson and vet all the products. We're not gonna have some toxic thing we're gonna try to put your name on. You will see the formula for each product and make sure that you sign off on it. And, uh, you'll go to Vegas once in a while for a trade show, or you'll do a video here and there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But it won't require a lot of work on your part like the previous company did for you. So it's a dream job,

Lindsay (01:00:28):

But you still get these products out into the world.

Ed (01:00:31):

Exactly. What

Lindsay (01:00:32):

Was the, what was the impetus? I mean, as you saw that there were so many toxic products out in the marketplace, I assume you, you were like, oh, I should definitely be a part of having a non-toxic option in the stores.

Ed (01:00:45):

Exactly. Most people are out there with me, often protesting a hazardous waste site near their home. The worst hazard waste site is not near their home. It's in their home. Under their sink. Yeah. In their kitchen where they eat their food. So I wanted to do something about that. But keep in mind, seventh generation also makes wonderful, you know, very good non-toxic cleaning products. Ecos also does, we are a company like them that makes very good stuff. I think our stuff is every bit as good as theirs. It certainly cleans really, really aggressively non-toxic and safe around pets and safe around kids. 'cause dogs are crawling around on the floor, putting their paws in their mouth and babies are crawling around the floor, putting their toes and fingers in their mouth. And you don't want them crawling on something that's unclean. You don't wanna be using like a pet stain and odor remover that they'll get close to that's toxic with chlorinated hydrocarbons or, you know, something really bad for the pets. So it's clean and natural stuff. And it works very well because people aren't gonna buy it a second time. Even if it's natural, if it doesn't clean good. Yeah. You gotta really clean aggressively.

Lindsay (01:01:47):

That's something that, I mean, when I got Bagel, I was like, I was suddenly hyper aware. And I assume that is probably a similar feeling when you have a baby where you're suddenly like, oh, I should probably be more careful. Just the effort to start a company like that and say says, Hey, there's a problem. This is something we should all be aware of. I'm honestly shocked that I'm not radioactive based on all of like the cleaning products that I've been a part of my entire life. And like working in restaurants when I did. And like the crazy stuff that we use to clean

Moby (01:02:19):

<laugh> <laugh>, I mean, the amazing thing, humans are surprisingly intrepid. I had this experience quite maybe like 10 years ago, but I was, I was taking the train from New York to Philadelphia and it was a morning commuter train and it was Amtrak. And so all the commuters were like these angry men eating eggs and bacon and drinking diet coke and like huddled over their phones scowling while they're shoveling bacon and eggs into their mouth. And we were going through the Meadowlands, you know, outside New York?

Ed (01:02:53):

Kwow it well, in Jersey. Yeah. Yeah. Near Secaucus.

Moby (01:02:55):

And it's like the most polluted part of the world. Well, maybe not the most polluted part of the world, but it's pretty polluted. Like hundreds of years of industrial processes dumping sludge into the Meadowlands. But it's meadowlands like there are cattails, there's, it's, it's still an ecosystem. And I had this, and maybe we'll edit this out 'cause maybe this only makes sense to me. You guys can humor me or tell me that I'm mentally ill <laugh>. Uh, but I was looking at this ecosystem and I was like, this is, and I was looking at the businessmen shoveling bacon into their mouths. And all of a sudden I started crying because I realized, oh, whatever the divine is, I don't know what the divine is, but like, it's trying to protect us. It's trying to heal us. Like it's even like these businessmen who are shoveling bacon and eggs into their mouths. Their immune systems are still trying to protect them. They're trying to work with the bacon and eggs, right. To keep these people alive. Um,

Ed (01:03:49):

Amazing, isn't it?

Moby (01:03:50):

And it was just this moment of like, this sort of, and I don't know, very, I can't imagine too many spiritual teachers who look at the immune system as an example of the divine. But for me in that moment, it just felt so clear. Like, oh, I don't know who or what the divine is, but insofar as there is a divine, it's represented in the immune system among other natural systems. So to your point about like, why are we not all radioactive or dead or cancerous from all the things we've been exposed to, it's like something's protecting. Like, you know, again, maybe it's not divine. I'm not trying to anthropomorphize natural processes <laugh>, but it, it really, it struck me in that moment. Which leads me to my next question, which is spiritual life. Do you, do you identify as being a part of any spiritual tradition or denomination? Or are you a godless heathen who hates God and burns down churches in Norway?

Ed (01:04:51):

That's a good question. <laugh> and very well put. I do believe in a power greater than myself. And, but that's nothing like I was raised with. I find the miracle of the Big Bang to be extraordinary. That one, that singularity Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> that made all the copper and all the oxygen and all the hydrogen and everything that is part of the universe today and made us. And you know, it's, it's really kind of extraordinary that singularity. And, uh, is there gonna be a big crunch now that there's been this big bang going on for so long? We'll go back to that singularity, that life and death and birth and rebirth. I think if it exists, and I'm fairly certain it does, is my higher power that singularity is Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> the word we call God, it's certainly not somebody with a beard in the clouds.

Ed (01:05:39):

It's just not a person at all. Nothing like that. It's the force of why should any of this be? It's pointless. It's ridiculous. It doesn't need to be anything. It can't be why, who made it? And it, it's not possible. That's zero. Let's call it the void. It shouldn't be. It's, it is not. Then there's that big bang. There's one, there's one and there's zero, and then there's 0 1 1, then there's 1 0 1 and 0 0 1 1. And pretty soon you have the audio from my mouth now hitting your ears. Yeah. Pretty soon you got this room that we're in with microphones for the lovely window and bagel, you know, there's bagel <laugh> and all of it. So it's, it's all kind of zeros and ones. It's God in the void. Yeah. That and God is one. And that's my crackpot philosophy.

Lindsay (01:06:22):

It's not that crackpot I don't

Moby (01:06:23):

Think makes a lot more sense than, I don't wanna malign any spiritual traditions, but like, do you apply a little bit of scrutiny to a lot of religions and religious traditions. And they are, sorry, I don't wanna get assassinated for saying this, but like, there, there's some silly stuff out there. There's

Ed (01:06:39):

Some very silly stuff. And Catholic church is pretty high in the list in my opinion. And I bought it all till I was 15 and a half or nearly 16. Yeah. But, uh, the Jewish faith is based on a little more factual stuff. You know, the kosher laws and what have you had a, a place in reality? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But, um, the rest of it <laugh> pretty, pretty laughable stuff.

Moby (01:06:58):

And are there any like, spiritual teachers, books, traditions?

Ed (01:07:03):

Allen was a big one for me. You know, this is it. That book really spoke to me. 'cause this is it right now, this second, this one is really all we've got here with you with the two of you is, you know, I certainly, I'm cognizant of the past and hopefully have learned from it and I plan for the future, but I'm actually a lot of the time spending all my energy and this right now, this not looking back and not looking forward, but being right here with you. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and really being here with you. And that's when I get some great serenity. Mm-Hmm.

Moby (01:07:32):

<affirmative>. Alan Watts. Was he also sort of to an extent brought Daoism to a larger Western audience? Yes. Like his book, the Watercourse Way, uh, when I was 15, I had a huge crush on a woman named Louise Stoner. Probably, I mean, just like this overwhelming, like the sort of crush you can only have when you're 14 or 15. And she was a few years older than me. She was headed off to Brown. I was a sophomore, so clearly she wanted nothing to do with me. But she got me interested in Taoism and loaned me the Watercourse way and loaned me her copy of the Tao te Ching. And so I don't know where she is. I haven't talked to her since 1981. Mm. But, uh, my love for Alan Watson Taoism remains to this day.

Ed (01:08:16):

Yeah, me too. I really, I read that book and a few Cloud Hidden and Harry Dean Stanton and I used to, uh, talk about Alan Watts a lot. He really turned me on to Alan Watts as much, if not more than reading the book. This is it. I've just remembered a funny story about Harry Dean too. That doesn't have anything to do with Alan Watts or anything like that, but it's pretty good. Can I tell it? Do we have time for it please?

Moby (01:08:38):

Time for everything. And Lizzie, you know who you, you know Harry Dean Stanton, right? Yes. Okay. 'cause a lot of people Big

Ed (01:08:43):

Love. Yeah.

Moby (01:08:44):

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I mean he had such a phenomenal, diverse, fascinating career. And we talked.

Ed (01:08:50):

Cool Hand Luke and

Moby (01:08:51):

Yeah. And then also, um,

Ed (01:08:53):

Alien.

Moby (01:08:53):

16 candles.

Ed (01:08:54):

16 candles.

Moby (01:08:55):

He's Molly Ringwald dad in 16 candles. Oh. So he's been in an obviously Firewalk With Me. The David Lynch movie, Paris,

Ed (01:09:03):

Texas.

Moby (01:09:04):

Straight story. Paris, Texas. Like just prolific. Yeah. Prolific. And a way of also reminding people that the movie that Ed's in Lucky that was Harry Dean's last movie. Everyone should go watch it. Mm-Hmm.

Ed (01:09:15):

<affirmative>. We had been going there for years, Harry and I. And uh, we would often leave Tanner's that last call and not be ready to go to sleep yet. We'd go back to his place, which was then kind of in this neighborhood on Canyon Drive I believe. And uh, and we would watch something called the Z Channel. It was early precursor to HBO or Showtime or that sort of thing. It was called the Z Channel in your cable box of 1975 or whatever year it was. Or before you'd press a thing. And there's one for CBS, NBC, ABC, the Spanish language station and then the Z Channel. There were letter to these different buttons you would press Z Channel had some kind of second run movies. Movies that had come out in theaters and did okay, or God knows what they'd be on this channel. You could watch movies in your home.

Ed (01:09:58):

It was crazy. <laugh>. We would do that and I'd fall asleep in his couch. Then finally got a job in the same movie, Fighter with uh, Warren Oates directed by Monte Hellman. So we went to Macon, Georgia to film that. We were gone about a week or two and I went, we should call up Tana's. They're probably worried about us <laugh>. 'cause we haven't been in for like two weeks. So we called up Tana's and talked to, can't remember if it was Michael the bartender, maybe it was Guido the maitre d back then. Tana's, good evening. I said, hi, it's Ed Begley. I'm here with Harry Dean, we're in Georgia. We just wanna make sure you knew we're still alive. Jesus Christ, we send somebody to the house. We thought you'd fall asleep with the gas on watching the Z Channel <laugh>. They literally thought we had died in some suicide pact or we'd fallen asleep with the gas on. I don't know what they thought, but they sent somebody to the house. It was not possible that the two of us would not show up for two weeks. <laugh>. That's how often we went to Tana's.

Moby (01:10:46):

That's hysterical. That's amazing. <laugh>

Ed (01:10:50):

A restaurant, sending somebody to somebody's home. That's pretty good. Well, a bar really. We were more interested in the bar than the restaurant, I think. I mean,

Moby (01:10:58):

Were you during that period? Because I, of course I love talking about sobriety, environmentalism, veganism, spirituality, but also like old Hollywood stories are so good. Was this also when John Lennon had his lost weekend? Or was that

Ed (01:11:13):

Yes, it was. He, he had it at the Troubadour. He went in there with Harry Nilsson.

Moby (01:11:16):

And the also weekend was like a year, but like, yeah, I guess like him and Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson. Like there like just drinking and drinking and being crazy. And, and

Ed (01:11:24):

I would hang out with all those people too in that time period. Wow. Yeah, it was quite exciting. Harry Nilsson was an amazing guy. I I was very good friends with him. Really?

Moby (01:11:34):

Yeah. Do you know Harry? Harry Nilsson? Um, uh, famous for the Midnight Cowboy. Everybody's talking about me. No. John John Lennon called him the greatest songwriter of the 20th century. Whoa. He also wrote,

Ed (01:11:47):

One is the loneliest number one

Moby (01:11:48):

Is the Loneliest number. And I know that

Lindsay (01:11:49):

One. You see, I was just recently born Ed, so I don't know some of these things.

Moby (01:11:53):

<laugh>. Yeah. And also, and also that like, um, I can't live If Living is with that. Oh,

Lindsay (01:11:58):

I love that song.

Ed (01:11:59):

That's

Moby (01:12:00):

Him. Um, and my favorite Nilsson song, which became popular from LCD Sound System is Jump Into the Fire. I

Ed (01:12:07):

Forgot that song. Oh,

Moby (01:12:08):

The lcd. I mean, his version, both versions are great. The LCD sound system is great. But The Nilsson, it's, it's basically I would posit one of the first punk rock songs. Wow. It's such an exciting, like go so which song? It's called Jump Into the Fire. It's a Nilsson song, but you listen to it and you're like, how did the guy who wrote Everybody's Talking and Won and Right. Uh, I Can't Live If Living Without You. Like this is like this super aggressive proto punk rock song.

Ed (01:12:36):

I gotta hear that. I didn't. That's the song I'm unfamiliar with.

Moby (01:12:39):

It's real. And, and the band. LCD Sound System. Uh, I think still to this day, it's their encore song. Like they did a cover of it.

Ed (01:12:46):

That's great.

Moby (01:12:47):

Okay. We've

Lindsay (01:12:47):

Had Ed for a very long time, which

Moby (01:12:49):

Is probably I one, I have one quick ridiculous question in Portlandia. Did they let you keep the wig? <laugh> <laugh>? It's a very special wig. I wish I

Ed (01:12:57):

Had. Thank you very much. I wish they had. I wish I had it.

Moby (01:13:01):

Okay. So quick couple of questions just for fun. Some of your favorite books, authors, records, movies from when you were growing up. When from whenever. I just love when people ask me that question. Like, yeah,

Ed (01:13:16):

Growing up I liked Hardy Boys. Kind of, uh, no. Tom Swift, I liked more than The Hardy Boys stuff. I like those Tom Swift novels. He was a guy that was kind of a gearhead kind of guy. Like a inventor sort of a kid or something like that. I can't remember the details.

Moby (01:13:31):

Like, like MacGyver when he was

Ed (01:13:32):

Yeah, it was a MacGyver kind of a guy I think was Tom Swift. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I hope I'm getting that right. But I loved them as a kid. It was another series that I found. It was my dad's, you know, books that were very old. It was called Radio Boys Under the Sea. It was like a 1920s or 1910 kind of a era set of books. I read those and then, uh, what else did I like? Oh, I loved Ray Bradbury when I got to be a teenager and JD Salinger, you know, all that was kind of required reading for our generation. But I love Ray Bradbury a lot. I read a lot of that. And JD Salinger, what else did I like back then? I'm trying to think. All these,

Moby (01:14:06):

One, one random thing to that is, I don't know if you've experienced this, but the years I've been going to 12 step meetings, there's a recurring thing I kept noticing that alcoholics tended to be obsessed with books when they were growing up. Like it's just when people would tell their stories, it was just this recur. Not everybody obviously, but so many people would be like, oh, before I discovered drinking, I discovered books and I'm, I'm all in favor of books. I was obsessed with books. But it sort of was like, for me, my first obsession was Ray Bradberry was science fiction. Right. Was stepping into it was basically leaving the world I was in. Right. And stepping into another world. And the only reason I, this is maybe I've admitted this before, it's very nerdy. The only reason in high school I ever skipped class was to read more. Like I would stay in the library and can, I remember reading Catcher in the Rye and like the bell rang for fifth period. And I was like, I could go to history or I can just sit in the library and read Catcher in the Rye for another 45 minutes.

Ed (01:15:03):

I was like that. I had those books like that that I would read and read again. Loved another one that was called I Am Legend. I made a movie out of mm-Hmm. <affirmative> Will Smith. I think House on the Borderland was another one. I like my science fiction. There was a creepy, very interesting book. Uh, yeah. I love to read. I was one of those people, now that you say it that way. Yeah. I was first

Moby (01:15:22):

Obsession. Yeah. Yeah. Um, okay, so Linds. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I believe we've been talking Wow. For almost an hour and a half.

Lindsay (01:15:30):

I know, I

Moby (01:15:30):

Know. So let's, I'm now, let's, now I'm feeling guilty. I've been taking up too much of your guys' time.

Ed (01:15:34):

No, I've enjoyed every second. Great.

Lindsay (01:15:36):

Well I have just some, some wrap it up style questions. You got it. Which are, unless there's any, any urgent,

Moby (01:15:44):

I have two thoughts. I have two at the very, if I can have two very end questiony type things.

Lindsay (01:15:49):

Okay. Great. So

Moby (01:15:50):

One involves an action. Cool. Now you're wondering what that is.

Lindsay (01:15:53):

I am, I'm actually very

Moby (01:15:54):

Curious. Choreography. We're gonna do choreography with Bagel

Lindsay (01:15:56):

Can't Wait. Um, my question is, well more of a prompt. <laugh> is if people want to find or con, do you have social media for people to Yeah. Follow you and see what all you doing?

Ed (01:16:08):

Edbegedley.com. Just go to Edbegley.com. That'll get straight to me. And I do, I'm still on Twitter just 'cause I haven't learned TikTok or I haven't learned Instagram yet. Facebook, I don't even do I have a Facebook thing, but I know I have a, and I have an Instagram thing, but I don't know really how to use it. <laugh>. I gotta get my 23-year-old daughter to show me how to do it.

Lindsay (01:16:27):

<laugh>.

Ed (01:16:28):

I mean, I know certain things, but I don't know how to really work it properly. I I I need some help. So, uh, Ed Begley, uh, what is it at Twitter? @edbegleyjr, As an Ed Begley Junior. And uh, that's that. And Instagram is @Ed_Begley_Jr, for junior.

Lindsay (01:16:45):

Amazing. So we can keep up with you and all of the amazing things that you continue to do all the time there. And then you have a couple books. I don't know if you wanna shout your books out.

Moby (01:16:56):

Yeah. The Vegan Survival Guide. Mm-Hmm.

Ed (01:16:58):

<affirmative>. Thank you. I have a book too called Living Like Ed we did when my, my wife and I had that TV series that reality show about what a joy it is living with me. <laugh>

Moby (01:17:07):

<laugh>

Ed (01:17:09):

Good. How to stuff in that. Then there's a, a follow up book called Ed Begley's Guide to Sustainability. And uh, that book is very good. A little more detail about how to make your home or apartment greener. And I have a memoir that has some environmental stuff in it has a certain amount of Alan Wats in it, but it's really kind of a Hollywood memoir about being in Ed Begley's son and being in the business, you know, since 1967. A lot of good stories with people we're all familiar with, what's it called "To The Temple of Tranquility and Step On It". Oh, that's

Moby (01:17:40):

Really good. <laugh> nice

Ed (01:17:41):

Because that's what I wanted right away. I wanted Serenity in a bottle or a quick thing. Come on Alan Watts get cut to the chase. What? Just gimme a sentence. What's the soundbite? How do I get serenity here? Yeah, come on quick. <laugh>. I

Moby (01:17:52):

Mean there is, there is that spiritual idea of satori, right? You know, satori. I believe it's a zen concept, which means like instant enlightenment. Um, so you were just searching for satori?

Ed (01:18:02):

I was, I was definitely searching for that. And I found, as Harry Dean did, he became my Alan Watts kind of guru liaison. And he certainly like me liked, you know, find his serenity in a bottle of stoli <laugh>. So, uh, we certainly would pick up the pace as did Alan Watts. Alan Watts liked his gargle <laugh> and so

Moby (01:18:19):

Could find him,

Ed (01:18:20):

Could see him on a bar stool as much as he would at tatonoi Matt sitting Zazen. So he, he liked to to have a few bells.

Moby (01:18:26):

<laugh>. Yep. Humans are complicated. Yep. So two things. One, just because people are listening, a lot of people are struggling, I mean by the human condition is one of struggle. And some people are struggling more than others. People are looking for wisdom and insight. And because you are smart, insightful, you've led multiple lives. I'm wondering what advice would you give and insofar as one can give advice to a generalized group of people, is there advice that you would have for the people who are listening? Yes.

Ed (01:19:00):

Don't just do something. Stand there

Moby (01:19:02):

<laugh>.

Ed (01:19:04):

And I mean that. And this is a guy who wants, I want people after they've done that and hopefully done it for a period of time that gets them into a serene state, but then they can become active as we need to be and to save the Ballona Wetlands and to, you know, save many plant animal species in other ways and to get more people to try veganism. There's plenty of work to be done, but you can't do what I used to do. I found no success in it, always running myself. Right. Come on, we gotta save the world right now. Get to the thing and go, oh God, I didn't fill that form out. Right? I gotta get the, you didn't bring that with you. How can you not bring that? We gotta save the wetlands. Come on. It was all this anxiety, all there's much to be done, but you have to also have your serene time. You have to just be centered and not do something for a period of time that can get you recharged so you can do something.

Moby (01:19:49):

I love that. And I would add to one little aspect of that tell me is that I, I, an old guy at my AA home group in New York said this, that self-care is a form of service. Like if you're an put activist, if you wanna go out into the world and make the world a better place, make your community a better place. You do have to take care of yourself. Otherwise people, as we all know, like the activists who are burned out Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the community leaders that was me who are like drug addicted and alcoholic. Like self care is the first step of practical service. I totally

Lindsay (01:20:23):

Agree. You can't pour from an empty cup. Yeah. Well, so

Moby (01:20:25):

To speak. Okay, great. And then lastly, I want to, if you're open for it, take you for a quick walk around my property. Because when I moved here it was all grass. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I tore out the grass and put in mulch and trees and things for pollinators. Great. And so I'm not prone to bragging or showing off, but I'm really kind of proud of the little mini ecosystem I've created and I thought you might wanna take a look at it. So

Lindsay (01:20:54):

<laugh>. Yeah. Fantastic. Um, Ed, thank you so much for talking to us for this long. This is a real treat. We're, we've been so excited to have you and I feel like this has been so lovely. So thank you. I feel

Ed (01:21:05):

The same. I enjoyed every moment.

Moby (01:21:07):

Okay, let's go look at trees and have soup. Yay.

Lindsay (01:21:09):

<laugh>. Great.

Moby (01:21:15):

Thank you, Ed for coming on Moby Pod.

Lindsay (01:21:19):

Ed Begley, you are a dream.

Moby (01:21:20):

I mean those stories, I mean obviously I love hearing about his journey to becoming a sober vegan and I love hearing about his commitment to environmentalism, but boy do I love stories about old Hollywood.

Lindsay (01:21:33):

It's so cool and so fun and these like iconic places and who was there and watching Joni Mitchell from three feet away and just the stories are so cool and he's just such a nice smart good man.

Moby (01:21:48):

One thing he also reminded me of is how important it is to use your platform to not just indulge in like ego gratification or self-promotion, but to use your platform to draw attention to important issues. And I guess I'm increasingly depressed, to be honest, at the number of public figures who don't use their platform to promote anything other than themselves. Yeah.

Lindsay (01:22:15):

He walks the walk, he lives by example and he shares his experience in this really thoughtful, gentle way. It's just great what he does.

Moby (01:22:27):

And of course, by putting yourself out there, I'm very aware of this, when you put yourself out there and when you're passionate about your beliefs, you're going to be ridiculed for it. You're going to be ostracized for it, you're going to be criticized for it. But the alternative is just complacently in a fearful way. Not use your platform and not use your voice to at least try and make the world a better place. Yeah. Gotta

Lindsay (01:22:49):

Tune out the peanut gallery, <laugh>

Moby (01:22:52):

<laugh>. So as mentioned at the beginning, in two weeks, we're gonna have the one year anniversary of Moby Pod and we would really love it if everyone would send in their thoughts, their comments, their gentle loving criticisms, uh, what you'd like to see more of your favorite moments, um, what else? Favorite facts,

Lindsay (01:23:15):

Ooh, yeah. Favorite facts, but really questions or anything you want us to cover, address, respond to on our one year birthday episode

Moby (01:23:24):

And for the next year and

Lindsay (01:23:26):

What we should do in the next year. There's so much to do.

Moby (01:23:28):

There is. Yeah. Okay. So with that in mind, do you wanna say thank you to anybody or everybody?

Lindsay (01:23:34):

I do. I do wanna say thank you to Jonathan Nesvadba who edits this podcast, masterfully. I wanna say thanks to Mike Formansky who's always there. And I also wanna say thanks to Human Content for getting this podcast out into the world. And I really wanna say thank you to Bagel who's laying in my arms like a sort of upside down infant <laugh>. And it's really wonderful,

Moby (01:24:01):

A super hairy, beautiful innocent infant. Yeah. <laugh>. And thank you to everyone for listening, and we will see you in two weeks with our one year Moby Pod anniversary special episode.