00:00Welcome back to the Kathy Romano Show on B101. I am absolutely thrilled to be kicking off our
00:04very first celebrity interview with this man. You know him from Deadpool, The Proposal, The
00:10Croods, and countless other films. Ryan Reynolds is joining us today to talk about John Candy,
00:15I Like Me. It's a documentary that he produced, and there's an exclusive presentation of this film
00:20telling John's story by the people who knew him best. And there's a screening that's taking place
00:24tonight at the Miller Theater at 7 o'clock. Ryan is going to be there for a Q&A. Please welcome
00:29Ryan Reynolds to the show. Hi, Ryan. Hello. Hi, guys. How are you? Nice to be here. Thanks for
00:34having me. Yeah, thanks so much for being our very first celebrity guest. This gives us like a special
00:39bond. Wow, I'm your first celebrity guest? Really? Yes. Well, you guys, your name is in the title,
00:45Kathy. Doesn't that by virtue make you a celebrity? I don't know. Trust me, you're way bigger. We're so
00:51excited to talk to you. Ryan, what inspired the documentary? Why John Candy? Do you have a personal
00:56connection? You know, I have, I don't have a personal connection. I have a lifelong kind of
01:02obsession and love and appreciation for John. I, you know, obviously, we're both Canadian,
01:08you know, there's a sensibility to the thing that comes out of Canada that you can't really
01:12wash off, so to speak. And, and, and I studied all those guys. I mean, growing up, they were my
01:20university. They were my teachers. They were the ones that I sort of, you know, I used to watch
01:24John and I used to watch Dan Aykroyd back and forth, you know, I would watch an old VHS tape,
01:30I would rewind it, and I would try to do the lines as fast and as, and as nimbly as like Dan Aykroyd
01:36could, or John could, or Bill Murray, or some of these guys. So I love John, and I've always loved
01:41John for a couple of reasons. One is that my brother growing up is, you know, he was a big guy.
01:47And, you know, I could see all the same sort of coping mechanisms kicking in that John had,
01:52you know, I don't think John would ever hurt a fly. And my brother was the same way. Every fight
01:57I got into as a kid was in defense of my brother. And it was a weird dynamic because he was older
02:00than me. He's two years older. And John, you know, reminds me a bit of that because, you know,
02:07you, you, through the documentary too, you see a lot of, you know, interviews he'll do in
02:11journalists that'll kind of take a shot at his size or his weight, you know, and like that sort of free
02:17game to kind of go there and do that. And John never made those jokes. He was very,
02:22you know, he was a proud man. And, and, you know, a genuinely a good person when nobody was watching.
02:29And that was, that was the thing that really kind of, I think, stuck with me, especially in show
02:34business where, you know, so, you know, behavior that is just, you know, abhorrent is tolerated
02:41in so many situations that, you know, I just saw with him, you could, you could maintain your
02:46humanity and still thrive and still do, you know, great work and still be a part of this industry.
02:51And I think he's inspiring for so many reasons. You know, even the show we're doing at the Miller
02:57Theater in Philly and the Q and A afterwards will be with Rob Mack and Chris Candy, John's son.
03:04I don't, even though it's a short, you know, hour or so, or whatever we're going to do after the,
03:10after the doc screening, I, there's not enough time ever to talk about John. Um, it's been,
03:15this has been one of my favorite projects I've ever been lucky enough to work on.
03:19Well, he's such a beloved figure in comedy when doing the documentary. Did you find out
03:24anything that surprised you? Well, you know, it was funny. This is something you could do a
03:30documentary on the, on making the documentary. I mean, it was like getting Bill Murray to sit down
03:35for a doc is like a, uh, I don't know what the hoops, the, the, you know, he used to only accept
03:42a fax. Uh, but now I know nobody has that technology anymore. Uh, you know, so I would,
03:47I would, uh, I would, you know, I, I found somebody who was a friend of a friend of a friend who gave me
03:53a number and I called the number and it was a Greek shipping company was on the voicemail. And I thought,
03:57no, no, no, no. I, I just left a message and I kept left leaving messages. And finally he called
04:02back, you know, and he said, he said, uh, uh, right away, first thing out of his mouth, right.
04:07Who would you say, uh, is the godfather of the spit take? And I said, the spit take, well, I don't,
04:15I mean, I love vaudeville onward, you know, I kind of obsessed with all that world. So I, I felt like
04:20I could kind of hang in this conversation and I could tell it was like a test of some kind. And I said,
04:25well, I don't know. I would say Desi Arnaz kind of did it for, you know, it was a big thing in the
04:31media when it happened. And, and he went wrong. It was Danny Thomas. And I, and I was like, oh,
04:37I failed. And I, I remember I made this quick analogy. I said, well, look, look, it's, I think
04:41of it like Canada, right? Canada invented basketball, Naismith. Uh, in this instance, Canada,
04:47Desi Arnaz is Canada and the United States is Danny Thomas. You guys perfected it. You perfected this
04:53basketball and the spit take. So maybe we can, uh, find some way to do this document, you know?
04:58And he said, okay, we'll, we'll sit down and we'll do the documentary. And then he ghosted me for weeks
05:02and I finally came down again. And yeah, it was, it was wild. Dan Aykroyd was another one that was
05:08just crazy. Cause I, you know, he was, he spent basically, you know, I took two months, took two
05:12months to find him. No one knew where he was. He was up in Canada somewhere. And I finally got a hold
05:17of him and he says, uh, he says, I'll tell you what, get you, uh, yeah. Come up here. Yeah. We'll
05:23sit down. We'll have some dinner. You spend the night the next morning. We'll do the interview and
05:27you, you get the F out, you know, with this Canadian accent. Mr. Aykroyd, that would be my
05:34honor. I will be there whenever, whenever you say. And I did. He heard you do that impression. Cause
05:38that's really good. Well, well, for the long, before we can track them down, Dan's eulogy is actually
05:44one of the most beautifully written eulogies I've ever heard in my life for John. And it's
05:48in the movie. And, and for the long time we didn't have Dan. So I did it. Uh, and it was
05:52drove me nuts. Uh, but people thought, so a couple of people thought it was him, but it wasn't. No,
05:57he, now we have him doing it. He, Dan Aykroyd does the eulogy himself. Uh, he re-recorded it and
06:02it's beautiful. And so very John. Uh, but, uh, these are, these are the guys I studied. I watched
06:08him, you know, all the, they're, you know, sitting across from your heroes like that was, and that,
06:13and they don't disappoint. I mean, that's amazing, you know? Yeah. That there's still
06:18a humanity and humility there and they'll sit and chat and just kind of, you know, treat
06:23everyone kindly. I don't know. I really was beautiful. Do you have a favorite John Candy
06:27movie? Do I have a favorite John Candy movie? Yes. Planes, trains, automobiles. I mean, it's,
06:33uh, it's in all the work I do. Everything I produce or write has a nod to it somewhere. Um, you know,
06:39all three Deadpool movies feature the book that he's reading in the airport, uh, in
06:45planes, trains, automobiles, the Canadian Mounted. Um, and so I always license it from
06:50Paramount. I have to literally have to license it. It's ridiculous. And I, you know, I might
06:54have it in my, I tucked under my arm in one of the scenes somewhere in Deadpool and Wolverine.
06:58If you watch planes, trains, automobiles, and then watch Deadpool and Wolverine, you see
07:02it's kind of in the same footprint. Um, even there's a scene in, in planes, trains, where
07:06Steve Martin just, I mean, eviscerates John Candy's character in a motel room, just goes
07:12at him and like snaps, you know, and in Deadpool and Wolverine, there's a scene in a van right
07:18before we fight inside this Honda Odyssey, uh, where Wolverine snaps at Deadpool and just
07:24goes on this rant, this monologue. And I remember Hugh said that there's, I have more lines in
07:29this one scene that I've had collectively in every movie Wolverine has ever featured
07:35in. And he just tears Deadpool apart. And in both scenes, Steve Martin feels like he
07:41went a little too far. You can kind of tell. And Wolverine even feels like he went just a
07:46little, a step too far, even for Deadpool. And it's a, so it's the, I find that movie to
07:52be a kind of wellspring of inspiration and everything I write or produce.
07:57And by the way, ask the question, cause I didn't know if like all of them were your
08:00favorite.
08:01No, I, I, well, I do love a lot of them. You know what I love most is that like, if you
08:06watch SCTV, which was, you know, really kind of a cult hit, wildly weird, fun sort of sketch
08:14comedy show there, this is back in the day today, everyone, especially kids are so afraid
08:19to suck at anything, you know, cause we live in such a curated world, right? Everything
08:24we see is perfection and, and, you know, perfection really is a disease, I think. And, and, you
08:30know, if you watch these old SCTV sketches, so many of them are genius and so many of them
08:35are just terrible. And that's what I love about it is that they were experimenting live in
08:41front of everybody on TV. This is back when there were very few stations to watch. So wide
08:48audience, the same way social media would be now, but they were okay with it. They were all
08:53right with not hitting it out of the park. They're okay with experimenting and failing
08:57and getting up again and trying something else. And I just see, there's so many lessons in
09:01that with my, I see with my own kids, I always say, don't waste your mistakes, make mistakes
09:06and then don't waste them, you know? And, you know, John and that whole group and that
09:11whole generation, they did it, they did it, you know, the emperor had no clothes just in
09:16front of everybody.
09:16You mentioned a lot of names, uh, in this film, uh, including, uh, Steve Martin, Bill
09:21Murray, Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks. Uh, the film is directed by his son, Colin
09:27Hanks. Uh, and then tonight you're doing a Q and a, I'm just naming all the people involved
09:31in this. Does Rob McElhenney have anything to do with this film or is he just coming with
09:35you? Cause it's Philly.
09:35He is my, uh, emotional support star, uh, uh, that, uh, uh, you know, I thought Philly
09:44is, you know, Chris Candy will be there as well. John's son. Um, you know, uh, uh, so
09:51the, obviously there's the, the strong, strongest of connections there, but Rob is a big John
09:56Candy fan. And, uh, Rob is also a gigantic Philadelphia fan, as you know. Uh, and I'm not
10:03talking just about the sports. I'm talking about the community of Philadelphia. Um, Philly
10:07is in his blood and, um, and I just thought I'd love to do this cause Rob's one of my best
10:13friends and I'd like him to be with me there. It's his town. It's, uh, where he comes from
10:18so much of the things that I love and enjoy in my life. I owe to Rob, you know, and I think
10:24that that's important to acknowledge is wherever I can. And I get getting to do it on a stage,
10:29uh, you know, at the Miller theater in Philly, uh, that sounds like as good a place as any
10:34to ask me. I've known Rob for years. Please tell him I said, hello, you guys will be at
10:39the Miller theater tonight. The screening of the documentary, John Candy. I like me at
10:43seven o'clock tonight. Tickets are still available. Uh, you can go see the movie and then sit in
10:47on the Q and a, and you can go to ensemble arts, philly.org. Ryan, thank you so much for
10:52being the very first celebrity guest on the Kathy Romano show. Well, it's all downhill from
10:56here guys. Thank you so much. I really do. I genuinely appreciate it.
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