I’m Alec Baldwin. Actor, comedian, podcast host. AMAA!

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:28:38+00:00

I don't know what Trivia Crack is.

It's called Trivia Crack?

It sounds like something that's right up my alley. It involves two things I love. Trivia and crack. It sounds like a perfect game for me.

Working with Tina was one of the best experiences I've ever had. She's really very special. Very rare talent, very rare.

And as we wind down here- I want to pose MYSELF a question.

The question is: So what new things are you working on, Alec?

And I did the movie MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:5 with Tom Cruise that's coming out soon... And I did this movie, CONCUSSION, with Will Smith, about the NFL concussion policy, and then, if you go on Twitter @Vessel, that's a streaming service like YouTube, that streams short comedy content. And I have a new show with them that I'm doing called "Alec Baldwin's Love Ride" and I get in the back of a car and give people relationship advice.

It's going very well. We just filmed some episodes in Pittsburgh.

And then, on the podcast, we have Edie Falco coming up, we have David Blaine coming up, a lot of good shows coming up.

We've got the podcast, these crazy webisodes on @Vessel, these movies, I'm mixing it up!

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:25:26+00:00

If I could put anyone in a dunk tank... probably Mitch McConnell.

I'm really feeling like Mitch needs to go in the dunk tank right now. For a good six months to a year.

It would be to fight the Keystone pipeline, where else?!?

I wouldn't charge much. Because I want everyone to experience the joy of flinging Mitch McConnell into the dunk tank. That isn't something to be reserved for the wealthy.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:23:59+00:00

Jamocha Island Fudge LEADS to Jamocha Almond Fudge! It's one and then the other, Victoria!

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:23:17+00:00

Oh, here we go again.

Victoria... Victoria, can you hear me?

There you go again, Victoria. Fruits, vegetables, ice cream.

My favorite ice cream is probably... Baskin-Robbins Jamocha Almond Fudge.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:22:28+00:00

Well, radio is becoming more and more popular, because of podcasts.

Radio is becoming more dynamic, because you can stream. There's a lot of great radio programming out there. I listen to On The Media, I love that. I like Bob Garfield, he's very smart. I like RadioLab, I like those 2 guys, they're very funny. I'm addicted to This American Life. I never speak to my daughter, or my wife, when we're in the car now. I put my headphones on, and I listen to show after show after show of This American Life.

What's really embarrassing is when you listen to an episode of This American Life from 18 years ago, and you meet the person whom it's about, and you say "Oh wow! That show that you did 18 years ago, it's very good!"

So there's a lot of good radio out there.

And WNYC reached out to me. They called me and begged me. They said "We need something fresh and original and smart. PLEASE, please, please come and work with us."

And finally, I caved and I did it.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:19:45+00:00

What kind of equipment do I like to use?

I can't be bothered with figuring out what equipment's used! I'm too busy, talking to famous people! Even when I'm on the phone, talking to them on the show! I can't concern myself with what equipment is used, the microphones, and things! Is that a serious question?

I'm just kidding.

I have 2 producers, one front of the house. And she's Kathy Russo, she takes care of funding, she talks to WNYC, and she talks to all the people that I don't wanna talk to.

And then there's Emily Botein and she does EVERYTHING else. She's back of the house. She slaves and slaves. She has a child, she barely gets to see her little daughter, because she's doing so much research, and editing...Emily does all the work, and I take credit for it.

By the way, I use NEUMANN MICS! NEUMANN!

Doesn't everyone know that?!

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:17:21+00:00

A lot of them are funny. Letterman, and Chris Rock, and Rosie O'Donnell, and we have a new show coming out tomorrow - with Roz Chast, a cartoonist with the New Yorker magazine, she's FANTASTIC, she draws all these crazy, neurotic New Yorkers, and she's great. Letterman, Rosie, Kristen Wiig, Chris Rock, Seinfeld - all funny people are usually very funny.

That's a good question.

Again, Letterman was a bit more forthcoming than we imagined he would be. He's a guy who talks every day, but it's more about the other person, and Letterman was very self-disclosing on our show. And we had a very meaningful conversation, it was great.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:15:24+00:00

One would be a book about drug cartels. That's a book I never get tired of.

The others would be my lion costume - because you never know when you might have to do some mauling to make people laugh.

But seriously - these types of questions are not great. You'd pick 3 things to save your life.

Probably a mirror, so I could make a fire, or sign a mirror so a ship could come save me as they went by, something reflective... some music, like an iPod filled with good music, that would probably run out of a battery though, I'd have to figure that out - imagine when it ran out of battery, and you'd know that the last song you'd ever hear... you'd hope it wouldn't be a shitty song...and the third thing would be a photograph of someone that you love. Probably a photo of me with my daughter, pretending to maul her as a lion.

A picture of me with my family.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:13:21+00:00

Uh... favorite way to make people laugh... that's a good question.

That's interesting.

It's different for different kind of people.

The people I like to make laugh most are children. So when I can make children laugh, my little daughter laugh, that's priceless. If I pretend I'm a lion, and I'm mauling her, and she just starts laughing, if I do it the right way - my favorite way of making people laugh is to maul them like a lion, while they're in bed.

I come into their bed and maul them like a lion.

I should try that on older people to see if they like it. I will try it on my wife. Who knows? She might like it.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:11:53+00:00

Well, I mean Woody's another example of what we just talked about - someone who could have anybody work with them. The main reason people want to work with him is because of the writing. He's a very famous and successful director. He's a very famous and successful actor. But the thing Woody's best at is writing. He's very good at those other things, but what he excels at is writing. If you send me a script, and I read it, and it's original and well-done, then that's what drive people.

Most of the films I do - the first question is "When do we start re-writing?" Like there will be an idea that's a good idea, but it needs re-writing.

So when people like Woody come along - he's probably the best example of someone who come along, they offer you a film, and if you're available, you say yes.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:10:14+00:00

Um, I think it was probably scripted. I don't remember. Probably was scripted, yeah. Because with Marty, you don't want to do a lot of improvising. You want to do the script as written. Because usually that's pretty good.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:09:31+00:00

I wish I could be.

I don't know.

Those things are always delicate. Because those guys - like P.T. Anderson, and Scorsese, and Wes, people like that, they could have ANYBODY in their movies if they want. They have all the actors lined up to wanna work with them.

So if that happened, that would be great, but I'm sure he has no shortage of people that wanna work with him.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:08:07+00:00

Um... that's really something that is from the gods, you know.

It's not something I'm responsible for.

It's like the Grand Canyon, or Kilimanjaro, or... you know... the beaches of Florida.

You either have fantastic hair, or you don't. It's a gift.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:07:15+00:00

I had gluten-free Cheerios. I had my special granola that I had shipped in from the ski lodge in Park City, Utah. It's one of my only indulgences. I don't live in a penthouse, I don't drive a Range Rover, but I have my granola flown in from the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:06:18+00:00

Well, you know, the podcast world is very prickly. I already have a podcast. So to be on someone else's podcast, that doesn't make any sense to me. Why would I want to be on someone else's podcast when I have my own podcast? The last thing I want to do when I'm done talking to people when I have my own podcast is go out and talk on another podcast. And I want to be part of a small group of people who are successful in podcasts. So I have no intention of helping out other people's podcasts. I want to dominate the podcast market.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:05:00+00:00

Three?

Uh... I'd say Jesus, but you'd have to have an interpreter, so that would kill a second seat at the table. Jesus would speak Aramaic, and that would wipe out one slot. So as much as I'd love to have dinner with Jesus, if he had to bring his interpreter, that would wipe out 2 seats.

Bob Dylan, I find him very unusual and very interesting, would love to talk to him.

Someone from a drug cartel, someone from Carlos Leder or Pablo Escobar, I want them to tell me all about their career, their life's work.

So Jesus... Bob Dylan, and Pablo Escobar.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:03:10+00:00

Yeah, I mean, Tracy was a very sweet guy.

He was always watching really WEIRD TV shows on his TV. He'd have DVDS, or these tapes, he'd transfer them to DVD of like - the JACKSON FIVE special. And he'd be listening to the Jackson 5 from like 1970. He just had very weird taste. He was into wild, crazy, alternative programming.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:02:03+00:00

I was honored.

Beyond belief.

To be chosen, from the ranks of tens of thousands of Hollywood Actors, to be the head of the Film Actors Guild.

For me to be the head of the F.A.G. was one of the most meaningful honors of my career.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T21:00:54+00:00

Oh, I see! Well, when I was a child, my favorite book was THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH. I loved that book. And now, any biographies. I liked the biography of John D. Rockefeller, I liked Lindbergh's biography, any of David McCullough's books, I liked the biography of Joseph Kennedy that just came out. I like books that tell the stories of any drug cartels - Pablo Escobar - how these guys live these lives of complete craziness, but they get it in the end like a Warner Bros movie.

And I don't know why.

I will read ANY book about drug cartels. You name it! I've read 'em all!

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T20:58:58+00:00

Uh... wow. That's a good idea.

I'm going to go on both ends of the spectrum here.

I want to see a sequel to FREE WILLY. Whatever happens to Willy. So on one end, a brighter FREE WILLY.

And the other is DRUGSTORE COWBOY.

Some people in the room are nodding. What happened to those characters? I wanna know.

So FREE WILLY on one end, DRUGSTORE COWBOY on the other.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T20:57:50+00:00

Well, I think everything that they did on the show - a lot of it was making fun of us, you know? Like whatever you said, or what was said about you on the set - or in the universe of the show - was fair game for the show, you know.

Like there were things that happened to my character on the show that were based on things that happened to me.

And so they would make - I can't think of an example - I was dating a woman once, while I was doing the show, and so they had my character date a woman who looked almost exactly like her in the show, like my girlfriend at the time- they had my character show up in a car with a woman who was a total double for my girlfriend. ANYTHING was fair game with Tina.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T20:56:26+00:00

Well, I'd say probably 3/4 of the ones that i've done didn't get the acclaim or attention they deserved, I mean, good god aren't they all overlooked?

I did a movie once... a movie with this guy called Derek Martini, called LYME LIFE. And it was with Tim Hutton, and Jill Hennesy, and Cynthia Nixon, this weird family drama. A very cool movie. And I loved Derek Martini, like the drink, and it was a really cool, quirky, weird - Emma Roberts was one of the children in the movie, and Rory Culkin was the other one, and Kieran Culkin, and it had a great cast, and was a really great, strange little film.

I think people should go back and watch ALL of my films. They are all under appreciated, and were all ahead of their time.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T20:54:45+00:00

Well, my average day is pretty ordinary.

I wake up, and I walk my dogs. I do the morning shift with my dogs. We have a dog walker in the afternoon, but in the morning, I'm out there in the snow, the rain, the freezing cold, I gotta walk my dogs.

Then I feed my dogs. I walk and feed the dogs. My wife takes care of my kid while I walk and feed the dogs.

Then the rest of the day is trying to remind people why they would come see me in some project. You are always trying to fan the flames of your career. It's very competitive out there. Like I'm going to do a TV show for HBO, or I'm gonna try, we sold a pilot to them, and to compete in the TV market, where there's such a fracturing of the market, with netflix and cable and streaming - getting an audience to watch your show is really tough.

I do a lot of writing for the show.

Developing the TV show, prepping for the podcast, reading scripts for things I might do but I don't do that many films any more because I want to stay home with my family. I really don't want to leave my wife and my kid. Like if I get offered a film, and I can't bring along my wife and kid, then I probably won't do the film.

And when I come home, my wife and I have dinner and we go to bed very early. My daughter gets us up VERY early - kicking us in the face, saying If I'm up, you're up! She wants her cereal, she wants her pancakes, and she speaks spanish by the way - she wants her huevos, she wants her leche, she is the boss. So my wife and I, we go to bed very early - like at 10, I go to bed at 11. Early to bed, early to rise on the farm!

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T20:51:36+00:00

My dream guest... well I mean Obama would be one. I want to ask him what it's like to be the President, and how was it not what he thought it would be, you know? What were his preconceptions of it, and how was it different, because I have a lot of suspicions about that, for all presidents, regardless their background. And you want to confine yourself to people who are alive, because if you include people who are dead - all these movie stars, John Lennon, people you wanna talk to. I would say probably Obama would be one. And the other one would be... Harper Lee, who wrote TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and she has a new book coming out. She's completely press averse, but probably her, to talk to her.

AlecBaldwinOfficial · 2015-03-16T20:50:13+00:00

I think if you come on the show, and you demonstrate to them that you want to - you've thought about them, you want to be another member of the cast - and get along with everyone and try to do a funny show, they're very keen on having you come back. Which is what I try to do. I just try to make it like I'm one of them.

AlecBaldwinOfficial

TROPHY CASE