Celebrating 20 Years of ‘Entourage’ With Jerry Ferrara (Interview)

Twenty years ago, a little show about four guys navigating the highs and lows of Hollywood hit TV screens and changed the game forever. Entourage wasn’t just a TV show; it was a cultural phenomenon, a love letter to friendship, ambition, and the often absurd world of showbiz.

If you’re of a certain age, like me, I’m sure you’ll never forget the classic HBO noise (officially called the “static angel”), then the distinct “oh yeah oh yeahs” of the Jane’s Addiction theme song while Vinny Chase, Turtle, E, and Johnny Drama cruised down Hollywood Boulevard at night.

From 2004 to its last episode in 2011, all 96 episodes of the show were appointment television. It was the ultimate bro-bonding experience, a must-watch for anyone who loved the mix of ambition, humor, and cutthroat world of Hollywood. To those obsessed with it in its heydey, Entourage was more than a show; it was a lifestyle. 

To celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary, I talked with Jerry Ferrara, the actor legend behind Salvatore “Turtle” Assante. Jerry was fresh off a trip to LA, where he relived the show’s glory days.

How? By cruising around in a new Cadillac Escalade, just like old times.

You can listen to the conversation as a podcast in the Apple Podcast player or on Spotify. Or read it below.

 

We covered a lot of ground in 40 minutes.

Wild times on set. James Cameron’s cameo giving Entourage street cred in Hollywood at a time when no one knew what to think of it. Jerry shared some unforgettable stories, like Bob Saget playing a raunchy and over-the-top version of  himself, or the time a diva dog stormed off set during the iconic Season 5 “Tree Trippers” episode.

We even speculated on what the gang would be up to now. How would Vince juggle blockbusters in a streaming world? Would Turtle be dabbling in crypto? (Answer: “Yes”).

Jerry also reflected on having a sitting President as a fan, tuning in from the White House. We also contemplate how Entourage paved the way for other modern hustle-and-grind showbiz hits like Hacks and Dave. Shows that dive into the behind-the-scenes chaos of “making it”, whatever that means.

We talked cast chemistry. Real-life inspirations. How Turtle’s journey mirrored Jerry’s own life.

Time flies. Twenty years? Seriously?! Where did the time go?!

So buckle up! To an Entourage junkie, this conversation is filled with timeless Turtle wisdom. From Doug Ellin manifesting an Aquaman movie to Arnold the Rottweiler’s scene-stealing moments, this interview is like catching up with old friends at Urth Caffé, reminiscing about the good old days and dreaming about the future.

Rather listen than read? You can listen to my conversation with Jerry in the Apple Podcast player below on your device of choice, in the second episode of The Mostly Occasionally Show. Subscribe on Apple or Spotify!

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Turtle’s Time Capsule: Revisiting the Entourage Escalade Days

It’s been quite a week celebrating the Entourage 20th anniversary. It was so cool to see you celebrate it as a fan and how we used to cover the show back in the day on BroBible. Now that you’ve had a couple of days to absorb it, what are your thoughts?

Well, it’s funny, the older I get, and it really took time from the show and the movie ending to get to this point. When we were in the moment, even a year, two years, even five years removed from it, I still wasn’t ready to go down memory lane and say, “Hey, I was part of something cool.” I was always afraid to admit it, thinking I’d jinx it and it would be taken away. Now, 20 years since the show aired, nothing can jinx it. We did it. It’s there for posterity. It was surreal to go back to LA. I left LA years ago.

With Cadillac and the stuff I’m doing with the Escalade, we took tours of all the places we used to shoot. It was really awesome to go down memory lane, like driving past Urth Caffé and saying, “Oh my God, I shot 45 scenes at Urth Caffé,” and having my kids with me and meeting Emmanuelle Chriqui who played Sloan. The fan response was incredible. You never quite know what the fan response is going to be.

It’s a defining show for a generation like mine, now at a different life stage. A newer generation is discovering it, but it’s so generationally part of this era from 2004 to 2011. It’s fun to look back at it like a postcard.

Yeah. What’s weird for me is, I don’t go back and watch the episodes. I never enjoyed watching myself even in the moment, but with social media now, I get tagged regularly in clips. I had this realization during the anniversary last week. It’s also a time capsule of my life. I was 23 when we shot the pilot, now I’m 44. Year by year, I can tell you what I was going through in my personal life. It’s a time capsule of all our lives and the times we were living in.

So we all know Entourage was a reality show, and Turtle, a character, is real…

Right. Of course.

[laughter]

Turtle was the driver, the go-to guy, the fixer. That’s such a fun character to play, especially compared to other roles where you don’t have to be the guy that gets things done. How much do you miss being the driver, and how fun is it to be a driver in an Escalade again?

I realized while doing the Escalade stuff last week, I knew how to drive coming out of New York, moving to LA, but in New York, you don’t drive much. Even in Brooklyn, I didn’t have a car. Once we landed on the Escalade as the car for the show, it became like another location. We had three or four-page scenes inside the Escalade. I sort of learned how to drive on the Escalade. It was nerve-wracking early on because you’re acting while driving. You want to be good in the scene and keep everyone safe. I loved the truck so much that once I made some money, I leased an Escalade.

That rocks.

I should have maybe changed the color though. I had a black Escalade, so rolling up to get a coffee at Urth Caffé in a black Escalade on my off day wasn’t the best moment to stay incognito. But yeah, I just, I forgot the original question, now I’m going down memory lane.

Dude, cars were a character in the show and you were the character driving them.

Oh, you were asking about being the go-to guy. I’m not saying I had a hard time in the beginning of the show, but we all are very different from our characters. I have much more inner voice than Turtle. Turtle said whatever came to his mind, he had all the confidence in the world. He was kind of shameless in a lot of ways. I’m not like that at all.

But once I grasped what these four guys were about, the show is about friendship. It’s about Hollywood, but it’s about friendship. These four friends operate by any means necessary. If Vince is the famous one making the money, then Drama’s the cook and I’m the driver. Later on, Turtle becomes very wealthy. I have zero doubt that Turtle, even with millions of dollars, would still pick up Vince in the Escalade.

What if Entourage Came Back?

Yeah, it’s interesting to think about the Entourage universe. It’s not hard to imagine what the characters would be up to these days. They’d be fathers, going on golf trips, still making interesting career moves and busting each other’s balls. People often ask about a reboot or a sequel, but to me, it’s like time stops and they remain excellent characters and men, just older.

Yeah, you hit on something interesting. When we were shooting it 20 years ago, people watching in their 40s might have been saying, “I remember those days with my friends always around.” As you get older and people get married and start families, those priorities change. But I think their lives are pretty much the same in terms of friendship. The business storyline with Vince would be cool. It used to be, “Is Vince gonna do the movie and will it open?” Now, it would be, “How do we get people to a movie theater?” Doug Ellin always figured out ways to take Hollywood business and make it the engine that drove the story.

And Turtle is obviously financing these with his Avion money.

I think Turtle for sure lost a lot of his fortune in some memecoin.

Yeah. Definitely crypto.

Yeah, he definitely took a hit. No way he survived that.

So Turtle is driving Uber now in between other various hustles.

I still think he’s probably driving Vince around, to be honest.

[laughter]

Greatest Hits: Jerry’s Favorite Entourage Moments

I’m curious, looking back, what are your top moments? I saw you sharing other people’s top moments. What are yours?

Well, for me, Brandon, it’s different because I don’t… It’s hard for me to look at it as just episodes. I look at it like what was going on behind the scenes for that episode. It’s kind of how my favorites got dictated. A big example is the Sundance episode. That was the first time we left as a production. We left LA. Everyone on planes going to hotels and we never took the show on the road. I had never been to Sundance, let alone anywhere outside of New York and LA. So that, for me, might be my number one because the episode is great, and it really, to me, put James Cameron in the forefront. First time he’s in the episode, he legitimized so much of the fictional universe we were trying to sell people.

I think it opened the floodgates for our cameos. Once actors saw James Cameron playing himself on the show, it must be okay. So the Sundance episode for me, I would put number one, A, because it’s a great episode, James Cameron, and B, it was just cool to be outside of LA. It had this whole other energy. I think it’s really interesting, a lot of people on those posts—I was asking people their top three—and so many people responded, too many to catch everyone. I would have to say if I was just tracking, it really seems like the Valley episode…

Yeah.

…is a lot of people’s number one. That was an episode I remember doing, wondering, are people gonna care about these inside jokes about the Valley? Because you have to live in LA and really be a part of that community to understand, because it’s really nine miles away from Beverly Hills. It’s not that far. And people just love that episode. I think it’s because you really felt that we, you felt this almost like back in high school.

Yeah.

It felt small, like it felt so blue collar, like doing something so extraordinary, like is Aquaman gonna open as the number one movie of all time? And here we are at a college party in the Valley.

Yeah, I mean, that’s it. Everything about the show is friend group aspirational, but that episode in particular encapsulates the vibe of making it with your friends.

Yeah. And then to answer, I guess if I had to go, I don’t know if this is in particular order, but I always loved some of the episodes, and I can’t necessarily point to one particular, but I’ll point to the season—I believe it was season five—when the Vince character is kind of going through hard times, Medellin is terrible and he can’t get hired. All the things he goes through just to get the third lead in Smokejumpers and then he gets fired.

Yeah.

People wanna say Entourage heightened the circumstances and all that. Sure, absolutely. But that storyline from an actor’s perspective of the business was so realistic.

Yeah.

So I just love those episodes because you feel him, the Vince character is falling, and yet those guys got even stronger together.

Yeah. And how did you feel like Turtle felt while navigating that? The stresses on Vince and E, obviously on the business side. Turtle kind of offers a lot of levity, but at this point in the show, he’s really trying to do his own thing. He’s really striking out on his own. I’m kind of curious about your feelings on that. I also thought the late seasons of Entourage were incredible for the arc, but they also tend to get hated on and lost in the greater cultural conversation around the show. So I’m curious about your insight on your own character there.

Well, yeah, I think right around that time too, my character starts really trying to carve his own path. I believe season five is when he starts dating Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s character, and that was a really fun arc. I had never, at that point, really even in my career, let alone on Entourage, had a love story necessarily.

Right. Right.

So that was pretty cool to begin. But yeah, I think it kind of, when you see Turtle later on through seasons six, seven, and eight, trying to make his own way, I think it’s because he saw just how fickle and how quickly the Hollywood stuff could get taken away from you and your career could fall. Not saying that he was trying to make his own way in case things didn’t work out for Vince. I think he was trying to make his own way so he could help. That’s how I always played it. It’s like, let me go, not be such a financial burden on this guy who’s losing everything, and maybe if I could make a little money, I could help out or at least help myself. I think he’s starting to grow up, essentially, is what’s happening.

James Cameron’s Plot Twist: How Aquaman Became Hollywood Gold

You mentioned the Sundance episode and how James Cameron brought the show legitimacy. It’s crazy to think about that. With all the streamers and the volume of shows out there now, it’s wild to imagine James Cameron being in any of them.

[laughter]

Well, I’ll give you this story on that, and we might have to check this. I think Doug has done interviews confirming this because I wasn’t there firsthand, but I think I got the facts straight. So, if you recall in season two with Aquaman, Vince doesn’t want to do Aquaman. The suit looks ridiculous, they’re going to pay him a bunch of money, but it looks like it’s going to be a really bad movie, right? But a great payday. That was all happening before James Cameron came on the show. We had no idea. I don’t know where they were in reaching out to him. In Doug’s mind, Aquaman was going to be a bad movie, and we would figure out how that played out in the next season. But Vince was going to get some money because he needed it.

Then somehow, through Janace Tashjian and one of our producers who had worked with James Cameron a bunch of times, I think it was like a flyer—like, “Hey, would you want to come?” And he said yes. His only stipulation was, “Okay, if I’m directing the fake Aquaman movie, it has to be the biggest grossing movie of all time.”

That’s amazing.

So, when he came on to do that, it changed the whole trajectory of what Aquaman was going to be. Because A, he wanted it that way, and B, it’s realistic. I mean, it’s James Cameron. So, on the show, it took Aquaman from this weird superhero character they thought would never get made, and sure enough, years later, it gets made into many movies. I think he said, “Aquaman has got to be the highest grossing movie of all time. It can’t be a bomb. It has to do fantastic on your show.” So, it changed the whole storyline. Credit to Doug and the producers for being nimble and thinking on their feet. It’s amazing how the Aquaman stuff goes in season two.

Jerry Ferrara’s Favorite Entourage Cameos: From Bob Saget to 50 Cent

Yeah. Do you have any other personal favorite cameos? There were a lot, especially in seasons three and four when everyone was coming into the show.

Yeah, I always go back to those earlier ones because we were struggling so hard to get cameos. People still weren’t quite sure. “Are you guys making fun of me? What’s going on here?” One that always stands out was Bob Saget early on. Number one, I grew up on Bob Saget like most people my age. Number two, it was the perfect instance of, “Hey, come on, you’re going to play this ridiculous version of yourself. All in good fun.” If you embrace it, people are going to love it. And people loved that character. We brought Bob back so many times, and I’m so sad because he passed not that long ago, but he was one of the best cameos early on for sure.

My selfish favorite was 50 Cent, which is, I think, one of the most used memes of all time—where he pulls up and laughs at me and drives off. I see that meme on social media every single day.

[laughter]

Well, yeah. And isn’t there some backstory that you guys kind of knew each other?

Yeah, he pulls up, says, “What’s up, Turtle?” I call him Curtis. “What’s up, Curtis?” If you met 50 Cent on the street back then, would you call him Curtis? Would you call him 50? You have to probably know him to call him Curtis, right?

[laughter]

That’s awesome.

It was an awesome cameo. And my goodness, I see that meme every single day of my life.

When President Obama Said He Watched Entourage In The White House

One thing I’ve always been curious about, and I’ve never asked any of the other guys this, but, you know, in 2008 or 2009, President Obama said that Entourage was his favorite show. Which is absolutely wild to think of in hindsight. I was always curious how that was received in the actual internal Entourage production world.

Just blown away. I mean, we’ve heard it from musicians, we’ve heard it from athletes before, but then when the President of the United States says it, I feel like it was some kind of 60 Minutes interview or something. He’s like, “Yeah, we have screening rooms and we watch episodes of Entourage. It’s one of my favorite shows.” For years, we joked around whenever we were renegotiating with HBO, “Ah, it’s the President’s favorite show. You might not want to cancel the President’s favorite show.” It was surreal. I’m sure if he wasn’t the sitting president, we would’ve begged him for a cameo. And I think if the show were still on the air, that’s probably someone we’d maybe try to get. That was really, really cool.

Yeah, I feel like that was such a moment of what the cultural legacy of the show really was—that a sitting president was watching four dudes from Queens navigate Hollywood.

It really was wild, fun, surreal times. I always say to people, it’s like I fell asleep and had the craziest dream, the kind of dream that you wake up from and you want to go back to sleep because it was so good and you’re bummed that you woke up from it. And moments like that are the reason why.

Turtle’s Evolution: From Sidekick to Star

Awesome. So I’m kind of curious, are you happy with the overall arc of Turtle? Let me preface this. I posted a thing in the Entourage subreddit where I asked fans for some great questions. I thought it was a cool community thing around the show. Are you happy with how the overall arc of Turtle ended up playing out? Or would you have wanted to see a little more character development?

No, I’m pretty happy with it. You know, I used to joke around with Doug all the time because my character never… what’s Turtle’s real name? I used to ask him, and he would joke, “We’ll figure it out in season six.” I don’t think anyone thought we were getting to a season six. It’s a tough balance because Doug’s juggling the five of us and then Emmanuel, Perry Reeves, so many characters, and it’s all moving pieces on the chessboard. I do think of the four guys, my development was sort of the last, but I think it was smart. I always felt like Turtle was the little brother. I was the youngest in age, but we all played relatively close to age.

I always felt like he was the most immature when he started and had the longest way to go. Drama had very clear goals, and all those guys had clear goals. My character’s goal was to hang with some ladies and have a good time. Very basic goals. So I think he had the most to go. But again, it also mirrored my own personal life. As I hit 30, I had a physical awakening that I needed to get myself in shape. So I think it all timed out well. Could it have been a year earlier? Sure. But looking back on it, I think it was done at the right times.

Yeah. It’s interesting that you say that because every guy group has that person you don’t expect to make it, and you’re so happy for them when it happens. Did you ever meet the real Turtle in Mark Wahlberg’s friend group, the one that inspired the character?

So yeah, look, Mark back then had some amazing friends. I’m sure some of them are still in his life. But I don’t think the Turtle character, and maybe any of us, were solely based on one person.

Got it.

I think it was mixtures of a few friends from Mark’s group, a few from Doug’s, and a few others. Over the years, I’ve talked to quite a few of Mark’s friends who all claim that’s who Turtle was based on. Which is a very Turtle thing to do. But at least three or four guys claimed that they were the real Turtle, and I wasn’t there to argue with them. But no, I don’t think there was ever one person. Over the years, there was definitely one person who, in my mind, I was playing the closest to, inadvertently. I wasn’t copying him or shadowing him, but I think it lined up that way.

Yeah. That was a big story for us about 12 years ago. It was like, “Who’s the real Turtle?” There was someone saying stuff in the press about it, and it was a big thing for us to cover at BroBible and how we covered Entourage.

I think one of Mark’s real-life friends who was maybe some of the inspiration passed away like 10 years ago. I woke up to all these stories that Turtle from Entourage passed away and got texts and calls from people thinking I had passed away. But it was one of Mark’s friends from back in the day who unfortunately passed away.

Because Entourage is a reality show, right?

Right, right. Which is why you go lease a black Escalade and roll up to Urth Caffé and get yourself an iced coffee.

The Entourage Legacy: Influencing Modern TV

So I only have a couple more questions for you.

Sure. No, this is fun. This is awesome.

This is so much fun. I’m kind of curious, Entourage was, as I mentioned, so generationally tied to a specific moment in time—pre-social media, all that kind of stuff. Now there’s a new generation in Hollywood making wonderful stuff. I feel like there are times when you can see the DNA of Entourage in other things. Do you see any other franchises, shows, movies, etc., where you could see the way Entourage paved the road for that, or any kind of inspiration?

Yeah, sure. By no means am I saying that these shows or franchises are ripping from us. It’s truly not that. I just think that we happened to do it first. They would’ve probably done it anyway. One show, and it’s actually an HBO show that my wife and I watch and love, is Hacks. Really, really funny show. The inner workings of a comedian and her writers, and then the manager with the assistant—they’re hilarious. It’s a funny show. Our favorite show. At times, I watch that and feel like, “Oh yeah, this could have absolutely been an episode of Entourage as well.” Again, that show is totally original and unique to them, but yeah, I feel that way.

We always wondered, will people care about the behind-the-scenes of an actor, right? Will people care about, is he gonna do Aquaman? Is he gonna do Queens Boulevard? We’re going to Sundance. Are anyone else besides New York and LA going to care? And sure enough, they cared more than we expected. I feel like a show like Hacks is a prime example of behind-the-scenes stuff. People just devour that stuff now and love it, and it’s really, really well done. So yeah, that’s the first thing that recently stood out. We just finished that show last week and it’s great.

It’s fantastic. Deborah Vance is such a great character.

I would almost feel like if you were gonna do an HBO crossover, like Deborah Vance and Vincent Chase collaborating on something together—I would watch that. I’m watching that.

That’s great. The world is just Hollywood and show business, and you put all these fictional characters in it. (Editor’s note: Spoiler ahead)

Yeah. I feel like, what did her character end with? She gets the Late Night Show, right?

Yeah, she gets the Late Night Show.

She could be interviewing Vincent Chase on the Late Night Show, and I’m here for it.

 The other one that I always think feels very inspired by Entourage is Dave on FX with Lil Dicky…

Dave’s great.

Yeah. Obviously the cameos are a huge part of it. A part of the tapestry of the show. And there’s also that underlying feeling of friends making it.

People trying to make it. Maybe they don’t quite feel like they belong but do have real talent.

Yes.

Also great music, great needle drop stuff. A lot of it is totally original to them, but yeah, I could see that being thought of. I won’t say we paved the way, but I could see your mind going there.

I feel like Lil Dicky is thoughtful and introspective enough that he would be very okay with saying, “Yeah, I watched a lot of Entourage when I was in college.”

[laughter]

I don’t know if he did or not, but I would say that would be another awesome Entourage cameo if we were still around. I feel like that would be someone we’d be actively pursuing to come on the show.

The needle drops were incredible. What were some of your favorites?

The pilot’s Jay-Z’s “Lucifer” was a great way to go out. Another standout was “Good Life” when the guys were trying to get to the Cannes Film Festival on Kanye’s giant private plane. We premiered it on the show. Scott Vener, our music supervisor, and Doug crushed that. The music budget must have been enormous.

Yeah. But at the same time, in that era, it was how you got mass attention, you know?

Yeah. I think people then grow to expect it, right? Those early episodes, you’re kind of educating people on how to watch the show. “Here’s what we’re trying to do, here’s what to look for.” Then they get used to it, and then they expect it. So like we were talking earlier, the Escalade is totally another location on the show. We shot pages inside where we’re going back and forth. The music, the needle drops were for sure another character almost on the show. The dog was another character on the show, you know? So I think that’s what happened there.

It’s really funny that you mention the dog because, last night I watched My Maserati Goes 185 where Vince is referencing the Rottweiler to Jamie Presley.

Yes. Yes.

And…

Wow, you brought me back there. Yeah.

It’s very funny to think about how the dog really was a character, that was written in.

Really was the character. When we shot the Joshua Tree episode, which was hot, and there were snakes. The dog stormed off set and went to his trailer. Like, the dog was done. The dog wrapped himself. It’s like, “It’s too hot out here and there are too many snakes.” But yeah, over the years we had two Rottweilers, Rocky and I’m trying to remember the name of the other one. It was only in the last season, I think. But yeah, I grew up with that dog. That dog was a puppy.

Bro-ing Down: How The Cast Built Chemistry On and Off Screen

Dude, amazing. So one final thing here—it’s interesting thinking about the friend group dynamic. What really brought the show to life was the idea that everyone kind of has their own Entourage, their friend group dynamic. I would never, ever, ever in my life forget binge-watching the first season. It was the first time I had ever binge-watched a show with my high school friend group, the summer after our freshman year in college when we were playing poker and hanging out in someone’s basement and that first, “Hey, the guys are back together” type thing.

I’ll never forget watching the first season in that environment because it just, it lit a fire for the rest and just being a massive fan of the rest of the show. And obviously the chemistry and the roles that you played were incredible. I’m kind of curious, how did you guys build a friendship chemistry with each other? Because actors are actors, like, it’s not reality TV. There’s not just a camera being turned on, there’s a script. How did you guys, and I know that’s your job, but like, you know?

No, it’s such a good question.

How did you do that?

It’s a great question and I’m gonna try not to take up like 20 minutes of your time with the answer. ‘Cause I’ve thought about this a lot and I’ve thought about it a few different ways. So, first and foremost, like you watching with your buddies in someone’s basement playing poker, that’s what Entourage is. Except we’re taking those guys out of the basement and we’re saying, what if we drop you in this wild circumstance of fame and fortune, and we’re just gonna take you and your friends from the basement and drop you here. What do you do? That’s the show. That’s what the show is. How do you guys navigate that? So that’s number one. Number two, look, chemistry on screen I think is one of the unsolvable things that you cannot plan for. I’ve seen situations where people have really gotten along in real life and had no chemistry on screen.

I’ve seen people who did not get along in real life and had amazing chemistry on screen. You can’t quantify it, you can’t cast it necessarily. For us, we knew once we did, and I could close my eyes, Brandon, and I could be back at HBO at the network test the first time, and this is where they mix and match actors. The first time they brought in me, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, and Adrian wasn’t there. He had sent a tape. There was another actor for Vince, and we did our first take in front of HBO execs. None of us have the part yet. We’re trying to get the part. And it just had a rhythm. It had a thing. And once we did get cast, we knew early on, like, these guys have been friends since they were born. So it’s not like you force it, but it’s the magic.

It just happened that way. And then I will say early on, if you’ve ever been on a set, there are hours where you’re not doing anything and you’re waiting for setups for another scene. So we used that time to get to know each other. And just like you and your friends, we’re hanging out in the basement playing poker. We’re on set. We have two hours to our next scene. We’re playing poker, we’re playing cards, we’re messing around, joking around, breaking each other’s chops. It became real off camera.

Yeah. It wasn’t like a forced bro-down. It was just a bro-down.

Yeah. And I think everyone brought something unique, right? Like Adrian always said, Adrian was an only child, never had siblings. He said, this is the closest I’ve had to siblings and brothers in my life. So I think for him that felt right. Connolly is one of the easiest guys to get along with. And has the greatest stories. And Kevin Dillon, if you think Johnny Drama is an interesting character, Kevin Dillon is 10 times more interesting. And then me, I just, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York where I, that I was similar to you, it was me and my friends in our basement playing poker, talking about what the future had in store for us. So it just felt right and it was easy.

How Sports Helped The Guys Bond… 

Was sports a good thread for all of that?

Absolutely. A 100%. And we had to bring Adrian along a little bit ’cause he is not the biggest sports guy. I remember being at the ESPY Awards and they asked him who on the red carpet, who his favorite Yankee was. And I just leaned over like, “Hideki Matsui.” But he tried. But yeah, for Connolly, Dillon and I, sports were, and Doug, and a lot. Yeah, sports was a huge unifier.

Did you have any say in the jerseys you were wearing?

Yes. Meaning like, I was not gonna put on a Mets or a Red Sox jersey, or a Celtics jersey. Fortunately for me, Doug Ellin, the showrunner was Knicks, Yankees, Giants, and I think Islanders. But he let me wear the Rangers jersey in the pilot.

That’s awesome.  I cannot thank you enough for your time.

No, thank you.

This is really, this was wonderful. It ties things in a nice bow for how we’ve covered the show over the years.

Really cool. And I do appreciate the way you’ve covered it. And also I’m grateful to Cadillac for doing this sort of campaign ’cause it really got me going down memory lane, you know? And being in the… I’m telling you, dude, being in the Escalade, driving along Melrose, I was like, I had to pinch myself. Oh my God. It felt like no time had passed and it was just surreal. It was a surreal moment. So I’m just grateful for all of it and I’m grateful for the way you guys have covered the show over the years. And yeah. Grateful, man. I’m a lucky guy.

Awesome, man.

Yeah. Reach out again, we’ll talk again maybe in maybe 25 years, we’ll do another look back.