SOAPY | The Making of Soap Legend Sean Kanan | S3 EP11

0:00 Welcome to Soapie.

0:01 I'm Greg Ricard.

0:02 And I'm Rebecca But.

0:03 Hi, Greg.

0:04 Hi, Rebecca.

0:05 Why are you so giddy?

0:06 I'm always giddy.

0:06 I'm always just so happy to see you.

0:08 Especially today, cuz things are about to get spicy in here.

0:13 They are.

0:15 You know why?

0:16 She's laughing.

0:17 So, I'll tell you.

0:18 Because our guest today is her own.

0:20 What's wrong with him?

0:22 Screen lover.

0:23 It's called acting Greg.

0:25 Yes.

0:26 My co-star is here today.

0:28 Sean Kanan is here today.

0:29 I'm very excited.

0:31 Good.

0:31 Yeah, it's acting, Greg.

0:32 I really, but you guys uh recently smooched and you

0:37 got some you got a bit of that chemistry thing happening.

0:40 Yeah.

0:40 Well, I'm I'm excited to interview him and you can ask him all about it.

0:44 I will.

0:45 Stick around.

0:45 We

0:45 get back.

0:46 Sean Kanan.

1:00 I want to start by saying that we sat down here and we

1:04 looked at each other and at the same exact time we said,

1:07 "Where are we going to start?" So don't give me

1:09 a hard time about being passionate about where we're going to start.

1:12 I have a great

1:12 I'm so excited that Sean Kanan is here.

1:16 Yes.

1:15 Welcome to Soapie Sean.

1:17 You don't have to witness us bickering like brother and sister like we do.

1:21 It's it's it's going to happen whether or not you want to.

1:23 Well, first of all, this is going to be

1:24 more time than you and I have ever spoken before.

1:27 I was looking forward to that when I heard it.

1:29 Makes more sense that I start because we work together,

1:32 but he likes to he had an idea and I thought it was great.

1:36 I think it's a great jumping off point.

1:38 Okay,

1:37 let's hear it.

1:38 So, I think it's great that he starts.

1:40 So, we both listen to your TED talk, which is wonderful.

1:43 Thank you.

1:44 And I This is my starting my launch question.

1:47 When you talk about the pressure that we have to succeed,

1:52 um my my followup to what you were talking about in your TED talk,

1:56 which is available on YouTube and everybody should listen.

1:58 I mean, but can we talk about how did you get to to be doing a TED talk?

2:01 Answer his question.

2:03 Um did you feel that pressure?

2:05 Was that pressure put on you um culturally, society,

2:08 or were you was that pressure you had to succeed from your parents?

2:13 And were you able to break that chain with your daughter?

2:15 Okay, there's a lot to unpack.

2:17 I know.

2:17 Sorry.

2:17 Um, I think that especially living in Los Angeles,

2:23 especially in our business, there is pressure to succeed.

2:29 Um, I think a lot of us put that on ourselves.

2:33 And I for me what I found is as I've become I guess a better version of myself,

2:40 a more authentic version of myself,

2:42 I've felt less of a need to succeed

2:46 with conformity to what external expectations are.

2:50 You know, we all have a barometer inside

2:52 of ourselves and we know when we're succeeding,

2:54 when we're being true to who we are.

2:56 And so as I've gotten older, um, my definition of success has changed.

3:04 You know, I think everybody has their own

3:07 definition of what it takes to succeed.

3:09 And I always talk about this this idea that, you know,

3:12 if you think about a guy who is maybe an immigrant and works as a janitor,

3:17 maybe doesn't speak English very well,

3:18 he's probably not the first guy on a list of successful people.

3:22 Not that there's anything wrong with doing that, but if

3:25 I told you that that same guy saved all

3:27 of his money and put his only daughter through medical

3:29 school and she went on to save thousands of lives,

3:32 we would say that that guy was actually very successful.

3:35 And so for me, I've learned to not seek validation outside of myself.

3:41 Look, we all like accolades.

3:43 We all like to be recognized by our

3:45 um you know our colleagues and everything like that but I

3:49 think that the true success comes from within us and when you

3:54 when you recognize that I think a lot of the pressure dissipates.

3:57 Yeah.

3:57 That's a it's a and it is a hard needle

3:59 to thread right because we all come out here with this goal.

4:02 Sure.

4:02 and and to achieve the goal of of of becoming an actor who's a working actor

4:08 uh or whatever your goal is in whatever field you work in you do sort of have

4:12 to have that external idea of what success

4:16 means right and then I think it's through

4:18 growing and wisdom of age and all

4:20 that where you can sort of become more authentic

4:22 because this is a tough city because I mean if you come out

4:24 here and if you gauge your success by what you see around you

4:30 you're going to really setting yourself up for failure.

4:34 I mean, there's always going to be

4:35 somebody whose career seems to be doing better, someone who's got a bigger car,

4:39 a bigger house, and you know, those those are not the metrics that I

4:43 think that we should all be concerned with.

4:45 It's it's are you living up to, you know, what you want to achieve in your life?

4:48 I'm a motivational speaker.

4:49 I know.

4:50 Well, I I I I think this is incredible.

4:52 I know you are a life coach.

4:53 He's left set to go life coaching.

4:56 What advice have you given Rebecca?

4:58 is um I have not given her any advice.

5:02 Sorry.

5:02 Go ahead.

5:03 Sorry you guys.

5:03 Um I guess my question is how how how does one get to be doing a TED talk

5:11 because that's pretty cool.

5:13 When I really distill it down, I Okay, the simple answer is

5:16 so I know you wrote books, but I I don't know how

5:19 when when I when I was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish that year,

5:22 doing a TED talk was one of those things.

5:25 But what ultimately was the genesis that led me to doing a TED

5:29 talk was I had a really big personal transformation in my own life.

5:33 you know, I was 50 years old and um my wife

5:36 got me a star on uh the Palm Springs Boulevard

5:41 and it was this big day and the mayor was there

5:44 and people said nice things about me and and all of that.

5:47 And the reality was I very much felt like a fraud.

5:50 Um you know, I was I was 40 pounds overweight.

5:53 I was hanging on to my job by the skin of my teeth.

5:55 Um which job was that?

5:57 I think it was General Hospital.

6:00 And you know, I I was looking in the mirror and I just was saying to myself,

6:05 "What's next?" And I didn't know.

6:09 And you know, I was really struggling with drinking.

6:13 And my wife never threatened to leave me

6:14 or anything like that, but she said something

6:16 to me that just was really the catalytic

6:20 moment that started to change things for me.

6:22 She said, "I have put everything into this relationship and I love you.

6:25 Please tell me I didn't back the wrong horse." And it just was like boom.

6:30 And that really started me on the journey

6:34 of making some very very significant changes in my life.

6:39 And as I made those and as I figured some things out within myself,

6:44 it was like it's like the clouds parted

6:46 and all the things that I couldn't make happen

6:47 and couldn't understand why and why wasn't I getting

6:50 this or that, it all seemed to come effortlessly.

6:54 And so I put a lot of the strategies and the philosophy

6:58 that I used into uh my book Weigh the Cobra.

7:01 And for people that don't know, a Cobra is an acronym.

7:03 It's character optimization, balance, respect, and abundance.

7:07 And um once I had done that, and the books had become very successful,

7:12 there's three of them, I wanted to do a TED talk.

7:15 And uh through a series of some luck and a little bit

7:20 of tenacity um the opportunity arose and I was able to do it.

7:25 And you spoke for like 15 minutes or something.

7:27 Yeah, you have to speak for 15 minutes and it's um And you don't use notes.

7:31 No, you don't use notes.

7:33 That's some that's some memorizing.

7:35 I'll tell you a funny story.

7:36 So I flew down to Dallas to go do it because

7:38 you don't really know where you're going to do your TED talk.

7:41 And so they have a theater and it's it's full.

7:44 There's probably a couple hundred people in there

7:46 and so they were having technical problems all day long.

7:49 Some people had slides and the slides were

7:52 out of order and and wisely I said, "Okay,

7:55 I'm not going to do slides because

7:56 I'm I'm going to minimize whatever problems there

7:59 could be." But so I was doing mine and they were having all sorts of sound

8:02 problems and I would say I gave about a B speech and I walked off

8:06 the stage and my wife and I went back to the hotel and I was like,

8:09 "Damn it." I said, "That is not why I flew down here to do

8:12 that." And so I picked up the phone and I called them and I said,

8:15 'Look, I'm coming back to the theater and I'm going to redo my speech.

8:18 And they said, 'Well, we don't do that.' And I said,

8:19 'Well, today you do.' And so I came back.

8:22 The theater was empty because they had sent everyone away.

8:26 And so it was like my wife Michelle and a couple people

8:29 from um um South Lake TED talk and I did my my speech again.

8:34 And that was the speech that I went down there to do.

8:38 Is that the one that we see?

8:39 That's the one you see?

8:40 Yeah.

8:40 Yeah.

8:40 We never get a second take.

8:42 Well, you know what?

8:43 Maybe it's a metaphoric in life.

8:45 Sometimes you got to you got to ask for that.

8:47 Did anyone see the first one and then see the second one and say,

8:50 "I get why you wanted to do that?"

8:51 Well, I think it was obvious because there

8:53 was just so many technical problems on their side.

8:56 Um, and you know, being a professional

8:59 actor and and doing standup comedy and everything,

9:01 I was able to kind of muscle my way through it,

9:04 but a lot of people got really thrown.

9:06 One girl ran off the stage crying.

9:08 I mean, I felt really badly for her because, you know, you put so much work into

9:11 and it's a big moment.

9:12 It's a big moment and, you know, as a writer,

9:15 you would think, well, it's probably pretty easy to write your TED talk.

9:20 I had to submit it 15 times because there's

9:22 a very strict um style that you have to conform to.

9:27 And so, everybody put a tremendous amount of work into their speech.

9:30 And to go fly down there and have something

9:32 that's really out of your control not work properly.

9:36 Yeah.

9:36 And and I, you know, I don't know.

9:37 I mean, I, you know, I just was like,

9:39 I'm going to do it again and and I No one else really asked to do it again.

9:44 I'm glad I did.

9:45 Yeah, that's great.

9:46 Um

9:47 Wow.

9:48 I'm blown away by that.

9:49 I know.

9:49 That's pretty amazing.

9:50 Also, when the theater is full, how many people are listening to you?

9:53 I think there were a couple hundred.

9:55 That's

9:56 Yeah.

9:56 Yeah.

9:56 It's like that's a hard moment to hear about

9:58 the people that were not able to sort of God.

10:00 And you're lucky because you've worked on soap

10:03 operas and there's a lot of pressure and we

10:04 do things so fast and and things go wrong and you have to kind of keep going.

10:09 Well, kind of one of the lucky ones, but and coming full circle uh

10:12 cuz you talk about your um what you were battling

10:16 in your TED talk and your character on General Hospital years ago, right?

10:20 Uh was battling alcohol alcoholism and I'm curious like did you see

10:25 where was that story told in a way where you're like, "Oh,

10:27 that mirrored some things that were actually happening

10:29 in my life." There were a lot of things

10:31 that were mirroring um my my off camerara life

10:34 and my character's life and it was it was difficult.

10:37 You know, I think for a long time when I was younger,

10:39 I got caught up in that idea.

10:40 I think this happens to a lot of rock stars.

10:42 They think that they sort of have to live on the ed

10:45 edge to um really be in touch with their creativity.

10:48 Yeah.

10:49 And I think that's a delusion that a lot

10:51 of people perpetuate for themselves because as soon as I

10:55 stopped drinking and and you know I just found

10:58 that my my work became a lot more grounded and and real

11:05 and uh you know that was kind of an excuse that I used for a long time.

11:08 I used to think um when I first started on Young and Restless,

11:11 I was going through my first major heartbreak in life and I was so vulnerable.

11:16 Yeah.

11:17 And they were giving me like really um emotional scenes to play and it was

11:21 so easy because I just had to open my mouth and out it was like

11:25 the emotions were so raw for you, right?

11:26 And then as I got older and became therapized, I I was scared.

11:31 I was scared of like healing wounds because yeah,

11:34 I was afraid that I wouldn't have that access which is

11:37 I don't know about you but like I I look at acting I I teach acting

11:39 too and I believe that acting can be

11:44 therapeutic for the challenges we have in life.

11:47 I mean, I literally think that you can take

11:50 a scene where you have a challenge that you can relate

11:54 to your own life because you always want

11:55 to use your own emotional rolodex and experiential

11:59 um you know and and I I think that by going after what you need in a scene,

12:05 it's almost like a catharsis.

12:06 You can you can heal some things in your own life and kind

12:09 of excise them sometimes for your own not all the time but sometimes

12:13 but also even if it's not play by play exactly your experience.

12:18 Yes.

12:19 emotionally we can sort of follow the

12:21 but when you talked about about being um therapetized um you know I

12:25 I think as actors we all know that when we have something that's

12:28 really an emotionally charged hot issue that we go to as actors the more

12:32 you go to that well the less water there is to draw from

12:37 and rather than be afraid of that it's like

12:40 okay let's find the next thing that I can

12:42 dig deeper dig literally and figuratively yeah wow um you do a lot You direct.

12:49 You Well, do you have any I don't direct.

12:51 My wife.

12:51 My wife directs.

12:52 I produce.

12:53 Right.

12:53 Right.

12:53 You produce and you write.

12:55 I do.

12:56 And you teach?

12:57 I do.

12:57 And you coach.

12:59 Yeah.

12:58 You You're doing a lot, Sean.

13:00 I do.

13:01 Um, but it all started when you were a young man

13:04 and you auditioned in this open casting call for Karate Kid 3.

13:08 I mean, you were doing things before that, correct?

13:10 Yeah.

13:10 But just done little things.

13:12 I'd done one guest star role on a show that got cancelled soon after.

13:17 Um, oddly enough, John J.

13:19 John J.

13:19 York from General Hospital was the star of that show.

13:22 Um, so that was kind of fun to get

13:24 to meet him before I ever did General Hospital.

13:25 But yeah, that was that was the big big thing.

13:27 But I love the story of how you went to this big open casting call.

13:31 You were already into the martial arts at this point, right?

13:34 So, um, and then there was like a great bit on was it ET

13:38 or Extra something when you're like this little baby Sean and they're he's like,

13:43 "Do you want me to do my moves for you?" His voice.

13:46 voice is like higher, right?

13:47 He's like he does his little karate moves.

13:49 Anyway, you didn't get the part

13:51 and um this was for Karate Kid.

13:53 Yeah, they hired somebody else for the third one, right?

13:56 They hired somebody else and they brought

13:57 They hired someone else to tell the story after you

13:59 didn't get the part and then you got the call.

14:02 That guy got fired.

14:03 Get down here.

14:03 Um I I went to this open call and there were thousands of people

14:07 there and I knew I probably had about 5 seconds to get John Alson's attention.

14:11 John won the Academy Award for Rocky in 76 and he,

14:15 uh, directed The Karate Kid, Karate Kid 2.

14:18 And so, um, he had me do an improv with him on on the street basically.

14:22 And he said, "Okay, I buy that." Brought

14:24 me in and I screen tested with Ralph Machio.

14:26 And I thought I did really well.

14:29 And, uh, about a week later,

14:30 I learned the crushing truth that I did not get the role.

14:33 And did you know Ralph sort of peripherilally?

14:35 Because a lot a lot of us would audition with the same people.

14:38 No, I never auditioned with Ralph.

14:40 Okay.

14:40 Um, and then I got a call to come back to the studio and I

14:44 I knew they weren't calling to tell me I didn't get the role again,

14:46 but I figured, okay, maybe there's a a buddy of the lead bad guy or something,

14:50 you know, like a henchman or something.

14:53 So, I show up and uh I go to the producers's

14:55 office and there's Robert Mark Cayman who created The Karate Kid.

14:58 He went on to do Taken and The Transporter and all these other huge movies.

15:03 And um they had me do a few martial arts moves and talk

15:07 to me for a second and then they went into this adjacent room

15:11 and left the door open so I could hear them talking and I

15:14 I knew that if if this happened it was going to change my life.

15:19 And so they said, "Uh, okay, you got the part.

15:21 This is what you're making a week.

15:22 Go right to wardrobe." Like there was no time to even call my parents, right?

15:25 Go.

15:25 It was cuz you didn't have cell phones then faster than beer throw shriner.

15:29 And then we had been rehearsing for about um about

15:34 a month and we were shooting for about two weeks

15:37 and I started getting this pretty significant pain in my upper

15:39 left thigh which I thought was from all the martial arts.

15:42 So I started taking a lot of aspirin.

15:44 So we broke for Christmas.

15:46 Christmas day 1988 uh I was in Las Vegas and I passed out.

15:50 The pain in my leg was from internal bleeding

15:52 and and the blood was dripping on my femoral artery causing the pain.

15:56 The aspirin was a blood thinner.

15:58 exacerbated the bleeding.

16:00 So they took me to the hospital and they said,

16:01 "Okay, we have to operate on you." And I said,

16:03 "You mean like Monday?" And they said, "No, like in 10 minutes." And they said,

16:06 "Here's a piece of paper and this says

16:08 that you understand that we don't know if we

16:11 can save your life." And when I tell

16:13 you that things got real very quickly to date,

16:17 it's still the most terrifying thing that's ever happened to me in my life.

16:21 So crazy that you must not have been alone then, right?

16:23 Because if you passed out, someone had to Yeah, I was I was there with a friend.

16:26 And

16:27 imagine if you were alone, like we wouldn't be here right now.

16:29 Where were your parents with Disney?

16:30 My parents were in the East Coast.

16:31 Um I was, you know, I was already living in Los Angeles.

16:34 It was a girl I was dating and we drove from Los Angeles uh through the desert

16:40 and had we started to drive back from Vegas

16:43 and this happened like can you imagine like in Victorville

16:45 or somewhere like that where there's not a level one trauma,

16:49 you know, hospital, I would I would have died.

16:51 And um you know I I remember that this doctor

16:55 was uh the surgeon was just about to put me under

16:59 and I I come from a family of doctors and I

17:01 said please whatever you do I'm giving advice to the surgeon.

17:03 I said whatever you do if you can

17:05 resect the abdominal muscles and not cut through them.

17:09 Please do that because I knew if they cut my abdominal muscles

17:11 there's no way I would ever make it back uh to the film.

17:15 And long story short they they did that and saved my life.

17:18 I woke up.

17:19 I had a 15-inch wound on my abdomen with surgical staples.

17:23 And you know, the first thing I thought

17:24 about was what's going to happen with the film.

17:27 And I got a call very quickly from John Alson and you know,

17:30 there were no flowers,

17:32 no no balloons, just get back to work

17:34 in two weeks or you're going to lose the part.

17:36 They were going to hire Brandon Lee.

17:38 And uh I got pissed off.

17:41 I mean, I was I was angry.

17:42 I I I I was, you know, I'd come so far to get this role.

17:46 And so I got out of bed and was able to go

17:48 to the restroom in my room and then got back in bed and collapsed.

17:51 And the next day I could walk around the hospital floor.

17:54 Day after that I could walk around three times

17:56 and I had them discharge me against medical advice.

17:58 And long story longer I wound up doing all my own stunts in the film.

18:05 Yeah.

18:06 Um what was the what was do you know what

18:07 the inciting do you know what the inciting injury was?

18:11 Yeah.

18:11 I did this really not even a stunt.

18:14 I had to stand in a stationary position

18:16 and kind of throw myself two feet onto the ground.

18:20 They were going to match that with a shot

18:21 of me getting thrown through some doors and just the repetitiveness

18:25 of you know boom boom boom I I basically sprung a league

18:29 on your femoral artery

18:30 in my um which sits on top of your greater

18:32 intestine and it just was bleeding for about a week

18:36 and so when I passed out it was because

18:37 I had lost so much blood I went into shock.

18:39 But before before that, you didn't you weren't aware that

18:42 No, I was having that pain in my leg.

18:43 Right.

18:43 Right.

18:44 Right.

18:44 But it wasn't from the martial arts.

18:46 It was from, you know, the

18:47 Yeah.

18:47 When you're doing all that physical work,

18:49 you think about training hours and hours a day.

18:51 So, right.

18:53 Wow.

18:53 And do you still continue to do martial arts right now?

18:56 Yeah.

18:56 You do?

18:57 I do.

18:58 The Japanese or do you do like um Well, Ian, is that what it's called?

19:02 What I what I started with was shakon and shitu,

19:04 which oddly enough is very similar to what Mr.

19:07 Miyagi taught Daniel.

19:08 Oh yeah.

19:09 Um before I did season six of uh Cobra Kai,

19:13 um I I wanted to really work on my kicks and everything.

19:16 So I went and studied Taekwondo, which I had never studied before.

19:19 So that's really what I'm working on right now.

19:23 Just added to the list.

19:25 Yeah.

19:25 Um well, on top of all of that incredible stuff,

19:28 you get to make out with this one.

19:30 Yeah.

19:30 Right.

19:31 It's a pretty good deal.

19:32 Uh, so tell us about the Bold and Beautiful and talk

19:35 about your journey on on um as Deacon on two shows, right?

19:40 Yeah.

19:40 On on YR and on Bold and the Beautiful.

19:42 So, this is my 25th year since I started playing Deacon and Congratulations.

19:46 I can't believe that.

19:46 I mean, it's crazy.

19:47 Milestones are wild, aren't they?

19:49 It just, you know, and I'm I'm I'm so blessed to be on this show.

19:53 Um, talk about how great Bold and the Beautiful is.

19:56 Bold and the Beautiful.

19:56 I've been on four shows and with all due respect to all of them, I know.

20:00 I love it.

20:00 It's the It's the best work experience I've ever had.

20:03 Um Brad Bell is probably one of the very best bosses anyone could work for.

20:09 He We hear that time and time again.

20:12 Yeah.

20:13 He's He really cares about the people that are on the show.

20:16 And when you feel that I've always been the kind of guy, I don't know about you,

20:19 but when somebody gives me negative reinforcement, I rebel.

20:24 And when somebody gives me positive reinforcement,

20:26 I will break my back for them.

20:28 And with Bold and the Beautiful, you know, we have such a great crew and they're

20:35 all so supportive that I love coming to work.

20:38 25 years later, I'm as impassionate about it as I was before.

20:41 Hasn't always been that way on every show I've worked on.

20:44 And um he values niceness.

20:46 He values family,

20:47 decency, and kindness.

20:49 And you know, we don't have drama on the show.

20:51 And and everyone treats each other with respect

20:53 and we all care about what we're doing.

20:55 And we have fun.

20:56 Yeah.

20:57 Yeah.

20:57 Yeah, we do.

20:57 I think that's that's the key to the combo, right?

20:59 It's like having the passion.

21:00 And by the way, I I do the same thing.

21:02 I am so grateful that I get to work in this medium.

21:06 I am so grateful uh for the people I'm surrounded by who

21:09 also I think I think I operate in a very similar way.

21:12 It's like if you tell me I'm doing well, well, I want to do even better, right?

21:16 Because I want another compliment,

21:20 right?

21:19 Of course you do.

21:20 Of course you do.

21:27 Currently storyline wise you guys are

21:29 so I used to um watch Rebecca when she played Greenley and I was

21:33 and you were on you were on GH I think when I was

21:35 I was on GH from 92 to97 and then I came back again in 2014 I think.

21:40 Yeah.

21:41 Okay.

21:41 Because I remember seeing you but I just

21:43 so I was actually really excited to work with you and you know you never know

21:47 when you work with a new actor or actress

21:49 what the chemistry is going to be like.

21:51 um is there going to be chemistry?

21:53 And then also, are you just going to get along with that person?

21:56 Because everyone's got different personalities and they work different ways.

21:59 And it's been it's for me it's been seamless.

22:02 I love working with Rebecca.

22:04 I also love, you know, working with Kimberlin.

22:07 Um um it's it's kind of a good deal to be able to work.

22:09 Three of us are good together.

22:10 Great.

22:10 Well, we've asked this question of other actors,

22:13 but what's do you think that there is a secret ingredient to having chemistry

22:18 or do you think it's just something that we've gotten across the board answers?

22:22 Some people say you either have it or you don't.

22:23 Other people think you can sort of manufacture it.

22:25 What's your take on it?

22:27 I think if you're if you're an actor with a lot of experience,

22:33 there are ways that you can manufacture it to an extent,

22:39 but nothing beats having that organic chemistry.

22:42 Um, I I think it's a fine line between for me making the actress

22:48 that I'm working with feel safe and confident when they work with me,

22:53 but also creating some electricity.

22:56 Yeah.

22:56 So that um so that it manifests on screen

23:01 the audience feels it.

23:01 And I think it's it's it's the same with everything in acting.

23:04 You bring your authentic self to it.

23:06 And if you do that um more often than not that's going to generate chemistry.

23:13 Um if it's received by the other person as being truly authentic.

23:16 I I think Why you smiling like that?

23:20 Um I want to talk about your movie.

23:23 Yeah.

23:23 When is it coming out?

23:24 Well, I mean, meanwhile, he he's shooting the show.

23:26 Well, the one great thing about our show is that we do No,

23:29 but we do have time on our show.

23:30 That's the one.

23:32 And I have an amazing wife who is

23:34 Yeah, but we have four day weeks.

23:36 We have like two You have weeks off.

23:38 So, you were able to do a movie that your wife directed.

23:41 Tell us directed it.

23:42 She and I wrote and produced it with our company, Flip Creative.

23:44 Um, it's called Body Man and it takes place uh during

23:50 a California senatorial race with a backdrop of fentinyl and human trafficking.

23:55 Oh.

23:55 And um it's a female driven action film.

23:59 Um we took it to AFM.

24:01 We have uh a sales agent that uh um is

24:05 going to be selling it for us starting next week because

24:08 we we just gave them the um the screener and it's

24:12 going to can and all that sort of good stuff.

24:14 And it's been an amazing experience.

24:16 And you know, people ask me all the time, they're like,

24:18 "Well, why are you still on Bold and the Beautiful?

24:20 You're doing all these other things." A because I love it,

24:23 but it also affords me the ability to do all these other things.

24:29 you know, it's it's it's a lot easier to pursue other things when you've

24:34 got the wonderful blessing of I don't like to use the term safety net,

24:38 but you know, it is right.

24:41 You know,

24:42 and um that's a a byproduct of being on Bold and the Beautiful is

24:46 that it is given me uh the ability to have this whole of the career.

24:50 And I don't know if you know this, but you wouldn't know

24:52 this, but um Brad Bell graciously wrote a letter to the producers guild

24:57 on my behalf and you know was really instrumental in my becoming

25:01 a member of the producers guild and that's the kind of guy he is.

25:04 Yeah.

25:04 Doesn't surprise me but that's

25:05 you know just a good decent guy.

25:07 He's amazing.

25:08 He is.

25:09 Um so will any will we be able to see this?

25:12 Yeah.

25:12 Um um my uh my guess is that probably um in about four

25:19 to 6 months that it's going to be on one or multiple platforms.

25:23 We don't know which we're sort of

25:26 entertaining where it goes.

25:27 What I love is that he wrote it and then he was like I can't memorize it.

25:30 It's so true.

25:31 I I can't tell you how Studio City too.

25:34 I can't tell you how many times I will write

25:35 stuff and go why can't I remember my own damn lines?

25:40 Do you um so it sounds like based

25:42 on uh so we've covered everything except directing, right?

25:46 Because you write, you produce, you don't direct.

25:48 Um is that something,

25:50 you know?

25:50 I I probably would like to at some point, but watching my wife,

25:54 one of the biggest skill sets a director has to have outside of, you know,

25:59 understanding camera and everything,

26:01 you have to have tremendous organizational skills.

26:04 And my wife is really good at minutia and detail.

26:09 And I'm really good.

26:11 A lot of what I do as a producer is on the finance end.

26:14 Um, you know, putting the deals together.

26:16 That's what I really love doing.

26:17 Um, and so that's why we're a really good team.

26:21 I can't do the minutia as well as she does.

26:23 And so it's just a good team.

26:27 She loves directing.

26:28 I love producing.

26:29 We both love writing.

26:30 So that's that's kind of what's working.

26:32 I've always thought, oh,

26:33 maybe I maybe directing is something I'd want to pursue,

26:35 but as you talk about attention to detail,

26:37 I'm like, yeah, that's not something I want to pursue.

26:40 I don't have any attention to detail.

26:41 What about um have you we had um Heather Tom and Lawrence St.

26:45 Victor on here.

26:46 Uh what about writing on Bold and Beautiful?

26:48 Is that something that's crossed your mind?

26:50 Well, you know, uh that's that's something that I would really

26:54 be interested in doing.

26:56 Um you know, if that if that ever uh itself approached the subject.

27:01 But we've had You heard it here, Brad.

27:03 You heard it here.

27:04 We've had talks about it.

27:05 You know, we'll see.

27:05 We'll see.

27:06 Well, to your point about um not only a safety net,

27:10 but also the opportunities that Bold and Beautiful has afforded you.

27:14 We would be remiss to not talk about um it's also turned you into a dancer.

27:18 Oh, that's a that's a really big word for what

27:22 I have not seen footage of this.

27:23 I need to find this.

27:24 When did you do Dancing with the Stars in Italy?

27:27 I did by Londo Calstell.

27:29 Um, yeah.

27:30 I, so when I started Bold the Beautiful

27:32 and I found out how popular it was in Italy,

27:35 I made the conscious decision to start studying Italian.

27:38 And so I've been studying Italian now for 20ome years.

27:41 Wow.

27:41 And I figured, okay, if I can if I can speak Italian,

27:43 I can probably have another career over in Italy.

27:47 And I actually have done a lot of work over in Italy.

27:51 Um, and so I got the offer to do Dancing with the Stars.

27:54 This was before though I could speak Italian.

27:57 And um so

27:59 do you think you need to speak Italian to do it?

28:01 Well, the whole show was in Italian.

28:03 So I mean it was and I didn't have I

28:05 didn't really have um a whole lot of u translation.

28:08 I remember that the the presenter the hostess

28:12 of the show Millie Carluchi she asked me one time

28:13 and this is live audience 5 million people watching this including

28:17 the pope who was a big fan of the show.

28:19 She said uh toato which means where were you born and I wanted to say

28:22 well I was born in Cleveland but I I escaped when I was five.

28:26 So the the verb for um escape is scapare and the verb for

28:34 to have sex, we'll say, is scopare.

28:37 And uh your buddy Sean chose the wrong one.

28:40 And then she said to me, you know, how did you feel after your dance?

28:42 And I I wanted to say that I felt discouraged.

28:45 So the verb for um to be discouraged

28:47 is squarajare and the verb to fart is skare.

28:52 So I told everybody that I got laid when I was five and then farted.

28:56 Farted.

28:56 Go Sean.

28:58 True story.

28:59 That's amazing.

29:01 Oh my god, that is I've become kind of famous with my Italian

29:04 interviews for um occasionally mangling the language.

29:08 They must they must love that.

29:09 I was doing I I was in an Italian

29:11 film festival and it was it was outside and I'm

29:14 doing this interview and this seagull lands nearby

29:17 and the word for seagull is um gabion and the word

29:22 for like a prison cell is gabia and so I

29:25 I said gabia instead of gabion and a year later

29:29 I was at the same film festival and ah gabion

29:32 they remembered so you know you got to embrace it.

29:34 Well, I'm surrounded by greatness because we have uh Dancing with the Stars.

29:38 Do you know I don't know if you know this, but uh you are in the presence

29:42 of the winner of the one and only season of Skating with the Stars right here.

29:46 You told me that.

29:48 I have so much respect for that because that's got to be so much harder.

29:51 By the way, I am I really want your trophy here.

29:53 Will you bring it?

29:55 Oh, yeah.

29:55 It's in Minnesota.

29:56 So, wait, but you grew up in Minnesota, so skating for you as well.

29:59 No, I grew up in Kentucky.

30:00 But I I grew up figure skating, but I didn't I stopped when I was like nine

30:04 and I always wanted to do skating and um my coach

30:08 wanted me to pair skate because I was so little

30:10 and my mom wouldn't let me move with her to Detroit, which can't blame her.

30:14 Um and so when they asked me to do Dancing with the Stars,

30:16 I kept saying no for like 10, I don't know how long, seven years.

30:20 And then they asked me to do Skating with the Stars and I

30:23 So you chose the harder choice.

30:25 It was one season.

30:26 I mean, obviously it was hard though.

30:29 It was hard.

30:30 It was I literally was shaking the day that we the first episode.

30:35 I was like, "What have I done?" Like, "What have I done?

30:38 This is terrifying.

30:39 It was so fun leading up to it." And then I was like, "It's hard." Yeah.

30:43 No, I'm sure I that would terrify me.

30:45 Not that I've ever been asked to be on either show,

30:47 but I uh I can't skate or dance.

30:49 How did you start making hot sauce?

30:51 How did I so So, so my first So, my first book was a cookbook,

30:55 um, uh, The Modern Gentleman, Cooking and Entertaining with Sean Kan.

30:58 I'm a foodie.

30:59 I love food.

31:00 And, uh, I knew I wanted to get into some

31:02 kind of a a food service product type thing.

31:05 And I love hot sauce.

31:07 Um, I came up with the idea of Bad Boy Hot Sauce,

31:11 Bad Boy of Karate from from uh, Karate Get Three in Cobra Kai.

31:15 And, uh, people love it.

31:17 I've got three flavors.

31:20 Uh we're going to be going into Gellison's later this year and uh

31:23 Congratulations.

31:23 That's it's it's a lot of fun.

31:25 Yeah.

31:25 And a lot of work, right?

31:26 It's a lot of work.

31:27 It is because manufacturing I know the more successful you get,

31:29 you have to find bigger bigger companies.

31:32 It's really it's really difficult to compete with, you know,

31:35 when you're you're sort of a boutique brand

31:37 and you can't afford to massproduce like the others.

31:41 Um you have to be more strategic and selective with the stores that you

31:46 want to get into that have a higher price point, blah blah blah.

31:48 Anyway, it's been a lot of fun.

31:49 It's It's a lot of fun and I love giving hot

31:51 sauce to people and I should have brought you guys some shame.

31:54 And you norally do when I when I when I come back to work,

31:56 I'm going to give you some and I'm going to give you some for Greg.

31:58 Okay.

31:58 Okay.

31:59 Okay.

31:59 Do you like hot sauce?

32:00 I love hot sauce.

32:00 Do you like spicy or

32:01 I love spicy and I'm into like I like a spicy and a buffalo for my

32:05 Okay, perfect.

32:06 Um Okay, we've got some fan questions.

32:08 Oh, great.

32:09 Oh, right.

32:09 We're having so much fun, we forgot about Oh, look.

32:11 We can do anything in here.

32:12 Can I Well, go ahead.

32:13 Well, I I know with this No, I know the answer.

32:17 working out.

32:20 Are you okay?

32:21 Do you smell toast?

32:22 Isaac.

32:22 Isaac, can we fire him?

32:24 Okay.

32:24 Um, are you interested in doing comedy?

32:26 But I know you did standup comedy for a second, right?

32:29 No, I still I still do when I have time.

32:31 Yeah.

32:31 So, you're interested in doing comedy?

32:32 I love doing comedy.

32:33 Yeah.

32:33 Standup is terrifying.

32:35 It is.

32:35 But I'll tell you something.

32:36 If you can do standup, as I always tell young actors in in my classes,

32:40 I was like, whether you go up and bomb or you do great,

32:44 it will fundamentally change you as an actor forever because you

32:47 get such a sense of being able to fight off the ropes.

32:53 Yeah.

32:52 And it's like you and your words and it's kind of like doing a play.

32:55 I mean, there's no there's no cut.

32:57 Let's back to one.

32:58 Yeah.

32:58 And it really teaches you to improv, which we know as actors,

33:03 if if you can if you can improv, if you can do a little writing,

33:06 you can take something that's maybe good and really make it great.

33:11 Yeah.

33:11 Um, yeah.

33:11 So, that's great advice.

33:13 Um, okay.

33:14 Why do you think, in your opinion, why do you think soaps are so important now?

33:18 And why do you think people should be watching soaps?

33:20 So, I think the reason even though we've seen sort of a culling of the herd,

33:23 but then now we're also on the upswing, right?

33:25 We're on the upswing, right?

33:26 I think that a lot of people that are fans of the soaps

33:29 have had a longitudinal relationship with the show, meaning, you know,

33:34 they watched it with their grandmother when they were young and then

33:36 their mom and now they watch it maybe with their kids.

33:38 And the characters that are on the shows, um,

33:42 they've they've kind of grown up with a lot of them.

33:45 And also the the crux of soap operas are relationships

33:51 which everyone can relate to and conflict which keeps everybody interested.

33:56 And

33:57 you know you go see a movie you got to you know drive to the theater, pay $20,

34:01 shut up and sit in the dark for two hours but all

34:03 you have to do is turn your TV on with us.

34:05 And for a lot of people for a lot of people that relationship that they have

34:10 with these characters is it provides a sense of connection.

34:14 Yeah.

34:14 you know, and so, you know, we're doing the Lord's work.

34:17 That's a great

34:18 I also think we have a new episode every single day and you can stream it now.

34:21 You don't have to watch it on you can stream all of them.

34:24 Um, okay.

34:26 Are you done with that question?

34:27 Because I was going to ask you another fan question.

34:29 How is it working on Karate Kid 3 and then coming back for Cobra Kai?

34:34 Cobra season.

34:36 Yeah.

34:37 Um, it it's not very often that you

34:39 get another bite at the apple 35 years later.

34:42 you know, the same part.

34:44 The same part.

34:44 Um, but you know, coming back 35 years later as as a guy that now has

34:50 done a significant amount of work, I was I was brand new when I got that role.

34:54 You know, I was I was like this kind of

34:57 young kid full of piss and vinegar and and I was able to kind of

35:01 utilize that for that role, but it was nice to come back

35:03 as as a a seasoned actor and bring some nuance to it.

35:08 Um,

35:09 it's also kind of nice to join a show that's the number one show in the world.

35:13 How often do you get the chance to do that?

35:15 You know, we do so much work sometimes that never sees the light of day.

35:19 I don't think a lot of people realize that.

35:20 You know, you do a an independent movie or you do a pilot or something

35:23 and you put your heart and your soul into it and nobody ever sees it.

35:27 And to be able to be a part of something that everybody sees was just amazing.

35:33 Yeah.

35:34 Okay, that's great.

35:35 I hope that satisfied whoever asked that question.

35:38 That was a great answer.

35:39 All of these were great answers.

35:40 Um you're a delight.

35:41 It's been so lovely spending this time with you.

35:43 Nice to finally talk to you.

35:44 Right.

35:44 We've actually worked together adjacent.

35:47 Adjacent.

35:47 Right.

35:48 Um right.

35:49 Because you worked at uh Glowworm on Young and the Restless, which was Gloria's

35:53 I just remember you were like a bank robber named the Chipmunk or something.

35:57 Is that is that right?

35:58 You can see yourself out.

36:00 No, I I just remember hearing about that.

36:02 I didn't really know.

36:03 That was Thank you, Sean.

36:04 Okay, so the chip.

36:06 So then Maria Bell was writing the show at the time.

36:08 I love Maria Bell.

36:09 Passions had just gone off the air and as an homage to Passions, Maria's like,

36:13 "We're going to do something we don't normally do because

36:15 Young and Russ is a little more reality based." Um,

36:18 and it was uh my character was suffering from Stockholm syndrome and was forced

36:23 to rob these banks wearing this giant chipmunk mascot head and then had to go

36:27 sense to me.

36:27 I mean, that's perfect sense, right?

36:29 I mean, who among us hasn't, right?

36:32 That's a nickel.

36:34 But it was this it was this deranged

36:36 giant mascot head that had like blood coming down.

36:39 It was awful.

36:40 Not my favorite story line that I've ever been a part of.

36:42 And I was losing my mind which is why we were

36:45 not sharing uh screen time together because I was in a institution.

36:49 Anyway, come back and see us again.

36:50 Anytime.

36:51 Thank you so much.

36:52 I'll see you uh next week or something.

36:54 Yeah, you'll be smooching smooching on stage.

36:56 Um you can watch these two lovely people

36:59 uh weekdays on the Bold and Beautiful on CBS.

37:01 You can stream it on Paramount Plus.

37:03 You can also see Shawn on Coprakai seasons

37:05 five and six and in a million other places.

37:08 Um, just type his name into the Google search bar and watch his TED talk.

37:12 He's got his own website, dude.

37:13 And hot sauce.

37:14 It's he's everywhere.

37:15 Um, and you can listen to any episodes of Soapie you may have missed

37:18 on the CBS YouTube channel or listen to us wherever you get your podcasts.

37:22 Thanks for being with us and we'll see you guys next time.