WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 Welcome to the Deep Dive. This is where we really 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:05.299 get into it, taking all the research, the notes, 00:00:05.379 --> 00:00:07.519 everything we can find, and boiling it down for 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:09.800 you. Give you those essential, sometimes really 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:12.099 surprising insights. Yeah, the stuff that matters. 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:15.560 Exactly. And today, we're profiling someone whose 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:17.960 face you definitely know, an entertainer whose 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:20.859 career hasn't just, you know, lasted, but has 00:00:20.859 --> 00:00:24.100 really evolved strategically across five decades. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.059 Yeah. Think about that. Five decades of huge 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:30.010 shifts in show business. We're talking about 00:00:30.010 --> 00:00:33.079 Kevin Nealon. Right. And this is, it's really 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:35.340 a masterclass in professional adaptability, isn't 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:37.420 it? Because most people, they probably pin Nealon 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:40.140 to maybe one thing. SNL, usually. SNL, absolutely. 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:43.920 That incredible run from 86 to 95. Or maybe Doug 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:46.539 Wilson on Weeds, that long run there. Sure, another 00:00:46.539 --> 00:00:48.380 big one. But the story we're tracing today, it's 00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:51.060 just so much richer, so much more complex. This 00:00:51.060 --> 00:00:52.840 is someone who went pretty seamlessly, actually, 00:00:52.899 --> 00:00:56.520 from delivering those satirical subliminal messages 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:02.350 on network TV. Mr. Subliminal. Classic. To becoming 00:01:02.350 --> 00:01:04.890 a genuinely respected supporting actor, getting 00:01:04.890 --> 00:01:07.469 Screen Actors Guild nominations, you know, and 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:10.569 then ultimately innovating his own media platform 00:01:10.569 --> 00:01:13.209 with self -produced digital stuff. It's quite 00:01:13.209 --> 00:01:16.209 the arc. That transition you mentioned from like 00:01:16.209 --> 00:01:18.829 the absolute biggest stage in comedy, Saturday 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:21.849 Night Live, to literally filming himself hiking 00:01:21.849 --> 00:01:24.840 with celebrities. That's the core of this deep 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:26.840 dive, isn't it? It really is. We're trying to 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:28.859 get at the how and the why. How did he manage 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:31.319 that longevity? Why did he make those specific 00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:34.680 choices? So just to anchor the basics quickly, 00:01:35.060 --> 00:01:38.659 Kevin Elon, born November 18th, 1953, makes him, 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:41.930 what, 71 as of 2025? That's right. And yeah, 00:01:41.969 --> 00:01:43.849 those foundational roles, we know them. Happy 00:01:43.849 --> 00:01:46.909 Gilmore, Weeds, SNL. But like you said, we're 00:01:46.909 --> 00:01:48.689 really dedicated here to showing you the full 00:01:48.689 --> 00:01:51.829 picture, the strategic blueprint almost of his 00:01:51.829 --> 00:01:54.069 whole career. Exactly. Exploring everything from 00:01:54.069 --> 00:01:56.939 his early life. that surprising college degree 00:01:56.939 --> 00:01:59.420 we'll get into. Oh, yeah. To his activism, which 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:01.299 is pretty significant, and his really kind of 00:02:01.299 --> 00:02:03.340 cutting -edge approach to making media today. 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:06.959 Exactly. Our mission really is to push past just 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:09.900 the famous characters and roles and analyze the 00:02:09.900 --> 00:02:12.340 strategy underneath it all. He's just a perfect 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:14.740 case study, I think, in how you stay relevant 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:17.080 when the industry keeps changing the rules on 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:18.919 you. Right. Whether that's, you know, acting 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:21.340 alongside Adam Sandler in those big comedies 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.039 or starring in a serious cable drama or just... 00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:26.409 Like you said, grabbing a selfie stick and creating 00:02:26.409 --> 00:02:28.969 your own thing, your own IP. OK, so let's unpack 00:02:28.969 --> 00:02:31.289 this. Let's start right at the beginning, because 00:02:31.289 --> 00:02:34.909 the groundwork for Nealon's career, it kind of 00:02:34.909 --> 00:02:37.669 hints at a level of maybe strategic thinking 00:02:37.669 --> 00:02:40.310 you wouldn't normally associate with a young 00:02:40.310 --> 00:02:42.389 stand up comedian just starting out. Right. It 00:02:42.389 --> 00:02:44.770 wasn't just about being funny. He was born in 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:47.150 St. Louis, Missouri, but the family didn't stick 00:02:47.150 --> 00:02:49.370 around there long at all. They moved to Bridgeport, 00:02:49.469 --> 00:02:51.830 Connecticut, just like. Months after he was born. 00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:55.810 And that geographical sort of restlessness, that's 00:02:55.810 --> 00:02:58.069 maybe the first clue about adaptability, right? 00:02:58.250 --> 00:03:01.969 His dad, Emmett F. Nealon, was an executive at 00:03:01.969 --> 00:03:04.509 an aircraft company. Ah, okay. That often means 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:07.389 moving around. Exactly. Often tied to relocation. 00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:09.949 But the really significant move, the one that 00:03:09.949 --> 00:03:12.430 probably shaped him a lot, came when Kevin was 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:15.349 just six years old. The whole family moved to 00:03:15.349 --> 00:03:18.199 Heidelberg, West Germany. Wow. Germany. For how 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:20.979 long? Four full years. Lived there for four years. 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:24.080 So think about that. A really foundational part 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:26.360 of his childhood spent in a totally different 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:28.500 culture, different language. Yeah, that early 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:31.180 immersion, being dropped into a foreign setting 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:34.620 like that. You've got to learn fast, right? Learn 00:03:34.620 --> 00:03:37.180 the nuances, how things work. It almost certainly 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:39.080 would sharpen the kind of observational skills 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:41.539 you need for satire later on. Absolutely. You 00:03:41.539 --> 00:03:43.800 become hyper aware of what's considered normal 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:46.120 back home by seeing what's completely different 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.539 somewhere else. Right. Makes sense. He also has 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:53.039 Irish roots, Irish descent, raised Catholic, 00:03:53.259 --> 00:03:56.240 pretty standard stuff there maybe. But the truly 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:58.860 like surprising piece of the puzzle, especially 00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:01.840 given where he ended up, is his education. Yeah, 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:03.360 this is where it gets interesting. It wasn't 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:06.300 drama school, not acting classes. Yeah, no. It 00:04:06.300 --> 00:04:09.520 was much more structured. Commerce, basically. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.199 After he graduated high school, St. Joseph High 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:15.159 in Trumbull, Connecticut, back in 71, he went 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:17.899 to Sacred Heart University and earned a bachelor's 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:21.079 degree in marketing. Marketing? Seriously? A 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:23.540 comedian with a marketing degree? Seriously. 00:04:23.819 --> 00:04:27.319 It sounds almost like counterintuitive, doesn't 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.680 it? For someone who became known for counterculture 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:32.199 comedy on SNL? Yeah, totally. Yet, I'd argue 00:04:32.199 --> 00:04:34.899 it's... Maybe the single most important piece 00:04:34.899 --> 00:04:37.459 of context, if you want to understand why he's 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:39.899 had such an enduring career, why he's managed 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:42.279 to stay relevant for so long. OK, I'm starting 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:44.939 to see it. If we're tracking this theme of longevity, 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:50.790 of strategic control over his career. That marketing 00:04:50.790 --> 00:04:52.850 degree is kind of the Rosetta Stone, isn't it? 00:04:52.889 --> 00:04:55.490 I think so. Because comedy, at the end of the 00:04:55.490 --> 00:04:57.670 day, it is a business. It's about branding yourself, 00:04:57.850 --> 00:05:00.029 positioning yourself in the market. He wasn't 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:01.769 just learning joke structure. He was literally 00:05:01.769 --> 00:05:04.329 studying audience segmentation, product promotion, 00:05:04.569 --> 00:05:07.129 how to build a durable, appealing personal brand. 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:10.490 That's Marketing 101. And you can see how that 00:05:10.490 --> 00:05:13.209 strategic mindset probably informed his choices, 00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:15.970 even when he was... still, you know, finding 00:05:15.970 --> 00:05:18.449 his voice creatively. He played guitar in bands 00:05:18.449 --> 00:05:19.889 in high school. That's pretty typical. Classic 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:22.009 outlet. Yeah. And he even played quarterback 00:05:22.009 --> 00:05:23.829 on the club football team at Fairfield University, 00:05:24.029 --> 00:05:26.610 taking night courses there, too. So he had these 00:05:26.610 --> 00:05:30.350 other interests. But it feels like that analytical 00:05:30.350 --> 00:05:34.100 marketing side was. maybe always there kind of 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:36.959 guiding things. And he understood maybe early 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.120 on that just having talent isn't enough. Exactly. 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.819 Talent's crucial, obviously, but you need a pathway, 00:05:42.939 --> 00:05:45.300 a strategy to actually monetize it, to build 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:47.480 something lasting out of it. Which leads him, 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:50.410 inevitably, to the stand -up grind. That infamous 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:53.529 path. He heads west, right? First San Diego in 00:05:53.529 --> 00:05:55.930 77. Yeah, San Diego first, then pretty quickly 00:05:55.930 --> 00:05:57.550 realized he needed to be in the center of it 00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:01.329 also. Los Angeles. To get into that core comedy 00:06:01.329 --> 00:06:03.889 scene. And the L .A. scene back then, late 70s, 00:06:03.889 --> 00:06:06.970 early 80s. Yeah. It was intense. Oh, absolutely 00:06:06.970 --> 00:06:10.269 ferocious. And his university basically was the 00:06:10.269 --> 00:06:12.889 Improv Comedy Club. But crucially, he didn't 00:06:12.889 --> 00:06:15.149 start out performing there every night. He worked 00:06:15.149 --> 00:06:17.810 there. Attended bar just to make a living. Ah, 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:21.160 the classic story. working behind the bar, soaking 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:24.519 it all in. Exactly. And that gave him, what, 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:29.620 about six years of just intense, constant, unvarnished 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:31.920 exposure to the craft. He wasn't just working 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.300 on his own five -minute set. He was watching 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:37.000 everyone, absorbing the timing, the audience 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.519 reactions, the business side of it, seeing how 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.540 the established comedians operated. Six years. 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:45.100 That's a serious apprenticeship. A baptism by 00:06:45.100 --> 00:06:48.519 fire, really. And clearly necessary before he 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:50.699 finally got that call. The one every comedian 00:06:50.699 --> 00:06:52.980 dreamed of back then. The Tonight Show. Yep. 00:06:53.180 --> 00:06:55.220 His network debut on The Tonight Show starring 00:06:55.220 --> 00:06:58.759 Johnny Carson. 1984. That was it. Getting on 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:00.980 the Carson couch, that was the ultimate validation. 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:02.639 It meant you'd arrived, you were ready for the 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:05.240 big leagues. And it basically catapulted him 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:07.759 overnight, almost. From the guy attending bar 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.000 to being a regular guest. Not just on Carson, 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:11.699 but on Letterman, too. Late night with David 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:14.540 Letterman. Huge. His visibility just exploded 00:07:14.540 --> 00:07:17.100 after that first Carson spot. And there's a great 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:18.740 little anecdote from around that time, isn't 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:21.060 there? It kind of perfectly shows that tight 00:07:21.060 --> 00:07:24.100 -knit, almost pre -fame comedy community he was 00:07:24.100 --> 00:07:26.819 part of. Yeah, I know the one you mean. 1985, 00:07:27.139 --> 00:07:29.459 he's on stage, actually, with a young Jan Hooks. 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.560 Who he'd later work with on SNL, of course. And 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:33.920 dated, right? Dated, yeah. They were celebrating 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.480 their friend, another comedian named Tim Halloran. 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:39.860 What happened with Halloran? He... just won a 00:07:39.860 --> 00:07:42.720 ton of money on a game show, Sale of the Century. 00:07:43.480 --> 00:07:47.100 Like, initially $90 ,000, but it ended up being 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:50.720 over $166 ,000, a huge amount back then. Wow. 00:07:51.220 --> 00:07:53.360 So Nealon and Hooks are up there celebrating 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.379 this buddy's game show win. Exactly. It's just 00:07:56.379 --> 00:07:59.079 this lovely little moment, you know, shared struggle, 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:01.180 celebrating a big win that wasn't even really 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:03.860 about comedy success, but it showed their solidarity. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.040 They were all on the cusp. And it's important 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.199 because it links him directly to the people who 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:11.040 were about to define 80s comedy. It's laying 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:12.879 the groundwork, setting the stage for his own 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:15.480 entry into, well, the biggest sketch show on 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:18.779 TV. Big time. Saturday Night Live. He gets there 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:21.360 in 1986. Then becomes a full -time performer 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.360 pretty quickly in the 87 -88 season. But his 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:27.579 arrival, it wasn't just random luck, right? He 00:08:27.579 --> 00:08:29.819 kind of owed a favor, or at least a big thank 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:32.299 you, to a friend. He certainly did. His friend 00:08:32.299 --> 00:08:35.000 Dana Carvey had just been recruited in 86. Ah, 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:38.100 Carvey. Makes sense. And Carvey recommended Nealon. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.059 That recommendation was what opened the door 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:44.059 for him. And once he was in, he stayed. What's 00:08:44.059 --> 00:08:46.519 often overlooked, I think, is just how much stability 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:50.080 he brought to that show. SNL is famously a revolving 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:52.759 door, high turnover. Notoriously so. But when 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.639 Nealon left in 1995, he'd been there nine seasons. 00:08:57.829 --> 00:09:00.090 Nine. And at that point, he actually held the 00:09:00.090 --> 00:09:02.809 record for the longest tenured cast member. That's 00:09:02.809 --> 00:09:04.990 right. It's since been surpassed, obviously, 00:09:04.990 --> 00:09:07.269 by Kenan Thompson and others. But at the time, 00:09:07.330 --> 00:09:09.830 Nine Seasons was monumental, a real testament 00:09:09.830 --> 00:09:12.769 to how indispensable he became, how valued he 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.169 was by Lorne Michaels and the team. So if you 00:09:15.169 --> 00:09:17.529 really look at what he contributed to SNL, he 00:09:17.529 --> 00:09:19.769 wasn't just like one type of performer. He was 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:22.129 kind of a structural pillar for the show's satire, 00:09:22.149 --> 00:09:24.240 wasn't he? That's a great way to put it. His 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.720 comedy was incredibly diverse. It covered so 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:32.639 much ground. Political satire, news satire, straight 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:35.399 -up observational stuff about pop culture, even 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.019 domestic things like marriage. He had range. 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:40.320 He really did. He mastered both ends of the spectrum, 00:09:40.419 --> 00:09:42.639 you could say. On one end, you've got that high 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.879 -energy, physical comedy, the pure, quotable 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:48.679 absurdity of France. You want a pump? Clap you 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:50.980 up. Exactly. One half of Hans and Franz with 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:54.120 Dana Carvey. Just pure spectacle comedy, instantly 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:57.399 recognizable. Yeah. But then on the completely 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:00.279 other end, you have the linguistic genius, the 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:03.799 high concept brilliance of Mr. Subliminal. Mr. 00:10:04.019 --> 00:10:06.460 Subliminal. Just a brilliant piece of structural 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:09.080 satire. He'd be standing there talking normally 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.990 about something completely mundane. While simultaneously 00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:14.690 delivering these crude, unfiltered, subconscious 00:10:14.690 --> 00:10:17.389 thoughts under his breath. Whispering total nonsense. 00:10:17.590 --> 00:10:19.129 Right. Those subliminal messages. It was such 00:10:19.129 --> 00:10:22.190 a smart commentary on, you know, the hidden anxieties, 00:10:22.190 --> 00:10:24.269 the inappropriate things we actually think when 00:10:24.269 --> 00:10:26.149 we're listening to formal news or commentary. 00:10:26.509 --> 00:10:28.629 And he even integrated it into Weekend Update 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:31.330 later, right? This subliminal editorial. He did, 00:10:31.470 --> 00:10:34.129 which just shows how much trust Lorne Michaels 00:10:34.129 --> 00:10:36.750 had in him and in that bit, putting it right 00:10:36.750 --> 00:10:39.129 into the core new segment of the show. That's 00:10:39.129 --> 00:10:41.909 huge. OK, so you've got the physical Hans and 00:10:41.909 --> 00:10:45.049 Franz. Yeah. And the linguistic Mr. Subliminal. 00:10:45.090 --> 00:10:47.250 What else? Well, then there's Frank Gannon, P 00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:50.330 .I .P .I. Remember him, the politically incorrect 00:10:50.330 --> 00:10:53.960 private investigator? Vaguely, yeah. PIPI. That 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.980 character was such a sharp, timely response to 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:59.240 the whole cultural conversation around political 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:01.279 correctness that was really picking up steam 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:04.340 in the early 90s. Ah, yeah. By using that familiar 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:07.340 detective show trope, Nealon could land some 00:11:07.340 --> 00:11:09.779 really cutting social commentary. But he was 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:12.279 doing it, you know, seemingly just by playing 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:14.460 this character who was completely bewildered 00:11:14.460 --> 00:11:16.659 by the new social rules. Clever. And he did other 00:11:16.659 --> 00:11:19.159 characters, too. Parodies. Bob Waltman. Bob Waltman, 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:21.440 his male Barbara Walters parody. Yeah. And he 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:23.480 did a great Brent. Musburger impression too, 00:11:23.620 --> 00:11:26.419 the sportscaster. Being able to nail both original 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:29.519 characters and specific parodies made him incredibly 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:32.059 versatile for the show. Definitely. And then 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:34.159 there's Weekend Update itself, anchoring that 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:37.740 desk for four years, 91 to 94, taking over from 00:11:37.740 --> 00:11:40.539 Dennis Miller. That was a really critical time 00:11:40.539 --> 00:11:43.860 for SNL. Huge crusher. That segment is, like 00:11:43.860 --> 00:11:45.740 you said earlier, the satirical heartbeat of 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:48.299 the show. Keeping its quality high, especially 00:11:48.299 --> 00:11:50.519 during a period when the cast was in transition, 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:53.100 that's a major accomplishment. It's not just 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:55.139 about reading jokes off a teleprompter. Not at 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:58.179 all. It required serious performance chops, obviously, 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:01.440 but also real writing discipline. And this period 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:04.039 really highlights his contribution as a writer, 00:12:04.100 --> 00:12:06.320 not just a performer. Right, because the cast 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:08.480 members often wrote or co -wrote their... own 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:11.200 material exactly and his work especially during 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.899 that update tenure and with characters like mr 00:12:13.899 --> 00:12:17.279 subliminal earned him recognition he got a primetime 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.500 emmy award nomination back in 1987 for writing 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:22.899 for outstanding writing in a variety or a music 00:12:22.899 --> 00:12:25.179 program yeah Shared with the whole writing cast, 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:27.460 but it confirms he wasn't just delivering lines. 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:30.480 He was deeply involved in shaping the show's 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.480 satirical voice. He was one of those rare cast 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:36.259 members whose comedy was so conceptually strong, 00:12:36.379 --> 00:12:38.860 like Mr. Subliminal, that you could strip it 00:12:38.860 --> 00:12:41.620 down to just the words, the structure, and it 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:43.799 still landed perfectly. Okay, so that foundation 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:47.100 is really clear now. Strategic thinking from 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:49.919 the start, that intense stand -up discipline, 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:53.200 and then this incredibly solid nine -year SNL 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.750 run. Where he proved himself as both a super 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:58.830 versatile performer and a really strong satirical 00:12:58.830 --> 00:13:02.889 writer. That kind of credibility. That's what 00:13:02.889 --> 00:13:04.830 you need for the next big step, right? The post 00:13:04.830 --> 00:13:06.929 -SNL pivot. The diversification. Yeah, because 00:13:06.929 --> 00:13:09.149 leaving a show like SNL after almost a decade. 00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:12.259 That can be career death if you don't have a 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:14.639 plan B, right? Totally. So many former cast members 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.779 kind of fade away. But Nealon's plan seems pretty 00:13:16.779 --> 00:13:18.679 clear in retrospect. It was like he decided, 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.100 OK, I'm going to become the most reliable, most 00:13:21.100 --> 00:13:24.419 recognizable supporting guy in two very different 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:28.799 comedy worlds. On one side, the big, broad, mainstream. 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:33.740 film comedy world and on the other the more sophisticated 00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:36.620 maybe more nuanced world of premium cable tv 00:13:36.620 --> 00:13:39.720 two totally different ecosystems okay let's start 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:42.720 with the film world then specifically that huge 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.519 connection he has with adam sandler the happy 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:49.080 madison connection yes critical and nilon isn't 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:51.480 just like a random cameo in Sandler's movies. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:53.940 He feels like an essential part of that whole 00:13:53.940 --> 00:13:56.379 Adam Sandler cinematic universe, you know? He 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:58.539 really does. It must stem from their time together 00:13:58.539 --> 00:14:00.960 on SNL. They overlapped for a few years. Definitely 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:02.960 built a rapport there. And it turned into this 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:04.960 incredibly important, commercially successful 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:08.340 partnership for Nealon post -SNL. His first really 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:10.379 major film role that cemented that connection 00:14:10.379 --> 00:14:12.620 was playing Gary Potter in Happy Gilmore. Oh 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:16.450 yeah, the golf pro. 1996. That character was 00:14:16.450 --> 00:14:18.230 just the perfect foil for Sandler's character, 00:14:18.389 --> 00:14:20.629 right? Kind of smarmy, a bit oblivious, the straight 00:14:20.629 --> 00:14:23.210 -laced guy who's secretly ridiculous, set against 00:14:23.210 --> 00:14:25.789 Sandler's manic energy. It worked perfectly. 00:14:25.929 --> 00:14:29.529 And the fact that Nearly 30 years later, there's 00:14:29.529 --> 00:14:32.509 serious talk, even confirmation, that he's coming 00:14:32.509 --> 00:14:35.029 back as Gary Potter for Happy Gilmore 2 in 2025. 00:14:35.509 --> 00:14:38.330 It speaks volumes, doesn't it, about how well 00:14:38.330 --> 00:14:41.230 that character landed, how enduring that specific 00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:44.210 comedic chemistry is. Absolutely. But it wasn't 00:14:44.210 --> 00:14:46.409 just Happy Gilmore. He was all over those Happy 00:14:46.409 --> 00:14:49.350 Madison films. Oh, yeah. Deep involvement. He 00:14:49.350 --> 00:14:52.529 was Mr. Sims in The Wedding Singer in 98. Memorable 00:14:52.529 --> 00:14:56.279 part. You hit kids. Juckles. Right. He was Stanley 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:58.500 the Gatekeeper in Little Nicky in 2000, which 00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:01.519 is kind of a darker fantasy thing. Mr. Cheezle 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:04.039 in Grandma's Boy in 2006. Yeah, Richard Cheezle. 00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:05.860 Yeah, and you look across the board, you don't 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:08.179 mess with the Zohan Father of the Year, even 00:15:08.179 --> 00:15:11.080 cameos like Amidon, and just go with it. Milan 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:14.000 consistently plays that role. The affable, maybe 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:16.320 slightly awkward, maybe slightly out of touch 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.539 professional guy. The straight man base. The 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:21.240 stable base, yeah. The guy Sandler's chaos can 00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:23.259 bounce off of. It's a crucial role in those movies. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:25.309 And beyond just Sandler's company. He was getting 00:15:25.309 --> 00:15:27.889 cast consistently in other big studio comedies, 00:15:27.889 --> 00:15:31.049 too. Yeah. Anger Management, Daddy Daycare, Get 00:15:31.049 --> 00:15:33.730 Smart. Right. He just became Hollywood's go to 00:15:33.730 --> 00:15:35.830 guy for reliable comedic support. You needed 00:15:35.830 --> 00:15:38.169 that character. You called Kevin Nealon. OK, 00:15:38.269 --> 00:15:40.289 so that's the film side. But you mentioned to 00:15:40.289 --> 00:15:44.029 pivot towards more serious cable work. Yeah. 00:15:44.379 --> 00:15:46.840 That feels like a different beast entirely. It 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.299 is. And it required a completely different comedic 00:15:49.299 --> 00:15:51.320 muscle, much more subtle. And what's interesting 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:53.639 is this pivot started surprisingly early, showing 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:56.720 he was willing to tackle complexity. And a lot 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:58.879 of that seems connected to his relationship with 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.220 Gary Shandling. Ah, the Larry Sanders show. That 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:03.480 makes sense. Playing himself on a show about 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:05.659 show business. That's a pretty sophisticated 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:08.379 leap from SNL sketches. It really is. A meta 00:16:08.379 --> 00:16:11.379 sitcom. He popped up as himself in three episodes 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:14.580 between 93 and 96. And the whole vibe of Larry 00:16:14.580 --> 00:16:17.740 Sanders, it demanded restraint, perfect observational 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:20.460 timing, and this ability to play a believable 00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:22.899 version of a celebrity navigating the weirdness 00:16:22.899 --> 00:16:25.039 of the industry. I remember the episode The New 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.759 Writer. His presence just kind of subtly freaks 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:30.440 out Hank, Jeffrey Tambor's character. Exactly. 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:33.059 That showed he could handle that nuanced, self 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:35.779 -aware kind of comedy. It went way beyond the 00:16:35.779 --> 00:16:38.299 broad strokes he often did on SNL. But the role 00:16:38.299 --> 00:16:41.320 that really defined that mid -career shift into 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:44.320 prestige cable, into dark comedy... That has 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:46.559 to be Doug Wilson on Weeds. Oh, absolutely. Doug 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:49.200 Wilson. That was the game changer. 102 episodes 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.360 running from 2005 to 2012. It transitioned him 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:54.779 fully into that world. He was brilliant in that. 00:16:54.860 --> 00:16:57.240 Such a flawed, funny character. A masterpiece 00:16:57.240 --> 00:17:00.179 of cynical, slow burn comedy. He starts out as 00:17:00.179 --> 00:17:03.059 this goofy local councilman, but he evolves into 00:17:03.059 --> 00:17:06.220 this deeply flawed, slightly unhinged accountant, 00:17:06.420 --> 00:17:09.380 best friend, co -conspirator to Mary Louise Parker's 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:11.680 character, Nancy Botwin. And in a show that got 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.289 progressively darker. exploring some really heavy 00:17:14.289 --> 00:17:17.390 themes, Doug Wilson was often the necessary comic 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:20.269 relief, wasn't he? Absolutely essential. He provided 00:17:20.269 --> 00:17:22.529 these moments of levity, often absurdity, in 00:17:22.529 --> 00:17:24.750 a series that was really about moral decay and 00:17:24.750 --> 00:17:27.250 crime and high stakes. So how did his style, 00:17:27.349 --> 00:17:29.930 you know, the style honed on SNL absurdity, work 00:17:29.930 --> 00:17:32.630 so well in that much more sophisticated, often 00:17:32.630 --> 00:17:35.289 kind of disturbing world of weeds? I think it 00:17:35.289 --> 00:17:38.109 was his commitment, his ability to commit completely 00:17:38.109 --> 00:17:40.430 to the ridiculousness of his character's self 00:17:40.430 --> 00:17:42.950 -deception. Doug Wilson never felt like he was 00:17:42.950 --> 00:17:44.869 winching at the audience. Right. He was too. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:48.460 He just lived in this state of constant, desperate, 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:51.980 often pathetic delusion. And Nealon played it 00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:54.839 with absolute sincerity. And that consistency, 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:57.819 that commitment to a darker, more contained character, 00:17:58.099 --> 00:18:00.920 that's what got him serious acting props. The 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:03.539 SAG nominations. Exactly. Two Screen Actors Guild 00:18:03.539 --> 00:18:05.519 Award nominations for Outstanding Performance 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.599 by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2007 and 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:11.420 2009. And those are awards for acting excellence 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:13.720 shared with that incredible cast, not just for 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:16.910 being funny. really cemented the idea that he 00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:19.789 could play depth play nuance and his range didn't 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.170 stop there yeah you mentioned he even did a dramatic 00:18:22.170 --> 00:18:25.730 turn on monk yeah briefly early on back in 2002 00:18:25.730 --> 00:18:27.970 for season among he played a patient in a mental 00:18:27.970 --> 00:18:30.309 institution in one episode just a surprising 00:18:30.309 --> 00:18:32.470 choice for a guy known mostly for comedy at that 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:34.589 point shows a willingness to stretch maybe I 00:18:34.589 --> 00:18:36.890 think so. A hunger for different kinds of experience. 00:18:37.210 --> 00:18:40.450 And then later on, he circled back to traditional 00:18:40.450 --> 00:18:43.910 network TV. He was a series regular on Man with 00:18:43.910 --> 00:18:46.190 a Plan, the Matt LeBlanc sitcom. Right. From 00:18:46.190 --> 00:18:50.130 2016 to 2020, he played Don Burns. For 68 episodes. 00:18:50.289 --> 00:18:52.750 So he showed he could slot right back into that 00:18:52.750 --> 00:18:56.230 multicam sitcom format, too, which just proves 00:18:56.230 --> 00:18:59.029 his adaptability across pretty much every major 00:18:59.029 --> 00:19:02.369 TV genre you can think of. Sketch, prestige cable, 00:19:02.630 --> 00:19:05.119 single cam film stuff. and traditional network 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:07.400 sitcoms. Incredible range. And we should probably 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:09.519 quickly mention his voice work too, right? That 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.000 added another layer. Definitely. His voice is 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.799 so recognizable, very affable. It was perfect 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:16.759 for the title character in that animated series, 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:18.859 Glenn Martin. Yeah, I remember that show. Ran 00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:21.359 for a couple of seasons. 39 episodes, yeah. 2009 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.299 to 2011. And he did other voice stuff too. Popped 00:19:24.299 --> 00:19:26.380 up in Adam Sandler's animated movie, Eight Crazy 00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:29.299 Nights. Did voices for Crank Yankers, even Family 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:31.920 Guy. His voice just became another reliable, 00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:35.500 versatile tool. tool in his career toolkit. Okay, 00:19:35.579 --> 00:19:37.119 so this next section, this is where we really 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:39.619 see that strategic thinker, the guy with the 00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:42.119 marketing degree, fully emerge, right? Absolutely. 00:19:42.200 --> 00:19:44.599 This is where he stops just, you know, waiting 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:46.579 for the phone to ring with the next acting gig 00:19:46.579 --> 00:19:48.980 and starts actively creating his own stuff, his 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:51.619 own intellectual property, hosting, writing, 00:19:51.740 --> 00:19:54.039 and then that really interesting digital innovation. 00:19:54.299 --> 00:19:56.759 It feels like the triumph of that marketing background 00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:59.140 put into practice. Yeah. He understood that visibility 00:19:59.140 --> 00:20:01.640 is key and you have to chase the audience wherever 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:03.759 they happen to be. Whether that's on basic cable 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:06.380 or the game show network or eventually YouTube 00:20:06.380 --> 00:20:09.920 and his hosting resume. It's genuinely kind of 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.460 bizarre in how eclectic it is. It really is a 00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:16.119 masterclass in niche chasing. Back in 1994, pretty 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:19.099 early post -SNL, he's hosting Amazing America, 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:22.180 a 13 -part series on the Discovery Channel. Travel, 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:25.119 nature, seems pretty standard celebrity fare. 00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:27.720 Right, relatively wholesome. But then... Fast 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:31.019 forward to 2002. He hosts a show called The Conspiracy 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:33.700 Zone on the new TNN, what later became Spike 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:36.119 TV. The Conspiracy Zone. Seriously. Seriously. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.359 Ran for 26 episodes, plus a pilot they never 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:42.200 aired. Think about that leap from observing nature 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.220 to exploring, you know, deep seated paranoia, 00:20:45.220 --> 00:20:48.180 government cover ups, UFOs, all that stuff. Wow. 00:20:48.460 --> 00:20:50.680 That's unexpected. But it shows a really savvy 00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:53.240 read on the audience, right? Understanding that 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:55.819 burgeoning appetite for specialized kind of fringe 00:20:55.819 --> 00:20:59.019 targeted cable content, he saw where eyeballs 00:20:59.019 --> 00:21:01.180 were going. Okay, that makes sense. And then 00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:06.640 another hard pivot, poker. Yep. In 2004, he hosts 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:09.420 the very first season of Poker Royale on the 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:11.990 Game Show Network. The guy from Happy Gilmore 00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:14.329 and Mr. Subliminal hosting high stakes Texas 00:21:14.329 --> 00:21:16.450 Hold 'em. You wouldn't immediately connect those 00:21:16.450 --> 00:21:19.410 dots, would you? But he just embraced it, became 00:21:19.410 --> 00:21:21.450 the face of it for that first season. He really 00:21:21.450 --> 00:21:23.210 was a chameleon of the medium, wasn't he? Just 00:21:23.210 --> 00:21:25.730 showing up and demonstrating competence in all 00:21:25.730 --> 00:21:28.230 these different formats. And for years through 00:21:28.230 --> 00:21:30.609 the 2000s, he was also that steady, familiar 00:21:30.609 --> 00:21:34.650 face hosting TBS's annual World's Funniest Commercial 00:21:34.650 --> 00:21:37.410 Specials. Just solid, reliable hosting. And let's 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:39.109 not forget the actual commercials he starred 00:21:39.109 --> 00:21:42.009 in. Captain Telstar. Captain Telstar for Charter 00:21:42.009 --> 00:21:45.130 Spectrum, starting around 2015. Yeah, so he even 00:21:45.130 --> 00:21:47.109 successfully crossed over into being the face 00:21:47.109 --> 00:21:49.430 of an advertising campaign, covering all the 00:21:49.430 --> 00:21:53.089 bases. Okay, so hosting was one avenue. But his 00:21:53.089 --> 00:21:55.769 strategic output also included writing, right? 00:21:55.869 --> 00:21:58.789 Not just scripts for SNL, but actual books. Yeah, 00:21:58.869 --> 00:22:01.549 leveraging his personal life, his own experiences, 00:22:01.670 --> 00:22:04.230 and turning that into content, into product. 00:22:04.630 --> 00:22:06.779 Smart. He's published two books. Is that right? 00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:09.140 Two books, yeah. The first one came out in 2008. 00:22:09.140 --> 00:22:11.299 It was called Yes, You're Pregnant, But What 00:22:11.299 --> 00:22:14.880 About Me? Chuckles. Great title. Isn't it? And 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.339 it was basically a humorous look at his experience 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:20.200 while his wife, Susan Yeagley, was pregnant with 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:23.299 their son. Taking that universal domestic experience 00:22:23.299 --> 00:22:25.859 and filtering it through his specific, slightly 00:22:25.859 --> 00:22:28.279 bewildered comedic voice. It's smart branding. 00:22:28.539 --> 00:22:30.519 Taking the personal and making it relatable and 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:33.299 funny. Exactly. And then more recently, just 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:36.759 in 2022, he published a memoir called I Exaggerate 00:22:36.759 --> 00:22:39.900 My Brushes with Fame. So, again, leveraging his 00:22:39.900 --> 00:22:42.579 unique position, his experiences in the industry. 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:44.980 These books, they're invaluable brand extensions. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.519 They let him control his own narrative outside 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.980 of the projects other people create. And he even 00:22:49.980 --> 00:22:52.480 got academic recognition for all this. He did, 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:55.480 which further kind of validates this idea of 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:58.220 him being more than just a funny guy. In 2022, 00:22:58.599 --> 00:23:00.779 his alma mater, Sacred Heart. Art University, 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.460 where he got that marketing degree, awarded him 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:06.119 an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Wow. 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.619 Dr. Nealon. Dr. Nealon, indeed. And they invited 00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:12.519 him back to be the convocation speaker. That's 00:23:12.519 --> 00:23:14.640 a pretty powerful signal from the institution 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:17.099 acknowledging the intellectual weight or impact 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:19.839 of his long career. OK, but the real genius move, 00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:22.420 the thing that feels like the ultimate evolution 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:24.500 of Kevin Nealon, the marketer and the comedian. 00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:27.420 Yeah. It has to be his digital venture. The web 00:23:27.420 --> 00:23:30.960 series Hiking with Kevin. Yes. This is it. This 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:33.180 is where the marketing degree meets the selfie 00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:35.299 stick and create something completely new and 00:23:35.299 --> 00:23:37.500 relevant for the modern era. Concept is just 00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:40.140 so simple. Launched it back in 2017. He just 00:23:40.140 --> 00:23:42.799 hikes a trail with a different celebrity guest 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.299 each episode and they talk while they walk. Radically 00:23:45.299 --> 00:23:47.579 simple. And the origin story behind it is brilliant, 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:50.099 too, because it came from a place of like genuine 00:23:50.099 --> 00:23:52.740 vulnerability, not slick planning. Oh, yeah. 00:23:52.779 --> 00:23:55.529 What's the story? He said the idea came to him 00:23:55.529 --> 00:23:57.630 when he was hiking with the actor Matthew Modine, 00:23:57.809 --> 00:24:00.109 and they were both genuinely getting out of breath, 00:24:00.250 --> 00:24:02.690 struggling up a hill. Bless. Okay. And Nealon 00:24:02.690 --> 00:24:04.869 thought, this is actually funny. Recording us 00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:07.289 struggling, being exhausted, barely able to talk. 00:24:07.470 --> 00:24:10.109 He realized that vulnerability, that lack of 00:24:10.109 --> 00:24:13.250 polish, was the actual comedic hook. That's fantastic. 00:24:13.589 --> 00:24:16.230 Because it completely flips the script on the 00:24:16.230 --> 00:24:18.809 traditional polished talk show format. Totally. 00:24:18.869 --> 00:24:21.710 The vulnerability is the absolute key to its 00:24:21.710 --> 00:24:23.710 success. It strips away all that. veneer. The 00:24:23.710 --> 00:24:26.369 guests are often physically uncomfortable. They're 00:24:26.369 --> 00:24:28.730 maybe less guarded. They seem more authentic. 00:24:29.009 --> 00:24:31.690 And authenticity is exactly what modern digital 00:24:31.690 --> 00:24:34.250 audiences crave, much more than slick production 00:24:34.250 --> 00:24:36.789 values sometimes. And the production itself is 00:24:36.789 --> 00:24:40.109 part of the genius, isn't it? By 2022, the show 00:24:40.109 --> 00:24:43.069 had, what, over 100 episodes, four seasons in. 00:24:43.170 --> 00:24:45.589 And Nealon basically is the entire production 00:24:45.589 --> 00:24:47.609 crew. It's incredible when you think about the 00:24:47.609 --> 00:24:50.170 resources involved or rather the lack thereof. 00:24:50.329 --> 00:24:53.529 He produces it. He edits it himself. He uses 00:24:53.529 --> 00:24:56.049 basically just a selfie stick with a camera and 00:24:56.049 --> 00:24:58.549 sometimes a drone for those scenish shots. So 00:24:58.549 --> 00:25:00.710 he completely bypasses the entire traditional 00:25:00.710 --> 00:25:03.630 system, the networks, the producers, the expensive 00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:06.410 camera crews, the studios. All of it. He owns 00:25:06.410 --> 00:25:09.089 the content outright. He controls the schedule, 00:25:09.230 --> 00:25:11.130 dictates the flow, decides who the guests are. 00:25:11.170 --> 00:25:15.809 This kind of high tech amateurism. It feels like 00:25:15.809 --> 00:25:18.009 the ultimate strategic fulfillment of his entire 00:25:18.009 --> 00:25:20.289 career arc. He basically decided, I don't need 00:25:20.289 --> 00:25:21.890 anyone's permission to create something, and 00:25:21.890 --> 00:25:24.369 he built it around something he genuinely loves 00:25:24.369 --> 00:25:26.349 doing, hiking. And the market, the traditional 00:25:26.349 --> 00:25:28.670 media world, eventually came knocking, right? 00:25:29.329 --> 00:25:31.470 Validating the whole DIY approach. They sure 00:25:31.470 --> 00:25:35.309 did. Just in January 2025, Fox News Media announced 00:25:35.309 --> 00:25:37.150 a major deal. They're going to stream episodes 00:25:37.150 --> 00:25:39.569 of Hiking with Kevin on their platform, Fox Nation. 00:25:39.829 --> 00:25:42.779 Wow. That's huge. Taking this self -produced 00:25:42.779 --> 00:25:45.559 web series onto a major streaming service. That 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.059 seals it, doesn't it? It proves that an independent, 00:25:48.380 --> 00:25:50.960 strategically built, authentic digital platform 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:53.940 can become a genuinely valuable asset, something 00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:56.380 the traditional media ecosystem wants to acquire 00:25:56.380 --> 00:25:58.920 or partner with. It's the ultimate payoff for 00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:00.940 his adaptability, his willingness to innovate. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:03.880 So as we kind of shift focus a bit to the personal 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:06.500 side of things, we see how some of Nealon's really 00:26:06.500 --> 00:26:09.240 deeply held personal values, specifically his 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:11.890 commitment to... animal rights, how that intersected 00:26:11.890 --> 00:26:14.369 with his public life, and sometimes in ways that 00:26:14.369 --> 00:26:17.930 led to some pretty serious intrusions. Yeah, 00:26:18.029 --> 00:26:20.829 his dedication to his values. It's not just talk. 00:26:20.890 --> 00:26:23.849 It's longstanding. It's public. He's been a vegetarian 00:26:23.849 --> 00:26:26.970 since 1989. Wow, since 89. That's over three 00:26:26.970 --> 00:26:30.190 decades. Yeah, serious commitment. And he's consistently 00:26:30.190 --> 00:26:33.769 used his celebrity, his platform, to actively 00:26:33.769 --> 00:26:36.470 support the animal rights movement. He's lent 00:26:36.470 --> 00:26:38.789 his name and time to a whole bunch of organizations. 00:26:39.150 --> 00:26:41.490 PETA, the Amanda Foundation, Farm Sanctuary, 00:26:41.670 --> 00:26:43.930 Washington Wildlife Alliance, the Arc Trust's 00:26:43.930 --> 00:26:46.809 Genesis Awards, Meet Out, the list goes on. And 00:26:46.809 --> 00:26:49.349 this activism, while obviously commendable, it 00:26:49.349 --> 00:26:50.390 kind of put them right in the middle of some 00:26:50.390 --> 00:26:53.029 pretty notorious Hollywood scandals, didn't it? 00:26:53.049 --> 00:26:55.210 We should probably talk about that wiretapping 00:26:55.210 --> 00:26:57.990 incident that came out around 2006. We have to. 00:26:58.049 --> 00:27:00.049 It's a really shocking story, actually, because 00:27:00.049 --> 00:27:02.250 it just shows the length some people would go 00:27:02.250 --> 00:27:05.069 to, the kind of organized criminal activity that 00:27:05.069 --> 00:27:08.049 was targeting celebrities, even seemingly nice. 00:27:08.359 --> 00:27:10.819 controversial comedians like Nealon. What exactly 00:27:10.819 --> 00:27:13.240 happened? Well, Nealon himself wrote about it. 00:27:13.460 --> 00:27:16.740 He contributed this really powerful opinion piece 00:27:16.740 --> 00:27:20.359 to the New York Times in February 2006, and he 00:27:20.359 --> 00:27:22.799 detailed how he discovered that his own phone 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:25.180 had been illegally wiretapped. His phone was 00:27:25.180 --> 00:27:27.640 tapped? Tapped. And his police records had been 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:30.559 illegally searched. And it all traced back to 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:32.819 that infamous Hollywood private investigator, 00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:36.420 Anthony Pelicano. Ah, Pelicano. The P .I. to 00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:39.180 the stars who ended up in prison. Exactly. Pelicano 00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:41.640 was later convicted of a whole slew of crimes, 00:27:41.859 --> 00:27:44.400 illegal wiretapping, racketeering, conspiracy. 00:27:44.900 --> 00:27:47.119 The fact that someone like Kevin Nealon was on 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:49.140 his target list just underscores how widespread 00:27:49.140 --> 00:27:52.119 Pelicano's illegal surveillance operation really 00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:53.960 was in Hollywood at that time. Just trying to 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:56.559 dig up dirt, presumably. Presumably. Or maybe 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:58.460 working for someone who had a dispute with... 00:27:58.509 --> 00:28:01.690 It's often murky with Pelicano's cases, but it 00:28:01.690 --> 00:28:04.430 wasn't just Pelicano. Oh, there was more. Apparently 00:28:04.430 --> 00:28:08.210 so. In a separate legal case, also around 2006, 00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:11.309 information surfaced suggesting that investigators 00:28:11.309 --> 00:28:15.690 working for, get this, the Ringling Bros and 00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:18.829 Barnum and Bailey Circus? The Circus? The Circus 00:28:18.829 --> 00:28:20.990 may have also monitored Nealon and potentially 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:23.569 even tried to wiretap him as well. Why on earth 00:28:23.569 --> 00:28:27.000 would the Circus be targeting Kevin Nealon? Well, 00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:29.240 the motivation in that instance seems directly 00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:32.660 tied to his activism, specifically his very public 00:28:32.660 --> 00:28:35.640 work with PETA, which often targeted circuses 00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:38.400 for their treatment of animals. Wow. So his activism 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.420 was seen as enough of a threat by a major corporation 00:28:41.420 --> 00:28:44.509 like Ringling Bros. that they allegedly resorted 00:28:44.509 --> 00:28:46.609 to surveillance. That's what the report suggested. 00:28:46.869 --> 00:28:48.650 It paints a really concerning picture, doesn't 00:28:48.650 --> 00:28:50.250 it? Here's this public figure being subjected 00:28:50.250 --> 00:28:52.529 to illegal surveillance, maybe not just for standard 00:28:52.529 --> 00:28:55.069 Hollywood gossip, but specifically because of 00:28:55.069 --> 00:28:57.670 his moral and political stances on animal rights. 00:28:57.869 --> 00:29:00.509 That level of scrutiny, that kind of intrusion, 00:29:00.589 --> 00:29:03.170 it feels like really important context maybe 00:29:03.170 --> 00:29:06.250 for some of his later career choices. wanting 00:29:06.250 --> 00:29:08.309 more control with hiking with Kevin. It could 00:29:08.309 --> 00:29:10.609 certainly factor in. Knowing you've been targeted 00:29:10.609 --> 00:29:12.910 like that might make you want to control your 00:29:12.910 --> 00:29:16.329 own platform, your own narrative much more tightly. 00:29:16.609 --> 00:29:18.809 Okay, before we wrap up the personal side, let's 00:29:18.809 --> 00:29:20.829 just quickly touch on his family life. He was 00:29:20.829 --> 00:29:22.670 married before his current wife, right? Yeah, 00:29:22.710 --> 00:29:25.349 he was first married to Linda Dupree, who was 00:29:25.349 --> 00:29:28.529 a model and stuntwoman. They married in 1989, 00:29:28.809 --> 00:29:31.269 around the time his SNL fame was really taking 00:29:31.269 --> 00:29:34.829 off, but they divorced in 2002. And then he married 00:29:34.829 --> 00:29:37.609 actress Susan Yeagley. That's right. They got 00:29:37.609 --> 00:29:40.089 married in a pretty spectacular setting, Bellagio, 00:29:40.230 --> 00:29:44.170 over in Lombardy, Italy, on September 3rd, 2005. 00:29:44.670 --> 00:29:47.549 Nice. And they have a son together. Yes. They 00:29:47.549 --> 00:29:50.750 have one son, Gable, who was born in 2007, and 00:29:50.750 --> 00:29:53.009 the family lives out in Pacific Palisades in 00:29:53.009 --> 00:29:56.329 Los Angeles. Got it. Any other sort of surprising 00:29:56.329 --> 00:29:58.710 personal details? Well, two quick ones that kind 00:29:58.710 --> 00:30:00.630 of underscore his diverse background. He actually 00:30:00.630 --> 00:30:03.430 holds dual citizenship, Irish and American citizenship, 00:30:03.609 --> 00:30:05.289 reflecting that Irish heritage we mentioned. 00:30:05.470 --> 00:30:07.809 Oh, interesting. Dual citizen. And here's a fun 00:30:07.809 --> 00:30:10.589 historical footnote. Apparently, he's distantly 00:30:10.589 --> 00:30:13.529 related to the famous 19th century American statesman, 00:30:13.569 --> 00:30:16.589 Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster. No kidding. Bit 00:30:16.589 --> 00:30:18.549 of trivia there. And finally, it seems like he's 00:30:18.549 --> 00:30:21.210 also pretty loyal to his friends. Uses his fame 00:30:21.210 --> 00:30:24.279 for good causes. Definitely. There was an instance 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:27.799 in 2019 where he organized a whole benefit festival, 00:30:28.019 --> 00:30:30.319 used his name and connections to raise money 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.920 for a close friend, a musician named Tony Mills. 00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:35.740 Tony Mills from the European rock scene. Yeah. 00:30:35.819 --> 00:30:38.259 Melodic rock scene. Mills was seriously ill and 00:30:38.259 --> 00:30:40.539 Nealon directed all the proceeds from the festival 00:30:40.539 --> 00:30:42.880 towards his medical bills. Just a really solid 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.740 thing to do for a friend. Nice. And one last 00:30:45.740 --> 00:30:48.000 thing back to his college days. You mentioned 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:50.200 football, but he also played rugby. He did, played 00:30:50.200 --> 00:30:53.940 rugby for the Fairfield Yankees, RFC. So he had 00:30:53.940 --> 00:30:55.759 that athletic side going on, too, connecting 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:57.940 back to those early university days, hashtag 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:01.240 O -U -T -R -O, synthesis and final thought. So 00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:03.680 when you tie all these different threads together, 00:31:04.099 --> 00:31:06.500 you know, the marketing degree way back when, 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:08.740 the intense pressure and eventual scandal of 00:31:08.740 --> 00:31:10.960 the wiretapping, right up to the innovation of 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.220 hiking with Kevin, what you really see is a career 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:16.359 that's just fundamentally built on strategic 00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:20.759 evolution. constant adaptation. Milan never let 00:31:20.759 --> 00:31:23.220 himself get stuck. He never got confined to just 00:31:23.220 --> 00:31:26.799 one box or one decade. He moved from that super 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:29.200 rapid fire, tightly scripted sketch world of 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.619 SNL where he got Emmy nods for writing to the 00:31:32.619 --> 00:31:35.539 much more cynical, long form character work he 00:31:35.539 --> 00:31:37.599 did on Weeds where he was getting recognized 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:39.420 by the Screen Actors Guild alongside that amazing 00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:43.539 cast. So that enduring relevance, the thing we 00:31:43.539 --> 00:31:46.059 set out to kind of unpack. Yeah. It really seems 00:31:46.059 --> 00:31:48.539 to rest on three main pillars, doesn't it? I 00:31:48.539 --> 00:31:50.039 think that's fair. What would you say they are? 00:31:50.099 --> 00:31:52.160 Well, first, obviously, that deep foundation 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:55.279 he built at SNL. Nine seasons gave him incredible 00:31:55.279 --> 00:31:58.059 credibility, name recognition, and honed those 00:31:58.059 --> 00:32:00.660 character skills. Pillar one. The SNL foundation. 00:32:00.940 --> 00:32:03.640 Agreed. Pillar two. The sheer consistency and 00:32:03.640 --> 00:32:05.799 reliability of his supporting actor work afterwards. 00:32:06.099 --> 00:32:08.519 He proved he was commercially viable, whether 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:10.200 it was in the broad comedy, the Happy Madison 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:12.680 movies, or the more complex stuff like Weeds 00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:15.000 or even Larry Sanders. Just always solid. Pillar 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:17.500 two, reliable versatility in acting. Makes sense. 00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:19.619 And then pillar three, which feels maybe the 00:32:19.619 --> 00:32:22.359 most defining now, is that late career innovation. 00:32:22.819 --> 00:32:25.900 Yes. the digital leap he saw the media landscape 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:28.700 shifting and unlike a lot of his peers maybe 00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:31.640 who resisted those digital platforms or didn't 00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:34.259 know how to engage with them he just jumped right 00:32:34.259 --> 00:32:36.539 in embraced it completely took something simple 00:32:36.539 --> 00:32:38.880 and authentic that he loved hiking combined it 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.480 with his interview skills and built his own viable 00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:44.440 self -produced platform from the ground up and 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:47.259 now that platform itself is being recognized 00:32:47.259 --> 00:32:50.380 and acquired by major media players like fox 00:32:50.380 --> 00:32:52.730 nation It really is the ultimate validation, 00:32:52.970 --> 00:32:55.450 isn't it, of that strategic thinking, that adaptability 00:32:55.450 --> 00:32:57.470 playing out over decades in this ridiculously 00:32:57.470 --> 00:33:00.650 chaotic entertainment world. So what's the takeaway 00:33:00.650 --> 00:33:02.690 here for you, the listener, for anyone trying 00:33:02.690 --> 00:33:04.849 to figure out how to build something lasting 00:33:04.849 --> 00:33:07.230 in their own field? Feels like it's about that 00:33:07.230 --> 00:33:09.869 blend. Yeah. Being adaptable, being willing to 00:33:09.869 --> 00:33:12.589 evolve, but doing it in a way that stays fundamentally 00:33:12.589 --> 00:33:15.670 authentic to who you are. Right. Nealon's willingness 00:33:15.670 --> 00:33:18.109 to just grab a drone and edit his own videos 00:33:18.109 --> 00:33:21.160 wasn't just about saving money. It ensured his 00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:23.880 continued relevance both economically and culturally 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:26.680 because it gave him total control over his output. 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:31.200 And that idea of control. That leads us right 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:32.900 into our final thought, our provocation for you 00:33:32.900 --> 00:33:35.339 to mull over after this. Okay. We talked about 00:33:35.339 --> 00:33:37.539 that really alarming fact that Nealon was apparently 00:33:37.539 --> 00:33:40.119 targeted for illegal surveillance, not just by 00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:42.619 Pelicano, the Hollywood PI, but maybe even by 00:33:42.619 --> 00:33:44.579 corporate investigators linked to Ringling Bros, 00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:47.359 seemingly just because of his PETA activism. 00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:50.039 Yeah, that was disturbing. So given that history, 00:33:50.140 --> 00:33:53.420 that intense, unauthorized scrutiny, that invasion 00:33:53.420 --> 00:33:55.839 of his privacy, the actual tapping of his phone 00:33:55.839 --> 00:33:59.619 line, what does his later, very deliberate shift 00:33:59.619 --> 00:34:02.920 towards creating and controlling his own highly 00:34:02.920 --> 00:34:05.470 personal digital content? like hiking with Kevin. 00:34:05.769 --> 00:34:09.329 What does that suggest? Is his decision to personally 00:34:09.329 --> 00:34:11.710 manage his own camera, his own editing, his own 00:34:11.710 --> 00:34:15.170 distribution? Is that just a smart, modern comedic 00:34:15.170 --> 00:34:17.409 choice? Or is it also maybe a kind of defensive 00:34:17.409 --> 00:34:20.570 necessity? A way to survive in this post -Pilicano, 00:34:20.630 --> 00:34:22.889 always online world where controlling your own 00:34:22.889 --> 00:34:25.150 narrative, protecting your own space is absolutely 00:34:25.150 --> 00:34:27.489 paramount for a public figure. Is it artistic 00:34:27.489 --> 00:34:31.480 freedom? Or is it digital self -defense? Or maybe 00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:34.019 both? That's a really compelling question to 00:34:34.019 --> 00:34:36.440 think about. Where does one end and the other 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:39.260 begin for someone like him? Something to chew 00:34:39.260 --> 00:34:41.960 on. It definitely adds another layer to his story. 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:44.059 It certainly does. Well, thank you for joining 00:34:44.059 --> 00:34:46.260 us for this deep dive into the enduring evolution 00:34:46.260 --> 00:34:48.880 of Kevin Nealon. Been fascinated. Catch you next 00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:50.159 time on The Deep Dive.