In this episode, Jeff & Ryan discuss M*A*S*H’s supporting players, with a spotlight on the wonderful Roy Goldman and Dennis Troy. Plus, at long last, you’ll learn the difference between First Assistant Director and Second Assistant Director. We know that’s been keeping you up nights.
M*A*S*H Notes
M*A*S*H Matters is now on YouTube.
A wonderful article about the career of Alan Alda.
Catching up with Captain Spalding.
Celebrate the musical side of Gary Burghoff.
Speaking of Gary Burghoff, it’s still not too late to donate to his family’s fire relief fund.
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TRANSCRIPT: MASH Matters #006 – Best Supporting Actors
Attention all personnel. Incoming podcast. This is MASH Matters.
RYAN: And we’re back.
JEFF: We’re back.
RYAN: Yes, we are. Episode six of MASH Matters. Hello, I’m Ryan Patrick.
JEFF: And I’m Jeff Maxwell.
RYAN: Yes, he is. And we are here to talk about all things MASH and maybe a few things that have nothing to do with MASH as well. You never know what we’re gonna get. Sometimes we don’t even know what we’re going to get.
JEFF: Rarely do we know, rarely do we know.
RYAN: [laughs]
JEFF: Which is one of the fun things about this. We have no idea what we’re doing or talking about. So that’s helpful –
BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF: When doing a podcast about a subject that we don’t know anything about. Okay, no, that’s not true. We do know something about it. And so I’m just kidding.
RYAN: So how are you, sir?
JEFF: I’m good.
RYAN: Yeah?
JEFF: I’m very good. And how are you?
RYAN: I’m wonderful. We’re entering the holiday season when we record this. So we’re all in different states of disarray and disorganization, but I’m glad that we have been able to find some time to get together and do this because we still keep getting in more and more emails and comments and Facebook messages. People are, I think, listening and liking what they’re hearing here.
JEFF: I really – don’t you appreciate the heck out of that? I think that’s such a nice thing to get these comments. It really warms the cockles of my heart. Can you say that in a podcast?
RYAN: Yeah, your cockles could use some warming, yes.
JEFF: And they could.
BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF: It’s been years. But seriously, it really is, it’s a warming sensation to have people send and say nice things about us and about the show and about MASH. And I have a question for you, and this is – kind of relates to that.
RYAN: Okay.
JEFF: We’ve been doing this a little while now, we’re on the sixth episode.
RYAN: Mm hmm
JEFF: We started out saying, well, I worked on the show, so I had a little bit different perspective of it than you. You were a fan. I wasn’t necessarily a fan. It was a job. You were a fan. So it was a little bit more emotional to you in that respect.
RYAN: Mm hmm
JEFF: So my question is, has anything that we have said or you’ve heard either the written word or the audio word about people’s responses or people’s thoughts about MASH, has that affected you in any way, shape or form in terms of one way or the other being, hey, I get different perspectives or I still feel as emotional or I feel even more emotional or does that have any effect one way or the other on you? And basically the things that I’ve been saying, which kind of pull the curtain back a little bit and saying, hey, this is the way the trick works. Has that had any impact as well?
RYAN: Absolutely. As a fan of the show, I love hearing behind-the-scenes stories. I like seeing how the sausage is made as long as the sausage in the end is tasty.
JEFF: [laughs] Say that again slowly, would you please?
RYAN: [laughs] Does that warm your cockles? No.
JEFF: Well, that was the show folks. Thanks for tuning in.
RYAN: So far, I have not heard anything that has tarnished MASH in my eyes. You know what I mean? There’s been nothing that’s made me go, oh, so wow, so that’s how it was on the set. Oh my gosh, these people didn’t like each other at all or this guy was a real jerk after all. You know, I’m not hearing any of that. If anything, I’m hearing that MASH was as wonderful a group of people to work with as it was for viewers to watch. And I think for me personally, that has added to the experience of watching the show, knowing that as a family, you did work and gel so well together and respect one another, and that the writers respected one another and the director and the creators and everybody worked together to make this magic happen. It’s actually, for me, it adds to the experience of watching the show. And then to hear some of these behind the scenes stories and get some input of what was happening on the set during certain times of filming certain episodes is fascinating. I mean, we’ve watched the show so many times. The show is never going to change. What is going to change are how we perceive the show and the stories that we can hear from behind the scenes. So it adds to the experience and it’s made me appreciate all that went into putting together the show and make it as wonderful as it was.
JEFF: Well, that was very, very eloquent. That’s a great – that was a great answer. For me, I have actually developed a more of a fandom than I had when we started this. And I think it’s based on our conversations and based on the relationship that we’ve had talking back and forth about MASH. And it also is really been impactful to hear everybody’s emotional connection to the show. I knew people liked it and I knew everybody would – you know, had a fan story about it, perhaps. But the deep emotional connection was – kind of surprised me. So hearing that over and over and over has moved me towards more of a warm and fuzzy kind of feeling like a fan would have watching the show. And I now watch it with a little bit different perspective. It’s not so much, oh yeah, I remember that, and yeah, this happened there, and yeah, the thing fell over. But it’s really about more of what the emotional feeling the show was not only giving off, but I was feeling. So it’s kind of cool. I thank everybody certainly for writing in and asking these questions and saying, and revealing their stories about their personal relationships to the show and their families and so forth and how important that is to them. So it’s quite an education.
RYAN: So to look at this from a – from a holiday’s perspective, the ghost of MASH past has come and softened your Scrooge-like heart. Is that what you’re saying?
JEFF: I think I just did, or you just did actually. No, it’s great. It’s a, it’s a lot of, it’s a lot of fun. So thanks everybody.
RYAN: Now I know that you have been touched by a lot of the messages, because a lot of the messages that do come in, and rightly so, they come in with questions for you, because you are beloved in the MASH universe. So we have received a lot of emails, and messages, and voicemails, and if you have sent us an email with a question or a voicemail, please just be patient. We’re gonna try to get to as many of them as we can in future episodes. Keep them coming because it really is great hearing from all the listeners out there. So–
JEFF: And the ones that have a cheque connected with them usually go to the front of the line. So you might consider that.
RYAN: [laughs] Alright. So the first one that we want to talk about, this one came in from a gentleman named Matthew Thomas. Matthew sent us an email and said, “First off, I love this podcast. Thank you for doing this just for me and the other people, I guess. They’re good eggs. I got into MASH as a kid, like so many people, but I was born about a year after the show ended, so I didn’t get to experience it in real time. My parents would watch two or three episodes every Friday and Saturday night on our local CBS channel, even after they divorced. So I have been exposed to this show since I can remember. I ended up buying every DVD set as soon as they were released, eventually getting my wife hooked, who hated it at first. Still not sure if it was genuine or if she just caved to the show. Sadly, those DVDs came down with an affliction called my lovely children, who destroyed them as lovely children do. Thanks to streaming, I don’t have that problem now and I still watch the series at least once a year. This show has had a significant impact on my life, be it through humor or just the experiences. At different stages of my life, different episodes have taken on more significance or different meanings, something I never expected.” He goes on to say, “I know this is long, but I do have some questions for Jeff.”
JEFF: Yes, sir. I’m here to answer those questions, hopefully. Thank you for asking.
RYAN: He asks, “was life as a supporting character on the set separated from the main cast or was it more close? For instance, did you, Kellye Nakahara, Odessa Cleveland, G.W. Bailey and others have a closer relationship than with the main cast? If so, what was that like?” So that’s his question. What was it like, Jeff? Life as a supporting player on MASH?
JEFF: I’m exhausted from that. I’m not sure I can answer that. Gee whiz
RYAN: Let’s all take a break. We’re gonna take a nap.
JEFF: Oh yeah. Okay, we’re gonna–
BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF:. What was the question again?
RYAN: I don’t know, I’ve forgotten it
JEFF: I don’t know. I forgot. Yeah, okay. So the original cast, which started out the show, there were a group of actors and they went the entire run of the show. Some of them dropped out, some of them died, some of whatever. But they were the core group of actors that created the show.
RYAN: Mm hmm.
JEFF: Because they did that, they have a very significant bond because they were there from the beginning and they were there every day and they did what they did and they created this great iconic show we all love. So yes, they have a very strong strain of friendship that not everybody had with them.
RYAN: Mm hmm.
JEFF: It would be impossible for them not to have that. So, yeah, there was always a tighter bond between them than there was necessarily between me and them.
RYAN: Mm hmm.
JEFF: However, having said that, because I was there for so many years, certainly I was accepted and embraced by everybody who was there as well as anybody could. But there was always certainly a bond between the original characters that were – that created the show that nobody can deny, nobody wants to take anything away from.
RYAN: Mm hmm.
JEFF: That didn’t manifest itself really in any kind of way. Nobody was arrogant. Nobody was nasty. Nobody was patronizing. Everybody was friendly and we were all a family, with the exception of the fact that that specific bond between those definite people are there. So the relationship between myself and Kellye and G.W. Bailey, all of those were deep friendships. So at the time on the set, we all loved each other. It was a bond, it was the second bond. The first – those very significant people had theirs, which they should and they have a right to have. And then the second one was kind of the bond between them and everybody else, which was equally as embracing and equally as friendly, just not quite as, you know, deep.
RYAN: Do you still stay in touch with a lot of the supporting cast?
JEFF: Well, first of all, I’m very in touch with all of the cast. We email each other, we get little bulletins, somebody says, you know, sends an email stating that something is great that happened to somebody or some great experience or some political joke or something that goes around all of the MASH people. And so, we all communicate that way, and that’s a lot of fun. I still speak with Kellye quite a bit, and she’s going through what she’s going through. We all wish her well and send her our love because she’s going through some serious treatments and we hope she’s going to come out the other side very, very healthy. G.W. Bailey and I have not spoken in a long time, not because he’s not a great guy. We just have different, you know, patterns, different lives. And so we have not spoken to each other, but he’s a terrific guy. Couple of people unfortunately have passed away. Odessa Cleveland, I didn’t know very well anyway, so she probably doesn’t even know I exist or care [laughs] She’s a very nice person. I don’t know what she’s doing. It’s been years and years and years and years so I couldn’t tell you anything about her. But not because she’s not a great person, it’s just we haven’t maintained a friendship for whatever reason.
RYAN: Sure
JEFF: But there was never ever a – Here’s the one hierarchy that I kind of resented. There was a term used and I think it was coined by Gene Reynolds, but it was called the “mini MASH crew”. And what that was, was a suggestion that all of the extras and the people around them, maybe some of the stand-ins or whatever, were the “mini MASH crew”. So when there was a delineation between the cast and the “mini MASH crew”, that meant that the “mini MASH crew” had to go off and do various things in the background or do whatever it is the scene called for. I never liked that term [laugh]. I thought it was kind of unkind, and probably it was created with no unkindness connected to it at all. But I always thought it was a little tiny bit, kind of, yeah, why do you call these wonderful people the “mini MASH”? I didn’t like it. Probably nobody else cared, just my own personal taste. Maybe nobody even, you know, had a second thought about it. But after all these years, this is the first time I’m saying this out loud –
RYAN: Exclusive, exclusive.
JEFF: [imitating telegraph sound effect] I just didn’t dig it.
RYAN: What would you prefer?
JEFF: [laughs]
RYAN: Moving forward, I refer to you guys as the supporting players because I felt like you were always there. You were part of the series. The series would not have been as good without the supporting players, you know, without Igor and without Roy Goldman and without Rizzo. And, you know, with all these characters, it wouldn’t have been as good as it was. So, is supporting player an appropriate term or is there some other term in the business that you guys were referred to as?
JEFF: I don’t know of another term. It may have just been, hey, you know, maybe they could have used people’s names rather than – But there were a lot of people there. And when you’re on a time schedule and it’s a lot of money to keep a show like that running. So you don’t want to say, and “Bill and Fred and Janie and Phil, would you please come over here?” So it was easier for them to say, “mini MASH” over here.
RYAN: Right.
JEFF: I guess. I guess that was the reason for it. But at the same time, yeah, supporting players, sure. You know, I guess it was just a product of time and management rather than anything else. I hope so, because there wasn’t – there was never an emotional feeling from anybody that anybody was less important than anybody else. So that’s good. It was just that term that kind of bugged me, but I’ll get over it. Next 20 years, I won’t think about it.
RYAN: [laughs] Now you mentioned that a few had passed on, and I know that one of those few who have passed on was Roy Goldman.
JEFF: Yes.
RYAN: And Roy was a fixture on MASH, as far as I’m concerned. If people who are listening right now aren’t necessarily sure who Roy Goldman is. Just go Google Roy Goldman MASH and you’ll see him. You’ll go, oh, yeah, him. Gosh, he was in this episode, in this episode. And he did this and he did that. Tell me a little bit about Roy. What was Roy like?
JEFF: Well, Roy Goldman was one of the funniest human beings on the planet. He was like Mel Brooks funny
RYAN: Really
JEFF: Very improvisational, extremely funny. He was from Brooklyn, New York. He was just drop-dead funny.
RYAN: Hmm
JEFF: And he was with Gene Reynolds, Gene Reynolds brought he and Dennis Troy from Hogan’s Heroes because they were working on Hogan’s Heroes as extras and stand-ins. And Gene Reynolds loved them both and brought them – asked them to be associated with MASH when MASH started. So they were with the show from day one to the last day. Both of them. Two very, very different guys. Roy was great, incredibly funny, very bright, loved women. [laughs] He was married. Great – very, you know, he was good, but he just loved and adored women. He – he used to talk about it. And it was very funny to hear him talk about that. He was a liberal kind of guy. Dennis Troy – Now, Dennis and Roy were stand ins on Hogan’s Heroes, and they became stand ins on MASH. So Roy was Gary Burghoff’s stand in. He would also stand in for other people as well, people that came in and out of the show. But he was very kind of related to being Gary Burghoff’s stand in. Dennis was Wayne Rogers’ stand in. And they had known each other for years on Hogan’s Heroes, and now they, you know, were on MASH. Dennis and Roy couldn’t have been more different. Dennis was very conservative and Roy was quite liberal. So they would argue constantly about everything with those two positions.
RYAN: [laughs]
JEFF: And I tell you, there were some of the funniest arguments I’ve ever heard in my life, because Roy was extremely funny and Dennis was extremely defensive and would get totally frustrated. And watching them do this was just hysterically funny. And they’d have serious discussions. They weren’t just cute little arguments. They would go at it. But at the end of the day, they loved each other. And they did all of their serious conversations with humor. And it was a kind of a lesson on how to argue with somebody, how to have a disagreement, but come out on the other side friends. And they did. And they did that for the 11 years that they were connected with MASH.
RYAN: Oh, if only people could do that now.
JEFF: Oh, please.
RYAN: Yeah.
JEFF: And I love them both. I love them both dearly. They were wonderful people. And Roy, he would – if he had a line, you know, he said, “yes, doctor” or whatever it was, he would get so nervous. His hands would tremble literally before he would do, he’d just, he’d come to me, “I don’t know what to do. I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do. What am I gonna do?” I said, Roy, just say yes, doctor. “I don’t know, I can’t say yes, doctor. I don’t know what to do” And you know, his hand literally was shaking, but he’d go out and he’d do it. And then he’d sit like for a couple of minutes afterwards because he was exhausted from going through that. Had he not been so nervous, he would have probably been a very, very famous guy, because he was truly naturally gifted funny.
RYAN: I love the fact that in the finale, the scene in the mess tent when everybody’s getting together for one big last party and you go around and every character says what they’re going to do when they get back home. I love that the writers included the supporting characters in that so that Igor got to say what he was going to do. And then you also heard from Dennis Troy, he said something and Roy Goldman got to say something. So it was neat to see them include characters like Roy and Dennis in that as well.
JEFF: It was, it was a very nice thing that they did. And quite frankly, I have to say about Dennis and Roy again. Without them, I would not be here. I would not have been part of the show. Because when I started doing the show, I started as an extra and the first day was out at the ranch and I hated it and I didn’t want to do it. And I came back for a couple of weird reasons, but I really had no interest in being there. I didn’t like standing out freezing in the morning and being miserably hot in the afternoon at the ranch. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know who Alan Alda was. I didn’t care. I wanted to go home. And I came from nightclubs as being a comic. I just – that’s all I kind of wanted to think about. So because I stayed there, because I couldn’t help but kind of goof around with everybody after I got a little bit more used to being there, I became close with Roy and because he was such a funny guy and we’d enjoy each other’s humor a lot. And then Dennis was a terrific guy and they were stand-ins. They were specifically stand-ins. I was not a stand-in. But the stand-in, Alan Alda’s stand-in, his name I don’t remember, he started to have a problem. He would fall asleep during the standing-in part. And the camera crew doesn’t like that when you’re standing there and you fall over. They are not, not fond of that at all. So Roy and Dennis decided to recommend me and get the people to be aware that they wanted me to be their third stand-in guy, and Alan’s stand-in. And so they came to me and said, hey, we’d like you to do this. You want to do this? I went, sure. Okay. Yeah. What do I do? And I did.
RYAN: Yeah.
JEFF: And I learned a lot more about the whole world of show business by doing that. But had they not done that, I would have been gone. I would not have lasted and I would have been off into other things. Maybe I – who knows, I don’t know what would have happened, but I would not have been part of MASH any longer. So I owe it to them and I thank them very, very much for doing that because when I started doing that, I became sort of hooked and attached to everybody and didn’t want to leave and was learning so much and being around so many talented people that I was very grateful and still am for that opportunity. Later on, when Igor began to emerge as kind of a secondary kind of a character, and after a couple of years of doing that, I actually resigned from being Alan Alda’s stand-in and just was brought in and out as the actor Igor
RYAN: Ah
JEFF: Which was kind of neat for me and kind of neat that MASH would do that. But without, again, without Roy and Dennis doing that, we would not be having this podcast, at least with me. You would be on it, but I would not.
BOTH: [laugh]
RYAN: Well, I have another question for you then that relates to the supporting players. Every episode had a different director. Now there were obviously some directors that did multiple episodes, but you didn’t have one director for the duration of the show. So I’m curious as far as the supporting characters, their interaction with the director, how much interaction did you have with the director? Or was there an assistant director that was helping the supporting players and beyond that, even the extras who are always in the background doing various things. How did that work?
JEFF: Well, I’ll go to director. A director on MASH usually – and directors that are directing these kinds of shows like MASH and shows that have been up and running for a while and have become very developed, the characters are developed, the ideas, the stories are developed, the sets are developed, everybody pretty much knows what you’re going to see. And those directors turn out to be kind of – and they don’t like having this term, but they’re kind of traffic cops. You got the MASH, the mess tent, you got the, you know, the OR, you know those various sets. And there’s only so many ways you’re going to deal with them photographically and emotionally. So the directors don’t necessarily do a lot of work in terms of dealing with the actors. Probably nobody went to Alan and said, “Alan, the next time you do this, give it a little bit more pizzazz. okay, buddy?”
RYAN: [laughs]
JEFF: You’re not going to do that [laughs] to Alan Alda. He’s going to say, “Alan, the next time you reach for the thing, could you just do it with this hand instead of that?” Oh, yeah.
RYAN: Right.
JEFF: But you know, it’s not like, you know, Scorsese talking to De Niro or something. There’s not a lot of stuff like that.
RYAN: No need to reinvent the wheel.
JEFF: Not at all. Everybody pretty much knows what they’re talking about. And that’s basically with all the supporting characters. Now, there may be a little more to a supporting character because they’re not necessarily as wired in to the normal traffic of that show. So they may lean on a supporting character a little bit. “Well, can you do this a little bit more this time? Can you give me a little bit emotional thing?” They may do that or not, depending on the scene and depending on what’s going on. What happens is… You’ve got the director, you have the first assistant director and the second assistant director. You also have a third assistant director, fourth assistant director and a schleb, who does nothing but carry the food for the fourth and the third and the second and everybody else
RYAN: Was “schleb” his actual title on the end credits?
JEFF: Schleb, yes, it’s a directorial title. There’s a certain pay scale for “schleb”.
BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF: It’s not a lot, but there is some kind of pay. So, on MASH, we had a first assistant and a second assistant. That was it. There were no schlebs. [laughs] So the first assistant on any television show, or movie for that matter, is basically there to work very closely with the director. They help navigate the scheduling of the shots. The director says “well, I want to do 10 shots today” and they work in scheduling those shots, when they’re going to do it, where they’re going to do it, what the set is. It’s their job also to solve a problem. Let’s say they’re going to shoot a scene with a pig in it. And unfortunately, the pig dies. What are we going to do? So the first assistant is really going to worry about getting a new pig because that’s what his job is. So he’s got to solve the problems, whatever that problem is. It’s a very important job. It’s a very hard job and it’s a very focused job. They really gotta be on the set. They also are the guys who say “quiet on the set! Roll sound! Roll camera!” They say that. The director says “action” and “cut”. But the assistant director, first assistant director says the other stuff. They are really kind of in charge. They run the show. If the director’s kind of dilly-dallying, a first assistant will go, “you know, it’s close to 5:30, sir. Can we kind of move things along, please?” They will do that. That’s kind of their job. Keep the show moving.
A second assistant director has a little bit different thing. They will work with the first assistant director too in working out scheduling. But a big part of the second assistant director’s position is navigating and managing the extras and the background artists. So all the guys and girls that you see walking around the camp, that ballet was designed by the second assistant director who will say, you know, you guys go across the thing, you go to the tent and you go to the mess tent and you go to the OR. And so that’s how you see people crossing in front of the camera, walking behind or doing and going into tents or whatever you see. That was designed by the second assistant director. They will also do something whereby, let’s say there is a – somebody says “corpsman, bring me the stretcher”. So that corpsman is singled out. And that in – now this could be changed. This was a hundred million years ago that we did this. So I don’t – forgive me, directors guild and screen actors guild if I’m saying the wrong thing now. But back then, if that scene was done and a corpsman was singled out, that corpsman would receive a pay bump. Instead of just being an extra that day, he would be in line to receive what’s called a silent bit. So he had a featured moment with an actor, but he didn’t talk. So he would get the pay scale of a silent bit, which was a good bump. I mean, everybody will love to get a silent bit, whatever you’re doing. It was a significant amount of money back then. If, at that point, that corpsman was required to say, “yes, sir”, then he would be bumped up to the Screen Actors Guild day player rate, which everybody loved. That was a pretty significant bump. But that kinda was all under the purview of the second assistant director. He kind of knew the group. He knew the people that he was dealing with. There was a family of extras that were used over and over and over and over and over just to keep the consistency of the camp looking correct, as well as the fact that they knew people who were gonna work. They got the show, they got what they were doing, they were friendly, and so they knew who was gonna do what. So they also knew some of the skills and – am I talking too much? Is this – is this on? Hello? Testing one, two.
RYAN: No, I find it all fascinating.
JEFF: I will stop talking in a couple of days. So then, when I was 11 [laughs]
RYAN: [laughs] We’ll be back with part two right after this.
JEFF: Is anybody still awake? Are we at – are we in episode eight yet?
RYAN: Yeah, I think so. Yes.
JEFF: Okay, so they know who they’re working with and they’re able to kind of create the vision that the scene needs with those background players. So they’re very important. When I first started, it was a guy named George Bachelor. Nasty guy
BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF: George had an edge. He retired, I think. And then a second guy came on, and his name was Leonard Smith. I adored Leonard Smith. Friendly, warm and fuzzy, funny, great personality. He had more of a relationship with people who were creative and were trying to do something. He had a little bit more relationship with the actor process. He wasn’t just kind of a traffic cop technician. He was there and he had a creative feel to him. So he really worked hard to try and design these little moments and tableaus that we see. So he would kind of handpick people to put in places. He handpicked me in that scene where I shot the cannon.
RYAN: Haha at Radar
JEFF: He said, come over here. And he said “can you make a funny face?” “I don’t know, maybe?” And that was it.
RYAN: That is one of a lot of MASH fans’ favorite scenes of yours.
JEFF: Thank you very much. And one of mine. It was one of the most fun things in the world to do. Gary and I loved doing it, and everybody laughed. And the day after that was done, I was coming back from lunch, and all of the people who had seen that scene in dailies grabbed me and said, “that was the funniest thing we’ve seen since the show started”. So you can imagine how I felt. I mean, I was 16 inches off the ground walking back from that lunch.
RYAN: That is so cool.
JEFF: So anyway, I babbled on there for so that’s kind of what first assistant director to second assistant directors do. So my hat’s off to all those guys. They work very hard and they did a great job.
RYAN: And to bring all of this full circle, whenever somebody asked for a corpsman, nine times out of 10, it was Roy Goldman.
BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF: Yeah. Yeah, well Dennis and Roy and that was based on the fact that they were very beloved people, you know, with Gene Reynolds. Gene Reynolds brought them from Hogan’s Heroes. He adored them. They were friends for 100 million years. Was there a little favoritism? Yeah, sure, probably. Did they get a little bit more corpsman roles or bump ups to SAG pay scales? Probably because they were there a lot. They worked very, very hard. Their whole lives really were kind of geared around that show. They did work on other shows too, but boy they spent a lot of time and a lot of years. And so yeah, I think they got a little bit more things than some of the other people may have.
RYAN: Understandable.
JEFF: Understandable.
RYAN: Well, thank you to Matthew Thomas for writing in and sharing his story and asking that question. He does add, by the way, at the end, he’s still upset that they never made an Igor action figure.
JEFF: [laughs] That would be – wouldn’t that be somebody that would slop food on a tray that would be good.
RYAN: Exactly
JEFF: You know we could talk about that. Oh, let’s – we could call Fox and say hey we got an idea
RYAN: Yeah, yeah, maybe we could crowdsource it, you know, get one of those kickstarters or something. The Igor action figure comes with like creamed weenies and –
JEFF: I like it. Well, thank you. Matthew, right?
RYAN: Yes.
JEFF: Thank you, Matt. That’s a great idea. We’re cutting you out though. You’re gone, Matthew. Hey, get used to showbiz. All right.
RYAN: Well, hey, if you would like to ask us a question, you can do that several different ways. The best way is to just go to our website, mashmatterspodcast.com and email us through the website. You can also hit us up on Facebook and Twitter. And you can call and leave a voicemail: 513-436-4077. You can find that phone number on the website as well. We still have a lot of other questions to get to. We don’t have time to do it in this episode, so we’ll do it in future episodes. But hey, we’ve heard from people here in the States. We’ve heard from New Zealand. We’ve heard from Australia.
JEFF: Oh, Australia.
RYAN: Yes.
JEFF: I have a quick story about Australia.
RYAN: Okay.
JEFF: I’m in Australia many years ago, and I was swimming around in the ocean. And two little boys kind of swam up to me and they were swimming around. We were swimming around together and they said, [high-pitched voice] “Hello, hello” And I said, “Hello. Hi” And they said, [high-pitched voice in what sounds like a British accent] “Oh, excuse me”. Yeah. And this is a terrible Australian accent. I apologize to all the Australians listening.
[BOTH: [laugh]
JEFF: I’m so sorry. And it’s so bad.
RYAN: Got more of a British accent, really. But –
JEFF: It’s got a British – Yeah, it’s a tough thing. I’m sorry. I’m not going to even do it. So they said, “well, you’re – we know who you are”. And I’m swimming in the ocean in Australia. And I’m kind of looking at these two kids and I went, “oh, okay, oh, who am I?” [high-pitched voice] “You’re Igor.” And I’m telling you, I almost drowned. I looked at them and I thought, well, maybe somebody I know is playing a joke on me. There was no joke. I didn’t realize it. But MASH was so popular in Australia that when I was there, that these two little kids recognized me in the ocean in Australia. And they took me back. They said, “come and meet our parents”. So we went and I met their parents and he was in the advertising business and his wife was something and we were talking and they were great people. And I said, “how did your kids know who – I’m in the ocean!” They said, “well, they watch the show a lot. They love it”.
RYAN: Wow.
JEFF: So hello, Australia. And I apologize for that accent.
RYAN: So when we get the MASH Matters World Tour rolling, Australia will definitely have to be on the itinerary.
JEFF: And we’re gonna do it. We’re gonna do an episode floating in the ocean, just for fun. See if anybody recognizes us.
RYAN: Two guys floating in the ocean, waiting for somebody to recognize them. Okay. Sounds like a fascinating concept for a show.
JEFF: You’ll see it on Netflix, and very soon.
RYAN: All right, well that does it for episode six. This has been awesome. One – two things. One, we had a message from Caitlin King. She wrote in saying, just wondering if you guys were thinking about eventually making your podcast available on YouTube. And the answer is yes, and we have. So to me, I’m shocked at how many people actually go to YouTube and listen to podcasts, but they do. So we’ve made that available. You can search for MASH Matters and you can listen to the podcast on YouTube. Also, we had a few more people send in suggested names for MASH fans. Actually, a few people sent in the same name and that’s MASH-aholics. So, so far we have MASH-kateers and MASH-aholics as the two suggested names for MASH fans. If you have a name to suggest, please let us know what that name is. Maybe we’ll do a poll or something down the road and settle this once and for all.
JEFF: Yeah. You know, MASH-aholics is, you know, pretty much kind of I get that. But I adore MASH-kateers and I really truly would like us to do that just to see and I’ve said this before, but see how long the Disney attorneys take before they squash us.
RYAN: [laughs]
JEFF: Like bugs [laughs]
RYAN: Well, if we’re not back for episode seven, you’ll know why. Until next time, MASH-keteers-aholics.
BOTH: [laugh]
RYAN: Thanks so much for listening.
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