Transcript of interview with Daryl Morris by Barbara Tabach, February 16, 2016

AN INTERVIEW WITH DARYL MORRIS An Oral History Conducted by Barbara Tabach Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas ii ?Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2014 Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV ? University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Project Manager: Barbara Tabach Transcriber: Kristin Hicks Interviewers: Barbara Tabach, Claytee D. White Editors and Project Assistants: Maggie Lopes, Stefani Evans iii The recorded interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant. The Oral History Research Center enables students and staff to work together with community members to generate this selection of first-person narratives. The participants in this project thank University of Nevada Las Vegas for the support given that allowed an idea the opportunity to flourish. The transcript received minimal editing that includes the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader?s understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. In several cases photographic sources accompany the individual interviews with permission of the narrator. The following interview is part of a series of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Claytee D. White Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas iv PREFACE Daryl Morris is a native of Las Vegas. Born in 1961, he is one of three sons born to Paula and Bobby Morris. He recalls his childhood of the 1960s and 1970s with great fondness of the fast friendships formed within the Jewish community. His day job is in insurance, but his great love is for acting. He tells of being smitten at the age of 11 and taking acting lessons as a youngster and then later studying with actor Jeff Goldblum. He has an impressive list of films in which he has appeared, including the opening scene of Mall Cop 2. He enjoys voice-over acting and teaching acting classes. He also tells about his Navy service, attending UNLV, and coming to settle in Las Vegas?the place he calls home. Daryl also participated in the January 31, 2016, Growing Up Jewish in Las Vegas panel discussion for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Interview with Daryl Morris February 16, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada Conducted by Barbara Tabach Preface??????????????????????????????????..iv Family ancestry discussed. Father?s Jewish roots are in Poland, left prior to World War II and settled in Brooklyn; explains how the Stempleman family name was changed. Tells about how his father, Bobby Morris, became infatuated with drums during a New York City parade. Story of how parents met, bet with Louis Prima; raised family in Nevada, one of three sons. Describes his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom in 1974 and others in his class.????.???.1 ? 5 Talks about importance of USY trips, friendships formed that he has to this day; wrapping tefillin; about growing up in Las Vegas, jobs he had; teenage story about being with Andy Katz when he damaged the car; his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom?????????6 ? 10 Graduated from Valley High School 1979; attended UNLV briefly and then enlisted in Navy. Worked door-to-door sales for early cable television company, Dimension Cable; talks about meeting his wife; Passovers in Florida with family; then getting into insurance business with his brother in 1990.?????????????????????????????..11 ? 13 In 1998 is inspired to take acting lessons; did a Sonic hamburger commercial; moves to Los Angeles in 2000 to study with actor Jeff Goldblum; returns to Las Vegas in 2003 and joined Yellow Pages. Keeps active with SAG and acting; lists credits; enjoys teaching of acting at International Academy of Film and Television. Father playing with Louis Prima, Rat Pack. Tells how he became interested in acting at age 11; being a voice-over actor ???????.14 ? 19 Talks about working at Parkway Theaters in high school; how he learned to cut in line at the Horseshoe for dinner; mentions MGM?s recent policy to charge for parking. Talks about being Jewish in the Navy; felt he was immature, stationed in Guam, story about trying to get High Holidays off, experiences in Navy, racism???????????????????20 ? 24 Describes attending Kit Carson, a Sixth Grader Center; what the era was like regarding racism toward blacks, Jews. Talks about family roots and friendships in Las Vegas that make this home; being a child of a musician and entertainment here; swimming in Strip pools and other things that he experienced as a boy raised in Las Vegas????????????????..24 ? 33 Index????????????????????????????.?????..34 - 35 vi 1 Today is February 16th, 2016. This is Barbara Tabach and I'm sitting with Daryl Morris. Daryl, would you spell your name for us? Sure. D-A-R-Y-L, M-O-R-R-I-S. For the Jewish Heritage project I really like for people to tell me what they know of their family heritage. Do you know where your roots are and what generation came to America? This is the best that I can remember? My mother [Paula Morris] was born in Long Beach, California. She was not Jewish. When she met my father and before they were married, she converted. So that's a pretty easy one. Now, my dad's [Bobby Morris] is a little more interesting. My dad and his family came from a little village in Poland called Vilna, which is no longer there. It was taken over by the Nazis. So what happened essentially?now, if I can remember this right now?my father's father came to New York first. There was my dad, his sister and two brothers; they had four children. So I think when my grandfather came, he brought one or two of the children with him, possibly three, and then my grandmother brought my uncle who is the youngest one who is now?the youngest one?he is now eighty-three. From what I remember the boat that brought them over, on the way back, was sunk by a German U-boat. Oh, my goodness. Yes, yes. So they all got out before the Nazis, before the Nazis could get to them luckily. However, we lost a lot of...I mean I would have a lot more cousins and uncles there was a lot that didn't make it out, but my immediates did. My grandfather, David Stempleman?because that's our actual name is Stempleman?(then) Morris. My dad was in show business. So what happened was my two uncles, his two 2 brothers, they took the name Sands, like the hotel. So Arthur Sands and Joseph Sands. I have a cousin in Phoenix; his name is Charlie Sands. I actually love that last name. Morris is fine, too, but if I had my choice I would have gone with Sands. But what happened was my dad, based on what I know now, his Hebrew name is Moshe, so it translates to Morris. On the drum set, because he was a professional drummer, you couldn't put Bobby Stempleman; it's too much. So he changed Moshe to Morris. So that's how we came to Morris, from the best of my recollection. So anyhow, my grandfather?and I digress?was a brush maker. He was a brush maker and he hung wallpaper. When they moved to New York, he was telling my dad, "Oh, listen, you should become a brush maker and we'll hang wallpaper." And my dad was like, "Eh, eh, eh, I'm not interested in that." But from what my dad told me, he used to watch parades and different things and he'd watched the drummers come walking down with the parade. He's like, oh, my god, I love this. I think he was about seven, eight years old when he started studying. Of course, when you interview him he'll give you all the specifics. He had a great teacher. You'll have to get the whole story from him. But the nuts and bolts of it essentially are he spent some time in the Catskills growing up. Of course, he was with Eddie Fisher. He was with Louis Prima and Keely Smith as their drummer. He toured the Far East. Again, he'll give you more of the specifics. Anyway, so my grandfather got to United States and they settled in Brooklyn, Linden Boulevard. My grandfather, my grandmother, my Uncle Artie, my Aunt Pearl, my Uncle Joe and, of course, my dad. Don't hold me to this, but I believe my Uncle Joe, who is now passed away, was the oldest. There are three living siblings left. So my aunt is ninety, my dad is eighty-eight and my uncle is eighty-three. I think Joe would have been ninety-one or ninety-two; I believe that's correct. He passed away in '96 or something?no, excuse me; that's not right?3 2008, something like that. He was an upholsterer. He'd come to visit us in Las Vegas because they settled in Phoenix. So my Uncle Joe and Cousin Charlie moved from Back East and settled in Phoenix. My dad was traveling. So in 1951 or '50, he had come out here to do music, to play drums. Again, he'll give you all the specifics. I guess he fell in love with the place. I told him, I said, "Why in the hell couldn't you fall in love with San Diego? Why did you have to fall in love with Las Vegas? It's so hot here. Why here?" So anyway, he's been here since 1951. So he's here sixty-five years now. Is my math right? Yes, yes. That's amazing. Yes, he's been here sixty-five years. So you actually are born and raised here. Born and raised here. I was born at the Southern Nevada Memorial, which is now University Medical Center. Now, here's a great story. You're going to love this. So my dad took the train to L.A. in 19, I believe, '57. Yes, well, it was 1957. On the way back I believe?on the way there I don't remember anything?he met my mom. He was with Louis Prima. He wanted to get my mom's attention. So he laid on the floor of the train and he bet Louis Prima that she wouldn't step over him and Louis Prima said she would step over him. He's lying there and he looks up at her, don't you dare step over me. Anyhow, long story short, they met on a Thursday and were married that Sunday. Oh, my goodness. Yes, yes. He's been married five times. Oh, my. So this was his first marriage? 4 Second, second marriage. But this is the only marriage he had kids in. So there's me and my two brothers. I'm fifty-four, my brother Robby is fifty-six. I have a brother Steve who's fifty-seven. So I'm the baby. So they met and they got married. My young years from like being born until about five, we were living here and then we moved to Lake Tahoe for a little bit and then we came back, and this is me, my mom and my brothers, because they had divorced. We moved to Lake Tahoe for a bit and then we came back and we moved very close to the old house where we used to live. So we knew all the kids. I had met Andy well before. And you're talking about Andy Katz. Katz, yes, better known as "The Good Doctor." "The Good Doctor?" Yes, I give him a nickname and it sticks. He's got many nicknames, believe me. So then we moved back. I was about ten or eleven we moved back. And then don't ask me why, we moved again, this time to Carson City because my dad built a house in Carson City. I don't know why, but we moved to Carson City. Even though they're divorced? Yes. They're still very friendly. They're still very, very friendly because they had kids. So we were in Carson City I think, I don't know, a year, year and a half and my dad calls me on the phone. He goes, "How would you like to do your bar mitzvah?" He said, "Come back to Las Vegas." I said, "I am there." Because in Carson City we were literally in the middle of nowhere and I just didn't like it at all. So, of course, I came back. And my brothers and mom, it wasn't long before they came back, too. Nobody liked Carson City. So I get back and I went to Temple Beth Sholom. Rabbi Joseph Cohen and Rabbi Phillip Schneerson were the clergy. I did my Haftarah, Deuteronomy. It was August third, 1974, I had 5 my bar mitzvah. So what kind of bar mitzvah party or celebration did you have? Well, that's it. We didn't do anything real heavy duty. We had something at the temple kind of afterwards and then my immediate family came to the house. We had a pretty good-size house. Everybody was staying there. But it was nice because my grandmother, who is, of course, no longer with us, she came in from Florida. My aunt came in from Florida. My aunt and uncle from Phoenix came in. My cousin came in. We had friends from L.A. come in. So it was nice. Of the three of us, me and my two brothers, I'm the only one who was ever bar mitzvahed. And I'm also the only one who ever graduated college, UNLV class of '87. Go Rebels. Go Rebels, ergo my shirt and my pin. You are dressed like a Rebel; that's for sure. So who was in your bar mitzvah class? Oh, Andy, Brad Friedman, Neil Friedman, Cliff Henell, no longer with; he passed. Leah Levinson, Bonnie Tell, Nancy Katz, Toby Katz. We were all together; we were all in USY together. I have to tell you, Barbara, USY was probably one of the greatest things I can ever remember from my youth?I'm not even kidding?because it was a place for us. It was a place. You don't just grow up, okay, and I have some friends. Okay, fine, I grew up and I have some friends, but it was like a community there. In Las Vegas to have a community back in the seventies, it was pretty amazing. This to me is very transient town, still, and there's not a lot of quote, unquote, community here. There just isn't. So it was great because we would go on trips together called kinuses. We'd go to different temples. We went to Temple [Congregation] Ner Tamid in...I believe it was Canoga Park. We'd go for a weekend and we'd do Shabbat and we'd do Shabbat dinner and there would 6 be parties and we'd have dances. We would get there like...Yes, we'd leave on a Friday morning, get there like three o'clock on a Friday afternoon, get ready, have Shabbat dinner and then we'd have a little nice Oneg and dance afterwards. The next morning we'd wake up and go to services. Then after services we just kind of hung out and did our thing. Then Saturday night there was always a party. Then Sunday I guess we'd wake up and have breakfast and we'd be on the bus by noon. How many kids would go? Oh, god. I mean a good twenty, twenty-five kids. It was great. We loved it. It was a chance to travel and be with your friends. Oh, my god, it was fabulous. Then for me, I mean to me something I felt like kind of saved my life was Camp Ramah in Ojai. I mean I loved Camp Ramah. When I knew I was going for the summer?I went when I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen; I went four years in a row and I just loved it because then I made a bunch of friends. Back then there were no cell phones. There were no fax machines. Everything was, which I kind of love and missed, was you write letters. I know, right? Or a phone, an actual phone with a cord on it. We go, "Oh, yeah, we're going to camp." We'd write each other a letter. It was awesome. To me, I don't know what it is, but I love to receive mail, not bills, mail. It's a dead art form now getting a letter, a handwritten letter. It is. It's kind of like a little present. You open your mailbox and someone took the time to write a letter to you. So when I was in camp, also when I was in the Navy?I'll tell you about that, too?but when I was in camp, you love when you come to your bunk and there's like four or five letters lying on there or a box of cookies from your grandmother or your aunt. Oh, it was the best time. From thirteen through eighteen was the best summers as a kid, maybe the best 7 summers I've ever spent. I mean that; maybe the best summers I ever spent. It was not only kids from Vegas who might go?and maybe some did and some didn't?but all the friends I had made over those years. So from twelve to eighteen is when I really embraced my Judaism. To be very honest with you, pretty much in most of my family other than my East Coast faction, I'm the one who carries the torch, the Jewish torch. I don't go to temple much, but I always observe the High Holidays, Pesach. I wrap tefillin daily. I like to wrap tefillin daily. I like that a lot. I like that a lot because it definitely...It takes me about six minutes to do it. And the reason I say that is because, oh, you're so busy; you're so busy. It's like, I don't care; you've got to make time. Now, once in a blue moon I forget or something happens and I don't do it. But I'm a regular, absolute regular with it. That's impressive. Yes, yes. A friend of mine actually got me into it. You do a bar mitzvah and they teach you how to do it and you're like, yeah, whatever, and you throw it in a drawer and you never do it. I had something happen in my life and he asked me about it. It was something not good and I got past it. And he said, "Have you ever thought about doing this?" And I said, "Well, I did wrap tefillah when I had my bar mitzvah, but I don't do it anymore." He goes, "You should think about it." So I've actually been doing it five years now consistently. That's great. Yes, consistently. Yes, so I like that. So what would have been doing?maybe it's a rhetorical question?if you hadn't been going to camp and you hadn't been plugged into the Jewish activities? What would you have been doing as a kid? 8 That's another thing. When I was a kid, my dad made it very clear; my dad was not...Generosity was not a word that he was very familiar with. He grew up having to scrap and scrape for every nickel and he figured that we needed to do the same thing. So there was a good part of that I feel and not a good part. I don't have any children, but if I ever did I want to find a balance there where it's like you teach a little responsibility, but, hey, you're just a kid now and enjoy your time. But most of the time, and even in junior high school, junior high and high school and college, I was working. I was always working. What kind of jobs were you doing? Oh, my god, I did everything. I sold clothes, sold shoes, mowed lawns. I had a paper route. I worked in a movie theater. I was a busboy. I mean I did it all. I did it all, literally did it all. Do I appreciate things now? Yes. I have a town home, a beautiful town home that I just completely remodeled, and I have a car. It's funny, every once in a while I treat myself to having them both cleaned. I'll have somebody come in and clean the house. I keep it tidy, but come in and do a real good job, and same thing with the car. When you're driving in a really freshly washed car, you kind of get a real appreciation. I take very, very good care of things. I always have. I'm very anal about it. I just am. I don't like stains on my clothes. So maybe from this came that, this real A-type personality where I want to know where everything is. I'm very particular and peculiar when it comes to certain things; other things I'm not. So, yes, my dad...When I was growing up here from junior high to high school, I was working, going to school, and he was in the entertainment business. My mom was living here, too. I don't know how to say this other than just come out and say it. I didn't have a lot of parenting growing up. I didn't have a lot of parenting. So you were left to your own? 9 Devices?which I have to say and I'm very proud of. I was never a problem. I never got into drugs or drinking or trouble with the law, none of that. For some reason it just didn't calculate in my brain to run with bad...That's one thing about me; I've always had great friends. When I bring my friends around my parents or my brothers, they're like, "Wow, you've got good friends." They're not knuckleheads. Some kids you grow up with, they're just real basket cases or troublemakers, and I just never had that. I was always hanging around good friends. Yes, I mean I pretty much grew up?literally grew up on my own. So did you get into any mischief, little hijinks here and there? Hijinks, stupid, like I broke a window playing baseball. Every kid's got to do at least one of those, right? Right. But I wasn't like...Oh, did Andy tell you the story about how he wrecked the car? He told you that? And he told you he blamed it on me, didn't he? Oh, I didn't know you got blamed for it. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. So tell me the story. So it's a great story. So we're at the [Ruby] Kolod Center and here comes Jay Herman; he's walking out of the door. Well, here is a cement post and Jay is on the other side of it. So Andy is like, "Hey, let's scare Jay." So all Andy wanted to do was swerve and swerve back. Well, he didn't swerve back in time and he took out the whole right fender. So he's freaking out because of his parents. "Oh, my god; oh, my god." So I said, "Look, Andy, there's a shopping center called Vegas Village." I said, "Here's what we do. Let's drive the car to Vegas Village, call your dad, tell him, 'Oh, my god, we were in Vegas Village and we came out and the whole side was gone.'" 10 So his dad was so...Oh, his dad was so sharp. His dad came up to Vegas Village, got out of the car, and he goes, "Looks like somebody hit a block wall." For the moment we stayed with the story. But Andy, he's like me, he's so guilt-ridden that he wrote a note to his parents telling them exactly what happened. He said, "I'm so sorry I lied," and dada, dada. There is no sweeter guy on earth. There just isn't. There's no sweeter guy. So his mom and dad "All right;" they were very forgiving. But I think they knew it and I think it meant a lot for Andy to say, "Hey, look, I want to be a big person here." A lot of times when you're...Sometimes as a human being maybe you did something and you didn't want anyone to know it and someone calls you on it or asks you about it and it completely catches you off guard. So your initially thing is, no, no, I didn't do it. And then after you have time to recoil a little bit and think about it, then you want to go back and say, "Look," blah, dada, da. But when people catch you like that you don't know how to react. So it's kind of a defense mechanism I think. But anyway, no, he didn't blame me. I was the one who gave him the story. I gave him the story, so his parents...His mom, God bless her, she's eighty-nine. She's going to be ninety in August. Matter of fact, it's on the same day as my bar mitzvah. They have an incredibly close bond, him and Bea, like really close. She knows I'm the dearest and closest friend and she knew. If that's the worst thing a teenager ever does is take out a fender on a car that's great. And I know pretty much everything about Andy and myself. That might be the worst thing that we ever did, seriously. Isn't that wonderful? Yes. We didn't rob stores or anything like that. We played basketball on his driveway; that's what we did. We played basketball on his driveway or played football on the street. We'd play 11 baseball down at the high school. We love sports. For me, growing up at Temple Beth Sholom with all my friends...I never got confirmed. I never went through confirmation. I just did a bar mitzvah. But I was in Hebrew school with all these guys. I was in Hebrew school until I was, I think, fourteen, yes, at least thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and we were in USY until we were sixteen or seventeen; I think all the way through high school, as a matter of fact. Yes, as a matter of fact, we were. So you graduated from which high school? Valley High School. So what did you do after graduating from high school? So great question. I graduated Valley in June of '79. I started UNLV in fall of '79. Now, my problem is this...I told you that I pretty much grew up on my own. I wasn't a good student, not because I was stupid, but because I feel like I wasn't prepared. I just wasn't prepared. I didn't have any real help. So my grades reflected that. My grades weren't horrible, but they just weren't the best. So I was, again, working and I had bought a new car in 1980 and I had to figure out how to pay for it. So I was working and I had to pay all my own bills and everything. So since school wasn't going all that well, I said, "You know, maybe"?because I had a friend of mine join the Air Force?I said, "Maybe I could look at joining the service." For Jewish kids in my age in the late seventies, early eighties, it wasn't done much. It just wasn't done much. Why was that? Kids went to college; they just did. Of all the people I know in that circle that I mentioned, nobody else went in. That was the expectation that you go to college. 12 Right, you go to college. So I was at UNLV from '79 to '81. I left in '81. I joined the Navy in May of '81 and I was gone for four years. So I got out in May of '85, finished some college courses, because I was stationed in San Diego, at San Diego City College that would transfer to UNLV that UNLV didn't offer. There was a biology class that I needed. So I took it in San Diego City College and I transferred. So fall of '85, I started back to UNLV again and August of '87, I graduated. My degree was in communication and my emphasis was in public relations. I got my degree, obviously four years later than everyone else because everybody else was '83 because that's when I would have graduated. So I got my degree. When I graduated in '87, I was working for my dad because my dad had a theatrical agency and he used to book musical groups here in Las Vegas and throughout the country. I got into that with him a little bit. I had three jobs. I was selling cable, which, by the way, when cable first got to Vegas in '83-84, I was working for Dimension Cable selling cable door to door. Barbara, you never made that much money as a college student. Really? I was making fifteen hundred a week selling cable because this was like handing out free money. People were grabbing at me, "Come on, hook me up," because we had no cable. And you were doing this door-to-door sales? Yes, yes. Yes, absolutely. It was great. I wouldn't do it at night or anything. Right. But, still. So what was the rate? Do you remember what you were selling it for? I'm trying to remember the days before cable now. Yes. Knock on the door. "Hi, Daryl with Dimension Cable." "Sign me up." Who owned Dimension Cable? Oh, from Texas or something. Then it became...It wasn't Cox right away; it was something else 13 and then Cox. It was perfect for a college student because you could work whenever you wanted. So I was selling cable and I was going to school. I finished school in '87. I kind of went back to cable for a bit. Then I was working for my dad. I was doing three jobs and I don't remember what they were. I was working. Then in '88, I met my wife. My dad, being in Vegas, being this good-looking guy, being an entertainer, he didn't make the best acquaintances. But anyway, he met this woman who had a friend and the friend had a niece who lived in North Carolina. And ba-da-duh-beep, ba-ba-da-boop, back and forth, "You should meet her; you should meet him." Again, this is before cell phones or anything else. So we're sending the letters with pictures, actual pictures back and forth. So we used to go to Florida to my aunt's for Passover; that was kind of a thing we did like '84, '85, '86, '87, '88. It was great. That was another thing I used to love is going to Florida. She lived in Jacksonville; she still does. So in '88, via going to Florida via North Carolina, I met her; this and that; this and that. We met in April of '88; I moved her out here in August; we got married in February of '89. She wasn't Jewish, which was...I was very young and very impetuous. I just wasn't...I didn't use good sense. So the marriage only lasted three and a half years. We have no kids. But in '90...I had been fooling around with the idea in '87, '88, '89, going into the insurance business because my brother was in it in '85 and he was doing very well. In '90, I joined Allstate. I was with Allstate...May fourth, 1990 I joined them?or fourteenth or fourth; I don't remember. But anyway, 1990. I was with them for ten years. But in '98, I got re-bitten, which I didn't even mention yet. When I was a kid, I was doing some acting. As a kid I was doing some acting. But I got re-bitten by the bug in '98. There was 14 a guy in town here named Gerald Gordon who was teaching classes. He wanted $600 a month to teach acting. I'm like, I'm not paying $600. So I found this guy named Joseph something; I don't remember his last name. He was in Trial at Nuremberg; that was his big role. I think this was 1950 or something. He was teaching acting in a high school gymnasium, like in a back room. So one thing led to another. I was in the school and then I got into a play. And I really liked it and I got into another play. But this place where we were performing was called the Off Broadway Theater in the Commercial Center, which I pretty much grew up in the Commercial Center; that was where I grew up. This guy also had a chance to do a lot of casting. So they were casting commercials and all kinds of things and I came in all the time for auditions. Well, I got all my SAG vouchers. You need three SAG vouchers to get a SAG card, Screen Actors Guild card. So I did a Sonic [hamburger] commercial. You'll never believe this. I was an actor. I did I think four or five days of work; made three thousand dollars as an extra, as a union extra. It was awesome. So this is '98-99 now and Allstate starts changing their whole business model. I didn't like it. So I said, "You know what? I'm thirty-nine. I own a house here. I want to move to L.A. I have no kids. Let me take my shot." So in August of 2000, I moved to L.A. I was there for two years. I did some plays. I studied at the very best school you could study at under the very best teacher you could study, Jeff Goldblum. Really? Oh, wow. Yes. That was my mentor, great, great teacher, very, very, very strict, which I needed. I really liked that discipline. So I was there for two years, but L.A. wasn't my cup of tea. Even though I was getting work, I just...I'm sure, I'm absolutely positive had I stayed I'd be working. There's a lot more reasons, but anyway, I came back in November of 2002. I got back 15 and I was working a couple of different sales jobs doing this and that. I still had my insurance license. In 2003, I joined the Yellow Pages here, the big Yellow Pages we had. This is before Yellow Book came in and this is before the Internet exploded with all the online searches and everything. So I was there for a year and a half and it became very corporate. I said, "Eh." I don't like corporate; I don't like somebody looking over...they're very micro manager. I didn't like it. So I got back into the insurance business in 2005 and I'm still with the same company, CIG; that's what I'm doing. So that's your fallback career. You're good at that. Well, I would love to be a working actor. That would be fabulous to be a working actor, but it's a very, very tough thing, extremely tough. Oh, yes. So what was it like in your acting bits? What was one of your favorite moments? Oh, I've had a lot of them. One of my favorites was I did a play called...I believe it was called...J-S were the initials. I don't remember. But I played a lawyer. It was nice because I had some really commanding scenes on stage and it felt really good. It felt real good. I liked that. I've done eleven movies in voice-over. I've done all five Spiderman, Mr. Deeds, Stuart Little 2, How Do You Know, 21, Pixels (movie) that just came out. But my biggest thing of all, I was in Mall Cop 2; I had the opening scene with Kevin James. I had one line, "Mr. Blart." I had the first line in the movie. Oh, that's hysterical. Yes, so I had that. I teach acting, too, now, one day a week at the International Academy of Film and Television. I love that. What kind of teacher are you? Goldblum. I'm like him. You're not going to be late; you're not going to miss; I don't want to hear 16 excuses?if you want to be actors. Otherwise, go change tires at Big O Tires or something; don't waste my time. I don't agree with a lot of the curriculum at school. A lot of it, I think, is just nonsense. Movement, voice, history; it's all nonsense to me. I believe in the craft of acting, all about what it takes to work with another actor, to work on stage by yourself, and to walk out there with amazing confidence and ability and talent. Sometimes people are very talented, just crazy natural; others have to really work at it. But you can be a good actor. You really can be a good actor. I love teaching. I'm not wild about the administration at school. I'm just not. I used to be. We had a great guy. So I am very unhappy about that. But I love teaching. I love acting. What