Episode 105: Roger Rose

Roger Rose: The Producers, featuring the most respected international talent in the world of audio production and voiceover. Radio, TV, film, and online. In-depth interviews and industry insights, putting you on the inside. This is The Producers Podcast with Ryan Dreen.

Ryan: Hello again, Producers Podcast, delayed as usual. My apologies, you know, I had this one a week ago, but, Spring break happened. I sort of forgot about a road trip I had, and boy, that threw everything for a loop. As you know, taking 3 or 4 days off is kind of tough, but thank you for checking this out as always. Real fast, upcoming, I'm gonna have the team from Capitol in the UK. We're still working that one out, but that's gonna be a real fun special interview, so that's why I'll keep promoting it, and hopefully you enjoy it. Also, how about just a teaser for another one? An imaging producer in LA, Recently took a big gig there. I've known him for a long time since he was sort of, you know, up and coming, throwing audio at me, and he was always good, but he's gotten better. And, he's got the big job in Los Angeles, and we'll have him on the show. A couple other big-time voice talents, a music producer, once imaging director at a monster station in the UK, now producing music. We'll have him on as well. Yeah, you know, I gotta lock some of these in before I, you know, specifically promote them, but today Roger Rose. I, I honestly, I, I've kind of, voiced this part about 3 times now, and I'm just gonna say he does everything. First of all, promo voice is top of the list. If you're in the States, you know him because he is voicing the promos for at least 1, if not 10 shows you watch. If you watch CBS, you've heard him. Some of the biggest shows on TV, he's the voice. Also, you know him from the Emmys, the Grammys, Films: Happy Feet. I'll get to another film in a second here. Commercial: Chrysler, American Airlines, Jeep. He's got all this stuff on his website is kind of what I'm doing here. I'm just reading off some of the biggest stuff that he does, and he's really good about posting new comment— I think I'm content. I think I mentioned that in the interview, but sometimes, you know, you get to a certain level and you stop worrying about putting demo work out there or just showing people what you're doing. But that's not Roger Rose. He's got it out there. Promo voice, affiliate voice, commercial voice, animation. narration, actor on camera, a director, producer. We get into that stuff too. I don't think I already mentioned this, but improv, another big, big skill that he has that he tells us is very important to his success today. We get into a lot of things that he does, and, and some of the reasons why he is where he is. Still extremely funny, humble guy, great stories. And, you know, he's kind of Hollywood. Gotta be— I gotta be honest, I've had a few on this show that are Pretty Hollywood. So I feel like I got a little more on the— into the bowels of the Hollywood system and got to hear some cool stories. So hopefully you enjoy it. Oh, finally, this did come up in the interview. I did not have it on my list to bring it up, though I of course was, you know, very aware. Just go ahead and look up if you haven't already seen it, or if you have seen it. Yeah, he's the guy from Ski Patrol in 1990. Yeah. It does come up in the interview. I'm not gonna say anything more than that. Classic though, just classic. So anyway, here's a rapid-fire, like machine gun demo of just so many various things that you hear Roger on. And then we'll get to the interview with the one and only Roger Rose.

Roger Rose: It's gonna be a wild ride on NBC tonight. Thursday, it's the first new mom of the year, so share it with someone you love. Grey's Anatomy starts now on ABC. Criminal Minds and Code Black will return all new next Wednesday. CBS Thursday. Uh-oh. It's about to become the night of a million laughs. I love Thursdays. First, it's a sparkling new Big Bang and Life in Pieces. Outstanding Drama Series: Boardwalk Empire, Dexter, Mad Men. Weather with meteorologist Jerry Taft. The I-Team Reports: Blood Relatives. Tonight on ABC 7 News at 10. Your news. First and fast. The right news at the right time. WLNY News at 9. Now's your chance to see why Game of Thrones is the series everyone is talking about. HBO. Sign up. Catch up. Keep up. The road never takes us in a straight line. It curves and twists and sometimes surprises. The final 3 episodes of the season begin with a familiar face. Reporting for duty, Agent Gibbs? And a killer ending. Where's Gibbs? New NCIS. Plus Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, And the one and only Mick Jagger. The Grammy Awards live, CBS Sunday.

Ryan: All right, you recognize that guy. I promise you, just about every human being listening to this podcast, even those living outside the United States, know the voice of Roger Rose. And a lot of you know Roger Rose from many other elements, walks of life. Roger, thanks for being on the show. I know your time is valuable. Thank you so much.

Roger Rose: when you say other walks of life, are you talking like felony type crimes people know me from?

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: Oh, cool. All right.

Ryan: Sure. That show Jail, perhaps. Others like that.

Roger Rose: Oh yeah, America's Most Wanted. Just think of me with a number under my neck and you've recognized me.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: Yeah, that's cool.

Ryan: You know, I'm just gonna be completely honest. You're one of those talents that I, you know, hear every day. And I knew I had, you know, okay, so CBS would probably be the first thing I would bring up that a lot of people would have been like, oh yeah, man, you know, that's that guy. But I hear you all over the place, but I really didn't know much about you yet. So I'm talking to, you know, my buddy Chad Erickson, and he's like, oh, you need to get this guy on the podcast. So, so I want to thank him for putting us together.

Roger Rose: And Chad Erickson is a legend in the business and, and, and also has some of the worst breath I've ever— no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, he's a really good guy. And, One day he'll get rid of those adult diapers. He's a really cool guy, though.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: Yeah.

Ryan: Certainly, yes. Well, anyway, I'm glad he put us together, 'cause, you know, while you are one of the legend— well, you know, can I use the word legendary with you? Does that make you feel okay?

Roger Rose: I'm honored, but I really, you know, I audition like every other goon. So, but that's very sweet of you.

Ryan: You know, prominent, definitely one of the prominent promo voices out there, but you're all over the place. So I've got a list of things I wanted to get to. Can I start, though, with a hard— Hardballs.

Roger Rose: Ooh, let's go, baby!

Ryan: I saw you congratulate someone on Twitter. I don't even know when this post was. I think it was pretty recently.

Roger Rose: Yeah.

Ryan: And you kind of acted like you guys were friends.

Roger Rose: Uh-huh.

Ryan: And Fred Savage, he ain't your buddy, is he?

Roger Rose: Yeah, yeah. Oh, can I be dirty?

Ryan: Yeah, be dirty.

Roger Rose: Okay, so I've known Fred for a long time, and, and I know a lot of celeb types. Let me just drop names. But he is, What I love about Fred is that he's one of those guys that what you see is what you get. He really is like, gosh gee, you know, he's one of those kind of guys, you know. He really is the Wonder Years guy. But we— he gets really mad at me for telling this story. Now I get to tell it on a podcast, so I'm very excited.

Ryan: Oh, you've made it.

Roger Rose: And just on a side note, I saw him at a restaurant, I don't know, a couple months ago, and I said, And we see each other, buddy, buddy, buddy. And he goes, will you stop telling people that story? And I go, but it's true. And he goes, I don't care, stop telling people that story. So now I get to tell it again, and hopefully it'll get back to him and he'll be really upset. So what the story is, is that he sodomized me at the Super Bowl. You didn't think that was coming, did you? You didn't think that was gonna be the—

Ryan: No.

Roger Rose: Wow.

Ryan: You know, it's possible that the sodomize word, this is the first time it's been used on this podcast in 9 years.

Roger Rose: Really? Well, the first episode I heard was Sodomy in Broadcasting, wasn't it? Wasn't that your first episode? No, anyway.

Ryan: Yeah, second.

Roger Rose: Oh, second episode, I was gonna say. So now here's the thing, let's be honest here. There was no, there was clothing, but he's, believe it or not, he's quite a strong fella. And a group of us, myself, Fred, and I don't know if you know Steve Heitner, who played Banya the comedian on Seinfeld. You know, Jerry, that's Soup. That guy? Oldest and dearest friend.

Ryan: That's Gold Jerry. Gold.

Roger Rose: That's Steve. And we— Steve and I met on a legendary movie called Ski Patrol. And so we did these boys trips, a bunch of us, including Fred. And so Fred— please excuse me for using my name. He's one of those— he's just— he's a wild man. He's a lot of fun. And so we would get into our room. There was like— we all shared a room, a bunch of guys. And he'd go, Roger Rose! And he'd throw me down and simulate— a moment with whatever, and I thought, haha, very funny.

Ryan: Yeah, an intimate moment.

Roger Rose: Yeah, and I couldn't— he's really strong. So I was violated, and I felt very used, and yet warm on the inside. And so I tell that story, and he goes, well, you stopped because it's like I'm actually saying he really did it. And he didn't, but he did.

Ryan: We all know the subtext there. Thank you.

Roger Rose: But here's the thing, you just said, do you know Fred? And I go, yeah, he sodomized me. You know, you gotta look at it that way. You didn't expect that answer. Exactly.

Ryan: No, no, I was more expecting, sure, what do you, you know, why? Not sodomy.

Roger Rose: Yeah, yeah.

Ryan: Well, anyway, I don't know about you fans, but I did. But everybody sees what you saw.

Roger Rose: He's a great guy.

Ryan: Yeah, that's great. I saw that post you made. It was like literally the very last thing I saw right before we started this. I just wanted to, you know, see if you pushed it out.

Roger Rose: Yeah, he just got a show.

Ryan: I posted him.

Roger Rose: Yeah, him and there's also a guy, and Steve is on there too. And Ski Patrol is this movie that I did long ago. As I said, Gone with the Wind, James Bond, and that. Paul Feig was the nerd in that movie. And Paul and I would play these things on each other on Twitter.

Ryan: You know, everyone knows Ski Patrol, right? I mean, everyone knows that movie. Yeah, I think so.

Roger Rose: I got a funny story on Ski Patrol. I did Workaholics. The reason I got that, and this is a voiceover story, believe it or not.

Ryan: No, go ahead.

Roger Rose: Oh, okay.

Ryan: I wanted stories. That was the second thing on my list, is literally I've written, I want stories.

Roger Rose: Yeah, well, don't we all? But I was doing the NHL All-Star Awards over the summer in Las Vegas, and so Anders Holm is there, and he was in The Intern, and he's one of the stars of Workaholics, and he's gonna become a massive star. And So, my daughter, whenever I do any of the celebrity stuff, I always have to get a picture for her and make some overt comment to them for my daughters. And so, you know, I'm a sucker, I'll do it. So, Anders Holm, she's got the major bone for, the hots for. And so, she says, you gotta get a picture for me, you gotta get a picture. So, I go up to him on a break and I'm about to say to him, you know, can you do that? And he goes—

Ryan: No.

Roger Rose: Ski Patrol. I go, yeah. He goes, can I have a picture with you? I'm like, okay. And then as we're taking the picture, he goes, it shaped my life. I'm like, oh boy, I gotta get out of here. So anyway, we became friendly and he invited me on the show and I did the very last episode. I think it aired like last week. And that was all through voiceover.

Ryan: Wow. So, that's great.

Roger Rose: Yeah, and I don't know why I brought that up, but I— oh, because they've been tweeting and I tweeted about that and stuff.

Ryan: Yeah, well, I was really just gonna say tell Fred that The Grinder was awesome. Yeah, and I was sad. There was a lot of shows that went away last year, but that one made me the most sad. Yeah, for what it's worth. Okay, some idiot in Dallas really loved—

Roger Rose: loved that show. You know, he's a very— again, he's one of the few guys I can say truly what you see is what you get. He is everything you see. He's just a— he's a great guy, good sense of humor, and he just doesn't like that I talk about what he did to me.

Ryan: Yeah, I figured we're like 10 minutes in, I should get to something about what you do. So let's just talk about your day. I'm gonna bounce around my list here a little bit.

Roger Rose: Okay.

Ryan: Let's give people a little bit of an idea of what your day is like. You're on West Coast time, a lot of the promo work happens out there, but do you have to be up at 5:00 in the morning, or do you have to stay up till midnight? How much work are you doing throughout the day? Give us a little taste of what it's like.

Roger Rose: Well, I do, knock on wood, I do animation, I do regular voiceover commercials, and then I'll do some on-camera stuff. But first and foremost is promo. And a promo guy, and I'm sure you've heard this from other talent and stuff, is really a doctor on call. It's a very specific kind of VO job, and more importantly, people need to understand that it's not, there are promo jobs where it's, You know, member FDIC, or it's on tonight, on the news, that kind of a thing. But that is really going away, and that really obnoxious term voice acting, it's become much more in promo. But promo is a doctor on call, and so when you ask me if I work early in the morning, late at night, there is— if they need you, sometimes you get 60 seconds notice, you might get 4 hours notice, but you never get more than—

Ryan: 2 days.

Roger Rose: 10 hours, 12 hours notice that they would need you. Usually, it's a couple hours. And so, I'm always— I'm tied to my phone. I've never really had a— and I'm grateful. I've never had a vacation where I haven't had to interrupt it in the most arcane, strange ways, where I have to bring my equipment with me at all times. But you know what? That's golden handcuffs. It's so When you say my day, there are local stations around the country that I do, and that's usually first thing in the morning, but as far as CBS, it could be anywhere from first thing in the morning, afternoon, evening. If something goes wrong, they've made something, they'll call me in the middle of the night, and if you miss it, they will replace you lots of the time. Not all the time, but they will. Sometimes warranted, sometimes not. Just off the top of my head, I was doing the Academy of Country Music Awards, and—

Ryan: Yep.

Roger Rose: Excuse me. Last— it was 2 years ago, and I was in Boston, and you could do all this stuff. Technically now, it's amazing. You can do it from anywhere if you set it up right, but this hotel had a firewall, and so I said, oh, I'll just be a couple minutes and try to do it again, and then I said, give me an hour. They gave me an hour, and they replaced me because they needed to get it out, and that was that.

Ryan: Wow.

Roger Rose: And I was like, ouch. You know? 'Cause it depends who you're working with. And I'm not saying everybody does it, but it can happen. And so it's really weird. I have some crazy stories of where I've broadcasted from.

Ryan: Well, I was gonna say, everybody's got the kind of the— I think Brian Lee might have told me he recorded in the trunk of a car, like the hatchback of his SUV or whatever. But you've had— even you are on the road, and CBS comes calling, and you throw the blanket over the head in the hotel room, that kind of a deal.

Roger Rose: Well, yeah, absolutely. But the 3 that stuck out out, and I'll be quick about them, is once I was in St. Louis and I was across from the stadium and I'm doing The Big Bang Theory and, you know, right across. And CBS goes, could you turn the sound down on your TV? And I'm like, no, it's just 50,000 people. Excuse me? And then—

Ryan: Yeah, right.

Roger Rose: Another time I was doing a— hosting a TV show, actually. But I know this is hard to believe, but voiceover comes first because that's a constant you can't count on on camera. And I was— we were shooting at a dealer— a Volkswagen dealership in Pasadena, and CBS came a-calling. And there's other places too, but CBS is the main priority on that kind of stuff. Somehow I convinced the car dealer to let me go into the sales area in the back, you know, where they close the deal, they sell you Rust-Oleum, you know, and all that kind of crap. Excuse my language.

Ryan: Oh.

Roger Rose: And I said, can I? Oh, please. Okay, all right, Mr. Rose, we'll let you do it, it's okay. I don't know why they were all Indian, but they were. And so I go in the back there, And, you know, their brain thing is in there, all their computers, all their— but that's making noise. So I say, okay, to CBS, are you ready? And they go, ready. And I unplug everything. So you hear everything goes— and I go, tonight on CBS, you know, and you hear, Ralph, you know, garage 4. Ralph, garage 4. They go, what the hell's that? Never mind, never mind. Tonight, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then I run out of there as fast as I can, and those poor guys were screwed. But my favorite one, I've done it, I've done videos from the most obscure, obtuse closets and places was I was in Canada, and I was on my way to Toronto, and there was some freak storm or something like that. And we pulled over to— I can't remember— somewhere in Ontario. And this guy was giving me a ride, and we pull into a Ramada Inn because I have to do this. Again, you'll lose your gig. And so I needed a hardline, not a Wi-Fi, because this was back before Wi-Fi really worked.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: You know, they're looking at me like I'm crazy. Like, can I use your hardline? Well, we only in our, you know, in our office, eh? In our office, we got a hardline there, you know? And the Canadian people are really nice. And so the guy goes, he's with CBS! And they went, oh, okay then, go ahead in there. So literally, I went in this little tiny office in a Ramada, grabbed this woman's sport coat. You know, of course, you always close the door so then they don't see what you're doing. She had pit odor that could knock over a moose. And I put the coat over my head and I'm going, NCIS! Ugh! You know? It's like, anyway, I could go on and on with crazy stories like that. It's like, you have— it's so funny, you know.

Ryan: I've heard so, so many of them. I love thinking that as I'm sitting there watching, you know, Mom—

Roger Rose: Yes.

Ryan: Or, well, I don't really watch Mom, but I see a promo for Mom and I hear Chad, or, you know, and you think, I wonder where he did that. It could have been in his perfectly nice studio, or it could have been in the back of his VW, you know.

Roger Rose: It's true, because the thing is, is that What I told you with Chad and all of us is that we are victim— the downside, if you want to call it that, is when they want you, they want you, and they don't care about your personal life. They don't care what's going on. And what I mean, not in a bad way, but they don't want to know because then you're 5 minutes of their hour.

Ryan: But it's the reality of their life, and they can't have, you know, with the million different factors, they can't have the voice talent be the thing that's Stops the promo.

Roger Rose: But you know, my favorite part of all that is that my background is improv and acting schools, but improv, like I studied at Second City and the Groundlings, and that's all my background. And it really did prepare me because especially at certain networks, they don't even want to play the spot for you. They just want you to do it. They send you the script 30 seconds before you do it. especially in comedy, which is really cool, because I do drama too, but with comedy, you really got to know the joke and figure it out yourself, and they just go, go! Because they got 50 other things they got to do.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: And so the thrill, the charge is, is if you can pull it off in one take or maybe two, which is usually as much as they give you, and usually the second take is because you went too long or too short, but you already creatively knew what to do. That's really fun. That's a real challenge because you really are flying by the seat of your pants, because there's— they don't wait for you. There's no waiting for you. You don't get it, you're screwed.

Ryan: Let's go back a little bit since you brought that up too. By the way, rogerrose.com, if people want to go and, you know, be looking at some of your stuff, you have tons of content there. Some talent put, you know, only the very most recent or just a very finely polished demo, and then some people don't put anything, and then there's some like you that really—

Roger Rose: I put all the crappy stuff, is that what you're saying?

Ryan: Yeah, sure, yeah, you put the crap and the good. No, but you have lots on And the people get— yeah, you know, I miss the porn. I miss it.

Roger Rose: I used to be the voice of the Playboy Channel, by the way.

Ryan: Oh, did you really?

Roger Rose: A long time ago.

Ryan: Wow, all right.

Roger Rose: Most people don't know that. I don't talk about it. But it was, you know, never—

Ryan: Yeah, it's not on your website.

Roger Rose: No, no. It was the most— just to give you an idea, every guy that I would ever tell, you know, this is a long time ago, and every guy, they go, oh dude, you're like with Playmates. You know, farthest from the truth. You're in some goofy studio. But I remember I did a promo once where it was me and 2 ladies, and it was like, you know, A night on the town. You know, you okay, girls? Oh, he's so cute. Or something to that effect, right? And both ladies were 9 months pregnant. So, I'm standing in the middle of them, and they're both huge. And they're going, hey, you wanna go out tonight? Yeah, sure do. Okay, we're game. And it's like, you hear it, but visually, I'm going, oh, this is creepy. Worse than Fred Savage.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: Anyway, I'm sorry, go on. You wanted to ask me about my past.

Ryan: yes, you're, yeah, just go back to your beginnings a little bit. So I love to kind of find out when, you know, the, the person like you went from whatever it was you were doing to then you woke up one day and went, holy crap, you know, I'm a full-time, can't leave the house, golden handcuffed, you know, promo and commercial, etc., voice. You know, what were you doing before that and when did that transition happen? Well, you want to know about the transition or, or Well, yeah, I kind of want to know about the transition though. You did mention, you know, the improv, and I know you did— you do or you did stand-up. So a lot of things.

Roger Rose: I did a lot of stuff. All failed. All failed. No, what I was gonna say is that I think I grew up in the Chicagoland. Well, I grew up all across the country, but Chicago's my home base, and LA was, you know, where I am and there too. But both my parents were broadcasters. My mom was on NPR in Chicago. My dad was on talk radio. in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He just got put in the San Francisco Radio Hall of Fame. He's 90. My mom passed away, but she was, you know, like the UN and a lot of other big award winners, very intelligent people. And, you know, they have Spazzola here.

Ryan: Wow.

Roger Rose: But, so I grew up around voiceover my whole life. So it was sort of like I was born into it and I always knew I was gonna do it. I mean, literally, my mom would take me to sessions when I was 9 in studios in Chicago, and she would be doing, you know, soap commercials. And it was like I grew up around it, so I always knew that. So even though I always was gonna be on— I knew I was gonna be on camera and everything else like that, I always did voiceover. And ironically, for whatever reason, I always had in my deals, whatever jobs I had, I could do voiceovers. And people don't pay any attention to voiceovers. They do more now, but over the years, like, I was a VJ on VH1. That was the only thing I was allowed to do other than that was voiceovers. And I ended up being the voice of Showtime, and I made more money being the voice of Showtime than I did making— as an on-camera VJ. But anyways, On and on and on.

Ryan: As a VJ.

Roger Rose: So the transition time, that's funny, no one's ever asked me that question, was when I decided to change my name to Caitlin. No, that's another thing. The transition time—

Ryan: Different transition.

Roger Rose: Different transition, I get confused.

Ryan: Different podcast.

Roger Rose: Different podcast, but I look well, I look good in tennis togs, look at the skirt. What was I gonna say? Do you know, actually I know somebody who plays golf with Caitlin right now, a side note, and literally played golf with her last week and said to me, that she really hasn't bothered to change her voice, and that's the only disconcerting thing is that, you know, like you're playing golf and she goes, hello, and you're like, okay. Anyway, it's a side note.

Ryan: But what tees does she hit from?

Roger Rose: There's a joke there, and we're gonna leave it alone. Anyway—

Ryan: Right, and I'm actually just curious. She's a woman, so—

Roger Rose: Different transition. Anyway, so my transition was, I was on the original MSNBC, which was called America's Talking, and Roger Ailes ran that network. If you know who that man is, he pretty much is running Trump as we speak today. Very scary man, and a very powerful man, and a very genius man, but a very scary man for all sorts of reasons that are not good. Let me put it that way. And he's being sued by all the women for sexual harassment.

Ryan: Very powerful, powerful man. Do a Google search right now, it'll show you everything you need to know about him.

Roger Rose: My welcome to the network was, the guy who wrote the book on Ailes actually wanted to talk to me, and I never did. But I'll tell you, you get a scoop. My welcome to the network when I came to the network was— and I could swear on this lovely podcast?

Ryan: Yeah, I mean, I keep it— no, go ahead.

Roger Rose: Yeah, not because this is the truth. It's— I was brought in to say hello and, you know, welcome to the network, and it was, don't ever fuck with me, Rose, because I stood toe-to-toe with presidents. Okay, well, thanks.

Ryan: All right, great.

Roger Rose: Where do I put— wow.

Ryan: Okay.

Roger Rose: Yeah, and I'm hosting a TV show. So I had a 1-hour live TV show every night, and it was very cool. But in my deal, I had that I was not allowed to do anything else, but in my deal, I had that I could do any or all voiceovers that weren't— so it was a year pay-or-play contract that was quite lucrative, 'cause I didn't want this job. They moved me to New York, on and on and on. So, I don't know, about 8, 9 months in, they suddenly realized that my politics are leftist. I said shvitz on the air, they didn't like that. A lot of other things, but they canned my butt and they had to pay me off. And they said to me, we'll give you a dime on the dollar. And I said, no effing way. And excuse me, I'm swearing a lot on this one. And they said, well, we'll hold you to the full extent of your contract. So I can do any voiceovers? That's right. And you're gonna pay me this huge salary while I do my voiceovers. You got it, man. We're really screwing you. And I'm like— and then suddenly that made me go, you know, I don't need this grief. And that was really my transition. It was like I was lucky enough to have a contract where they had to pay me anyway, and I couldn't do TV, and I went, okay.

Ryan: Okay, I'll get focused over here then.

Roger Rose: We were off to the races. Yeah, I never told anyone that one. So that's a good question, because it was like, that was really the crux. But that man, I saw all the Trump stuff that we're seeing today, whatever your politics are, I saw that, and it certainly soured me on a lot of different things.

Ryan: Yeah, I bet.

Roger Rose: I got serious. Oh no.

Ryan: So at that point, you're gonna get focused on the voiceover side because you're saddled with a non-compete on the other side. So what exactly were you doing at that time? And then, you know, how did you, you know, rise up then? You know, what jobs did you obtain? Where'd you go from there?

Roger Rose: I was always doing voiceover, you know, like as I said, when I was doing VH1 and all my other— I always did voiceover.

Ryan: So that always kept— you always kept all that work going, like the Showtime stuff and any other things you had been—

Roger Rose: Yes.

Ryan: Oh, okay, okay.

Roger Rose: Commercials and things and cartoons, lots of cartoons, and that was a constant. And then it was very easy to do that in New York, of course. Well, what happened with the Showtime was they finally got fed up with me because I was traveling, and this is before, you know, being able to do it in the backseat of your car. I was traveling all over the country monthly for my VH1 one show and they would have to follow me in studios and they just said enough. And so when I moved back from New York to LA, which is— I really didn't like living in New York, but it was such a good gig. And I have all my voiceover agents here and representation and I went right back, but I hit it hard as opposed to I needed this more time, that more time. So it really wasn't something that wasn't— that was already there.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: Just that now I was able to— and there's one little side story on this is that Because you have a lot of voiceover people listening, right?

Ryan: Yeah, quite a few.

Roger Rose: Okay, well, stop trying to get my gigs, man. No, that's not it. The one thing I always say to everybody is that— don't wear pants. No, it's 51% talent and 49% business. And the biggest, biggest mistake that all talent, forgetting even voiceover, is that they're not business people. They think they are, but they're not. They think with their talent side head, not their business side head. You have to remove— when you're auditioning and performing, you're not gonna be logical because it's all emotion. But when you're doing the business side of it, you have to remove your talent side because you get screwed. So when I came back, it was businessman side and really not sitting there going, please hire me, because that's what we all do. And they don't want to be bothered. You don't want to be knocking on people's doors going, hello, Because they don't want to be bugged by you. However, if you are able to schmooze the situation where they meet you, they see you, you're not forcing yourself on them, and I'm guilty of that, I'm not saying I'm not, that's what I did. I created an environment where I was able to meet a lot of people and do all that kind of stuff.

Ryan: Awesome. That leads me into this. I'm going to bounce around a bit here, but I'm really curious about this now. You know, you're not the first person to tell me exactly what you just said. It's a really important piece of advice.

Roger Rose: Oh, so I'm not original?

Ryan: No, no, very original. You probably coined it. Whoever— I'll tell you actually later, and you'll be like, yeah, I had the conversation with him. You'll, you'll know what I mean. I think these days, as you kind of mentioned, you know, boy, you're all over CBS. You do just amazing work there, and it's got to be one of your most prominent gigs that you have now. How did that start?

Roger Rose: Yeah, that's a great question, but I'm not gonna answer it.

Ryan: No.

Roger Rose: I have to tell you, first of all, as I told you, I grew up around this. One of my dreams was to be a network guy. I could tell you the names of all the guys when I was a kid that were like NBC, CBS, all that, but who were— there was really only one guy each network at that time. And to this day, when I look at that CBS copy, I'm not foolin'. I go, oh, so cool! And I think that's one of the reasons why I've been able to keep it, 'cause I'm real lucky that I've been on camera. I've been to, if you wanna call it, the mountaintop.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Roger Rose: .a couple times and fallen. But I know how lucky I am, and I also just— I'm thrilled every time I get to say, NCIS. I mean, how— you know, I pop a chub. So, this is absolutely true. My former agent, this happened to me. There's gonna be an F-word again. Do you bleep this or what do you do?

Ryan: Eh, let's see how bad it gets. Usually I just leave this stuff and nobody complains.

Roger Rose: Okay. Well, this is what happened. I harassed my agent. This is when I had come back, and I harassed them and they were great. And I said, I can be the network guy, because I had done cable networks. I was the voice of a lot of Disney channels and things like that, but I said I could be the main network. And I had done a little rock and roll thingy here and there for one place or another. And by just pure luck, I auditioned for NBC Network Radio. And my agent said, and these are the words, they'll never fucking take you. Because they weren't taking guys like this.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Roger Rose: But to their credit, they let me audition. and I got it. So then ABC was doing a show, you know, shows how old I am now, Ugly Betty, and they said, they'll never effing take you, right? I already said the F-word, so—

Ryan: Yeah, right.

Roger Rose: It's dirty language.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: And I— there's reasons why I, you know, studied the thing. I got it. So then CBS was gonna use a new guy for for comedy. They said— I'll give you the guess. What do you think they said?

Ryan: I will take you 100% right out of the gate.

Roger Rose: They said— is your name Kevin?

Ryan: I'll never have to take you.

Roger Rose: That's right. So, this time, it was the big gig, right?

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: So, I'm thinking, well, you know, there's times when you back off on your agent, and it's important that you— if you gotta trust your agent, But I booked 2 network gigs in a row, and they're saying they're not gonna call these people. So I got really lucky. It's always like— there was a guy I had met who was doing Survivor. He was the promo producer, and I called him, and he said, hey, man. You know, okay, he's Latin. Anyway, he goes, yeah, why don't you just send me your audition, and I'll give it to the head of comedy? 'Cause he talks like, Cheech from Cheech and Chong. Which is Jim Samm. Yeah. And I went, well, dude, I don't wanna, you know— so I called my agent and I said, hey, can you send this to this guy at CBS? No! We told you, you bother people, you're pushing too far. And sometimes you do, but this was the biggie. And so I called my friend, I said, if I send it to you— so I snuck the audition out of my agents, don't ask me how, sent it to my friend who walked it into the guy from the head of comedy. And then I'm at Disney World, here's another one of those stories, I'm at Disney World and I get a call that they want do a final audition for How I Met Your Mother. And I'm at Disney World. So, I did the old, hi, I'm with CBS, like I'm not. And I went to some goofball studio in the middle of nowhere because they needed an ISDN thing. I convinced the limo guy— I gave the limo guy for free to, you know, like I was a VIP. And they took me over there. I'm sweating profusely. And I auditioned fair and square, How I Met Your Mother. And I did that for 10 years. And that's what got me into CBS. And that was the, I'll never effing take you. And guess what? I left that agency.

Ryan: Yeah, I bet you did.

Roger Rose: Wow. I sure did.

Ryan: That's crazy.

Roger Rose: But it was like, at that point I was on 3 different— NBC Radio, ABC for Ugly Betty, and then I got on CBS.

Ryan: Yeah, and that's— How I Met Your Mother was probably at the time the only thing I watched on CBS. I loved that show. I watched it from the beginning. So I was with you from the beginning. That's— of CBS, I should say.

Roger Rose: Thanks, buddy.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah, I was.

Roger Rose: I met— I was— what's his puss used to work out at my gym. What's his name? The lead, what's his puss? Academy Awards.

Ryan: Neil Patrick Harris?

Roger Rose: Yeah, Neil Patrick Harris. So, you know, it was the last— they were gonna renew for one more year and it was the big number one show and all this kind of stuff. And so I go, excuse me, I'm the voice of your show. And he goes, oh yeah, you're the voiceover guy? I go, yeah. And he goes, what do you drink, whiskey and razor blades? I go, no. And then he gets a little uncomfortable, right? And I go, so I understand you're not signing your contract. He goes, well, it's not up to me, it's up to CBS. And I do the fingers to the eyes, you know, like, look at me, look at you, look at me. And I go, I want you to listen to me real carefully. Re-sign. I need the gig. And he goes, excuse me, and runs away.

Ryan: Wow.

Roger Rose: I terrified the guy.

Ryan: I was gonna say.

Roger Rose: Yeah, I said, screw it, I'm gonna tell him.

Ryan: Man, yeah, that's really awkward.

Roger Rose: And he's like in his gym shorts and t-shirt, and I don't— I don't give an F. I don't care. Yeah, I keep swearing, apologize. Anyway, but yeah, I did do that. So it was pretty funny.

Ryan: So that— I mean, that's great. So for those that are out there, you know, there's lots of different levels in the promo world. I've talked to people that have, you know, one show and they're still on their way, those that are kind of in the middle, and then a couple that are sort of at the top. But I've asked this to a few different people. You're kind of a heavy hitter in the CBS world. You handle a lot of shows. is there a point at which you feel comfortable, or do you feel like it could sort of all go away at any moment?

Roger Rose: Nobody is irreplaceable. And I think anyone who's— from Tom Hanks to whoever else, you're terrified for your next job. It could go away in 30 seconds, and I've seen it. I've seen— the best— I've seen it where the examples of what I told you, if the technical thing doesn't work, there's a guy at CBS who had a series for 8 years, and he lost it just on that. on the basis of the technical thing. And then literally there's a famous story about a guy, and I don't wanna say who it is, and I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. Don't you love it when people in interviews say this?

Ryan: Yeah, I know.

Roger Rose: Literally, literally this guy became the voice of, after there were just one announcer, he became the voice of a network, did absolutely nothing wrong, did everything right, and the head of the network, it was at the upfronts, and the upfronts, if people don't know, are where they sell the new shows, so it's the presentations to all the buyers. of the new shows for the fall, and they used him on every single everything. And the guy did nothing wrong. And literally, this terrifies me every day because this is an absolute true story. So they're at the upfronts, his voice is on every presentation, whatever programming they had sucked, and the head of promos is standing next to the head of the network, and as the guy's going, and next is the blah, blah, blah, he turns to the head of promo and goes, What? I don't want this guy's voice on our air ever again. And that guy went from being the voice of every show on that network to, see ya!

Ryan: I got a really good idea who it is.

Roger Rose: Wow. I know you know who it is.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: And he— by the way, by the way, he works all the time, and there's no reason to cry for him.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: But that makes my stomach hurt.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: Because that day comes for everybody. And not me, though. No. But, you know, it's just— it's seriously— and I've lost shows and lose things, and anybody Anybody who takes it for granted is an idiot. I mean, Randy— what's her— I'm terrible with names. Randy just did the Oscars this year, and she hasn't done it.

Ryan: Thomas?

Roger Rose: I think Randy Thomas, yeah. She hasn't been on it for like 10 years, and it's relationships, and she knows the producers, the new producers on the show, and she got to be back on it. Of course, she did take the Best Picture envelope for some reason. I don't know why.

Ryan: Yeah, that was weird. You know, she's really good at that. I haven't really brought her up too much on this show, but I really paid attention. She's very good at that.

Roger Rose: But honestly, in her case, again, she did nothing wrong. It's just, as in any job, new producers come in and they want their people. I do the Emmys on and off, but Don Mischer is the producer of the Emmys. And when he doesn't—

Ryan: Does the Emmys move networks and the Oscars doesn't?

Roger Rose: year. Every year.

Ryan: Does the Oscars move?

Roger Rose: That's correct. Yes. No, the Oscars stay on ABC. And Don Mischer, I've done the— I do the Emmys like every 4 years or so, and he doesn't do it every 4th year. And I went to him and I said, look, man, I'm at the Oscar party after I had done— no, the Emmy party, whatever it was. And I went up to him and we know each other, and I said, why? And to his credit, I gotta give him serious credit, he said, I've worked with the same male and female my entire career. I am loyal to them, and those are the only people I'll ever hire. And I went, you know what? That's what all of us want to hear. I'm honored that you would tell me. I respect your thing, and any other answer would have made me feel like a jerk. This makes me go, yeah, I feel bad that I can't do it, but you know what, man? More power to you, 'cause of loyalty and all that kind of stuff. So, I know I'll never get the Emmys when he's on it. But that's okay, 'cause he's hiring his friend.

Ryan: That's a great reason to not, because there's gotta be people like that still around. And then that's ultimately good for everybody.

Roger Rose: And honestly, if somebody is hiring you because, I want the new thing, blah, blah, blah, no, then it's like you feel like a jerk and it sucks. But if someone's hiring because that's the person they use and that's who they like, well, I have to honor that because there's people who do that with me. So that's what you hope for.

Ryan: Right.

Roger Rose: You know?

Ryan: Okay, so you talked about that you're never fully safe and all those things, but you also have to kind of diversify.

Roger Rose: No.

Ryan: So how do you diversify your career? 'Cause you did mention, you know, CBS is kind of the big one, so everything else has to kind of come— they have to kind of come first for you. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but you also have to be diversifying. So how do you go about that?

Roger Rose: Well, I have lots of things happening, but I would never be as safe without CBS as far as monetarily. Or, you know, it's horrifying. And I mean, like Reno, who does NBC, he's been doing it for a long, long time. Will he ever get a gig like that again? I just can't see how he could. It's the golden goose. So as far as that's concerned, but diversifying, as you probably know from your listeners and everything like that, there's being the voice of radio stations and TV stations in the promo world. That's very important. Then also, you can be the voice of— you can be the other voice of other major networks. In my case, they think of— I mean, I mean, again, it's back to the golden handcuffs. I'm so identified with CBS that the other networks have said, you're the CBS guy. I actually have a real quick little story. This doesn't answer your question, but I really don't want to. No, I like stories. This is sort of cool. This is sort of cool. I'm doing the syndication for 2 Broke Girls. Is that your buddy who does 2 Broke Girls? No, that's not Chad. Is it? I don't think so. Anyway, no, it isn't.

Ryan: He does Mom.

Roger Rose: Yeah, no, he doesn't do Chad. Too broke. Anyway, they said they don't want— when they were doing the syndication, they don't want the CBS guys. So it was before— I think it was almost before Chad. It was right around Chad. This was another guy. And so it was me and this other guy. We don't want them. They're CBS guys. Well, why not? We're the voice of these shows. No, no CBS guys, because— and that has happened with me with the other networks, so I'm pretty much a CBS guy. So I went under again. Now I have I have a really good agent who works with me, as opposed to the story I told you, and I said, let's go under a fake name. And he said, you're right. So I auditioned under a fake name. It's all fair and square. I didn't influence anybody.

Ryan: Yeah, it's not fake voice, it's fake name. They're hiring a voice.

Roger Rose: And I booked it. So they didn't want the CBS guys, and I booked it. And then they, of course, found out it was me, and they laughed about it, because I knew they would, but it's the old, oh, we don't want the— because people have to to label you. So you were asking diversifying. Certain things I can't do because they know me as the CBS guy, and I'm okay with that because that means I really have an identification and a network, but it's weird on that. But then there's also cable channels, and I also— I told you about my on-camera thing, and I also produce. I did a thing with Jane Lynch, and—

Ryan: Excuse me.

Roger Rose: And I used a lot of my voiceover people. It was a kids' thing, and so Jane did it with me, and Jim Cummings, who's one of my best friends, who's Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Billy West. I did— I produced a movie that I strongly recommend to all people to see. It's called Comic Book: The Movie. It's on Netflix, and it stars me and Mark Hamill, and Mark directs it. And it's really— we wanted to make it like a completely improvisational, but Mark is all about the comic books and made it more of a history of comic books.

Ryan: Right.

Roger Rose: And that part's okay, but the funny parts are all animation actors that you may or may not know that are the biggest in the business. It's me, Jess Arnell, who's Animaniacs, Billy West, who is the Red M&M, Bugs Bunny, Futurama, Jim Cummings, who is, you know, I just told you, Tom Kenny, who's SpongeBob, every famous animation person, and we're all on camera, and we all are at Comic-Con, on, and we do all these crazy, silly things. It's very, very funny because we're all really good improvisers. And then Mark needed to do all this comic book history, which I find okay. So it's like really funny stuff and then comic book history, then really funny stuff. And if for all you, you know, and one of the coolest things is we won an award. We did it 10 years ago and we won an award. It's It's the last time and also the first time that Sid Caesar and Jonathan Winters were together since A Mad, Mad World. And we do this scene with the two of them. Sid Caesar was very sickly, but they were kind enough to let us shoot this scene. And so it's me, Billy West, Jess Harnell, and those two guys. And it was really cool. And I won an award for that scene.

Ryan: Wow.

Roger Rose: And the coolest part— do you know who Jonathan Winters was?

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: You know, he's one of the originators of comedy, David Letterman and all those guys, and of improvisational comedy. Robin Williams, that was his hero. We're about to do the scene, and they said, we don't want to know the lines. We don't want to know the plot. Just act around us. And we're like, okay. And then Jonathan Winters turns to me and goes, here's where it gets crazy, kid. And it was so much fun. It was so cool.

Ryan: Oh, man. Man, so, wow. Okay, so people gotta check that out. Comic Book: The Movie on Netflix.

Roger Rose: If you wanna see all the people that you grew up around, all the famous voiceover guys, they're what they look like and how they— 'cause they're all so— 'cause a comic— I mean, an animation session is— I like to tell you, oh, it's not what you think. It is exactly what you think. It's the most fun. It is crazy. We're all doing impressions and stupid jokes. We're all making fun of each other. It's, it's total high school, and it is the most fun. And so I took that and made it into a movie.

Ryan: I'm trying— so I'm trying to envision, just to, I guess, kind of come close to a wrap-up here, but kind of your world. I mean, like, you brought up the golden handcuffs. People are aware of that, about how you are sort of locked to that studio with all that work, but you're still finding time to, you know, produce a movie. Wow, that was years ago. On-camera work. You're auditioning still because you're doing commercial work. You said you audition.

Roger Rose: I'm auditioning morning, noon, and night. You got to keep 10 balls in the air. If you don't, you're screwed. And I spend half my day auditioning. The line is real simple, and this is not my line, and that is my job— this is Michael Caine's line— and my job is not the performing. My job is to look for a job. That's what I do for a living. I look for a job all day long. That's what I do. The job is the fun part. My job is looking for a job, and it's constant, 12, 14 hours a day. That's what I do.

Ryan: Yeah, I was gonna say, I know what you mean there though. When you actually get hired and you do the gig, that's fun, but right, you're right, your job is getting a job. So give us some, you know, I don't know if you have some technique or tips or tricks for keeping all this chaos in control. I mean, you say you got a 14-hour day, but you've got to have some tricks that you employed to keep yourself organized and to know when to do what? You know, is this audition time? Is this networking time? Is this, you know, real work time?

Roger Rose: No, that's interesting you say that. That really is from, again, back to my improv training. I have one other really weird story. Do you remember who Dick Clark was, or is this all too old?

Ryan: Yeah, Dick Clark, legend, 100%.

Roger Rose: Yeah, I had a meeting with Dick Clark to pitch a show once. And I did some voiceovers for him, and it was a real honor. It was a real thrill. You know, I'm a kid, and if you know anything about Dick Clark, he was Ryan Seacrest, who became Dick Clark. He just took everything from Dick Clark, you know, and he was his mentor. He was a producer. He was a TV host. He was a disc jockey. He was like 10 things.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: So, I— this is not me, but this is him. I one day came into his office to pitch this thing, By the way, they're buying his company, it's in the trades, for $1 billion today. Anyway, so I went in there and he goes, okay, Roger, great, great. Just a second, just a second. He takes out a piece of paper, he goes, okay, what am I now? What am I? Okay, producer. Okay, give me a second. Producer. Okay, shoot. And I was like, wow, so that's how he does it.

Ryan: He had to switch gears, get his brain—

Roger Rose: Anyway, but in my case, it's what I told you about in the beginning of this thing. So see how it comes full circle? My training in improv, I studied at Strasberg and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for a summer thing, and I've studied a lot of classic acting and all that, but really my improv training is really how I'm able to do what you asked. And what I mean by that is, okay, you're this, here's your premise, go. That I thrive on. That's the fun of it. That's not the job portion. That's the fun of it. It's like, throw something absolutely crazy at me, and I should be a professional enough to know how to do it. I should take a breath. I need to look at it. I need to study it. depending on what it is, if it's a character voice or whatever. But my job is to have it thrown at me and not have to— 'cause I should have it in my toolbox to know how to do that. And if I don't, then you're screwed. And it's like, I just got asked to audition with somebody else yesterday, I think it was. I'm trying to think what it was for. And whoever it was— and I've learned that from people like Rob Paulsen and some big stars, like, I've worked with over the years. I'm gonna mention all these dead people. John Ritter and, you know, some really— Don Knotts. That's a crazy one. person to mention when I was 18, but the very charitable— who's the greatest animation guy, the most charitable man in the world? He's Scooby-Doo. He's, you know, Scooby. Ruh-roh! Frank Welker. Frank Welker, the greatest talent of all time. Anyway, I learned on their charitable thing. I walk in and this guy comes in. Who is that guy? And I said, I'll audition because I'm here. And I said this in front of him. I said, but honestly, Honestly, you want him because he's better at doing him than I am. And he's like, oh, you're being too kind. But he's that guy. Now, that doesn't mean they won't pick me because people are screwed and the old, get me Roger Rose, who's Roger Rose bit. But I knew when to hold them and when to fold them. So when I'm auditioning or something like that, if I say to myself, well, there's 5 guys who can do this better, then I gotta do something else.

Ryan: Yeah.

Roger Rose: That's on audition. Now on the job, that's a whole different thing. The job is the job. They do— you do what they want.

Ryan: Right, right. Let me ask you 2 final things, because I'm just really curious. And then my last question is because I want to ask it. I always ask it. what, what are you not doing, whether it be the voiceover world— that's kind of what I'm hoping you'll answer— or really just anywhere creatively that you wish you were doing?

Roger Rose: Okay, then, then, you mean like what I, what I haven't done or what I just want to do?

Ryan: Yeah, whatever. I mean, I I guess I would be more inclined to hear what you want to do that for whatever reason you're not involved in right now.

Roger Rose: Well, I don't want to sound pat, but doing the CBS is one of my dreams. So I've been a little lazy on that kind of stuff. But I don't have a— so that is number one. And then number two is I haven't had a cartoon series in a long time. So I've done it before, but I haven't had a full-on 40-episode— and there was a show I did called The Tick, which they've brought back about 15 different times. I'd really like to be a regular on a show that's like 40, 50 episodes. I haven't— I mean, I'm just doing a lot of guest stars. I haven't had a regular on a— and part of it's 'cause of the promo. It would be a cartoon series, regular weekly.

Ryan: You've brought up animation quite a bit here. You clearly have a big love for it. love for that, so it sounds like if you could do more of that.

Roger Rose: I do, promo, I mean, but if you wanna ask my dream job, I'm doing it. I don't mean to sound stupid, but I told you, every time I see that CBS piece of copy and I'm doing CBS, every time I walk into the halls of CBS, I just pop a chub. I mean, and what's really cool is my boss, my big boss knows that, and he knows, he sees me just getting goofy, and not in front of him, but he sees me off to the side, and I am, I'm just like, Oh, oh, cool, cool. It's true. I'm a pathetic idiot with this, but I really— I'm honored. I really am.

Ryan: It's really difficult to fake that kind of passion, and people know that too. So that's sure a big advantage. Let me get to the final one here. You're super busy. We all are. We all got things to do.

Roger Rose: Is this like the 5 things? Is this the I have to get to the gates of heaven and what's your favorite curse word? No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Ryan: No, let's leave it here. Young people out there who want to steal your job But seriously, you know, one key piece of advice I always like to kind of hear. If you break it all down to one key thing that you need to do to be successful in this world, what would that be?

Roger Rose: Well, I've said 2 of the things. Well, I don't remember the 2 things I said, but I said—

Ryan: The 51% talent and 49% business?

Roger Rose: Yes. The other thing is, is for young people, for the, for the kids, And I hated this, and one of my agents, the one who said, they'll never effing take you, but also, they said some good things to me, things I've never— that I really learned. And I hate this thing 'cause it's like, ah, shut up! But it really is true. It's the old, it's not a race, it's a sprint. And it really is true 'cause I would sit there and go, give me NBC, give me CBS, give me ABC. It's not a race. It's a sprint. Pace yourself. And it didn't happen today. Oh my gosh. You know what? It will happen tomorrow if you keep sprinting, but it's not gonna happen. You're not gonna hit the finish line. You gotta just— you really hated that advice. I'm going back to my original one. It's 51% business, 48% business— no, it's 51% creative, 48% business, and 1% sex. So that's it.

Ryan: I love it.

Roger Rose: I like it. Thank you.

Ryan: That's great, man. Okay, so having talked to you now for, damn, whatever, 50 minutes, I realized that if you would have given me 3 hours, we could have kept going, without question, man. You know what, I really appreciate it. And you, you did this short notice for me too, and, and I know you don't do a lot of these, so I really appreciate you joining me on the show.

Roger Rose: It was my pleasure.

Ryan: let me, let me throw out your website one more time, rogerrose.com. Pretty easy. Real Roger Rose.

Roger Rose: There's a new show. I don't know, you know, obviously you may be listening to this and the show probably has already It's going on Fox next month, and I'm doing like the Law and Order opening, you know, the judges on this show all are not wearing pants. So hopefully it'll be a hit, but you know, that and a quarter. It's, as I said, it's going on Fox, and that show is called— don't go away— it is called You the Jury, and that's premiering on Fox in about a month.

Ryan: Yeah, I'm trying to think if I've seen anything on that yet. That sounds interesting. Interesting.

Roger Rose: It just hit the trades today that it got picked up.

Ryan: Oh, okay, cool.

Roger Rose: It's the in-show announce, which is where, you know, like, tonight, 4 people— you know, like, one of my favorite ones I ever did was— and then we'll go here— was Extreme Home Makeover Surgery Edition. And that was the funniest because it was like, you know, she's had her nose— Ryan's had his nose done, his chin lifted, his butt reduced, and his penis extended. And they literally would take people and chop them up and try to get it on the air in like 3 weeks. And people almost died.

Ryan: Wow.

Roger Rose: There were lots of, 'cause it's real. Yeah, that was on ABC.

Ryan: Man, I never got to, okay, yeah. Well, we're gonna have to regroup on this 'cause I wanted to get to also the craziest thing you were ever paid to say, that type of stuff.

Roger Rose: Oh, I got one, I got one on that one. I do have one of those.

Ryan: You got it now?

Roger Rose: You want me to tell you?

Ryan: Yeah, you want to spoil it now, or—

Roger Rose: Okay, I'll be real quick here. It was when I was doing Playboy, and I am of the Jewish persuasion, and they called me in like last minute and they said, you've got to come in. And I'm like, why? You know, they paid you $3. You know, Playboy paid you nothing. And it was not pornographic, it was topless and whatever, so I don't consider it pornographic. So they said, there's no nudity in this, but you have to come in. And I show up and it's the first pornographic movie ever made in Israel. And it's— so I'll just do the dialogue for you. And they're like— there's all these people around me going, we've got to make sure this is okay. And I'm like, what's going on here? So it's, first, there was the beginning of time. And then there was— you know, and there's like, oh! And you see like, you know, the heavens part and all this kind of stuff. And then there was horny ass Raelis!

Ryan: Furt, furt!

Roger Rose: And you see these guys running around. I go, Thrilled to the burning bush! And is that a menorah in your pocket? Or are you just glad to see me? And then the last line I have was, I go, Thrilled to circumcise men! Horny ass Raley's!

Ryan: Wow.

Roger Rose: So, I'm going, that's really funny. I thought that was hysterical. And then they all go, are you okay with this? And, you know, voiceover guys are the low end of the totem pole. No one asks you anything. And I went, yeah, I think it's really funny. And then I'm going, why are they asking me? And they went, oh, I get it. I'm Jewish. So they paid me like $5. There was no nudity, and I thought it was the funniest thing I've ever done.

Ryan: And it gave you a good capper story for the producers' podcast many years later.

Roger Rose: Thank you very much.

Ryan: So that worked out.

Roger Rose: That's right.

Ryan: Roger Rose, thank you so much. I appreciate you being on the show. We'll talk to you soon.

Roger Rose: Thank you.

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